Autoimmune and infectious encephalitis: development of a discriminative tool for early diagnosis and initiation of therapy.

Background: Encephalitis originates from diverse autoimmune and infectious etiologies. Diagnostic challenges arise due to the spectrum of presentation and the frequent absence of specific biomarkers. This study aimed to comprehensively characterize and differentiate autoimmune encephalitis (AE) from infectious encephalitis (IE) in adults, and disentangle clinical, paraclinical, and therapeutic differences.

Pain and temporality: a merleau-pontyian approach.

Chronic pain is a common disorder with enormous sociomedical importance. A major part of primary and secondary costs of illness is caused by the various pain syndromes. Nociception - the sensory perception of a painful stimulus - is a complex process relying on an intricate system of anatomical, neurophysiological and biochemical networks.

Distance to thrombus, ischemic lesion volume and clinical outcome after thrombectomy for M1 middle cerebral artery occlusion.

Background: Stroke resulting from occlusion of the middle cerebral artery (MCA) can have devastating consequences, potentially leading to a loss of independence. This study aimed to investigate the relationship between the distance to the thrombus (DT) and both ischemic lesion volume (ILV) and clinical outcomes.

Methods: We retrospectively evaluated patients with thromboembolic MCA M1 segment occlusion who underwent neurovascular imaging followed by endovascular thrombectomy (EVT) at two comprehensive stroke centers over a 3-year period (2018-2020).

Steroids for the treatment of viral encephalitis: a systematic literature review and meta-analysis.

Background: Specific antiviral treatment is only available for a small subset of viral encephalitis (VE). Adjunctive steroids are used, but there is scant evidence evaluating its utility. We present a systematic review and meta-analysis on the outcome of steroid use in VE.

Epidural anesthesia and pulmonary function.

The epidural administration of local anesthetics can provide anesthesia without the need for respiratory support or mechanical ventilation. Nevertheless, because of the additional effects of epidural anesthesia on motor function and sympathetic innervation, epidural anesthesia does affect lung function. These effects, i.