Open Access DOI:10.23937/2378-3001/2/1/1028
The Barthel Index: Italian Translation, Adaptation and Validation
Galeoto G, Lauta A, Palumbo A, Castiglia SF, Mollica R, Santilli V and Sacchetti ML
Article Type: Research Article | First Published: June 19, 2015
The Barthel Index (BI) is widely used to measure disability also in Italy, although a validated and culturally adapted Italian version of BI has not been produced yet. This article describes the translation and cultural adaptation into Italian of the original 10-item version of BI, and reports the procedures for testing its validity and reliability. The cultural adaptation and validation process was based on data from a cohort of disabled patients from two different Rehabilitation Centers in Rom...
Open Access DOI:10.23937/2378-3001/2/1/1027
Marburg's Variant of Multiple Sclerosis with Extensive Brain Lesions: An Autopsy Case Report
Ayumi Ludwig, Jaclyn Duvall, Jo Elle Peterson and Ryan Hakimi
Article Type: Case Report | First Published: April 10, 2015
Marburg's variant of multiple sclerosis (MS) is a malignant and rapidly progressive form of MS that typically leads to deterioration or death within weeks to months. Here we present a case involving a 25-year-old woman who presented with fluctuating mild encephalopathy of one-week duration who progressed to coma and ultimately died on day seven after being admitted to our university based neurosciences intensive care unit (NSICU)....
Open Access DOI:10.23937/2378-3001/2/1/1026
Atypical Antipsychotic Drugs in Dual Diagnosis Patients: A Review
Marta Marin-Mayor, Jorge Lopez-Alvarez, Francisco Lopez-Munoz, Francisco AriasHorcajadas and Gabriel Rubio
Article Type: Review Article | First Published: March 30, 2015
Dual Diagnosis (DD), defined as the co-occurrence of a Substance Use Disorder (SUD) and a Severe Mental Illness (SMI), is associated with several negative outcomes. Typical antipsychotics (TAP) are not of great value for patients with DD as they are associated with poorer responses and can worsen SUD. Atypical antipsychotics (AAP) offer several advantages compared to TAP....
Open Access DOI:10.23937/2378-3001/2/1/1025
Taking Neurology to the Underserved - A Pilot Initiative in an Urban Homebound Program
Ritesh A. Ramdhani, Michelle Fabian, Ania Wajnberg, Linda De Cherrie and Stephen Krieger
Article Type: Case Study | First Published: March 26, 2015
Over 2 million people are homebound in the United States with an increase of 50% expected over the next twenty years. Though home-based primary care programs are effective in reducing hospitalizations among this population, they have been slow to develop and lack subspecialty care. The objective of this pilot program was to establish a volunteer neurology consult service within the Mount Sinai Visiting Doctors (MSVD) Program serving over 1000 homebound patients in New York City....
Open Access DOI:10.23937/2378-3001/2/1/1024
Current Pharmacotherapy Strategies and Considerations for the Cognitive Dysfunction Associated with Schizophrenia: A Mini Review
Hikaru Hori, Reiji Yoshimura, Asuka Katsuki, Kiyokazu Atake and Jun Nakamura
Article Type: Mini Review | First Published: March 19, 2015
Cognitive dysfunction associated with schizophrenia is a core symptom that is strongly related to functional levels. In fact, cognitive dysfunction in patients with schizophrenia is due to a combination of the cognitive impairment induced by schizophrenia itself and that induced by the medications that psychiatrists prescribe. It is difficult to differentiate between the two sources, and at present, no medications have a large effect size in terms of improving the cognitive dysfunction induced b...
Open Access DOI:10.23937/2378-3001/2/1/1023
Warfarin is Associated with Increased Intracranial Hemorrhage and Mortality in Patients with Ground Level Falls: A Retrospective Cohort Study
Stephen Stanek, Varun Gupta, Tahir Jamil, Christopher Clancy, Brett Aplin, Anthony Archual, Mallory Williams and William Olorunto
Article Type: Retrospective Cohort Study | First Published: February 27, 2015
Fall is the number one mechanism of injury for admissions to trauma centers across the US. The use of anticoagulation therapy has also increased significantly, particularly among the older population. We hypothesized that anticoagulation with warfarin increases the risk of intracranial hemorrhage (ICH) and death after a ground level fall. Methods: A retrospective cohort of all patients admitted to a level 1 trauma center, between 2008 and 2011, after a ground level fall was identified....
Open Access DOI:10.23937/2378-3001/2/1/1022
Pathogenesis of Multiple System Atrophy - Recent Developments
Kurt A. Jellinger
Article Type: Mini Review | First Published: February 27, 2015
Multiple System Atrophy (MSA) is a rare adult-onset neurodegenerative disorder of uncertain etiology, clinically manifesting with parkinsonism, cerebellar impairment, autonomic dysfunction and pyramidal signs. The pathological process affects striatonigral, olivopontocerebellar, and autonomic nervous systems. The major clinical variants correlate to the morphologic phenotypes of striatonigral degeneration (MSA-P) and olivopontocerebellar atrophy (MSA-C). Pathologically, MSA is characterized by G...
