Chemotherapy-Induced Neurotoxicity: Evidence of a Protective Role of CC Homozygosis in the Interleukin-1ß Gene-511 C>T Polymorphism.

We hypothesized that the IL-1ß-511 C>T polymorphism could be associated with the development of neurotoxicity and that it could be a possible biomarker to rate the risk of occurrence of neurotoxicity in cancer patients. Genomic DNA was extracted from 85 cancer patients: 49 received systemic chemotherapeutic treatment (CHT) and 36 patients did not receive it (No-CHT). All subjects were genotyped for the functionally active polymorphisms of IL-1ß-511 C>T. We estimated neurotoxicity with the evaluation of neurological deficits. CHT patients showed erythrocytopenia, neurological deficit and a slight lowering of cognitive performance. The subgroup of patients carrying the CC genotype of the IL-1ß-511 C>T gene showed lesser neurological deficits. In the context of cancer treatment, we suggested the potential value of IL-1ß-511 C>T as genetic biomarkers to identify patients with higher risk to develop neurological deficits.

Virtual navigation for memory rehabilitation in a traumatic brain injured patient.

The use of 3D video games in memory rehabilitation has been explored very little. A virtual navigation task allows participants to encode the spatial layout of the virtual environment and activate areas involved in memory processing. We describe the rehabilitation of a 24-year-old man with traumatic brain injury presenting memory deficits, and evaluate the efficacy of a navigational training program measuring neuropsychological changes and fMRI modification cerebral activations. Memory improvement appears to be present both after navigational training and in follow-up testing. Furthermore, fMRI data suggest that this training may increase activation of the hippocampal and parahippocampal brain regions. The results suggest that intensive training in virtual navigational tasks may result in an enhancement of memory function in brain-damaged adults.

Apathy and verbal fluency in STN-stimulated PD patients. An observational follow-up study.

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate apathy and its relation to verbal fluency tasks in a consecutive series of 19 patients with Parkinson's disease (PD) submitted to deep brain stimulation of the subthalamic nucleus (DBS of STN). METHODS: 19 consecutive PD patients submitted to bilateral DBS of STN were studied for apathy pre-operatively and 17 months after surgery. The PD patients underwent a battery of cognitive tests assessing reasoning, memory and frontal executive functions, including phonemic and categorial fluency tasks. The Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) was used for depression. Apathy was assessed by means of the Apathy Scale (AS). In order to quantify changes among individual patients, the clinical criterion of more or less than 1 SD (standard z-score) was used to register a patient as improved or worsened, respectively. RESULTS: After surgery, apathy scores did not change and mood improved (p < 0.02), while a significant worsening was found in the phonemic fluency (p < 0.001). The percentage of patients with an apathy score above the recommended cut-off value (14) was 42% both before and after DBS of STN. Individual outcomes on the apathy scale (1 SD criterion) evidenced that 53% of the patients remained stable, 16% improved, while 31% worsened. This last percentage reduced to 21% (4/19) when considering only the PD patients with an apathy score > or =14 after surgery. No significant correlation was found between the apathy scores variation and any of the neurological variables considered, and, in particular, no correlation was found between apathy and verbal fluency. CONCLUSIONS: The results of the present study suggest that DBS of STN does not necessarily induce apathy even if individual patients show a moderate post-operative worsening of apathetic symptoms.