Global Interventional Neurology Device market presents an in-depth scenario which is segmented according to Interventional Neurology Device manufacturers, product type, applications, and regions. This segmentation will provide deep-dive analysis of the Interventional Neurology Device industry for identifying the growth opportunities, Interventional Neurology Device development trends and factors limiting the growth of the market. This report offers forecast market information based on past and present Interventional Neurology Device industry situations and growth aspects.

Initially, the report presents the Interventional Neurology Device market overview covering product description, market analysis, market dynamics, Interventional Neurology Device opportunities and market share. Secondly, global Interventional Neurology Device report conducts a qualitative analysis to present the key manufacturers profile, Interventional Neurology Device market share, market size, sales volume, gross margin analysis.

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All the key regions covered in Interventional Neurology Device report are North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, South America, Middle East and Africa. The Interventional Neurology Device market share and market outlook of each region from 2019-2026 are presented in this report. A deep study of Interventional Neurology Device market dynamics will help the market aspirants in identifying the business opportunities which will lead to accumulation of revenue. This segment can effectively determine the Interventional Neurology Device risk and key market driving forces.

The Interventional Neurology Device report is segmented to provide a clear and precise view of the global Interventional Neurology Device market statistics and market estimates. Interventional Neurology Device report Data represented in the form of graphs, charts, and figures will show the Interventional Neurology Device growth rate, volume, target consumer analysis. This report presents the crucial data to all Interventional Neurology Device industry aspirants which will facilitate useful business decisions.

Interventional Neurology Device Market Breakdown By Manufacturers (2019-2026):

Merit Medical Systems, IncW.L. Gore & AssociatesJohnson and JohnsonPenumbra, Inc.MedtronicMedikit Co., Ltd.StrykerTerumo CorporationMicroport Scientific Corporation

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Global Interventional Neurology Device Market Details Based on Product Category:

Carotid artery angioplasty & stentingEmbolization & coilingNeurothrombectomy Devices

Global Interventional Neurology Device Market Details Based On Key Product Applications:

Treatment of Cerebral AneurysmsTreatment of Cerebral VasospasmVertebroplasty

Region-Wise Interventional Neurology Device Market Analysis Can Be Represented As Follows:

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Part 1: This part enlists the global Interventional Neurology Device market overview, covering the basic market introduction, market analysis by type, applications, regions. The major Interventional Neurology Device producing regions include North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, Middle-East, and Africa. Interventional Neurology Device industry states and outlook(2019-2026) is presented in this part. In addition, Interventional Neurology Device market dynamics stating the opportunities, market risk, key driving forces are studied.

Part 2: This part covers Interventional Neurology Device manufacturers profile based on their business overview, product type, and application. Also, the sales volume, Interventional Neurology Device product price, gross margin analysis, and Interventional Neurology Device market share of each player is profiled in this report.

Part 3 and Part 4: This part presents the Interventional Neurology Device competition based on sales, revenue, and market share of each manufacturer. Part 4 covers the Interventional Neurology Device market scenario based on regions. Region-wise Interventional Neurology Device sales and growth (2029-2026) is studied in this report.

Part 5 and Part 6: These two sections cover the North America and Europes Interventional Neurology Device industry by countries. Under this the Interventional Neurology Device revenue, market share of the countries like USA, Canada, and Mexico is provided. Under Europe Interventional Neurology Device report includes, the countries like Germany, UK, France, Russia, Italy, Russia and their sales and growth is covered.

Part 7, Part 8 and Part 9: These 3 sections covers Interventional Neurology Device sales revenue and growth for the regions like Asia-Pacific, South America, Middle East & Africa. Under these regions Interventional Neurology Device report covered, the countries like China, Japan, Korea, India, Brazil, Columbia, Argentina, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Nigeria and South Africa. The sales and growth in these regions are presented in this Interventional Neurology Device industry report.

Part 10 and Part 11: This part depicts the Interventional Neurology Device market share, revenue, sales by product type and application. The Interventional Neurology Device sales growth seen during 2015-2019 is covered in this report.

Part 12 and Part 13: This part provides forecast information related to Interventional Neurology Device market(2029-2026) for each region. The sales channels including direct and indirect Interventional Neurology Device marketing, traders, distributors, and future trends are presented in this report.

Part 14 and Part 15: These parts present Interventional Neurology Device market key research findings and conclusion, research methodology, and data sources are covered.

Thus, Global Interventional Neurology Device report is a complete blend covering all the vital market aspects.

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Global Interventional Neurology Device Market Seeking Growth from Emerging Markets, Growth Revenue, Study Drivers, Restraints and Forecast 2024 -...

By: David DiPinoContributing Writer

Nils Mueller-Kronast, MD, an interventional neurologist with Palm Beach Neuroscience Institute (PBNI) continues to provide care during the COVID-19 Pandemic for a wide variety of neurological ailments and neurovascular diseases including stroke and brain aneurysm treatment.

At Dr. Nils Mueller-Kronasts PBNI office, safety protocols and guidelines continue to be in place and telehealth appointments are available. Those safety procedures include patient screening for fever and cough, following the Centers for Disease Control and Preventions (CDC) guidelines for social distancing by maintaining six-feet of distance between individuals in the waiting area and exam room and continuous wearing of masks by staff. In addition, Dr. Mueller-Kronast and his care staff wear gloves and masks during patient consultations, and the offices and waiting areas are routinely sanitized.

Healthcare providers take great efforts to ensure patient and staff safety during an office consultation by limiting the physical exam when appropriate, maintaining social distance during the consultation while wearing personal protective equipment (PPE) throughout the encounter. We also provide telehealth for new patients and follow-up appointments for added convenience and patient safety, said Dr. Mueller-Kronast.

Telehealth appointments may be appropriate when the neurological disease does not require a physical exam.

Bi-directional video and audio conferences provide an excellent patient experience without the inconvenience and perceived uncertainty of an in-person visit. If chosen for the correct patient and condition, there does not have to be a negative impact to not being in-person with the patient during the interaction and telehealth can allow us to determine the correct diagnosis and treatment, said Dr. Mueller-Kronast.

Additionally, Dr. Mueller-Kronast encourages going to the hospital for serious ailments and elective procedures.

In the hospital patients who are suspected of COVID-19, or are COVID-19 positive, are managed by separate staff in separate areas of the hospital. We also use telehealth to minimize staff exposure when feasible. All elective surgery patients are COVID-19 tested, said Dr. Mueller-Kronast.

As for the link between COVID-19 and stroke, Dr. Mueller-Kronast has seen rare occurrences.

Early during the first months of the epidemic, in certain hot spots, some hospitals reported a spike in embolic large vessel occlusion in COVID-19 positive patients. We have seen a few COVID-19 positive stroke patients with typically more severe disease but, as in many parts of the country, there appeared to be a hesitancy of patients to present to the emergency room, said Dr.Mueller-Kronast.

Lastly, Dr. Mueller-Kronast encourages our communities to continue making efforts in preventing the spread of the COVID-19 virus.

These are difficult times, and we have to take this disease seriously. Everyones efforts are required to minimize the risk of exposure for our most vulnerable members of society. I feel that wearing a mask to protect someone else from a potentially deadly disease is a small burden which I will happily shoulder, said Dr. Mueller-Kronast.

Dr. Nils Mueller-Kronast is an interventional neurologist with the Palm Beach Neuroscience Institute and is on-staff at Delray Medical Center in Delray Beach, St. Marys Medical Center in West Palm Beach and Florida Medical Center, a campus of North Shore located in Fort Lauderdale. In addition, Dr. Mueller-Kronast is the Regional Medical Director of Neurosciences for Tenet Healthcares Florida Region.

Dr. Mueller-Kronast specializes in stroke, vascular neurology office consultations, endovascular management of elective and ruptured aneurysm, endovascular management of vascular malformations (dural AV fistulas, arteriovenous malformations), intra-arterial stroke treatment, carotid, intracranial and other cerebrovascular stents. His Palm Beach Neuroscience Institutes offices are located in Boynton Beach, West Palm Beach and Sunrise, FL. Dr. Mueller-Kronasts Boynton Beach office is located at: 8756 Boynton Beach Blvd., Suite 2500, Boynton Beach, FL 33472. For more information visit: http://www.PBNI.com or call 561-499-7551.

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Neurology care during the COVID-19 pandemic, an interventional neurologist's perspective - Boca Newspaper

The following article is part of conference coverage from the 8th Joint American Committee for Treatment and Research in Multiple Sclerosis (ACTRIMS) and European Committee for Treatment and Research in Multiple Sclerosis (ECTRIMS) MSVirtual2020 event. Neurology Advisors staff will be reporting breaking news associated with research conducted by leading experts in neurology. .

Disease modifying therapies (DMTs) show the greatest effectiveness among those with multiple sclerosis (MS) who have shorter MS duration, lower scores on the Expanded Disability Status Scale (EDSS), lower rate of relapse, and the relapsing MS phenotype, according to research presented at the 8th Joint American Committee for Treatment and Research in Multiple Sclerosis (ACTRIMS) and European Committee for Treatment and Research in Multiple Sclerosis (ECTRIMS) MSVirtual2020 event, held September 11-13, 2020.

This retrospective study included 26,329 individuals with relapsing or progressive MS selected from the international MSBase registry. Inclusion criteria consisted of being followed for 1 year, with 3 visits, and 1 visit per year. Study researchers compared the hazard ratios (HR) of EDSS improvement and 6-month confirmed worsening, as well as relapse rates between treated and untreated periods. Marginal structural models were used to do so and were continuously readjusted to take into account participant sex, age, date, pregnancy, previous relapse history, time from first symptom, MRI activity, and disability.

Among 23,687 individuals with relapsing MS, those treated with DMTs were 20% more likely to experience disability improvement (HR 1.20; 95% CI, 1.0-1.5), 47% less likely to experience worsening disability (HR 0.53; 95% CI, 0.39-0.71), and had a 51% decrease in relapses (HR 0.49; 95% CI, 0.43-0.55). However, longer MS duration and higher previous rate of relapse reduced the effect of DMTs on relapses and EDSS worsening; the effect of DMTs on these factors was stronger among those in lower EDSS categories.

