Disruption of the Atrophy-based Functional Network in Multiple Sclerosis Is Associated with Clinical Disability: Validation of a Meta-Analytic Model in Resting-State Functional MRI.

Background In multiple sclerosis (MS), gray matter (GM) atrophy exhibits a specific pattern, which correlates strongly with clinical disability. However, the mechanism of regional specificity in GM atrophy remains largely unknown. Recently, the network degeneration hypothesis (NDH) was quantitatively defined (using coordinate-based meta-analysis) as the atrophy-based functional network (AFN) model, which posits that localized GM atrophy in MS is mediated by functional networks.

Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease: In-hospital demographics report of national data in the United States from 2016 and review of a rapidly-progressive case.

Background: This report highlights a rapidly progressive case of Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease (CJD) whose time from symptom onset to death spanned less than two months. We also explore the most recently available in-patient demographics data for discharges with CJD in the United States.

Methods: We reviewed a CJD case and systematically analyzed a retrospective cohort of CJD discharges using the Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project (HCUP) to evaluate the existing national data on the status of CJD demographics and dispositions in the United States in 2016.

Anti-Hu-Associated Autoimmune Limbic Encephalitis in a Patient with PD-1 Inhibitor-Responsive Myxoid Chondrosarcoma.

Autoimmune encephalitis is an uncommon complication of immune checkpoint inhibitor therapy. This article reports a case of fatal anti-Hu-associated autoimmune limbic encephalitis presenting within 8 weeks following anti-PD1 therapy in a patient with myxoid chondrosarcoma and pre-existing anti-Hu antibodies. Although tumor reduction occurred in response to PD-1 inhibitor therapy, the patient had a rapidly progressive decline in neurologic function despite initial stabilization with immunosuppression.

Homonymous hemimacular thinning: a unique presentation of optic tract injury in neuromyelitis optica.

A 42-year-old African American woman with a 5-year history of neuromyelitis optica was found to have an incongruous homonymous hemianopia. Optical coherence tomography (OCT) showed corresponding left homonymous hemimacular thinning. Magnetic resonance imaging of the brain demonstrated a demyelinating lesion in the left optic tract (OT) just anterior to the lateral geniculate nucleus and diffusion tensor magnetic resonance tractography confirmed axonal fiber loss in the left OT.