Neuroimaging to monitor worsening of multiple sclerosis: advances supported by the grant for multiple sclerosis innovation.

Key unmet needs in multiple sclerosis (MS) include detection of early pathology, disability worsening independent of relapses, and accurate monitoring of treatment response. Collaborative approaches to address these unmet needs have been driven in part by industry-academic networks and initiatives such as the Grant for Multiple Sclerosis Innovation (GMSI) and Multiple Sclerosis Leadership and Innovation Network (MS-LINK) programs. We review the application of recent advances, supported by the GMSI and MS-LINK programs, in neuroimaging technology to quantify pathology related to central pathology and disease worsening, and potential for their translation into clinical practice/trials.

Psychiatric disorders and interventions in patients sustaining facial fractures from interpersonal violence.

Background: This retrospective study clarified patients´ psychiatric morbidity in IPV-related facial fractures; in particular, their additional psychiatric care. We hypothesized that patients in need of additional support can be identified, allowing overall care processes to be improved.

Methods: Patients' age, sex, anamnestic psychiatric disorders, history of substance abuse, and psychiatric interventions were recorded, as well as the perpetrator, location, time of day, assault mechanism, fracture type, treatment, and associated injuries.

Conservative versus early surgical treatment in the management of pyogenic spondylodiscitis: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

Spondylodiscitis is the commonest spine infection, and pyogenic spondylodiscitis is the most common subtype. Whilst antibiotic therapy is the mainstay of treatment, some advocate that early surgery can improve mortality, relapse rates, and length of stay. Given that the condition carries a high mortality rate of up to 20%, the most effective treatment must be identified.

The CLARION study: first report on safety findings in patients newly initiating treatment with cladribine tablets or fingolimod for multiple sclerosis.

Objectives: As part of the CLARION study: (1) characterize the incidence of severe infections, herpes zoster, and malignancies in patients newly initiating cladribine or fingolimod for relapsing multiple sclerosis (MS); (2) estimate the incidence of severe lymphopenia among cladribine users; and (3) describe prior/subsequent disease-modifying therapy (DMT) in both cohorts.

Methods: Patients were identified from seven participating MS registries/data sources. The incidence rate (IR) of each outcome per 1000 patient-years and its 95% confidence interval (95%CI) were estimated for cohorts using Poisson regression.

Testicular salvageability and its predictors among patients with testicular torsion in a resource limited setting: a multicentre longitudinal study.

Introduction: Testicular torsion refers to ischemia of the testicle due to twisting or rotation of the vessels supplying the testes. It is a urologic emergency requiring a high index of clinical suspicion and prompt surgical intervention with management aimed at avoiding testicular loss and resulting infertility. This paper gives an update on the current situation regarding this topic in low-income settings.

Distal myopathy.

Distal myopathies are a group of genetic, primary muscle diseases. Patients develop progressive weakness and atrophy of the muscles of forearm, hands, lower leg, or feet. Currently, over 20 different forms, presenting a variable age of onset, clinical presentation, disease progression, muscle involvement, and histological findings, are known.

Adenosine A receptor availability in cerebral gray and white matter of patients with Parkinson's disease.

Objective: Atrophic changes in cerebral gray matter of patients with PD have been reported extensively. There is evidence suggesting an association between cortical gyrification changes and white matter abnormalities. Adenosine A receptors have been shown to be upregulated in cerebral white matter and on reactive astrocytes in preclinical models of neurodegenerative diseases.

Increasing incidence of spondylodiscitis in England: An analysis of the national health service (NHS) hospital episode statistics from 2012 to 2021.

Background: Spondylodiscitis is a potentially life-threatening infection of the intervertebral disk and adjacent vertebral bodies, with a mortality rate of 2-20%. Given the aging population, the increase in immunosuppression, and intravenous drug use in England, the incidence of spondylodiscitis is postulated to be increasing; however, the exact epidemiological trend in England remains unknown.

Objective: The Hospital Episode Statistics (HES) database contains details of all secondary care admissions across NHS hospitals in England.