The use of DMTs was associated with greater EDSS improvement among those without new MRI lesions (HR 1.51; 95% CI, 1.00-2.28) than those with MRI activity (HR 1.04; 95% CI, 0.88-1.24). Among the 26,329 individuals with either relapsing or progressive MS, those with relapsing MS treated with DMTs showed reductions in both EDSS worsening (HR 0.75; 95% CI, 0.65-0.86) and relapses (HR 0.58; 95% CI, 0.54-0.62). However, these benefits were not observed in those with progressive MS.

The study researchers concluded, DMTs are associated with reduction in relapse frequency, progression of disability, and increased chance of recovery from disability. however, subgroups with shorter MS duration, lower EDSS, lower relapse rate and relapsing MS phenotype appear more likely to experience benefits from DMTs.

Visit Neurology Advisors conference section for continuous coverage from the ACTRIMS/ECTRIMS MSVirtual2020 Forum.

Diouf I, Malpas C, Horakova D, et al. Variability of the response to immunotherapy among sub-groups of patients with multiple sclerosis. Presented at: 8th Joint American Committee for Treatment and Research in Multiple Sclerosis and European Committee for Treatment and Research in Multiple Sclerosis MSVirtual2020 event; September 11-13, 2020. Abstract P0018.

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DMTs Most Effective Among Certain Subgroups of Individuals With MS - Neurology Advisor

The following article is part of conference coverage from the 8th Joint American Committee for Treatment and Research in Multiple Sclerosis (ACTRIMS) and European Committee for Treatment and Research in Multiple Sclerosis (ECTRIMS) MSVirtual2020 event. Neurology Advisors staff will be reporting breaking news associated with research conducted by leading experts in neurology. .

For youths with pediatric multiple sclerosis (MS), activities and participation are more important life domains than disease-related impairments. As a result,

a health-related quality of life (HRQoL) measure should include variables of MS-related impairments that require targeted therapies, as well as the activities and roles important to these patients, according to study results presented at the 8th Joint American Committee for Treatment and Research in Multiple Sclerosis (ACTRIMS) and European Committee for Treatment and Research in Multiple Sclerosis (ECTRIMS) MSVirtual2020 event, held September 11-13, 2020.

While generic HRQoL measures are used to evaluate the impact of pediatric MS, these measures do not always provide insight into domains of health that are relevant to children and parents alike. The goals of this study were to identify domains of life significant to youths with pediatric MS and to contribute to building a better condition-specific measure for this population.

To achieve these, study researchers used an online survey based on the Patient Generated Index (PGI), an approach which relies on open-ended responses to assess HRQoL. They then mapped text threads formed by the PGI onto the International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF), and the Comprehensive ICF Core Set for MS.

A total of 19 participants completed the survey, 10 of whom were youths with MS between the ages of 14 and 22 years. This group had a median onset age of 13.5 years. More than 80% of the areas in the survey nominated by youths with MS were associated with activities and participation, while just 20% of these areas related to impairments. 62% of the areas nominated by parents, however, related to impairments. Taken together, these findings suggest that a HRQoL measure should include variables of MS-related impairments that require targeted therapies as well as activities and roles important to youths.

The researchers noted that the new assessment approach has a disability component which addresses such impairments related to MS, and is completed with the PGI system. In this component, the youth or parent chooses a total of 5 disability areas impacted by MS, rates its severity, and prioritizes each area for improvement. Additionally, the assessment has a youth-completed quality of life component that asks respondents about areas going well.

Study researchers concluded that the use of this new measurement approach could prove useful in overcoming challenges of measurement development for children with rare diseases like pediatric MS.

Visit Neurology Advisors conference section for continuous coverage from the ACTRIMS/ECTRIMS MSVirtual2020 Forum.

Reference

Ow N, Karp A, Ogeil J, Dilenge M, Sbire G, Mayo N. Pediatric MS: different disease course, different impact, different measurement approach needed. Presented at: 8th Joint American Committee for Treatment and Research in Multiple Sclerosis and European Committee for Treatment and Research in Multiple Sclerosis MSVirtual2020 event; September 11-13, 2020. Abstract P0130.

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Improvements Are Needed to Measure Impact of Pediatric MS - Neurology Advisor

Philadelphia, September 3, 2020 New findings from Childrens Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) show that some patients with a rare and aggressive form of leukodystrophy may benefit from receiving treatment with a class of targeted therapy drugs that could improve their neurological function. A correspondence about these findings was published today in the New England Journal of Medicine.

Aicardi-Goutires syndrome (AGS) is a rare genetic disorder and type of leukodystrophy that affects the brain and immune system. In patients with AGS, the bodys immune system turns on itself in a destructive way, targeting the brains white matter, causing most children with the disorder to experience mild to severe intellectual or physical impairments. Most children with AGS are unable to walk or talk and have multisystemic complications, including skin inflammation.

Prior studies have linked the activation of interferons signaling proteins that respond to various immune disruptions to exacerbated symptoms in AGS. Researchers at CHOP wanted to explore whether a class of small molecule inhibitor drugs called janus kinase (JAK) inhibitors could be used to block interferon activation in a way that helped these patients.

Because treatment options for AGS are limited and the symptoms that these patients experience are so severe, there is a need to explore a wide variety of options, said senior author Adeline Vanderver, MD, an attending physician in the Division of Neurology, Program Director of the Leukodystrophy Center, and Jacob A. Kamens Endowed Chair in Neurologic Disorders and Translational Neurotherapeutics at CHOP.

The study was conducted at CHOP with 35 international patients with genetically confirmed AGS. These patients received baricitinib, an oral JAK1 and JAK2 inhibitor, with doses based on each patients renal function, age and symptoms. Patients had their developmental histories evaluated from the onset of the disease to the end of the study, which ranged from 7.4 months to 41.5 months. The study team analyzed a variety of developmental milestones, including head control, sitting, rolling, smiling, babbling, and the use of single words and word combinations.

Before the patients in this study received treatment, 26 of the 35 had stable or declining neurologic function, and 9 of the 35 patients gained one or two of these developmental skills after disease onset. However, during the study, 20 patients met new milestones, and 12 patients gained between two to seven new skills. The improvements were typically observed within three months into the study and persisted. Children who received higher doses of the therapy appeared to achieve more of these milestones.

Some of the AGS patients who received baricitinib were at risk for developing thrombocytosis, leukopenia, and infection and therefore should be monitored closely while taking the drug.

Measuring neurologic improvements in these patients is a complex process, but the results of this study are encouraging, especially because we observed improvements even in patients with severe and long-standing disease, Vanderver said.

Eli Lilly provided the medication for the study and performed the safety laboratory tests. This work was supported by grants NINDS U01 NS106845 and NICHD U01HD082806 and the State of Pennsylvania, Commonwealth Universal Research Enhancement Program, the J.A. Kamens Chair in Translational Neurotherapeutics from CHOP; grant KL2TR001879 from the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences of the NIH, K23NS114113 the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke of the NIH, and K08-HL140129 from the Parker B. Francis Foundation; and funding from the Department of Pediatrics at CHOP.

Vanderver et al, Janus Kinase Inhibition in the AicardiGoutires Syndrome. N Engl J Med, online September 3, 2020. DOI: 10.1056/NEJMc2001362.

About Childrens Hospital of Philadelphia: Childrens Hospital of Philadelphia was founded in 1855 as the nations first pediatric hospital. Through its long-standing commitment to providing exceptional patient care, training new generations of pediatric healthcare professionals, and pioneering major research initiatives, Childrens Hospital has fostered many discoveries that have benefited children worldwide. Its pediatric research program is among the largest in the country. In addition, its unique family-centered care and public service programs have brought the 564-bed hospital recognition as a leading advocate for children and adolescents. For more information, visit http://www.chop.edu

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Existing Class of Drugs May Improve Neurological Function in Patients with Rare, Aggressive Genetic Disorder - Newswise

PLANO, Texas, Sept. 03, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Reata Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (Nasdaq: RETA) (Reata, the Company, or we), a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company, today announced the forthcoming presentation of efficacy and safety results from the pivotal MOXIe Part 2 study, a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial of omaveloxolone in Friedreichs ataxia.

The presentation will take place on September 24, 2020 as part of the 2020 Emerging Science presentations hosted by the American Academy of Neurology (AAN). David Lynch, M.D., Ph.D., will present the data. Dr. Lynch is an attending physician at the Childrens Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP), professor of neurology at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, and the principal investigator of the MOXIe study.

The AAN Science Committee selected this as one of 12 late-breaking abstracts, chosen from more than 150 abstracts submitted to the April 2020 AAN meeting, which was converted to a virtual meeting due to the COVID-19 pandemic. More information about the AAN presentation can be found at the AAN Emerging Science webpage: https://www.aan.com/education-and-research/research/2020-aan-science-highlights/.

Separately, Dr. Lynch will present the results of the MOXIe Part 2 study at the FARA 2020 Biomarker & Clinical Endpoint Meeting, also scheduled for September 24. More information about this meeting and Dr. Lynchs presentation there can be found at https://curefa.org/pdf/research/Agenda-Biomarker2020-draft.pdf.

About Reata Pharmaceuticals, Inc.

Reata is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company that develops novel therapeutics for patients with serious or life-threatening diseases by targeting molecular pathways involved in the regulation of cellular metabolism and inflammation. Reatas two most advanced clinical candidates, bardoxolone methyl ("bardoxolone") and omaveloxolone, target the important transcription factor Nrf2 that promotes the resolution of inflammation by restoring mitochondrial function, reducing oxidative stress, and inhibiting pro-inflammatory signaling. Bardoxolone and omaveloxolone are investigational drugs, and their safety and efficacy have not been established by any agency.

