Favorable long-term cognitive outcomes following recurrent ARIA linked to amyloid-lowering therapies: two cases.

Introduction: The large-scale approval of anti-amyloid monoclonal antibodies for treating Alzheimer's disease (AD) has raised concerns about their safety due to treatment-emergent amyloid-related imaging abnormalities (ARIA).

Methods: We present two cases of patients diagnosed with mild cognitive impairment due to AD who were enrolled in the GRADUATE I clinical trial. They received subcutaneous gantenerumab every two weeks during the study period.

Diagnostic accuracy of automated Lumipulse plasma pTau-217 in Alzheimer's disease: a real-world study.

Background And Objectives: This study evaluates the discriminative performance of the automated Lumipulse plasma pTau-217 compared to plasma pTau-181 and the Aβ42/Aβ40 ratio across cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) A/T classes and diagnostic groups within a memory-center-based population of cognitively impaired patients.

Methods: This cross-sectional study in a Memory Center enrolled 98 patients along the AD continuum or affected by other neurodegenerative disorders, stratified by CSF A/T status and clinical syndrome. Plasma pTau-217, pTau-181, and Aβ42/Aβ40 were measured using Lumipulse.

Stepwise Functional Brain Architecture Correlates with Atrophy in Progressive Supranuclear Palsy.

Background: Stepwise functional connectivity (SFC) detects whole-brain functional couplings of a selected region of interest at increasing link-step topological distances.

Objective: This study applied SFC to test the hypothesis that stepwise architecture propagating from the disease epicenter would shape patterns of brain atrophy in patients with progressive supranuclear palsy-Richardson's syndrome (PSP-RS).

Methods: Thirty-six patients with PSP-RS and 44 age-matched healthy control subjects underwent brain magnetic resonance imaging on a 3-T scanner.

Incorporating plan complexity into the statistical process control of volumetric modulated arc therapy pre-treatment verifications.

Background: Statistical process control (SPC) is a powerful statistical tool for process monitoring that has been highly recommended in healthcare applications, including radiation therapy quality assurance (QA). The AAPM TG-218 report described the clinical implementation of SPC for Volumetric Modulated Arc Therapy (VMAT) pre-treatment verifications, pointing out the need to adjust tolerance limits based on plan complexity. However, the quantification of plan complexity and its integration into SPC remains an unresolved challenge.

Clinical and neuroanatomical characterization of the semantic behavioral variant of frontotemporal dementia in a multicenter Italian cohort.

Background: Semantic behavioral variant frontotemporal dementia (sbvFTD) is a neurodegenerative condition presenting with specific behavioral and semantic derangements and predominant atrophy of the right anterior temporal lobe (ATL). The objective was to evaluate clinical, neuropsychological, neuroimaging, and genetic features of an Italian sbvFTD cohort, defined according to recently proposed guidelines, compared to semantic variant primary progressive aphasia (svPPA) and behavioral variant FTD (bvFTD) patients.

Methods: Fifteen sbvFTD, sixty-three bvFTD, and twenty-five svPPA patients and forty controls were enrolled.

Structural and Functional Brain Network Connectivity at Different King's Stages in Patients With Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis.

Background And Objectives: There is currently no validated disease-stage biomarker for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). The identification of quantitative and reproducible markers of disease stratification in ALS is fundamental for study design definition and inclusion of homogenous patient cohorts into clinical trials. Our aim was to assess the rearrangements of structural and functional brain connectivity underlying the clinical stages of ALS, to suggest objective, reproducible measures provided by MRI connectomics mirroring disease staging.

Negr1-Derived Peptides Trigger ALK Degradation and Halt Neuroblastoma Progression In Vitro and In Vivo.

Neuroblastoma is among the most common childhood cancers. Neuroblastoma in advanced stages is one of the most intractable pediatric cancers, notwithstanding the recent therapeutic advances. ALK mutations are among the leading cause of hereditary neuroblastoma and account for more than 14% of the somatically acquired alterations.

Novel therapeutic approaches for motor neuron disease.

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a fatal neurodegenerative disease that leads to the neurodegeneration and death of upper and lower motor neurons (MNs). Although MNs are the main cells involved in the process of neurodegeneration, a growing body of evidence points toward other cell types as concurrent to disease initiation and propagation. Given the current absence of effective therapies, the quest for other therapeutic targets remains open and still challenges the scientific community.

Cortical signature of depressive symptoms in frontotemporal dementia: A surface-based analysis.

Background And Objectives: Depressive symptoms are frequently reported in patients affected by frontotemporal dementia (FTD). At structural MRI, cortical features of depressed FTD patients have been poorly described. Our objective was to investigate correlations between cortical measures and depression severity in FTD patients.

A novel mutation in an Italian patient with non-fluent variant of primary progressive aphasia at onset: a longitudinal case report.

