Journal of the neurological sciences
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Though there was initial interest in the use of psychedelic drugs for psychiatric treatment, bad outcomes and subsequent passage of the Substance Act of 1970, which placed psychedelic drugs in the Schedule I category, significantly limited potential progress. More recently, however, there has been renewal in interest and promise of psychedelic research. ⋯ Accumulated research to date has suggested the potential for psychedelics to emerge as breakthrough therapies for psychiatric conditions refractory to conventional treatments. However, given the unique history and high potential for misuse with popular distribution, special care and considerations must be undertaken to safeguard their use as viable medical treatments rather than drugs of abuse.
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Loeys-Dietz Syndromes (LDS) are a group of connective tissue disorders associated with vascular abnormalities, including arterial tortuosity, aneurysms, and dissections. While neurovascular involvement is common, no pediatric or young adult recommendations for screening exist. We aimed to review our institution's experience with special focus on neurovascular imaging to better understand the pathology and guide screening. ⋯ Arterial tortuosity was most prevalent, though it did not progress significantly over time. We suggest an algorithm for management and serial screening to guide management of pediatric and young adults with LDS.
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Chronic inflammatory demyelinating polyneuropathy (CIDP) is an acquired neurological disorder characterized clinically by weakness and impaired sensory function evolving over 2 months or more, loss or significant decrease in deep tendon reflexes, and by electrophysiological evidence of peripheral nerve demyelination. Expeditious diagnosis and treatment of CIDP early in the disease course is critical such that irreversible disability can be avoided. ⋯ The different options for administration of IG treatment create the need for information to assist clinicians and patients in choosing the optimal therapeutic approach. Considerations for pharmacokinetics, administration procedures, adverse events, patient variables, and cost will all be discussed in this article.
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The neuropathological features of chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), caused by repeated traumatic brain injury (TBI), include abnormal accumulations of hyper-phosphorylated tau (p-tau) protein in neurons, neurites and astrocytes, considered to progress via neuronal circuits in brains. Some previous reports suggest that a single severe TBI (sTBI) can also induce CTE and p-tau accumulation, but it is not clear whether the pathology is the same as that of repetitive TBI (rTBI). Since prefrontal leucotomy could be regarded as a model of sTBI, in this study we evaluated two autopsied schizophrenia with this procedure. ⋯ Regions of neuronal/glial p-tau pathology showed immunoreactivity to both 3R/4R tau antibodies. Immunoblot analyses of sarkosyl-insoluble tau from frozen brains showed an AD-type tau banding pattern with strong immunoreactivities. sTBI patients showed limited comorbidities, such as TDP-43, alpha-synuclein or AD pathology, whereas rTBI patients have high frequencies of them. The findings suggest that p-tau in the primary affected lesion might progress to connected regions via neuronal circuits over time, and a single severe axonal injury might lead to CTE pathology different from that caused by rTBI.