Case Report: Neurodegenerative Diseases After Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 Infection, a Report of Three Cases: Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease, Rapidly Progressive Alzheimer's Disease, and Frontotemporal Dementia.

The relationship between severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) and neurodegenerative diseases is yet to be fully clarified. Rapid worsening and even new-onset cases of those disorders have been reported in association with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). We describe three cases of neurodegenerative diseases in patients with SARS-CoV-2: a case of Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease during the COVID-19 acute phase, to our knowledge, is the second one described in the literature; a rapidly progressive Alzheimer's Disease; and a patient with frontotemporal dementia, and a quick decline of both cognitive and behavioral domains.

The association of post-stroke anhedonia with salivary cortisol levels and stroke lesion in hippocampal/parahippocampal region.

Background: Anhedonia constitutes a coherent construct, with neural correlates and negative clinical impact, independent of depression. However, little is known about the neural correlates of anhedonia in stroke patients. In this study, we investigated the association of post-stroke anhedonia with salivary cortisol levels and stroke location and volume.

The influence of depressive symptoms on quality of life after stroke: a prospective study.

Background: Poststroke depressive symptoms have prospectively predicted impairment of health-related quality of life (HRQOL). However, it is not known whether such predictive effect is independent of HRQOL at 1 month after stroke. This study aimed to investigate the impact of depressive symptoms at 1 and 3 months after stroke on the 3-month poststroke HRQOL and to investigate the influence of the HRQOL measured at 1 month after stroke on these relationships.

Right inferior frontal gyrus activation is associated with memory improvement in patients with left frontal low-grade glioma resection.

Patients with low-grade glioma (LGG) have been studied as a model of functional brain reorganization due to their slow-growing nature. However, there is no information regarding which brain areas are involved during verbal memory encoding after extensive left frontal LGG resection. In addition, it remains unknown whether these patients can improve their memory performance after instructions to apply efficient strategies.

Executive function and depressive symptoms of retardation in nonelderly stroke patients.

The depression-executive dysfunction syndrome, a late-onset depression of vascular origin with executive dysfunction and psychomotor retardation, has also been described after stroke. We verified whether this syndrome also occurs in nonelderly stroke patients by investigating the association between domains of depressive symptoms with executive functions in 87 first-ever ischemic stroke patients. The retardation domain of the 31-item Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression was associated with decreased performance on verbal fluency (assessed with FAS).

Magnetic fields in noninvasive brain stimulation.

The idea that magnetic fields could be used therapeutically arose 2000 years ago. These therapeutic possibilities were expanded after the discovery of electromagnetic induction by the Englishman Michael Faraday and the American Joseph Henry. In 1896, Arsène d'Arsonval reported his experience with noninvasive brain magnetic stimulation to the scientific French community.

Abnormal sensory integration affects balance control in hemiparetic patients within the first year after stroke.

Objective: Impairments in balance can be a consequence of changes in the motor, sensory, and integrative aspects of motor control. Abnormal sensory reweighting, i.e.

Transcranial magnetic stimulation in mild to severe hemiparesis early after stroke: a proof of principle and novel approach to improve motor function.

Low-frequency repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) of the unaffected hemisphere can enhance function of the paretic hand in patients with mild motor impairment. Effects of low-frequency rTMS to the contralesional motor cortex at an early stage of mild to severe hemiparesis after stroke are unknown. In this pilot, randomized, double-blind clinical trial we compared the effects of low-frequency rTMS or sham rTMS as add-on therapies to outpatient customary rehabilitation, in 30 patients within 5-45 days after ischemic stroke, and mild to severe hand paresis.

Cognitive impairments in patients with low grade gliomas and high grade gliomas.

Objective: The relationship between brain tumors and cognitive deficits is well established in the literature. However, studies investigating the cognitive status in low and high-grade gliomas patients are scarce, particularly in patients with average or lower educational level. This study aimed at investigating the cognitive functioning in a sample of patients with low and high-grade gliomas before surgical intervention.

Neuroinfection survey at a neurological ward in a Brazilian tertiary teaching hospital.

Objectives: This study was undertaken to characterize the neuroinfection profile in a tertiary neurological ward.

Introduction: Neuroinfection is a worldwide concern and bacterial meningitis, tetanus and cerebral malaria have been reported as the commonest causes in developing countries.

Methods: From 1999 to 2007, all patients admitted to the Neurology Ward of Hospital das Clínicas, São Paulo University School of Medicine because of neuroinfection had their medical records reviewed.

Stroke lesion in cortical neural circuits and post-stroke incidence of major depressive episode: a 4-month prospective study.

