Inflammation and Elevated Osteopontin in Plasma and CSF in Cerebral Malaria Compared to -Negative Neurological Infections.

Cerebral malaria in young African children is associated with high mortality, and persisting neurological deficits often remain in survivors. Sequestered -infected red blood cells lead to cerebrovascular inflammation and subsequent neuroinflammation. Brain inflammation can play a role in the pathogenesis of neurologic sequelae.

Cytomegalovirus infection and disease in systemic lupus erythematosus patients at a high-complexity hospital in southwestern Colombia.

Cytomegalovirus (CMV) infection and disease is a condition usually described in immunocompromised patients, but among them, those with connective tissue diseases are poorly represented. Here we present the clinical, laboratory characteristics, management and outcomes of systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) patients who presented with a CMV infection/disease to a high complexity hospital in southwestern Colombia between 2011 and 2020. 16 SLE patients were found to have a CMV infection.

White Matter Microstructural Underpinnings of Mild Behavioral Impairment in Parkinson's Disease.

Background: Patients with Parkinson's disease (PD) experience changes in behavior, personality, and cognition that can manifest even in the initial stages of the disease. Previous studies have suggested that mild behavioral impairment (MBI) should be considered an early marker of cognitive decline. However, the precise neurostructural underpinnings of MBI in early- to mid-stage PD remain poorly understood.

Prevalence and Incidence of Parkinson's Disease in Latin America: A Meta-Analysis.

Background: Parkinson's disease (PD) is a rapidly growing neurodegenerative disorder, but up-to-date epidemiological data are lacking in Latin America. We sought to estimate the prevalence and incidence of PD and parkinsonism in Latin America.

Methods: We searched Medline, Embase, Scopus, Web of Science, Scientific Electronic Library Online, and Literatura Latino-Americana e do Caribe em Ciências da Saúde or the Latin American and Caribbean Health Science Literature databases for epidemiological studies reporting the prevalence or incidence of PD or parkinsonism in Latin America from their inception to 2022.

Psychometric properties and construct validity of the Parkinson's Disease-Cognitive Rating Scale (PD-CRS) in Colombia.

Background: Cognitive impairment is frequent among people living with Parkinson's disease: up to 40% of patients exhibit symptoms of mild cognitive impairment and 25% meet the criteria for dementia. Parkinson's Disease Cognitive Rating Scale (PD-CRS) is one of the recommended scales by the Movement Disorders Society Task Force for level 1 screening of dementia. However, its psychometric properties have not been studied in the Colombian population.

Consistency and validity of the inventory of callous- unemotional traits in a multi-centric community sample.

The purpose of this research was to validate the Inventory of Callous Unemotional Traits in a multi-centric community sample of Colombian children and adolescents aged between 9 and 18 years. An adapted version to the Colombian Spanish was applied to 903 school students without significant medical background (neurotypical behavior), and 118 with a clinical history of internalizing or externalizing conditions. A group of specialized judges approved the content validity of the instrument in terms of relevance and intelligibility, but concept factorial validity was low for the uncaring and callousness factors.

Placenta accreta spectrum disorders in the first trimester: a systematic review.

Placenta accreta spectrum (PAS) disorders involve an abnormality in the implantation of the placenta, being rarely diagnosed in the first trimester. To conduct a systematic review of the risk factors, clinical and imaging features, and outcomes of histopathologically confirmed cases of PAS disorders in the first trimester of pregnancy. Different databases including PubMed, MEDLINE Complete, Scopus, Web of Science, EMBASE, SciELO, LILACS, and Ovid were reviewed up to November 2018.

Disparities Influencing Functional Outcomes Between Rural and Urban Patients With Acute Stroke.

Introduction: There is scarce information in Latin America about factors related to stroke patient outcomes in rural areas compared to urban ones.

Objective: To evaluate functional outcomes of stroke code patients from rural and urban areas and their relationship with socioeconomic disparity.

Methods: Prospective cohort study included patients of urban, semi-urban, and rural origin with stroke code from a high complexity hospital in southwestern Colombia between 2018 and 2019.

Enhanced Spontaneous Motor Recovery After Stroke in Mice Treated With Cerebrolysin.

Background: Motor recovery after stroke in humans and in rodent models is time sensitive. Recovery in patients is a result of biological spontaneous recovery via endogenous repair mechanisms and is likely improved by enhancing the synaptic plasticity required for endogenous repair. Cerebrolysin is a polypeptide preparation known to enhance neuroplasticity and may improve recovery in patients.

Malaria and encephalopathy in a heart transplant recipient: A case report in the context of multiorgan donation.

Introduction: Malaria is an endemic infection in tropical circles. It can be transmitted from mosquitoes bite, but exceptional cases have been attributed to multiorgan transplantation.

Case Report: This is a 34-year-old woman who received a heart transplant for final-stage dilated cardiomyopathy.

Atypical Streptococcal Meningitis with Fatal Cerebrovascular Complications: A Case Report.

Bacterial meningitis is an infectious pathology that remains a public health challenge. The most frequent etiological agent is , which is also associated with higher rates of mortality and sequels. However, less is known about the clinical presentation of atypical non- streptococcal meningitis.

Blood Cyst of the Mitral Valve Diagnosed in an Adult after Systemic Thrombolysis.

