NeuroFrontiers

Catatonia is a neuropsychiatric condition characterized by disturbances in psychomotor function, stemming from various disorders impacting brain function. And while catatonia is not specifically related to schizophrenia alone, it’s important to know how to recognize and treat schizophrenic patients with catatonic symptoms. That’s why psychiatric nurse practitioner Ashley Baker speaks with Dr. Stanley Caroff about his research focusing on the management of schizophrenia with catatonic symptoms. Dr. Caroff is an Emeritus Professor of Psychiatry at the University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine.

Cerebral amyloid angiopathy (CAA) is a common neurological change that frequently coexists with other pathologies like Alzheimer's disease and Lewy body dementia, which led a team of researchers to investigate the risk factors and prevalence of CAA. The study found that not only is age a risk factor for CAA, but CAA is also seen in patients with Lew body pathology alone and in patients with both Alzheimer's disease and Lewy body pathology. Dive further into the findings with Dr. Charles Turck and Dr. Jagan Pillai, a behavioral neurologist at Cleveland Clinic Lou Ruvo Center for Brain Health.

Cognitive rehabilitation in patients with multiple sclerosis started about 20 to 25 years ago when it transitioned from predominantly patients with traumatic brain injury to other patient populations including multiple sclerosis. And over that period of time, the number of studies that have examined the efficacy of cognitive rehabilitation in MS has grown substantially. However, gaps remain and further research is needed. Dive into to learn more about cognitive rehabilitation trials for MS with Dr. Nancy Chiaravalloti, Director of the Center for Neuropsychology and Neuroscience Research and the Center for Traumatic Brain Injury Research at Kessler Foundation, who also presented a session on this topic at the ACTRIMS 2024 Forum.

Adaptive optics is a promising tool for studying MS-related changes in the retina at a cellular level, providing valuable insights into the disease's progression and potential treatments. Dive further into this line of research with Dr. Daniel Harrison, an Associate Professor of Neurology and the Director of the Division of Multiple Sclerosis and Neuroimmunology at the University of Maryland who presented this research at the 2024 ACTRIMS Forum.

The prevalence of multiple sclerosis seems to be increasing in patients, and the majority of those patients are diagnosed with MS around the peak family planning age. So family planning should be an integral part of comprehensive patient-centered MS care. Learn more with Psychiatric Nurse Practitioner Ashey Baker as she speaks with Dr. Anna Shah, Assistant Professor of Neurology and the Director of Neurology Outpatient Patient Safety & Experience at the University of Colorado Anschutz School of Medicine.

Rehabilitation training for multiple sclerosis patients aims to improve mobility, cognitive function, and quality of life. But one of the largest barriers to having more high-quality randomized control trials of rehabilitation in MS is that most researchers could not be following a stage of different research approaches. So addressing the unmet needs in rehabilitation research is needed to make MS interventions more powerful. You’ll learn more in this episode with Dr. Robert Motl, Professor in the Department of Kinesiology and Nutrition with a secondary appointment in the Department of Rehabilitation Sciences at the University of Illinois Chicago.

Chronological age is the biggest early driver of disease progression in patients with multiple sclerosis (MS). That’s why a team of researchers wanted to explore whether biomarkers like p16 and the epigenetic clock can be used to assess biological aging in patients with MS. They found that while patients with MS are aging faster than people without MS based on the epigenetic clock biomarker, no chronological age correlation in p16 expression has been identified in patients with MS. Dive further into these findings with Dr. Yinan Zhang, an Assistant Professor of Neurology at Ohio State University who presented this research at the 2024 ACTRIMS Forum.

The amount of patients being diagnosed with neurological conditions and multiple sclerosis (MS) is a growing number, which causes a need for more neurologists, MS specialists, and better access to care. A potential advantage of using technology in MS care would be to break down the geographic barrier. To learn more about telehealth in MS care, tune in with Dr. Marisa McGinley, Assistant Professor of Neurology at the Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine, who also presented this topic at the ACTRIMS Forum 2024.

Death induced by survival gene elimination (DISE) is a cell death mechanism mediated by short RNAs. And according to a recent study, there may be a correlation between toxic DISE, DNA damage, and neuronal cell death in patients with Alzheimer’s disease. Learn more about the study’s findings and potential implications with Dr. Andrew Wilner and Dr. Marcus Peter, Professor of Medicine in the Division of Hematology and Oncology as well as a Professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Genetics at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine in Chicago.

A diagnosis of schizophrenia can be distressing, making clinical interventions crucial for both the patient and their family. With the assistance of an appropriate treatment plan and peer support, the patient can gain empowerment to take control of their life and pursue long-term goals. Joining Psychiatric Nurse Practitioner Ashley Baker to discuss next steps following a schizophrenia diagnosis is Dr. Morris Goldman, Associate Professor of Psychiatry at Northwestern Feinberg School of Medicine, and Dara Sanandaji, Peer Support Supervisor at the Recovery from Early Psychosis Program.

