Influence of sports on cortical excitability in patients with spinal cord injury: a TMS study.

Background: Patients with spinal cord injury (SCI) show abnormal cortical excitability that might be caused by deafferentation. We hypothesize a reduced short-interval intracortical inhibition preceding movement in patients with SCI compared with healthy participants. In addition, we expect that neuroplasticity induced by different types of sports can modulate intracortical inhibition during movement preparation in patients with SCI.

The vascular locked-in and locked-in-plus syndrome: A retrospective case series.

The locked-in syndrome (LiS) is defined as the loss of most voluntary muscle movements with preserved cognitive abilities due to a ventral pontine lesion. However, some patients may also have severe impairment of consciousness [locked-in plus syndrome (LiPS)]. Here we aimed to explore structural differences between LiS and LiPS patients of vascular aetiology, focusing on lesion patterns and locations to better delineate the clinical spectrum of LiS and LiPS.

Vitamin D deficiency promoting non-24 h sleep-wake disorder: a case report.

We report a case of an emmetropic woman with excessive daytime sleepiness in alternation with insomnia consistent with the diagnosis criteria of a non-24 h sleep-wake disorder. After being refractory to the usual non-pharmacologic and pharmacologic treatment, we detected a deficiency of vitamin B12, vitamin D3, and folic acid. Substitution of these treatments led to a return of a 24 h sleep-wake rhythm though this remained independent from the external light-dark cycle.

Spontaneous spinal cord infarction in Austria: a two-center comparative study.

Background: Spinal cord infarction (SCI) is a neurological emergency associated with high rates of persistent neurological deficits. Knowledge about this rare but potentially treatable condition needs to be expanded.

Objective: To describe the characteristics of spontaneous SCI in a large retrospective series of patients treated at two tertiary care centers in Austria.

Visuomotor integration in early Alzheimer's disease: A TMS study.

Background And Purpose: Cortical visuomotor integration is altered in Alzheimer's disease (AD), even at an early stage of the disease. The aim of this study was to assess the connections between the primary visual (V1) and motor (M1) areas in patients with early AD using a paired-pulse, twin-coil transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) technique.

Methods: Visuomotor connections (VMCs) were assessed in 13 subjects with probable AD and 16 healthy control subjects.

Narrative Review: Quantitative EEG in Disorders of Consciousness.

In this narrative review, we focus on the role of quantitative EEG technology in the diagnosis and prognosis of patients with unresponsive wakefulness syndrome and minimally conscious state. This paper is divided into two main parts, i.e.

Systematic review of cases of acute myelitis in individuals with COVID-19.

Background And Purpose: An incremental number of cases of acute transverse myelitis (ATM) in individuals with ongoing or recent coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) have been reported.

Methods: A systematic review was performed of cases of ATM described in the context of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection by screening both articles published and in preprint.

Results: Twenty cases were identified.

Connectivity Analysis during Rubber Hand Illusion-A Pilot TMS-EEG Study in a Patient with SCI.

Background: Bodily self-perception is an important concept for several neurological disorders, including spinal cord injury (SCI). Changing one's bodily self-perception, e.g.

Actigraphy in brain-injured patients - A valid measurement for assessing circadian rhythms?

Background: Actigraphy has received increasing attention in classifying rest-activity cycles. However, in patients with disorders of consciousness (DOC), actigraphy data may be considerably confounded by passive movements, such as nursing activities and therapies. Consequently, this study verified whether circadian rhythmicity is (still) visible in actigraphy data from patients with DOC after correcting for passive movements.

Life-threatening vitamin D intoxication due to intake of ultra-high doses in multiple sclerosis: A note of caution.

Knowledge about complications of chronic ultra-high dose vitamin D supplementation is limited. We report a patient with primary progressive multiple sclerosis (MS) who presented with generalized weakness caused by hypercalcemia after uncontrolled intake of more than 50,000 IU of cholecalciferol per day over several months. Various treatment strategies were required to achieve normocalcemia.

Cholinergic neurotransmission and olfactory function in obstructive sleep apnea syndrome: a TMS study.

Background/objective: Odor identification and discrimination are reduced in subjects with obstructive sleep apnea syndrome (OSAS), but the pathophysiology of the olfactory dysfunction in OSAS is still poorly understood. Experimental evidence suggests that olfactory impairment could be related to central cholinergic dysfunction. Short latency afferent inhibition (SAI) is a paired-pulse transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) protocol that gives the opportunity to test an inhibitory cholinergic circuit in the human cerebral motor cortex.

