The Spectrum of Posterior Reversible Encephalopathy Syndrome.

Posterior reversible encephalopathy syndrome consists of acute to subacute symptoms which include seizures, encephalopathy, headaches, visual hallucinations or visual loss, and focal neurologic deficits in the setting of vasogenic brain edema. Both the clinical and radiographic findings are reversible in most, leading to a favorable neurologic prognosis. Less commonly, patients may have residual neurologic sequelae, often in cases with associated structural injury such as intracranial hemorrhage or stroke.

Corrigendum: How often is occult atrial fibrillation in cryptogenic stroke causal vs. incidental? A meta-analysis.

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.3389/fneur.2023.

How often is occult atrial fibrillation in cryptogenic stroke causal vs. incidental? A meta-analysis.

Introduction: Long-term cardiac monitoring studies have unveiled low-burden, occult atrial fibrillation (AF) in some patients with otherwise cryptogenic stroke (CS), but occult AF is also found in some individuals without a stroke history and in patients with stroke of a known cause (KS). Clinical management would be aided by estimates of how often occult AF in a patient with CS is causal vs. incidental.

Mycotic aneurysm.

Angioinvasive fungal infections of the cerebral vasculature often lead to significant morbidity and mortality. High clinical suspicion and early antifungal therapy could improve outcomes. We describe the fatal case of a patient with a rapidly enlarging cavernous carotid aneurysm due to angioinvasive fungus.

Incidence and Predictive Factors Associated with Beta-Lactam Neurotoxicity in the Critically Ill: A Retrospective Cohort Study.

Background: Beta-lactam neurotoxicity is a relatively uncommon yet clinically significant adverse effect in critically ill patients. This study sought to define the incidence of neurotoxicity, derive a prediction model for beta-lactam neurotoxicity, and then validate the model in an independent cohort of critically ill adults.

Methods: This retrospective cohort study evaluated critically ill patients treated with ≥ 48 h of cefepime, piperacillin/tazobactam, or meropenem.

Professional actors demonstrate variability, not stereotypical expressions, when portraying emotional states in photographs.

It is long hypothesized that there is a reliable, specific mapping between certain emotional states and the facial movements that express those states. This hypothesis is often tested by asking untrained participants to pose the facial movements they believe they use to express emotions during generic scenarios. Here, we test this hypothesis using, as stimuli, photographs of facial configurations posed by professional actors in response to contextually-rich scenarios.

Acute Epstein-Barr virus infection presenting as Guillain-Barre syndrome.

An 18-year-old man presented with 5-days of a lower extremity rash, sore throat, rapidly progressive bilateral facial numbness and paresthesias in his distal extremities. His neurological examination acutely deteriorated to include moderate bilateral facial weakness in a lower motor neuron pattern, mild flaccid dysarthria, mild bilateral interossei weakness, and diffuse hyporeflexia. In addition to neurological examination, EMG results of acute demyelinating polyradiculoneuropathy were suggestive of Guillain-Barre Syndrome (GBS).

Implications for Emotion: Using Anatomically Based Facial Coding to Compare Emoji Faces Across Platforms.

Emoji faces, which are ubiquitous in our everyday communication, are thought to resemble human faces and aid emotional communication. Yet, few studies examine whether emojis are perceived as a particular emotion and whether that perception changes based on rendering differences across electronic platforms. The current paper draws upon emotion theory to evaluate whether emoji faces depict anatomical differences that are proposed to differentiate human depictions of emotion (hereafter, "facial expressions").

Emotion Words' Effect on Visual Awareness and Attention of Emotional Faces.

To explore whether the meaning of a word changes visual processing of emotional faces (i.e., visual awareness and visual attention), we performed two complementary studies.

Variable Significance of Brain MRI Findings in Infective Endocarditis and Its Effect on Surgical Decisions.

Objective: To determine how brain magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) findings impact clinical outcomes in patients with infective endocarditis (IE) and to propose a management algorithm for patients with neurologic symptoms who are candidates for valve surgery (VS).

Patients And Methods: Data from our center were retrospectively reviewed for patients hospitalized with IE between January 1, 2007, and December 31, 2014. Outcomes were postoperative intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH), 6-month mortality, and functional outcome at last follow-up as described by the modified Rankin Scale (mRS) score.

What Color Is Your Anger? Assessing Color-Emotion Pairings in English Speakers.

Do English-speakers think about as "red" and as "blue"? Some theories of emotion suggests that color(s)-like other biologically-derived signals- should be reliably paired with an emotion, and that colors should differentiate across emotions. We assessed consistency and specificity for color-emotion pairings among English-speaking adults. In study 1, participants ( = 73) completed an online survey in which they could select up to three colors from 23 colored swatches (varying hue, saturation, and light) for each of ten emotion words.

Lacosamide Pharmacokinetics in a Critically Ill Patient During Continuous Renal Replacement Therapy.

The objective of this study is to describe the pharmacokinetics of lacosamide in a critically ill adult during continuous venovenous hemofiltration (CVVH). A 78-year-old male developed sepsis and acute kidney injury following cardiac surgery. He was initially treated with intermittent hemodialysis but developed nonconvulsive status epilepticus at the end of the first session and was subsequently initiated on CVVH.

