Towards user-centered design of medical devices for SUDEP prediction and prevention: Insights from persons with epilepsy and caregivers.

Objectives: As epilepsy management medical devices emerge as potential technological solutions for prediction and prevention of sudden death in epilepsy (SUDEP), there is a gap in understanding the features and priorities that should be included in the design of these devices. This study aims to bridge the gap between current technology and emerging needs by leveraging insights from persons with epilepsy (PWE) and caregivers (CG) on current epilepsy management devices and understanding how SUDEP awareness influences preferences and design considerations for potential future solutions.

Methods: Two cross-sectional surveys were designed to survey PWE and CG on medical device design features, SUDEP awareness, and participation in medical device research.

Mortality Risk Assessment Using Deep Learning-Based Frequency Analysis of EEG and EOG in Sleep.

Study Objectives: To assess whether the frequency content of electroencephalography (EEG) and electrooculography (EOG) during nocturnal polysomnography (PSG) can predict all-cause mortality.

Methods: Power spectra from PSGs of 8,716 participants, included from the MrOS Sleep Study and the Sleep Heart Health Study (SHHS), were analyzed in deep learning-based survival models. The best-performing model was further examined using SHapley Additive Explanation (SHAP) for data-driven sleep-stage specific definitions of power bands, which were evaluated in predicting mortality using Cox Proportional Hazards models.

New phenotyping questionnaire for diagnosing sarcoidosis-associated small fiber neuropathy.

Small fiber neuropathy is a common complication in patients with sarcoidosis and its prevalence is estimated at 40-86%. The underlying mechanism influences the presentation of small fiber neuropathy. For example, patients with metabolic diseases are often associated with a classic length-dependent small fiber neuropathy pattern, while patients with inflammatory diseases are more often present with a non-length-dependent small fiber neuropathy.

Idiopathic Distal Sensory Polyneuropathy and Fibromyalgia Syndrome: A Comparative Phenotyping Study.

Introduction: Painful idiopathic distal sensory polyneuropathy (IDSP) and fibromyalgia syndrome (FMS) are cryptogenic chronic pain syndromes. The contribution of small fibre pathology (SFP) in FMS remains controversial. This study aims to quantify small nerve pathology in participants with IDSP and FMS and identify relationships of SFP with sensory phenotypes.

Depression of cortical neuronal activity after a low-dose fentanyl in preterm infants.

Aim: Opioids might be harmful to the developing brain and dosing accuracy is important. We aimed at investigating fentanyl effects on cortical activity in infants using computational re-analysis of bedside recorded EEG signals.

Methods: Fifteen infants born at median 26.

Childhood Physical Fitness as a Predictor of Cognition and Mental Health in Adolescence: The PANIC Study.

Background: Cognitive and mental health problems are highly prevalent in adolescence. While higher levels of physical fitness may mitigate these problems, there is a lack of long-term follow-up studies on the associations of physical fitness from childhood with cognition and mental health in adolescence.

Objective: We investigated the associations of physical fitness from childhood to adolescence over an 8-year follow-up with cognition and mental health in adolescence.

Patient-reported daily functioning after SARS-CoV-2 vaccinations in autoimmune neuromuscular diseases.

Background And Purpose: There are concerns for safety regarding SARS-CoV-2 vaccines for patients with autoimmune neuromuscular disease. We compared daily functioning using disease-specific patient-reported outcome measures (PROMs) before and after SARS-CoV-2 vaccinations.

Methods: In this substudy of a prospective observational cohort study (Target-to-B!), patients with myasthenia gravis (MG), chronic inflammatory demyelinating polyneuropathy (CIDP), multifocal motor neuropathy (MMN), and idiopathic inflammatory myopathy (IIM) vaccinated against SARS-CoV-2 were included.

Minimum spanning tree analysis of unimpaired individuals at risk of Alzheimer's disease.

Identifying early and non-invasive biomarkers to detect individuals in the earliest stages of the Alzheimer's disease continuum is crucial. As a result, electrophysiology and plasma biomarkers are emerging as great candidates in this pursuit due to their low invasiveness. This is the first magnetoencephalography study to assess the relationship between minimum spanning tree parameters, an alternative to overcome the comparability and thresholding problem issues characteristic of conventional brain network analyses, and plasma phosphorylated tau231 levels in unimpaired individuals, with different risk levels of Alzheimer's disease.

