Mild cognitive impairment

…also postnatally and is critical to cognitive processes such as learning and memory. A main neurogenic niche is located in the dentate gyrus of the hippocampus, a brain area greatly involved in learning and memory. During the normal process of aging, hippocampal neurogenesis decreases substantially, and it is suggested that this decrease starts at the very first stages, if not immediately prior to, the development of mild cognitive impairment and/or dementia. Unfortunately, despite the increasin

Inhibitory deficits and an excitation/inhibition(E/I) imbalance arising from loss of inhibitory synapses may predispose to subclinical-epileptiform-activity and contribute to the earliest stages of Alzheimer’s disease(AD), and progressively lead to macroscopic neuronal network dysfunction. The classical brain-criticality-hypothesis posits that neuronal-systems operate at a continuous, second-order phase-transition with E/I-balance serving as primary control parameter. However, we have recently found neuronal systems in vivo may also operate at a discontinuous, first-order phase-transition and

…However, since changes in cognitive function develop slowly over time in these patients, they are often diagnosed at an advanced stage of molecular pathology, a time point when causative treatments fail. Thus, there is great need for the identification of inexpensive and minimal invasive approaches that could be used for screening with the aim to identify individuals at risk for cognitive decline th

We aimed to characterize cognitive profiles and brain morphology correlates of Prodromal and Parkinson's disease (PD) patients from the Parkinson's Progression Markers Initiative program, given the value of detecting Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI) as a risk factor for dementia in the Prodromal stage. K-means clustering analysis was performed to identify distinct cognitive profiles based on the cognitive domain scores of the Montreal Cognitive Assessment, while volumetric quantification of brain regions was conducted using the AssemblyNet pipeline on T13D MRI brain images. Distinct cognitive p

Spatial orientation deficits are emerging as very early and reliable cognitive biomarkers predicting future memory problems associated with Alzheimer’s disease, but the neural mechanisms underlying spatial disorientation have yet to be fully defined. The anterodorsal thalamic nucleus (ADn) contains a high density of head direction (HD) cells, which play a critical role in the brain's ability to create and update spatial representations, aiding in navigation and spatial memory. We propose that the accumulation of Tau filaments in cell bodies, dendrites, and axons of HD cells disrupts the proces

Mild cognitive impairment (MCI) is a common trait of Parkinson's disease (PD), often associated with early motor deficits, eventually evolving to PD with dementia in later disease stages. The neuropathological substrate of MCI is poorly understood, thus few studies pointed at immune dysfunctions as a contributing factor. We tested this hypothesis in an α-synuclein (αSyn)-based model of PD obtained by the intranigral infusion of human α-synuclein oligomers (H-SynOs). Three months after infusion rats developed mild cognitive deficits sustained by an altered electrophysiological activity in the a

…which in turn herald the onset of mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and dementia. Hence, understanding the spatiotemporal timeline for the accrual of these early pathological species prior to PET detection and clinical symptoms will facilitate the development of disease-modifying AD therapies. In this study, we quantified the

…towards modifiable risk factors for cognitive decline, with sleep disturbances gaining attention especially in older adults with mild cognitive impairment (MCI). Given the significant impact of sleep disturbances on cognitive decline in MCI, this study explores the relationship between psychological factors, including depression, anxiety, and stress, and insomnia among older adults with MCI. 145 Greek older adults were recruited from an outpatient memory clinic in Athens. The sample m

Imaging genetics has advanced to uncover genetic variants associated with imaging phenotypes characterized by imaging data, which can be considered functional. Functional data refers to data that are inherently functions, where each observation represents a curve, or some other form of continuous variation over a domain.In this study, we propose a novel approach, the functional sequence kernel association test (fSKAT), aimed at identifying single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) associated with functional phenotypes. To address the infinite space of functional data, we employ functional princip

…as in earlier stages of subjective cognitive decline (SCD) and mild cognitive impairment (MCI). The electroencephalogram (EEG) presents a cost-effective solution for monitoring scalp correlates associated with cognitive decline. In this study, we explored the gender-related effects on EEG correlates during event-related potentials (ERPs) time-locked to target correct responses in a sustained visual attention task, specifically the 3-choice vigilance test (3CVT).Methods. We enrolled 86 SCD patients (59F), 40 MC

…incorporating the Addenbrooke’s Cognitive Examination-III Marathi (ACE III- M) and the Frenchay Dysarthria Assessment-Second Edition (FDA-2) revealed Mild Cognitive Impairment and Severe Mixed Dysarthria, respectively—a motor speech disorder contributing to diminished speech in

Tauopathies are leading cause of loss of autonomy in the elderly, implying a progressive cognitive decline. There is not an effective treatment early diagnosis of tauopathies. We propose an in-vitro and theragnostic approach by using a novel phosphorylated Tau(p-Tau) monoclonal antibody(mAb) responsible for tau self-aggregation and regulation.A diagnostic Sandwich ELISA kit was developed and tested in 89 cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) samples of mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and Alzheimer’s disease (AD) patients for detection of p-Tau.The proof of concept study reported specific signals above the

