Journal of neurology, neurosurgery, and psychiatry
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J. Neurol. Neurosurg. Psychiatr. · Dec 2021
Associations of longitudinal plasma p-tau181 and NfL with tau-PET, Aβ-PET and cognition.
To explore if changes over time of plasma phosphorylated tau (p-tau)181 and neurofilament light chain (NfL) predict future tau and amyloid β (Aβ) PET load and cognitive performance, we studied a subsample of the Alzheimer's disease (AD) neuroimaging cohort with longitudinal blood peptide assessments. ⋯ P-tau and NfL behave differently within the same individuals over time and may therefore offer complementary diagnostic information.
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J. Neurol. Neurosurg. Psychiatr. · Dec 2021
Anxiety and depression symptoms after COVID-19 infection: results from the COVID Symptom Study app.
Mental health issues have been reported after SARS-CoV-2 infection. However, comparison to prevalence in uninfected individuals and contribution from common risk factors (eg, obesity and comorbidities) have not been examined. We identified how COVID-19 relates to mental health in the large community-based COVID Symptom Study. ⋯ A small association was identified between SARS-CoV-2 infection and anxiety and depression symptoms. The proportion meeting criteria for self-reported anxiety and depression disorders is only slightly higher than prepandemic.
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J. Neurol. Neurosurg. Psychiatr. · Dec 2021
Newborn screening for spinal muscular atrophy with disease-modifying therapies: a cost-effectiveness analysis.
To assess cost-effectiveness of newborn screening (NBS) for spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) and early treatment with nusinersen or onasemnogene abeparvovec (gene therapy), compared with nusinersen without SMA screening. ⋯ NBS coupled with gene therapy improves the quality and length of life for infants with SMA and would be considered value-for-money from an Australian clinical and policy context.
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J. Neurol. Neurosurg. Psychiatr. · Dec 2021
Multiple sclerosis: structural and functional integrity of the visual system following alemtuzumab therapy.
To investigate potential neuroprotective and pro-remyelinating effects of alemtuzumab in multiple sclerosis (MS), using the visual pathway as a model. ⋯ We found evidence of partial lesion remyelination after alemtuzumab therapy, indicating either natural restoration in the context of a 'permissive' local milieu; or potentially an independent, pro-reparative mechanism of action. The visual system presents a unique opportunity to study function-structure specific effects of therapy and inform the design of future phase 2 MS remyelination trials.
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J. Neurol. Neurosurg. Psychiatr. · Dec 2021
GFAP as a biomarker in frontotemporal dementia and primary psychiatric disorders: diagnostic and prognostic performance.
Frontotemporal lobar degeneration (FTLD) and primary psychiatric disorders (PPD) are characterised by overlapping clinical features but different aetiologies. Here, we assessed for the first time the potential of blood glial fibrillar acidic protein (GFAP), marker of astrogliosis, as a discriminative and prognostic tool in FTLD and PPD. ⋯ sGFAP enabled differentiation of patients with FTLD and PPD and associated with shorter survival and more severe brain atrophy rate in patients with FTLD. These results suggest that blood-based GFAP represents a minimally invasive and useful biomarker in the differential diagnostics between patients with FTLD and PPD and in evaluating disease progression and astrogliosis in FTLD.