There is evidence that MTBI patients with true traumatic MRI lesions are neuropsychologically different from MTBI patients with nonspecific MRI lesions or normal brain MRI. These results support the hypothesis that some acute MTBI signs and symptoms have a real organic basis which can be detected by selected new MRI modalities.

Our study provides the first evidence about significant hypothalamic alterations correlating with clinical outcomes of MS, using 1H-MRS. The combination of increased Glu or mIns with reduced NAA in HYP reflects whole-brain activity of MS. In addition, excess of Glu is linked to severe disease course, depressive mood and fatigue in MS patients, suggesting superiority of Glu over other metabolites in determining MS burden.

(1)H-MRS is sensitive to detect metabolic changes caused by neurodegeneration processes during ALS and can be used for detection of UMN dysfunction. These MRS changes in the early stages of ALS are most prominent in motor cortex.

This study found a correlation of ¹H-MRS metabolite changes with cognitive decline and presence or absence of loss of consciousness in the acute phase after MTBI.

Multiple sclerosis (MS) is an autoimmune disease with expanding axonal and neuronal degeneration in the central nervous system leading to motoric dysfunctions, psychical disability, and cognitive impairment during MS progression. The exact cascade of pathological processes (inflammation, demyelination, excitotoxicity, diffuse neuro-axonal degeneration, oxidative and metabolic stress, etc.) causing MS onset is still not fully understood, although several accompanying biomarkers are particularly suitable for the detection of early subclinical changes. Magnetic resonance (MR) methods are generally considered to be the most sensitive diagnostic tools. Their advantages include their noninvasive nature and their ability to image tissue in vivo. In particular, MR spectroscopy (proton 1H and phosphorus 31P MRS) is a powerful analytical tool for the detection and analysis of biomedically relevant metabolites, amino acids, and bioelements, and thus for providing information about neuro-axonal degradation, demyelination, reactive gliosis, mitochondrial and neurotransmitter failure, cellular energetic and membrane alternation, and the imbalance of magnesium homeostasis in specific tissues. Furthermore, the MR relaxometry-based detection of accumulated biogenic iron in the brain tissue is useful in disease evaluation. The early description and understanding of the developing pathological process might be critical for establishing clinically effective MS-modifying therapies.

No abstract

Numerous studies document significant improvement in motor symptoms in patients with Parkinson's disease (PD) after deep brain stimulation of the subthalamic nucleus (STN-DBS). However, little is known about the initial effects of STN-DBS on nonmotor domains.Our objective was to elucidate the initial effects of STN-DBS on non-motor and motor symptoms in PD patients in a 4-month follow-up.This open prospective study followed 24 patients with PD who underwent STN-DBS. The patients were examined using dedicated rating scales preoperatively and at 1 and 4 months following STN-DBS to determine initial changes in motor and nonmotor symptoms. Patients at month 1 after STN-DBS had significantly reduced the Parkinson's disease Questionnaire scores (P = .018) and Scales for Outcomes in Parkinson's disease – Autonomic scores (P = .002); these scores had increased at Month 4 after DBS-STN. Nonmotor Symptoms Scale for Parkinson's Disease had improved significantly at Month 1 (P < .001); at Month 4, it remained significantly lower than before stimulation (P = .036). There was no significant difference in The Parkinson's Disease Sleep Scaleat Month 1 and significant improvement at Month 4 (P = .026). There were no significant changes in The Female Sexual Function Index or International Index of Erectile Function. Movement Disorder Society Unified Parkinson's Disease Rating Scale, Part III scores show significant improvements at Month 1 (P < .001) and at Month 4 (P < .001).STN-DBS in patients with advanced PD clearly improves not only motor symptoms, but also several domains of nonmotor functions, namely sleep, autonomic functions and quality of life quickly following the start of stimulation.

We showed for the first time that BsmI genotype BB (AA) is associated with the decreased susceptibility to MS in Slovak population. We propose the BsmI gene polymorphism to be one of the important genetic markers in evaluation of the risk of MS. However, our data suggest that VDR gene polymorphisms ApaI, BsmI and TaqI are not useful in the prediction of disease disability progression rate in MS in Slovaks.