Journal of neurology, neurosurgery, and psychiatry
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J. Neurol. Neurosurg. Psychiatr. · Sep 2017
Review Meta AnalysisCerebellar atrophy in neurodegeneration-a meta-analysis.
The cerebellum has strong cortical and subcortical connectivity, but is rarely taken into account for clinical diagnosis in many neurodegenerative conditions, particularly in the absence of clinical ataxia. The current meta-analysis aims to assess patterns of cerebellar grey matter atrophy in seven neurodegenerative conditions (Alzheimer's disease (AD), Parkinson's disease (PD) and Huntington's disease (HD), frontotemporal dementia (FTD), amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), multiple system atrophy (MSA), progressive supranuclear palsy (MSP)). ⋯ Our findings suggest that cerebellar changes are largely disease-specific and correspond to cortical or subcortical changes in neurodegenerative conditions. High clinical variability in PD and HD samples may explain the absence of findings for consistent grey matter loss across studies. Our results have clinical implications for diagnosis and cerebellar neuroimaging referencing approaches.
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J. Neurol. Neurosurg. Psychiatr. · Sep 2017
Effects of cognitive reserve depend on executive and semantic demands of the task.
Cognitive reserve (CR) is one factor that helps to maintain cognitive function in patients with Alzheimer's disease (AD). Whether the effects of CR depend on the semantic/executive components of the task remains unknown. ⋯ CR may relate to executive functioning and semantic knowledge, leading to preserved cognitive performance in patients with AD pathology.
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J. Neurol. Neurosurg. Psychiatr. · Sep 2017
Deconstructing psychosis and misperception symptoms in Parkinson's disease.
Patients with Lewy body disease develop a variety of psychotic and misperception symptoms, including visual hallucinations and delusions, as well as 'minor hallucinations', that is, a sense of presence, passage hallucinations and visual illusions. Although these symptoms have been suggested to have common underlying mechanisms, the commonalities and differences among them have not been systematically investigated at the neural level. ⋯ Our findings suggest that combined damage to the upper brainstem/thalamus and the posterior neocortex underlies both minor hallucinations/illusions and visual hallucinations and that the former pathology is more associated with visual hallucinations/frank psychosis and the latter is more associated with minor hallucinations/illusions.
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J. Neurol. Neurosurg. Psychiatr. · Sep 2017
CASPR2 autoantibodies are raised during pregnancy in mothers of children with mental retardation and disorders of psychological development but not autism.
Maternal autoantibodies to neuronal proteins may be one cause of neurodevelopmental disorders. This exploratory study used the Danish archived midgestational sera and their nationwide registers to search for antibodies to the N-methyl-D-aspartate receptor (NMDAR) and contactin-associated protein-like 2 (CASPR2) in maternal sera, and to relate them to subsequent psychiatric diagnoses in the woman or her child. ⋯ These findings complement the known roles of CASPR2 in brain development, and warrant further epidemiological and experimental studies to clarify the role of CASPR2 and possibly other antibodies in neurodevelopmental disorders.