Using Rasch Analysis to Assess and Improve the Measurement Properties of a Questionnaire With Few Items: The York Binaural Hearing-Related Quality of Life (YBHRQL) Questionnaire.

Objectives: The York Binaural Hearing-Related Quality of Life questionnaire is a condition-specific preference-based instrument sensitive to advantages of binaural over monaural hearing. Respondents use 5-point scales to report the difficulty experienced with three dimensions of listening that are easier or more successful when hearing is binaural: understanding speech in spatially separated noise, localizing sources of sound in azimuth, and the associated effort and fatigue. Previously, a preference value was estimated for each combination of dimension and level so that a value of binaural utility could be assigned to a respondent to inform analyses of cost effectiveness.

The effect of cochlear implant and bimodal stimulation on tinnitus: a multinational survey.

Background: Tinnitus is a frequent symptom in cochlear implant (CI) patients. Many studies have shown that a CI leads to a significant change in the perception of tinnitus.

Aims: The aim of the present study was to evaluate the effect of CI on tinnitus in patients with Unilateral Cochlear Implant (UCI), Bilateral Cochlear Implant (BCI), and Bimodal Stimulation (BMS).

Amyloid-related imaging abnormalities (ARIA): radiological, biological and clinical characteristics.

Excess accumulation and aggregation of toxic soluble and insoluble amyloid-β species in the brain are a major hallmark of Alzheimer's disease. Randomized clinical trials show reduced brain amyloid-β deposits using monoclonal antibodies that target amyloid-β and have identified MRI signal abnormalities called amyloid-related imaging abnormalities (ARIA) as possible spontaneous or treatment-related adverse events. This review provides a comprehensive state-of-the-art conceptual review of radiological features, clinical detection and classification challenges, pathophysiology, underlying biological mechanism(s) and risk factors/predictors associated with ARIA.

Euthyroidectomy under local versus general anesthesia in health camp settings in Uganda: a protocol for randomized prospective equivalence single-blind controlled trial.

Background: Endemic goiter is highly prevalent in Uganda at 60.2%, contributing to the high surgical burden. While compelling evidence suggest that in selected cases, thyroidectomy under local anesthesia (LA) is associated with fewer post-operative complications, low costs, and short hospital stays, local anesthesia is not considered a priority technique for thyroidectomy in resource-constrained settings such as Uganda, despite having fewer general anesthesia (GA) and critical care providers.

Early prognosticators of later TSPO-PET-measurable microglial activation in multiple sclerosis.

Background: Factors driving increased innate immune cell activation in multiple sclerosis (MS) brain are not well understood. As higher prevalence of microglial/macrophage activation in association with chronic lesions and diffusely in the normal appearing white matter predict more rapid accumulation of clinical disability, it is of high importance to understand processes behind this. Objective of the study was to explore demographic, clinical and paraclinical variables associating with later positron emission tomography (PET)-measurable innate immune cell activation.

Prompt closure versus gradual weaning of external ventricular drainage for hydrocephalus following aneurysmal subarachnoid haemorrhage: Protocol for the DRAIN randomised clinical trial.

Background: Aneurysmal subarachnoid haemorrhage (aSAH) is a life-threatening disease caused by rupture of an intracranial aneurysm. A common complication following aSAH is hydrocephalus, for which placement of an external ventricular drain (EVD) is an important first-line treatment. Once the patient is clinically stable, the EVD is either removed or replaced by a ventriculoperitoneal shunt.

The Role of Brain Integrity in the Association between Occupational Complexity and Cognitive Performance in Subjects with Increased Risk of Dementia.

Introduction: Mechanisms underlying the positive association between occupational mental demands and late-life cognition are poorly understood. The objective of this study was to assess whether the association between occupational complexity and cognition is related to and moderated by brain integrity in individuals at risk for dementia. Brain integrity was appraised throughout structural measures (magnetic resonance imaging, MRI) and amyloid accumulation (Pittsburgh compound B (PiB)-positron emission tomography, PiB-PET).