Open Access DOI:10.23937/2378-3001/2/1/1020
Psychogenic Nonepileptic Seizures: Diagnostic Challenges and Treatment Dilemmas
Taoufik Alsaadi and Tarek M Shahrour
Article Type: Review Article | First Published: February 12, 2015
Psychogenic Nonepileptic Seizures (PNES) are episodes of movement, sensation or behavior changes similar to epileptic seizures but without neurological origin. They are somatic manifestations of psychological distress. Patients with PNES are often misdiagnosed and treated for epilepsy for years, resulting in significant morbidity. Video-EEG monitoring is the gold standard for diagnosis. Five to ten percent of outpatient epilepsy populations and 20 to 40 percent of inpatient and speciality epilep...
Open Access DOI:10.23937/2378-3001/2/1/1019
Recurrent Ischemic Strokes and Headaches Originating from Lambl's Excrescences: A Case-Report
Oana Dumitrascu and Evgeny Tsimerinov
Article Type: Case Report | First Published: January 31, 2015
Determining recurrent stroke etiology and subsequent therapeutic approaches is an important, but not always straightforward task. Lambl's Excrescences (LE) are cardiac valve strands that can be a source of recurrent cerebral ischemic events. We report the case of a 60 year old female that was seen in neurologic consultation for recurrent ischemic strokes. The patient developed migraine headache with complex auras at the age of 59. She reported three admissions for ischemic strokes in the past ye...
Open Access DOI:10.23937/2378-3001/2/1/1018
Does the Benefit of Therapeutic Hypothermia in Refractory Status Epilepticus Depend on Seizure Etiology?
Jessica R. Fesler, Ryan Hakimi, Emmaculate M. Fields and Andrea S. Hakimi
Article Type: Original Article | First Published: January 19, 2015
Introduction : Refractory status epilepticus (RSE) is seizure activity that persists despite acute administration of standard anticonvulsant therapy. It often occurs after cardiac arrest, indicating a poor prognosis. Therapeutic hypothermia (TH) reduces neurological injury in this patient population, and post cardiac arrest protocols now incorporate TH into the treatment algorithm. However, TH is not routinely used in RSE from other etiologies and little is known about the appropriate role of TH...
Open Access DOI:10.23937/2378-3001/2/1/1017
Intravenous Infusion of Ginsenoside Rb1 Ameliorates Compressive Spinal Cord Injury through Upregulation of Bcl-xL and VEGF
Pengxiang Zhu, Ryuji Hata, Kimihiko Nakata, Fang Cao, Keiichi Samukawa, Hiroko Fujita and Masahiro Sakanaka
Article Type: Research Article | First Published: January 15, 2015
Red ginseng root (Panax Ginseng C.A. Meyer) has been used clinically by many Asian people for thousands of years without any detrimental effects. Subsequent studies that focused on gRb1-induced expression of gene products responsible for neuronal death or survival revealed that gRb1 upregulated the expression of not only Bcl-XL, but also a potent angiogenic and neurotrophic factor, vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) at 7 days after SCI. Ginsenoside Rb1 (gRb1), with putative anti-apoptoti...
Open Access DOI:10.23937/2378-3001/2/1/1016
Cortical Diffusion Restriction as the Single Abnormality on MRI in Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease
Johnny Samijn, Alisha Godschalk, Rezan Demir and Esther Brusse
Article Type: Case Report | First Published: January 12, 2015
Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD) is a rare neurodegenerative disease characterized by rapidly progressive dementia, ataxia and myoclonus. MRI is an important tool in discriminating CJD from other dementias. Among mimics of CJD are rapidly evolving Alzheimer's disease, vascular dementia, frontotemporal dementia and paraneoplastic or immune-mediated limbic encephalitis. A CJD diagnosis can be missed and strong clinical suspicion is not always confirmed on autopsy. Typical imaging findings are white...
Open Access DOI:10.23937/2378-3001/2/1/1015
Basis and Argument into the Work
Roberto Rodrigues, George Perry and Robert Petersen
Article Type: Review Article | First Published: January 12, 2015
This synopsis is a brief report about the conclusions in which we have engaged from considering that Alzheimer's disease, cognitive impairment and aging could progress with analogous molecular signaling, with no frontiers between their phenotypes. We have also proposed that chronic depression, with or no anxiety and/or stress comorbidindication may interact with these AD manifestations - already product of genomic vulnerability - at any stage of the disease. A known example may bemutant short al...
Open Access DOI:10.23937/2378-3001/2/1/1014
Caspase Cleaved Tau in Alzheimer's Disease: A Therapeutic Target Realized
Troy T. Rohn
Article Type: Hypothesis | First Published: January 12, 2015
Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a progressive neurodegenerative disorder characterized by an array of symptoms affecting memory and cognition. Some common symptoms of AD include memory loss that disrupts daily life, challenges in planning or solving problems, confusion with time or place, and changes in mood and personality. Central dogma to the etiology of AD is the beta-amyloid cascade, which stipulates that beta-amyloid in oligomeric forms represents the earliest step in a cascade eventually lead...