Contact:Reata Pharmaceuticals, Inc.(972) 865-2219http://reatapharma.com

Investors:Vinny JindalVice President, Investor Relations and Corporate Communications(469) 374-8721ir@reatapharma.comhttp://reatapharma.com/contact-us/

Forward-Looking Statements

This press release includes certain disclosures that contain forward-looking statements, including, without limitation, statements regarding the success, cost and timing of our product development activities and clinical trials, our plans to research, develop and commercialize our product candidates, our plans to submit regulatory filings, and our ability to obtain and retain regulatory approval of our product candidates. You can identify forward-looking statements because they contain words such as believes, will, may, aims, plans, model, and expects. Forward-looking statements are based on Reatas current expectations and assumptions. Because forward-looking statements relate to the future, they are subject to inherent uncertainties, risks, and changes in circumstances that may differ materially from those contemplated by the forward-looking statements, which are neither statements of historical fact nor guarantees or assurances of future performance. Important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, (i) the timing, costs, conduct, and outcome of our clinical trials and future preclinical studies and clinical trials, including the timing of the initiation and availability of data from such trials; (ii) the timing and likelihood of regulatory filings and approvals for our product candidates; (iii) whether regulatory authorities determine that additional trials or data are necessary in order to obtain approval; (iv) the potential market size and the size of the patient populations for our product candidates, if approved for commercial use, and the market opportunities for our product candidates; and (v) other factors set forth in Reatas filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, including the detailed factors discussed under the caption Risk Factors in its Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2019. The forward-looking statements speak only as of the date made and, other than as required by law, we undertake no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events, or otherwise.

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Reata Announces the Presentation of the Pivotal MOXIe Part 2 Study of Omaveloxolone in Friedreich's Ataxia at the American Academy of Neurology -...

This piece is sponsored by Eisai Inc.

The path to seizure freedom can be a long and frustrating journey. We often have to try different medications or combine several treatments before finding a suitable treatment with minimal side effects. 1,2 For this reason, it is essential that we try to get our patients on the right treatment plan right from the start. The challenge HCPs and patients face is that each patients needs are different and reaching the right dose of an anti-seizure medication (ASM) is a journey unique to every patient. Understanding the barriers patients often face can steer us to the right path for a smoother journey.

The Challenge of Dosing

One of the biggest challenges in treating epilepsy is the process of getting patients to their target dose of anti-seizure medication by increasing the dose incrementally (called titration) as quickly and safely as possible while minimizing side effects. However, reaching the target dose is a journey, and each patients journey is different.1,3 During this process, the number of doctor visits increases for the patient as the care team monitors how well the drug is working and how side effects are tolerated.1,4 Each patients response to treatment is also different and unfortunately, we cant know if a drug is effective for someone until their titration is complete. Meanwhile, the financial and time burdens associated with these additional visits and testing can add stress for patients and their families.1,3,4

Another significant part of the seizure freedom journey is finding the right dose frequency (dosage) for a patient that also fits the needs of their lifestyle. For many medications, the higher the dose, the more chances for adverse events to interfere with quality of life.5 At the same time, the complexity of the regimen, such as multiple drugs or multiple doses per day, may lead to poor compliance. Knowing details of a patients day-to-day living, such as a change in diet or a new work schedule, can be incredibly useful when making treatment decisions and considering dosing schedules right from the start.

Balancing the Effects of Dose Titration

Juggling multiple medications and adjusting to treatment schedules can be stressful for a patient. There is also the related worry that a seizure can occur while waiting for the new medication to reach its target dose.

Medications requiring shorter titration periods may help avoid uncontrolled seizures by getting patients to their target dose faster.6 Additionally, drugs that stay in the patients body longer, sometimes referred to as a longer half-life, may help in the inevitable case of missed doses.7,8 These drugs require less frequent dosage, are associated with better adherence and may mitigate concentration fluctuations in the body.7,9

As health care professionals, it is important that we consider a dosing plan as we explore an appropriate treatment regimen for each patient. Our goal is to get patients on the most effective dose of medication with the simplest regimen for them as quickly as possible while minimizing side effects.1 But to achieve that, we need to engage our patients in a clear, ongoing discussion about their lifestyle, causes of missed doses, tolerance for side effects, and potential solutions that make sense for that individual.

By having these discussions, we can help reduce the burden of repeat office visits, minimize the risk of ongoing seizures, and lower overall healthcare costs, all of which leads to an overall better patient experiencesomething we should all strive for in our practices.1,7

For resources and more information about uncontrolled seizures and approaches on achieving seizure control, visit EPILAPSEY.com.

References

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Setting Patients with Epilepsy on the Path to Seizure Freedom Right from the Start - Neurology Advisor

NEW YORK, Sept. 1, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Peloton (NASDAQ: PTON), the world's largest interactive fitness platform, today announced the formation of the Peloton Health and Wellness Advisory Council, which will work closely with the company as it continues to look at how it can positively impact the physical, mental and emotional wellbeing of its community of Members from around the world. Peloton will collaborate with the council, which includes five renowned doctors, researchers and other medical professionals from the fields of cardiovascular medicine, cardiopulmonary exercise, neurology and neuroscience, and draw on their knowledge and expertise to help inform product and content development, community-focused and social impact initiatives, research projects and more.

"We constantly hear from our Members that Peloton has not only profoundly impacted their physical, mental and emotional health, but has also helped them cope with issues ranging from neurodegenerative disease or cancer, to PTSD or post-partum depression," said William Lynch, president, Peloton. "With the addition of this esteemed Health and Wellness Advisory Council, which includes some of the best minds in medicine, we can leverage scientific research and medical expertise to help us better serve our community through our content, products and platform."

The Peloton Health and Wellness Advisory Council includes the following experts:

Cardiovascular MedicineSuzanne Steinbaum, MD:Dr. Suzanne Steinbaum is an attending cardiologist, specializing in prevention. She has recently opened a private practice in New York City, at the Juhi-Ash integrative health center encompassing heart health, wellness and prevention, as well as the effects of stress and inflammation on heart health. She is the founder and President of SRSHeart, a personalized lifestyle management program using anatomy, physiology, functional data, genetics and metabolism, along with technology to reach ultimate cardiovascular health. She has been the Director of Women's Cardiovascular Prevention, Health and Wellness at Mt. Sinai Heart in New York City, after being the Director of Women's Heart Health at Northwell Lenox Hill. Dr. Steinbaum is a Fellow of the American College of Cardiology and the American Heart Association. She is a National Spokesperson for the Go Red for Women campaign and chairperson of the Go Red for Women in New York City. She is on the New York City Board of the American Heart Association and on the Scientific Advisory Board of the Women's Heart Alliance.

NeurologyRichard S. Isaacson, MD:Richard S. Isaacson, M.D. is a Neurologist, clinician and researcher who specializes in Alzheimer's prevention and treatment. He previously served as Associate Professor of Clinical Neurology, Vice Chair of Education, and Education Director of the McKnight Brain Institute in the Department of Neurology at the University of Miami (UM) Miller School of Medicine. Prior to joining UM, he served as Associate Medical Director of the Wien Center for Alzheimer's disease and Memory Disorders at Mount Sinai. Dr. Isaacson specializes in Alzheimer's disease (AD) risk reduction and treatment, mild cognitive impairment due to AD and preclinical AD. His clinical research has shown that individualized clinical management of patients at risk for AD dementia is an important strategy for optimizing cognitive function and reducing risk of dementia. He has also published novel methods on using a precision medicine approach in real-world clinical practice. He has also led the development of Alzheimer's Universe (AlzU.org) a vast online education research portal on AD with results published in the Journal of the Prevention of Alzheimer's disease, Journal of Communication in Healthcare, Alzheimer's & Dementia: Translational Research & Clinical Interventions, and Neurology. With a robust clinical practice and broad background in computer science, m-Health, biotechnology and web-development, Dr. Isaacson is committed to using technology and lifestyle interventions (such as physical exercise and nutrition) to optimize patient care, AD risk assessment and early intervention.

Vernon Williams, MD:Vernon Williams, MD is the Founding Director of the Center for Sports Neurology and Pain Medicine at Cedars-Sinai Kerlan-Jobe Institute in Los Angeles, CA. Dr. Williams is a former Commissioner for the California State Athletic Commission and current Chair of Neurological Health for the Commission's Medical Advisory Committee, as well as a former two-term Chair of the American Academy of Neurology Sports Neurology Section. He serves as a neurological medical consultant to local professional sports organizations such as the Los Angeles Rams, Los Angeles Dodgers, Los Angeles Lakers, Los Angeles Kings and Los Angeles Sparks. He also assists local colleges and numerous high school and youth sports/club athletic teams in this capacity. Dr. Williams is a board-certified clinical neurologist with very specialized areas of subspecialty: Sports Neurology and Pain Medicine. He is actively engaged in researching and developing innovative and effective treatments and technologies that help people recognize symptoms of a neurological injury sooner so that the work of treating them can happen faster, and with less potential for permanent damage. He passionately advocates for optimization of Neurological Health across the lifespan for his patients and peak performance clients.

Cardiopulmonary ExerciseAimee M. Layton, PhD:Aimee Layton, PhD is an Assistant Professor of Applied Physiology in Pediatrics in the Division of Pediatric Cardiology and the Director of the Pediatric Cardiopulmonary Exercise Laboratory at Columbia University Medical Center / New York Presbyterian Hospital. Dr. Layton recently joined the pediatric cardiology team after being director of the adult pulmonary exercise laboratory for a decade. This cross discipline experience provides Dr. Layton with knowledge of both how the lungs and the heart respond to exercise and the role of disease and sports in both adults and kids. Dr. Layton's prior research investigated respiratory biomechanics, with publications in both diseased and healthy populations. Her new research focuses on bridging the gap between the lab and the home, in hopes of impacting kids' behavior and relationship with exercise. Dr. Layton is a respected expert in clinical exercise physiology and has lectured internationally on the topic. Beyond her research, Dr. Layton has been performing exercise testing and counseling for both patients with lung disease and patients with heart disease. She plays an important role as one of the lead exercise physiologists for Columbia University Medical Center in testing, exercise counseling and research.

NeuroscienceJay Alberts, PhD:As a Cleveland Clinic Scientist, Ph.D., Jay Alberts' research is aimed at understanding the structure-function relationships within the central nervous system and evaluating the impact of behavioral and surgical interventions to improve motor and non-motor function in Parkinson's disease, stroke, Alzheimer's and other neurological populations. Human studies are currently ongoing to address these basic and translational research questions. Dr. Alberts is developing and validating new methods of using exercise and augmented and virtual reality to engage patient populations remotely. He is currently leading two multi-site clinical trials investigating the role of exercise in slowing the progression of Parkinson's disease. Dr. Alberts has led multiple successful technology initiatives aimed at better understanding patient symptoms and communicating these symptoms to providers. He is currently building AR and VR applications as prescriptive digital therapeutic systems for neurological patients. To date, Dr. Alberts has written 100 peer reviewed articles, has had uninterrupted extramural funding since 1999 and holds 10 patents.

