Publications by authors named "Buxbaum Chen"
The incidence of lymphomatous involvement of the central nervous system (CNS) has been increasing in recent years. However, the rarity of the disease has resulted in a scarcity of available data regarding its clinical presentation, natural history, and prognosis. We aimed to investigate the neurological characteristics of uncommon lymphomatous involvements confined to the CNS and to identify key variables that could serve as predictive biomarkers for treatment outcomes.
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- The study investigates the safety of the BNT162b2 mRNA COVID-19 vaccine in multiple sclerosis (MS) patients, focusing on whether it causes any exacerbation of the disease as seen through MRI imaging.
- A retrospective analysis of 84 MS patients revealed that those with early onset MS who were vaccinated had an increased risk of developing new lesions, while adult-onset patients did not show the same risk.
- The findings generally indicate that the vaccine is safe for MS patients, but close monitoring via MRI is advised for those with early-onset MS due to the observed risks.
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- Current anti-cancer immunotherapies, while successful, only work for a small group of patients, highlighting the need for better biomarkers to predict treatment responses.
- Researchers discovered that interferon-stimulated, Ly6E neutrophils can serve as a predictive biomarker for anti-PD1 therapy in mice, showing how they can enhance tumor response by activating T cells.
- The study further confirmed that Ly6E neutrophils are an effective predictor of immunotherapy responses in humans with lung cancer and melanoma, achieving high accuracy in patient cohorts and public data analysis.
Primary central nervous system lymphoma (PCNSL) is a rare disease with an incidence of 0.4/per 100,000 person-years. As there is a limited number of prospective randomized trials in PCNSL, large retrospective studies on this rare disease may yield information that might prove useful for the future design of randomized clinical trials.
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- The incidence of epilepsy increases with age, particularly from 50 to 75 years, with late-onset epilepsy showing different characteristics compared to early-onset cases.
- The study focused on patients aged 50 and older who had epilepsy, analyzing treatment responses over an average follow-up period of 2.8 years.
- Results indicated that most patients responded well to a single antiseizure medication, with a low and stable rate of drug-resistant epilepsy over time.
Traumatic brain injuries following motor vehicle collisions (MVCs) are ubiquitous. Surprisingly, there are no correlates between concussion impact force and long-term pain outcomes. To study the molecular underpinnings of chronic pain after MVC, we assembled a prospective cohort of 36 subjects that experienced MVC and suffered documented mild traumatic brain injuries.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFExcitatory-inhibitory (E/I) imbalance is a mechanism that underlies autism spectrum disorder, but it is not systematically tested for pain processing. We hypothesized that the pain modulation profile (PMP) in autistic individuals is characterized by less efficient inhibitory processes together with a facilitative state, indicative of a pronociceptive PMP. Fifty-two adults diagnosed with autism and 52 healthy subjects, age matched and sex matched, underwent quantitative sensory testing to assess the function of the (1) pain facilitatory responses to phasic, repetitive, and tonic heat pain stimuli and (2) pain inhibitory processes of habituation and conditioned pain modulation.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground And Purpose: Advanced analysis of electroencephalography (EEG) data has become an essential tool in brain research. Based solely on resting state EEG signals, a data-driven, predictive and explanatory approach is presented to discriminate painful from non-painful diabetic polyneuropathy (DPN) patients.
Methods: Three minutes long, 64 electrode resting-state recordings were obtained from 180 DPN patients.
Objectives: Previous studies have established the role of the cortico-mesolimbic and descending pain modulation systems in chronic pain prediction. Mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI) is an acute pain model where chronic pain is prevalent and complicated for prediction. In this study, we set out to study whether functional connectivity (FC) of the nucleus accumbens (NAc) and the periaqueductal gray matter (PAG) is predictive of pain chronification in early-acute mTBI.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFEndogenous pain modulation, as tested by the conditioned pain modulation (CPM) protocol, is typically less efficient in patients with chronic pain compared with healthy controls. We aimed to assess whether CPM is less efficient in patients with painful diabetic polyneuropathy (DPN) compared with those with nonpainful DPN. Characterization of the differences in central pain processing between these 2 groups might provide a central nervous system explanation to the presence or absence of pain in diabetic neuropathy in addition to the peripheral one.
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- The study explores the overlap and differences in symptoms between mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI) and whiplash associated disorder (WAD) in post-motor vehicle collision patients, aiming to clarify shared and unique contributing factors.
- Patients were assessed both clinically and psychologically shortly after their accident and again six months later, focusing on various pain and psychological factors affecting their conditions.
- Results revealed a significant correlation between neck disability and post-concussion symptoms, indicating both similarities and distinctions in symptomatology, with different contributing factors influencing neck pain and post-concussion symptoms.
Alemtuzumab (ALM) effectively prevents relapses of multiple sclerosis (MS). It causes lymphocyte depletion with subsequent enhancement of the T-regulatory cell population. Direct administration of ALM to T cells causes cytolysis.
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- Chronic pain often follows collisions, and understanding acute pain can help prevent the transition to chronic pain, with the Pain Sensitivity Questionnaire (PSQ) potentially revealing deeper insights into pain perception.
- A study with 130 mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI) patients found that PSQ scores correlated significantly with various pain measures, suggesting it adds valuable information beyond traditional assessments.
- The research identified that psychological factors, such as cognitive representations of pain, significantly contribute to pain experiences after injury, highlighting the importance of a holistic approach in assessing acute pain.
Background And Purpose: In the setting of an extended time window for endovascular treatment (EVT) for acute stroke patients, computed tomography perfusion (CTP) has become a major tool in patient selection. However, there are some data suggesting that the initial ischemic core may be overestimated by CTP depending on stroke onset time. This study aims to evaluate possible predictors of overestimation of infarct core by CTP.
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