Neuropsychology and MRI correlates of neurodegeneration in SPG11 hereditary spastic paraplegia.

Background: SPG11-linked hereditary spastic paraplegia is characterized by multisystem neurodegeneration leading to a complex clinical and yet incurable phenotype of progressive spasticity and weakness. Severe cognitive symptoms are present in the majority of SPG11 patients, but a systematic and multidimensional analysis of the neuropsychological phenotype in a larger cohort is lacking. While thinning of the corpus callosum is a well-known structural hallmark observed in SPG11 patients, the neuroanatomical pattern of cortical degeneration is less understood.

A Multisensory Deficit in the Perception of Pleasantness in Parkinson's Disease.

Background: There is growing interest in non-motor symptoms in Parkinson's disease (PD), due to the impact on quality of life. Anhedonia, the inability to experience joy and lust, has a prevalence of up to 46% in PD. The perception of pleasantness of an odor is reduced in anhedonia without PD.

Longer-term effects of intravenous immunoglobulin treatment in chronic inflammatory demyelinating polyneuropathy: Who benefits?

Intravenous immunoglobulins (IVIg) represent an established cornerstone for the immunotherapy of chronic inflammatory demyelinating polyneuropathy (CIDP). Efficacy of IVIg for CIDP was proven in a large phase III trial. Yet, data on longer-term efficacy and effects in distinct subgroups are scarce.

Real world application of ocrelizumab in multiple sclerosis: Single-center experience of 128 patients.

Background: Pivotal trials showed good clinical efficiency of the monoclonal antibody ocrelizumab while being well tolerated and manageable in multiple sclerosis (MS). However, data on adverse events in everyday practice are scarce. Hence, our study aims at investigating short-term tolerability of ocrelizumab in a "real-world" setting.

Posttraumatic stress disorder in patients after transient ischemic attack: A one-year follow-up.

Objective: We aimed to determine the prevalence of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) 12 months after transient ischemic attack (TIA).

Method: TIA patients of our previous investigation (examined 3 months after the event) were again examined 12 months after the diagnosis. PTSD and associated variables were assessed via self-rating instruments.

No evidence of disease activity status over 3 years in a real-world cohort of relapsing remitting MS patients in Germany.

Background: Over the last decade, therapy of relapsing remitting multiple sclerosis (RRMS) has evolved with the approval of several new treatment concepts. Thus, treatment goals have become more ambitious aiming at "no evidence of disease activity" (NEDA). As NEDA-3, this concept comprises freedom of clinical disease progression and relapses as well as inflammatory MRI activity.

Violations of Weber's law tell us more about methodological challenges in sensorimotor research than about the neural correlates of visual behaviour.

The violation of Weber's law in grasping has been presented as evidence for the claim that grasping is guided by visual information which is distinct from the information used in perceptual tasks. Previously, we contested this claim and argued that biomechanical constraints of the hand might explain why Weber's law cannot be reliably uncovered in grasping movements. In a recent article Manzone and colleagues (2017) show that pantomime grasping follows Weber's law even with objects whose width is close to the hand's biomechanical limit.

Visual feedback explains why propointing is better than antipointing in spatial neglect.

Rossit et al. (2011) showed that neglect patients perform normally in a propointing task but not in an antipointing task which requires pointing towards the mirrored position of a target. It is assumed that antipointing relies on information from the perceptual pathway of our visual brain.

Cognitive functions over the course of 1 year in multiple sclerosis patients treated with disease modifying therapies.

Objectives: Disease-modifying therapies (DMTs) are applied to delay or prevent disease progression in multiple sclerosis (MS). While this has mostly been proven for physical symptoms, available studies regarding long-term effects of DMTs on cognitive functions are rare and sometimes inconsistent due to methodological shortcomings. Particularly in the case of fingolimod, comprehensive data on cognitive functions are not yet available.

Biomechanical factors may explain why grasping violates Weber's law.

For grasping, Ganel, Chajut, and Algom (2008) demonstrated that the variability of the maximum grip aperture (MGA) does not increase with the size of the target object. This seems to violate Weber's law, a fundamental law of psychophysics. They concluded that the visual representations guiding grasping are distinct from representations used for perceptual judgments.

Subliminal galvanic-vestibular stimulation recalibrates the distorted visual and tactile subjective vertical in right-sided stroke.

Stroke of the right cerebral hemisphere often causes deficits in the judgement of the subjective visual vertical (SVV) and subjective tactile vertical (STV) which are related to central vestibular functioning. Clinically, deficits in the SVV/STV are linked to balance problems and poor functional outcome. Galvanic Vestibular Stimulation (GVS) is a non-invasive, save stimulation technique that induces polarity-specific changes in the cortical vestibular systems.

Baseline magnetic resonance imaging of the optic nerve provides limited predictive information on short-term recovery after acute optic neuritis.

Background: In acute optic neuritis, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) may help to confirm the diagnosis as well as to exclude alternative diagnoses. Yet, little is known on the value of optic nerve imaging for predicting clinical symptoms or therapeutic outcome.

