Multicenter prospective longitudinal study in 34 patients with Dravet syndrome: Neuropsychological development in the first six years of life.

The objective of this study was to identify developmental trajectories of developmental/behavioral phenotypes and possibly their relationship to epilepsy and genotype by analyzing developmental and behavioral features collected prospectively and longitudinally in a cohort of patients with Dravet syndrome (DS). Thirty-four patients from seven Italian tertiary pediatric neurology centers were enrolled in the study. All patients were examined for the SCN1A gene mutation and prospectively assessed from the first years of life with repeated full clinical observations including neurological and developmental examinations.

Rapamycin rescues mitochondrial myopathy via coordinated activation of autophagy and lysosomal biogenesis.

The mTOR inhibitor rapamycin ameliorates the clinical and biochemical phenotype of mouse, worm, and cellular models of mitochondrial disease, via an unclear mechanism. Here, we show that prolonged rapamycin treatment improved motor endurance, corrected morphological abnormalities of muscle, and increased cytochrome c oxidase (COX) activity of a muscle-specific knockout mouse ( ). Rapamycin treatment restored autophagic flux, which was impaired in naïve muscle, and reduced the number of damaged mitochondria, which accumulated in untreated mice.

Extensive and systematic rewiring of histone post-translational modifications in cancer model systems.

Histone post-translational modifications (PTMs) generate a complex combinatorial code that regulates gene expression and nuclear functions, and whose deregulation has been documented in different types of cancers. Therefore, the availability of relevant culture models that can be manipulated and that retain the epigenetic features of the tissue of origin is absolutely crucial for studying the epigenetic mechanisms underlying cancer and testing epigenetic drugs. In this study, we took advantage of quantitative mass spectrometry to comprehensively profile histone PTMs in patient tumor tissues, primary cultures and cell lines from three representative tumor models, breast cancer, glioblastoma and ovarian cancer, revealing an extensive and systematic rewiring of histone marks in cell culture conditions, which includes a decrease of H3K27me2/me3, H3K79me1/me2 and H3K9ac/K14ac, and an increase of H3K36me1/me2.

The relevance of gene panels in movement disorders diagnosis: A lab perspective.

Next-Generation Sequencing (NGS) is a group of new methods that allow sequencing a variable number of known genes (targeted resequencing) or even the whole human genome (whole genome sequencing-WGS) and have contributed to an exponential genetic knowledge growth, especially in rare diseases, in the past few years. Since 2015, in the Molecular Neurogenetics Unit of Neurological Institute "Carlo Besta", some gene panels have become available to screen all the known genes associated with Movement Disorders (MD) in children and adults as a diagnostic package. Over 221 patients analyzed (part of the Telethon Network of Genetic Biobanks - TNGB), pathogenic variants were found in 25 (11.

Sacral dural arteriovenous fistulas: a diagnostic and therapeutic challenge - single-centre experience of 13 cases and review of the literature.

Background: Sacral dural arteriovenous fistulas (DAVFs) are rare vascular abnormalities of the spine characterised by slowly progressive symptoms that can mimic different myelopathy disorders.

Object: To report our single Institution experience with sacral DAVFs.

Methods: We retrospectively reviewed the clinical records of patients admitted from 1 January 2006 to 31 December 2016 with a diagnosis of sacral DAVFs, treated by endovascular embolisation or surgical clipping.

Acetyl-4'-phosphopantetheine is stable in serum and prevents phenotypes induced by pantothenate kinase deficiency.

Coenzyme A is an essential metabolite known for its central role in over one hundred cellular metabolic reactions. In cells, Coenzyme A is synthesized de novo in five enzymatic steps with vitamin B5 as the starting metabolite, phosphorylated by pantothenate kinase. Mutations in the pantothenate kinase 2 gene cause a severe form of neurodegeneration for which no treatment is available.

Toward the Standardization of Mitochondrial Proteomics: The Italian Mitochondrial Human Proteome Project Initiative.

