Jordi Juncà-Parella

• Master of Science
• Hospital Clínic de Barcelona

INTRODUCTION We aimed to determine whether cognitively unimpaired (CU) amyloid‐ beta‐positive (Aβ+) individuals display decreased practice effects on serial neuropsychological testing. METHODS We included 209 CU participants from three research centers, 157 Aβ− controls and 52 Aβ+ individuals. Participants underwent neuropsychological assessment a...

Objectives Frontotemporal dementia (FTD) usually shows more asymmetric atrophy patterns than Alzheimer’s disease (AD). We aim to quantify this asymmetry to differentiate FTD, AD, and FTD subtypes. Methods We studied T1-MRI scans, including FTD (different phenotypes), AD, and healthy controls (CTR). We defined the Cortical Asymmetry Index (CAI) usi...

Plasma tau phosphorylated at threonine 181 (p-tau181) and 217 (p-tau217) have demonstrated high accuracy for Alzheimer’s disease (AD) diagnosis, defined by CSF/PET amyloid beta (Aβ) positivity, but most studies have been performed in research cohorts, limiting their generalizability. We studied plasma p-tau217 and p-tau181 for CSF Aβ status discrim...

Background Alzheimer's disease (AD) features a complex interplay of factors influencing cognitive decline. While CSF and plasma biomarkers have widely demonstrated their diagnostic utility, whether they may add prognostic value remains unrevealed. With this longitudinal study we aim to address this knowledge gap by evaluating the predictive value o...

Background Practice effects are a well‐known cognitive phenomenon that is reduced in patients with Alzheimer’s disease (AD). We aimed to investigate whether cognitively unimpaired (CU) individuals within the Alzheimer’s continuum (i.e., positive amyloid‐β biomarker) display decreased practice effects on serial neuropsychological testing. Methods W...

Background and objectives: Pathogenic variants in the GRN gene cause frontotemporal dementia (FTD-GRN) with marked brain asymmetry. This study aims to assess whether the disease progression of FTD-GRN depends on the initial side of the atrophy. We also investigated the potential use of brain asymmetry as a biomarker of the disease. Methods: Retr...

Background: Frontotemporal dementia (FTD) patients usually show more asymmetric atrophy patterns than Alzheimer’s Disease (AD) patients. Here, we define the individual Cortical Asymmetry Index (CAI) and explore its diagnostic utility. Methods: We collected structural T1-MRI scans from 554 participants, including FTD (different phenotypes), AD, and...

Plasma biomarkers have emerged as promising tools for identifying amyloid beta (Aβ) pathology. Before implementation in routine clinical practice, confounding factors modifying their concentration beyond neurodegenerative diseases should be identified. We studied the association of a comprehensive list of demographics, comorbidities, medication and...

Background Little is known about the influence of age at onset (AAO) on plasma biomarkers and their use as prognostic biomarkers in Alzheimer’s disease (AD). Method We selected patients with AD diagnosis with available neuropsychological testing (NPS) at time of diagnosis and two years later, and plasma biomarkers at baseline. NPS battery included...

Background Plasma Neurofilament light chain (pNfL) is a promising biomarker to discriminate Frontotemporal dementia (FTD) from other diagnoses such as Alzheimer’s disease (AD) or psychiatric disorders. Currently, the diagnostic criteria for FTD syndromes are structured hierarchically into “Possible”, “Probable” and “Definite” levels depending on th...

Background One of the clinical problems for biomarkers' clinical use is the ability to differentiate between Alzheimer’s disease (AD), frontotemporal dementia (FTD), and healthy subjects (CTR). This clearly challenges diagnosis and prognosis. We implemented a ML algorithm that provides individual probabilistic diagnoses for these dementias based on...

Background The diagnosis of early‐onset neurodegenerative dementias (<65 years) can represent a challenge due to their lower frequency respect to late‐onset dementias and atypical forms of presentation. Cognitive impairment has emerged as a frequent complaint after COVID‐19 infection. Method We retrospectively reviewed (2016‐2021) the demographic...

Background The application of blood‐based biomarkers for the identification of Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and the development of novel digital technologies as cognitive screening tests are critical to moving toward a reliable, more accessible early diagnosis. Our aim was to evaluate the diagnostic performance of a machine learning‐based cognitive ass...

Background Blood‐based biomarkers have recently emerged as minimally‐invasive, accessible and relatively inexpensive diagnostic and prognostic tools for people with cognitive impairment. Before being routinely implemented in clinical practice, the diagnostic performance of distinct commercially available assays should be studied in real‐world cohor...

INTRODUCTION Neuroinflammation is a major contributor to the progression of frontotemporal dementia (FTD). Galectin‐3 (Gal‐3), a microglial activation regulator, holds promise as a therapeutic target and potential biomarker. Our study aimed to investigate Gal‐3 levels in patients with FTD and assess its diagnostic potential. METHODS We examined Ga...

