Toxin for Tics: Practical Guidance for Clinicians from a Registry-Based Naturalistic Study.

Background: Botulinum toxin is a recommended treatment for tics. There is little practical guidance on the use of this treatment.

Objectives: Our aim is to describe our experience using botulinum toxin injections for tics in adults.

Randomized Controlled Trial of Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation over the Supplementary Motor Area in Tourette Syndrome.

Background: Transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) over the supplementary motor area (SMA) has shown promise in Tourette syndrome (TS), but previous studies were limited in size and stimulation duration.

Objective: The aim was to explore the efficacy and safety of multiple sessions of cathodal tDCS over the bilateral SMA on tic severity in TS.

Methods: A double-blind, randomized, sham-controlled trial 1 mA cathodal tDCS over bilateral SMA was performed in participants with TS older than 16 years.

External Factors Modulating Pain and Pain-Related Functional Impairment in Cervical Dystonia.

Background: Little is known about factors modulating pain and pain-related functional impairment in isolated cervical dystonia (CD).

Objective: The aim was to assess the prevalence and interrelationship between pain-modulating factors and pain-related determinants of functional impairment and quality of life in CD.

Methods: We analyzed pain-aggravating and pain-relieving external factors, the degree of pain-related functional impact on routine activities, and the relationship between these and pain severity, using cross-sectional data collected using the Pain in Dystonia Scale (PIDS) from 85 participants with CD.

Psychiatric phenotype in neurodevelopmental myoclonus-dystonia is underpinned by abnormality of cerebellar modulation on the cerebral cortex.

Psychiatric symptoms are common in neurodevelopmental movement disorders, including some types of dystonia. However, research has mainly focused on motor manifestations and underlying circuits. Myoclonus-dystonia is a rare and homogeneous neurodevelopmental condition serving as an illustrative paradigm of childhood-onset dystonias, associated with psychiatric symptoms.

DNA Methylation signatures underpinning blood neutrophil to lymphocyte ratio during first week of human life.

Understanding of newborn immune ontogeny in the first week of life will enable age-appropriate strategies for safeguarding vulnerable newborns against infectious diseases. Here we conducted an observational study exploring the immunological profile of infants longitudinally throughout their first week of life. Our Expanded Program on Immunization - Human Immunology Project Consortium (EPIC-HIPC) studies the epigenetic regulation of systemic immunity using small volumes of peripheral blood samples collected from West African neonates on days of life (DOL) 0, 1, 3, and 7.

Early moderate prenatal alcohol exposure and maternal diet impact offspring DNA methylation across species.

Alcohol consumption in pregnancy can affect genome regulation in the developing offspring but results have been contradictory. We employed a physiologically relevant murine model of short-term moderate prenatal alcohol exposure (PAE) resembling common patterns of alcohol consumption in pregnancy in humans. Early moderate PAE was sufficient to affect site-specific DNA methylation in newborn pups without altering behavioural outcomes in adult littermates.

Imaging and anesthesia protocol optimization in sedated clinical resting state fMRI.

Background And Purpose: The quality of resting-state functional MRI (rs-fMRI) under anesthesia is variable and there are no guidelines on optimal image acquisition or anesthesia protocol. We aim to identify the factors that may lead to compromised clinical rs-fMRI under anesthesia.

Materials And Methods: In this cross-sectional study, we analyzed clinical rs-fMRI data acquired under anesthesia from 2009-2023 at Massachusetts General Hospital.

Psoriatic arthritis subtypes are phenocopied in humanized mice.

Psoriatic arthritis (PsA) is a complex inflammatory disease that challenges diagnosis and complicates the rational selection of effective therapies. Although T cells are considered active effectors in psoriasis and PsA, the role of CD8+ T cells in pathogenesis is not well understood. We selected the humanized mouse model NSG-SGM3 transgenic strain to examine psoriasis and PsA endotypes.

Breastfeeding and Neonatal Age Influence Neutrophil-Driven Ontogeny of Blood Cell Populations in the First Week of Human Life.

The first few days of life are characterized by rapid external and internal changes that require substantial immune system adaptations. Despite growing evidence of the impact of this period on lifelong immune health, this period remains largely uncharted. To identify factors that may impact the trajectory of immune development, we conducted stringently standardized, high-throughput phenotyping of peripheral white blood cell (WBC) populations from 796 newborns across two distinct cohorts (The Gambia, West Africa; Papua New Guinea, Melanesia) in the framework of a Human Immunology Project Consortium (HIPC) study.

In Vivo Xenograft Model to Study Tumor Dormancy, Tumor Cell Dissemination and Metastasis.

Metastasis is a complex, multistep process. To study the molecular steps of the metastatic cascade, it is important to use an in vivo system that recapitulates the complex tumor microenvironment. The chicken embryo chorioallantoic membrane (CAM) is an in vivo system suitable for the implantation of xenograft tumor models.

[Psychiatric rehospitalizations: Clinical, social and demographic determinants in a hospital of the City of Buenos Aires].

Objective: This study aims to determine variables associated with multiple rehospitalizations in a women's hospitalization Unit in a Psychiatric Emergency Hospital in the City of Buenos Aires, Argentina.

Method: In this an analytical, cross-sectional study 350 patients between 18 and 65 years of age, hospitalized from 2013 to December 2017 in the women's hospitalization room of the Psychiatric Emergency Hospital “Torcuato de Alvear” were included. At the time of discharge, sociodemographic, clinical and discharge conditions data were collected from all patients.

Respiratory infection- and asthma-prone, low vaccine responder children demonstrate distinct mononuclear cell DNA methylation pathways.

Background: Infants with frequent viral and bacterial respiratory infections exhibit compromised immunity to routine immunizations. They are also more likely to develop chronic respiratory diseases in later childhood. This study investigated the feasibility of epigenetic profiling to reveal endotype-specific molecular pathways with potential for early identification and immuno-modulation.

Perioperative ROTEM® evaluation in a patient affected by severe VII factor deficiency undergoing microvascular decompression craniotomy for hemifacial spasm.

The potential use of TEG/ROTEM® in evaluating the bleeding risk for rare coagulation disorders needs to be assessed, considering the common mismatch among laboratory tests and the clinical manifestations. As a result, there is currently no published data on the use of viscoelastic tests to assess coagulation in FVII deficient patients undergoing elective neurosurgery. We describe the case of a patient affected by severe FVII deficiency who underwent microvascular decompression (MVD) craniotomy for hemifacial spasm (HFS).

Neuronavigated percutaneous gasserian radiofrequency thermorhizotomy for trigeminal neuralgia: how I do it.

Background: Radiofrequency thermorhizotomy (TRZ) is an established treatment for trigeminal neuralgia (TN). TRZ can result risky and painful in a consistent subset of patients, due to the need to perform multiple trajectories, before a successful foramen ovale cannulation. Moreover, intraoperative x-rays are required.