The following is a quick summary of interesting reports in the literature for June 2023.
COVID-19
CNS infection
Alzheimer’s disease
Biomarkers
Headache
Multiple sclerosis
Neurodegenerative disorders
Neuromyelitis optica
Stroke
COVID-19
A study on the neurological sequelae of ICU patients hospitalized for COVID-19 reports a higher incidence of cerebral microbleeds vs. non-ICU patients; bleeds were not associated with a higher risk of cognitive dysfunction. Cognitive complaints were common but generally not supported by neuropsychological testing (Klinkhammer et al. Eur J Neurol 2023;30:1880-1890). https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/ene.15812
CNS infection
35% of individuals hospitalized with West Nile viral infection have autoantibodies that neutralize Type 1 interferons (alpha, omega). Autoantibodies were present in about 40% of patients who developed WNV encephalitis (Gervais et al. J Exp Med 2023;220:e20230661). www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10287549/pdf/JEM_20230661.pdf
Alzheimer’s disease
Tilavonemab, an anti-tau monoclonal antibody, failed to meet its endpoint in a 96-week phase II trial of early AD (Florian et al. Brain 2023;146:2275-2284). www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10232284/pdf/awad024.pdf
Biomarkers
The Baltimore Longitudinal Study on Aging reports that plasma levels of glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP) and neurofilament light (NfL) are elevated in cognitively unimpaired older individuals with certain personality traits (vulnerability to stress, anxiety and depression) (Terracciano et al. Neurobiol Aging 2023;128:65-73). www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0197458023000787?via%3Dihub
A Norwegian group has reported that a panel of seven inflammatory biomarkers was able to differentiate Parkinson’s disease from controls. A separate panel of four inflammatory biomarkers was useful to differentiate Alzheimer’s disease from dementia with Lewy bodies and PD (Pedersen et al. Neurol Neuroimmunol Neuroinflamm 2023;10:e200132). www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10231912/pdf/NXI-2023-000035.pdf
Headache
A University of Toronto group has published clinical recommendations on the management of medication-overuse headache (Hird et al. Curr Neurol Neurosci Rep 2023;23:389-398. https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11910-023-01278-y
Multiple sclerosis
Results from the DISCOMS discontinuation trial have now been published. Treatment discontinuation in patients aged >55 years was non-inferior although the rate of relapses/new T2 lesions was higher in the discontinuation group (12.2% vs. 4.7%) (Corboy et al. Lancet Neurol 2023;22:568-577). www.sciencedirect.com/journal/the-lancet-neurology/vol/22/issue/7
An analysis of MS clinical trials using patient-reported outcomes (PRO) found that outcome assessments were not clearly outlined and the protocols did not provide a rationale for the selection of the PRO tools used (Hobart et al. Mult Scler Relat Disord 2023;76:104788). www.msard-journal.com/action/showPdf?pii=S2211-0348%2823%2900290-0
Neurodegenerative disorders
Comi and colleagues have published a discussion from the recent Preserving the Brain Forum on neurodegenerative diseases (Comi et al. Neurol Sci 2023;44:2613–2616). www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10257600/pdf/10072_2023_Article_6721.pdf
Neuromyelitis optica
The Neuromyelitis Optica Study Group (NEMOS) has published new recommendations on the diagnosis of NMOSD. Includes how to differentiate NMO from MS and MOGAD. (Jarius et al. J Neurol 2023;270:3341-3368). www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10267280/pdf/415_2023_Article_11634.pdf
Stroke
A U.S. group has characterized the inflammatory response of astrocytes and microglia at two time points (4 hours, 3 days) post-stroke (Hernandez et al. Glia 2023;71:1960-1984). https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/glia.24377