Differences and Similarities in Empathy Deficit and Its Neural Basis between Logopenic and Amnesic Alzheimer's Disease.

The aims of the study were to assess empathy deficit and neuronal correlates in logopenic primary progressive aphasia (lv-PPA) and compare these data with those deriving from amnesic Alzheimer's disease (AD). Eighteen lv-PPA and thirty-eight amnesic AD patients were included. Empathy in both cognitive and affective domains was assessed by Informer-rated Interpersonal Reactivity Index (perspective taking, PT, and fantasy, FT, for cognitive empathy; empathic concern, EC, and personal distress, PD, for affective empathy) before (T0) and after (T1) cognitive symptoms' onset.

Security and reliability of CUSTOMBONE cranioplasties: A prospective multicentric study.

Background: Repairing bone defects generated by craniectomy is a major therapeutic challenge in terms of bone consolidation as well as functional and cognitive recovery. Furthermore, these surgical procedures are often grafted with complications such as infections, breaches, displacements and rejections leading to failure and thus explantation of the prosthesis.

Objective: To evaluate cumulative explantation and infection rates following the implantation of a tailored cranioplasty CUSTOMBONE prosthesis made of porous hydroxyapatite.

Is the analgesic effect of motor cortex stimulation somatotopically driven or not?

Objectives: Mechanisms of analgesic efficacy related to motor cortex stimulation (MCS) remain poorly understood. Specifically, it is unclear whether pain relief is somatotopically driven or not. We present three illustrative case-reports of MCS in which unintentional stimulation setting errors occurred, leading to differential (and reversible) pain relief outcomes across the hemi-body.

Added value of multiple versus single sessions of repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation in predicting motor cortex stimulation efficacy for refractory neuropathic pain.

Objective: Selection criteria for offering patients motor cortex stimulation (MCS) for refractory neuropathic pain are a critical topic of research. A single session of repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) has been advocated for selecting MCS candidates, but it has a low negative predictive value. Here the authors investigated whether multiple rTMS sessions would more accurately predict MCS efficacy.

Carbapenemase-producing Acinetobacter baumannii: An outbreak report with special highlights on economic burden.

Objective: We aimed to describe the management of a carbapenemase-producing Acinetobacter baumannii (CP-AB) outbreak using the Outbreak Reports and Intervention Studies of Nosocomial Infection (ORION) statement. We also aimed to evaluate the cost of the outbreak and simulate costs if a dedicated unit to manage such outbreak had been set-up.

Methods: We performed a prospective epidemiological study.

Clinical Impact of Bevacizumab in Patients with Relapsed Glioblastoma: Focus on a Real-Life Monocentric SurVey (SV1 Study).

Objectives: Glioblastoma is one of the most frequent primitive brain tumors. Patients who experience tumor relapse after surgery and concomitant radiochemotherapy have a dismal prognosis. The objective of this study is to analyze efficacy data in terms of overall survival (OS) and progression- free survival (PFS) following combination therapy with bevacizumab (BVZ) and irinotecan among patients with relapsed glioblastoma.

Robot-guided neuronavigated rTMS as an alternative therapy for central (neuropathic) pain: Clinical experience and long-term follow-up.

Background: Repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) appears as a useful tool to alleviate neuropathic pain but only few data are available for the long-term benefit of this treatment.

Methods: Here we report the effects of rTMS sessions, considered as a possible therapy for pain relief after a failure of different medications in patients with central (neuropathic) pain. We review here the prospectively collected data of the first forty patients treated as follow: 20 Hz stimulation delivered over the contralateral primary motor cortex (M1), each 3-4 weeks.

[Young French neurosurgeons: Working conditions and outlook].

Introduction: Due to the increase in the number of French neurosurgeon residents the neurosurgical workforce is changing. The main objective of this survey was to assess working conditions and perspectives for young French neurosurgeons.

Method: An on-line survey was sent to young French neurosurgeons based on a mailing-list (219 mail addresses of Residents and Fellows obtained during previous meetings).

Ex vivo confocal microscopy imaging to identify tumor tissue on freshly removed brain sample.

Confocal microscopy is a technique able to realize "optic sections" of a tissue with increasing applications. We wondered if we could apply an ex vivo confocal microscope designed for dermatological purpose in a routine use for the most frequent brain tumors. The aim of this work was to identify tumor tissue and its histopathological hallmarks, and to assess grading criteria used in neuropathological practice without tissue loss on freshly removed brain tissue.

