AANEM Education News Express

Latest Anthology of Articles from the News Science Editorial Board Now Available

    2/16/2022
The 2021 News Science Anthology is now available!

Science News: Ratio of Urinary N-terminal Titin Fragment to Urinary Creatinine is a Novel Biomarker for Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis

    2/7/2022
Sensitive and specific disease biomarkers for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) are lacking. There has been ongoing research in the past several years looking for them. Titin is a giant myofibrillar protein in skeletal muscle. Elevated levels of urinary N-terminal fragment of titin has been reported in degenerative conditions, such as Duchene muscular dystrophy (DMD). This study looked at the validity and reliability of urinary N-terminal titin fragment as a biomarker in ALS.

Science News: Prediagnostic Neurofilament Light Chain Levels in Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis

    2/7/2022
This study focused on pre-diagnostic biomarkers in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). This matched case-control study included 84 individuals who developed ALS during follow-up and had available plasma samples prior to disease diagnosis. For each ALS case, a randomly matched control was selected. Neurofilament (NfL) in these pre-diagnostic plasma samples were measured and adjusted for body mass index, smoking physical activity, etc. Higher NfL levels were found to be associated with a high ALS risk within 5 years of ALS diagnosis. 

Science News: Frequency of Neurologic Manifestations in COVID-19: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

    1/26/2022
More than 1 year into the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV2) has caused more than 200 million cases and 4.28 million deaths across 220 countries as of August 9, 2021. This article is a systemic review and meta-analysis to obtain pooled prevalence estimates to understand the variation in reported frequencies of various neurologic manifestations in patients with COVID-19 across different groups in literature published from December 31, 2019, to December 15, 2020.  

Science News: Association Between SARS-CoV-2 Infection and Immune-Mediated Myopathy in Patients Who Have Died

    1/26/2022
This is a case-control, postmortem (within 6 days) study in Germany focusing on the skeletal (either deltoid or quadriceps) and cardiac muscle pathology in SARS-CoV-2 patients. This study shows SARS-CoV-2 may be associated with a post-infectious, immune-mediated myopathy. 

Science News: Free-Living Physical Activity and Sedentary Behavior in Autoimmune Myasthenia Gravis: A Cross-Sectional Study

    1/7/2022
Physical activity in patients with myasthenia gravis (MG) can be limited due to fatigability and undertreated disease. However, patients with well controlled disease are recommended to participate in routine daily exercise to reduce risk of life-style related conditions. This prospective cross-sectional study looked at physical activity patterns of women with MG. 

Science News: European Academy of Neurology/Peripheral Nerve Society Guideline on Diagnosis and Treatment of Chronic Inflammatory Demyelinating Polyradiculoneuropathy: Report of a Joint Task Force-Second Revision

    12/29/2021
CIDP diagnosis is based on clinical, electrophysiological and other laboratory investigations. The EFNS/PNS diagnostic criteria (2010) for CIDP has been found to have high sensitivity and specificity. The second revision has been recently published with goal in improving diagnostic accuracy and treatment outcome.

Science News: Clinical Features and Treatment Response in Immune-Mediated Small Fiber Neuropathy with Trisulfated Heparin Disaccharide or Fibroblast Growth Factor Receptor 3 Antibodies

    12/15/2021
The objective of the article was to describe clinical features and treatment responses in cryptogenic small fiber neuropathy (SFN) cases harboring novel antibodies to trisulfated heparin disaccharide (TS-HDS) and fibroblast growth factor receptor 3 (FGFR-3).

Science News: Critical Illness Polyneuropathy, Myopathy and Neuronal Biomarkers in COVID-19 Patients: A Prospective Study

    12/15/2021
This article determines the risk factors for developing critical illness neuropathy (CIN) and/or myopathy (CIM) in 111 COVID patients admitted to an ICU in Sweden, as well as differences between COVID and non-COVID patients with ICU weakness.

Science News: Diagnostic Utility of Gold Coast Criteria in Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis

    12/1/2021
Existing diagnostic criteria for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) such as El Escorial criteria (rEEC) and Awaji criteria have certain limitations, particularly for early disease or atypical presentations of ALS. A new diagnostic criterion has been proposed, with the goal of making it simpler to implement and include atypical presentations.