Annals of neurology
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Annals of neurology · Nov 2017
Stroke-induced chronic systolic dysfunction driven by sympathetic overactivity.
Cardiac diseases are established risk factors for ischemic stroke incidence and severity. Conversely, there is increasing evidence that brain ischemia can cause cardiac dysfunction. The mechanisms underlying this neurogenic heart disease are incompletely understood. Although it is established that ischemic stroke is associated with cardiac arrhythmias, myocardial damage, elevated cardiac enzymes, and plasma catecholamines in the acute phase, nothing is known about the delayed consequences of ischemic stroke on cardiovascular function. ⋯ Focal cerebral ischemia in mice leads to the development of chronic systolic dysfunction driven by increased sympathetic activity. If these results can be confirmed in a clinical setting, treating physicians should be attentive to clinical signs of heart failure in every patient after ischemic stroke. Therapeutically, the successful β-blockade with metoprolol in mice could also have future clinical implications. Ann Neurol 2017;82:729-743.
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Annals of neurology · Nov 2017
Multicenter StudyA clinical predictive score for postoperative myasthenic crisis.
Myasthenia gravis (MG) is an autoimmune disease mostly caused by autoantibodies against acetylcholine receptor associated with thymus abnormalities. Thymectomy has been proven to be an efficacious treatment for patients with MG, but postoperative myasthenic crisis often occurs and is a major complication. We aimed to develop and validate a simple scoring system based on clinical characteristics in the preoperative status to predict the risk of postoperative myasthenic crisis. ⋯ A simple scoring system based on 3 preoperative clinical characteristics can predict the possibility of postoperative myasthenic crisis. Ann Neurol 2017;82:841-849.
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To test serum tau as a predictor of neurological outcome after cardiac arrest. ⋯ Serum tau is a promising novel biomarker for prediction of neurological outcome in patients with cardiac arrest. It may be significantly better than serum NSE, which is recommended in guidelines and currently used in clinical practice in several countries to predict outcome after cardiac arrest. Ann Neurol 2017;82:665-675.
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Annals of neurology · Nov 2017
Imaging spinal cord atrophy in progressive myelopathies: HTLV-I-associated neurological disease (HAM/TSP) and multiple sclerosis (MS).
Previous work measures spinal cord thinning in chronic progressive myelopathies, including human T-lymphotropic virus 1 (HTLV-1)-associated myelopathy/tropical spastic paraparesis (HAM/TSP) and multiple sclerosis (MS). Quantitative measurements of spinal cord atrophy are important in fully characterizing these and other spinal cord diseases. We aimed to investigate patterns of spinal cord atrophy and correlations with clinical markers. ⋯ Group average spinal cord cross-sectional area in HAM/TSP and progressive MS show spinal cord atrophy. We further hypothesize in HAM/TSP that is possible that neuroglial loss from a thoracic inflammatory process results in anterograde and retrograde degeneration of axons, leading to the temporal progression of thoracic to cervical atrophy described here. Ann Neurol 2017;82:719-728.