ABSTRACT
First-Person Shooter (FPS) game experience can be transferred to untrained cognitive functions such as attention, visual short-term memory, spatial cognition, and decision-making. However, previous studies have been using off-the-shelf FPS games based on predefined gaming settings, therefore it is not known whether such improvement of in game performance and transfer of abilities can be further improved by creating a in-game, adaptive in-game training protocol. To address this question, we compared the impact of a popular FPS-game (Counter-Strike:Global-Offensive-CS:GO) with an ad hoc version of the game based on a personalized, adaptive algorithm modifying the artificial intelligence of opponents as well as the overall game difficulty on the basis of individual gaming performance. Two groups of FPS-naïve healthy young participants were randomly assigned to playing one of the two game versions (11 and 10 participants, respectively) 2 h/day for 3 weeks in a controlled laboratory setting, including daily in-game performance monitoring and extensive cognitive evaluations administered before, immediately after, and 3 months after training. Participants exposed to the adaptive version of the game were found to progress significantly faster in terms of in-game performance, reaching gaming scenarios up to 2.5 times more difficult than the group exposed to standard CS:GO (p < 0.05). A significant increase in cognitive performance was also observed. Personalized FPS gaming can significantly speed-up the learning curve of action videogame-players, with possible future applications for expert-video-gamers and potential relevance for clinical-rehabilitative applications.
ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: Evidence suggests that lamotrigine could be effective in reducing aura frequency and duration. However, studies comparing lamotrigine to other, first-line prophylactic agents solely involving patients suffering from migraine with aura are still lacking. The aim of this study was to compare the efficacy of lamotrigine and topiramate for the preventive treatment of migraine with aura. METHODS: Fifty-three patients suffering from migraine with aura treated with lamotrigine or topiramate for at least 6 months were included. Pre- and post-treatment clinical data regarding monthly aura frequency and duration, monthly migraine frequency, days of headache and rescue medication used per month were collected. RESULTS: Responder rates were similar between the two treatment groups at 6-month follow-up. Interestingly, responder rates for aura frequency and duration were higher in the lamotrigine group compared with the topiramate group (88% vs 79% and 73% vs 54%). Moreover, 50% of the lamotrigine-treated patients reported a complete disappearance of migraine aura compared with 37% of topiramate-treated patients. Side effects were more frequent in topiramate group compared with lamotrigine group (p=0.004). CONCLUSIONS: Lamotrigine should be considered in clinical practice for the preventive treatment of migraine with aura especially for patients reporting prolonged aura and who do not respond, have contraindications or discontinue topiramate treatment due to side effects.
ABSTRACT
Tacrolimus-induced encephalopathy presents with acute neurological symptoms such as headache, seizures, visual disturbances, hemiplegia, and altered mental status. A 60-year-old woman, presented to our clinic with a 4-month history of severe headache. She recently underwent kidney transplantation and was taking tacrolimus. MRI scan showed diffuse and symmetric alterations involving both supratentorial and infratentorial white matter. Cerebral spinal fluid assessment for infectious diseases were negative but elevated total protein level and oligoclonal bands positivity were reported. Treatment with steroid bolus, along with tacrolimus tapering, provided clinico-radiological improvement. This is the first case of tacrolimus-induced neurotoxicity strongly suggestive of an immune-mediated pathogenesis.
