Research summary
The Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA) was developed as a 10-minute cognitive screening tool to assist first-line physicians in detecting mild cognitive impairment, validated against 94 MCI patients, 93 patients with mild Alzheimer's disease, and 90 healthy elderly controls to establish sensitivity, specificity, and a cutoff score of 26 [1]. The Neuropsychiatric Inventory (NPI) was developed to assess 10 behavioral disturbances in dementia (delusions, hallucinations, dysphoria, anxiety, agitation/aggression, euphoria, disinhibition, irritability/lability, apathy, aberrant motor activity), using a screening strategy with frequency and severity scoring to minimize administration time and to support caregiver-informant assessment in clinical trials and routine practice [2]. Consensus criteria for frontotemporal lobar degeneration covering frontotemporal dementia, progressive nonfluent aphasia, and semantic dementia were developed by an international workshop, building on earlier published clinical diagnostic guidelines and improving clinical recognition and research-cohort definition [3]. NINDS-AIREN criteria for vascular dementia were developed at an international workshop to provide reliable, valid, and clinically applicable diagnostic criteria for both clinical practice and research [4]. Clinical diagnostic criteria for dementia associated with Parkinson's disease (PD-D) were developed by a Movement Disorder Society Task Force through systematic literature review, addressing the previous lack of specific criteria for this common feature of PD in older patients [5]. A review of frontal-subcortical circuits demonstrated the utility of these anatomical circuits in explaining a wide range of human behavioral disorders, drawing on case reports of degenerative and focal-lesion patients to link circuit dysfunction to specific neuropsychiatric syndromes [6]. An evidence-based practice parameter for early detection of dementia and mild cognitive impairment in elderly general and specialty practice patients was developed by the American Academy of Neurology, using systematic review to inform screening recommendations [7].
Recent publications
- The Montreal Cognitive Assessment, MoCA: A Brief Screening Tool For Mild Cognitive ImpairmentDOI
- The Neuropsychiatric InventoryDOI
- Frontotemporal lobar degenerationDOI
- Vascular dementiaDOI
- Research criteria for the diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease: revising the NINCDS鈥揂DRDA criteriaDOI
- Mild cognitive impairmentDOI
- Advancing research diagnostic criteria for Alzheimer's disease: the IWG-2 criteriaDOI
- Clinical diagnostic criteria for dementia associated with Parkinson's diseaseDOI
- Frontal-Subcortical Circuits and Human BehaviorDOI
- Practice parameter: Early detection of dementia: Mild cognitive impairment (an evidence-based review) [RETIRED]DOI
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Email Jeffrey L. Cummings 6-12 months before your application deadline. Read several recent papers and reference specific work in your message. Use our how to email a Japanese professor guide for the proven email structure.
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External profiles
- ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8944-4158
- OpenAlex: openalex.org
Profile compiled from public sources (Researchmap, OpenAlex, Hiroshima University faculty directory). Last refreshed 2026-05. Report incorrect information.