The Mitochondrial Human Proteome Project aims at understanding the function of the mitochondrial proteome and its crosstalk with the proteome of other organelles. Being able to choose a suitable and validated enrichment protocol of functional mitochondria, based on the specific needs of the downstream proteomics analysis, would greatly help the researchers in the field. Mitochondrial fractions from ten model cell lines were prepared using three enrichment protocols and analyzed on seven different LC-MS/MS platforms.

Medial Tentorial Dural Arteriovenous Fistula Embolization: Single Experience with Embolic Liquid Polymer SQUID and Review of the Literature.

Background: Tentorial dural arteriovenous fistulas (DAVFs) are uncommon, complex fistulas located between the leaves of the tentorium cerebelli with a specific anatomic and clinical presentation characterized by high hemorrhagic risk. We present a rare case of a medial tentorial DAVF successfully managed via transarterial embolization using SQUID liquid polymer.

Case Description: A 60-year-old woman presented with a history of left progressive hearing loss and tinnitus for >1 year.

Epilepsy surgery of "low grade epilepsy associated neuroepithelial tumors": A retrospective nationwide Italian study.

Objective: To analyze the attitude and results of Italian epilepsy surgery centers in the surgical management of "low grade epilepsy associated neuroepithelial tumors" (LEATs).

Methods: We conducted a retrospective study enrolling 339 consecutive patients with LEATs who underwent surgery between January 2009 and June 2015 at eight Italian epilepsy surgery centers. We compared demographic, clinical, pathologic, and surgical features of patients with favorable (Engel class I) and unfavorable (Engel class II, III, and IV) seizure outcome.

AAV9-based gene therapy partially ameliorates the clinical phenotype of a mouse model of Leigh syndrome.

Leigh syndrome (LS) is the most common infantile mitochondrial encephalopathy. No treatment is currently available for this condition. Mice lacking Ndufs4, encoding NADH: ubiquinone oxidoreductase iron-sulfur protein 4 (NDUFS4) recapitulates the main findings of complex I (cI)-related LS, including severe multisystemic cI deficiency and progressive neurodegeneration.

Mutations targeting the coagulation pathway are enriched in brain metastases.

Brain metastases (BMs) are the most common malignancy of the central nervous system. Recently it has been demonstrated that plasminogen activator inhibitor serpins promote brain metastatic colonization, suggesting that mutations in serpins or other members of the coagulation cascade can provide critical advantages during BM formation. We performed whole-exome sequencing on matched samples of breast cancer and BMs and found mutations in the coagulation pathway genes in 5 out of 10 BM samples.

Phenotype and natural history of variant late infantile ceroid-lipofuscinosis 5.

Aim: To characterize the phenotypic profile of a cohort of children affected with CLN5, a rare form of neuronal ceroid-lipofuscinosis (NCL), and to trace the features of the natural history of the disease.

Method: Records of 15 children (nine males, six females) were obtained from the data sets of the DEM-CHILD International NCL Registry. Disease progression was measured by rating six functional domains at different time points along the disease course.

ADCY5-related movement disorders: Frequency, disease course and phenotypic variability in a cohort of paediatric patients.

Introduction: ADCY5 mutations have been recently identified as an important cause of early-onset hyperkinetic movement disorders. The phenotypic spectrum associated with mutations in this gene is expanding. However, the ADCY5 mutational frequency in cohorts of paediatric patients with hyperkinetic movement disorders has not been evaluated.

Genetics of vascular dementia - review from the ICVD working group.

Background: Vascular dementia is a common disorder resulting in considerable morbidity and mortality. Determining the extent to which genes play a role in disease susceptibility and their pathophysiological mechanisms could improve our understanding of vascular dementia, leading to a potential translation of this knowledge to clinical practice.

Discussion: In this review, we discuss what is currently known about the genetics of vascular dementia.

Tumor-initiating cell frequency is relevant for glioblastoma aggressiveness.

