Background: Intrathecal baclofen (ITB) treatment is considered a powerful tool in the management of severe spasticity in neurological conditions such as multiple sclerosis, cerebral palsy, and traumatic spinal cord and brain injury. 

Objectives: The objective of this study was to assess the effectiveness of the ITB in patients with inherited ataxia suffering from severe painful spasms and/or spasticity. 

Method: A total of 5 patients with spinocerebellar ataxia 3 or 7 or Friedreich’s ataxia were included in this observational multicenter study. The patients were interviewed and completed outcome measures assessing pain (The Brief Pain Inventory), fatigue (Fatigue Severity Scale), and life satisfaction (LiSAT-9) before and 1 year after the treatment. Spasticity (Modified Ashworth Scale) and spasm frequency (SPFS) were measured objectively for each patient. 

Results: The mean treatment time was 1.9 years. Evaluation of established standard forms revealed symptomatic relief from spasticity, spasms, pain, and fatigue in addition to improved body posture, sleep, and life satisfaction after ITB treatment. 

Conclusions: We report the potential beneficial effects of ITB treatment in patients with inherited ataxia who also suffer from spasticity/spasms. ITB treatment indication in neurological disorders allows for extension to the treatment of spasticity/ spasms in patients with hereditary ataxia.

The study investigated brain activity changes during performance of a verbal working memory task in a population of adolescents with narcolepsy. Seventeen narcolepsy patients and twenty healthy controls performed a verbal working memory task during simultaneous fMRI and EEG acquisition. All subjects also underwent MRS to measure GABA and Glutamate concentrations in the medial prefrontal cortex. Activation levels in the default mode network and left middle frontal gyrus were examined to investigate whether narcolepsy is characterized by an imbalance in cognitive resources. Significantly increased deactivation within the default mode network during task performance was observed for the narcolepsy patients for both the encoding and recognition phases of the task. No evidence for task performance deficits or reduced activation within the left middle frontal gyrus was noted for the narcolepsy patients. Correlation analyses between the spectroscopy and fMRI data indicated that deactivation of the anterior aspect of the default mode in narcolepsy patients correlated more with increased concentrations of Glutamate and decreased concentrations of GABA. In contrast, deactivation in the default mode was correlated with increased concentrations of GABA and decreased concentrations of Glutamate in controls. The results suggested that narcolepsy is not characterized by a deficit in working memory but rather an imbalance of cognitive resources in favor of monitoring and maintaining attention over actual task performance. This points towards dysregulation within the sustained attention system being the origin behind self-reported cognitive difficulties in narcolepsy.

Objective: Parents with epilepsy can be concerned about the consequences of epilepsy affecting their children. The aim of this paper is to describe aspects of what it means being a parent having epilepsy, focusing the parents perspectives and their thoughts on having children. Methods: Fourteen adults aged 18-35 years with epilepsy and subjective memory decline took part in focus-group interviews. The interviews were conducted according to a semi-structured guideline. Material containing aspects of parenthood was extracted from the original interviews and a secondary analysis was done according to a content-analysis guideline. Interviews with two parents for the Swedish book Leva med epilepsi [To live with epilepsy] by AM Landtblom (Stockholm: Bilda ide; 2009) were analyzed according to the same method. Results: Four themes emerged: (1) a persistent feeling of insecurity, since a seizure can occur at any time and the child could be hurt; (2) a feeling of inadequacy - of not being able to take full responsibility for ones child; (3) acknowledgment that ones children are forced to take more responsibility than other children do; and (4) a feeling of guilt - of not being able to fulfill ones expectations of being the parent one would like to be. Conclusion: The parents with epilepsy are deeply concerned about how epilepsy affects the lives of their children. These parents are always aware that a seizure may occur and reflect on how this can affect their child. They try to foresee possible dangerous situations and prevent them. These parents were sad that they could not always take full responsibility for their child and could not live up to their own expectations of parenthood. Supportive programs may be of importance since fear for the safety of the child increases the psychosocial burden of epilepsy. There were also a few parents who did not acknowledge the safety issue of their child - the authors believe that it is important to identify these parents and provide extra information and support to them.

BACKGROUND: Obesity may be a risk factor for developing multiple sclerosis (MS).

OBJECTIVE: We examined if body size influences the risk of MS in a population-based, case control study.

METHODS: A total of 953 cases and 1717 controls from Norway and 707 cases and 1333 controls from Italy reported their body size by choosing a silhouette 1 to 9 (largest) every fifth year from age 5 to 30 and at time of study. The body size-related MS risk was defined by odds ratios (ORs) in logistic regression analyses adjusting for age, smoking and outdoor activity.

RESULTS: In Norway a large body size (silhouettes 6-9) compared to silhouette 3 increased the risk of MS, especially at age 25 (OR 2.21; 95% CI 1.09-4.46 for men and OR 1.43; 95% CI 0.90-2.27 for women). When comparing silhouette 9 to 1, we found a significant dose-response from age 10 until age 30 peaking at age 25 (sex-adjusted OR 2.83; 95% CI 1.68-4.78). The association was present for at least 15 years prior to disease onset. No significant associations were found in Italy.

CONCLUSIONS: Obesity from childhood until young adulthood is a likely risk factor for MS with a seemingly stronger effect in Norway than in Italy.

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In several international studies, an increasing women-to-men (w/m) ratio in patients with multiple sclerosis (MS) has been reported. Such sex ratios have been analysed by year of onset or by year of birth. In a Swedish study, data from the Swedish MS register (SMSreg) were used to analyse the w/m ratio in Sweden. The sex ratio was analysed both by year of birth (8834 patients) and by year of onset (9098 patients). No increased w/m ratio was seen in this study. The age-specific sex ratio did not demonstrate any significant changes. However, a new investigation of the sex ratio in Sweden, based on data from all available data sources (19,510 patients), showed a significantly increased w/m ratio of MS in Sweden from 1.70 to 2.67. Environmental factors such as cigarette smoking, hormonal factors and nutrition are of interest in this context, but the cause of the increasing w/m ratio in MS is yet not possible to explain.

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The ability to perform effortful tasks is a topic that has received considerable interest in the research of higher functions of the human brain. Neuroimaging studies show that the anterior insular and the anterior cingulate cortices are involved in a multitude of cognitive tasks that require mental effort. In this study, we investigated brain responses to effort using cognitive tasks with task-difficulty modulations and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). We hypothesized that effortful performance involves modulation of activation in the anterior insular and the anterior cingulate cortices, and that the modulation correlates with individual performance levels. Healthy participants performed tasks probing verbal working memory capacity using the reading span task, and visual perception speed using the inspection time task. In the fMRI analysis, we focused on identifying effort-related brain activation. The results showed that working memory and inspection time performances were directly related. The bilateral anterior insular and anterior cingulate cortices showed significantly increased activation during each task with common portions that were active across both tasks. We observed increased brain activation in the right anterior insula and the anterior cingulate cortex in participants with low working memory performance. In line with the reported results, we suggest that activation in the anterior insular and cingulate cortices is consistent with the neural efficiency hypothesis (Neubauer).

ObjectivesTo estimate the prevalence of epilepsy, costs associated with in- and outpatient care, drug utilization and productivity losses due to epilepsy in Sweden for the years 2005 and 2011. MethodsCost components were calculated using registry data on inpatient- and outpatient-care utilization, drug sales and early pensions granted due to permanent disability and mortality. Moreover, by cross-identification of information in healthcare and pharmaceutical registries, we were able to distinguish between pharmaceuticals prescribed for epilepsy and non-epilepsy indications. ResultsThe prevalence of epilepsy was estimated at 0.62% in 2005 and 0.88% in 2011. The total cost of epilepsy increased during the same period, while the per-patient cost decreased from Euro2929 to Euro1729. Direct medical costs accounted for about 36% of the estimated total cost in 2005 and 60% in 2011. The estimated healthcare cost due to epilepsy as a share of total healthcare costs for all illnesses was about the same in 2005 as in 2011 (0.2%), while the corresponding pharmaceutical cost increased from about 0.5% in 2005 to almost 1% in 2011. ConclusionsThe per-patient cost of epilepsy is substantial, implying a significant aggregated cost incurred on society (despite a prevalenceless than1%). Our results suggest that the per-patient pharmaceutical utilization increased, while the per-patient physician visits and hospitalizations decreased, between 2005 and 2011. Moreover, we demonstrate that the 2005 prevalence measure was underestimated the true prevalence in 2005.

Background: Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a chronic disease of the central nervous system, often resulting in significant neurological disability. The causes of MS are not known; however, the incidence of MS is increasing, thereby suggesting that changes in lifestyle and/or environmental factors may be responsible. On this background, the Environmental Risk Factors in MS Study or EnvIMS study was designed to further explore the etiology of MS. The design and methodology are described, providing details to enable investigators to (i) use our experiences to design their own studies; (ii) take advantage of, and build on the methodological work completed for, the EnvIMS study; (iii) become aware of this data source that is available for use by the research community. Methods: EnvIMS is a multinational case-control study, enrolling 2,800 cases with MS and 5,012 population-based controls in Canada, Italy, Norway, Serbia and Sweden. The study was designed to investigate the most commonly implicated risk factors for MS etiology using a self-report questionnaire. Results/Conclusions:The use of a common methodology to study MS etiology across several countries enhances the comparability of results in different geographic regions and research settings, reduces the resources required for study design and enhances the opportunity for data harmonization.