For more information about Peloton or the Peloton Health and Wellness Advisory Council, please visit http://www.blog.onepeloton.com.

About PelotonPeloton is the largest interactive fitness platform in the world with a loyal community of more than 2.6 million Members. The company pioneered connected, technology-enabled fitness, and the streaming of immersive, instructor-led boutique classes for its Members anytime, anywhere. Peloton makes fitness entertaining, approachable, effective, and convenient, while fostering social connections that encourage its Members to be the best versions of themselves. An innovator at the nexus of fitness, technology, and media, Peloton has reinvented the fitness industry by developing a first-of-its-kind subscription platform that seamlessly combines the best equipment, proprietary networked software, and world-class streaming digital fitness and wellness content, creating a product that its Members love. The brand's immersive content is accessible through the Peloton Bike, Peloton Tread, and Peloton App, which allows access to a full slate of fitness classes across disciplines, on any iOS or Android device, Apple TV, Fire TV, Roku TVs, and Chromecast and Android TV. Founded in 2012 and headquartered in New York City, Peloton has a growing number of retail showrooms across the US, UK, Canada and Germany. For more information, visit http://www.onepeloton.com.

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http://www.pelotoncycle.com

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Peloton Introduces Its First-Ever Health And Wellness Advisory Council - PRNewswire

Article In Brief

The loss of revenue to institutions and philanthropies due to COVID-19 has taken a toll on the neurology research enterprise. The exceptionstudies related to the novel coronavirus.

Furloughed technical staff. Cancelled fundraising walks. Paused grant reviews. Busted budgets.

In myriad ways, the financial foundations of neurology research have been undermined in just the first few months of the COVID-19 pandemic and may well grow worse in the months to come, according to academic neurologists and officials at the charitable organizations that fund their studies.

For sure, new opportunities for research funds related to COVID-19 are making up some of the difference. But doubts remain that they could cover all the losses.

Every passing month, it gets harder and harder, said Brett Kissela, MD, MS, FAAN, the Albert Barnes Voorheis Professor and Chair of the department of neurology and rehabilitation medicine at the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine. Our business people are looking at the books and seeing we've lost a huge amount of research-related revenue.

As senior associate dean for clinical research, Dr. Kissela has had a bird's eye view on how COVID-19 has affected all categories of medical research.

Some critical research, like cancer trials, we kept open, but otherwise we really had to shut down the non-COVID research enterprise, he told Neurology Today. We're still accruing expenses but not able to generate revenues. It's a huge financial hit.

One major source of research funding, he said, comes from pharmaceutical companies, which typically pay medical schools per patient enrolled in a given trial.

Some of the companies have really been hoping we can get started again, Dr. Kissela said. The longer a study goes, the more it costs them. We'd all like to re-start. But we can only go slowly. We don't want to put patients or staff at risk, and definitely don't want to become a hot spot.

Another major source of study funding, from charitable organizations, has also been hit hard by the pandemic.

It's had a big impact, said Howard Fillitt, MD, founding director and chief science officer of the Alzheimer's Drug Discovery Foundation. Across the board, in talking with our colleagues at other non-profits, we've heard that fundraising is down this year. It's a very difficult situation.

On the bright side, a spate of new funding opportunities has opened for studies looking at the neurologic component of COVID-19. But with labs forced to practice social distancing and patients reluctant to enter hospitals, even those studies may prove difficult for neurologists to implement.

So far at the University of Cincinnati, there have been no furloughs or work reductions for research staff, Dr. Kissela said.

The problem is, if you're too aggressive with furloughs or pay cuts, you could lose valuable people for when you're finally ready to get back to full employment, he said. We're beginning a cautious return to research now, and hoping we'll be able to return to full speed sometime soon.

The biggest impact has been on technical staff who cannot do their work from home, said D. James Surmeier, PhD, the Nathan Smith Davis Professor and Chair of Physiology at the Feinberg School of Medicine at Northwestern University.

The postdoctoral fellows and grad students are more flexible, said Dr. Surmeier, who researches the mechanisms underlying Parkinson's disease, Huntington's disease and chronic pain. But there's really very little the technical staff can do from home. They're not in the position to analyze data or write manuscripts. Their primary job function is to maintain animal colonies, do genotyping, to be in the lab where the equipment is.

Some staffers have children, whose schools have been closed, and so the staffers cannot come into the office. Even for those who can come in, the continuing need for social distancing is forcing Dr. Surmeier to establish shifts to maintain safety. That means studies must proceed more slowly.

Some funding agencies, like NIH, are being very understanding about the need for extended deadlines, Dr. Surmeier said. But some of our private funders have more limited resources. I completely understand their position: They have a limited amount of money to accomplish their goals. The result is that we are having to furlough some people. The staff can't work, and the funder has refused to pay for idle time.

Even with the no-cost extensions offered by NIH, he added, There is a continuing cost that we simply can't turn on and off at will. I'm afraid that we will be forced to significantly down-size our scientific infrastructure if the situation does not change soon.

Deborah A. Hall, MD, PhD, FAAN, the Parkinson's Foundation professor of neurological sciences and head of the movement disorders section at Rush University Medical Center, said she has not had to lay off any of her 13 research staffers yet, even though most have been forced to work from home.

We've spent a lot of extra time writing requests for grant extensions and deadline postponements, she said. Although clinics at Rush re-opened on May 11, she said, non-essential research activities had not been scheduled to resume until June 1.

We will have to stagger the schedules of research staff to keep them socially distanced, Dr. Hall said. My group has 115 active studies underway. We will have to make decisions about which studies open initially and which ones stay on pause.

The Alzheimer's Drug Discovery Foundation made grants totaling approximately $30 million last year, said Dr. Fillit. This year, he said, I don't want to be too negative. Our fundraising is in good shape. There's a lot of optimism that facilities will be re-opening. The research will go on.

Officials at other charitable organizations were not quite so rosy.

We're talking with our grantees about adjusting the scope of their programs where feasible and re-budgeting the needs they might have, said Heather Snyder, PhD, vice president of medical and scientific operations for the Alzheimer's Association. We know dementia is not stopping. We are working closely with our senior leadership and advisors to look at potential ways we can support particular projects, including where some might have increased costs.

Mark Frasier, PhD, senior vice president of research programs at the Michael J. Fox for Parkinson's Research (MJFF), said that the organization has no endowment, and spends essentially everything it brings in via donations. Last year, that amounted to over $100 million in grants, a record for the foundation.

In terms of new grant-making, we are seeing some adjustments, he said. There have obviously been cancellations of fundraising events.

One of the biggest, the Parkinson's Unity Walk in New York City's Central Park, had been scheduled for April 25, raised over $1.5 million last year. (The event benefits a number of PD organizations, including MJFF.) Many other events, scheduled as part of Parkinson's Awareness Month in April, were likewise cancelled.

We have not paused grant-making entirely, Dr. Frasier said. We are continuing to make grants, although we are being more careful and scrutinizing them to be sure they are of the utmost priority. The good news is that our fundraising, like that of most non-profits, is year-end heavy. Charitable giving increases around the holidays. Most of our fundraising occurs from October to December. We feel like that is a good thing. We may get closer to a recovery toward the end of the year.

Jennifer Bain, MD, PhD, assistant professor of neurology at Columbia University Irving Medical Center, said she is seeing a shift in the kinds of research opportunities being offered by funding agencies.

Previously funded research is continuing, but new research seems to be shifting toward COVID-19, said Dr. Bain, who specializes in the study of rare neurodegenerative developmental disorders. The Autism Science Foundation, for instance, is offering new pivot grants to help scientists facing hardship due to the COVID-19 emergency. It's been interesting to see the shift toward funding for how to transition your research in the world of COVID.

In April, for example, the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke announced it was seeking research on the biological effects of COVID-19 on the central nervous system; grant applications not to exceed $200,000 in direct costs, must be submitted by April 15, 2021.

Also, in April, the National Institute on Aging announced grants for research on improving the prevention of disease transmission among older adults and mitigation of disease severity and mortality in older adults with the virus. Applications are open until May 1, 2021.

Dozens of other COVID-related funding opportunities from the National Science Foundation, the US Department of Defense, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, NIH, the US Department of Health and Human Services, and other sources have been listed on a webpage of the University of Michigan

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This COVID-19 Practice: The Pandemic Wreaks Havoc on... : Neurology Today - LWW Journals

DAYTON Currently, there is no single test that can show whether a person has Alzheimers disease, although researchers are getting closer to having an available blood biomarker.

Today diagnosing Alzheimers requires careful medical evaluation, including:

A thorough medical history

Mental status testing

A physical and neurological exam

Tests (such as blood tests and brain imaging) to rule out other causes of dementia-like symptoms.

There is great benefit to getting an early diagnosis. While there is not a cure for Alzheimers disease, medications may reduce symptoms or provide cognitive clarity for some.

Getting a medical workup

During the medical workup, your health care provider will review your medical history. He or she will want to know about any current and past illnesses, as well as any medications you are taking. The doctor will also ask about key medical conditions affecting other family members, including whether they may have had Alzheimers disease or related dementias.

Mental status testing

This part evaluates memory, ability to solve simple problems and other thinking skills. Such tests give an overall sense of whether a person is aware of symptoms, knows where he or she is, and can remember a short list of words or follow instructions. The mini-mental state exam and mini-cog test are two commonly used tests.

Neurological exam

During a neurological exam, the physician will closely evaluate the person for problems that may signal brain disorders other than Alzheimers. The doctor will look for signs of small or large strokes, Parkinsons disease, brain tumors, fluid accumulation on the brain, and other illnesses that may impair memory or thinking.

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What to expect when getting Alzheimer's or dementia diagnosis - sidneydailynews.com

From the beginning of the COVID-19 outbreak, clinicians have known that the virus can cause acute respiratory distress. Anew study suggests it may have neuropsychiatric effects as well.

That is according to a team of British scientists, who recently published a paper on neuropsychiatric complications stemming from COVID-19. In an online edition of The Lancet, the researchers reported an array of symptoms, from strokes to altered mental states like new-onset psychosis.1 Surprisingly, they discovered that acute alterations in mental status were disproportionately overrepresented in younger patients.

