Publications by authors named "Luca Angelini"

Essential tremor (ET) is characterized by upper limbs action tremor, sometimes extending to other body parts. However, ET can present with additional neurological features known as "soft signs." These signs of uncertain clinical significance are not sufficient to suggest an alternative neurological diagnosis, and include, among others, questionable dystonia and subtle voluntary movement alterations, i.

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Article Synopsis
  • SARS-CoV-2 infection has negatively affected public health, leading to new or worsened neurological symptoms in some individuals, particularly in those with essential tremor (ET).
  • A study examined the effects of SARS-CoV-2 infection on 36 ET patients, finding that 44% of those who contracted the virus reported a subjective worsening of their tremor after infection.
  • The analysis showed that while clinical data indicated a decline in tremor for infected patients, kinematic measurements remained stable, suggesting that long COVID might intensify the impact of tremor on daily life for those affected.
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Article Synopsis
  • * A specific case is presented of a 53-year-old male who experienced progressive myoclonus-ataxia and was found to have a new genetic variant (c.3835G > A) in the CACNA1G gene.
  • * The study suggests that this novel variant may affect calcium channel activity and emphasizes the significance of genetic testing for understanding myoclonus-ataxia disorders.
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Over the past three decades, substantial advancements have occurred in non-invasive brain stimulation (NIBS). These developments encompass various non-invasive techniques aimed at modulating brain function. Among the most widely utilized methods today are transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) and transcranial electrical stimulation (TES), which include direct- or alternating-current transcranial stimulation (tDCS/tACS).

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Introduction: Essential tremor (ET) and Parkinson's disease (PD) are the most common causes of tremor and the most prevalent movement disorders, with overlapping clinical features that can lead to diagnostic challenges, especially in the early stages.

Areas Covered: In the present paper, the authors review the clinical and experimental studies and emphasized the major aspects to differentiate between ET and PD, with particular attention to cardinal phenomenological features of these two conditions. Ancillary and experimental techniques, including neurophysiology, neuroimaging, fluid biomarker evaluation, and innovative methods, are also discussed for their role in differential diagnosis between ET and PD.

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Cardiogenic shock can be defined as a state of inadequate organ perfusion linked primarily to cardiac pump dysfunction. The two predominant causes of this condition are acute myocardial infarction and acutely decompensated heart failure (ADHF). In recent years, a significant increase in cases of cardiogenic shock from ADHF has been described.

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Substantial evidence highlights the role of the cerebellum in the pathophysiology of tremor in essential tremor (ET), although its potential involvement in altered movement execution in this condition remains unclear. This study aims to explore potential correlations between the cerebellum and basal ganglia functional connectivity and voluntary movement execution abnormalities in ET, objectively assessed with kinematic techniques. A total of 20 patients diagnosed with ET and 18 healthy subjects were enrolled in this study.

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Essential tremor (ET) is a heterogeneous disorder characterized by bilateral upper limbs action tremor and, possibly, neurological signs of uncertain significance, including voluntary movement abnormalities and cognitive disturbances, i.e., the so-called 'soft' signs configuring the ET-plus definition.

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Background: Subtle parkinsonian signs, i.e., rest tremor and bradykinesia, are considered soft signs for defining essential tremor (ET) plus.

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Background: Tremor disorders have various genetic causes.

Case Report: A 60-year-old female with a family history of tremor presented a combined tremor syndrome, transient episodes of loss of contact and speech disturbances, as well as distal painful symptoms. Genetic screening revealed a novel heterozygous missense variant in the KCNQ2 gene.

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The management of cardiogenic shock (CS) after ACS has evolved over time, and the development of a multidisciplinary team-based approach has been shown to improve outcomes, although mortality remains high. All consecutive patients with ACS-CS admitted at our CICU from March 2012 to July 2021 were included in this single-center retrospective study. In 2019, we established a "shock team" consisting of a cardiac intensivist, an interventional cardiologist, an anesthetist, and a cardiac surgeon.

