About this Research Topic
Dementia is a neurodevelopmental syndrome that can be caused by a multitude of neurodegenerative factors which over time destroy nerve cells and damage the brain, typically leading to deterioration in cognitive function and in everyday activities. The National Institute on Aging and the WHO suggested developing prevention strategies to support research in early diagnosis as "Dementia is one of the major causes of disability and dependency among older people worldwide". In the effort to combat dementia using early detection of prodromal brain biomarkers and applying pre-dementia treatments to suppress the onset and progression of Alzheimer's disease (AD) and other types of dementia (e.g. vascular dementia), it’s crucial to discern neurocognitive impairments that exceed normal biological aging effects.
Our focus is on identifying a critical subset within subclinical ‘high-risk’ populations, aged 45 to 60, who exhibit non-apparent accelerated cognitive decline but do not show dementia symptoms. In response to findings related to working memory function deterioration in mild cognitive impairment and the vulnerability of prefrontal cortex mechanisms in aging people and in people with dementia, the current Research Topic will discuss plausible early prodromal-dementia predictors revealing abnormal local and global brain activity and working memory performance deficits, related to compromised neuroplasticity and excitability in the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex and para-limbic circuitry. Early pinpointing of brain biomarkers and memory function in healthy aging individuals at the pre-dementia stage can supply the empirical basis for their association with the initiation of dementia, particularly Alzheimer’s disease (AD), as opposed to other dementia types or standard cognitive aging. In addition, our Research Topic will highlight event-related brain activity related to sensory processing and executive attention function (event-related potentials - ERPs) in aging people versus people at risk for developing dementia, and versus people with dementia.
The current collection of articles is intended to suggest performance-related brain biomarkers of early accelerated non-salient cognitive decline that could provide clinical outcome measures in the development of novel early treatment interventions to preserve adequate working memory functioning and delay the progression to MC and dementia symptoms.
To expand on the validity and reliability of findings from the literature and recent empirical research data, we welcome submissions on the following, but not limited to, themes:
• Dementia-specific biomarkers in skin cells, blood serum, CSF, and from neuroimaging or neuro-connectivity (PET, fMRI, EEG) as feasible early predictors of later onset of dementia
• One of the main candidate early detection brain-based biomarkers that will be examined in the current collection of articles is "Alpha- suppression" EEG activity as the main candidate early detection brain-based biomarkers.
• Coherent prefrontal "local" and "global" connectivity, particularly in aging people over the age of 50.
Our focus is on identifying a critical subset within subclinical ‘high-risk’ populations, aged 45 to 60, who exhibit non-apparent accelerated cognitive decline but do not show dementia symptoms. In response to findings related to working memory function deterioration in mild cognitive impairment and the vulnerability of prefrontal cortex mechanisms in aging people and in people with dementia, the current Research Topic will discuss plausible early prodromal-dementia predictors revealing abnormal local and global brain activity and working memory performance deficits, related to compromised neuroplasticity and excitability in the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex and para-limbic circuitry. Early pinpointing of brain biomarkers and memory function in healthy aging individuals at the pre-dementia stage can supply the empirical basis for their association with the initiation of dementia, particularly Alzheimer’s disease (AD), as opposed to other dementia types or standard cognitive aging. In addition, our Research Topic will highlight event-related brain activity related to sensory processing and executive attention function (event-related potentials - ERPs) in aging people versus people at risk for developing dementia, and versus people with dementia.
The current collection of articles is intended to suggest performance-related brain biomarkers of early accelerated non-salient cognitive decline that could provide clinical outcome measures in the development of novel early treatment interventions to preserve adequate working memory functioning and delay the progression to MC and dementia symptoms.
To expand on the validity and reliability of findings from the literature and recent empirical research data, we welcome submissions on the following, but not limited to, themes:
• Dementia-specific biomarkers in skin cells, blood serum, CSF, and from neuroimaging or neuro-connectivity (PET, fMRI, EEG) as feasible early predictors of later onset of dementia
• One of the main candidate early detection brain-based biomarkers that will be examined in the current collection of articles is "Alpha- suppression" EEG activity as the main candidate early detection brain-based biomarkers.
• Coherent prefrontal "local" and "global" connectivity, particularly in aging people over the age of 50.
Keywords: Dementia, Neurodegenerative factors, Alzheimer's disease, (AD) Brain biomarkers, Cognitive decline
Important Note: All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.
