Public Health.

Background: Cardiovascular risk factors (CVRF) are among the main modifiable risk factors for dementia in Latin America (LA). Therefore, improving cardiovascular health (CVH) is one of the main objectives of the LatAm-FINGERS trial, the largest non-pharmacological (lifestyle improvement) randomized trial in LA. But, to fully comprehend CVH it is necessary to explore its relation with the social determinants of health (SDH), that are closely associated with lifestyle.

Public Health.

Background: The prevalence of dementia in Peru's northern regions is poorly documented, largely due to the scarcity of studies employing validated assessment tools for the elderly. Notably, this area is marked by pronounced disparities, encompassing a wide range of socioeconomic statuses and predominantly low educational attainment. The confluence of risk factors, including educational and socioeconomic deprivation, prevalent diseases, suboptimal health conditions, chronic stress, and lifelong malnutrition, poses a significant risk of escalating dementia cases over the next two decades.

Public Health.

Background: Adhering to lifestyle-based multimodal interventions to prevent cognitive decline is crucial for their success, but limited evidence exists on determinants of adherence. This gap may stem from inconsistent adherence measurement and reporting across studies. Additionally, uncertainties persist regarding the optimal intervention intensity needed for meaningful cognitive benefits.

Public Health.

Background: In Chile, the cases of cognitive impairment and dementia are on the rise and are expected to triple by 2050. Additionally, older adults face life changes that may contribute to depression onset. We studied the relationship between cognitive impairment (CI), functional decline (FD) and depression with the risk of all-cause and cardiovascular event mortality in the Chilean population aged ≥60 years.

Public Health.

Background: Cognitive resilience research in African Americans (AA) shows that higher educational attainment (EA) can mitigate the impact of Alzheimer disease pathology (ADP). However, this mitigating effect is less pronounced in APOEε4 carriers. This finding suggests a disparity in resilience influenced by an interplay of educational and genetic factors.

Biomarkers.

Background: Deep learning models based on convolutional neural networks (CNNs) have been used to classify Alzheimer's disease or infer dementia severity from T1-weighted brain MRI. Here we tested the added value of incorporating information from 3D diffusion-weighted MRI - a technique sensitive to microstructural differences - alongside traditional 3D T1-weighted images. We evaluated our classifier's performance on cohorts from India and North America.

Biomarkers.

Background: Amyloid-β (Aβ) pathology affects resting state functional connectivity (RSFC), even in cognitively unimpaired (CU) individuals. However, the impact of such an aberrant RSFC on cognitive decline is yet to be determined. Moreover, most prior research focused on fibrillary Aβ deposition to predict RSFC, while early Aβ dysmetabolism as reflected by cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) concentrations has received less attention.

Biomarkers.

Background: Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a complex neurodegenerative disorder characterized by early changes in brain structure and cognitive function before the age of onset. This study investigated whether the genetic load for clinical AD and AD pathology predicts AD-related brain and cognitive changes over a 3-year period, targeting the preclinical phase in cognitively unimpaired (CU) middle-aged individuals.

Method: The sample of the study was defined by 429 CU middle-aged participants at risk of AD from the ALFA+ nested cohort with available information on genetics, brain imaging markers and cognitive data [Table 1].

Biomarkers.

Background: Subjective cognitive decline (SCD), or a person's perception of changes in their cognitive abilities, has been identified as a possible early marker of preclinical Alzheimer's disease (AD) in non-Hispanic Whites; however, research is lacking about the clinical utility of SCD in diverse populations. This study investigated the associations of self and informant reports of SCD, plasma biomarker profiles of AD, and objective cognitive performance in Hispanic older adults living in Miami.

Method: Hispanic participants enrolled in the 1Florida Alzheimer's Disease Research Center who completed neuropsychological testing and blood draws for biomarker analysis were eligible.

Biomarkers.

Background: Along-tract analysis of white matter (WM) bundles can help map detailed patterns of WM pathway degeneration in Alzheimer's disease. Here, we present Medial Tractography Analysis (MeTA), which aims to minimize partial voluming and microstructural heterogeneity in diffusion MRI (dMRI) metrics by extracting and parcellating the volume along the bundle length while preserving bundle shape and capturing variation within and along WM bundles. We evaluated along-tract WM microstructure associations with clinical measures in ADNI using MeTA.

Biomarkers.

Background: Alzheimer's disease (AD)-related pathologic changes in the brain begin years before MRI-detected atrophy and the onset of cognitive decline. Diffusion MRI (dMRI) can quantify microstructural alterations in brain tissue, and may be more sensitive to pathologic processes than standard MRI volumetric biomarkers. As AD is a heterogeneous disease, previous studies have used post-mortem, structural MRI, and PET measures to subtype individuals by areas of the brain affected, identifying distinct patterns of degeneration and decline.

Biomarkers.

Background: Predicting Alzheimer's disease (AD) and frontotemporal dementia (FTD) using polygenic risk scores (PRS) for late-onset forms holds promise, but its accuracy might be influenced by social determinants of health (SDOH). This study explores how considering SDOH alongside genes can improve prediction, focusing on potential differences for each disease.

Methods: Employing logistic regression in 677 individuals (287 AD, 102 FTD, and 288 controls) aged 40-80 from the ReDLat study across six Latin American countries, we investigated the potential for SDOH to modify the association between PRS and susceptibility to AD and FTD.

