Archives of Neuroscience
Volume:8 Issue: 2, Apr 2021

 Parkinson's disease (PD) is a chronic and progressive neurodegenerative disease that affects the dopamine-containing neurons. In this study, the role of the Diffusion Tensor imaging (DTI) method was investigated in the detection of PD.

 The purpose of this study was to investigate the microstructural damage of the brain's white matter in PD using a non-invasive DTI technique.

 Twenty patients with PD were studied with comprehensive clinical assessments and DTI data. Also, 10 normal subjects were investigated. Fractional anisotropic (FA) and mean diffusivity (MD) values were calculated by drawing region of interest (ROI) on eight distinctive areas of the brain.

 The level of FA and MD in substantia nigra (SN) was significantly different between the PD and healthy control (HC) groups. Also, differences were found in DTI parameters between PD and HC groups in some regions, such as genu, anterior limb of internal capsule (ALIC), splenium, and putamen.

 To summarize, DTI as a non-invasive method can be useful in the detection of Parkinson's disease.

 Blepharoplasty, which is performed for either functional or cosmetic purposes, is one of the most common surgeries around the world. This procedure can be performed under either local or general anesthesia. It depends on the surgical indication, patient’s demand, surgeon’s plan, and need for auxiliary operations. It has been proved that both local and general anesthesia have different complications. Hypnosis is a skill by which hypnotherapists can make changes in perceptual experience and can be used instead of anesthetic drugs on some occasions. The present study was conducted to survey the effectiveness of hypnosis used as an alternative to anesthesia procedures.

 A 54-year-old woman was scheduled for bilateral upper lid cosmetic blepharoplasty. Hypnotic anesthesia was conducted owing to her fear of anesthesia and drug-related side effects. Hypnotic anesthesia was accomplished by a hypnotherapist who was an anesthesiologist, and the operation was done without any surgical complications.

 Hypnosis may be a good alternative to local anesthesia and lead to a reduction in analgesics consumption.
 

Migraine is a chronic medical problem and sometimes progressive disorder characterized by recurrent episodes of headache. Nutritional factors can reduce and prevent the severity and frequency of migraine.

This study aimed to assess the relationship between major dietary patterns and disease severity among migraine patients.

This cross-sectional study included 266 females (18 - 50 years old) who attend neurology clinics of Sina and Khatam Alanbia hospitals, and a professional headache clinic, both in Tehran, Iran, for episodic migraine diagnosis in 2016. The participants’ data was gathered using a general questionnaire and medical history. Dietary intake was assessed using a 147-item semi-quantitative food frequency questionnaire (FFQ). Anthropometric measurements were taken for all cases. visual analog scale (VAS) and migraine disability assessment (MIDAS) questionnaires were used by a neurologist for assessing migraine disability and pain severity, respectively. Also, principal component analysis (PCA) was used to identify major dietary patterns. The association between dietary patterns and disease severity was evaluated using multinomial logistic regression.

Using the PCA, two major dietary patterns, including the healthy and unhealthy diet, were identified. More adherence to the healthy dietary pattern (high in fruits, fruit juices, and dried fruits, vegetables, whole grains, liquid oil, brains, beans, low-fat dairy, and white meat) was associated with a lower VAS score after adjusting for energy intake, BMI, water intake, and increased salt intake (OR = 1.82, 95% CI = 0.96 - 3.44, P-trend < 0.005). The intensity of migraine headache increased by 82% in the lowest adherence to this pattern compared to the most adherence. There was no significant association between healthy and unhealthy dietary patterns with MIDAS before and after controlling for confounding variables.

This study showed that adherence to a healthy dietary pattern reduces the severity of pain in migraine patients. However, further studies are needed to evaluate the relationship between the unhealthy dietary pattern and the severity of migraine symptoms.

 Epilepsy is a disorder that affects 1% of the global population. It is the second most common serious neurologic disorder after stroke, affecting humans. Since antiepileptic drugs have a narrow therapeutic index and their adverse effects can affect any organ, their widespread use has significant safety implications.

