[Eeglablist] Frontiers in Aging Neuroscience Research Topic

[Christos Frantzidis]

Do not miss the opportunity to contribute to the Frontiers in Aging
Neuroscience Research Topic entitled as "Brain Networks for Studying
Healthy and Pathological Aging Mechanisms and Intervention Efficacy".

Abstract submission deadline is 30, November 2016.
Manuscript submission deadline is 15, March 2017

Previous studies showed that both healthy and pathological aging are
associated with changes in brain structure and function of the mature human
brain. The most prominent anatomical alteration are changes in prefrontal
cortex morphology, volume loss and reduced white-matter integrity and
hippocampal atrophy. Cognitive decline affects mainly the performance of
episodic memory, speed of sensory information processing, working memory,
inhibitory function and long-term memory. It has been also proposed that
due to the aforementioned changes the aging brain engages in compensatory
brain mechanism such as a broader activation of cortical regions (mainly
frontal) rather than specialized activation. Evidence suggests that similar
changes occur with pathological aging but to a greater extent. In this case
information flow is disrupted due to neurodegeneration, functional
activation of posterior (occipito-temporal) regions is decreased and as a
consequence the brain fails to process sensorial input in the ventral
pathway and cognitive deficits appear.

In the last years, functional alterations associated with aging have been
studied using the mathematical notion of graph theory that offers an
integrative approach since it examines different properties of the brain
network: 1) Organization level 2) amount of local information processing,
3) information flow 4) cortical community structure and 5) identification
of functional / anatomical hubs. So, graph theory offers an attractive way
to model brain networks organization and to quantify their pathological
deviations.

Previous studies have already employed this mathematical notion and
demonstrated that age-related neurodegeneration is often accompanied by
loss of optimal network organization either due to diminished local
information processing or due to progressive isolation of distant brain
regions. They have also found that changes in network properties may be
present even in the preclinical phase, which could be taken as a biological
marker of disease.

Despite the great envisaged impact and the importance of such studies,
there is scarce research aiming to quantify whether still great lack of
literature aiming to quantify whether the decrease of network performance
with age follows a linear trajectory. In this sense, an outstanding
question is whether this trajectory could be changed via non-invasive
intervention such as cognitive and physical training, which are thought to
induce brain plasticity changes. The present research topic aims at hosting
studies that propose new brain network models, or validate existing ones
for healthy and pathological aging and studies that test or propose
contemporary techniques derived from graph theory or other methods, to
assess the efficacy of non-pharmacological interventions in aging or
age-related neurodegenerative disorders Therefore, we welcome studies that
answer fundamental neuroscientific questions like (but not limited to) the
following:
1. Is there a linear decrease of brain network performance across the life
span?
2. What are the age-related changes in the brain (hubs) and how these
changes may be related to pathological neurodegeneration?
3. How can we detect/quantify compensatory mechanisms through brain network
properties?
4. How do we establish evaluation models for quantifying the impact of
interventions in terms of brain network properties?
5. What is the optimal identification of network states and how do they
evolve during aging?

Keywords: Brain Networks, Neurodegeneration, Life-span, Non-pharmacological
intervention, Training evaluation, Functional organization
Dr. Christos A. Frantzidis
http://journal.frontiersin.org/researchtopic/4917/brain-networks-for-studying-healthy-and-pathological-aging-mechanisms-and-intervention-efficacy
Laboratory of Medical Physics, Medical School
Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
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