International Clinical Neuroscience Journal
Volume:8 Issue: 3, Summer 2021

Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) is a severe psychological disorder that can be very disabling. Recent increasing neuroscientific data about OCD has provided important evidence that has started to change our knowledge about treatment. This paper offers an applied perspective of neuroscience on diagnosis and treatment preparation for people with OCD disease. The main aim is to enhance clinician-researcher communication to promote the conversion of developments in neuroscience research into better treatment for patients with OCD.

A PubMed search was performed using the keywords “obsessive-compulsive disorder”, “neuroimaging methods”, “neuroscience”, and “neurological treatment”. The search provided sufficient articles published in peer-reviewed journals from 1995 to 2021. The data were obtained from these various sources and were included in this review.

The advancement of neurotherapeutic techniques targeting the cortico-striatal-thalamo-cortical (CSTC) circuit is the subject of a circuit dysregulation system. Also, according to neuroimaging studies, reductions in D2 receptors (about -18%), GABAA receptors (-15%), and cingulate 5-HT1A receptors (-18%) in patients with OCD were reported compared with healthy controls.

The result suggests that DA, 5-HT, and GABA have considerable roles in anxiety- and compulsion-related disorders such as OCD. For patients with OCD, these core neuroscience themes collectively guide formulation and clinical preparation.

Although various studied have been done to improve therapeutic strategies in resolving spinal cord injuries, robust clinical treatment is not yet available. Developing a standard animal model is essential to achieve effective treatment for such injuries. The present study was performed to introduce a simple, applicable, and minimally invasive approach for access to epidural space in cats.

We used a percutaneous approach from the lumbosacral junction for stainless steel cannula insertion to the epidural space without fluoroscopy. CT scan, conventional magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), tractography, and behavioral evaluation were used to assess the correct position of the cannula and the neurological condition of the animal.

MRI results showed no significant change in signal intensity index of neural structures under lumbosacral junction. These observations are further supported by tractography, and also behavioral examination during the study.

We found that the percutaneous approach from the lumbosacral junction is a simple and applicable approach that has no side effects and artifact formation in MRI evaluation.a

This research aims to evaluate the impact of acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) on the occupational stress and the anxiety of nurses.

This was an experimental study with pre-test post-test design with a control group. We included all nurses caring for patients with COVID-19 in governmental hospitals in Tehran during six months of 2020. Beck’s Anxiety Inventory (BAI) and Steinmetz Occupational Stress Questionnaire were used for data collection.

Box’s test (P=0.225) showed that the covariance-variance matrices were homogeneous. Levine’s test also indicated that the assumption of variance equality was observed. The amounts of ETA square root showed that 66.3% of the anxiety variance and 51.3% of the occupational stress variance could be predicted in the posttest through ACT.

The rate of occupational stress and anxiety of the test group significantly decreased compared with the control group after the intervention. Therefore, ACT could decrease the occupational stress and anxiety of nurses and the therapists could use this approach for improving the mental health of nurses

The aging of the healthy population without severe morbidity exposes them to cerebrovascular diseases and demand effective management. This study aimed to study the prevalence of geriatric cerebrovascular neurosurgical conditions in the Neurosurgical Department at Khoula Hospital, Muscat, Sultanate of Oman.

A retrospective chart review of was done on geriatric cases admitted to the Neurosurgery Department in Khoula Hospital as an example of a neurosurgical center in a high-income developing country from January 2016 to 31st December 2019. Patients’demographics, risk factors, diagnosis, Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS) on arrival, medications used, and length of stay were recorded.

109 patients aged over 65 years were recruited in our retrospective review with a mean age of 74.12 years. Male-to-female ratio was (1.2:1). Intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH) was the most common vascular diagnosis (39.0%) followed by subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH) (22.9%). Most patients (41.9%) had a GCS score of less than 8. About one-fifth of the patients received antiplatelet and anticoagulant medications. Most of the patients underwent surgical intervention (61.9%). 59% of the patients stayed in the hospital for less than 15 days. There were significant associations between the length of stay, treatment types (surgical vs. conservative), and age (P < 0.05).

Cerebrovascular pathologies are a growing cause of mortality and morbidity worldwide including developing countries because of the increasing number of elderly people. Antiplatelet medication and anticoagulants should be used with caution in the elderly.

Shunt Infection is a common complication of shunt insertion in children which can lead to bad neuro-developmental conditions and impose a considerable economic burden for the health care system. So, identifying predictive factors of shunt infection could help us in the proper improvement of this deteriorating condition.

In this study, related risk factors of 68 patients with history of shunt infection and 80 matched controls without any history of shunt infection, who were all operated in a single referral hospital were assessed. Three machine learning (ML)-based measures including sparsity, correlation, and redundancy along with specialist’s score were applied to select the most important predictive risk factors for shunt infection. ML was determined by summation of sparsity, correlation and redundancy measures, and the final total score was considered as normalization (ML-based score + specialist score).

According to the total score, prematurity, first ventriculoperitoneal shunting (VPS) age, intraventricular hemorrhage (IVH), myelomeningocele (MMC) and low birth weight had higher weights as shunt infection risk factors. icterus, trauma, co-infection and tumor had the lowest weights and history of meningitis and number of shunt revisions were defined as intermediate risk factors.

The “ML-based clinical adjusted” method may be used as a complementary tool to help neurosurgeons in better patient selection and more accurate follow-up of children with higher risk of shunt infection.

Some experts assert there is an association between traumatic brain injury and cognitive impairments such as attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and depressive disorder. Furthermore, children and adults with ADHD struggle with focusing, organizing tasks, and feeling restless. They might experience sadness, guilt, irritability, low self-confidence and helplessness.In this regard, ADHD and depressive disorder occasionally occur together. We aimed to compare the clinical application of the Bender-Gestalt test (BGT) and electroencephalography in screening brain damage in the patients with the mentioned disorders.

This was a cross-sectional study to assess diagnostic accuracy. Eighty patients with depression (n=35) and ADHD (n=45) resulting from brain damage aged 10-35 years who had been referred by the psychologist or psychiatrist to Imam Hossein Clinic in Yazd. Both the BGT and quantitative electroencephalography (QEEG) results existed in their files. Patients with any serious medical, other psychiatric disorders or history of drug dependency were excluded. Paired t test was used to analyze the differences.

The brain damage score was different in the two tests. Based on the paired t test, the BGT was a more valid screening test. Also, the score of the two tests were different in the depression and ADHD mean scores (P < 0.05).

BGT was a more reliable tool compared to QEEG for diagnosing brain damage within the patients with the mentioned disorders

Neurological complications of COVID-19 are well documented. However, there are limited reports of posterior reversible encephalopathy syndrome (PRES) associated with COVID-19 in the literature. Herein, we described a 21-year-old man with a history of bipolar disease and opioid addiction who was admitted because of COVID-19 infection. He suddenly experienced a convulsive status epilepticus following hypertension crisis. The patient was intubated and underwent antiepileptic and anti-hypertensive therapy. His brain imaging was compatible with PRES. The patient gradually improved and was eventually discharged after 40 days. On the next month follow-up, the patient was able to walk with a cane without a history of seizure. In this report, we aimed to highlight the less common cerebrovascular complication of COVID-19 infection.