Up until now, published reports on COVID-19s neuropsychiatric effects have been largely anecdotal, limited to individual cases or a small case series. The British study is the first nationwide survey, which was based on 153 cases submitted by clinicians across the United Kingdom. It was undertaken to explore the proportion of neurological and psychiatric complications that affect the central nervous system versus the peripheral nervous system, as well as who was most at risk for these symptoms.

The researchers found a number of psychiatric complications. Altered mental status was the second most common presentation, they wrote. Of patients with complete datasets, 31% received a psychiatric diagnosis. Clinicians reported 4 cases of affective disorders, 6 cases of dementia-like symptoms, and 10 cases of new-onset psychosis. There was also 1 case of catatonia and another of mania. Only 2 patients had exacerbations of existing enduring mental illness.

According to the reports authors, altered mental states are common in cases of severe infection, but this symptom typically predominates in older groups.The COVID-19 data told a different story. Almost half of the patients with psychiatric complications from COVID-19 were 59 years or younger.

The authors offered at least 1 possible explanation. The large number of patients with altered mental status might reflect increased access to neuropsychiatry or psychiatry review for young patients, they wrote. But the exact relationship between COVID-19 and mental health remains a mystery, especially where younger individuals are concerned. The authors insist that confirmation of the link between COVID-19 and new acute psychiatric or neuropsychiatric complications in younger patients will require detailed prospective longitudinal studies.

Although further study may be necessary to draw firm conclusions, one thing is certain: Severe neurological and neuropsychiatric presentations associated with COVID-19 have become increasingly apparent.

Reference

1. Varatharaj A, Thomas N, Ellul MA, et al. Neurological and neuropsychiatric complications of COVID-19 in 153 patients: a UK-wide surveillance study [published online ahead of print, 2020 Jun 25] [published correction appears in Lancet Psychiatry. 2020 Jul 14;:]. Lancet Psychiatry. 2020; S2215-0366(20)30287-X.

Link:
New Research Finds Troubling Link Between COVID-19 and Neuropsychiatric Health - Psychiatric Times

Forty years ago, Edy Aulisi was wearing the Blue and Gold of Belleville High, playing quarterback for the football team, guard on the basketball squad and as a standout pitcher on the baseball team.

In addition to being a stalwart athlete, Aulisi also excelled in the classroom, so much so that he was the valedictorian for Belleville High's Class of 1980.

The son of Mildred and the late Joseph Aulisi, Edy grew up with four older sisters,Donna, Annie, Flora and Barbara and a younger sister, Lisa.

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He would take that extraordinary talent as a student-athlete, to Princeton University, where he began his quest to become a neurosurgeon while playing four years of baseball, including being a team captain in 1984, and two seasons on the football team.

After graduating from Princeton, in 1984, Aulisi would go on to medical school at George Washington University, in Washington, DC.

Four decades removed from his days at Belleville High, Dr. Edward Aulisi is a renown neurologist, serving as Chairman of Neurosurgery at MedStar Washington Hospital Center, in downtown Washington, DC.A husband and father of three,Aulisiand his medical team made history on June 10, 2020, performing the first spinal surgery, in the nation, usingBrainlab'sCirqRobotics.

"It's exciting technology, and I'mproud to be chosen as the first neurosurgeon to try it out," said Aulisi.

And in true Belleville High football lingo, he followed that up by saying, "Keep moving the ball forward!"

The procedure was centered around a surgeon-controlled robotic arm, designed to increase precision and accuracy, while speeding the recovery process for patients who undergo spine surgery.

"It was really something," said Aulisi. "The patient knew she was going to be the first to undergo this surgery, and she was excited about it. We were able to perform a Cat Scan (or CT Scan) when the wound is still open. The recovery process is also faster, and the accuracy of the robot, when it comes to spinal surgery, which is so important, is incredible."

Aulisi went on to perform the same surgery on other patients, on June 11 and 12, as well as into the following week.

In the long-running Broadway show, 'Jersey Boys', one of the first lines is 'It all started in Belleville, NJ.' And for Aulisi, that was so true. He was a star quarterback for the Belleville Bellboys in 1977 and continued that as a Buccaneer in 1978 and 1979.

"(Assistant coach) Joe D'Ambola was handing out jerseys (in '77)," recalled Aulisi. "When he saw me, he tossed jersey number 12 at me and said I looked like Joe Willie (Namath)."

Aulisi would guide the '77 Bucs, as a sophomore, after earning the starting quarterback job five games into the season.

"(Belleville head coach) John Senesky had the foresight to run the Delaware Wing T," said Aulisi. "He was so far ahead, when it came to preparation. He was an amazing coach."

Auilsi also spoke with pride of all the assistants on the staff during his time at BHS, and what they meant to him.

"Bill Bakka was my freshman coach," he said., (More to come on that later).Carl Carino used to put the pads and helmet on and scrimmage with us, Coach Mike Welsh was a man of few words. (William) 'Doc' Ellis always said to me, 'Edy, just relax, youve got this'. Carl Papaianni was always relaxed and confident. He knew my dad when he was younger, but never gave me an inch of favoritism.

"Ralph Borgess Jr. was legendary. He had us so amped up for our first game, in my senior year. We were all crying when we came out on the field. Coach Vitiello always said to meEdy point your toe where you want to throw, and I used that advice all through college. Great memories from all those guys."

He recalls his third start at quarterback, in 1977. The Bellboys were host to the Pony Pirates of Seton Hall Prep, a marvelous football team, which came into the game with a 5-0-1 record.

"My two cousins, Joe and Ed, were on that Seton Hall team," said Aulisi. "Anyway, it wasn't going very well. Seton Hall was up 42-0 at halftime and actually took their foot off the pedal in the second half, and we lost, 63-0. My cousin Joe sacked me on one play and he kind of lifted me up afterward."

Those '77 Bellboys were a young group. Many had found early success as a member of the Belleville Broncos youth team. But once in high school, with a new coach, it took time to develop. The '77 Bellboys finished 2-6-1 and the following year, the team, in its first season known as the Buccaneers, improved to 6-3.

"We worked hard in the off-season, got stronger and by our senior year, we were pretty good," said Edy.

Two years, nearly to the day, after the 63-0 loss, Seton Hall Prep would return to Municipal Stadium. This time, the Buccaneers would win, 14-13, when Aulisi threw a touchdown pass to Lenny Mendola in the game's closing minute, and Ralph DiPasquale kicked the point-after to secure a memorable game.

"Probably the biggest win of my high school career," said Aulisi. "I remember throwing a touchdown pass earlier in the game to Jerry DiGori, and then Lenny made a great move to the end zone and I was able to hit him with the winning touchdown pass.

"Two years earlier, Seton Hall had manhandled us, and they had a pretty good team in '79, too. It meant a lot to win that game."

The 1979 Buccaneers would finish 8-2 and earn the program's first-ever playoff berth. On Nov. 17, it played Union High, at Giants Stadium, and lost a heart breaker 15-12.

"Playing at Giants Stadium was really something special," said Aulisi.

Aulisi also spoke with fondness of his other high school coaches.

"Danny Grasso, my basketball coach, is a really good man. He started working with us at a young age, and really took the time to help us learn the game. I remember he always dressed real well for the games. And my baseball coach,, George Zanfini was someone really special. There's nothing any of us wouldn't have done for him."

Edy also praised his teachers at Belleville High, most notably Angie DiMaggio, the long-time history teacher at the school.

"I remember once when I wrote a paper, and I thought it was pretty good," said Aulisi. "And Mrs. DiMaggio said to me, 'you can do better, Edy. ,You're going to Princeton next year. Believe me, you can do better.' That really meant something. And she was right, too."

Aulisi's ascent to Princeton University was certainly challenging.

"I was a good student in high school, a valedictorian and then I get to Princeton and I'm taking some really tough classes, like organic chemistry and other neuroscience classes. I'm also playing on the football team (in the fall) and the baseball team (spring time) as well as competing in the classroom with other students, many of whom were also valedictorians of their class. It was a big step."

MedStar Washington Hospital Center, in Washington, where Aulisi works, is just a three mile drive from the Smithsonian Institute. Thereanother Belleville High success story,LonnieBunch, is Secretary of the Smithsonian. In his position, Bunch oversees 19 museums, 21 libraries and the National Zoo, as well as numerous research centers and several education units and centers.Bunch was graduated from Belleville, in 1970, 10 years beforeEdy

"Lonnie's career has been incredible," said Edy. "Think about what he's done to get to where he is today. I'm so happy for him."

While Aulisi resides outside of Washington, his Belleville roots remain strong. He speaks fondly of his days at School #5, where Mike Nicosia and Lenny Mendola were among his classmates and future teammates on the football team.

And having grown up in a large family, it's easy to say that Aulisi takes tremendous pride in his own family. He and his wife, Gabriele have three children, son Joseph (25) and twins Ariana and Domenic, 21.

An interesting story, with a Belleville twist. In 2008, Aulisi was on call in a Washington DC emergency room when a young woman was rushed in, unresponsive. Aulisi would diagnose the patient and then had her transported to Georgetown University for further analysis.

Unbeknownst to him at the time, it turned out the woman was the daughter of Edy's freshman football coach, at Belleville, Bill Bakka who Edy hadn't seen in at least 30 years.

Aulisi's quick thinking on Bill's daughter's condition ultimately saved her life.

When it comes to his work, Aulisi's primary concern is that of his patient. He also, like a true quarterback, praised his teammates, in this case a very talented medical staff .

"My team works so hard," said Aulisi. "I guess you can call me the quarterback of the operating room, but I work with some great people. For my entire career, it's always been about the patient. What's best for the patient is what's best for Ed Aulisi."

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Dr. Edward Aulisi: The QB of the OR Heads a Neurological Surgical Team Which Performed a Groundbreaking Procedure - TAPinto.net

An iron worker inspired this Alzheimer's disease researcher to develop his craft of wood and metal sculptures, which often reflect brain themes. Outside of his research, he teaches art and art history.

There is a story that Peter Snyder, PhD, likes to tell about going home to rummage through his childhood closest. There, he found an original 16-millimeter film of Jose Manuel Rodrguez Delgado's famous Bull Fight experiments under a pile of pajamas. Snyder's father, Daniel, was a neuroscientist and did a fellowship under Delgado, a pioneer in electrical brain stimulation at Yale University, back in the late 1960s.