Objective: Little is known about the relevance of lesion in neural circuits reported to be associated with major depressive disorder. We investigated the association between lesion stroke size in the limbic-cortical-striatal-pallidal-thalamic (LCSPT) circuit and incidence of major depressive episode (MDE).

Methods: We enrolled 68 patients with first-ever ischemic stroke and no history of major depressive disorder.

Cognitive deficits in patients with mild to moderate traumatic brain injury.

Unlabelled: Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is one of the most frequent causes of brain damage. Cognitive deficits reported in the literature after moderate to severe TBI include memory, language, executive functions, attention and information processing speed impairments. However, systematic studies on patients with mild TBI are scarce although neuropsychological changes are present.

Psychological assessment in patients with phobic postural vertigo.

Unlabelled: Phobic postural vertigo (PPV) is a frequent diagnosis which can be challenging to treat.

Objective: To investigate the presence of psychiatric disturbances in patients with PPV; to assess the psychological status of patients using adaptive diagnosis; to verify possible correlations between severity of psychiatric disturbance and adaptive efficacy.

Method: A total of nineteen subjects were assessed and two instruments applied: the Primary Care Evaluation of Mental Disorders Questionnaire (PRIME-MD) and the Adaptive Operationalized Diagnostic Scale (AODS), and results from both tests were compared.

Interhemispheric asymmetry of corticomotor excitability after chronic cerebellar infarcts.

Early after stroke, there is loss of intracortical facilitation (ICF) and increase in short-interval intracortical inhibition (SICI) in the primary motor cortex (M1) contralateral to a cerebellar infarct. Our goal was to investigate intracortical M1 function in the chronic stage following cerebellar infarcts (>4 months). We measured resting motor threshold (rMT), SICI, ICF, and ratios between motor-evoked potential amplitudes (MEP) and supramaximal M response amplitudes (MEP/M; %), after transcranial magnetic stimulation was applied to the M1 contralateral (M1(contralesional)) and ipsilateral (M1(ipsilesional)) to the cerebellar infarct in patients and to both M1s of healthy age-matched volunteers.

Development of an adapted version of the Boston Naming Test for Portuguese speakers.

Objective: To present the development of an adapted version of the Boston Naming Test for Portuguese speakers, and to investigate the effects of age, education and gender on both the original and the adapted Boston Naming Test in respect of Brazilian Portuguese speakers.

Method: Eighty items, including the 60 original ones and 20 adapted items were administered to 739 healthy Brazilian subjects aged between 6 and 77 years who received 0 to 17 years of education.

Results: The coefficients of the General Linear Model estimation suggested that both age and education were statistically significant to predict total scores.

Basilar artery occlusive disease in stroke survivors in a multiethnic population.

Objectives: To describe clinical, radiological findings, and outcome in a multiethnic population of stroke survivors with basilar artery occlusive disease (BAOC).

Methods: Forty patients with infarcts in the basilar artery (BA) territory, alive 30 days after the ictus, participated in the study. BA stenosis (>50%) or occlusion was shown by magnetic resonance or digital subtraction angiography in all patients.

Effects of somatosensory stimulation on motor function after subacute stroke.

Background: Previous works showed potentially beneficial effects of a single session of peripheral nerve sensory stimulation (PSS) on motor function of a paretic hand in patients with subacute and chronic stroke.

Objective: To investigate the influence of the use of different stimulus intensities over multiple sessions (repetitive PSS [RPSS]) paired with motor training.

Methods: To address this question, 22 patients were randomized within the second month after a single hemispheric stroke in a parallel design to application of 2-hour RPSS at 1 of 2 stimulus intensities immediately preceding motor training, 3 times a week, for 1 month.

[Stroke in a neurology ward: etiologies, complications and length of stay].

Introduction: Purposes of this study were: evaluate complications and length of stay of patients admitted with diagnosis of ischemic stroke (IS) in the acute or subacute phase, in a general Neurology ward in São paulo, Brazil; investigate the influence of age, risk factors for vascular disease, arterial territory and etiology.

Methods: Data from 191 IS patients were collected prospectively.

Results: Fifty-one patients (26.

Spontaneous cervical artery dissection: an update on clinical and diagnostic aspects.

Spontaneous cervical arterial dissection (SCAD) is a non-traumatic tear or disruption in the wall of the internal carotid arteries or the vertebral arteries. It accounts for about 25% of strokes in patients aged under 45 years. Awareness of its clinical features and advances in imaging over the last two decades have contributed to earlier identification of this condition.