Dermatological and immunological conditions due to nerve lesions.
Authors: Bove D, Lupoli A, Caccavale S, Piccolo V, Ruocco E
Abstract
Some syndromes are of interest to both neurologists and dermatologists, because cutaneous involvement may harbinger symptoms of a neurological disease. The aim of this review is to clarify this aspect. The skin, because of its relationships with the peripheral sensory nervous system, autonomic nervous system and central nervous system, constitutes a neuroimmunoendocrine organ. The skin contains numerous neuropeptides released from sensory nerves. Neuropeptides play a precise role in cutaneous physiology and pathophysiology, and in certain...
Source: Functional Neurology - December 2, 2014 Category: Neurology Tags: Funct Neurol Source Type: research
Development of a high-resolution fat and CSF-suppressed optic nerve DTI protocol at 3T: application in multiple sclerosis.
Authors: Samson RS, Kolappan M, Thomas DL, Symms MR, Connick P, Miller DH, Wheeler-Kingshott CA
Abstract
Clinical trials of neuroprotective interventions in multiple sclerosis require outcome measures that reflect the disease pathology. Measures of neuroaxonal integrity in the anterior visual pathways are of particular interest in this context, however imaging of the optic nerve is technically challenging. We therefore developed a 3T optic nerve diffusion tensor imaging protocol incorporating fat and cerebrospinal fluid suppression and without parallel imaging. The sequence used a scheme with six diffusion...
Source: Functional Neurology - December 2, 2014 Category: Neurology Tags: Funct Neurol Source Type: research
Tetrabenazine improves levodopa-induced peak-dose dyskinesias in patients with Parkinson's disease.
Authors: Brusa L, Orlacchio A, Stefani A, Galati S, Pierantozzi M, Iani C, Mercuri NB
Abstract
Since levodopa-induced peak dyskinesias (LIDs) may reflect, in part, a disproportionate phasic release of dopamine from synaptic vesicles, we examined the ability of the vesicular depletor tetrabenazine (TBZ) to reduce LIDs in 10 dyskinetic advanced Parkinson's disease (PD) patients. After basal evaluation, the patients received, through a slow titration, oral TBZ twice a day for six weeks (up to 50 mg daily) before being re-assessed after a challenge with levodopa. The primary outcome measure was the change in t...
Source: Functional Neurology - December 2, 2014 Category: Neurology Tags: Funct Neurol Source Type: research
Non-genetic factors associated with the risk of Parkinson's disease in Iranian patients.
In conclusion, coffee and tea consumption may exert a protective effect against PD, while evening work and stress may be risk factors for the development of the disease.
PMID: 24125560 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE] (Source: Functional Neurology)
Source: Functional Neurology - December 2, 2014 Category: Neurology Tags: Funct Neurol Source Type: research
Depression, pain and quality of life in patients with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis: a cross-sectional study.
Authors: Pizzimenti A, Aragona M, Onesti E, Inghilleri M
Abstract
The complications related to amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) include pain. A higher risk of depression and a negative effect on quality of life (QoL) might be expected in ALS patients with pain. The aims of this study were to evaluate the prevalence of pain in ALS patients, to compare measures of depression and QoL in patients with and without pain, and to study the influence of depression scores and pain on the QoL of ALS patients with pain. Forty ALS patients were enrolled, and 36 were included in the analysis. Seventy-two percent of p...
Source: Functional Neurology - December 2, 2014 Category: Neurology Tags: Funct Neurol Source Type: research
Psychometric properties of the Italian version of the Scales for Outcomes in Parkinson's disease- Cognition (SCOPA-Cog).
Authors: Isella V, Mapelli C, Morielli N, De Gaspari D, Siri C, Pezzoli G, Antonini A, Poletti M, Bonuccelli U, Picchi L, Napolitano A, Vista M, Veglia M, Piamarta F, Grassi F, Appollonio IM
Abstract
The Scales for Outcomes in Parkinson's disease-Cognition (SCOPA-Cog) has been shown to be a clinimetrically rigorous and valid instrument for a disease-oriented neuropsychological assessment of Parkinson's disease (PD) patients. In the present study we evaluated the psychometric properties of the Italian version of the SCOPA-Cog in 121 PD patients. The scale explores memory, attention, and executive and visuos...
Source: Functional Neurology - December 2, 2014 Category: Neurology Tags: Funct Neurol Source Type: research
A rare association of early-onset inclusion body myositis, rheumatoid arthritis and autoimmune thyroiditis: a case report and literature review.
Authors: Clerici AM, Bono G, Delodovici ML, Azan G, Cafasso G, Micieli G
Abstract
Sporadic inclusion body myositis (sIBM) is a slowly progressive, red-rimmed vacuolar myopathy leading to muscular atrophy and progressive weakness; it predominantly affects males older than fifty years, and is resistant to immunotherapy. It has been described in association with immuno-mediated thrombocytopenic purpura, multiple sclerosis, connective tissue disorders and, occasionally, rheumatoid arthritis. A 37-year-old man with longstanding rheumatoid arthritis and autoimmune thyroiditis with hypothyroidism was referred to ...