Comprehensive Mapping and Dynamic Monitoring of the Temporal Branch of the Facial Nerve in Complex Cranial Reconstruction Surgery and Revision Cranioplasty.

Facial nerve (FN) injury is a significant risk during complex cranial reconstruction surgeries, especially in revision cases where normal anatomy is distorted. The authors introduce a technique to mitigate FN injury, including preoperative FN mapping, intraoperative FN mapping, and continuous FN monitoring. Preoperative mapping uses a handheld ball-tip stimulator to elicit compound muscle action potentials (CMAP) in the frontalis muscle.

Local corticosteroid injection versus surgery for carpal tunnel syndrome.

Background: Carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS) is a very common clinical syndrome manifested by signs and symptoms of irritation of the median nerve at the carpal tunnel in the wrist. Direct and indirect costs of CTS are substantial, with estimated costs of two billion US dollars for CTS surgery in the USA alone. Local corticosteroid injection has been used as a non-surgical treatment for CTS for many years, but its effectiveness is still debated.

Burst-Suppression EEG Reactivity to Photic Stimulation-A Translational Biomarker in Hypoxic-Ischemic Brain Injury.

The reactivity of an electroencephalogram (EEG) to external stimuli is impaired in comatose patients showing burst-suppression (BS) patterns following hypoxic-ischemic brain injury (HIBI). We explored the reactivity of BS induced by isoflurane in rat models of HIBI and controls using intermittent photic stimulation (IPS) delivered to one eye. The relative time spent in suppression referred to as the suppression ratio (SR) was measured on the contralateral fronto-occipital cortical EEG channel.

Stiff Person Syndrome With Positive Anti-glutamic Acid Decarboxylase (GAD) Autoantibodies.

Stiff person syndrome (SPS) is a progressive autoimmune disorder characterized by muscle rigidity, frequent falls, and spasms, affecting primarily women. Recent advances have linked SPS to specific antibodies, such as anti-glutamic acid decarboxylase (GAD)-65, but effective treatments remain elusive. We report the case of a 53-year-old female who developed chronic lower back pain, tingling paresthesias, and progressive rigidity in the lower limbs.

The impact of paediatric epilepsy and co-occurring neurodevelopmental disorders on functional brain networks in wake and sleep.

Epilepsy is one of the most common neurological disorders in children. Diagnosing epilepsy in children can be very challenging, especially as it often coexists with neurodevelopmental conditions like autism and ADHD. Functional brain networks obtained from neuroimaging and electrophysiological data in wakefulness and sleep have been shown to contain signatures of neurological disorders, and can potentially support the diagnosis and management of co-occurring neurodevelopmental conditions.

Development of a stereo-EEG based seizure matching system for clinical decision making in epilepsy surgery.

The proportion of patients becoming seizure-free after epilepsy surgery has stagnated. Large multi-center stereo-electroencephalography (SEEG) datasets can allow comparing new patients to past similar cases and making clinical decisions with the knowledge of how cases were treated in the past. However, the complexity of these evaluations makes the manual search for similar patients impractical.

NORSE/FIRES: how can we advance our understanding of this devastating condition?

Introduction: New onset refractory status epilepticus (NORSE) is a rare and devastating condition characterised by the sudden onset of refractory status epilepticus (RSE) without an identifiable acute or active structural, toxic, or metabolic cause in an individual without a pre-existing diagnosis of epilepsy. Febrile infection-related epilepsy syndrome (FIRES) is considered a subcategory of NORSE and presents following a febrile illness prior to seizure onset. NORSE/FIRES is associated with high morbidity and mortality in children and adults.

Long term functioning with poor neurologic outcome after cardiac arrest.

Aim: Around six percent of comatose patients after cardiac arrest have a Cerebral Performance Categories score of three (CPC3) at six months after the arrest, classified as severe neurological disability. There is limited knowledge regarding the likelihood of further recovery in the cognitive, emotional, and quality of life domains. We aimed to estimate the probability of recovery towards independency.