William Alexander
This October, members of the Duke Neurology Department advanced the field of clinical and translational neuroscience, contributing 14 new peer-reviewed studies and one book chapter. Our recent research highlights include validation of a new automated measure to assess handwriting for dystonic symptoms, discussion of the impact of blood pressure on head and face pain, and discussion of the symptoms of a neuroimmune disorder known as MOGAD. Please read the paragraphs below for brief summaries of these articles and links to the original research.
Epilepsy, sleep, and clinical neurophysiology
- Andrew Spector, M.D., was the lead author of a new comprehensive review that explored race-based sleep health disparities between Asian Americans and other American racial groups. We compare sleep outcomes among Asian-American subgroups classified by gender and ancestral country of origin. We also identify gaps in the existing literature, analyze barriers to Asian American sleep research, and recommend topics for future research.Read the full article at Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine.
General and Regional Neurology
- Dr. Leonard White contributed a new study that looked at how heroin exposure in utero affects brain development into early puberty in a mouse model. Our findings suggest that prenatal opioid exposure may affect brain morphology, connectivity and, consequently, function that persists into puberty.Read the full article at NMR in biomedicine.
headache and facial pain
- Many clinicians have a rule of thumb that pain corresponds to increased blood pressure, but this view is too simplistic. In a new review article, senior authors Sweta Sengupta, MD, and Timothy Collins, MD, investigate and debunk misconceptions about the effects of pain on blood pressure. Their discussion of the effects of pain on blood pressure will help health care professionals properly diagnose and counsel patients without disproportionately attributing high blood pressure to pain. read the article at Current pain and headache reports.
memory impairment
- James Burke, MD, PhD and Brenda Plassman, PhD contributed to a study examining whether the presence of elevated amyloid is associated with changes in the health status of care partners. The team examined longitudinal data from approximately 1,000 Medicare beneficiaries with mild cognitive impairment or dementia and found that elevated amyloid was associated with significant differences in outcome, depression, loneliness, or burden over time. I have discovered that it does not.Read the full study at Alzheimer’s Disease Journal.
- A new systematic review and meta-analysis analyzed the risk of all-cause dementia after severe traumatic brain injury (TBI) by age, sex, veterans, and other characteristics. The team found that younger age and male sex, but not veteran status, were associated with higher TBI risk.Brenda Plassman, Ph.D., contributed to the study. Journal of Neurotrauma.
movement disorders
- Research in the latest issue of movement disorders We examine several new automated means to capture important aspects of the writer’s spasmodic dystonia. In this study by senior authors Noreen Bukhari-Parlakturk, MD, PhD, Nicole Calakos, MD, PhD, and her Burton Scott, MD, PhD, Michael Lutz, PhD, and colleagues, 23 of these measures We evaluated the diagnostic performance. We found that word readability and peak acceleration measures differentiated between subjects with writer’s spasmodic dystonia and healthy volunteers with high sensitivity and specificity. Read the full article here.
Multiple sclerosis and neuroimmunology
- Myelin oligodendrocyte glycoprotein antibody-associated disease (MOGAD) is a chronic demyelinating disorder that has become increasingly recognized over the past six years, but many questions remain about this condition, particularly relapse and best treatment strategies. remain.new articles in Journal of Neuroimmunology We describe the clinical and radiological manifestations and demographics of 33 patients presenting with MOGAD in a single health center. Lead authors Suma Shah, MD, former Duke Neuroimmunology Fellows Paige Sutton MD, Michael Lutz, PhD, F. Lee Hartsell, MD, MHS, Dorlan Kimbrough, MD, Nathan “Troy” Tagg, MD, Mark Skeen, MD, Articles authored by Nicholas Hudak (PA-C) and Christopher Eckstein (MD) are available here.
neuro-ophthalmology
- Wayne Feng (MD, MS) and Brian Mac Grory (MB BCh, MRCP) found that intra-arterial thrombolysis (IAT) within 16 hours of symptom onset was feasible and associated with improved visual outcomes in patients. contributed to a retrospective cohort study investigating whether With acute retinal ischemia (ARI). The team found that IAT appeared to be associated with better visual improvement within 16 hours after symptom onset and that IAT was also feasible and associated with a lower risk of perioperative complications of ARI. I discovered that Read the full study at Journal of Neuro-Ophthalmology.
Stroke and Vascular Neurology
- Wuwei “Wayne” Feng, MD, MS contributed new research that provides important insights into the benefits of vagus nerve stimulation combined with rehabilitation to improve chronic arm weakness after stroke. The team looked to see if treatment effects differed among candidate subgroups, such as younger age and fewer injuries, and found no significant differences between these groups.Read the full survey Neurorehabilitation and nerve repair.
- Daniel Laskowitz, MD, MHS and Haichen Wang, MD contributed a new literature review examining the impact of physical interventions on spinal cord injury pathophysiology and recovery. Among other findings, the team found that low-intensity or voluntary rehabilitation in the hyperacute phase appears to be the more appropriate treatment until at least 4 days after injury.Read the full article at neurospine.
- Insertable cardiac monitors (ICMs) are frequently used as a long-term strategy for detecting atrial fibrillation/flutter (AF) in patients with unexplained stroke (CS) and transient ischemic attacks (TIA). will be However, studies on incidental arrhythmias are limited. Brian Mac Grory, MB BCh, MRCP contributed to a new study examining the detection rate of incidental non-AF arrhythmias by his ICM monitoring in CS/TIA patients. The team found that long-term cardiac monitoring appeared to frequently detect incidental actionable non-AF arrhythmias in CS/TIA patients. Read the full article in the Journal of Atrial Fibrilation & Electrophysiology.
translational brain science
- New editorial provides guidance on manuscript preparation for topics related to the journal’s biomarkers of Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias Alzheimer’s disease and dementia. Dr. Michael Lutz was the original author of this article, available here.
- Dr. Carlene Moore Latest topics on membranes book series. In her chapter, “Role of Her TRPV4 Channels in the Skin Epithelium,” the role of transient receptor potential vanilloid 4 (TRPV4) in skin function and its potential as a therapeutic target for chronic pain, itch, and skin cancer I’m talking about sex. Access that chapter here.
- Tanziyah Muqeem, MD, PhD contributed new research that provides insight into Kv3.4 channels that regulate nociceptor action potential repolarization and excitatory synaptic transmission in the spinal cord. Muqeem et al. show that the expression and effective phosphorylation state of the Kv3.4 cytoplasmic N-terminal inactivation domain provides a tunable mechanism of her AP repolarization that may regulate pain signaling in DRG neurons. I discovered thatRead the full article at Neuroscience Journal.
Other topics
- A new randomized, placebo-controlled clinical trial investigated the efficacy, tolerability, and safety of intranasal oxytocin in young children with autism and found some benefit in therapeutic efficacy in young children, indicating that treatment was well tolerated. Dr. Simon Gregory contributed to this study. molecular psychiatry.