Toxic tau protein refers to an aberrant form of the tau protein in the brain, commonly associated with Alzheimer's disease, where it forms tangles and disrupts normal cellular function, which contributes to cognitive decline and neuronal damage. To learn more about the role of toxic tau proteins in Alzheimer’s disease, tune in to hear Dr. Andrew Wilner speak with Dr. George Bloom, Professor of Biology, Cell Biology, and Neuroscience at the University of Virginia.

An international collaborative phase 1 study has shown that the injection of a specific form of stem cells into the brains of patients with progressive multiple sclerosis is safe and effective in preventing further brain damage. However, a different type of clinical trial is needed to address whether an advanced cell therapy made of brain-specific stem cells is indeed leading to amelioration of disease features. Take a deeper look into the findings from this study as Dr. Charles Turck speaks with the author of the study, Dr. Stefano Pluchino, Professor of Regenerative Neuroimmunology and Honorary Consultant in Neurology in the Department of Clinical Neurosciences at Cambridge University.

Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) has long been associated with multiple sclerosis (MS), but a recent study from UTHealth Houston has shed light on its role in the development of MS. To learn more on what we know about EBV-specific T-cells, join Dr. J. William Lindsey, Senior Author of the study, titled UTHealth Houston Study: EBV-specific T-cells play key role in development of multiple sclerosis, and Professor in the Department of Neurology and Director of the Division of Multiple Sclerosis and Neuroimmunology with McGovern Medical School at UTHealth Houston.

A recent phase 1 study investigated the safety and feasibility of combining focused ultrasound and aducanumab, which is a monoclonal antibody for amyloid, to open the blood-brain barrier in patients with Alzheimer's disease. And what the researchers found was about a 50 percent overall reduction of cerebral amyloid-beta load in the target areas compared to the untreated areas. Dive further into these findings and next steps in this line of research that may impact the way we treat Alzheimer’s disease with Dr. Andrew Wilner and Dr. Marc Haut, Director of the Rockefeller Neuroscience Institute’s Memory Health Clinic at West Virginia University.

According to new research featured in Aging Biology, a treatment involving 4-phenylubrate (PBA) may delay or reverse signs of Alzheimer’s disease. To learn more, Dr. Andrew Wilner dives into the results and potential implications of this mouse-model study with Dr. Jini Naidoo, Research Associate Professor of Sleep Medicine at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania.

Unfortunately, when it comes to the diagnosis and treatment of schizophrenia, there is nothing to definitively give clinicians a diagnosis, so it’s important to have a clinical evaluation and rule out everything else. But once a first episode psychosis diagnosis has been made, what treatment options are available? Dive into this episode with Psychiatric Nurse Practitioner Ashley Baker who is joined by Dr. Hannah Brown, Director of the Wellness and Recovery After Psychosis Program at Boston Medical Center and Assistant Professor of Psychiatry at Boston University Chobanian and Avedisian School of Medicine.

According to new research featured at the joint ECTRIMS-ACTRIMS meeting, the Multiple Sclerosis Disease Activity (MSDA) Test is a reliable indicator of recent objective disease activity when used within an academic clinic. Based on these findings, Dr. Andrew Wilner sits down with lead author of the study, Dr. William Kilgo, to discuss how the MSDA can be applied in our real-world clinical practice.

Two recent studies linked childhood stress and stressors experienced across the lifespan to the severity of multiple sclerosis (MS) symptoms. In fact, both childhood and adult stressors were associated with MS disability and the so-called invisible symptoms of pain interference and psychiatric morbidity while only adult stressors were related to relapse burden. Joining Dr. Andrew Wilner to discuss these findings and how they may shift our approach to caring for patients with MS is Dr. Carri Polick, a postdoctoral fellow and VA scholar in the Duke National Clinician Scholars Program.

The CHIMES trial is the first phase IV clinical trial focusing exclusively on Black and Hispanics living with multiple sclerosis (MS). Not only did this study reveal key details about the disease burden of MS in this patient population, but it also provides an example of how the cycle of health inequity in research efforts can be broken. Learn more with Dr. Jennifer Caudle and the lead investigator of the CHIMES trial, Dr. Mitzi Joi Williams.

According to a recent study, psychiatric conditions like depression, anxiety, bipolar disorder, and schizophrenia may be early indicators of multiple sclerosis (MS) years before symptoms appear, which could enable the early diagnosis and treatment of patients with MS. Joining Dr. Charles Turck to share key details and findings from this study is Dr. Anibal Chertcoff. Not only is Dr. Chertcoff the lead author of the study, but he’s also a postdoctoral fellow at the University of British Columbia where his research centers on characterizing the multiple sclerosis prodrome.