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In patients with Parkinson's disease, the connectivity between the two primary motor cortices may be altered. However, the correlation between asymmetries of abnormal interhemispheric connections and bradykinesia features has not been investigated. Furthermore, the potential effects of dopaminergic medications on this issue remain largely unclear.

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Objective: To evaluate the effects of cerebellar transcranial alternating current stimulation (tACS) delivered at cerebellar-resonant frequencies, i.e., theta (θ) and gamma (γ), on upper limb motor performance and cerebellum-primary motor cortex (M1) connectivity, as assessed by cerebellar-brain inhibition (CBI), in healthy subjects.

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Background: Opicapone (OPC) is a third-generation, selective peripheral COMT inhibitor that improves peripheral L-DOPA bioavailability and reduces OFF time and end-of-dose motor fluctuations in Parkinson's disease (PD) patients.

Objectives: In this study, we objectively assessed the effects of adding OPC to L-DOPA on bradykinesia in PD through kinematic analysis of finger movements.

Methods: We enrolled 20 treated patients with PD and motor fluctuations.

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Introduction: In this research, our primary objective was to explore the correlation between basal ganglia dopaminergic neurotransmission, assessed using 123I-FP-CIT (DAT-SPECT), and finger movements abnormalities in patients with essential tremor (ET) and Parkinson's disease (PD).

Methods: We enrolled 16 patients with ET, 17 with PD, and 18 healthy controls (HC). Each participant underwent comprehensive clinical evaluations, kinematic assessments of finger tapping.

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Introduction: Tremor is the most common movement disorder. Although clinical examination plays a significant role in evaluating patients with tremor, laboratory tests are useful to classify tremors according to the recent two-axis approach proposed by the International Parkinson and Movement Disorders Society.

Methods: In the present review, we will discuss the usefulness and applicability of the various diagnostic methods in classifying and diagnosing tremors.

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Parkinson's disease (PD) and Alzheimer's disease (AD) are neurodegenerative disorders with some overlapping clinical features. Hypomimia (reduced facial expressivity) is a prominent sign of PD and it is also present in AD. However, no study has experimentally assessed hypomimia in AD and compared facial expressivity between PD and AD patients.

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Background: Bradykinesia is the hallmark feature of Parkinson's disease (PD); however, it can manifest in other conditions, including essential tremor (ET), and in healthy elderly individuals.

Objective: Here we assessed whether bradykinesia features aid in distinguishing PD, ET, and healthy elderly individuals.

Methods: We conducted simultaneous video and kinematic recordings of finger tapping in 44 PD patients, 69 ET patients, and 77 healthy elderly individuals.

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Acute heart failure is a heterogeneous clinical syndrome and is the first cause of unplanned hospitalization in people >65 years. Patients with heart failure may have different clinical presentations according to clinical history, pre-existing heart disease, and pattern of intravascular congestion. A comprehensive assessment of clinical, echocardiographic, and laboratory data should aid in clinical decision-making and treatment.

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The "interlimb transfer" phenomenon consists of improved performance of the trained and untrained contralateral limbs after unilateral motor practice. We here assessed whether a visuomotor learning task can be transferred from one hemisphere to the other, whether this occurs symmetrically, and the cortical neurophysiological correlates of this phenomenon, focusing on interhemispheric connectivity measures. We enrolled 33 healthy subjects (age range: 24-73 years).

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Background And Purpose: Essential tremor (ET) is a common and heterogeneous disorder characterized by postural/kinetic tremor of the upper limbs and other body segments and by non-motor symptoms, including cognitive and psychiatric abnormalities. Only a limited number of longitudinal studies have comprehensively and simultaneously investigated motor and non-motor symptom progression in ET. Possible soft signs that configure the ET-plus diagnosis are also under-investigated in follow-up studies.

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Background: To date, only a few clinical and neurophysiological studies have assessed the features of valproate-induced tremor (VIT), and whether valproate (VPA) affects voluntary movements is underinvestigated.

Objective: To better characterize the clinical and neurophysiological features of VIT in patients with epilepsy and the effect of VPA on the execution of voluntary movement.

Methods: We tested 29 patients with VIT (13 taking VPA alone and 16 taking VPA plus other antiepileptics).

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