Educating the masses to address a global public health priority: The Preventing Dementia Massive Open Online Course (MOOC).

Dementia is a global public health priority and risk reduction is an important pillar of the public health response. While 40% of cases are estimated to be attributable to modifiable health and lifestyle risk factors, public awareness of the evidence is low, limiting peoples' opportunity to adopt risk-reducing behaviours. To address this gap, we designed, implemented, and evaluated an educational intervention, the Preventing Dementia Massive Open Online Course (PDMOOC).

Broadening the reach of dementia risk-reduction initiatives: strategies from dissemination models.

Background: Modifiable risk factors for dementia account for 40% of cases worldwide and exert impacts on risk across the life course. To have maximal public health impact, dementia risk-reduction initiatives need to reach a large and diverse audience, including people from a wide range of ages and socioeconomic backgrounds. Currently, dementia risk-reduction interventions primarily reach a narrow audience, consisting largely of highly educated older adults from high income countries.

The Val66Met polymorphism moderates the effect of cognitive reserve on 36-month cognitive change in healthy older adults.

Introduction: Cognitive reserve (CR) and Val66Met are independently associated with the rate of cognitive decline in preclinical Alzheimer's disease. This study was designed to investigate the interactive effects of these variables on 36-month cognitive change in cognitively intact older adults.

Methods: Data for this investigation were obtained from 445 community-residing participants of the Tasmanian Healthy Brain Project, who underwent genetic screening and annual assessment of neuropsychological, health, and psychosocial function.

Validation of a Dynamic Measure of Current Cognitive Reserve in a Longitudinally Assessed Sample of Healthy Older Adults: The Tasmanian Healthy Brain Project.

Cognitive reserve (CR) is a theoretical construct describing the underlying cognitive capacity of an individual that confers differential levels of resistance to, and recovery from, brain injuries of various types. To date, estimates of an individual's level of CR have been based on single proxy measures that are retrospective and static in nature. To develop a measure of dynamic change in CR across a lifetime, we previously identified a latent factor, derived from an exploratory factor analysis of a large sample of healthy older adults, as current CR (cCR).

Exploring the validity of mild cognitive impairment (MCI) subtypes: multiple-domain amnestic MCI is the only identifiable subtype at longitudinal follow-up.

Background: Epidemiological research exploring risk factors for Alzheimer's dementia resulted in the identification of the mild cognitive impairment (MCI) profile. Subsequently, distinct subtypes of MCI have been proposed; however, the validity of these as diagnostic entities remains uncertain.

Design And Participants: The aim of the present study was to examine the longitudinal neuropsychological profiles of MCI subtypes.

Lowered performance in working memory and attentional sub-processes are most prominent in multi-domain amnestic mild cognitive impairment subtypes.

Background: Research suggests that working memory and attention deficits may be present in mild cognitive impairment (MCI). However, the functional status of these domains within revised MCI subtypes remains unclear, particularly because previous studies have examined these cognitive domains with the same tests that were used to classify MCI subtypes. The aim of this study was to examine working memory and attention function in MCI subtypes on a battery of neuropsychological tests that were distinct from those used to classify MCI subtypes

Methods: A total of 122 adults aged 60-90 years were classified at baseline as amnestic MCI, non-amnestic MCI, and multi-domain amnestic (a-MCI+).

The self-fulfilling prophecy of episodic memory impairment in mild cognitive impairment: do episodic memory deficits identified at classification remain evident when later examined with different memory tests?

Previous studies of mild cognitive impairment (MCI) have been criticised for using the same battery of neuropsychological tests during classification and longitudinal followup. The key concern is that there is a potential circularity when the same tests are used to identify MCI and then subsequently monitor change in function over time. The aim of the present study was to examine the evidence of this potential circularity problem.

Absence of a relationship between subjective memory complaint and objective memory impairment in mild cognitive impairment (MCI): is it time to abandon subjective memory complaint as an MCI diagnostic criterion?

Background: Subjective memory complaints are a requirement in the diagnosis of mild cognitive impairment (MCI) as they are thought to indicate a decline in objective memory performance. However, recent research suggests that the relationship between subjective memory complaint and objective memory impairment is less clear. Thus, it is possible that many people without subjective memory complaints who develop Alzheimer's disease are precluded from a diagnosis of MCI.