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A recent study published in the New Disease Reports journal has identified Clonostachys chloroleuca as a novel pathogen causing cassava root rot disease (CRRD) in Misiones Province, Argentina. The study collected storage roots from three cassava plants exhibiting symptoms of CRRD and conducted microbial diagnosis. Morphological and molecular identification confirmed the presence of Clonostachys chloroleuca as the causative agent of CRRD. This finding highlights the need for further research on the epidemiology and management strategies of this pathogen, as well as field experiments to validate the findings in real-world conditions. The study was conducted by researchers from the Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas & Técnicas (CONICET) and the Secretaría General de Ciencia & Tecnología, Universidad Nacional de Misiones. [Extracted from the article]

Background and Purpose: Long-term consequences after status epilepticus (SE) represent an unsettled issue. We investigated the incidence of remote unprovoked seizures (RS) and drug-resistant epilepsy (DRE) in a cohort of first-ever SE survivors., Methods: A retrospective, observational, and monocentric study was conducted on adult patients (age ≥ 14 years) with first SE who were consecutively admitted to the Modena Academic Hospital, Italy (September 2013-March 2022). Kaplan-Meier survival analyses were used to calculate the probability of seizure freedom following the index event, whereas Cox proportional hazard regression models were used to identify outcome predictors., Results: A total of 279 patients were included, 57 of whom (20.4%) developed RS (mean follow-up = 32.4 months). Cumulative probability of seizure freedom was 85%, 78%, and 68% respectively at 12 months, 2 years, and 5 years. In 45 of 57 patients (81%), the first relapse occurred within 2 years after SE. The risk of RS was higher in the case of structural brain damage (hazard ratio [HR] = 2.1, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.06-4.01), progressive symptomatic etiology (HR = 2.7, 95% CI = 1.44-5.16), and occurrence of nonconvulsive evolution in the semiological sequence of SE (HR = 2.9, 95% CI = 1.37-6.37). Eighteen of 57 patients (32%) developed DRE; the risk was higher in the case of super-refractory (p = 0.006) and non-convulsive SE evolution (p = 0.008)., Conclusions: The overall risk of RS was moderate, temporally confined within 2 years after the index event, and driven by specific etiologies and SE semiology. Treatment super-refractoriness and non-convulsive SE evolution were associated with DRE development., (© 2023 The Authors. European Journal of Neurology published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of European Academy of Neurology.)

Background: The last ILAE definition of Status Epilepticus (SE) highlights that the persistence of the epileptic activity per se could determine irreversible brain damages that could be responsible for long-term consequences. The measurement of neuro-glial injury biomarkers could help in the identification of those patients who will eventually develop short- and long-term consequences of SE. At present none of the already studied biomarkers has been validated to be used in everyday clinical practice. In this study, we explore the role of NfL and S100B as a prognostic biomarkers to identify patients who will develop short-term disability after an episode of SE., Methods: This is a retrospective assessment of the serum levels of both NfL and S100B in a cohort of 87 adult patients with SE prospectively collected in our SE registry (Modena Status Epilepticus Registry - MoSER -) at Baggiovara Civil Hospital (Modena, Italy). All samples were acquired during SE within 72 hours of SE diagnosis. The comparison groups were: healthy controls (HC, n = 27) and patients with epilepsy (PWE, n = 30). Demographic, clinical, and therapeutical information and thirty-days follow-up information regarding disability development were acquired for every included patient and analyzed in relation to NfL and S100B values., Results: Serum levels of NfL were significantly higher in SE compared to those of PWE (median 7.35 pg/ml, IQR 6.4, p < 0.001) and HC (median 6.57 pg/ml, IQR 9.1, p < 0.001); S100B serum levels were higher in SE (median 0.11 ug/L, IQR 0.18) compared to PWE (median 0.03 ug/L, IQR 0.03, p < 0.001) and HC (median 0.02 ug/L, IQR 0.008, p < 0.001). However, only NfL serum levels were found to be an independent predictor of 30 days functional outcome whereas S100B levels did not., Conclusions: Our results suggest that NfL measurement in serum during SE could help predict the short-term functional outcome. This paper was presented at the 8th London-Innsbruck Colloquium on Status Epilepticus and Acute Seizures held in September 2022., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2023 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Purpose: According to the operational epilepsy definition adopted by the International League Against Epilepsy (ILAE) in 2014, in patients with one unprovoked seizure, clinicians must stratify the recurrence risk to determine if the criteria for diagnosis of epilepsy have been met and if antiseizure medications (ASM) are required. A remote symptomatic etiology was considered to be one of the best predictors for seizure recurrence, also according to the available prediction tools, but in children with a previously negative history and a normal neurological examination, estimating the probability of seizure relapse remains less obvious. This meta-analysis aimed to fill this gap of knowledge., Methods: The PubMed, Embase, and Scopus databases were searched from January 2000 to December 2020. We selected studies reporting children (1 month-18 years old) presenting a first unprovoked seizure. The absence of a known remote neurological pathology had to be clearly stated in the paper or the idiopathic/cryptogenic group data were used; the finding of epileptogenic structural brain MRI abnormalities during the diagnostic workup at the moment of the first unprovoked seizure was not an exclusion criterion. Factors analyzed, as possible predictors of recurrence, included: age at onset, sex, family history of epilepsy, type of seizure (focal or generalized), epileptiform abnormalities on EEG, and epileptogenic structural brain MRI abnormalities., Results: Four studies met the inclusion criteria and the sample size consisted of 741 children. The estimated recurrence rate within 3 years was 50% (95%CI:33.9%-66.0%). Among the predictors of recurrence, focal seizure (OR = 1.52; 95%CI = 1.05-2.19), epileptiform abnormalities on EEG (OR = 1.97; 95%CI = 1.31-2.96), and positive family history for epilepsy (OR = 2.37; 95%CI = 1.56-3.59) were associated with a statistically significant increased risk., Conclusion: The analysis of data available until now cannot adequately assess the risk of recurrence after a first unprovoked seizure in neurotypical children. Prospective and multicenter cohort studies are expected., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2021 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)