Frontiers in Aging Neuroscience

aStructured abstractO_ST_ABSBACKGROUNDC_ST_ABSOver the past couple of decades, the role of infections, as well as the involvement of the immune system, have been highlighted in the development of dementia. METHODData from the Wisconsin Registry for Alzheimers Prevention cohort were utilized for the analysis. A history of medical conditions was searched across the cohort, and known infections and autoimmune conditions were recorded for each participant. These conditions were then compared with t...

Oscillatory coupling between respiration, heart rate, and cortical function is fundamental to physiological regulation yet remains poorly characterized in humans. Diminished respiratory heart rate variability (RespHRV)--the rhythmic heart rate modulation accompanying respiration--has emerged as a transdiagnostic biomarker of mental and physical health, reduced in anxiety, depression, cardiovascular disease, and aging (Beauchaine & Thayer, 2015; Menuet & Gourine et al., 2025). However, the cortic...

INTRODUCTIONBilingualism is among several lifestyle factors associated with protection against cognitive decline, yet the biological mechanisms through which it exerts these effects remain poorly understood. METHODSWe compared neuropsychological functioning and biofluid markers of brain health between active (n = 280) and passive (n = 287) Spanish-Catalan bilinguals with biomarker-confirmed Alzheimers disease (AD). RESULTSActive bilinguals outperformed passive bilinguals on tests assessing att...

INTRODUCTIONConnected speech analyses can help characterize linguistic impairments in primary progressive aphasia (PPA) and classify variants, however, manual transcription of speech samples is time-consuming and expensive. Automated speech recognition (ASR) may be efficacious for transcribing PPA speech. METHODSTranscripts of picture descriptions (109 PPA, 32 healthy controls (HC)) were generated using a manual, automated (Whisper) or semi-automated approach including a quality control (QC) st...

IntroductionNeurodegenerative dementia syndromes are severely debilitating, progressive and increasing in incidence with an ageing population. A treatable differential diagnosis to neurodegenerative dementia is autoimmune encephalitis (AE), but AE patients are often misdiagnosed, delaying treatment. Previous work in the Netherlands has shown that 0.8% of patients with suspected neurodegenerative dementia suffer from AE. In Sweden, there is considerable variability in the prevalence of AE, possib...

Age and coronary artery disease (CAD) are known risk factors for cognitive decline and dementia, in which cerebral blood flow (CBF) has as a key role. Cardiorespiratory fitness (CRF) has shown consistent links with brain health and dementia, though its association with CBF and whether it differs depending on age or disease status remains limited. The main aim of this study was to examine the association of CRF, assessed through the six-minute walk test (6MWT) and peak oxygen uptake (VO2peak), wi...

Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (Lou Gehrigs disease) is a progressive neurodegenerative disease affecting hundreds of thousands of people worldwide. It is characterized by the degeneration of the neurons in the brain and spinal cord of the patients, leading to a loss of control of muscles. Over time, without nerves to stimulate them muscles tend to atrophy. ALS may occur sporadically or run in families; many mutations have been identified for the latter. Treatment of ALS is mostly limited to thre...

Structured AbstractO_ST_ABSBACKGROUNDC_ST_ABSPatient reports are the standard when examining subjective cognitive decline (SCD). Recent research suggests that informant and clinician reports may also be associated with cognition. This study examined differences between patient, informant, and clinician definitions of SCD and their relationship to cognition. METHODSData from 4290 older adults (n=1690 normal controls, NC; n=840 mild cognitive impairment, MCI; n=1760 Alzheimers disease, AD) were e...

Biomarkers from diverse methodological domains are increasingly important in the detection, diagnosis and tracking of neurological diseases and brain health, yet they are often evaluated in isolation. Statistical integration approaches, such as factor analysis, provide a means to combine complementary biomarkers and capture higher-order domains of brain health. Exploratory factor analysis has previously been employed to identify latent brain health constructs using multimodal MRI, fluid biomarke...

BackgroundCommunity-based clinical-pathologic studies have been instrumental to examine the association of Alzheimers disease and related disorders (AD/ADRD) with age and dementia in very-old non-Latino Whites. Here, we show the age distribution of four AD and three additional common neuropathologies across the adult lifespan and examine their relation to dementia and cognitive impairment in old and young Brazilian adults. MethodsWe examined 5,376 brains from decedents age 18 years or older (52...