Peter Snyder grew up in his father's laboratories, befriending macaques, falling into step in their social hierarchy. It was the natural flow of things that he followed his father into neuroscience. But the young Snyder also inherited some impressive artistic skills from his grandmothers, and pretty much split his time between science and art at Boston University and then University of Michigan, where he joined the Potters Guild. (His maternal grandmother, Sylvia, worked with stone and wood. His other grandmother, Belle, was a painter.)

While Snyder continued his graduate studies at Michigan State and would spend the first decade of his career as a neuropsychologist working with epilepsy patients, and then Alzheimer's patients, it was the celebration of his 40th birthday that made him rekindle his passion for art and design. By then, he was a ceramist of noteat least in his living roombut he had been dabbling and tinkering with wood and metal and became interested in the lost art of woodturning. He signed on to a course near his home in Connecticut but quickly realized that using a wood lathe and the hand-held toolsthe wood spins very fastwas a recipe for disaster without one-on-one instruction.

Snyder went home after the class and searched online for local woodturners and saw some beautiful pieces in several Massachusetts galleries. He found the artist's number and called. You don't know me but I love your work that I saw on the web, Dr. Snyder said. There was a long pause...long. Quietly, Kenneth Dubay said: What's the web?

Dubay had spent his career as an ironworker who could build anything with his hands, said Dr. Snyder. Born and raised in Northern Maine, Dubay never attended college but became Dr. Snyder's greatest mentor and teacher. Dubay took up woodturning in retirementhe was in his late 60's when they metand if he needed a tool, he'd just build it.

He never had any training as a teacher but he was patient and kind and thoughtful. He would let me make mistakes and then he would gently point out my errors with good humor and correct me, Dr. Snyder said.

Dr. Snyder became a regular in the Dubay household, and for the next seven yearsduring his tenure at University of Connecticut and then at Brown Universityhe would spend a long, delightful day every other week in Dubay's studio (which he built by hand, along with the log house he shared with his wife) and one weekend every month. Dr. Snyder was an apprentice in the best of ways. They would turn in the morning, stop for lunch, and spend the afternoon sanding the pieces.

Ken taught me about my own style as a mentor, he said. He was selfless. When Dubay passed away in 2011, his wife presented his apprentice with many of his handmade tools, including a long, thin gouge that is used to shape the wood as it is spinning. He keeps that gouge, with Dubay's name inscribed on it, in his car to remind him of his teacher.

While Dr. Snyder was teaching and overseeing research at Brown's teaching hospitals, he helped organize an exhibit on medicine and industrial design with The Rhode Island School of Design (RISD). This led to his co-teaching a RISD advanced studio course for six years, focusing on designing homes and products for older people to age-in-place.

His experience with Alzheimer's disease (AD)working on AD drug discovery, cognitive testing instruments, and biomarker development at Pfizer, and then AD research at Brown and now the University of Rhode Island, where he serves as the university's vice president for researchhelped guide the direction for the course.

He continues on as a sculptor. Many of his pieces include Purkinje cells, dendrites, and axons etched into his mediumwood. He can't help but meld his two worlds. He is now working on developing a retinal biomarker for AD and one of his pieces, Quiet, is made with Colorado Alabaster, cold-formed steel, vintage brass chain and beads and Osage Orange wood, turned and carved with pyrography.

The 16 diameter platter underneath the turned alabaster lamp is from live-edge box elder burl, with wood-burning of the superficial retinal vasculature of his right eye, in the region of the optic nerve head. The image was captured using an optical coherence tomography (OCT) scan of his own retina.

As a clinical neuropsychologist and neuroscientist, I have always protected both time and educational opportunities as an artist. I see the domains of visual arts and the sciences as inextricably intertwined, Dr. Snyder explains of his cellular passions.

The visual arts are essential for conveying the complexity, beauty, organizational structures, and fragility of our natural world. Artistic expression affords science a vital means of allowing us all to appreciate the exquisite complexity of scientific data that are difficult to convey by words alone.

Each day I am torn between the beauty and biologic complexity of our brains and eyes, and the suffering that Alzheimer's disease foists on my affected patients, research participants, their caregivers and their families. As an artist, I use my craft to study this tension. I work to create fluid forms in wood and metals that are reminiscent of organic, natural artifactsranging from cell assemblies to organisms to miniature landscapes.

All pieces start with spinning wood on the lathe, but they are then altered in various ways by carving, wood-burning, staining, and the inclusion of stones or metals. His 900-pound lathe, the size of a grand piano, sits at the sculpture studio on the URI campus.

Another piece finished in 2017 is called Purkinje Cell Vessel I and it is made with spalted maple with copper leaf and pyrography and curved ebony legs. Look closely and you will see a Golgi stain motif of a cerebellar Purkinge cell, based on a famous ink drawing by one of Snyder's academic heroes, Santiago Ramn y Cajal.

More recently, he is moving in uncharted artistic territory. His latest piece is on gun violence. A colleague collects decommissioned guns and has been donating them to artists with hopes that they create something to pay respects to those lost by violence. Dr. Snyder obliged, though it wasn't easy. He used ash wood with pyrography, plasticene clay, iron oxide wash and acrylics, and he inscribed it with the names of about 65 children who were killed in school shootings between 2015 and 2018, taking time to reflect on each of their stories. The piece will be part of a touring art exhibit on gun violence, although it has been delayed due to the current national lockdown.

I was unable to get its design out of my mind any other way, and it reflects my anger and disgust at our society's inability to appropriately control the licensing and possession of guns.

Most of the children's names have been covered by the clay, the iron oxide wash and red acrylic paint that Dr. Snyder said represents the toxic, bloody effluent mass being released by the handgun.

Dr. Snyder continues his scientific and artistic works, and mentoring students across these disciplines, in the department of biomedical and pharmaceutical sciences, and in the department of art and art history, at the University of Rhode Island.

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An Alzheimer's Disease Researcher and Master Sculptor... : Neurology Today - LWW Journals

RESTON, Va., June 9, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- SOCTelemed (SOC) announced today the successful launch of emergency and inpatient teleNeurology services at Phelps Health, a health system in Rolla, Missouri, serving six counties.

Phelps Health selected SOC's Telemed IQ platform to access emergency neurology care around the clock, on-demand in the emergency department. SOC neurologists will also serve as an on-call teleNeurology support system in the inpatient neurology department, bolstering the hospital system's on-staff neurologists with extra support and flexibility.

"The Telemed IQ platform allows hospitals like Phelps Health to serve their communities with confidence," said Jason Hallock, chief medical officer at SOC Telemed. "In neurology, stroke care, emergency psychiatry, critical care, cardiology and beyond, we connect specialized experts to hospitals in need, seamlessly."

The launch of teleNeurology at Phelps Health is poised to reduce the hospital's patient transfer rate and increase its case mix index. This change will allow Phelps Health to treat a variety of neurological conditions so patients will not have to travel long distances for care.

For Phelps Health, the prioritization of teleNeurology services was an effort in community care, while the selection of SOC Telemed was about experience, reputation and the company's care quality credentials from The Joint Commission.

"We are proud to partner with SOC Telemed and their board-certified neurologists who can provide patient consultations for a variety of neurological conditions," says Keri Heavin, senior vice president and chief nursing officer at Phelps Health. "Using teleNeurology services provided by SOC Telemed, our patients can stay close to home for care and receive follow-up treatments with our Phelps Health neurologists."

Telemed IQ is in use today in more than 550 hospitals nationwide, enabling the right care, at the right time, when patients and communities need it most.

About Phelps Health Phelps Health is one of Missouri's leading regional referral centers, serving over 200,000 residents in south-central Missouri. Phelps Health is county-owned, non-tax supported and is overseen by a five-member elected board. Phelps Health employs more than 1,900 people, including 100-plus providers. Phelps Health, which includes a hospital licensed for 242 patient beds, serves a six-county area, with its main campus and several clinics located in Rolla, Missouri. Phelps Health also has clinics in Salem, St. James, Vienna and Waynesville, Missouri. Visit phelpshealth.org for more information.

About SOC Telemed SOC Telemed (SOC) is the largest national provider of telemedicine technology and solutions to hospitals, health systems, post-acute providers, physician networks, and value-based care organizations. Built on proven and scalable infrastructure as an enterprise-wide solution, SOC's technology platform, Telemed IQ, rapidly deploys and seamlessly optimizes telemedicine programs across the continuum of care. SOC provides a supportive and dedicated partner presence, virtually delivering patient care through teleNeurology, telePsychiatry, and teleICU as well as enabling healthcare organizations to build sustainable telemedicine programs in any clinical specialty. SOC enables organizations to enrich their care models and touch more lives by supplying healthcare teams with industry-leading solutions that drive improved clinical care, patient outcomes, and organizational health. The company was the first provider of acute clinical telemedicine services to earn The Joint Commission's Gold Seal of Approval and has maintained that accreditation every year since inception. SOC Telemed is backed by Warburg Pincus and CRG. For more information, visit http://www.soctelemed.com.

Media Contact: Lauren Shankman Trevelino/Keller (404) 214.0722 Ext. 121 lshankman@trevelinokeller.com

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SOC Telemed Supports Phelps Health with Round-The-Clock teleNeurology Services - Stockhouse

Normally a patient in a medically induced coma would wake up over the course of a day. Some COVID patients are taking nearly a week to wake up. In other scientific news on the virus: brain damage found in autopsies, the origin of the outbreak may be earlier than previously thought and the use of repeated tests is questioned.