Effect of Chewing Gum on Duration of Postoperative Ileus Following Laparotomy for Gastroduodenal Perforations: Protocol for a Randomized Controlled Trial.

Background: Prolonged post-operative ileus is associated with increased risk of other complications, length of hospital stays and health care related costs. Chewing gum has been shown to reduce duration of ileus in many elective surgeries, but there is a paucity of randomised controlled trials (RCTs) on its effect on duration of ileus among patients undergoing emergency surgery, specifically patients with peritonitis. The aim of this study is to determine the effect of chewing gum on duration of postoperative ileus following laparotomy for gastroduodenal perforations.

Proportion and characteristics of secondary progressive multiple sclerosis in five European registries using objective classifiers.

Background: To assign a course of secondary progressive multiple sclerosis (MS) (SPMS) may be difficult and the proportion of persons with SPMS varies between reports. An objective method for disease course classification may give a better estimation of the relative proportions of relapsing-remitting MS (RRMS) and SPMS and may identify situations where SPMS is under reported.

Materials And Methods: Data were obtained for 61,900 MS patients from MS registries in the Czech Republic, Denmark, Germany, Sweden, and the United Kingdom (UK), including date of birth, sex, SP conversion year, visits with an Expanded Disability Status Scale (EDSS) score, MS onset and diagnosis date, relapses, and disease-modifying treatment (DMT) use.

The use of patient-report measures and intervention strategies for children and adolescents with chronic tinnitus: a scoping review.

Background: Chronic tinnitus during childhood/adolescence can be associated with impaired quality of life. Guidelines for managing paediatric tinnitus recommend assessment and interventions are often based upon the experiences and opinions of guideline committee members.

Objective: To examine patient response tools used for the assessment and management of childhood tinnitus and how interventions had been evaluated.

Anti-SARS-CoV-2 vaccination in people with multiple sclerosis: Lessons learnt a year in.

It has been over a year since people with multiple sclerosis (pwMS) have been receiving vaccines against severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). With a negligible number of cases in which vaccination led to a relapse or new onset MS, experts around the world agree that the potential consequences of COVID-19 in pwMS by far outweigh the risks of vaccination. This article reviews the currently available types of anti-SARS-CoV-2 vaccines and the immune responses they elicit in pwMS treated with different DMTs.

Comparison of the prognostic value of early-phase proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy and diffusion tensor imaging with serum neuron-specific enolase at 72 h in comatose survivors of out-of-hospital cardiac arrest-a substudy of the XeHypotheca trial.

Purpose: We compared the predictive accuracy of early-phase brain diffusion tensor imaging (DTI), proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy (1H-MRS), and serum neuron-specific enolase (NSE) against the motor score and epileptic seizures (ES) for poor neurological outcome after out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA).

Methods: The predictive accuracy of DTI, 1H-MRS, and NSE along with motor score at 72 h and ES for the poor neurological outcome (modified Rankin Scale, mRS, 3 - 6) in 92 comatose OHCA patients at 6 months was assessed by area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUROC). Combined models of the variables were included as exploratory.

Neurocognitive correlates of probable posttraumatic stress disorder following traumatic brain injury.

Introduction: Neurocognitive problems associated with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) can interact with impairment resulting from traumatic brain injury (TBI).

Research Question: We aimed to identify neurocognitive problems associated with probable PTSD following TBI in a civilian sample.

Material And Methods: The study is part of the CENTER-TBI project (Collaborative European Neurotrauma Effectiveness Research) that aims to better characterize TBI.

The central autonomic system revisited - Convergent evidence for a regulatory role of the insular and midcingulate cortex from neuroimaging meta-analyses.

The autonomic nervous system regulates dynamic body adaptations to internal and external environment changes. Capitalizing on two different algorithms (that differ in empirical assumptions), we scrutinized the meta-analytic convergence of human neuroimaging studies investigating the neural basis of peripheral autonomic signal processing. Among the selected studies, we identified 42 records reporting 44 different experiments and testing 758 healthy individuals.