 The study assessed adverse drug reactions (ADRs) using antiepileptic drugs in the Department of Neurology at a Tertiary Care Hospital, Srinagar, Jammu & Kashmir, India.

 This prospective observational study was conducted in the Department of Neurology of a Tertiary Care Hospital, Srinagar, Jammu & Kashmir, India, for eight months. It was a spontaneous reporting of ADRs by practicing physicians in the outpatient and inpatient settings that were included in the study.

 Of the 3,300 patients who were on the anti-epileptic drug (AED), 92 (3.07%) had AED-related ADRs. A total of 18 cases were reported in the inpatient department and 74 cases in the outpatient setting. The most common ADRs were loss of appetite (34.78%), skin rashes (17.39%), and gum hypertrophy (9.78%). Of 80 ADRs, 42.5% were related to valproate, followed by phenytoin, carbamazepine, and levetiracetam. The suspected drug was changed in 22 patients with ADRs.

 For the early diagnosis and avoidance of ADRs, the frequent follow-up of patients on AEDs is needed to improve patient compliance with drug therapy and provide better drug therapy for avoiding associated morbidity and mortality.
 

Current investigations illustrate the increasing prevalence of atherosclerosis (AS) through the aggravating role of inappropriate lifestyle patterns. Atherosclerosis is the cause of important vascular-related diseases such as ischemic stroke (IS). Understanding AS pathophysiology can help reduce the incidence of AS-mediated diseases like ischemic stroke.

For this narrative review article, we used the five mega databases of PubMed, Google Scholar, Scopus, Springer, and Science Direct. We searched from 2010 Jan to 2020 Dec and based on keywords and inclusion criteria, 77 articles were enrolled.

Based on prior articles on atherosclerosis and ischemic stroke pathophysiology, local and systemic inflammation is a vigorous factor in both diseasesIndeed, the fundamental inflammatory pathway involved atherosclerosis, and ischemic stroke is associated with the toll-like receptor 4/myeloid differentiation primary response 88/nuclear factor-kappa B (TLR4/ Myd88/ NF-κB) cascade. The functional paw of these intricatemechanisms are pro-inflammatorymediators, such as interleukin-1 beta (IL-1β), tumor necrosis factor (TNF-α), and interleukin-18 (IL-18) incite inflammation. Besides, the essential structures termed inflammasomes (multi proteins components), and multiplicity of immune and non-immune cells (i.e., neutrophils, monocytes, platelets, and macrophages) are beneficial in the induction of inflammatory microenvironment.

Neutrophils could be the most effective cells in the inflammation-based mechanism in IS and AS. It is clarified that neutrophils with the recruitment of own vesicles and granules can afford to amplify inflammatory conditions and be a key cell in AS and IS cross-talk. Therefore, utilizing methods to control neutrophils-mediated mechanisms could be an effective method for the prevention of AS and IS.

Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) is a common endocrine disorder in premenopausal women. Brain functions may be affected in PCOS, and studies reported that PCOS patients are at greater risk for developing mental health conditions, including anxiety or depression.

This study was designed to evaluate the neurocognitive changes in letrozole-induced PCOS model.

Twenty female Wistar rats (eight-week-old; 160 ± 10 g) were divided into two groups. Group one received vehicle only (carboxymethyl cellulose, orally) once daily, and group two received letrozole (1 mg/kg, orally) once daily. Drugs or vehicles were administered for 21 days. Afterward, behavioral tests, including forced swimming test, open field test, and Y-maze alteration task, were performed. Ovaries were removed after behavioral tests and assessed histologically to confirm the induction of PCOS.

Animals with PCOS developed depressive-like behaviors compared with control in forced swimming test (P < 0.001). Anxiety-like behaviors were detected in letrozole-induced PCOS group (P < 0.05). Moreover, animals with PCOS exhibited memory impairment in comparison to normal animals in Y-maze memory assessment (P < 0.05).

