Overlapping and distinct phenotypic profiles in Alzheimer's disease and late onset epilepsy: a biologically-based approach.

Due to shared hippocampal dysfunction, patients with Alzheimer's dementia and late-onset epilepsy (LOE) report memory decline. Multiple studies have described the epidemiological, pathological, neurophysiological, and behavioral overlap between Alzheimer's Disease and LOE, implying a bi-directional relationship. We describe the neurobiological decline occurring at different spatial in AD and LOE patients, which may explain why their phenotypes overlap and differ.

A consensus statement on detection of hippocampal sharp wave ripples and differentiation from other fast oscillations.

Decades of rodent research have established the role of hippocampal sharp wave ripples (SPW-Rs) in consolidating and guiding experience. More recently, intracranial recordings in humans have suggested their role in episodic and semantic memory. Yet, common standards for recording, detection, and reporting do not exist.

Time-dependent transformations of memory representations differ along the long axis of the hippocampus.

Research has shown that sleep is beneficial for the long-term retention of memories. According to theories of memory consolidation, memories are gradually reorganized, becoming supported by widespread, distributed cortical networks, particularly during postencoding periods of sleep. However, the effects of sleep on the organization of memories in the hippocampus itself remains less clear.

Sounds of seizures.

Purpose: A phase I feasibility study to determine the accuracy of identifying seizures based on audio recordings.

Methods: We systematically generated 166 audio clips of 30 s duration from 83 patients admitted to an epilepsy monitoring unit between 1/2015 and 12/2016, with one clip during a seizure period and one clip during a non-seizure control period for each patient. Five epileptologists performed a blinded review of the audio clips and rated whether a seizure occurred or not, and indicated the confidence level (low or high) of their rating.

Mesial temporal resection following long-term ambulatory intracranial EEG monitoring with a direct brain-responsive neurostimulation system.

Objective: To describe seizure outcomes in patients with medically refractory epilepsy who had evidence of bilateral mesial temporal lobe (MTL) seizure onsets and underwent MTL resection based on chronic ambulatory intracranial EEG (ICEEG) data from a direct brain-responsive neurostimulator (RNS) system.

Methods: We retrospectively identified all patients at 17 epilepsy centers with MTL epilepsy who were treated with the RNS System using bilateral MTL leads, and in whom an MTL resection was subsequently performed. Presumed lateralization based on routine presurgical approaches was compared to lateralization determined by RNS System chronic ambulatory ICEEG recordings.

Temporal lobe surgery and memory: Lessons, risks, and opportunities.

Careful study of the clinical outcomes of temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE) surgery has greatly advanced our knowledge of the neuroanatomy of human memory. After early cases resulted in profound amnesia, the critical role of the hippocampus and associated medial temporal lobe (MTL) structures to declarative memory became evident. Surgical approaches quickly changed to become unilateral and later, to be more precise, potentially reducing cognitive morbidity.

Cortical gray-white matter blurring and declarative memory impairment in MRI-negative temporal lobe epilepsy.

Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)-negative temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE) may be a distinct syndrome from TLE with mesial temporal sclerosis (TLE-MTS). Imaging and neuropsychological features of TLE-MTS are well-known; yet, these features are only beginning to be described in MRI-negative TLE. This study examined whether a quantitative measure of cortical gray and white matter blurring (GWB) was elevated in the temporal lobes ipsilateral to the seizure onset zone of individuals with MRI-negative TLE relative to TLE-MTS and healthy controls (HCs) and whether GWB elevations were associated with neuropsychological comorbidity.

A deep learning approach for real-time detection of sleep spindles.

Objective: Sleep spindles have been implicated in memory consolidation and synaptic plasticity during NREM sleep. Detection accuracy and latency in automatic spindle detection are critical for real-time applications.

Approach: Here we propose a novel deep learning strategy (SpindleNet) to detect sleep spindles based on a single EEG channel.

Low frequency transcranial electrical stimulation does not entrain sleep rhythms measured by human intracranial recordings.

Transcranial electrical stimulation has widespread clinical and research applications, yet its effect on ongoing neural activity in humans is not well established. Previous reports argue that transcranial alternating current stimulation (tACS) can entrain and enhance neural rhythms related to memory, but the evidence from non-invasive recordings has remained inconclusive. Here, we measure endogenous spindle and theta activity intracranially in humans during low-frequency tACS and find no stable entrainment of spindle power during non-REM sleep, nor of theta power during resting wakefulness.

Measurements and models of electric fields in the human brain during transcranial electric stimulation.

Transcranial electric stimulation aims to stimulate the brain by applying weak electrical currents at the scalp. However, the magnitude and spatial distribution of electric fields in the human brain are unknown. We measured electric potentials intracranially in ten epilepsy patients and estimated electric fields across the entire brain by leveraging calibrated current-flow models.

Clinical predictors of frequent patient telephone calls in Parkinson's disease.

Background: Patient telephone calls are a major form of unreimbursed healthcare utilization in Parkinson's disease (PD), yet little is known about potential risk factors for frequent calling behavior.

Methods: Prospective cohort study of 175 non-demented outpatients with PD. Our primary outcome measure was the frequency of patient telephone calls over a three-month period relative to baseline demographics, State-Trait Anxiety Index (STAI) and Beck Anxiety Inventory (BAI) scores, Unified Parkinson's Disease Rating Scale (UPDRS) motor scores, and medication use.

A case-controlled study of altered visual art production in Alzheimer's and FTLD.

Objective: To characterize dementia-induced changes in visual art production.

Background: Although case studies show altered visual artistic production in some patients with neurodegenerative disease, no case-controlled studies have quantified this phenomenon across groups of patients.

Method: Forty-nine subjects [18 Alzheimer disease, 9 frontotemporal dementia (FTD), 9 semantic dementia (SD), 15 healthy older controls (NC)] underwent formal neuropsychologic testing of visuospatial, perceptual, and creative functioning, and produced 4 drawings.