Behind the scenes: exploring neurological journal editors' work habits, decisions, and potential sources of conflict of interest.

Background And Objectives: Editors of scientific journals play a key role in the health-related research process. Our study aims to characterize the demographics, work habits, decision-making processes, and ethical challenges faced by editors of neurological journals and to evaluate associations between editor or journal characteristics and editorial decisions, as well as sources of conflict of interest.

Methods: Cross-sectional study involving editors from neurological journals that fell above the 50th percentile in the Scimago rankings.

Assessing behavioral and psychological symptoms of dementia: a comprehensive review of current options and future perspectives.

The behavioral and psychological symptoms of dementia (BPSD) are a heterogeneous set of challenging disturbances of behavior, mood, perception, and thought that occur in almost all patients with dementia. A huge number of instruments have been developed to assess BPSD in different populations and settings. Although some of these tools are more widely used than others, no single instrument can be considered completely satisfactory, and each of these tools has its advantages and disadvantages.

BPSDiary study protocol: a multi-center randomized controlled trial to compare the efficacy of a BPSD diary vs. standard care in reducing caregiver's burden.

Unlabelled: Behavioral and Psychological Symptoms of Dementia (BPSD) are a heterogeneous set of psychological and behavioral abnormalities seen in persons with dementia (PwD), significantly impacting their quality of life and that of their caregivers. Current assessment tools, such as the Neuropsychiatric Inventory (NPI), are limited by recall bias and lack of direct observation. This study aims to overcome this limitation by making caregiver reports more objective through the use of a novel instrument, referred to as the BPSDiary.

Clinical and neuroimaging characterization of the first frontotemporal dementia family carrying the MAPT p.K298E mutation.

We present an in-depth clinical and neuroimaging analysis of a family carrying the MAPT K298E mutation associated with frontotemporal dementia (FTD). Initial identification of this mutation in a single clinical case led to a comprehensive investigation involving four affected siblings allowing to elucidate the mutation's phenotypic expression.A 60-year-old male presented with significant behavioral changes and progressed rapidly, exhibiting speech difficulties and cognitive decline.

Brain Health and Cognition in Older Adults: Roadmap and Milestones towards the Implementation of Preventive Strategies.

In this narrative review, we delve into the evolving concept of brain health, as recognized by the WHO, focusing on its intersection with cognitive decline. We emphasize the imperative need for preventive strategies, particularly in older adults. We describe the target population that might benefit the most from risk-based approaches-namely, people with subjective cognitive decline.

A ROI-based quantitative pipeline for F-FDG PET metabolism and pCASL perfusion joint analysis: Validation of the F-FDG PET line.

In Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI), the study of brain metabolism, provided by 18F-FluoroDeoxyGlucose Positron Emission Tomography (F-FDG PET) can be integrated with brain perfusion through pseudo-Continuous Arterial Spin Labeling Magnetic Resonance sequences (MR pCASL). Cortical hypometabolism identification generally relies on wide control group datasets; pCASL control groups are instead not publicly available yet, due to lack of standardization in the acquisition parameters. This study presents a quantitative pipeline to be applied to PET and pCASL data to coherently analyze metabolism and perfusion inside 16 matching cortical regions of interest (ROIs) derived from the AAL3 atlas.

Olympic Weightlifting Training for Sprint Performance in Athletes: A Systematic Review with Meta-analysis.

This systematic review and meta-analysis aimed to determine whether Olympic weightlifting (OW) exercises would improve sprint performance when compared to a control intervention, (no training, standard sport-specific training, traditional resistance training, or plyometric training). Medline, Web of Science, SportDiscus, CINAHL, and Biological Science from inception to September 2022 was searched. Two authors independently selected the included studies, extracted data, and appraised the risk of bias.

Can Traditional Board Games Prevent or Slow Down Cognitive Impairment? A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.

Background: Traditional board games can entail significant skills encompassing several cognitive functions across different domains. Therefore, they may potentially represent effective cognitive interventions in the aging population with or without Alzheimer's disease or other types of dementia.

Objective: We aimed at verifying the hypothesis that traditional board games can prevent or slow down cognitive decline, through a systematic review on traditional board games and dementia.

Sensory neuropathy in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis: a systematic review.

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a fatal neurodegenerative disease characterized by the degeneration of both upper and lower motoneurons, leading to motor and non-motor symptoms. Recent evidence suggests that ALS is indeed a multisystem disorder, associated with cognitive impairment, dysautonomia, pain and fatigue, excess of secretions, and sensory symptoms. To evaluate whether sensory neuropathy could broaden its spectrum, we systematically reviewed its presence and characteristics in ALS, extracting data on epidemiological, clinical, neurophysiological, neuropathological, and genetic features.

Reliability of Respiratory System Compliance Calculation During Assisted Mechanical Ventilation: A Retrospective Study.

Objectives: To compare respiratory system compliance (C rs ) calculation during controlled mechanical ventilation (MV) and, subsequently, during assisted MV.

Design: This is a single-center, retrospective, observational study.

Setting: This study was conducted on patients admitted to Neuro-ICU of Niguarda Hospital (tertiary referral hospital).

Shoulder Performance Activity Test (SPAT) for People With Shoulder Pain: Feasibility, Reliability, and Validity.

Objective: The purpose of this study was to assess feasibility, reliability, and validity of a new performance-based test, the Shoulder Performance Activity Test (SPAT).

Methods: People with shoulder pain (n = 93) and without shoulder pain (n = 43) were included. The SPAT consists of overhead reach, hand behind head, and hand behind back tasks, each performed with 20 repetitions and rated by time, pain, and effort.

Donepezil-Induced Complex Multimodal Hallucinations: Two Cases and a Review of the Literature.

Hallucinations are common in neurodegenerative dementias, being present in a significant proportion of patients. Most of the available studies show that acetylcholinesterase inhibitors may be beneficial in preventing and treating hallucinations in patients with neurodegenerative and even psychiatric disorders, even though there are reports that they might also develop as an adverse effect of such therapy. However, a clear causal relationship for the latter association was not previously established.

Depressive Pseudodementia with Reversible AD-like Brain Hypometabolism: A Case Report and a Review of the Literature.

Recent European guidelines recommend using brain FDG-PET to differentiate between Alzheimer's disease (AD) and depressive pseudodementia (DP), with specific hypometabolism patterns across the former group, and typically normal or frontal hypometabolism in the latter. We report the case of a 74 years-old man with DP (MMSE 16/30), whose FDG-PET visual rating and semiquantitative analysis closely mimicked the typical AD pattern, showing severe hypometabolism in bilateral precuneus, parietal and temporal lobes, and sparing frontal areas, suggesting the diagnosis of moderate AD. Shortly after starting antidepressant polytherapy, he underwent formal NPS testing, which revealed moderate impairment of episodic memory and mild impairment on executive and visuospatial tests, judged consistent with neurodegenerative dementia and concomitant depression.

Predictors of response to acetylcholinesterase inhibitors in dementia: A systematic review.

Background: The mainstay of therapy for many neurodegenerative dementias still relies on acetylcholinesterase inhibitors (AChEI); however, there is debate on various aspects of such treatment. A huge body of literature exists on possible predictors of response, but a comprehensive review is lacking. Therefore, our aim is to perform a systematic review of the predictors of response to AChEI in neurodegenerative dementias, providing a categorization and interpretation of the results.

Possible Use of Minocycline in Adjunction to Intranasal Esketamine for the Management of Difficult to Treat Depression following Extensive Pharmacogenomic Testing: Two Case Reports.

The advent of intra-nasal esketamine (ESK), one of the first so called , promises to revolutionize the management of treatment resistant depression (TRD). This NMDA receptor antagonist has proven to be rapidly effective in the short- and medium-term course of the illness, revealing its potential in targeting in TRD. Although many TRD ESK responders are able to achieve remission, a considerable portion of them undergo a metamorphosis of their depression into different clinical presentations, characterized by instable responses and high recurrence rates that can be considered closer to the concept of (DTD) than to TRD.

Neurological soft signs are increased in migraine without aura: relationship with the affective status.

Introduction: Neurological soft signs (NSS) are subtle non-localizing sensorimotor abnormalities initially reported as increased in primary headache patients. The aims of this study were confirming with full power NSS increased expression in migraine and, collaterally, determining if psychiatric traits or white matter lesions at brain imaging could influence this result.

Methods: Forty drug-free episodic migraine outpatients (MH) were recruited with 40 matched controls.

Essential tremor and cognitive impairment: who, how, and why.

Background And Aims: Recent years have witnessed the switch from considering essential tremor (ET) a monosymptomatic disorder to consider it as part of a spectrum, including other neurological signs, such as mild cognitive impairment and dementia, thus defining it as "ET plus." There are few data on cognitive impairment in ET patients. The aim of this review is to analyze the clinical characteristics of ET patients developing cognitive impairment, their neuropsychological profile, the underpinning mechanisms, and the possible biomarkers.

Organ Donation after Damage Control Strategy in Trauma Patients: Experience from First Level Trauma Center in Italy.

Background: Organ donation (OD) remains the only therapeutic option for end-stage disease in some cases. Unfortunately, the gap between donors and recipients is still substantial. Trauma patients represent a potential yet underestimated pool of organ donors.