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Repeated Head Trauma May Lead to Parkinsonism in Patients with CTE

Repeated head injury from years of contact sports play in men with confirmed chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) may cause pathological changes in the substantia nigra that lead to parkinsonism in a subset of patients with CTE.

Genetic Testing for Patients with Parkinson’s Disease

In this large scale, international study of Parkinson’s disease (PD) patients, approximately 15% of participants were found to have a positive PD-related genetic variant, most commonly in the GBA1 and LRRK2 genes.

Thrombectomy for Basilar Artery Occlusion

This randomized trial from China demonstrates a dramatic benefit from endovascular thrombectomy in patients with acute basilar artery occlusion. This benefit was sustained and improved at one year compared to 90 days.

Clinicopathological Correlation in Motor Neuron Disease and Frontotemporal Degeneration

Frontotemporal lobar degeneration commonly occurs with motor neuron disease and has similar cytoplasmic neuronal aggregates of TAR deoxyribonucleic acid-binding protein 43 (TDP-43) in the brain as well as the spinal cord.

The Clinical Spectrum of Anti-GQ1b Antibody Syndrome

Antibodies targeting gangliosides, glycosphingolipids that play a role in synaptic plasticity, neurotransmission derangements, and axonal growth all are implicated in many autoimmune peripheral neuropathies. Miller Fisher syndrome (MFS) is the clinical triad of external ophthalmoplegia, ataxia, and areflexia classically associated with anti-GQ1b. However, there are other subtypes that present with only one or two clinical features of the clinical triad.

Stratifying Seizure Risk with a Rapid EEG

In a retrospective, large, multicenter trial, rapid response electroencephalogram (EEG) was found to be non-inferior to conventional EEG when incorporated into the 2HELPS2B score to guide how long patients should stay on EEG.

Blood Biomarkers for the Diagnosis of Alzheimer’s Disease

In this population-based study of patients in Sweden with cognitive complaints, mild cognitive impairment, and dementia, the use of blood biomarkers, specifically, phosphorylated tau 217 and amyloid-beta 42/40 ratios, improved the diagnostic accuracy for pathological Alzheimer’s disease in primary care patients as well as patients seen by dementia specialists.

CSF Analysis May Help in the Diagnosis of Dementia with Lewy Bodies

This paper demonstrated that cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) alpha-synuclein seeding assays can distinguish between clinically diagnosed dementia with Lewy bodies and controls, and that the presence of hyposmia with core clinical features had the highest predictive value of detecting CSF alpha-synuclein.

Anchoring Alzheimer’s Disease Along an Amyloid Timeline

In 601 individuals from Wisconsin-based cohorts with amyloid-beta and tau positron emission tomography scans, the magnitude and topographical spread of tau pathology increased with longer duration of amyloid-beta positivity, and the cognitive decline was steepest in those with the longest duration of amyloid-beta positivity and elevated entorhinal tau.

Clinical Criteria for a Limbic-Predominant Amnestic Neurodegenerative Syndrome

Predominant limbic degeneration in older geriatric patients (ages 75 years and older) with slowly progressive episodic memory loss with fluorodeoxyglucose-positron emission tomography medial temporal hypometabolism limbic-predominant age-related TDP-43 encephalopathy (LATE) involves a progressive degeneration of the amygdala, then hippocampus, then middle frontal gyrus.