Untreated patients with early Parkinson disease are at risk of cognitive impairment, according to a comparison of 196 non-demented PD subjects and 201 healthy controls in the Norwegian ParkWest study (Aarsland et al. Neurology 2008; epublished November 19, 2008).
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Neurology
Statins appear beneficial in atherothrombotic stroke
January 27, 2009An observational study in Spain reports that previous treatment with a statin is an independent predictor of better outcome post-stroke (Martinez-Sanchez et al. Eur J Neurol 2008; 16:127-133).
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Managing patients with severe Alzheimer disease
January 27, 2009The management of severe Alzheimer disease may include the use of cholinesterase inhibitors and/or memantine, and atypical antipsychotics for patients with severe agitation, aggression and psychosis, according to the Third Canadian Consensus Conference on the Diagnosis and Treatment of Dementia (Herrmann & Gauthier. Can Med Assoc J 2008;179:1279-1287; free text at www.cmaj.ca/cgi/content/full/179/12/1279. See also Patterson et al. Can Med Assoc J 1999;160:1738-1742).
The Third Canadian Consensus Conference also recommends using the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) for the assessment of cognitive function, although this measure will be less sensitive as the disease progresses. The Global Deterioration Scale (Reisberg et al. Am J Psychiatry 1982;139:1136-1139) may be employed to assess overall severity. Read More
AAN recommendations on natalizumab in MS
January 27, 2009The American Academy of Neurology has issued its recommendations on the use of natalizumab in the treatment of multiple sclerosis (Goodin et al. Neurology 2008;71:766-773).
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Role of autoimmunity, inflammation in atherosclerosis in young women
January 6, 2009REPORT FROM THE 6TH WORLD STROKE CONGRESS – The Atherosclerosis Risk Factors in Female Youngsters (ARFY) study reports that atherosclerosis in young women appears to develop as a result of autoimmune and inflammatory factors rather than because of classical risk factors (Zangerle et al. Abstract P002-474).