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A new study on dementia prevalence in Latin America has found a stronger effect of social determinants of health than ancestry effects specific to this region, highlighting the need for interventions involving lifestyle changes, healthcare access and education.
Concentrations of TDP-43 and tau in extracellular vesicles extracted from blood show potential as biomarkers for frontotemporal dementia, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis and progressive supranuclear palsy.
Immunological profiling has revealed biological signatures of multiple sclerosis (MS) that could help with early, accurate diagnosis of the disease and with identifying disease subtypes that could inform treatment decisions. The findings are important steps along the path towards precision medicine for people with MS.
Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) differs considerably in prevalence and manifestation between sexes. This Review summarizes sexual dimorphism in the epidemiology, clinical presentation and disease mechanisms of ALS and explores the role of brain–body interactions in driving sex-dependent pathogenesis.
Spinal cord stimulation is seen as a last-resort therapy for the treatment of chronic pain. Controversies surrounding the treatment might be addressed through collaborative efforts to conduct innovative clinical trials and reach consensus on treatment guidelines.
Similar to any innovation that disrupts the status quo, the advent of magnetic resonance-guided focused ultrasound in neurology was accompanied by controversy and debate. However, evidence suggests that this therapeutic tool, which is already widely used to treat tremor and Parkinson disease, is gaining acceptance and will become a viable therapeutic option for various other neurological conditions in the near future.
Advanced sensory feedback from upper limb prostheses would provide multiple benefits to people with upper limb amputations, but achieving functional and natural-feeling sensation is technologically challenging. Advances are being made with invasive and non-invasive stimulation approaches, but considerable challenges need to be addressed with technological innovation.
Neuromodulation represents a promising approach for promoting neural plasticity following a brain injury, especially for non-communicative patients with prolonged disorders of consciousness. However, so far, the outcomes have been limited and inconsistent, driving researchers to explore alternative strategies to improve the efficacy of brain stimulation techniques.
A non-invasive technique using transcranial electrical stimulation offers an improvement in focality over other non-invasive techniques, presenting an opportunity to target deep brain structures for the treatment of neurological disorders.
The use of non-invasive brain stimulation techniques to treat mild cognitive impairment and dementia in Alzheimer disease is expanding. Trials have produced varying results depending on the differing stimulation techniques, targeted brain regions and degrees of cognitive impairment among the treated cohorts.
The 10th Congress of the European Academy of Neurology is being held in Helsinki, Finland from 29 June to 2 July 2024, and Nature Reviews Neurology is publishing a series of Comments on the overarching theme, neuromodulation. We asked Programme Committee Chairs Ulf Kallweit and Reetta Kälviäinen about their roles and their expectations for the congress.
Apolipoprotein E (APOE) is the greatest genetic modulator of sporadic Alzheimer disease risk. This Review provides a comprehensive update on our current knowledge of the genetics of APOE and its role in Alzheimer and other neurodegenerative diseases, and summarizes emerging APOE-targeted therapies designed to prevent or slow down Alzheimer disease.
Overall survival rates for traumatic brain injury have improved, but affected individuals often experience persistent and debilitating long-term complications. In this Review, the authors discuss recent evidence for the role of spreading depolarization in the initiation of long-term pathology in traumatic brain injury, including effects on blood–brain barrier dysfunction and neuroinflammation.
Anti-amyloid treatments for early symptomatic Alzheimer disease have greatly increased the need for biomarker confirmation of amyloid pathology and blood biomarker tests offer an accessible and scalable biomarker test. This Consensus Statement provides recommendations for the minimum acceptable performance of blood biomarker tests for clinical use.
Blood-based biomarkers have the potential to transform the Alzheimer disease diagnostic pathway, but many questions remain regarding their implementation and utilization. This Review considers factors that might affect the interpretation of blood-based biomarker tests, including comorbidities, sex and race or ethnicity, and discusses broader issues surrounding their use at the population level.