Background and objective Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and frontotemporal dementia (FTD) show different patterns of cortical thickness (CTh) loss compared with healthy controls (HC), even though there is relevant heterogeneity between individuals suffering from each of these diseases. Thus, we developed CTh models to study individual variability in AD,...

Background Neuroimaging and fluid biomarkers are used in clinics to differentiate frontotemporal dementia (FTD) from Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and other neurodegenerative and non-neurodegenerative disorders. We implemented a machine learning (ML) algorithm that provides individual probabilistic scores for these patients based on magnetic resonance i...

Background In healthy ageing, there is evidence of sex differences in vulnerability of hippocampal subfields to volume loss. However, this has not been investigated in early‐onset Alzheimer’s disease (<65 years; EOAD). Method We included 106 subjects: 62 EOAD (A+T+N+, MMSE>15) and 44 healthy controls (HC; A‐T‐N‐) that underwent lumbar puncture for...

Background Currently used biomarkers for the differential diagnosis of cognitive impairment are expensive and/or relatively invasive, limiting their availability to the general population. Blood protein biomarkers have showed promising results for screening, differential diagnosis, and prognosis. We aimed to study the diagnostic performance of plas...

Alzheimer's disease (AD) and frontotemporal dementia (FTD) are common causes of dementia with partly overlapping, symptoms and brain signatures. There is a need to establish an accurate diagnosis and to obtain markers for disease tracking. We combined unsupervised and supervised machine learning to discriminate between AD and FTD using brain magnet...

Background and Objectives Blood-based biomarkers have emerged as minimally-invasive options for evaluating cognitive impairment. Most studies to date have assessed them in research cohorts, limiting their generalization to everyday clinical practice. We evaluated their diagnostic performance and clinical applicability in a prospective, real-world,...

Background and objectivesThe C9orf72 expansion is the most common genetic cause of frontotemporal dementia (FTD) and/or motor neuron disease (MND). Corticospinal degeneration has been described in post-mortem neuropathological studies in these patients, especially in those with MND. We used MRI to analyze white matter (WM) volumes in presymptomatic...

Objectives: Early- and late-onset Alzheimer's disease (EOAD and LOAD) share the same neuropathological traits but show distinct cognitive features. We aimed to explore baseline and longitudinal outcomes of global and domain-specific cognitive function in a well characterized cohort of patients with a biomarker-based diagnosis. Methods: In this r...

Introduction: Sex is believed to drive heterogeneity in Alzheimer's disease (AD), although evidence in early-onset AD (<65 years, EOAD) is scarce. Methods: We included 62 EOAD patients and 44 healthy controls (HC) with cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) AD's core biomarkers and neurofilament light chain levels, neuropsychological assessment, and 3T-MRI....

Background Diagnostic accuracy for the early detection of mild cognitive impairment (MCI) is critical both in the clinical and research settings. Our aim was to evaluate the diagnostic performance of the ALTOIDA‐iADL test in subjects with non‐degenerative MCI and prodromal (pAD) and mild (mAD) Alzheimer's disease. Methods ALTOIDA‐iADL is a 10‐minu...

Background The amyloid deposition (A) in the 2018 ATN classification of Alzheimer disease can be assessed by CSF Aβ 1‐42 or amyloid PET. Although the agreement between them is high, it is not exact. Method We selected patients from the Alzheimer’s disease and other cognitive disorders Unit at Hospital Clínic of Barcelona with available amyloid PET...

Background: The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and related care policies have affected dementia patients. The characteristics of early-onset dementia (EOD, <65 years) patients in 2020 may provide insights on how to rearrange the provision of care. Method: We retrospectively reviewed, from 2016 to 2020, the demographic and clinical data of the new ref...

Background Early‐onset dementia (EOD; <65 years) raises both diagnostic and social/health care challenges. Services for dementia are often designed for the elderly and might have difficulties supplying EOD needs. Clinical and epidemiological data are needed for care planning. Method We aim to describe the demographic and the clinical characteristi...

Background Early‐onset Alzheimer’s disease (EOAD, onset before 65 years), is the most common early‐onset neurodegenerative dementia. However, it still represents a diagnostic challenge especially when compared with late‐onset Alzheimer’s disease (LOAD). Our aim was to describe and compare the neuropsychological presentation at diagnosis and its pro...

Background Changes in functional connectivity (FC) networks have been extensively reported in late onset Alzheimer’s Disease (AD), being the default mode network (DMN) the key system to be affected. However, it remains unclear if FC in early‐onset AD (EOAD) would show a similar pattern than late onset AD. Method We studied 48 EOAD patients (mean a...