Patient satisfaction with televisit in chronic neurologic disorders during Covid-19 pandemic.

Background: Covid-19 pandemic has boosted telemedicine in medical clinical practice. Experience in the management of chronic neurological disorders is limited as well as patient opinion. During Covid-19 pandemic, we evaluated patients' satisfaction and opinion about televisits in a large group of patients with chronic neurological disorders.

Observational real-life study on regorafenib in recurrent glioblastoma: does dose reduction reduce toxicity while maintaining the efficacy?

Purpose: In the phase 2 REGOMA trial, regorafenib improved overall survival, as compared with lomustine, in glioblastoma (GBM) patients at first progression after chemoradiation. Recently, some real-life trials showed similar impact on survival but a higher rate of adverse events than in REGOMA, thus raising concerns over tolerability. The aim of this study was to assess the efficacy and tolerability of a lower intensity regorafenib regimen.

Virtual visits for chronic neurologic disorders during COVID-19 pandemic.

Background: COVID-19 pandemic has boosted telemedicine in medical clinical practice. Experiences in the management of chronic neurological disorders are limited and scattered. The aim of the study was to evaluate feasibility and efficacy of virtual visit for chronic neurological disorders during COVID-19 pandemic.

Malingering Detection of Cognitive Impairment With the b Test Is Boosted Using Machine Learning.

Here we report an investigation on the accuracy of the b Test, a measure to identify malingering of cognitive symptoms, in detecting malingerers of mild cognitive impairment. Three groups of participants, patients with Mild Neurocognitive Disorder ( = 21), healthy elders (controls, = 21), and healthy elders instructed to simulate mild cognitive disorder (malingerers, = 21) were administered two background neuropsychological tests (MMSE, FAB) as well as the b Test. Malingerers performed significantly worse on all error scores as compared to patients and controls, and performed poorly than controls, but comparably to patients, on the time score.

Prostate cancer, Hu antibodies and paraneoplastic neurological syndromes.

Prostate cancer is the most common cancer among American and European men. Nervous system affection caused by local tumor growth or osseous metastases are the main causes of neurological symptoms in prostate cancer patients. Prostate cancer is rarely reported in association with paraneoplastic neurological syndromes (PNS).

The possible involvement of mitochondrial dysfunctions in Lewy body dementia: a systematic review.

The hallmark of dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB) is the “Lewy body”, an abnormal aggregation of alpha-synuclein found in some areas of the brain. The brain is the organ/system that is most vulnerable to this oxidative damage, and reactive oxygen species can cause neurodegenerative diseases. Different models of mitochondrial deregulation have been compared in DLB.

Rapid onset of efficacy of rasagiline in early Parkinson's disease.

Rasagiline is a monoamine oxidase type-B inhibitor used as monotherapy or in addition to levodopa in the treatment of Parkinson's disease (PD). This naturalistic single-blind study was aimed at evaluating the rapidity of onset effect of rasagiline on motor symptoms in a cohort of early relatively elderly PD patients. 102 outpatients (55 males, median age 71 years) have been selected: 26 were PD therapy-naive and 76 received rasagiline as add-on therapy.

Treatment for paraneoplastic neuropathies.

Background: It is not unusual to observe peripheral nervous system involvement in people with tumours outside the nervous system. Any part of the peripheral nervous system can be involved, from sensory and motor neurons to nerve roots and plexuses, from distal trunks to neuromuscular junctions. Pathogenesis also varies from direct infiltration by cancer cells, to treatment toxicity, to metabolic derangement, cachexia, infections and paraneoplastic syndromes.

Current approaches to the treatment of paraneoplastic encephalitis.

Paraneoplastic neurological syndromes (PNSs) cover a wide range of diseases and involve both the central nervous system (CNS) and peripheral nervous system. Paraneoplastic encephalitis comprises several diseases such as paraneoplastic cerebellar degeneration (PCD), limbic encephalitis (LE), paraneoplastic encephalomyelitis (PEM), brainstem encephalitis, opsomyoclonus syndrome, in addition to other even less frequently occurring entities. LE was the first historically identified CNS PNS, and similarities between other temporal lobe diseases such as herpes encephalitis have been elucidated.

Chorea and related movement disorders of paraneoplastic origin: the PNS EuroNetwork experience.

Chorea and other movement disorders are rarely described as paraneoplastic. The aim of this study was to describe 13 patients with paraneoplastic chorea and dystonia collected by the members of the paraneoplastic neurological syndrome (PNS) EuroNetwork and to review 29 cases from the literature. We analyzed neurological symptoms, severity of the neurological syndrome, delay in neurological diagnosis, associated cancer, oncological and neurological treatments received, and outcome.

Spectrum of paraneoplastic disease associated with lymphoma.

Objective: To define the frequency and clinical and immunologic characteristics of patients affected by paraneoplastic neurologic syndromes (PNS) and lymphoma.

Methods: Patients fulfilling the criteria for PNS associated with lymphoma collected from the European Commission-funded PNS Euronetwork group database were analyzed.

Results: Fifty-three patients with Hodgkin lymphoma (HL) (24 patients, mean age 51, range 16-84) or non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL) (29 patients, mean age 64, range 31-82) and PNS were analyzed.

Spontaneous pain, pain threshold, and pain tolerance in Parkinson's disease.

