Stroke
Vascular adhesion protein 1/semicarbazide-sensitive amine oxidase (VAP-1/SSAO) activity is significantly greater in patients with stroke who experience hemorrhagic transformation following tissue plasminogen activator treatment (tPA) than in those who do not experience adverse events with tPA therapy. According to Hernandez-Guillamon et al., increased VAP-1/SSAO activity is associated with poor neurological outcome, and blocking the activity of this enzyme in an animal model of stroke prevents adverse events related to tPA treatment.
Sleep
Patients with idiopathic rapid eye movement (REM) sleep behavior disorder (iRBD) have an increased risk of developing Parkinson disease (PD). Unger and colleagues have demonstrated that diffusion tensor imaging can detect changes in brain microstructure in patients with iRBD. These changes were identified in brain regions associated with REM sleep regulation, some of which exhibit neurodegeneration in iRBD and/or PD. This technique might, therefore, identify individuals at risk of developing PD.
Neurodegenerative disease
Neuronal degeneration in the caudate nucleus and putamen is an early feature of Huntington disease (HD), and these two brain areas are both required for motor sequence learning. Schneider et al. have shown that explicit (intentional) but not implicit (incidental) motor sequence learning is impaired in patients with HD compared with controls. Explicit motor sequence learning dysfunction might, therefore, be a useful biomarker for this disease.
Epilepsy
In a new study, Goldstein et al. have demonstrated that in patients with psychogenic nonepileptic seizures cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) combined with standard medical care (SMC) substantially reduces seizure frequency compared with SMC alone. Patients receiving CBT were also more likely to have experienced 3 months of seizure freedom at 6 month follow-up.
ORIGINAL RESEARCH PAPERS
Hernandez-Guillamon, M. et al. Plasma VAP-1/SSAO activity predicts intracranial hemorrhages and adverse neurological outcome after tissue plasminogen activator treatment in stroke. Stroke doi:10.1161/STROKEAHA.110.584623
Unger, M. M. et al. Diffusion tensor imaging in idiopathic REM sleep behavior disorder reveals microstructural changes in the brainstem, substantia nigra, olfactory region, and other brain regions. Sleep 33, 767–773 (2010)
Schneider, S. A. et al. Abnormal explicit but normal implicit sequence learning in premanifest and early Huntington's disease. Mov. Disord. doi:10.1002/mds.22692
Goldstein, L. H. et al. Cognitive-behavioral therapy for psychogenic nonepileptic seizures. Neurology 74, 1986–1994 (2010)
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In brief. Nat Rev Neurol 6, 416 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1038/nrneurol.2010.102
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nrneurol.2010.102