Application of the FOUR Score in Intracerebral Hemorrhage Risk Analysis.

Background: The Full Outline of Unresponsiveness (FOUR) Score is a validated scale describing the essentials of a coma examination, including motor response, eye opening and eye movements, brainstem reflexes, and respiratory pattern. We incorporated the FOUR Score into the existing ICH Score and evaluated its accuracy of risk assessment in spontaneous intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH).

Materials And Methods: Consecutive patients admitted to our institution from 2009 to 2012 with spontaneous ICH were reviewed.

Ventriculostomy and Risk of Upward Herniation in Patients with Obstructive Hydrocephalus from Posterior Fossa Mass Lesions.

Background: Patients with posterior fossa lesions causing obstructive hydrocephalus present a unique clinical challenge, as relief of hydrocephalus can improve symptoms, but the perceived risk of upward herniation must also be weighed against the risk of worsening or continued hydrocephalus and its consequences. The aim of our study was to evaluate for clinically relevant upward herniation following external ventricular drainage (EVD) in patients with obstructive hydrocephalus due to posterior fossa lesions.

Methods: We performed a retrospective review of patients undergoing urgent/emergent EVD placement at our institution between 2007 and 2014, evaluating the radiographic and clinical changes following treatment of obstructive hydrocephalus.

Variability of stroke patients meeting endovascular stroke trial criteria in a non-clinical trial setting.

Background: Five randomized trials proving the efficacy and safety of mechanical embolectomy for ischemic stroke within 8hours used differing radiological methods to select patients. We aimed to evaluate the proportion of patients in clinical practice that would meet radiological criteria for inclusion in these trials.

Methods: Retrospective study of ischemic stroke patients at a large academic medical center who were considered for endovascular stroke therapy based on confirmed intracranial large vessel occlusion from April 2010-November 2014.

Medulla Oblongata Hemorrhage and Reverse Takotsubo Cardiomyopathy.

Background: Acute brain injury with strong surges of adrenergic outflow has resulted in takotsubo cardiomyopathy, but there are surprisingly few reports of takotsubo cardiomyopathy after intracranial hemorrhage, and none have been described from hemorrhage within the brainstem.

Results: We describe a patient with reverse and reversible cardiomyopathy following a hemorrhage in the lateral medulla oblongata. While it is limited in size, the location of the hemorrhage caused acute systolic failure with left ventricular ejection fraction of 27% and vasopressor requirement for cardiogenic shock and pulmonary edema.

Anoxic-Ischemic Brain Injury.

Improvements in cardiopulmonary resuscitation and intensive care medicine have led to declining mortality rates for patients with out-of-hospital cardiac arrest, but overall it is still a minority that achieves good outcomes. Estimating neurologic prognosis for patients that remain comatose after resuscitation remains a challenge and the need for accurate and early prognostic predictors is crucial. A thoughtful approach is required and should take into account information acquired from multiple tests in association with neurologic examination.

Utility of Brain Magnetic Resonance Imaging in the Surgical Management of Infective Endocarditis.

Background: Brain magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is frequently obtained in patients with infective endocarditis, yet its utility in predicting outcomes for valve replacement surgery in patients is unknown. The objective of this study was to determine how brain MRI findings impact clinical management and outcomes.

Methods: Demographic and clinical data from electronic medical records at Mayo Clinic were retrospectively reviewed for patients hospitalized with definite or possible infective endocarditis according to the modified Duke criteria between January 1, 2007 and December 31, 2014.

Emotion words: Adding face value.

Despite a growing number of studies suggesting that emotion words affect perceptual judgments of emotional stimuli, little is known about how emotion words affect perceptual memory for emotional faces. In Experiments 1 and 2 we tested how emotion words (compared with control words) affected participants' abilities to select a target emotional face from among distractor faces. Participants were generally more likely to false alarm to distractor emotional faces when primed with an emotion word congruent with the face (compared with a control word).

Extensive Mobile Thrombus of the Internal Carotid Discovered After Intravenous Thrombolysis: What Do I Do Now?

This case report describes a rare presentation of ischemic stroke secondary to an extensive internal carotid artery thrombus, subsequent therapeutic dilemma, and clinical management. A 58-year-old man was administered intravenous (IV) thrombolysis for right middle cerebral artery territory ischemic stroke symptoms. A computed tomography angiogram of the head and neck following thrombolysis showed a longitudinally extensive internal carotid artery thrombus originating at the region of high-grade calcific stenosis.

Dual-Energy CT to Diagnose Pseudoedema in Contrast-Induced Encephalopathy Following Cerebral Angiography.

Background: Contrast-induced encephalopathy (CIE) is a syndrome that may be clinically unrecognized and misdiagnosed as cerebral edema.

Methods: Case report and review.

Results: A 72-year-old woman was admitted for elective endovascular embolization of a 10-mm left anterior communicating artery aneurysm.

Post-ischemic Myoclonic Status Following Cardiac Arrest in Young Drug Users.

Background: Myoclonic status may be observed following cardiac arrest and has previously been identified as a poor prognostic indicator in regard to return of neurologic function. We describe a unique situation in post-cardiac arrest patients with myoclonic status and hypothesize possible predictors of a good neurologic outcome.

Methods: Case series.