Purpose: To evaluate the benefit of optic nerve MRI for predicting response to appropriate therapy and recovery of visual acuity.

Patient preferences for disease-modifying drugs in multiple sclerosis therapy: a choice-based conjoint analysis.

Objectives: With an increasing number of disease-modifying treatments (DMTs) for multiple sclerosis (MS), patient preferences will gain importance in the decision-making process. We assessed patients' implicit preferences for oral versus parenteral DMTs and identified factors influencing patients' treatment preference.

Methods: Patients with relapsing-remitting MS (n = 156) completed a questionnaire assessing treatment preferences, whereby they had to decide between pairs of hypothetical treatment scenarios.

Increased prevalence of posttraumatic stress disorder in patients after transient ischemic attack.

Background And Purpose: A transient ischemic attack (TIA) involves temporary neurological symptoms but leaves a patient symptom-free. Patients are faced with an increased risk for future stroke, and the manifestation of the TIA itself might be experienced as traumatizing. We aimed to investigate the prevalence of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) after TIA and its relation to patients' psychosocial outcome.

Visual search as a tool for a quick and reliable assessment of cognitive functions in patients with multiple sclerosis.

Background: Despite the high frequency of cognitive impairment in multiple sclerosis, its assessment has not gained entrance into clinical routine yet, due to lack of time-saving and suitable tests for patients with multiple sclerosis.

Objective: The aim of the study was to compare the paradigm of visual search with neuropsychological standard tests, in order to identify the test that discriminates best between patients with multiple sclerosis and healthy individuals concerning cognitive functions, without being susceptible to practice effects.

Methods: Patients with relapsing remitting multiple sclerosis (n = 38) and age-and gender-matched healthy individuals (n = 40) were tested with common neuropsychological tests and a computer-based visual search task, whereby a target stimulus has to be detected amongst distracting stimuli on a touch screen.

Now You Feel both: Galvanic Vestibular Stimulation Induces Lasting Improvements in the Rehabilitation of Chronic Tactile Extinction.

Tactile extinction is frequent, debilitating, and often persistent after brain damage. Currently, there is no treatment available for this disorder. In two previous case studies we showed an influence of galvanic vestibular stimulation (GVS) on tactile extinction.

Galvanic vestibular stimulation improves arm position sense in spatial neglect: a sham-stimulation-controlled study.

Background: Disturbed arm position sense (APS) is a frequent and debilitating condition in patients with hemiparesis after stroke. Patients with neglect, in particular, show a significantly impaired contralesional APS. Currently, there is no treatment available for this disorder.

Effects of feedback-based visual line-orientation discrimination training for visuospatial disorders after stroke.

Background: Patients with right or more rarely left parietotemporal lesions after stroke may have profound visuospatial disorders that impair activities of daily living (ADL) and long-term outcome. Clinical studies indicate improvements with systematic training of perception. Studies of perceptual learning in healthy persons suggest rapid improvements in perceptual learning of spatial line orientation with partial transfer to nontrained line orientations.

Minor adverse effects of galvanic vestibular stimulation in persons with stroke and healthy individuals.

Objective: Galvanic vestibular stimulation (GVS) induces polarity-specific activations in the vestibular nerves and upstream in the vestibular and parietotemporal cortices as well as sub-cortical regions. This makes it an attractive technique for cognitive neuromodulation. However, systematic studies regarding adverse effects of GVS are unavailable.

Galvanic vestibular stimulation reduces the pathological rightward line bisection error in neglect-a sham stimulation-controlled study.

Patients with right hemisphere lesions often show left spatial neglect and the typical rightward deviation in horizontal line bisection. Previous studies have shown that sensory stimulation modulates line bisection. A less well-known but promising sensory stimulation method is galvanic vestibular stimulation (GVS).

A long-lasting improvement of tactile extinction after galvanic vestibular stimulation: two Sham-stimulation controlled case studies.

Sensory extinction is frequent and often persistent after brain damage. Previous studies have shown the transient influence of sensory stimulation on tactile extinction. In the present two case studies we investigated whether subliminal galvanic vestibular stimulation (GVS) modulates tactile extinction.

Electrified minds: transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) and galvanic vestibular stimulation (GVS) as methods of non-invasive brain stimulation in neuropsychology--a review of current data and future implications.

Transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) is a noninvasive, low-cost and easy-to-use technique that can be applied to modify cerebral excitability. This is achieved by weak direct currents to shift the resting potential of cortical neurons. These currents are applied by attaching two electrodes (usually one anode and one cathode) to distinct areas of the skull.

Effects of lateral head inclination on multimodal spatial orientation judgments in neglect: evidence for impaired spatial orientation constancy.

Recent research revealed that patients with spatial hemineglect show deficits in the judgment of the subjective vertical and horizontal. Systematic deviations in the subjective axes have been demonstrated in the visual and tactile modality, indicating a supramodal spatial orientation deficit. Further, the magnitude of the bias was shown to be modulated by head- and body-position.