Background. Iron is considered to lead to neurodegeneration and has been hypothesized as a possible cause of Parkinson's disease (PD). Susceptibility-weighted imaging (SWI) is a powerful tool to measure phase related iron content of brain. Methods. Twelve de novo patients with PD were recruited from the Movement Disorders Clinic, Department of Neurology, Loma Linda University. Twelve age- and sex-matched non-PD subjects were recruited from neurology clinic as controls. Using SWI, the phase related iron content was estimated from different brain regions of interest (ROIs). Results. There was a trend between increasing age and iron accumulation in the globus pallidus and putamen in all subjects. Iron accumulation was not significant in different ROIs in PD patients compared to controls after adjustment for age. Our data revealed heterogeneity of phase values in different brain ROIs among all subjects with an exaggerated trend at SN in PD patients. Conclusions. Our data suggest a nonhomogeneous pattern of iron accumulation in different brain regions among PD patients. Further studies are needed to explore whether this may correlate to the progression of PD. To our knowledge, this is the first study demonstrating the heterogeneity of iron accumulation in the brain, among patients with PD.

For confirmation of PP, our data endorse the diagnostic utility of peak-to-nadir LET methodology using 40% amplitude or 50% area decrement cutoffs for PreTP ≤50%. Muscle Nerve, 2018.

Background In the PAOLA-1 trial, olaparib plus bevacizumab demonstrated significant clinical benefit following partial or complete response to platinum-based chemotherapy in homologous recombination deficiency (HRD)-positive ovarian cancer. Our study evaluated the cost effectiveness of olaparib plus bevacizumab compared with bevacizumab alone as a maintenance treatment for women in this population. Methods Our model was a cohort-level partitioned survival model with a lifetime horizon from a US healthcare system perspective. Its four health states were progression-free, post first progression, post second progression, and death, modeled using time to first progression (PFS1), second progression (PFS2), and overall survival (OS) from PAOLA-1. We modeled PFS1 through mixture survival modeling, and PFS2 and OS by fitting standard parametric models. Time-on-treatment was sourced directly from PAOLA-1, with treatment capped at 24 months for olaparib and 15 months for bevacizumab. Costs included drug acquisition and administration, adverse events, disease management, biomarker testing, and subsequent treatments. Deterministic and probabilistic sensitivity analyses tested the results. Results Compared with bevacizumab alone, olaparib plus bevacizumab increased quality-adjusted life-years (QALYs; +2.89) and life-years (LYs; +3.43

A 61-year-old man with recent Bell's palsy developed acute vocal cord paralysis causing severe dysphagia. CSF analysis showed elevated protein and a normal cell count; contrast-enhanced MRI of the brain was normal. He was treated with IVIG for a presumed bulbar-variant AIDP and gradually improved. Six months later, the patient developed rapidly progressive hearing loss and vestibular dysfunction. Repeat MRI revealed bilateral enhancement of the eighth cranial nerves and a hypercellular mass in the left temporal lobe. Biopsy of the mass confirmed the diagnosis of diffuse large B-cell lymphoma. Lymphomatous invasion of the cranial nerves should be considered in cases of relapsing cranial neuropathies.