Curated News: Neurology (journal)

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Certain markers of injury to the brain’s white matter, called white matter hyperintensities, can be seen on brain scans. A new study finds that brain scans taken during the lifetimes of athletes in contact sports, compared to changes in their brains at autopsy, showed that white matter hyperintensities were associated with neuropathological changes. The research is published in the November 24, 2021, online issue of Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology. The study also found that white matter hyperintensities were more common in athletes who played contact sports longer or had more head impacts during their careers.

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The American Academy of Neurology (AAN) has issued a guideline providing recommendations for treating movement symptoms, called motor symptoms, in people with early Parkinson’s disease. The guideline is published in the November 15, 2021, online issue of Neurology®, the medical journal of the AAN, and is endorsed by the Parkinson’s Foundation. This guideline updates recommendations on dopaminergic medications that were published in the 2002 AAN guideline on the initiation of treatment for Parkinson’s disease.

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In an unexpected discovery, Georgetown University Medical Center researchers have identified what appears to be a significant vascular defect in patients with moderately severe Parkinson’s disease. The finding could help explain an earlier outcome of the same study, in which the drug nilotinib was able to halt motor and non-motor (cognition and quality of life) decline in the long term.

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As people age, inflammation within their immune system increases, damaging cells. A new study shows that people who consumed an anti-inflammatory diet that includes more fruits, vegetables, beans, and tea or coffee, had a lower risk of developing dementia later in life. The research is published in the November 10, 2021, online issue of Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology.

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A new study found that people with higher cumulative estrogen exposure over their lifetime had greater brain volumes and fewer indicators of brain disease on their brain scans in midlife . The research is published in the November 3, 2021, online issue of Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology.

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A new study suggests that healthy older people who eat two or more servings of fish a week, including salmon, tuna and sardines, may have a lower risk later in life of developing vascular brain disease, a group of conditions that affect blood flow and blood vessels in the brain. The research is published in the November 3, 2021, online issue of Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology. The study found that eating a diet rich in fish had the greatest protective effect on people younger than 75 years old.

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The number of people experiencing numbness, tingling and pain in their feet with no known cause has been increasing over the last two decades, according at a new study published in the October 27, 2021, online issue of Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology. Called small fiber neuropathy, the condition has different symptoms than large fiber neuropathy, which can cause weakness and balance issues. But in many cases people have both types of neuropathy.

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A new study shows that in the last two decades the death rate from Parkinson’s disease has risen about 63% in the United States. The research is published in the October 27, 2021, online issue of Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology. The study also found that the death rate was twice as high in men as in women, and there was a higher death rate in white people than other racial/ethnic groups.

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A new study shows that women are underrepresented in stroke clinical trials relative to the number who have strokes in the general population. The research is published in the October 13, 2021, online issue of Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology.

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Clot-busting drugs are the main treatment for stroke, but they have often not been recommended for people who have an aneurysm in their brains that has not ruptured. An aneurysm is a bulge in the wall of a blood vessel in the brain. A new study finds that these aneurysms rarely burst after treatment with clot-busting drugs, so the drugs may be safe for use. The study is published in the October 6, 2021, online issue of Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology.

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The American Academy of Neurology (AAN), the world’s largest association of neurologists with more than 36,000 members, is issuing a position statement which considers the ethical implications related to high drug costs. The statement is published in the October 4, 2021, online issue of Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology, and was developed by the Ethics, Law, and Humanities Committee, a joint committee of the AAN, American Neurological Association and Child Neurology Society.

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Blood sugar control has always been important for people with diabetes when it comes to preventing a stroke. But a new study finds for people with diabetes who have a stroke, there may be an ideal target blood sugar range to lower the risk of different types of vascular diseases like a stroke or heart attack later on. The research is published in the September 29, 2021, online issue of Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology.

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Adults with neurologic conditions are more likely than the general population to have had adverse childhood experiences such as abuse, neglect or household dysfunction, according to a study published in the September 22, 2021, online issue of Neurology® Clinical Practice, an official journal of the American Academy of Neurology.

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Adults and children with migraines may get less quality, REM sleep time than people who don’t have migraines. That’s according to a meta-analysis published in the September 22, 2021, online issue of Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology. Children with migraines were also found to get less total sleep time than their healthy peers but took less time to fall asleep.

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Researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have developed an approach to estimating when a person with no cognitive symptoms will start showing signs of Alzheimer’s dementia based on data from brain scans and the person's age.

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People with multiple sclerosis (MS) who are diagnosed with colorectal cancer may be at a higher risk of dying from cancer or other causes over the next six months to one year than people with colorectal cancer who do not have MS, according to a study published in the September 15, 2021, online issue of Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology.

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Various strategies can help people with Parkinson’s who have difficulty walking, but a new study finds that many people have never heard of or tried these strategies. The research is published in the September 8, 2021, online issue of Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology. The study also found that how well different compensation strategies worked depended on the context in which they were used, such as indoors versus outdoors, under time pressure or not.