Rats with PCOS showed a neurocognitive decline in the model of letrozole administration. Future studies should be conducted to clarify the exact mechanisms of these changes and possible approaches to restore them.

Despite numerous brain magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) utilization in the emergency department (ED), certainly, imaging alone is not enough, and it is necessary to have a correct interpretation by a physician who has sufficient skills in this regard.

Here, we decided to investigate the accuracy of interpreting brain MRI of suspected acute ischemic stroke (AIS) patients conducted by emergency medicine physicians (EMPs) in comparison with a radiologist and a neurologist.

This diagnostic accuracy study was conducted from April to November 2019 in Tehran, Iran. All attending EMPs of one major educational, medical center, a radiologist, and a neurologist also participated. A set of brain MRI stereotypes related to patients suspected of having a AIS was randomly selected. By reviewing the brain MRI interpretation of EMPs, once in comparison with the radiologist and once in comparison with the neurologist, misinterpretations (presence or absence of findings compatible with the diagnosis of AIS) were extracted.

Brain MRI stereotypes of 287 suspected AIS patients were interpreted of these patients, 160 cases (55.7%) were male. The mean age of the study patients was 65.0 ± 14.1 (range of 18 to 98) years. The value of the agreement for diagnosis between EMPs and neurologists was 0.684 (95% CI: 0.580 to 0.787). Considering the neurologist as the gold standard, the accuracy of AIS diagnosis by the EMPs was 0.85% (95% CI: 79.3 to 89.6). The agreement value for diagnosis between EMPs and radiologist was 0.673 (95% CI: 0.553 to 0.794). Considering the radiologist as the gold standard, the accuracy of AIS diagnosis by the EMPs was 86.3% (95% CI: 79.8 to 91.3). The agreement value for diagnosis in these two groups was 0.752 (95% CI: 0.627 to 0.877).

The findings of the current study revealed that the accuracy of brain MRI interpretation performed by the EMPs, compared with both neurologist and radiologist was proper.

Given its cerebral amyloid angiopathy, subarachnoid hemorrhage might represent transient focal neurological episodes erroneously diagnosed as transient ischemic attacks. The earliest neuroimaging findings in emergency room brain computed tomography indicating subarachnoid hemorrhage in these patients might be very subtle and missed by the clinician.

An 80-year-old man referred with transient focal neurological episodes, suggestive of transient ischemic attacks. In general, except for some cognitive dysfunctions, no remarkable point was noticed in his neurological examination. Nonenhanced brain-computer tomography and magnetic resonance imaging revealed evidence indicating slight convexity subarachnoid hemorrhage at the left frontal cortical region.

The transient focal neurological episodes uncommonly represent intracranial hemorrhage. Nevertheless, this clinical representation might occur in patients with subarachnoid hemorrhage due to cerebral amyloid angiopathy. In such cases, the neuroimaging findings play a major role in the differential diagnosis. The misdiagnosis of transient ischemic attacks in these cases might lead to the consumption of antiplatelet drugs and end in catastrophic hemorrhage and life-threatening complications. Close attention to patients’ clinical findings and judicious use of further neuroimaging studies would help clinicians to avoid making such mistakes.

A young lady, a known case of Sjogren’s syndrome, presented to our hospital with hypokalemic flaccid paralysis requiring ventilatory support. She was investigated and found to have severe hypokalemia and metabolic acidosis. During her hospitalization, she had severe persistent carpopedal spasm with normal ionized calcium. Following further evaluation, there was evidence of hypomagnesemia. The spasms were improved after her hypomagnesemia was corrected. This case report illustrate the role of hypomagnesemia in neurological abnormalities in hospitalized patients.

Until now, a variety of techniques have been introduced to address the adverse effects of NS-CLBP, including spinal manipulation technique (SMT) and muscle energy technique (MET). However, most of these techniques have focused on pain assessment and disability. In other words, the intermuscular synchronization between the co-contracting muscles was not considered, and hence, the effectiveness of these techniques on the corticospinal tract function was not studied.

