Neurological Disorders

The “International Conference on 12th World congress On Alzheimers Disease and Dementia” hosted by conference series with the theme, “Innovative approaches to defeat Alzheimers Disease and Dementia” was successfully executed during March 20-21,2019 in Sydney, Australia. The conference offered a unique opportunity to investigators across the globe in order to meet, explore, network and perceive new scientific innovations. The conference received commendable and active participation was received from the Editorial Board Members of OMICS Group Journals as well as from the global scientists, Professors, Academicians, Researcher Scholars and students from diverse fields Alzheimers disease and Dementia.

Neurology Meet 2020 welcomes attendees, presenters, and exhibitors from all over the world to Abu Dhabi. We are delighted to invite you all to attend and register for the “2nd International Conference on Neurology and Neurosurgery” which is going to be held during December 10-11, 2020 in Dubai, UAE.

Dysembryoplastic neuroepithelial tumor (DNET), a benign, mixed neuroglial tumor that most commonly occupies the temporal lobe of the cortex. The spectrum of clinical presentation varies from simple partial seizure to generalized seizure in some cases. This is a case of a 20-year-old man who presented with a drug resistant epilepsy and was found to have a DNET located in the partial lobe. Therefore, based on radiological finding the diagnosis of DNET was made. Surgical resection of the tumour was done, and the patient recovered uneventfully. The patient was discharged with antiepileptic medications, and showed a complete seizure-free for one year follow up. To the best of our knowledge, this case report brings attention to a rare location of DNET in parietal lobe, also, discusses the clinical presentation, pathological findings, different diagnostic modalities, and surgical approach to such tumour.

Parkinson′s disease (PD) is an age-related neurodegenerative disorder that affects approximately 1 million persons in the United States. It is characterized by resting tremor, rigidity, bradykinesia, gait disturbance and postural instability. Its pathological features include degeneration of dopaminergic neurons in the substantia nigra pars compacta coupled with intra-cytoplasmic inclusions known as Lewy bodies. Neuro-degeneration and Lewy bodies can also be found in locus ceruleus, nucleus basalis, hypothalamus, cerebral cortex, cranial nerve motor nuclei, and central and peripheral components of autonomic nervous system. The appearance of Lewy-body-like inclusions in nigro-striatal terminals might be followed by retrograde degeneration, further accumulation of aggregated proteins in nigral cell bodies and, finally, reactive gliosis and cell death. In familial forms of Parkinson′s disease, linked to mutations in α-synuclein, it is proposed that a loss of normal function of this protein, as well as a toxic effect of altered forms of the mutant protein, promote the accumulation of dopamine in cytoplasm. This would result in oxidative stress, leading to the onset of neurodegenerative changes mentioned above. Finally, we review evidence for a role of α-synuclein in synaptic vesicle recycling and suggest that impaired function of this protein might lead to accumulation of dopamine in cytoplasm. This could be the final deleterious event that triggers the death of nigral dopaminergic neurons in PD.

Background: Neuromyelitis optica (NMO) and NMO spectrum disorder (NMOSD) is a rare autoimmune disorder that often leaves patients severely disabled, despite aggressive treatment with traditional immunosuppressive medication. While monoclonal antibody therapy has shown efficacy in treating NMO/NMOSD, no large randomized control trials exist. In lieu of such trials, we performed a systematic review and meta-analysis to assess the efficacy and safety of rituximab, eculizumab and tocilizumab in NMO/NMOSD patients.

Methods: We searched MEDLINE, the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (CENTRAL) and Embase from January 1, 2006 through December 31, 2018 for prospective studies using rituximab, eculizumab or tocilizumab in NMO/NMOSD patients and reporting annual relapse rate (ARR) and Expanded Disability Status Scale (EDSS) score before and after monoclonal therapy.

Results: Sixteen studies involving 324 patients were included in the systematic review and meta-analysis. Monoclonal therapy resulted in a statistically significant mean reduction in ARR of 1.77 (95% CI, 1.37 to 2.17) and a statistically significant mean reduction in EDSS of 1.14 (95% CI, 0.87 to 1.41).

Conclusion: Treatment with monoclonal antibodies, specifically rituximab, eculizumab and tocilizumab, significantly reduced the frequency of disease relapses and improved neurological disability in NMO/NMOSD patients.