Journal of neurology, neurosurgery, and psychiatry
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J. Neurol. Neurosurg. Psychiatr. · May 2017
Aberrant interhemispheric homotopic functional and structural connectivity in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.
Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is an idiopathic and fatal neurodegenerative disease of the human motor system. While microstructural alterations in corpus callosum (CC) have been identified as a consistent feature of ALS, studies directly examining interhemispheric neural connectivity are still lacking. To shed more light on the pathophysiology of ALS, the present study aims to examine alterations of interhemispheric structural and functional connectivity in individuals with ALS. ⋯ The present data provided direct evidence confirming and extending the view of impaired interhemispheric neural communications mediated by CC, providing a new perspective for examinations and understanding the pathophysiology of ALS.
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J. Neurol. Neurosurg. Psychiatr. · May 2017
Posterior fossa decompression in Chiari I improves denervation of the paraspinal muscles.
To investigate whether posterior fossa decompression (PFD) could improve denervation of the paraspinal muscles in patients with Chiari I malformation (CMI). ⋯ In patients with CMI, treatment with PFD led to a decrease in the Bax/Bcl-2 ratio at both the mRNA and protein levels, indicating an attenuated susceptibility to apoptotic cell death. These data, coupled with the observed improvements in histopathological features of the myofibres, suggest that PFD in Chiari I ameliorates denervation of the paraspinal muscles.
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J. Neurol. Neurosurg. Psychiatr. · May 2017
Are psychogenic non-epileptic seizures just another symptom of conversion disorder?
Psychogenic non-epileptic seizures (PNES) are classified with other functional neurological symptoms as 'Conversion Disorder', but there are reasons to wonder whether this symptomatology constitutes a distinct entity. ⋯ We argue that the aetiological and mechanistic distinctions they support, particularly when bolstered by additional data, give reason to sustain a separation between these conditions.