The mechanisms underlying pain in Parkinson's disease (PD) are unclear. Although a few studies have reported that PD patients may have low pain threshold and tolerance, none could accurately assess whether there was a correlation between sensory thresholds and demographic/clinical features of PD patients. Thus, tactile threshold, pain threshold, and pain tolerance to electrical stimuli in the hands and feet were assessed in 106 parkinsonian patients (of whom 66 reported chronic pain) and 51 age- and sex-matched healthy subjects.

Paraneoplastic neurologic syndrome in the PNS Euronetwork database: a European study from 20 centers.

Background: Paraneoplastic neurologic syndrome (PNS) represents the remote effects of cancer on the nervous system. Diagnostic criteria for the syndrome were published by the PNS Euronetwork and form the basis of a database to collect standardized clinical data from patients with PNS.

Objectives: To analyze various types of PNS, frequent tumor and antibody associations, clinical characteristics of individual syndromes, and possible therapeutic and prognostic strategies.

AMPA receptor antibodies in limbic encephalitis alter synaptic receptor location.

Objective: To report the clinical and immunological features of a novel autoantigen related to limbic encephalitis (LE) and the effect of patients' antibodies on neuronal cultures.

Methods: We conducted clinical analyses of 10 patients with LE. Immunoprecipitation and mass spectrometry were used to identify the antigens.

Subacute onset of deafness and vertigo in a patient with leptomeningeal metastasis from ovarian cancer.

Ovarian carcinoma is a common gynecological malignancy. Distant metastases usually involve the liver and lung while neurological complications are rare. We describe the case of a 63-year-old woman diagnosed from an ovarian carcinoma with peritoneal seed, which was treated surgically and with chemotherapy.

Diagnosis and treatment of paraneoplastic neurological syndromes.

Paraneoplastic neurological syndromes (PNS) are remote effects of cancer that may involve any part of the nervous system. Rarity hinders their diagnosis and management and at least 60% of cases do not present a tumor at neurological symptoms onset. An important diagnostic element is detection, in patients' serum or cerebrospinal fluid, of onconeuronal antibodies which recognize antigens expressed by the nervous system and by neoplastic cells during de-differentiation.

Vasomotion in multiple spontaneous cervical artery dissections.

Background And Purpose: The etiology of spontaneous cervical artery dissection (sCAD) is still unknown, even though an underlying arteriopathy impairing vasomotion has often been suspected. This study was undertaken to investigate: (1) spontaneous, (2) endothelial-dependent, and (3) endothelial-independent vasodilation in patients with multiple sCAD.

Methods: In 19 consecutive patients with multiple carotid or vertebral artery dissections high-resolution ultrasound was used to assess spontaneous and endothelial-independent dilations (isosorbide dinitrate-mediated) in the common carotid, vertebral and brachial arteries, and endothelial-dependent dilation (flow-mediated arterial dilation) in the brachial arteries alone.

Clinical, immunological and therapeutic aspects of autoimmune encephalitis.

Autoimmune encephalitis is a heterogeneous group of disorders probably resulting from a reaction of the immune system against antigens of the central nervous system. Historically, the autoimmune hypothesis was based on the neuropathological discovery of an immune cellular infiltrate in the brain parenchyma and around the cerebral blood vessels, resembling a form of viral encephalitis without any detectable viral antigens. These syndromes can be divided into forms with prevalent grey matter involvement, forms with prevalent white matter damage and forms in which the target of the immune process is the vessels.

Paraneoplastic diseases associated with thymoma.

Background: Thymoma is frequently associated with paraneoplastic diseases (PDs), most commonly with myasthenia gravis (MG). This association is thought to depend on thymoma's capacity to produce and export T lymphocytes.

Objective: (1) To determine the frequency and characteristics of thymoma-associated PDs other than MG; (2) to evaluate T cell maturation in thymomas with and without PDs.

Paraneoplastic encephalitis, psychiatric symptoms, and hypoventilation in ovarian teratoma.

We report four young women who developed acute psychiatric symptoms, seizures, memory deficits, decreased level of consciousness, and central hypoventilation associated with ovarian teratoma (OT) and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) inflammatory abnormalities. Three patients recovered with treatment of the tumor or immunosuppression and one died of the disorder. Five other OT patients with a similar syndrome and response to treatment have been reported.

A rare case of paraneoplastic cerebellar degeneration discovered by whole-body F-18 FDG PET.

A rare case of paraneoplastic cerebellar degeneration (PCD) in a 36-year-old woman is reported. She developed hyposthenia of the inferior limbs, diplopia, and disequilibrium in July 2001. Routine blood tests, tumoral markers, brain MRI, evoked potentials, and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) examination were substantially normal.

Treatment-responsive limbic encephalitis identified by neuropil antibodies: MRI and PET correlates.

We report seven patients, six from a single institution, who developed subacute limbic encephalitis initially considered of uncertain aetiology. Four patients presented with symptoms of hippocampal dysfunction (i.e.

The spectrum of antineuronal autoantibodies in a series of neurological patients.

The aim of the present study is to identify the range of neurological disorders expressing antineuronal antibodies, evaluate the number of different patterns of reactivity that can be detected, and analyse the contribution of these studies to the identification of subgroups of patients. The records of 882 patients were reviewed and their sera and cerebrospinal fluids tested for antineuronal antibodies. Patients were initially divided into four groups according to suspected clinical diagnosis.