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Dementia

Vascular and neurodegenerative pathways—will they meet?

Vascular and neurodegenerative pathologies are known to co-occur in Alzheimer disease, and were recently proposed to drive progression to dementia through independent pathways. A new study provides evidence in support of this hypothesis, by showing dissociation between the pathologies and regional brain metabolism. But might the two pathways converge?

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Figure 1: Vascular and neurodegenerative pathways to dementia.

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Acknowledgements

The authors are supported by Alzheimer's Research UK, the Newcastle National Institute for Health Research Biomedical Research Centre in Ageing and Age Related Diseases, Newcastle upon Tyne Hospitals, NHS Foundation Trust, and the RCUK Newcastle Centre for Brain Ageing and Vitality, Medical Research Council (UK).

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Correspondence to Raj N. Kalaria.

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The authors declare no competing financial interests.

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Kalaria, R., Ihara, M. Vascular and neurodegenerative pathways—will they meet?. Nat Rev Neurol 9, 487–488 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1038/nrneurol.2013.164

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