Publications by authors named "Concetta Alafaci"

Article Synopsis
  • Arteriovenous malformation of the brain (bAVM) is linked to problems in the formation of blood vessels and leads to direct connections between arterioles and venules, affecting normal blood flow.
  • Researchers conducted methylome analysis on endothelial cells from bAVM samples, comparing them to healthy brain endothelial cells, revealing differences in gene methylation that could contribute to bAVM onset.
  • Aberrant methylation was found in genes responsible for endothelial cell interactions and neurovascular development, indicating that issues beyond just endothelial dysfunction are involved in the development of bAVM.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: Idiopatic normal pressure hydrocephalus (iNPH) is a progressive neurologic syndrome featured by the triad of gait disturbance, mental deterioration and urinary incontinence, associated with ventriculomegaly and normal cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) pressure. The clinical presentation may be atypical or incomplete, or mimicked by other diseases, so conventional neuroradiologic imaging plays an important role in defining this pathology. iNPH pathophysiologic mechanisms have not yet been fully elucidated, although several studies have demonstrated the involvement of the glymphatic system, a highly organized fluid transport system, the malfunction of which is involved in the pathogenesis of several disorders including normotensive hydrocephalus.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF
Article Synopsis
  • Thrombin can activate certain receptors in the brain, which leads to inflammation and makes blood vessels leakier.
  • This process is related to some brain diseases like cancer and neurodegeneration, particularly a condition called sporadic cerebral cavernous malformation (CCM).
  • Researchers found that in CCM, certain genes related to the thrombin pathway are overactive and that this can hurt brain cells and cause problems with important proteins.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Novel insights on regulation of gene expression mechanisms highlight the pivotal role of epitranscriptomic modifications on decision about transcript fate. These modifications include methylation of adenosine and cytosine in RNA molecules. Impairment of the normal epitranscriptome profile was observed in several pathological conditions, such as cancer and neurodegeneration.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

By regulating several phases of gene expression, RNA editing modifications contribute to maintaining physiological RNA expression levels. RNA editing dysregulation can affect RNA molecule half-life, coding/noncoding RNA interaction, alternative splicing, and circular RNA biogenesis. Impaired RNA editing has been observed in several pathological conditions, including cancer and Alzheimer's disease.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: Rhinocerebral mucormycosis (ROCM) is an opportunistic fungal infection originating from the paranasal sinuses with extension to the brain. A delayed diagnosis can rapidly result in a poor prognosis. ROCM commonly affects patients with diabetes or immunocompromised states with a variable progression.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF
Article Synopsis
  • A 12-year-old boy had surgery to fix a problem with his brain fluid drainage after a previous shunt stopped working.
  • During surgery, a temporary tube caused a blockage, but the doctors fixed it by moving the tube back a little.
  • After 2 years, the boy was doing well and didn't need any shunts or tubes anymore.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Cerebral cavernous malformations (CCM) are lesions affecting brain capillaries that appear with a mulberry-like morphology. This shape results from the enlarged and tangled microvessels having defective endothelial cell junctions, few surrounding pericytes and dense extracellular collagen-rich matrix. Three genes KRIT1, CCM2 and PDCD10 are linked to disease onset.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: Hirayama disease (HD) is a rare, benign, and self-limiting motor neuron disorder that results in selective motor impairment of the C7-T1 myotomes. It is characterized by progressive, unilateral, or bilateral asymmetric muscle atrophy of the distal upper extremities and myelopathy.

Case Description: A 23-year-old male presented with bilateral atrophy of the thenar/hypothenar eminences/ interosseous muscles, plus left-hand weakness.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF
Article Synopsis
  • Scientists are studying brain problems called arteriovenous malformations (bAVM), but it's hard to understand because they’re rare in families, and most cases happen by chance.
  • They did genetic tests on a young boy with bAVM and found 20 important gene changes, some he inherited and one that completely stopped a gene from working.
  • The researchers used special computer tools to look at how these gene changes might be linked to bAVM, suggesting these changes could help explain how the condition develops and should be studied more.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: Eagle syndrome (ES) is a rare symptomatic condition generally caused by an elongated styloid process (SP) or calcification of the stylohyoid complex. On the diagnosis is made, its treatment remains subjective since the indications for surgical intervention are still not standardized. Although styloidectomy is the surgical treatment of choice, no consensus exists regarding the transcervical or/and transoral route.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: Osteomyelitis is a progressive infection of bone and bone marrow by microorganisms, resulting in inflammatory destruction of bone, bone necrosis, and new bone formation. Skull involvement is a rare occurrence which mainly affects children with chronic inflammatory diseases of paranasal sinusitis, or malignant otitis. In adults, cranial vault osteomyelitis can occur after cranial surgery or head trauma.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: The differential diagnosis between radiation necrosis, tumor recurrence and tumor progression is crucial for the evaluation of treatment response and treatment planning. The appearance of treatment-induced tissue necrosis on conventional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) is similar to brain tumor recurrence and it could be difficult to differentiate the two entities on follow-up MRI examinations. Dynamic Susceptibility Contrast-enhanced (DSC) and Dynamic Contrast-Enhanced (DCE) are MRI perfusion techniques that use an exogenous, intravascular, non-diffusible gadolinium-based contrast agent.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Cerebrovascular malformations include a wide range of blood vessel disorders affecting brain vasculature. Neuroimaging differential diagnosis can result unspecific due to similar phenotypes of lesions and their deep localization. Next-generation sequencing (NGS) platforms simultaneously analyze several hundreds of genes and can be applied for molecular distinction of different phenotypes within the same disorder's macro-area.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: Unruptured intracranial aneurysms (UIAs) are increasingly identified and are an important health-care burden; in the past they were commonly treated by surgical clipping, but nowadays endovascular coil embolization is increasingly employed as an alternative.

Methods: The Unruptured Aneurysms Italian Study (UAIS) is a multicentric cooperative prospective study aimed to delineate the "State of the Art" of UIAs treatment in Italy. 51 Italian Neurosurgical and Neuroradiological Units, representatives of all 20 Italian regions are involved in the Study.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Cerebral cavernous malformations (CCMs) are clusters of capillaries in the brain that may cause focal deficits or seizures in affected patients. They occur in both sporadic and inherited autosomal dominant form. Germline mutations in CCM1, CCM2 and CCM3 were identified in familial cases.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Brain edema after severe traumatic brain injury (TBI) plays an important role in the outcome and survival of injured patients. It is also one of the main targets in the therapeutic approach in the current clinical practice. To date, the pathophysiology of traumatic brain swelling is complex and, being that it is thought to be mainly cytotoxic and vasogenic in origin, not yet entirely understood.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: An understanding of the natural history of unruptured intracranial aneurysms (IAs) has always played a critical role in presurgical or endovascular planning, to avoid possibly fatal events. Size, shape, morphology, and location are known risk factors for rupture of an aneurysm, but morphologic parameters alone may not be sufficient to perform proper rupture risk stratification.

Methods: We performed a systematic PubMed search and focused on hemodynamics forces that may influence aneurysmal initiation, growth, and rupture.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF
Article Synopsis
  • A young girl had a spinal tumor called an ependymoma, which made her weak and caused problems with her urinary system.
  • Regular MRI scans couldn't show the full details of the tumor, but a special kind of MRI called DTI helped doctors understand how the tumor was affecting the surrounding nerves.
  • The girl had surgery to remove the tumor completely, and the DTI results helped ensure the operation went well by showing that the tumor was easier to take out than other more dangerous types.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: Aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH) accounts for 5% of strokes and carries a poor prognosis. It affects around 6 cases per 100,000 patient years occurring at a relatively young age.

Methods: Common risk factors are the same as for stroke, and only in a minority of the cases, genetic factors can be found.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Cerebral cavernous malformations (CCMs) are lesions affecting brain microvessels. The pathogenesis is not clearly understood. Conventional classification criterion is based on genetics, and thus, familial and sporadic forms can be distinguished; however, classification of sporadic cases with multiple lesions still remains uncertain.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: Cerebral cavernous malformations (CCMs) are vascular anomalies of the nervous system mostly located in the brain presenting sporadically or familial. Causes of familial forms are mutations in CCM1 (Krit1), CCM2 (MGC4607) and CCM3 (PDCD10) genes. Sporadic forms with no affected relative most often have only one lesion and no germ line mutations.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF