Neurology Commons^™

Acute Symptomatic Seizures In Critically Ill Children: Frequency, Etiology And Outcomes, Sanam B. Rajper, Mujtaba Moazzam, Arsheen Zeeshan, Qalab Abbas

Department of Paediatrics and Child Health

Background: Critically ill individuals have an increased risk of acute symptomatic seizures secondary to systemic illnesses; unrecognized or untreated seizures can quickly convert into status epilepticus, which is associated with high morbidity and mortality.
Objective: The aim of this study was to determine frequency, etiology, and outcome of seizures in critical ill children admitted in intensive care unit of a tertiary care hospital.
Materials and methods: Retrospective review of medical records of all children admitted in pediatric intensive care unit (PICU) of the Aga Khan University from January 2016 to December 2018 and who had a new-onset seizure irrespective of …

Progress In The Therapy Of Myasthenia Gravis: Getting Closer To Effective Targeted Immunotherapies, Marinos Dalakas

Department of Neurology Faculty Papers

PURPOSE OF REVIEW: To provide an update on immunomodulating and immunosuppressive therapies in myasthenia gravis and highlight newly approved, or pending approval, therapies with new biologics.

RECENT FINDINGS: Preoperative IVIg is not needed to prevent myasthenic crisis in stable myasthenia gravis patients scheduled for surgery under general anesthesia, based on controlled data. Rituximab, if initiated early in new-onset myasthenia gravis, can lead to faster and more sustained remission even without immunotherapies in 35% of patients at 2 years. Biomarkers determining the timing for follow-up infusions in Rituximab-responding AChR-positive patients are discussed. Most patients with MuSK-positive myasthenia gravis treated with Rituximab …

Unexpected Brain Imaging Findings In Patients With Seizures, Boulenouar Mesraoua, Matthias Koepp, Bernhard Schuknecht, Dirk Deleu, Hassan J Al Hail, Gayane Melikyan, Lubna Elsheikh, A A Asadi-Pooya

Department of Neurology Faculty Papers

New imaging technologies have advanced our ability to localize the epileptogenic zone in patients with epilepsy. As a result of the constant improvement of the image quality, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) has become the most important ancillary tool in the management of patients with epilepsy. Magnetic resonance imaging for the evaluation of patients with epilepsy should be done using a special temporal lobe protocol and read by physicians experienced with the findings in patients with epilepsy. On the other hand, in the healthy populations, incidental structural brain abnormalities have been reported in 18% of people. Incidental, subtle, or unexpected structural …

Irrigation For Cerumen Removal Causing Meningitis – Case Report, Steven Tenny, Pashayar Lookian, Andre Wakim, Daniel Surdell

Graduate Medical Education Research Journal

Introduction: Cerumen impaction is a common problem seen in primary care clinics. There are a variety of methods to deal with impacted cerumen including water irrigation but meningitis after water irrigation cerumen removal has not been previously reported.

Methods: We describe the case of a 59-year-old female with otitis media who developed meningitis with empyema after water-jet irrigation for impacted cerumen.

Results: Our patient presented 24-hours after water-jet irrigation for impacted cerumen with worsening headaches. Workup included positive CSF cultures and empyema on MRI consistent with meningitis. She also had ear drainage from the treated ear which was positive for …

Matrine Inhibits Cns Autoimmunity Through An Ifn-Β-Dependent Mechanism, Yaojuan Chu, Wendi Ma, Rodolfo Thome, Jie Dan Ping, Fangzhou Liu, Mengru Wang, Mingliang Zhang, Guang-Xian Zhang, Lin Zhu

Department of Neurology Faculty Papers

Matrine (MAT), a quinolizidine alkaloid component derived from the root of Sophora flavescens, suppresses experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE), the animal model of multiple sclerosis (MS), by inducing the production of immunomodulatory molecules, e.g., IL-10. In an effort to find the upstream pathway(s) of the mechanism underlying these effects, we have tested certain upregulated immunomodulatory molecules. Among them, we found increased levels of IL-27 and IFN-β, one of the first-line MS therapies. Indeed, while low levels of IFN-β production in sera and type I interferon receptor (IFNAR1) expression in spinal cord of saline-treated control EAE mice were detected, they were significantly …

Mesencephalic Astrocyte-Derived Neurotrophic Factor (Manf) Regulates Neurite Outgrowth Through The Activation Of Akt/Mtor And Erk/Mtor Signaling Pathways, Wen Wen, Yongchao Wang, Hui Li, Hong Xu, Mei Xu, Jacqueline A. Frank, Murong Ma, Jia Luo

Pharmacology and Nutritional Sciences Faculty Publications

Neurite outgrowth is essential for brain development and the recovery of brain injury and neurodegenerative diseases. In this study, we examined the role of the neurotrophic factor MANF in regulating neurite outgrowth. We generated MANF knockout (KO) neuro2a (N2a) cell lines using clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPR)/Cas9 and demonstrated that MANF KO N2a cells failed to grow neurites in response to RA stimulation. Using MANF siRNA, this finding was confirmed in human SH-SY5Y neuronal cell line. Nevertheless, MANF overexpression by adenovirus transduction or addition of MANF into culture media facilitated the growth of longer neurites in RA-treated N2a …

In Reply: Access-Site Complications In Transfemoral Neuroendovascular Procedures: A Systematic Review Of Incidence Rates And Management Strategies, Pascal Jabbour, Ahmad Sweid

Department of Neurosurgery Faculty Papers

No abstract provided.

How Accurate Is The Neurosurgery Literature? A Review Of References., Thiago S Montenegro, Kevin Hines, Glenn A Gonzalez, Umma Fatema, Paul P Partyka, Sara Thalheimer, James Harrop

Department of Neurosurgery Faculty Papers

BACKGROUND: The reference list is an important part of academic manuscripts. The goal of this study is to evaluate the reference accuracy in the field of neurosurgery.

METHODS: This study examines four major peer-reviewed neurosurgery journals, chosen based on their clinical impact factor: Neurosurgery, J Neurosurg, World Neurosurg, and Acta Neurochir. For each of the four journals, five articles from each of the journal's 12 issues published in 2019 were randomly selected using an online generator. This resulted in a total of 240 articles, 60 from each journal. Additionally, from each article's list of references, one reference was again randomly …

Sphenopalatine Ganglion Stimulation Upregulates Transport Of Temozolomide Across The Blood-Brain Barrier, Thana N. Theofanis, Ankit K. Rochani, Richard F. Schmidt, Michael J. Lang, Geoffrey P. Stricsek, Robert H. Rosenwasswer, Ashwini D. Sharan, Gagan Kaushal, Lorraine Iacovitti

Department of Neurosurgery Faculty Papers

Sphenopalatine ganglion (SPG) stimulation has been shown to reversibly alter blood-brainbarrier (BBB) permeability. It is widely used for the treatment of cluster headaches in Europe and iswell tolerated in humans. The therapeutic potential for SPG stimulation in other central nervoussystem (CNS) diseases has yet to be explored. Glioblastoma Multiforme (GBM) remains one of themost difficult primary CNS neoplasms to treat, with an average survival of approximately 18 months atthe time of diagnosis. Since 2004, the gold standard of treatment for GBM in the United States includessurgery followed by treatment with temozolomide (TMZ) and radiation. We sought to determine ifSPG stimulation …

The Impact Of Fremanezumab On Medication Overuse In Patients With Chronic Migraine: Subgroup Analysis Of The Halo Cm Study., Stephen D. Silberstein, Joshua M. Cohen, Michael J. Seminerio, Ronghua Yang, Sait Ashina, Zaza Katsarava

Department of Neurology Faculty Papers

BACKGROUND: We evaluated the efficacy of fremanezumab, a fully humanized monoclonal antibody that selectively targets calcitonin gene-related peptide, in patients with chronic migraine (CM) with and without medication overuse (MO).

METHODS: In a 12-week, phase 3 trial, patients with CM were randomized to fremanezumab quarterly (675 mg/placebo/placebo), monthly (675 mg/225 mg/225 mg), or placebo. Post hoc analyses assessed the impact of fremanezumab in patients with and without MO (monthly use of acute headache medication ≥15 days, migraine-specific acute medication ≥10 days, or combination medication ≥10 days) on efficacy outcomes, including headache days of at least moderate severity (HDs), and six-item …

The Association Between Anemia Of Chronic Inflammation And Alzheimer's Disease And Related Dementias, Alexander Andreev, Burak Erdinc, Kiran Shivaraj, Julia Schmutz, Olga Levochkina, Dhrity Bhowmik, Fady Farag, Kelli M Money, Louis H. Primavera, Vladimir Gotlieb, Sonu Sahni

Touro College of Osteopathic Medicine (New York) Publications and Research

Background: Dementia is a spectrum of neurological diseases characterized by memory impairment and cognitive decline with the pathogenesis and effective management remaining elusive. Several studies have identified a correlation between anemia and Alzheimer's disease and related dementias (ADRD); however, anemia subtypes and association with ADRD have yet to be studied conclusively.

Objective: To study an association between ADRD and anemia of chronic inflammation.

Methods: We conducted a retrospective case-control study of the patients, diagnosed with ADRD at Brookdale Hospital. Pair-wise comparisons between means of controls and cases in terms of iron studies and laboratory results were performed using a Mann-Whitney …

Access-Site Complications In Transfemoral Neuroendovascular Procedures: A Systematic Review Of Incidence Rates And Management Strategies, Mazen Oneissi, Ahmad Sweid, Md, Stavropoula Tjoumakaris, David Hasan, Michael R. Gooch, Md, Robert H. Rosenwasswer Md, Pascal Jabbour

Department of Neurosurgery Faculty Papers

BACKGROUND: The femoral artery is the most common access route for cerebral angiography and neurointerventional procedures. Complications of the transfemoral approach include groin hemorrhages and hematomas, retroperitoneal hematomas, pseudoaneurysms, arteriovenous fistulas, peripheral artery occlusions, femoral nerve injuries, and access-site infections. Incidence rates vary among different randomized and nonrandomized trials, and the literature lacks a comprehensive review of this subject.

OBJECTIVE: To gather data from 16 randomized clinical trials (RCT) and 17 nonrandomized cohort studies regarding femoral access-site complications for a review paper. We also briefly discuss management strategies for these complications based on the most recent literature.

METHODS: A PubMed …

Factors Affecting The Decision To Initiate Anticoagulation After Spine Surgery: Findings From The Aospine Anticoagulation Global Initiative, Sapan D Gandhi, Krishn Khanna, Garrett Harada, Philip Louie, James Harrop, Thomas Mroz, Khalid Al-Saleh, Giovanni Barbanti Brodano, Jens Chapman, Michael G Fehlings, Serena S Hu, Yoshiharu Kawaguchi, Michael Mayer, Venugopal Menon, Jong-Beom Park, Shanmuganathan Rajasekaran, Marcelo Valacco, Luiz Vialle, Jeffrey C Wang, Karsten Wiechert, K Daniel Riew, Dino Samartzis

Department of Neurosurgery Faculty Papers

STUDY DESIGN: Cross-sectional, international survey.

OBJECTIVES: To identify factors influencing pharmacologic anticoagulation initiation after spine surgery based on the AOSpine Anticoagulation Global Survey.

METHODS: This survey was distributed to the international membership of AOSpine (n = 3805). A Likert-type scale described grade practice-specific factors on a scale from low (1) to high (5) importance, and patient-specific factors a scale from low (0) to high (3) importance. Analysis was performed to determine which factors were significant in the decision making surrounding the initiation of pharmacologic anticoagulation.

RESULTS: A total of 316 spine surgeons from 64 countries completed the survey. In terms …

Encoding The Odor Of Cigarette Smoke, Timothy S. Mcclintock, Naazneen Khan, Yelena Alimova, Madeline Aulisio, Dong Y. Han, Patrick Breheny

Physiology Faculty Publications

The encoding of odors is believed to begin as a combinatorial code consisting of distinct patterns of responses from odorant receptors (ORs), trace-amine associated receptors (TAARs), or both. To determine how specific response patterns arise requires detecting patterns in vivo and understanding how the components of an odor, which are nearly always mixtures of odorants, give rise to parts of the pattern. Cigarette smoke, a common and clinically relevant odor consisting of > 400 odorants, evokes responses from 144 ORs and 3 TAARs in freely behaving male and female mice, the first example of in vivo responses of both ORs and …

Cerebellar Mutism Syndrome After Surgical Resection Of Posterior Fossa Neoplastic Lesions, Saqib Kamran Bakhshi, Rida Mitha, Naureen Mushtaq, Muhammad Shahzad Shamim

Section of Neurosurgery

Cerebellar Mutism Syndrome (CMS) is a well-described clinical entity that complicates surgeries for posterior fossa tumours; more so in children than adults. This review focuses on the current understanding of CMS, its incidence and risk factors. Incidence showed a variable range in retrospective studies due to variety of definitions. Risk factors can be classified as either modifiable including surgical technique, or non-modifiable which include tumour related factors. A positive correlation has been associated between tumour pathology, brain stem invasion and size of tumour at time of presentation with development of CMS.

Medicolegal Issues In Neurology Practice In Pakistan, Ismail A Khatri, Maimoona Siddiqui

Pakistan Journal of Neurological Sciences (PJNS)

Neurology despite its challenges have made tremendous improvement in past few decades. At the same time, the rapid advancement of media and internet has changed the traditional doctor-patient relationship into one of a service provider-consumer relationship1. The health service is now considered a commodity, and has become prone to lack of trust and litigation. Medical professionalism is challenged by increasing commercialism and influence of legal system

Neurological Care And Training In The Times Of Covid-19: A Tertiary Care Center Experience, Lubna Ashraf Jafri, Maryam Javed, Ali Sajjad, Dureshahwar Kanwar, Mohammad Wasay

Pakistan Journal of Neurological Sciences (PJNS)

Resilience in these challenging times of COVID-19 at a professional and personal level is cardinal. Trainees and faculty have had to adapt to this adversity with striking limitations on formal neurological, neurovascular and neurophysiological residencies and fellowships. The revision of schedules and reallocation of assignments to cope with the practical aspects in a teaching tertiary care hospital have been overbearing. Novel structural innovation, testing, communications and supervision to assure a modified yet impactful training educational programme is mandatory and the need of the hour. Healthcare service providers remain at the highest risk of acquiring COVID-19 worldwide. Urgent measures to educate …

Venous Stroke Secondary To Varicella Zoster Virus Infection, Asma Akbar Ladak, Salman Farooq

Pakistan Journal of Neurological Sciences (PJNS)

This is a case of cerebral venous sinus thrombosis (CVST) as a rare complication of varicella Zoster infection. A young male with no significant medical history presented with generalized tonic clonic seizures preceded by vesicular rash on the face diagnosed as Varicella zoster infection. The MRI showed bilaterial superficial hemorrhagic infarcts involving frontal and temporal lobes and MR Venogram was consistent with extensive CVST involving superioir sagittal, right transverse and superficial veins. After initial treatment with antiepileptic and anticoagulant, he showed marked improvement in symptomatology and made complete recovery subsequently with recanalization of sinuses seen on a follow up MRV …

Hepetatis C Virus A Rare Cause Of Cereberal Venous Sinus Thrombosis, Haris Majid Rajput, Iqra Athar, Neelma Naz Khattak, Anam Anis, Mazhar Badshah

Pakistan Journal of Neurological Sciences (PJNS)

Cerebral venous sinus thrombosis is challenging condition because of its variability of underlying pathological causes. Numerous conditions can cause cerebral venous sinus thrombosis (CVST), and often more than one cause can be found in an individual patient. The causes leading to CVST can be classified into two broad categories; infective and non-infective. Among infective causes, chronic hepatitis C infection is considered as one of the extremely rare causes of cerebral venous sinus thrombosis.

Disease Modification Trials In Parkinsons Disease: A Review, Ramla Nayaib Hashmi, Ummul Kiram

Pakistan Journal of Neurological Sciences (PJNS)

Among the common neurological disorders worldwide, Parkinson’s disease has a major share. Currently, only symptomatic therapies are available for it without any approved neuromodulation drugs as all the previously done disease modification trials have failed. There is a dire need for such therapies. Disease modification trials include all types of intervention targeting the degeneration process which underlies the disease process and thus slows it down or the treatment aim to regenerate or replace the neurons which are lost. There are many reasons for the failure of trials. This review emphasize the need for disease modification trials, causes of failure of …