Blood cysts in valves are very rare entities in adults, which can be distinguished through their echocardiographic features. A 57-year-old woman developed sudden dyspnea while hospitalized in the context of urinary sepsis; high-risk pulmonary embolism was diagnosed and she was prescribed systemic thrombolysis. She persisted with fever raising the suspicion of bacterial endocarditis.

Parkinson's disease prevalence, age distribution and staging in Colombia.

Parkinson's disease (PD) has the second highest prevalence among neurodege - nerative diseases. In Colombia, PD population dynamics are currently unknown. Health records offer a unique resource to study frequency and multi-morbidity of chronic diseases.

A Novel Mutation in a Colombian Patient with Recurrent Hypertriglyceridemic Pancreatitis.

Hypertriglyceridemia is a common disease with only 2% of cases exhibiting monogenic mutations. Familial chylomicronemia syndrome (FCS) is a rare genetic condition associated with recurrent and severe episodes of pancreatitis and is mainly caused by mutations in the LPL gene, with few cases related to abnormal function of apolipoprotein C-II. This is a 50-year-old female with a past medical history of arterial hypertension, miscarriage and recurrent pancreatitis.

Cryptococcal meningitis presenting as acute flaccid paralysis: A case report.

Cryptococcus is a cosmopolitan fungus with tropism for the nervous system and a higher prevalence of infection in immunosuppressed patients. Neurological compromise caused by this microorganism mainly debuts as a meningeal syndrome (headache, fever, neck stiffness) with predominant encephalic involvement. In this report we present the rare case of a non-HIV patient with flaccid paralysis and peripheral nerve involvement due to crytpococcal meningitis.

Aqueductal Cerebrospinal Fluid Stroke Volume Flow in a Rodent Model of Chronic Communicating Hydrocephalus: Establishing a Homogeneous Study Population for Cerebrospinal Fluid Dynamics Exploration.

Background: Idiopathic normal pressure hydrocephalus (iNPH) is a cause of dementia that can be reversed when treated timely with cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) diversion. Understanding CSF dynamics throughout the development of hydrocephalus is crucial to identify prognostic markers to estimate benefit/risk to shunts.

Objective: To explore the cerebral aqueduct CSF flow dynamics with phase-contrast magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in a novel rodent model of adult chronic communicating hydrocephalus.

Health Care Expenditures of Medicare Beneficiaries with Normal Pressure Hydrocephalus.

Background: Normal pressure hydrocephalus (NPH) is an underdiagnosed and undertreated condition affecting the elderly population and with costs associated with its surgical management reported to be less than those associated with conservative management.

Objective: To determine if the rate of diagnosis of NPH has improved over the last decade, the rate of treatment has increased, and if surgical treatment costs and socioeconomic factors related to receipt of treatment have changed over time compared with conservative therapy.

Methods: A retrospective study based on data from a nationally representative random sample of 2,378,637 Medicare beneficiaries (2006-2010) was performed.

Mass psychogenic illness following HPV immunization in Carmen de Bolivar, Colombia (2014): more uncertainty is required.

The interesting article by Simas et. al. describes an outbreak case with over 600 individuals who exhibited neurological symptoms and which occurred in a town located at the northern region of Colombia in 2014.

Clinical and neuroimaging spectrum of hyperglycemia-associated chorea-ballism: systematic review and exploratory analysis of case reports.

Hyperglycemia-associated chorea-ballism (HCB) is an infrequent neurological syndrome occurring predominantly in elderly females and in the setting of non-ketotic hyperglycemia (NKH). A systematic review was conducted in accordance with the PRISMA statement. Studies published between 1980 and 2018 that reported demographic, clinical, laboratory and imaging features from patients with HCB were screened.

Ventricular Volume Dynamics During the Development of Adult Chronic Communicating Hydrocephalus in a Rodent Model.

Introduction: The pathophysiology of normal-pressure hydrocephalus and the correlation with its symptomatology is not well understood.

Objective: To monitor and evaluate the enlargement patterns of the ventricular system for each ventricle and its correlation with the presenting symptoms.

Methods: Bilateral kaolin injection into the subarachnoid space overlying the cranial convexities was done in 18 adult rats.

Extending the resection beyond the contrast-enhancement for glioblastoma: feasibility, efficacy, and outcomes.

Object: It is becoming well-established that increasing extent of resection with decreasing residual volume is associated with delayed recurrence and prolonged survival for patients with glioblastoma (GBM). These prior studies are based on evaluating the contrast-enhancing (CE) tumour and not the surrounding fluid attenuated inversion recovery (FLAIR) volume. It therefore remains unclear if the resection beyond the CE portion of the tumour if it translates into improved outcomes for patients with GBM.

Development and Optimization of Metagenomic Next-Generation Sequencing Methods for Cerebrospinal Fluid Diagnostics.

The purpose of this study was to develop and optimize different processing, extraction, amplification, and sequencing methods for metagenomic next-generation sequencing (mNGS) of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) specimens. We applied mNGS to 10 CSF samples with known standard-of-care testing (SoC) results (8 positive and 2 negative). Each sample was subjected to nine different methods by varying the sample processing protocols (supernatant, pellet, neat CSF), sample pretreatment (with or without bead beating), and the requirement of nucleic acid amplification steps using DNA sequencing (DNASeq) (with or without whole-genome amplification [WGA]) and RNA sequencing (RNASeq) methods.