Glioblastoma (GBM) is maintained by a small subpopulation of tumor-initiating cells (TICs). The arduous assessment of TIC frequencies challenges the prognostic role of TICs in predicting the clinical outcome in GBM patients. We estimated the TIC frequency in human GBM injecting intracerebrally in mice dissociated cells without any passage in culture.

Absence of the Autophagy Adaptor SQSTM1/p62 Causes Childhood-Onset Neurodegeneration with Ataxia, Dystonia, and Gaze Palsy.

SQSTM1 (sequestosome 1; also known as p62) encodes a multidomain scaffolding protein involved in various key cellular processes, including the removal of damaged mitochondria by its function as a selective autophagy receptor. Heterozygous variants in SQSTM1 have been associated with Paget disease of the bone and might contribute to neurodegeneration in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and frontotemporal dementia (FTD). Using exome sequencing, we identified three different biallelic loss-of-function variants in SQSTM1 in nine affected individuals from four families with a childhood- or adolescence-onset neurodegenerative disorder characterized by gait abnormalities, ataxia, dysarthria, dystonia, vertical gaze palsy, and cognitive decline.

Fabry Disease: Recognition, Diagnosis, and Treatment of Neurological Features.

Fabry disease is an X-linked, lysosomal storage disorder caused by a mutation in the GLA gene leading to a deficiency in alpha-galactosidase A enzyme (α-Gal A) activity, which in turn results in accumulation of globotriaosylceramide in the vascular endothelium and smooth muscle cells of different organs, including kidney and heart, finally leading to impairment or failure of organ function. The central and peripheral nervous systems are also affected leading to neurological manifestations such as cerebrovascular diseases, small fiber neuropathy (SFN), and dysautonomic disorders that may be the presenting clinical features in a proportion of patients. This review offers a complete update of all neurological aspects of Fabry disease and therapeutic options.

The diagnostic challenge of Divry van Bogaert and Sneddon Syndrome: Report of three cases and literature review.

Divry van Bogaert Syndrome (DBS) is a familial juvenile-onset disorder characterized by livedo racemosa, white matter disease, dementia, epilepsy and angiographic finding of "cerebral angiomatosis". A similar syndrome including livedo racemosa and cerebrovascular disease, often associated with anticardiolipin antibodies, has been described as Sneddon Syndrome (SS) highlighting the question whether these two conditions have to be considered different entities or indeed different features of a unique syndrome. Herein, we report the clinical, neuroradiological, histopathological findings and follow up of three cases diagnosed as Divry-van Bogaert Syndrome, including an updated review of literature of both DBS and SS cases.

Mesenchymal Stem Cells for Ischemic Stroke: Progress and Possibilities.

Stroke is the most common neurological cause of morbidity and mortality in industrialized countries, afflicting 15 million people every year. The numbers are expected to increase, mostly due to aging populations. One in five stroke patients dies, and one in three are left with permanent disabilities.

Quantitative proteomics suggests metabolic reprogramming during ETHE1 deficiency.

Deficiency of mitochondrial sulfur dioxygenase (ETHE1) causes the severe metabolic disorder ethylmalonic encephalopathy, which is characterized by early-onset encephalopathy and defective cytochrome C oxidase because of hydrogen sulfide accumulation. Although the severe systemic consequences of the disorder are becoming clear, the molecular effects are not well defined. Therefore, for further elucidating the effects of ETHE1-deficiency, we performed a large scale quantitative proteomics study on liver tissue from ETHE1-deficient mice.

In Vivo Fate Imaging of Intracerebral Stem Cell Grafts in Mouse Brain.

We generated transgenic human neural stem cells (hNSCs) stably expressing the reporter genes Luciferase for bioluminescence imaging (BLI) and GFP for fluorescence imaging, for multimodal imaging investigations. These transgenic hNSCs were further labeled with a clinically approved perfluoropolyether to perform parallel 19F MRI studies. In vitro validation demonstrated normal cell proliferation and differentiation of the transgenic and additionally labeled hNSCs, closely the same as the wild type cell line, making them suitable for in vivo application.