News Express

Science News: Safety and Tolerability of Phenylbutyrate in Inclusion Body Myositis

November 20, 2024

This phase 1 pilot study showed that phenylbutyric acid (PBA) is safe and well-tolerated in treating inclusion body myositis (IBM). While limited by small sample size, the study found significant biomarker improvement, supporting further research on PBA's therapeutic potential.

Science News: Nerve Transfer After Cervical Spinal Cord Injury: Who Has a "Time Sensitive" Injury Based on Electrodiagnostic Findings?

November 11, 2024

The study at hand investigated the use of nerve conduction study (NCS) to investigate the degree of injury and change overtime to help identify the subpopulation of traumatic spinal cord injury tSCI that would best serve by early consideration of nerve transfer.

Science News: Long-Read Sequencing Improves Diagnostic Rate in Neuromuscular Disorders

October 28, 2024

Short read sequencing has limitations including inaccurate genome assembly, an inability to detect large structural variants and variants in hard to sequence areas, such as highly repetitive sequences.

Science News: Clinicopathologic Findings in Patients With Paraneoplastic Neuropathies and Antibodies Strongly Associated With Cancer

October 09, 2024

This is a retrospective review of the electronic medical record over a 27-year period of patients with paraneoplastic neurological syndromes (antibody positive) and clinicopathological findings on nerve biopsies.

Science News: Clinical Relevance of Distinguishing Autoimmune Nodopathies From CIDP: Longitudinal Assessment in a Large Cohort

September 30, 2024

This prospective study aimed to assess the treatment response in patients with autoimmune nodopathy (AN) initially diagnosed as chronic inflammatory demyelinating polyradiculoneuropathy (CIDP).

Science News: Dry Needling Versus Corticosteroid Injections To Treat Tendinopathy: A Systematic Review

September 12, 2024

This study is looking at the comparison of dry needling to steroid injection for treating tendinopathy.

Science News: Analysis of Predictive Factors for the Poor Prognosis of Peripheral Facial Paralysis

August 28, 2024

The aim of the study is to evaluate predictive factors for a poor prognosis in patients with facial paralysis evaluated in the rehabilitation department of a tertiary hospital.

Science News: Effectiveness of Pulse Electromagnetic Field Therapy in Patients With Subacromial Impingement Syndrome: A Double-Blind Randomized Sham-Controlled Study

August 19, 2024

The authors of this study investigated PEMF application in subacromial impingement syndrome (SIS) in conjunction with physical therapy.

Science News: Insights Into Refractory Chronic Inflammatory Demyelinating Polyneuropathy: A Comprehensive Real-World Study

August 01, 2024

In this study, the authors sought to delineate the clinical characteristics, disease progression patterns, and potential risk factors associated with refractory chronic inflammatory demyelinating polyneuropathy (CIDP), as well as the electrophysiological features of this condition.

Science News: Nerve Ultrasound in Friedreich’s Ataxia: Enlarged Nerves as a Biomarker of Disease Severity

July 22, 2024

Sensory neuropathy is one of the disease hallmarks. Nerve conduction studies (NCS) are typically used to detect neuropathy but is not the optimum biomarker because sensory responses are commonly lost. Therefore, the authors in this study assessed the ability of nerve ultrasound (US) to serve as a potential biomarker in patients with Friedreich’s Ataxia.

Science News: Autonomic Small-Fiber Pathology in Patients With Fibromyalgia

July 08, 2024

The aim of this study was to investigate whether small fiber pathology (termed SFP) associated with fibromyalgia shows evidence of damage to dermal autonomic nerve fibers, and how the damage is associated with autonomic symptoms.

Science News: Anatomical Study and Proposed EMG Technique for the Cervical Paraspinal Muscles

June 24, 2024

Paraspinal electromyography has proven to be the most sensitive component of the electrodiagnostic examination for lumbar spinal disorders. However, no standardized, anatomically validated technique has been proposed for the cervical region. The purpose of this paper is to take the first step in improving the diagnostic power of cervical EMGs by presenting a standardized cervical EMG technique and scoring system based on the current textbook understanding of cervical spinal anatomy and clinical experience. The anatomical study focuses specifically on the multifidus muscle, which may be innervated by specific single nerve roots as found in previous studies of the lumbar multifidus muscles.

Science News: Spinal Muscular Atrophy Type 1 Survival Without New Pharmacotherapies: Two Treatment Paradigms

June 10, 2024

This is an observational study that aims to present noninvasive respiratory management outcomes using continuous positive pressure noninvasive ventilatory support (CNVS) and mechanical in-exsufflation (MIE) from infancy for spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) type 1. Additionally, the study looks at the outcomes and bearing on new medical therapies.

Science News: Autonomic Function Tests, Heart Rate Variability, and Electrophysiological Evaluation in Patients With a Primary Episodic Headache: An Observational Study

May 24, 2024

The basic postulated mechanism of headache involves the activation of the trigeminovascular system and sensitization of trigeminal brainstem nuclei. However, autonomic nervous system dysfunction has been reported in various headache disorders and proposed as one of the mechanisms that may trigger the headache attacks. This cross-sectional study aimed to evaluate the parasympathetic and sympathetic autonomic functions in patients with migraine and tension-type headache.

Science News: Decreased Quality of Life in Duchenne Muscular Disease Patients Related To Functional Neurological and Cardiac Impairment

May 10, 2024

In this prospective study involving 37 patients diagnosed with Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD), aged between 8 and 18 years old and older, the impact of both neurological and cardiac factors on quality of life (QoL) was assessed. This study utilized the PEDSQL 3.0 and EQ-5D questionnaires.

Science News: Electrophysiology and Magnetic Resonance Neurography Findings of Nontraumatic Ulnar Mononeuropathy From a Tertiary Care Center

April 26, 2024

The ulnar nerve is frequently involved in mononeuropathies of the upper limb. Ulnar neuropathies have been diagnosed conventionally using clinical and electrophysiological findings. Physicians opt for nerve imaging in patients with ambiguous electrophysiological tests to gain additional information, identify etiology and plan management.

Science News: Guillain-Barré Syndrome and COVID-19 Vaccine: A Multicenter Retrospective Study of 46 Cases

April 10, 2024

This study investigated the clinical and electrophysiological characteristics of cases of GBS occurring after COVID-19 vaccination and compared them to GBS cases unrelated to recent vaccination.

Science News: Hospital-Diagnosed Morbidities and Recent Surgery as Risk Factors for Developing Guillain-Barré Syndrome

April 01, 2024

This study investigated the association between Gillian-Barre syndrome (GBS) development, hospital-associated morbidity, and recent surgery.

Science News: Standardized Tapering off Subcutaneous Immunoglobulin in Chronic Inflammatory Demyelinating Polyneuropathy

March 15, 2024

The objective of this study was to determine the frequency of chronic inflammatory demyelinating polyneuropathy patients who entered remission after complete discontinuation of treatment with subcutaneous immunoglobulin by employing a standardized tapering-off regimen.

Science News: Efficacy and Safety of Hydrokinesitherapy in Patients With Dystrophinopathy

February 29, 2024

This study aimed to assess the effectiveness and safety of regular pool dynamic aerobic exercises in ambulatory patients with Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD).