Given the importance of neuronal plasticity in recovery from a stroke and the huge variability of recovery abilities in patients, we investigated neuronal activity in the acute phase to enhance information about the prognosis of recovery in the stabilized phase. We investigated the microstates in 47 patients who suffered a first-ever mono-lesional ischemic stroke in the middle cerebral artery territory and in 20 healthy control volunteers. Electroencephalographic (EEG) activity at rest with eyes closed was acquired between 2 and 10 days (T0) after ischemic attack. Objective criteria allowed for the selection of an optimal number of microstates. Clinical condition was quantified by the National Institute of Health Stroke Scale (NIHSS) both in acute (T0) and stabilized (T1, 5.4 ± 1.7 months) phases and Effective Recovery (ER) was calculated as (NIHSS(T1)-NIHSS(T0))/NIHSS(T0). The microstates A, B, C and D emerged as the most stable. In patients with a left lesion inducing a language impairment, microstate C topography differed from controls. Microstate D topography was different in patients with a right lesion inducing neglect symptoms. In patients, the C vs D microstate duration differed after both a left and a right lesion with respect to controls (C lower than D in left and D lower than C in right lesion). A preserved microstate B in acute phase correlated with a better effective recovery. A regression model indicated that the microstate B duration explained the 11% of ER variance. This first ever study of EEG microstates in acute stroke opens an interesting path to identify neuronal impairments with prognostic relevance, to develop enriched compensatory treatments to drive a better individual recovery.

Background and purpose Erenumab (ERE) is the first anticalcitonin gene‐related peptide receptor monoclonal antibody approved for migraine prevention. A proportion of patients do not adequately respond to ERE. Methods Prospective multicenter study involving 110 migraine patients starting ERE 70 mg monthly. Baseline socio‐demographics and migraine characteristics, including mean monthly migraine days (MMDs), migraine‐related burden (MIDAS [Migraine Disability Assessment scale] and Headache Impact Test‐6), and use of abortive medications, during 3 months before and after ERE start were collected. Real‐time polymerase chain reaction was used to determine polymorphic variants of calcitonin receptor‐like receptor and receptor activity‐modifying protein‐1 genes. Logistic regression models were used to identify independent predictors for 50% responder patients (50‐RESP) and 75% responder patients (75‐RESP). Results At month 3, MMDs decreased from 17.2 to 9.2 (p < 0.0001), 59/110 (53.6%) patients were 50‐RESP, and 30/110 (27.3%) were 75‐RESP. Age at migraine onset (odds ratio [OR] [95% confidence interval (95% CI)]: 1.062 [1.008–1.120], p = 0.024), number of failed preventive medications (0.753 [0.600–0.946], p = 0.015), and MIDAS score (1.011 [1.002–1.020], p = 0.017) were associated with 75‐RESP. Among the genetic variants investigated, RAMP1 rs7590387 was found associated with a lower probability of being 75‐RESP (per G allele OR [95% CI]: 0.53 [0.29–0.99], p = 0.048]), but this association did not survive adjustment for confounding clinical variables (per G allele, 0.55 [0.28–1.10], p = 0.09]). Conclusions In this real‐word study, treatment with ERE significantly reduced MMDs. The number of failed preventive medications, migraine burden, and age at migraine onset predicted response to ERE. Larger studies are required to confirm a possible role of RAMP1 rs7590387 as genetic predictor of ERE efficacy.