Source: Functional Neurology - December 2, 2014 Category: Neurology Tags: Funct Neurol Source Type: research
Pure akinesia: a kinematic analysis in a case responsive to rotigotine.
Authors: Di Fabio R, Serrao M, Pierelli F, Fragiotta G, Sandrini G
Abstract
A patient with pure akinesia is described. This rare gait disorder, poorly responsive to therapy, is characterized by gait impairment which may be associated with handwriting and speech difficulties, in the absence of further signs of extrapyramidal involvement. Here, we report the improvement in a patient suffering from pure akinesia after low doses of rotigotine, a non-ergolinic dopamine agonist, detailing the kinematic analysis before and after the treatment. After therapy, an improvement in all of the gait parameters, particula...
Source: Functional Neurology - December 2, 2014 Category: Neurology Tags: Funct Neurol Source Type: research
Foreword.
Authors: D'Angelo E
PMID: 24139649 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE] (Source: Functional Neurology)
Source: Functional Neurology - December 2, 2014 Category: Neurology Tags: Funct Neurol Source Type: research
The XXIV Ottorino Rossi Award. Henry Markram.
Authors:
PMID: 24139650 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE] (Source: Functional Neurology)
Source: Functional Neurology - December 2, 2014 Category: Neurology Tags: Funct Neurol Source Type: research
Seven challenges for neuroscience.
Authors: Markram H
Abstract
Although twenty-first century neuroscience is a major scientific enterprise, advances in basic research have not yet translated into benefits for society. In this paper, I outline seven fundamental challenges that need to be overcome. First, neuroscience has to become "big science" - we need big teams with the resources and competences to tackle the big problems. Second, we need to create interlinked sets of data providing a complete picture of single areas of the brain at their different levels of organization with "rungs" linking the descriptions for humans and other species. ...
Source: Functional Neurology - December 2, 2014 Category: Neurology Tags: Funct Neurol Source Type: research
Realistic modeling of neurons and networks: towards brain simulation.
Authors: D'Angelo E, Solinas S, Garrido J, Casellato C, Pedrocchi A, Mapelli J, Gandolfi D, Prestori F
Abstract
Realistic modeling is a new advanced methodology for investigating brain functions. Realistic modeling is based on a detailed biophysical description of neurons and synapses, which can be integrated into microcircuits. The latter can, in turn, be further integrated to form large-scale brain networks and eventually to reconstruct complex brain systems. Here we provide a review of the realistic simulation strategy and use the cerebellar network as an example. This network has been carefully investi...
Source: Functional Neurology - December 2, 2014 Category: Neurology Tags: Funct Neurol Source Type: research
The connectomics challenge.
Authors: Silvestri L, Sacconi L, Pavone FS
Abstract
One of the most fascinating challenges in neuroscience is the reconstruction of the connectivity map of the brain. Recent years have seen a rapid expansion in the field of connectomics, whose aim is to trace this map and understand its relationship with neural computation. Many different approaches, ranging from electron and optical microscopy to magnetic resonance imaging, have been proposed to address the connectomics challenge on various spatial scales and in different species. Here, we review the main technological advances in the microscopy technique...
Source: Functional Neurology - December 2, 2014 Category: Neurology Tags: Funct Neurol Source Type: research
Brain investigation and brain conceptualization.
Authors: Redolfi A, Bosco P, Manset D, Frisoni GB, neuGRID consortium
Abstract
The brain of a patient with Alzheimer's disease (AD) undergoes changes starting many years before the development of the first clinical symptoms. The recent availability of large prospective datasets makes it possible to create sophisticated brain models of healthy subjects and patients with AD, showing pathophysiological changes occurring over time. However, these models are still inadequate; representations are mainly single-scale and they do not account for the complexity and interdependence of brain changes. Brain changes in...
Source: Functional Neurology - December 2, 2014 Category: Neurology Tags: Funct Neurol Source Type: research
The Human Brain Project and neuromorphic computing.
Authors: Calimera A, Macii E, Poncino M
Abstract
Understanding how the brain manages billions of processing units connected via kilometers of fibers and trillions of synapses, while consuming a few tens of Watts could provide the key to a completely new category of hardware (neuromorphic computing systems). In order to achieve this, a paradigm shift for computing as a whole is needed, which will see it moving away from current "bit precise" computing models and towards new techniques that exploit the stochastic behavior of simple, reliable, very fast, lowpower computing devices embedded in intensely recurs...
Source: Functional Neurology - December 2, 2014 Category: Neurology Tags: Funct Neurol Source Type: research
