Search

The effects of SARS-CoV-2 infection tend to affect certain groups of individuals disproportionately, such as older adults and those with pre-existing severe mental disorders. The patient had a fragile cognitive and psychological state prior to her admission, although there was a clear deterioration in the context of her systemic illness and SARS-CoV-2 infection, representing a new pathologic process at play separate from the patient's prior state of delirium. DISCUSSION The course of the patient's SARS-CoV-2 infection was associated with deterioration of the patient's behavior and mental status. An MRI report dated February 21, 2021, following the SARS-CoV-2 infection, described moderate generalized atrophy and white matter changes, which was noted to be worse compared with 2017 (Figure 1). [Extracted from the article]

Objectives: To detail the biological, clinical and neurocognitive characteristics differentiating bipolar disorder (BD) from frontotemporal dementia (FTD) and to investigate whether BD is a risk factor for FTD. Methods: A total of 16 studies were included in this systematic review. Five studies described biological and/or neurocognitive characteristics between patients with BD and FTD, and 11 studies investigated whether BD was a risk factor for FTD. Results: Individuals with FTD presented higher levels of serum neurofilament light chain, greater grey matter reduction in frontal, parietal and temporal lobes, and increased slow wave oscillations in channels F3, F4, T3, T5, T4 and T6 within an electroencephalogram (EEG), relative to individuals with BD. Patients with FTD presented greater deficits in executive function and theory of mind compared to patients with BD in a euthymic state, and more deficits in verbal fluency compared to patients with BD in a current mood episode. Patients with BD in a current mood episode showed greater impairment in attention, working memory, verbal memory and executive function relative to individuals with FTD. In addition, retrospective studies showed that 10.2%–11.6% of patients with behavioural variant FTD (bvFTD) had a preceding history of BD. Conclusion: Biological and neurocognitive characteristics help to distinguish between BD and FTD, and it may help to reach a more precise diagnosis. In addition, individuals with BD are at higher risk of developing FTD. More studies are needed to identify the predictors of the conversion between BD to FTD. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: The exact mechanisms underlying the development and maintenance of phantom limb pain (PLP) are still unclear. This study aimed to identify the factors affecting pain intensity in patients with chronic, lower limb, traumatic PLP. Methods: This is a cross‐sectional analysis of patients with PLP. We assessed amputation‐related and pain‐related clinical and demographic variables. We used univariate and multivariate models to evaluate the associated factors modulating PLP and residual limb pain (RLP) intensity. Results: We included 71 unilateral traumatic lower limb amputees. Results showed that (1) amputation‐related perceptions were experienced by a large majority of the patients with chronic PLP (sensations: 90.1%, n = 64; residual pain: 81.7%, n = 58); (2) PLP intensity has 2 significant protective factors (phantom limb movement and having effective treatment for PLP previously) and 2 significant risk factors (phantom limb sensation intensity and age); and (3) on the other hand, for RLP, risk factors are different: presence of pain before amputation and level of amputation (in addition to the same protective factors). Conclusion: These results suggest different neurobiological mechanisms to explain PLP and RLP intensity. While PLP risk factors seem to be related to maladaptive plasticity, since phantom sensation and older age are associated with more pain, RLP risk factors seem to have components leading to neuropathic pain, such as the amount of neural lesion and previous history of chronic pain. Interestingly, the phantom movement appears to be protective for both phenomena. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]