Journal of neurology, neurosurgery, and psychiatry
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J. Neurol. Neurosurg. Psychiatr. · Oct 2015
Epstein-Barr virus persistence and reactivation in neuromyelitis optica.
Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) infection has been thought to be a key environmental factor in the development of multiple sclerosis (MS). The aim of this study is to investigate the association of EBV infection with neuromyelitis optica (NMO). ⋯ Our results raise the hypothesis that persistent, active EBV replication is present in NMO, and may contribute to the immunological alterations that play a pathogenetic role in the disorder.
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J. Neurol. Neurosurg. Psychiatr. · Oct 2015
Post-stroke fatigue and its association with poor functional outcome after stroke in young adults.
Post-stroke fatigue negatively influences short-term functional outcome in older stroke survivors. In young adults, in the midst of their active working and family life, this influence may even be more pronounced. However, there are only few studies on this topic in young patients with stroke. Therefore, we investigated the long-term prevalence of post-stroke fatigue in patients with a young transient ischaemic attack (TIA) or ischaemic stroke and its association with functional outcome. ⋯ Fatigue was very common in young stroke survivors and was associated with a poor functional outcome, even after almost a decade of follow-up.
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J. Neurol. Neurosurg. Psychiatr. · Oct 2015
Review Meta AnalysisPresymptomatic and longitudinal neuroimaging in neurodegeneration-from snapshots to motion picture: a systematic review.
Recent quantitative neuroimaging studies have been successful in capturing phenotype and genotype-specific changes in dementia syndromes, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, Parkinson's disease and other neurodegenerative conditions. However, the majority of imaging studies are cross-sectional, despite the obvious superiority of longitudinal study designs in characterising disease trajectories, response to therapy, progression rates and evaluating the presymptomatic phase of neurodegenerative conditions. ⋯ Although longitudinal imaging studies have the potential to provide crucial insights into the presymptomatic phase and natural trajectory of neurodegenerative processes a standardised design is required to enable meaningful data interpretation.
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J. Neurol. Neurosurg. Psychiatr. · Oct 2015
Randomized Controlled Trial Comparative StudyLevetiracetam versus phenytoin for seizure prophylaxis during and early after craniotomy for brain tumours: a phase II prospective, randomised study.
Phenytoin (PHT) is routinely used for seizure prophylaxis in patients with brain tumours during and after craniotomy, despite incomplete evidence. We performed a prospective, randomised study to investigate the significance of prophylactic use of levetiracetam (LEV), in comparison with PHT, for patients with supratentorial tumours in the perioperative period. ⋯ Prophylactic use of LEV in the perioperative period is recommended because it is safe and significantly reduces the incidence of seizures in this period.
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J. Neurol. Neurosurg. Psychiatr. · Oct 2015
Multicenter StudyValidation of genetic modifiers for Duchenne muscular dystrophy: a multicentre study assessing SPP1 and LTBP4 variants.
Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) is characterised by progressive muscle weakness. It has recently been reported that single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) located in the SPP1 and LTBP4 loci can account for some of the inter-individual variability observed in the clinical disease course. The validation of genetic association in large independent cohorts is a key process for rare diseases in order to qualify prognostic biomarkers and stratify patients in clinical trials. ⋯ This study underlines the importance of replicating genetic association studies for rare diseases in large independent cohorts to identify the most robust associations. We anticipate that genotyping of validated genetic associations will become important for the design and interpretation of clinical trials.