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a progressive neurodegenerative disorder characterized by cognitive decline and inability to perform daily activities. Recent research has implicated tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α) in the pathogenesis of AD. Elevated levels of TNF-α have been detected in the blood of patients with AD, and TNF-α has been observed in amyloid beta (Aβ) plaques. Despite the promising results from preclinical studies, the efficacy of TNF-α blockade as a therapeutic strategy for AD remains controversial. However, it remains unclear whether and how TNF-α influences the amyloidogenic p

…by a progressive decline in cognitive function that ultimately leads to mortality. Timely detection, particularly during the early-stage of mild-cognitive-impairment (MCI) is crucial for effective intervention. Converging evidence showed that parvalbumin-interneurons (PVI) cortical microcircuitry play an important role for normal cognitive functions. PVI are highly sensitive to oxidative stress (OS) and mitochondrial impairment, conditions that are well known to increase with ageing. Therefore, there is a critical n

Subjective cognitive decline (SCD) manifests as a self-perceived deterioration in memory and thinking abilities, undetectable through objective tests, but which is considered as an early at-risk phase for developing mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and Alzheimer’s disease (AD). Understanding the brain structural and functional changes that underlie this condition is important in developing interventions that would prevent the evolution to dementia. Neuroimaging structural and resting state studies comparing SCD individuals with healthy controls (HC) have reported inconsistent results. Therefore

We investigate the link between the gut microbiome and cognitive decline in Alzheimer’s disease by identifying microbial metabolites associated with (compromised) brain health and examining metabolite changes in individuals who progress from a healthy state (NL) to mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and/or Alzheimer’s disease (AD).A dataset containing representative microbial metabolites in serum was obtained from the Alzheimer’s Disease Neuroimaging Initiative. A total of 104 metabolites were analyzed. These were collected over six years from 757 individuals. Kruskal-Wallis test was employed to

The diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease (AD) typically occurs after the onset of cognitive symptoms. Consequently, the global challenge around the world is to identify early and easily accessible biomarkers. Intriguingly, certain brainstem structures, such as the Superior Colliculus (SC), which plays a pivotal role in fixation maintenance and saccade programming, exhibit neurofibrillary changes sooner than cortical regions (Uematsu et al., 2018) and is susceptible to tau pathology and neuronal loss in AD patients. Accordingly, eye movement abnormalities associated with AD are often observed durin

Selective attention is a crucial cognitive function facilitates the relevant-sensory-input processing (i.e., targets) and filters out irrelevant information (i.e., distractors). Prior studies illustrated the ability to selectively process behaviorally sensory information declines with age, especially in older adults who exhibit Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI), a transitional stage from healthy aging to dementia, e.g. Alzheimer’s disease. Less is known regarding how neural mechanisms help eliminating distractors go awry in MCI. We hypothesized the fronto-parietal attentional network, which is i

Dementia is a prevalent and, based on severity, disabling neurocognitive disorder that primarily affects people older than 65 years of age. There is an increasingly emerging need to identify specific markers of dementia for interventions before disease progression. Irisin is a myokine produced during exercise with multiple effects on various organs, including a neuroprotective role on brain. Here, we investigated the involvement of irisin in patients with dementia biologically classified according to the Amyloid-β-Tau-Neurodegeneration classification system. Serum and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF)

…diminishes in individuals with mild cognitive impairment (MCI), a transitional stage preceding dementia. However, it remains unclear to what extent neural substrates underlying attentional deficits vary across various MCI subtypes, commonly classified based on Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA) performance. Here, employing an inverted encoding model (IEM) approach, we reconstructed spatially selective attentio

…AD, better discriminate between AD and mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and identify cognitively unimpaired (CU) older individuals at risk for progression to AD. Our previous studies demonstrated that both the

…particularly at early stages like Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI). In response to this need, our study leverages the innovative machine learning approach OPTIVIS to construct Digital Twins for AD patients. These Digital Twins, built on OPTIVIS algorithms, are virtual replicas of patients, encapsulating detailed clinical outcomes based on initial patient data and standard care scenarios. Our approach utilizes a comprehensive dataset from both observational studi

…a unique approach to enhance different cognitive and balance parameters . This study aims to determine that which of the cognitive and balance components are greatly affected by wobble board exergaming of different intensities in individuals with mild cognitive impairment (MCI).In this study ninety-seven MCI participants (MoCA 18-24, aged 50-75 years) were randomly assigned into mild, moderate, high intensity novel wobble board based exergaming, and control. All groups received 24 sessions (40 minutes/session, 3 times/week). Diffe

INTRODUCTION Graph theory is a state of the art approach to assess functional connectivity (FC) disruption in neurological disorders. However, this methodology does not allow distinction between positive and negative FC correlations; negative correlations, or anticorrelations, are usually either discardes or taken as positive values, and therefore its influence is rarely studied. RESEARCH QUESTION In the present study, we used magnetoencephalography (MEG) to construct cross-frequency networks, and studied the positive and negative correlations independently and jointly, to evaluate the contri