BackgroundCognitively unimpaired (CU) adults vary substantially in their risk of developing mild cognitive impairment (MCI), yet most subtyping approaches focus on downstream neurobiological or cognitive markers rather than upstream, modifiable risk factors. We aimed to identify clinically meaningful subgroups of CU adults defined by integrated comorbid, behavioral, and social risk profiles, and to evaluate heterogeneity in both incident MCI risk and cardiometabolic treatment effects. MethodsWe...

BackgroundVestibular complaints are common in older adults and are linked to imbalance and falls. Some older adults show impaired vestibular perception despite preserved peripheral-reflex ("vestibular agnosia"). Yet it remains unclear if vestibular agnosia is independently linked to imbalance and falls in otherwise healthy older adults. We therefore investigated the prevalence of vestibular agnosia in community-dwelling older adults, and examined its association to balance and prospective falls....

IntroductionThe eligibility of anti-amyloid disease-modifying therapies (DMTs) and their integration into clinical practice in some institutions requires a specific range of Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) scores. Reliance on this pencil-and-paper psychometric instrument imposes operational burdens and risks perpetuating health disparities due to the tests known educational and cultural biases. This study evaluates the efficacy of the Digital Clock and Recall (DCR) - a rapid, FDA-listed dig...

Background and ObjectivesProgression from mild cognitive impairment (MCI) to Alzheimers Disease and Related Dementias (AD/ADRD) varies widely across individuals, yet the mechanisms underlying this heterogeneity remain unclear. Identifying clinical and social determinants influencing this transition could enable earlier intervention. While cardiovascular and social risk factors are established contributors to dementia incidence, their role in progression from MCI to dementia may differ. Few studi...

There are many alternative methods to joystick control for control of Electric Powered Wheelchairs for users with neuromuscular disabilities, such as muscular dystrophy, and spinal cord injuries, such as tetraplegia. However, these methods- which include the sip-and-puff method, head and neck movement, blinking, or tongue movement- hinder social interaction, and are therefore detrimental to user independence. In recent years, research has explored the use of Electromyography (EMG) signals from a...

White matter microstructural abnormalities are increasingly found to be associated with cognitive impairment in Alzheimers Disease (AD). Here, we investigated the relationship between visual short-term memory (VSTM) performance, measured using a digital cognitive task, and integrity of brain white matter tracts. 52 AD and 60 age-matched healthy controls were recruited from the Oxford Cognitive Disorders Clinic. An established digital VSTM test - the Oxford Memory Task (OMT) - was used to measur...

Lifestyle and environmental factors such as diet, physical activity, residential greenspace exposure, alcohol consumption, and sleep are increasingly promoted as modifiable targets for maintaining cognitive health and mitigating age-related decline. Yet, it remains unclear how well they predict cognitive functioning and, importantly, to what extent their associations with cognition are reflected in brain and bodily health. Here, we applied machine learning to multimodal data from over 10,000 UK ...

While 18F-Fluorodeoxyglucose Positron Emission Tomography (FDG-PET) is an established biomarker in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), the metabolic correlates of motor neuron disease motor variants remain poorly defined. This is why we investigated patterns of cerebral glucose metabolism across the spectrum of motor neuron disorders (MND), including progressive muscular atrophy (PMA), primary lateral sclerosis (PLS) and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). We retrospectively included 18 PMA, ...

INTRODUCTIONAlzheimers disease (AD) diagnostic guidelines emphasize subjective cognitive decline (SCD) preceding mild cognitive impairment (MCI), implicitly assuming awareness of cognitive decline (ACD) is preserved in preclinical AD. This study aimed to evaluate associations of decreased ACD with multimodal core AD biomarkers in cognitively unimpaired (CU) individuals. METHODSWe analyzed data from CU individuals with baseline CSF biomarkers and 3-year longitudinal neuropsychological assessment...

Repetitive head impacts (RHI) from contact and collision sports have been associated with later-life cognitive and neurobehavioral impairments, as well as neurodegenerative conditions such as chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE). RHI-associated clinical sequelae among female former soccer players, specifically, are not well understood. This cross-sectional study aimed to examine the relationship of RHI exposure proxies (e.g., total years of soccer play, highest level of play, and estimated cum...