Paper of the Month

In these troubled times, our Paper of the Month for April is: Grasselli G, Pesenti A, Cecconi M. Critical care utilization for the Covid-19 outbreak in Lombardy, Italy: Early experience and forecast during an emergency response.

For March 2020, we have selected: Olanow et al, Apomorphine sublingual film for off episodes in Parkinson’s disease: a randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled phase 3 study. Lancet Neurology; 19: 135-44.

For February 2020, we have selected: Kleine-Borgmann J, Schmidt K, Hellmann A, Bingel U. Effects of open-label placebo on pain, functional disability, and spine mobility in patients with chronic back pain: a randomized controlled trial.

For January 2020 we have selected Kapur J et al., Randomized Trial of Three Anticonvulsant Medications for Status Epilepticus,

For December 2019, we have selected: Cree et al., Inebilizumab for the treatment of neuromyelitis optica (N-MOmentum): a double-blind, randomised placebo-controlled  phase 2/3 trial Lancet 2019 Epub ahead of print Sept 5.

This month’s selected paper addresses the risk of neurological deficits in people with cavernomas treated with antithrombotic medication. Perhaps counter-intuitively, the authors report a lower risk of intracerebral haemorrhage in patients taking antithrombotic medication (mostly antiplatelet therapy). The study therefore provides reassurance for clinicians managing patients with this relatively common, and often incidental, vascular finding that antithrombotic therapy does not appear harmful; conversely, there could be some benefit, but this requires further evaluation in a randomised controlled trial.

This month’s selected paper is a working group report that addresses a recently described disorder, limbic-predominant age-related TDP-43 encephalopathy (LATE), which is emerging as an important cause of cognitive impairment in the elderly. The group make recommendations for standardised neuropathological evaluation and identify research avenues to better understand this evolving new disease phenotype.

For September 2019, we have selected two scientific papers with a common theme: Goadsby et al., Trial of galcanezumab in prevention of episodic cluster headache NEJM 2019; 381: 132-41, and Lipton et al., Rimegepant, an oral calcitonin gene-related peptide receptor antagonist, for migraine NEJM 2019; 381: 142-9.

For August 2019, we have selected Wilson, Sample et al. Clinical metagenomic sequencing for diagnosis of meningitis and encephalitis. N Eng J Med 2019; 380:24;2327-2340

For July 2019, we have selected a scientific paper: RESTART Collaboration. Effects of antiplatelet therapy after stroke due to intracerebral haemorrhage: a randomised open label trial. Lancet 2019; May 21 [Epub ahead of print]

For June 2019, we have selected a scientific paper: Moreno-Jimenez, Garcia, Roncal et al. Adult hippocampal neurogenesis is abundant in neurologically healthy subjects and drops sharply in patients with Alzheimer’s disease Nature Medicine 2019; 25: 554–560.

For May 2019, we have selected: Fancourt D & Steptoe A. Television viewing and cognitive decline in older age: findings from the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing. Scientific Reports 2019;9:2851.

For April 2019, we have selected: Kellinghaus C, Rossetti AO, Trinka E, et al.  Factors predicting cessation of status epilepticus in clinical practice: Data from a prospective observational registry (SENSE). Ann Neurol 2019;85:421-432.

For March 2019, we have selected: Burt RK Balabanov, MD Burman J, et al. Effect of nonmyeloablative haematopoietic stem cell transplantation vs continued disease-modifying therapy on disease progression in patients with relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis. JAMA 2019;321(2):165-174. Stem cells are a highly topical research area in clinical neurology. Approaches vary from attempts at nerve regeneration to exploitation of immunological effects.