Biomarkers.

Background: As new treatments (such as the anti-amyloid vaccine, lecanamab) emerge for Alzheimer's disease (AD) and other dementias, approaches are required to rapidly diagnose AD at the earliest possible stage, and to assess disease progression and prognosis. In January 2024, the FDA approved the first AI tool to predict AD progression based on magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) [1]. Here we train a generative AI approach based on latent diffusion models - to encode disease effects on brain structures.

Stereotactic body radiotherapy and poly (ADP-ribose) polymerase inhibitors in ovarian cancer: a knowledge and attitudes survey in collaboration with the Italian Association of Radiation Oncology (AIRO) and Multicenter Italian Trials in Ovarian Cancer (MITO) groups.

The aim of this study was to present a nationwide survey on the specialist's attitudes towards stereotactic body radiotherapy (SBRT) combined with poly (ADP-ribose) polymerase inhibitors (PARPi) with oligometastatic/oligoprogressive/oligorecurrent ovarian cancer (oMPR-OC) patients. The 19-item questionnaire was developed by specialists and distributed online. Replies were stratified by categories and analyzed using descriptive statistics.

Biomarkers.

Background: The ɛ4 allele and promoter region variant, rs405509, of APOE are risk factors for late onset Alzheimer's Disease (LOAD) (Raulin et al., 2022, Logue et al., 2023).

Biomarkers.

Background: The content of circulating exosomes has been observed to be altered in response to changes in physiological and pathological conditions, and they are detectable in different human fluids such as blood. Studies focused on the quantification of Aβ and tau proteins, as molecules contained within exosomes, suggest that they are related with Alzheimer disease (AD) and frontotemporal dementia (FTD) development, demonstrated that plasma-derived exosome analysis is a good approach for searching for biomarkers in the development of dementia. Our aim is to identify new blood biomarkers to detect the AD or FTD in the Chilean population using machine learning based on exosomal miRNAs.

Biomarkers.

Background: CSF t-tau is considered a marker of neuronal injury in AD and strongly correlates with cognitive impairment. Evidence suggests that women accumulate more tau pathology early in AD than men. However, how pregnancy influences this relationship is unclear.

Biomarkers.

Background: Leukocyte telomere length (LTL) serves as a proxy for tissue-specific TL and peripheral immune aging. Its association with aging-related brain endophenotypes, cognitive functioning, and Alzheimer's disease (AD) risk is established, but the underlying molecular mechanisms remain elusive. Investigating LTL's association with AD biomarkers is crucial for identifying its role in brain resilience and disease progression.

Biomarkers.

Background: Blood-based biomarkers offer a non-invasive and cost-effective means for Alzheimer's disease (AD) detection. In this study, we performed a direct comparison of these novel biomarkers in a memory clinic population to facilitate their implementation into clinical practice.

Method: We included a total of 208 patients with cognitive complaints from the BIODEGMAR cohort at Hospital del Mar (Barcelona, Spain).

Biomarkers.

Background: High body mass index (BMI) is a risk factor for dementia, and prior diffusion-weighted magnetic resonance (dMRI) work has shown that higher BMI is associated with lower white matter (WM) integrity. The tensor distribution function (TDF) is an advanced dMRI model that is sensitive to the effects of both healthy aging and Alzheimer's disease (Nir et al., 2017; Lawrence et al.

Biomarkers.

Background: Plasma concentrations of phosphorylated threonine-181 of Tau (pTau181) and the ratio of amyloid beta isoforms Aβ42/Aβ40 are biomarkers for differential diagnosis and preclinical detection of Alzheimer disease (AD). However, assessment of the utility of these biomarkers has been in non-Hispanic, European individuals. Given differences in AD risk across populations, generalizability of these findings is not assured in individuals of diverse ancestries.

Developing Topics.

Background: Network neuropsychology is an emergent field dedicated to analyzing cognitive functions as interconnected systems. Although previous studies have explored cognitive network reorganization across the Alzheimer's disease (AD) continuum using comprehensive neuropsychological batteries, these approaches often overlook the potential of single screening tests used in routine clinical practice. This study innovatively applies graphical models to data from isolated neurocognitive tests, specifically the Alzheimer's Disease Assessment Scale-Cognitive Subscale (ADAS-Cog), to construct cognitive networks.

Developing Topics.

Background: Older age is associated with sleep disruptions and the aggregation of pathological tau in the medial temporal lobe (MTL). Associations between sleep disruptions and the progression of Alzheimer's disease (AD) have been widely demonstrated. However, data addressing the association of objectively measured sleep apnea to tau deposition beyond the MTL in cognitively unimpaired older adults are limited.

Developing Topics.

Background: Chronic pain (CP) is defined as the persistence of pain beyond the expected recovery period of an injury, or alternatively, with a duration exceeding three months. It has been recognized as a risk factor for dementia in European and North American cohorts. However, in Latin America (LA), there remains a significant gap in understanding CP prevalence, its risk factors, and its association with Alzheimer's disease (AD) and frontotemporal dementia (FTD).

Developing Topics.

Background: Different pathologies can cause dementia, including Alzheimer's disease (AD), dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB) and frontotemporal dementia. Understanding the biological mechanisms underlying these diseases is important in order to develop therapies. Here we performed cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) proteomics in AD, DLB and FTD in order to study proteomic changes and identify novel potential biomarkers.