This study aimed to compare the effects of SMT and MET on corticospinal tract function during four phases of standing, flexion, relaxation, and extension in flexion-extension task (F-ET) in NS-CLBP using pair-wise coherence of Beta-band intermuscular coherence (Bb-IMC).

Twenty volunteer healthymale subjects and twenty-fourmale subjects with NS-CLBP (20 - 45 years of age) participated in this work. The patients had continuous or recurrent symptoms for three months or more without any referral pain to the lower extremities. The patients were randomly assigned to two equal intervention groups (SMT and MET), and the techniques were applied as described by Greenman. Surface electromyography (sEMGs) from lumbopelvic muscles was recorded for all participants (i.e., healthy group and the patient groups), while they performed three trials of F-ET, and the pair-wise coherence for all muscles was calculated using Bb-IMC analysis. Besides, in the patient’s groups, sEMGs from the muscles were recorded before and after the interventional techniques (i.e., SMT and MET), while they performed three trials of F-ET, and the pair-wise coherence was calculated. Multivariate analysis of variance test was used to compare the healthy subjects and patient groups before the interventions in A and B muscle cross at different phases of F-ET task. Furthermore, in the NS-CLBP patients, comparisons were made before and after the interventions in each group (i.e., SMT and MET groups) as well as between the two groups in A and B muscle cross at different phases of the F-ET task.

In the standing phase of F-ET, there were no significant differences in the SMT and MET group before and after the intervention in PWC of A muscle cross and B muscle cross (P < 0.05). Considering the flexion phase, there were significant differences in the SMT group in all pair muscles as PWC (M1-M4), PWE (M1-M6), PWC (M4-M6) (P < 0.05), whereas there was one significantly in PWC (M4-M6) in the MET group (P < 0.05). In the relaxation phase, the SMT had significantly in PWC (M2-M5), whereas there was one significantly in PWC (M4-M6) in MET group (P < 0.05). In the extension phase, although the SMT was not significant (P < 0.05) in the MET intervention group, there were significant differences in the PWC (M2-M3) and PWC muscles (M2-M5).

This study provided some pieces of evidence about the effects of one of the common manual therapy techniques on the primary motor cortex and corticospinal drive in the NS-CLBP patients. The results showed that, by increasing the pair-wise coherence in all phases of FE-T, SMT intervention was more effective than MET intervention. Therefore, the pair-wise coherence of Bb-IMC can be considered an approach for clinicians when designing the rehabilitation protocol to ensure optimal treatment.

The main aim of this study was to determine and compare the effects of innovative aquatic proprioceptive training plus conventional rehabilitation with conventional rehabilitation alone on voluntary response index (VRI) components in athletes with anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction (ACLR).

Forty male athletes with ACLR (18 - 35 years of age) voluntarily participated in this study. They were randomly allocated into two groups. The conventional therapy group (n = 20) underwent conventional rehabilitation for ten weeks, three sessions a week. The aquatic proprioceptive training plus conventional rehabilitation (n = 20) group received the same conventional rehabilitation plus 30 sessions of innovative hydrotherapy exercises. Voluntary response index analysis was carried out to determine changes in motor control and muscle activation patterns based on electromyographic (EMG) outcome measures.

There was a significant difference in the magnitude (MAG) and similarity index (SI) between the two groups at all phases of the functional task (sit-stand-sit) (P < 0.05). Also, both groups showed a significant change in MAG and SI at all phases of the functional task (sit-stand-sit) after the intervention (P < 0.05). Effect size in both groups for MAG and SI at all phases of the functional task (sit-stand-sit) ranged from 2.5 to 4.61 and from 0.29 to 1.7, respectively.

The incorporation of innovative aquatic proprioceptive training into conventional accelerated rehabilitation protocol leads to changes in motor control due to changes in the muscle activation pattern after the intervention.