Delayed Hospital Presentation and Neuroimaging in Non-surgical Spinal Cord Infarction.

Background: Lack of timely recognition and neuroimaging may be a barrier to reperfusion efforts in acute spinal cord infarction.

Methods: We performed a retrospective study of patients diagnosed with acute non-surgical spinal cord infarction at our tertiary academic center from 2001 to 2015. We studied parameters associated with time from symptom onset to initial hospital presentation and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of the spinal cord.

Cortical afferent inhibition reflects cognitive impairment in obstructive sleep apnea syndrome: a TMS study.

Objectives: Patients with obstructive sleep apnea syndrome (OSAS) show neurocognitive impairment, but the exact mechanisms that cause cognitive dysfunctions remain unknown. The cholinergic system is known to play a key role in all attentional processes and cognitive functions. A transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) protocol may give direct information about the function of some cholinergic circuits in the human brain; this technique relies on short latency afferent inhibition (SAI) of the motor cortex.

Dopamine differently modulates central cholinergic circuits in patients with Alzheimer disease and CADASIL.

Short-latency afferent inhibition (SAI) technique gives the opportunity to non-invasively test an inhibitory circuit in the human cerebral motor cortex that depends mainly on central cholinergic activity. Important SAI abnormalities have been reported in both patients with Alzheimer disease (AD) and cerebral autosomal dominant arteriopathy with subcortical infarcts and leukoencephalopathy (CADASIL), a model of "pure" vascular dementia (VD). Interestingly, a normalization of SAI was observed in AD after levo-dopa (L-dopa) administration.

Enhancing sleep quality and memory in insomnia using instrumental sensorimotor rhythm conditioning.

EEG recordings over the sensorimotor cortex show a prominent oscillatory pattern in a frequency range between 12 and 15 Hz (sensorimotor rhythm, SMR) under quiet but alert wakefulness. This frequency range is also abundant during sleep, and overlaps with the sleep spindle frequency band. In the present pilot study we tested whether instrumental conditioning of SMR during wakefulness can enhance sleep and cognitive performance in insomnia.

Usability and potential of geostatistics for spatial discrimination of multiple sclerosis lesion patterns.

Background And Purpose: In multiple sclerosis (MS) the individual disease courses are very heterogeneous among patients and biomarkers for setting the diagnosis and the estimation of the prognosis for individual patients would be very helpful. For this purpose, we are developing a multidisciplinary method and workflow for the quantitative, spatial, and spatiotemporal analysis and characterization of MS lesion patterns from MRI with geostatistics.

Methods: We worked on a small data set involving three synthetic and three real-world MS lesion patterns, covering a wide range of possible MS lesion configurations.

Biomarkers of inflammation and endothelial dysfunction in stroke with and without sleep apnea.

Objective: Although sleep apnea (SA) is a risk factor for ischemic stroke and an important prognostic factor in affected patients, the exact pathophysiological link between SA and stroke is unknown. We investigated whether the plasma concentration of biomarkers of inflammation and endothelial dysfunction, including soluble tumor necrosis factor receptor-1 and -2 (sTNF-R1 and sTNF-R2), tumor necrosis factor-β (TNF-β), soluble intercellular cell adhesion molecule-1 (sICAM-1) and soluble vascular cell adhesion molecule-1 (sVCAM-1) are increased in patients with acute stroke and SA compared with stroke patients without SA.

Design/methods: In total, 76 patients with ischemic stroke admitted to the stroke unit were included in this study.

Modulation of motor cortex excitability by different levels of whole-hand afferent electrical stimulation.

Objective: In a previous transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) study we demonstrated that suprathreshold mesh-glove (MG) whole-hand stimulation elicits lasting changes in motor cortical excitability. Currently, there is no consensus with regard to the optimal parameters for the induction of sensorimotor cortical plasticity using peripheral electrical stimulation. Thus, in the present study we explore the modulatory effects of MG stimulation at different stimulus intensities and different frequencies in order to identify an optimal stimulation protocol.

Current endovascular treatment of acute stroke and future aspects.

Acute ischemic stroke remains a condition of high morbidity and mortality. Until now, the only established therapy has been intravenous (IV) tissue-type plasminogen activator (tPA). Only 3-10% of patients with acute ischemic stroke receive this treatment.