Stroke, if not lethal, is a primary cause of disability. Early assessment of markers of recovery can allow personalized interventions; however, it is difficult to deliver indexes in the acute phase able to predict recovery. In this perspective, evaluation of electrical brain activity may provide useful information. A machine learning approach was explored here to predict post-stroke recovery relying on multi-channel electroencephalographic (EEG) recordings of few minutes performed at rest. A data-driven model, based on partial least square (PLS) regression, was trained on 19-channel EEG recordings performed within 10 days after mono-hemispheric stroke in 101 patients. The band-wise (delta: 1–4[Formula: see text]Hz, theta: 4–7[Formula: see text]Hz, alpha: 8–14[Formula: see text]Hz and beta: 15–30[Formula: see text]Hz) EEG effective powers were used as features to predict the recovery at 6 months (based on clinical status evaluated through the NIH Stroke Scale, NIHSS) in an optimized and cross-validated framework. In order to exploit the multimodal contribution to prognosis, the EEG-based prediction of recovery was combined with NIHSS scores in the acute phase and both were fed to a nonlinear support vector regressor (SVR). The prediction performance of EEG was at least as good as that of the acute clinical status scores. A posteriori evaluation of the features exploited by the analysis highlighted a lower delta and higher alpha activity in patients showing a positive outcome, independently of the affected hemisphere. The multimodal approach showed better prediction capabilities compared to the acute NIHSS scores alone ([Formula: see text] versus [Formula: see text], AUC = 0.80 versus AUC = 0.70, [Formula: see text]). The multimodal and multivariate model can be used in acute phase to infer recovery relying on standard EEG recordings of few minutes performed at rest together with clinical assessment, to be exploited for early and personalized therapies. The easiness of performing EEG may allow such an approach to become a standard-of-care and, thanks to the increasing number of labeled samples, further improving the model predictive power.

No abstract

The most common form is CMT1A, due to a duplication of a 1.4 MB region containing the gene encoding the peripheral myelin protein 22 (PMP22).9 CMT1A discloses a stereotypical sensorimotor, length-dependent neuropathy associated with marked and homogeneous slowing of nerve conduction velocities. 9 The deletion of the same chromosome 17 region causes hereditary neuropathy with liability to pressure palsy (HNPP), usually characterized by recurrent palsies due to trivial traumas. Objective: to determine the prevalence of restless legs syndrome (RLS) in a cohort of patients with demyelinating neuropathies. Methods: Patients were retrospectively recruited from our cohort of different forms of demyelinating neuropathies, including chronic infl ammatory demyelinating neuropathy (CIDP), Charcot-Marie-Tooth 1A (CMT1A), and hereditary neuropathy with liability to pressure palsies (HNPP) referred to our Department of Neurology in a 10-year period. The validated 4-item RLS questionnaire was used for diagnosis of RLS. All patients with RLS who fulfi lled criteria underwent a suggested immobilization test to confi rm the diagnosis. A group of outpatients referred to the sleep disorders unit and data from published literature were used as controls. Results: Prevalence of RLS in demyelinating neuropathy group was higher than prevalence observed in control population (p = 0.0142) or in the literature data (p = 0.0007). In particular, in comparison with both control population and literature data, prevalence of RLS was higher in CIDP group (p = 0.0266 and p = 0.0063, respectively) and in CMT1A group (p = 0.0312 and p = 0.0105, respectively), but not in HNPP (p = 1.000 and p = 0.9320, respectively). Conclusions: our study confi rms a high prevalence of RLS in infl ammatory neuropathies as CIDP and, among inherited neuropathies, in CMT1A but not in HNPP. Considering that this is only a small cohort from a single-center retrospective experience, the link between RLS and neuropathy remains uncertain, and larger multicenter studies are probably needed to clarify the real meaning of the association between RLS and neuropathy. Keywords: Restless leg syndrome (RLS), demyelinating neuropathies, chronic infl ammatory demyelinating neuropathy (CIDP), Charcot-Marie-Tooth 1A (CMT1A), hereditary neuropathy with liability to pressure palsies (HNPP), suggested immobilization test (SIT) Citation: Luigetti M; Del Grande A; Testani E; Bisogni G; Losurdo A; Giannantoni NM; Mazza S; Sabatelli M; Della Marca G. Restless leg syndrome in different types of demyelinating neuropathies: a single-center pilot study. J Clin Sleep Med 2013;9(9):945-949.