NEURO

Given the high prevalence of individuals diagnosed with substance use disorder, along with the elevated rate of relapse following treatment initiation, investigating novel approaches and new modalities for substance use disorder treatment is of vital importance. One such approach involves neuromodulation which has been used therapeutically for neurological and psychiatric disorders and has demonstrated positive preliminary findings for the treatment of substance use disorder. The following article provides a review of several forms of neuromodulation which warrant consideration as potential treatments for substance use disorder. from Journal of the Neurological Sciences https://ift.tt/3iQSK6P

When a mouse senses a threat, neurons in the ventromedial hypothalamus become activated and remain active for ten seconds after the threat is removed. Fear responses could be induced by artificially stimulating these neurons. Artificially silencing the neurons reduced fear behavior. from Neuroscience News https://ift.tt/2FB3eJm

Researchers link the rise in acute stress and depression rates in the U.S to multiple stressors, such as unemployment and coronavirus-related media consumption. from Neuroscience News https://ift.tt/3hQRP4R

Multiple sclerosis (MS) patients have been considered a higher-risk population for COVID-19 due to the high prevalence of disability and disease-modifying therapy use; however, there is little data identifying clinical characteristics of MS associated with worse COVID-19 outcomes. Therefore, we conducted a multicenter prospective cohort study looking at the outcomes of 40 MS patients with confirmed COVID-19. Severity of COVID-19 infection was based on hospital course, where a mild course was defined as the patient not requiring hospital admission, moderate severity was defined as the patient requiring hospital admission to the general floor, and most severe was defined as requiring intensive care unit admission and/or death. from Journal of the Neurological Sciences https://ift.tt/33MWlwk

Cerebrovascular disease in patients with COVID-19: neuroimaging, histological and clinical description. Hernández-Fernández F, Valencia HS, Barbella-Aponte RA, et al. Brain 2020 (Online ahead of print). Abstract Background: Since the appearance of the first case of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) a pandemic has emerged affecting millions of people worldwide. Although the main clinical manifestations are respiratory, […] What are the characteristics of stroke in COVID-19? — Neurochecklists Blog from The Neurology Lounge https://ift.tt/3cenKLo

Editor’s Choice Eighteen patients with Moyamoya disease (16–55 years of age) and 18 age- and sex-matched healthy controls were evaluated with myelin-sensitive MR imaging based on magnetization transfer saturation imaging and 2-shell diffusion MR imaging. The myelin volume fraction, which reflects the amount of myelin sheath; the g-ratio, which represents the ratio of the inner (axon) to the outer (axon plus myelin) diameter of the fiber; and the axon volume fraction, which reflects axonal components, were calculated and compared between the patients and controls. Compared with the healthy controls, the patients with Moyamoya disease showed a significant decrease in the myelin and axon volume fractions in many WM regions, while the increases in the g-ratio values were not statistically significant. Correlations with cognitive performance were most frequently observed with the axon volume fraction. The authors conclude that the relationship with cognitive performance might be stronger

from Neurology : nature.com subject feeds https://ift.tt/3hMjQKS