Cerebral relapsing meningioma: a surgical series with lack of reliability of standard parameters establishing prognosis.

Background/aim: Meningioma is the most frequent meningeal neoplasm, usually without relapse or metastasis. Patient follow-up is challenging, not standardized and is decided in multidisciplinary case discussion. Our aim was to determine the clinical and histological factors influencing the time to relapse.

Isolated primary central nervous system lymphoma arising from the optic chiasm.

A 58-year-old previously healthy woman rapidly developed progressive bilateral visual loss. Magnetic resonance imaging revealed a bulging appearance of the optic chiasm, with homogeneous enhancement after gadolinium administration, which suggested an optic glioma or inflammatory disease. In the absence of (para)clinical clues for a specific diagnosis despite extensive investigation, a biopsy of one optic nerve was performed, resulting in a diagnosis of non-Hodgkin B-cell lymphoma.

New insights into the functional significance of the frontal aslant tract: an anatomo-functional study using intraoperative electrical stimulations combined with diffusion tensor imaging-based fiber tracking.

We used the method of direct electrostimulation combined with navigated tractography to map the frontal "aslant" tract, enabling us to perform reliable anatomo-functional correlation in a patient undergoing awake surgery to remove a left frontal glioma. The findings enhanced our understanding of the organization of language within the human brain.

[Intracranial hemorrhages: epidemiology and implication of antithrombotic therapy].

Objective: Intracranial hemorrhage (ICH) is an antithrombotic treatment complication. Our study's goal is to assess the proportion of ICH occurring while the patient is on antithrombotic treatment. The secondary goal is to assess the proportion of "avoidable" ICH (anticoagulant overdosage, debatables indications).

Intraoperative use of diffusion tensor imaging-based tractography for resection of gliomas located near the pyramidal tract: comparison with subcortical stimulation mapping and contribution to surgical outcomes.

Introduction: For gliomas, the goal of surgery is maximal tumour removal with the preservation of neurological function. We evaluated the contribution of the combination of diffusion tensor imaging-based fibre tracking (DTI-FT) of the pyramidal tract (PT) integrated to the navigation and subcortical direct electrical stimulations (DESs) to surgical outcomes.

Method: Ten patients underwent surgery for gliomas located in close relationship with the subcortical course of the PT.

Improved dexterity after chronic electrical stimulation of the motor cortex for central pain: a special relevance for thalamic syndrome.

Objectives: To demonstrate that motor cortex stimulation (MCS) could improve motor function in patients with neuropathic pain.

Methods: In this prospective clinical study of 38 patients referred for MCS as treatment for their neuropathic pain, we collected any declaration of improvement in motor performance that could be attributed to MCS.

Results: Ten patients (26%) declared a benefit in their motor function.

Margin-free, en bloc resection of a multilevel cervical chordoma with C-2 involvement: case report with 2-year follow-up and description of operative technique.

The purpose of this technical/case report is to demonstrate that the appropriate oncological principle of margin-free, tumour en bloc removal can be successfully achieved in a large multilevel chordoma with C-2 involvement, with limited morbidity. Although technically challenging, such an approach offers the patient's best chance for cure.

Direct stereotactic targeting of the ventrointermediate nucleus of the thalamus based on anatomic 1.5-T MRI mapping with a white matter attenuated inversion recovery (WAIR) sequence.

Background: The ventrointermediate nucleus (Vim) of the thalamus is still considered "invisible" on current magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), requiring indirect methods based on stereotactic atlases for estimation of its location. Direct visualization of Vim is desirable to improve targeting.

Objective: To evaluate the ability of Inversion-Recovery 1.

Nosocomial transmission of NDM-1-producing Escherichia coli within a non-endemic area in France.

Two patients with no travel history and sharing the same room were colonized by the same strain of New Delhi metallo-β-lactamase 1 (NDM-1)-producing Escherichia coli within a geographical area not endemic for this highly multidrug-resistant bacterium. It was documented an absence of an epidemiological and bacteriological link with a third patient returning from India after surgery and found to be infected by an NDM-1-producing Citrobacter strain during the same period. Despite extensive investigation, the source of contamination of the two former patients was not elucidated.