The Washington Post:Some Covid-19 Patients Experience Prolonged Comas After Being Taken Off VentilatorsAfter five days on a ventilator because of covid-19, Susham Rita Singh seemed to have turned a corner. Around midnight on April 8, doctors at Houston Methodist Hospital turned off the sedative drip that had kept the previously healthy 65-year-old in a medically induced coma. The expectation is that you should start waking up after six hours, 12 hours or a day, said her daughter, Silky Singh Pahlajani, a neurologist in New York City. But it was six-and-a-half days before she started opening her eyes. I thought she had suffered a massive stroke. Her brain MRI was normal, which was great, but then the question became: Whats going on? (Hurley, 6/7)

CIDRAP:Autopsies Show Brain Damage In COVID-19 PatientsA study yesterday in The Lancet presents the clinical findings of autopsies conducted on six German patients (four men and two women, aged 58 to 82 years) who died from COVID-19 in April. All six had evidence of extensive brain pathologies at the time of death. Each patient had severe viral pneumonia caused by COVID-19 and required mechanical intubation or extracorporeal membrane oxygenation. (6/5)

ABC News:Satellite Data Suggests Coronavirus May Have Hit China Earlier: ResearchersDramatic spikes in auto traffic around major hospitals in Wuhan last fall suggest the novel coronavirus may have been present and spreading through central China long before the outbreak was first reported to the world, according to a new Harvard Medical School study. Using techniques similar to those employed by intelligence agencies, the research team behind the study analyzed commercial satellite imagery and "observed a dramatic increase in hospital traffic outside five major Wuhan hospitals beginning late summer and early fall 2019," according to Dr. John Brownstein, the Harvard Medical professor who led the research. (Folmer and Margolin, 6/8)

Stat:Experts Question Use Of Repeated Covid-19 Tests After A Patient RecoversThe very premature infant was born via cesarean section and quickly whisked away to the neonatal intensive care unit before his mother could even lay eyes on him. Over the next eight weeks, the only time she saw her baby was when the NICU staff sent photos, or when a nurse FaceTimed her while the baby was being bathed. The young mother, who gave birth at Montreals Sainte-Justine Hospital, tested positive for Covid-19 when her baby was born. For 55 days afterward, she repeatedly tested positive for the SARS-CoV-2 virus. Because she did, the hospital would not allow her to return after she was discharged meaning she could not hold or nurse her baby for the first two months of his life. (Branswell, 6/8)

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Neurologists Baffled By Length Of Time Some Patients Are Taking To Wake Up After Ventilators - Kaiser Health News

United States, Arizona, Casa Grande 06-09-2020 (PRDistribution.com) Dr. Habib Khan, MD, Medical Director at the Arizona Institute of Neurology & Polysomnography is meritoriously named a Patient Preferred Neurologist of the Year by the Patient Preferred Physicians & Practitioners Network for his achievements in Neurology and for achieving excellence in patient care.

With three decades in his field, Dr. Khan is a sought-after physician treating patients at the Arizona Institute of Neurology & Polysomnography in Casa Grande, AZ. His practice has also been selected for the 2020 Best of Casa Grande Award in the Doctor category by the Casa Grande Award Program. Along with his team of highly-skilled health care professionals, Dr. Khan has been rated five-stars by patients who praise his compassion, knowledge and care.

He is very thorough and knowledgeable. Yet, despite his obvious wealth of knowledge and experience, hes very humble, read a patient review. His calm, mild manner allows for a comfortable, no-stress experience. Every appointment he has encouraged self-care and truly listens to discern the underlying nature of the issue.

Dr. Khans patient philosophy includes providing each patient with the one-on-one time and attention they deserve for the best outcome, and quality of life changes. He has been listed among Arizonas top doctors and is a well-respected board certified neurologist and fellowship-trained sleep specialist. Patients seeking the best in neurological care come to Dr. Khan for his expertise in chronic headaches, peripheral neuropathy, epilepsy and seizures, dementia, and neuromuscular disorders such as myasthenia gravis. He also specializes in sleep apnea, insomnia, chronic pain issues, vertigo and other balance problems and is highly skilled at treating a wide variety of debilitating neurological conditions and sleep issues.

With passion, and a driven focus on patient care, Dr. Khans medical journey began with a Medical Degree from Dow Medical College in 1989. He then completed his residency program in neurology and internal medicine at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey in Newark, and his fellowship in sleep medicine at the State University of New York at Stony Brook. Dr. Khan is also a diplomate of the American Board of Hospital Physicians and American College of Ethical Physicians.

To keep abreast of the latest developments in his field, Dr. Khan holds professional memberships with the American College of Physicians, American Medical Association, American Academy of Sleep Medicine, American Association of Neuromuscular and Electrodiagnostic Medicine, American Academy of Balance Medicine, and the American Institute of Ultrasound in Medicine.

Dr. Kahn displays great compassion and truly takes the time required to fully understand his patients medical issues and devise an appropriate treatment plan, read a patient review. I feel that he is the best at what he does and I would highly recommend him to others.

To make an appointment with Patient Preferred Neurologist of the Year, Dr. Habib Khan, MD please visit http://www.neurologycasagrande.net or call the office of Dr. Khan at [520] 423-2046.

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Company Name: Patient Preferred Physicians & PractitionersFull Name: Lauren GoodPhone: Email Address: Send EmailWebsite: http://www.patientpreferredphysician.com

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Well-reputed Neurologist Dr. Habib Khan, MD, is Meritoriously Selected as a 2020 Patient Preferred Neurologist of the Year in the state of Arizona. -...

Recovering from trauma can often be difficult and slow going. What works for one person may not help someone else at all.

This is because people respond to trauma differently, and the effects of trauma can be complicated.

Trauma can cause physiological, neurological, and emotional effects some short-lived and others much longer lasting. When the effects of trauma dont go away or disrupt daily life, you may be experiencing post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

Heres whats known about the treatment options for PTSD and what research tells us about the effectiveness of these treatments.

When you experience a traumatic event, your hypothalamic, pituitary, and adrenal systems release a surge of hormones to prepare you to fight, flee, or freeze.

In response, your heart rate speeds up, your breathing quickens, and your muscles tense. Your field of vision may narrow, your short-term memory may seem to go blank, and you might feel a sense of panic.

Even after the traumatic event ends, these symptoms can come and go for days or weeks.

You may have panic attacks or nightmares in response to similar sights, sounds, and smells even when theres no actual danger present.

In some cases, these symptoms persist for years. When symptoms continue for more than a month, you may be diagnosed with PTSD.

Around 10 to 20 percent of people who experience a trauma will develop PTSD symptoms afterward.

PTSD has been the focus of quite a lot of research. Several medications and therapeutic approaches have been shown effective in treatment.

Lets look at each of these treatment options in more detail:

Some forms of psychotherapy also known as talk therapy are effective treatments for PTSD.

Most of them are based on cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), a kind of talk therapy that aims to identify and correct unhealthy and unrealistic thought patterns.

Cognitive processing therapy (CPT) is based on the idea that immediately following a trauma, you were probably not able to fully process what happened to you.

In trying to understand the event and how it affected you, you might later come to conclusions that arent healthy.

You might, for example, decide that its not safe to trust anyone, or you might believe that youre to blame for what happened.

CPT aims to identify those incorrect conclusions and restructure them in healthier ways. This kind of therapy usually takes place in around 12 sessions, during which you and your therapist work together to process what happened through talking or writing about the experience.

Like CPT, prolonged exposure therapy addresses the tendency to adopt unhealthy thinking patterns in the aftermath of a traumatic event.

For example, as a result of trauma, you may have developed a fear response thats out of proportion to the dangers you face.

To change your fear response, prolonged exposure therapy begins with some education about PTSD symptoms. Your therapist will equip you with skills to calm down and cope when you face something frightening.

Once youve learned self-calming techniques, you and your therapist will create a hierarchy of fears.

Youll start with things you find slightly scary and progress to more intense fears possibly those related to the trauma you experienced. You wont progress to the next level on your hierarchy until you and your therapist are satisfied you can handle each one.

Over several months of treatment, you and your therapist will work together to help you face your fears, allowing you to practice new coping skills.

Youll learn that your thoughts and memories related to the trauma arent actually dangerous and dont need to be avoided.

Many of the long-term effects of PTSD are neurological. For that reason, treatments that focus on the brain and nervous system have been found to be particularly effective at restoring function and reducing symptoms.

Eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR) is a therapy that uses repetitive eye movements to interrupt and re-pattern some of the trauma-related memories you have.

After talking about your history, you and your therapist will select a memory that you find particularly difficult.

While you bring the details of that memory to mind, your therapist will guide you through a series of side-to-side eye movements. As you learn to process the memory and related feelings it brings up, youll gradually be able to reframe that memory in a more positive light.

A 2018 review of research found that when provided by an experienced therapist, EMDR has the ability to reduce many symptoms of PTSD, including anxiety, depression, fatigue, and paranoid thought patterns.

Its a low-cost therapy, has few if any side effects, and is recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO) for treatment of PTSD.

Tapping is one element of a treatment approach called clinical emotional freedom technique (EFT).

Its similar to acupressure, a kind of massage treatment that uses physical pressure on certain sensitive points of the skin to relieve pain and muscle tension.

In a series of 4 to 10 sessions, a trained therapist can teach you how to tap certain rhythms on your hands, head, face, and collarbones while you actively reframe your memories of a traumatic event.

Tapping is often used along with cognitive and exposure therapies.

Studies have found that EFT therapies can reduce PTSD symptoms especially anxiety, depression, and pain.

EFT therapies may also decrease the amount of cortisol (a stress hormone) in your body.

Although you can eventually use tapping on your own, its important to work with a trained, licensed therapist as youre learning the techniques.

The short answer is a lot. A good starting place is to recognize the skills that enabled you to survive the trauma, even if those skills dont necessarily serve you well today.

You can also explore the many resources that have been developed to help trauma survivors recover from PTSD and regain their mental and physical health.

The National Center for PTSD provides a number of resources, including:

One of the most effective ways to process trauma is by writing.

Research has shown that writing about the traumatic event in several short sessions may help reduce symptoms of PTSD significantly.

In fact, some research has shown that combining writing with other therapies may help shorten your treatment time.

You dont necessarily have to write about the traumatic event on its own. Writing about your life as a whole, including traumatic events, may also help reduce PTSD symptoms.

An older study suggests that writing may also help lower blood pressure, improve anxiety and depression symptoms, and help with behavioral problems in children with PTSD.

Recent studies have shown that meditation and yoga are helpful complementary therapies for people with PTSD.

While yoga or meditation may not provide complete relief from symptoms, researchers recommend them as additions to therapy and medication.

Yoga may help you regulate your breathing, increase your awareness of your body, and respond to changing emotions.

Meditation may help you redirect your attention to the present moment, giving you a greater sense of control over intrusive memories.

To find a therapist who can help you with PTSD, consider the following strategies:

And finally, give yourself permission to change therapists.

The first therapist you visit might not turn out to be a good fit. Its OK to consider your initial visits as a kind of interview process to find the therapist thats right for you.

Most insurance plans offer some coverage for mental health services, although deductible amounts and copays will vary from policy to policy.