Objectives: We report the clinical presentation and evolution of a case with a novel Progranulin gene () mutation and non-fluent language disturbances at onset.

Materials And Methods: A 60 year-old, white patient was followed due to a history of language disturbances. Eighteen months after onset, the patient underwent FDG positron emission tomography (PET), and at month 24 was hospitalized to perform neuropsychological evaluation, brain 3 T MRI, lumbar puncture for cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) analysis, and genotyping.

Robustness analysis of surface-guided DIBH left breast radiotherapy: personalized dosimetric effect of real intrafractional motion within the beam gating thresholds.

Purpose: The robustness of surface-guided (SG) deep-inspiration breath-hold (DIBH) radiotherapy (RT) for left breast cancer was evaluated by investigating any potential dosimetric effects due to the residual intrafractional motion allowed by the selected beam gating thresholds. The potential reduction of DIBH benefits in terms of organs at risk (OARs) sparing and target coverage was evaluated for conformational (3DCRT) and intensity-modulated radiation therapy (IMRT) techniques.

Methods: A total of 192 fractions of SGRT DIBH left breast 3DCRT treatment for 12 patients were analyzed.

The human functional connectome in neurodegenerative diseases: relationship to pathology and clinical progression.

Introduction: Neurodegenerative diseases can be considered as 'disconnection syndromes,' in which a communication breakdown prompts cognitive or motor dysfunction. Mathematical models applied to functional resting-state MRI allow for the organization of the brain into nodes and edges, which interact to form the functional brain connectome.

Areas Covered: The authors discuss the recent applications of functional connectomics to neurodegenerative diseases, from preclinical diagnosis, to follow up along with the progressive changes in network organization, to the prediction of the progressive spread of neurodegeneration, to stratification of patients into prognostic groups, and to record responses to treatment.

Surface-guided DIBH radiotherapy for left breast cancer: impact of different thresholds on intrafractional motion monitoring and DIBH stability.

Purpose: To compare two left breast cancer patient cohorts (tangential vs. locoregional deep-inspiration breath-hold - DIBH treatment) with different predefined beam gating thresholds and to evaluate their impact on motion management and DIBH stability.

Methods: An SGRT-based clinical workflow was adopted for the DIBH treatment.

Medulla oblongata volume as a promising predictor of survival in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.

Background: Unconventional magnetic resonance imaging studies of the brainstem have recently acquired a growing interest in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) pathology since they provide a unique opportunity to evaluate motor tract degeneration and bulbar lower motor neuron involvement. The aim of this study was to investigate the role of brainstem structures as accurate biomarkers of disease severity and predictors of survival.

Materials And Methods: A total of 60 ALS patients and 30 healthy controls subjects (CS) were recruited in this study.

Influence of Pregnancy in Multiple Sclerosis and Impact of Disease-Modifying Therapies.

This article is a systematic review on the influence pregnancy has on multiple sclerosis and the resulting impact of disease-modifying therapies. Multiple sclerosis predominantly affects young women with a clinical onset most often during the child-bearing age. The impact of multiple sclerosis and disease-modifying therapies on fertility, pregnancy, fetal outcome, and breastfeeding is a pivotal topic when it comes to clinical practice.

Clinical implementation of 3D in vivo dosimetry for abdominal and pelvic stereotactic treatments.

Purpose: To analyze results from three years of in vivo transit EPID dosimetry of abdominal and pelvic stereotactic radiotherapy and to establish tolerance levels for routine clinical use.

Material: 80 stereotactic VMAT treatments (152 fractions) targeting the abdomen or pelvis were analyzed. In vivo 3D doses were reconstructed with an EPID commercial algorithm.

Sensitivity-Specificity of Tau and Amyloid β Positron Emission Tomography in Frontotemporal Lobar Degeneration.

Objective: To examine associations between tau and amyloid β (Aβ) molecular positron emission tomography (PET) and both Alzheimer-related pathology and 4-repeat tau pathology in autopsy-confirmed frontotemporal lobar degeneration (FTLD).

Methods: Twenty-four patients had [ F]-flortaucipir-PET and died with FTLD (progressive supranuclear palsy [PSP], n = 10; corticobasal degeneration [CBD], n = 10; FTLD-TDP, n = 3; and Pick disease, n = 1). All but 1 had Pittsburgh compound B (PiB)-PET.

Characterization of EPID software for VMAT transit dosimetry.

Dosimetry check (DC) is a commercial software that allows reconstruction of 3D dose distributions using transit electronic portal imaging device (EPID) images. In this work, we evaluated the suitability of DC software for volumetric modulated arc therapy (VMAT) transit dosimetry. The volumetric gamma agreement index 3%/3 mm between twenty VMAT dose distributions reconstructed by DC and calculated with treatment planning system (TPS) were compared to those obtained using PTW OCTAVIUS®4D to assess DC accuracy in VMAT quality assurance (QA).