About this Research Topic
Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is the most common devastating dementia and neurodegenerative disease in the elderly. The importance of diagnosing AD in its early stage is paramount to the aging population as the pathology is irreversible. Mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and subjective cognitive decline (SCD) are considered the primary clinical manifestations of AD and other neurodegenerative dementias. However, precise detection of SCD, MCI, AD, and other neurodegenerative dementias in an early phase is still challenging in daily clinical practice.
Moreover, changes in molecular characterizations, such as glucose metabolism, common or distinctive biomarkers such as Amyloid-Beta, and Tau protein are associated with the pathology of AD, whereas Alpha-Synuclein is proven to be related to Parkinson’s disease (PD) and other neurodegenerative dementias.
For instance, it is possible to apply molecular imaging techniques, such as fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG), AV45, and AV1451 to detect the early phase of SCD, MCI, AD, PD, and other neurodegenerative dementias. These techniques may also help to predict the time frame of disease progression from SCD or MCI into neurodegenerative dementias.
Bioinformatics research has developed thanks to the recent advancements in Artificial Intelligence (AI), which has become a powerful tool for different applications for example in the generation of diagnosis, progression and severity scores as measurable features allowing a further understanding describing the clinical situation.
As an interdisciplinary field of science and technology, it aims to develop methods, tools, and software to improve our understanding of biological data. Nowadays, researchers are facing difficulties in choosing the best method that could be reflected in a specific dataset in a comprehensible fashion, annotated with context, estimates of accuracy, and explanation.
This Research Topic aims to bring a multidisciplinary perspective and updated insight into the most recent advances in dementia and neurodegenerative disorders. Reviews and original articles are welcome.
We welcome subtopics addressing, but not limited to:
- Application of bioinformatics and computational biology in big data mining that analyzes a specific database or medical records system to investigate AD, PD, and other neurodegenerative dementias
- Clinical application of novel molecular imaging techniques for AD, PD, and other neurodegenerative dementias detection in its early stage
- Innovative experimental research of emerging interest in AD, PD, and other neurodegenerative dementias involving novel distinctive biomarkers using cellular, molecular approaches, and animal models
- Novel molecular imaging analysis methods based on AI to detect and predict the progression from SCD or MCI into AD, PD, and other neurodegenerative dementias
Keywords: Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease, Dementia, neurodegenerative disorders, big data mining, imaging methods, bioinformatic applications
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.