Original Medicare, Medicare Advantage plans, and Medicaid also provide mental health benefits.

If you dont have health insurance and youre looking for affordable PTSD treatment, try looking for a therapist who has a sliding-scale fee structure.

This search tool may be useful. The Open Path Psychotherapy Collective is another good option.

And if you need low-cost or free therapy, a community mental health center near you is an excellent starting point.

Trauma can cause physiological, neurological, and emotional effects. If the effects of trauma last longer than a month, or cause disruptions in your normal way of functioning, you may have PTSD.

The gold standard for treating PTSD symptoms is psychotherapy, particularly cognitive behavioral therapy, cognitive processing therapy, and prolonged exposure therapy.

EMDR and EFT have also shown promise in helping people recover from PTSD.

The effects of trauma are real and can have a powerful effect on the quality of your life, long after the event is over. But with time and the right treatment, there are ways to lessen the negative effects and restore your health and well-being.

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PTSD Treatment: What Are the Most Effective Therapy Options? - Healthline

The Telegraph

Ursula von der Leyen on Monday pinned the blame for the vaccine fiasco that led Brussels to threaten a hard border on the island of Ireland on her trade commissioner Valdis Dombrovskis. The European Commission president threw her deputy, who leads DG Trade, under the bus amid rising anger from EU capitals at her go it alone tactics during last weeks battle with AstraZeneca. Jean-Claude Juncker, Mrs von der Leyen's predecessor, said he was "very much opposed" to her export restriction measures. In a speech in Stuttgart on Sunday, Mr Juncker also said of the EUs vaccine procurement: "It all went too slow, it all should have been done more transparently, even though that would have been difficult." This regulation falls under the responsibility of Mr Dombrovskis, said Eric Marmer, the European Commissions chief spokesman, referring to the former prime minister of Latvia, a Brussels veteran with a reputation for caution. In my country we have a saying, Only the Pope is infallible. Mistakes can happen along the way the important thing is that you recognise them early on, Mr Mamer said. Alexander Stubb, the former prime minister of Finland who campaigned to be appointed European Commission, president was scathing about Mrs Von der Leyen. He said "Number one rule of any leader: if your organisation screws up; never, ever blame your team publicly" Mrs von der Leyen was forced into a humiliating climbdown on Friday after announcing Brussels would trigger Article 16 of the Northern Ireland Protocol, to prevent AstraZeneca vaccines being smuggled into Britain from Northern Ireland. The move, which was announced without notifying Ireland or Britain, would have created a vaccine border after years of Brexit talks to avoid a hard border on the island. After the Irish prime minister called Mrs von der Leyen, the regulation, which could have facilitated a vaccine export ban to non-EU countries including Britain, was amended. Mr Mamer said that the regulation to create an export transparency mechanism, which including the Article 16 measure, was passed provisionally and at speed by the entire College of Commissioners on Friday. Asked by the Telegraph if this was Ms Van der Leyens worst week, he said: We believe that we are on the right track since the beginning of this pandemic in ensuring there is as cohesive and as effective a European response as possible. Mrs von der Leyens attempts to pass the buck cut no ice with EU diplomats, who suggested she had gone rogue, or German MPs in Berlin, who plan to summon Ursula von der Leyen for questioning. In a further blow to Mrs von der Leyen, the move was led by MPs from her own party, Angela Merkel's Christian Democrats (CDU). Mrs von der Leyen has refused calls for a public debate on the debacle in the European Parliament. Instead she will on Tuesday hold closed door meetings with MEPs with parties who approved her appointment. It is understood that Mrs von der Leyen took personal charge of the vaccine row and that DG Trades senior official is Sabine Weyand, whose objections to triggering Article 16 were reported to have been overruled. Ms Weyand is keenly aware of the political sensitivities around the Brexit divorce treatys Northern Ireland Protocol. She was Michel Barniers deputy Brexit negotiator and a key figure in the creation of the Irish border backstop.

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Las Vegas: The National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) has awarded a grant expected to total $3.8 million to Virendra Mishra, Ph.D., associate staff at Cleveland Clinic Lou Ruvo Center for Brain Health, to identify biomarkers or disease indicators to predict dementia in patients with Parkinsons disease.

Although dementia affects approximately 50-80% of those living with Parkinsons disease within 12 years of diagnosis, currently there are no means for predicting dementia in specific individuals, said Mishra. The possibility of identifying who will develop dementia with Parkinsons disease progression has several clinical benefits, including providing individuals with greater clarity on their future and helping clinicians better manage disease progression.

The five-year grant supports the project, Towards Generating a Multimodal and Multivarate Classification Model from Imaging and Non-Imaging Measures for Accurate Diagnosis and Monitoring of Dementia in Parkinsons Disease, which will use biomarkers spanning imaging, blood, cerebrospinal fluid and genetics to develop a predictive mathematical model to identify specific individuals with Parkinsons disease who may develop dementia as their disease progresses.

Utilizing sophisticated and pathologically relevant neuroimaging measures such as diffusion-weighted MRI and resting state functional MRI with non-imaging measures, including clinical data, demographics, genetics and cerebrospinal fluid, Mishra aims to:

Through this research, Mishra plans to develop a method that can be applied in clinical care with a greater-than-chance success rate to improve patient outcomes. In addition to clinical implications, identifying pathophysiology-based biomarkers for dementia in Parkinsons disease is critical for selecting appropriate individuals for participation in clinical trials of potential new disease-modifying therapies, and better understanding of the underlining pathophysiological processes.

Additionally, the novel imaging techniques developed for this research also can be applied in other neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimers disease to help advance the understanding of disease-specific neuroanatomical changes indicative of dementia.

This project is supported by NIH grant award R01NS117547.

For more information about ongoing research at Cleveland Clinic Lou Ruvo Center for Brain Health, visit ClevelandClinic.org/Nevada or call 702-701-7944.

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National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke Awards $3.8 Million to Cleveland Clinic Researcher to Predict Dementia in Parkinson's Disease...

It would always happen late at night.

I would be lying in bed and gently winding down into sleep. My eyes would begin to feel peculiar, as though they were being squeezed. Suddenly, I would notice that the room around me had begun to appear as if I were looking at it down the wrong end of a telescope.

My bedroom furniture, my posters and ornaments, and the walls looked tiny, as though they were dollhouse-sized. At the same time, I felt huge, like I could reach out and touch the ceiling with my fingertips.

Everything I could see had a warped, fish-eye quality to it. If I turned on my bedroom light, the room would suddenly switch back to normal, but the only other "cure" for this odd phenomenon was falling asleep.

This happened to me frequently when I was a kid, most often when I was especially tired, ill, or stressed. I didn't have the words to explain what was happening to me at night, I only knew that it felt unusual and dream-like but I knew that I wasn't dreaming.

When I told my parents that sometimes at night "everything looked small" they took me to an optician, where I discovered that I needed glasses and my prescription meant that I had a problem with depth perception.

Problem solved, I thought. But the episodes kept happening.

Sometimes everything around me would look dollhouse-sized. zef art/Shutterstock

I wasn't frightened by these episodes where everything around me looked like a reflection in a fun-house mirror. I loved fairy tales, and what I was experiencing didn't seem odd in the context of magic wands, evil stepmothers, and kids being able to talk to animals.

As I grew older, the episodes became more infrequent and, eventually, I forgot they had ever happened. But recently one night I was lying in bed, feeling tired and stressed, and I felt the same familiar tightening around my temples.

Suddenly, the room around me shrunk to dollhouse proportions.

Amazed, I stretched out my seemingly giant hand and felt as though I could easily touch the far-off wall opposite my bed.

Later that same week, I happened to discover a New York Times article that finally had an explanation, a name, and a diagnosis for what was happening to me I had Alice in Wonderland syndrome.

Discovered in 1955 by British psychiatrist John Todd, episodes of this rare curiosity, also known as Todd's syndrome, tend to involve macropsia (objects appearing larger than they are), teleopsia (objects appearing further away than they are), and micropsia (objects appearing smaller than they are).

Some people who experience this perceive their own body parts as being larger or smaller than in reality, and the whole episode can be accompanied by a sense of derealization (feeling like things around you aren't real) and depersonalization (feeling detached from your own body or mind).

It's sort of similar to what Alice experienced when she ate the mushroom in Lewis Carroll's famous book "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland" and altered the size of her body hence the name of the syndrome.

The syndrome has been linked to migraines, epilepsy, strokes, head trauma, infections, drugs, and stress but it's not known to be dangerous.

It's also not yet clear what causes the illusions and distortions, although it's not believed to be a hallucination or an eyesight problem.

Alice and the mushroom pieces in "Alice in Wonderland" (1951). Disney

Some who have studied this under-researched syndrome believe it's caused by changes in the portion of the brain that processes how we see our environment, possibly because of electrical activity which causes abnormal blood flow to that area.

Some doctors also believe it to be a type of migraine aura, which are sensory disturbances that can sometimes alter one's vision just before a migraine.

Dr. Grant Liu, a pediatric neuro-ophthalmologist at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, said he's seen a lot of patients with "odd complaints" over the years.

"Kids complain of seeing things that are too small, too large, too close, and too far away," he told Insider.

A few years ago, he conducted a study into Alice in Wonderland syndrome where he examined and spoke to 48 patients who experienced symptoms between 1993 and 2013.

He was able to link 33% of cases of the syndrome to exposure to infections (such as the flu), 6% to head trauma, and 6% to migraines. But in 52% of the cases, no cause was found.

His research also found that although the syndrome typically affects young children, it continued until later in life for about a third of patients he studied.

Miniature Alice and the Mad Hatter in "Alice in Wonderland" (2010). Walt Disney Studios

ButDr. Liu said he was most fascinated by the familial link he's seen with the syndrome, which makes him think that it could be more common than people think.

"For the study, we called families to follow up five to 15 years after diagnosing their children with Alice in Wonderland syndrome," he told Insider. "During those phone calls, lots of parents admitted that they too had experienced symptoms as children but when they were in the exam room, they were too embarrassed to admit it."

Although Dr. Liu said people experiencing Alice in Wonderland syndrome should see a specialist, as it can be a manifestation of a seizure or a migraine, he was quick to assure me that "there's no treatment necessary, it's really just reassurance."

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I have the rare Alice in Wonderland syndrome, here's what it's like - Insider - INSIDER