This study highlights certain important clinical and electrographic aspects of autoimmune epilepsy, and the significance of early diagnosis and initiation of immunomodulatory therapy.

No abstract

Parkinson disease psychosis (PDP) is a common phenomenon in Parkinson disease (PD) patients treated with dopaminergic drugs, and is associated with high morbidity and mortality. It also correlates with depression and dementia, and can contribute to considerable caregiver stress and burnout. While symptoms can be relieved by decreasing doses or number of anti-PD medications, this may lead to an unacceptable worsening of motor function. When general medical or psychiatric conditions have been ruled out, and decreasing dopaminergic agents is not effective in treating psychosis, therapies include atypical antipsychotics, primarily clozapine and quetiapine. Of these, clozapine is effective but is associated with a poor side-effect profile and the necessity for frequent blood draws. Clinicians prefer quetiapine for its theoretically better safety profile, although there is no evidence for efficacy in treating psychosis. All atypical antipsychotics are associated with increased mortality in this patient population. Cholinesterase inhibitors can ameliorate psychosis symptoms. The serotonin 5-HT receptor inverse agonist pimavanserin was recently approved by the US FDA for the treatment of PDP and may prove to be a more targeted therapy without the downsides of atypical antipsychotics.

Recent evidence demonstrates that hippocampal hyperactivity helps mediate psychosis. Using resting state functional magnetic resonance imaging (rsfMRI), we examined hippocampal connectivity alterations in individuals with psychosis (PS) versus healthy controls (HC). Because of its putative greater involvement in psychiatric disorders, we hypothesized that the anterior hippocampus network would show greater dysconnectivity in psychosis. We tested rsfMRI connectivity in 88 PS (including 21 with schizophrenia; 40 with schizoaffective disorder; 27 with psychotic bipolar I disorder) and 65 HC. Seed-based voxel-wise connectivity analyses were carried out using whole, anterior, and posterior hippocampal seeds. No significant differences in functional hippocampal connectivity were found across the three conventional diagnoses. PS were then contrasted with HC, showing strong reductions in anterior hippocampal connectivity to anterior neocortical regions, including medial frontal and anterior cingulate cortices, as well as superior temporal gyrus, precuneus, thalamus and cerebellum. Posterior hippocampal seeds also demonstrated decreased connectivity in PS, with fewer dysconnected regions and a posterior/cerebellar distribution. Whole hippocampal outcomes were consistent with anterior/posterior hippocampal connectivity changes. Connectivity alterations did not correlate with cognition, clinical symptoms, or medication effect variables. Our results suggest a psychosis network of decreased hippocampal connectivity with limbic and frontal contributions, independent of diagnostic categories.

Cardiac arrest is associated with high morbidity and mortality. Better-quality bystander cardiopulmonary resuscitation training, cardiocerebral resuscitation principles, and intensive post-resuscitation hospital care have improved survival. However, cognitive and functional impairment after cardiac arrest remain areas of concern. Research focus has shifted beyond prognostication in the immediate post-arrest period to identification of mechanisms for long-term brain injury and implementation of promising protocols to reduce neuronal injury. These include therapeutic temperature management (TTM), as well as pharmacologic and psychological interventions which also improve overall neurological function. Comprehensive assessment of cognitive function post-arrest is hampered by heterogeneous measures among studies. However, the domains of attention, long-term memory, spatial memory, and executive function appear to be affected. As more patients survive cardiac arrest for longer periods of time, there needs to be a greater focus on interventions that can enhance cognitive and psychosocial function post-arrest.