Restless Legs Syndrome and fatigue in multiple sclerosis: A cross-sectional clinical study.

BACKGROUND: Restless Legs Syndrome is a sleep-related sensorimotor disorder with a higher prevalence in Multiple Sclerosis (MS) patients than in the general population. Our aim was to determine the prevalence of RLS in a group of relapsing-remittent multiple sclerosis (RRMS) patients, and to investigate whether RLS is associated with MS-related disability, sleep quality, mood disorders and fatigue. METHODS: In this retrospective, mono-centric, observational study, 92 RRMS patients were recruited (median age 46.5 years, 68.5% female patients). Data on MS clinical and radiological variables were collected. Patients underwent a subjective evaluation with standardized questionnaires on sleep fatigue and mood, which were evaluated by an expert neurologists specialized in sleep disorders about the occurrence of RLS. RESULTS: Prevalence of RLS in our sample was of 47.8%. Patients with RLS had a significantly higher rate of worse sleep quality and fatigue, compared to non RLS subjects (respectively 56.8% vs. 35.4%, p=0.04 and 54.4% vs 22.7%, p=0.002). Univariate analysis showed that RLS was significantly more frequent in fatigued patients (66.7% vs 38.5% RLS- patients, p=0.009). Multivariate analysis showed that fatigue correlated with MS-related disability (OR 1.556, p=0.011), poor sleep quality (OR 1.192, p 0.036), and mood disorders (OR 1.096, p 0.046). RLS appears to independently increase the risk of fatigue of 50%, without reaching clear statistical significance (OR 1.572, p 0,0079). CONCLUSION: Our study confirms the high prevalence of RLS in patients with multiple sclerosis and highlights the potential impact of RLS on fatigue and its strict interaction with sleep quality.

Alzheimer's Disease and Neurosyphilis: Meaningful Commonalities and Differences of Clinical Phenotype and Pathophysiological Biomarkers.

BACKGROUND: Neurosyphilis-associated cognitive and behavioral impairment- historically coined as "general paralysis of the insane"- share clinical and neuroradiological features with the neurodegenerative disease spectrum, in particular Alzheimer's disease (AD). Anatomopathological similarities have been extensively documented, i.e., neuronal loss, fibrillary alterations, and local amyloid-ß deposition. Consequently, accurate classification and timely differential diagnosis may be challenging. OBJECTIVE: To describe clinical, bio-humoral, brain MRI, FDG-PET, and amyloid-PET features in cases of neurosyphilis with an AD-like phenotypical presentation, as well as clinical outcome in terms of response to antibiotic therapy. METHODS: We selected the studies comparing patients with AD and with neurosyphilis associated cognitive impairment, to investigate candidate biomarkers classifying the two neurological diseases. RESULTS: The neuropsychological phenotype of general paralysis, characterized by episodic memory impairment and executive disfunction, substantially mimics clinical AD features. Neuroimaging often shows diffuse or medial temporal cortical atrophy, thus contributing to a high rate of misdiagnosis. Cerebrospinal fluid (CSF)-based analysis may provide supportive diagnostic value, since increased proteins or cells are often found in neurosyphilis, while published data on pathophysiological AD candidate biomarkers are controversial. Finally, psychometric testing using cross-domain cognitive tests, may highlight a wider range of compromised functions in neurosyphilis, involving language, attention, executive function, and spatial ability, which are atypical for AD. CONCLUSION: Neurosyphilis should be considered a potential etiological differential diagnosis of cognitive impairment whenever imaging, neuropsychological or CSF features are atypical for AD, in order to promptly start antibiotic therapy and delay or halt cognitive decline and disease progression.

Real-life assessment of erenumab in refractory chronic migraine with medication overuse headache.

OBJECTIVE: To determine whether erenumab is effective and safe in refractory chronic migraine with medication overuse headache. METHODS: In this prospective, multicentric, real-life study, chronic migraine with medication overuse headache patients who received erenumab were recruited. Study inclusion was limited to patients who previously failed onabotulinumtoxinA in addition to at least three other pharmacological commonly used migraine preventive medication classes. RESULTS: Of 396 patients who received erenumab, 38% (n = 149) met inclusion criteria. After 3 months, 51% (n = 76) and 20% (n = 30) patients achieved ≥ 50% and ≥ 75% reduction in monthly headache days, respectively. Monthly pain medications intake decreased from 46.1 ± 35.3 to 16.8 ± 13.9 (p < 0.001), while monthly headache days decreased from 25.4 ± 5.4 to 14.1 ± 8.6 (p < 0.001). Increasing efficacy of erenumab over the study period was observed. Allodynia was a negative predictive factor of erenumab response (odds ratio = 0.47; p = 0.03). Clinical conversion to episodic migraine with no medication overuse was observed in 64% (n = 96) patients. No serious adverse events were observed. CONCLUSIONS: Erenumab reduced significantly migraine frequency and pain medication intake in refractory chronic migraine with MOH patients.

Ictogenesis of viral pneumonia: A comparison between SARS-CoV-2 and H1N1/H3N2.

Several studies reported acute symptomatic seizures as a possible neurological complication of COVID-19 pneumonia. Apart from metabolic imbalances, hypoxia, and fever, other ictogenic mechanisms are likely related to an immune-mediated damage. The same mechanisms are shared by other respiratory viruses. Since neurotropic properties of SARS-CoV-2 have been questioned, we investigated whether SARS-CoV-2 has a similar ictogenic potential to other respiratory non-neurotropic viruses. We conducted a retrospective study identifying 1141 patients with SARS-CoV-2 pneumonia and 146 patients with H1N1/H3N2 pneumonia. We found a similar prevalence of seizures in the two viral pneumonia (1.05% with SARS-CoV-2 vs 2.05% with influenza; p = 0.26). We detailed clinical, electroencephalographic, and neuroradiological features of each patient, together with the hypothesized pathogenesis of seizures. Previous epilepsy or pre-existing predisposing conditions (i.e., Alzheimer's disease, stroke, cerebral neoplasia) were found in one-third of patients that experienced seizures, while two-thirds of patients had seizures without known risk factors other than pneumonia in both groups. The prevalence of pre-existing predisposing conditions and disease severity indexes was similar in SARS-CoV-2 and H1N1/H3N2 pneumonia, thus excluding they could act as potential confounders. Considering all the patients with viral pneumonia together, previous epilepsy (p < 0.001) and the need for ventilatory support (p < 0.001), but not the presence of pre-existing predisposing conditions (p = 0.290), were associated with seizure risk. Our study showed that SARS-CoV-2 and influenza viruses share a similar ictogenic potential. In both these infections, seizures are rare but serious events, and can manifest without pre-existing predisposing conditions, in particular when pneumonia is severe, thus suggesting an interplay between disease severity and host response as a major mechanism of ictogenesis, rather than a virus-specific mechanism.