Publications by authors named "D T Athanasopoulos"
Endogenous metabolic pathways periodically adjust with fluctuations in day and night, a biological process known as circadian rhythm. Time-restricted eating (TRE) aligns the time of food intake with the circadian rhythm. This study aims to investigate the effects of TRE on body weight, body composition and cardiometabolic risk factors.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFArticle Synopsis
- This study focuses on the prevalence and impact of pain, fatigue, and depression in patients with chronic inflammatory demyelinating polyneuropathy (CIDP), highlighting that these factors are often overlooked compared to motor dysfunction.
- Among the 84 patients studied, 62% reported experiencing pain, with neuropathic pain significantly linked to higher levels of fatigue and depression, suggesting that pain is a serious contributor to disability.
- The findings indicate that managing chronic pain and assessing sensory dysfunction are crucial for improving the quality of life in CIDP patients, underscoring the need for a comprehensive evaluation of all disability factors.
Article Synopsis
- Chronic inflammatory demyelinating polyneuropathy (CIDP) can be difficult to differentiate from non-inflammatory axonal polyneuropathies (NIAPs), especially when secondary axonal damage is present.
- This study compared nerve ultrasounds of patients with CIDP and NIAP to see if measurements could help distinguish between the two conditions, leading to the creation of a new scoring system called the adjusted Bochum ultrasound score (aBUS).
- Results showed that nerve ultrasounds can enhance diagnostic accuracy, with aBUS offering improved specificity and sensitivity compared to traditional electrophysiological criteria, making it a valuable tool for diagnosing CIDP.
Article Synopsis
- Monitoring CIDP is complex due to unclear links between disability, subtype, and nerve damage, prompting a study to assess how different electrophysiological variables relate to patient outcomes.
- The study involved 95 patients undergoing nerve conduction studies and clinical assessments to identify correlations between nerve function indicators and disability scores over time.
- Results indicated that axonal damage, particularly in typical CIDP cases, strongly correlates with clinical disability, suggesting that focusing on axonal degeneration markers could improve monitoring and understanding of disease progression.
Article Synopsis
- Recent studies have identified inflammatory neuropathies that involve the nodes of Ranvier and are caused by specific autoantibodies, particularly anti-pan-NF-associated neuropathies, which are rare and can be life-threatening.
- A case of a 52-year-old male with this condition showed rapid progression to a severe "locked-in" syndrome, despite initial treatment, and was characterized by specific antibody presence and non-excitable nerves.
- A combination of aggressive immunotherapy, including rituximab and bortezomib, led to significant clinical improvement and normalization of nerve function over three months, suggesting this combination may be an effective treatment for these rare neuropathies.*