Basic Science and Pathogenesis.

Background: Assessing tau accumulation in early affected areas like the lateral entorhinal cortex (EC) and inferior temporal gyrus (ITG) enables early prediction of disease progression and cognitive decline. However, positron emission tomography (PET) imaging poses radiation exposure and cost concerns. This research aims to develop a deep learning model predicting tau positivity in these regions using MRI.

Dynamic network model reveals distinct tau spreading patterns in early- and late-onset Alzheimer disease.

Background: The clinical features of Alzheimer's disease (AD) vary substantially depending on whether the onset of cognitive deficits is early or late. The amount and distribution patterns of tau pathology are thought to play a key role in the clinical characteristics of AD, which spreads throughout the large-scale brain network. Here, we describe the differences between tau-spreading processes in early- and late-onset symptomatic individuals on the AD spectrum.

Regional Aβ-tau interactions promote onset and acceleration of Alzheimer's disease tau spreading.

Amyloid-beta and tau are key molecules in the pathogenesis of Alzheimer's disease, but it remains unclear how these proteins interact to promote disease. Here, by combining cross-sectional and longitudinal molecular imaging and network connectivity analyses in living humans, we identified two amyloid-beta/tau interactions associated with the onset and propagation of tau spreading. First, we show that the lateral entorhinal cortex, an early site of tau neurofibrillary tangle formation, is subject to remote, connectivity-mediated amyloid-beta/tau interactions linked to initial tau spreading.

Effects of Alzheimer's and Vascular Pathologies on Structural Connectivity in Early- and Late-Onset Alzheimer's Disease.

Early- and late-onset Alzheimer's disease (AD) patients often exhibit distinct features. We sought to compare overall white matter connectivity and evaluate the pathological factors (amyloid, tau, and vascular pathologies) that affect the disruption of connectivity in these two groups. A total of 50 early- and 38 late-onset AD patients, as well as age-matched cognitively normal participants, were enrolled and underwent diffusion-weighted magnetic resonance imaging to construct fractional anisotropy-weighted white matter connectivity maps.

Microstructural Connectivity is More Related to Cognition than Conventional MRI in Parkinson's Disease.

Background: The different effects of white matter hyperintensity (WMH) severity and WMH-associated microstructural connectivity on cognition in the early stages of Parkinson's disease (PD) have not been investigated.

Objective: To investigate the differential effect of WMH severity and WMH-associated microstructural connectivity on cognition in early stages of PD.

Methods: A total of 136 de novo PD patients were enrolled and divided into groups based on total WMH visual rating scores as follows: mild, moderate, and severe.

Distinct Patterns of Rich Club Organization in Alzheimer's Disease and Subcortical Vascular Dementia: A White Matter Network Study.

Recent advances in neuroimaging technology have shown that rich club organization in human brain networks plays a crucial role in global communication and cognitive functionality. In this study, we investigated rich club organization within white matter structural brain networks in two common types of dementia, Alzheimer's disease (AD) and subcortical vascular dementia (SVaD). We recruited 30 AD patients ([11C] Pittsburgh compound-B (PiB) PET positive), 39 SVaD patients (PiB negative), and 72 age-, gender-, and education-matched cognitively normal (CN) subjects.

miTarget: microRNA target gene prediction using a support vector machine.

Background: MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are small noncoding RNAs, which play significant roles as posttranscriptional regulators. The functions of animal miRNAs are generally based on complementarity for their 5' components. Although several computational miRNA target-gene prediction methods have been proposed, they still have limitations in revealing actual target genes.