New and Noteworthy Information—August 2015

Incident stroke is associated with an acute decline in cognitive function and accelerated and persistent cognitive decline over six years, according to a study published July 7 in JAMA. Researchers used data from 23,572 cognitively healthy participants age 45 or older from the Reasons for Geographic and Racial Differences in Stroke study. Participants resided in the United States, were enrolled in the study from 2003 through 2007, and were followed up through March 31, 2013. In all, 515 participants survived expert-adjudicated incident stroke, and 23,057 remained stroke-free. Stroke was associated with acute decline in global cognition, new learning, and verbal memory. Participants with stroke, compared with those without stroke, had faster declines in global cognition and executive function, but not in new learning and verbal memory, compared with prestroke changes.

Childhood adversities are associated with migraine, and greater numbers of adversities are associated with increasing odds of migraine, according to a study published online ahead of print June 23 in Headache. Researchers used a representative sample of 10,358 men and 12,638 women and performed gender-specific logistic regression analyses to determine the association between number and type of self-reported childhood adversities and migraine, while controlling for sociodemographics, comorbid adversities, health behaviors, depression, and anxiety. Overall, 6.5% of men and 14.2% of women reported migraines. Physical abuse, witnessing parental domestic violence, and sexual abuse were significantly associated with migraine for both genders, even after controlling for variables. Men reporting all three adversities had more than three times the odds of migraine, compared with those without childhood adversities.

Full truncal vagotomy is associated with a decreased risk for subsequent Parkinson’s disease, suggesting that the vagal nerve may be involved in the pathogenesis of Parkinson’s disease, according to a study published online ahead of print May 29 in Annals of Neurology. Researchers constructed cohorts of all patients in Denmark who underwent vagotomy from 1977 through 1995, and a matched general population cohort. Investigators used Cox regression analysis to compute hazard ratios for Parkinson’s disease, adjusting for potential confounders. Risk of Parkinson’s disease was decreased in patients who underwent truncal vagotomy, compared with superselective vagotomy. Risk of Parkinson’s disease also was decreased following truncal vagotomy when compared with the general population cohort. In patients who underwent superselective vagotomy, risk of Parkinson’s disease was similar to that of the general population.

In women with acute ischemic stroke treated with alteplase, uric acid reduced infarct growth in selected patients and was better than placebo for reaching excellent outcome, according to a study published online ahead of print July 9 in Stroke. Researchers reanalyzed 2014 data from the randomized, double-blind URICO-ICTUS trial of patients admitted to Spanish stroke centers. Participants included 206 women and 205 men. All participants received therapies to remove the clots, while half in each gender group also received either 1,000 mg of uric acid IV or placebo. Uric acid doubled the effect of placebo to achieve excellent outcome in women, but not in men. The interactions between treatment and serum uric acid levels or allantoin–uric acid ratio on infarct growth were significant only in women.

Women with epilepsy are at a heightened risk for adverse outcomes during their delivery hospitalizations, according to a study published online ahead of print July 6 in JAMA Neurology. Researchers examined a retrospective cohort study of pregnant women identified through delivery hospitalization records from the 2007 through 2011 Nationwide Inpatient Sample. Investigators obtained a weighted sample of delivery hospitalizations from 69,385 women with epilepsy and 20,449,532 women without epilepsy. Women with epilepsy had a risk of death during delivery hospitalization of 80 deaths per 100,000 pregnancies, compared with six deaths per 100,000 pregnancies among controls. Women with epilepsy also were at increased risk for pre-eclampsia, preterm labor, and stillbirth. They also had increased health care utilization, including an increased risk of cesarean delivery and prolonged hospital stay.

Eight-hour sleep duration may help consolidate newly learned procedural and declarative memories and ensure full access to them during periods of subjective stress, according to a study published online ahead of print June 22 in Sleep. For this study, 15 healthy young men learned object locations and a finger tapping sequence in the evening. Participants either had the opportunity to sleep for eight hours or could sleep between the hours of 3:00 am and 7:00 am. Retrieval of both memory tasks was tested in the morning after each sleep condition, both before and after stress exposure. Post-sleep memory changes did not differ between sleep conditions. Men who received less sleep, however, had reduced recall ability after exposure to stress, while post-stress recall was not affected in those who received a full night of sleep.

Cognitive impairment may manifest in the preclinical phase of Alzheimer’s disease substantially earlier than previously established, according to a study published online ahead of print June 24 in Neurology. A composite cognitive test score based on tests of episodic memory, executive function, and global cognition was constructed in a prospective population-based sample of 2,125 participants ages 65 and older. In all, 442 participants developed clinical Alzheimer’s disease over 18 years of follow-up. Lower composite cognitive test scores were associated with the development of Alzheimer’s disease. The magnitude of association between composite cognitive test score and development of Alzheimer’s disease dementia increased from an odds ratio of 3.39 at 13.0 to 17.9 years to an odds ratio of 9.84 at 0.1 to 0.9 years, per standard deviation increment.

Shared biological processes contribute to the risk of migraine and coronary artery disease, but this commonality is restricted to migraine without aura, according to a study published online ahead of print July 2 in Neurology Genetics. Researchers analyzed two large genome-wide association studies of migraine and heart disease. The migraine study involved 19,981 people with migraine and 56,667 people without migraine. Also included were 21,076 people with heart disease and 63,014 people without heart disease. Investigators found a significant overlap of genetic risk loci for migraine and coronary artery disease. When stratified by migraine subtype, this overlap was limited to migraine without aura. The overlap was protective, in that patients with migraine had a lower load of coronary artery disease risk alleles than controls did.

Women with stimulant dependence have significant changes in gray matter volume after prolonged abstinence, but men do not, according to a study published online ahead of print July 14 in Radiology. For this prospective, parallel-group study, 127 age- and sex-matched participants underwent T1-weighted spoiled gradient-echo inversion recovery MRI of the brain at 3 T. Compared with female control subjects, women with stimulant dependence had significantly lower gray matter volume in various brain regions. There were no significant differences in gray matter volume between male control subjects and men with stimulant dependence. Dependence symptom count negatively correlated with gray matter volume in the nucleus accumbens in women. Behavioral approach and impulsivity correlated negatively with frontal and temporal gray matter volume changes in women with stimulant dependence.

The FDA has approved Fycompa (perampanel) CIII for adjunctive therapy in the treatment of primary generalized tonic-clonic seizures. The approval is based on a phase III, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled clinical trial of 162 patients taking one to three antiepileptic drugs. Patients treated with Fycompa achieved a 76% median reduction in primary generalized tonic-clonic seizure frequency. In addition, 64% of patients treated with Fycompa had a 50% or greater reduction in primary generalized tonic-clonic seizure frequency versus 40% with placebo. The most frequently reported adverse events in patients treated with Fycompa were dizziness, fatigue, headache, somnolence, and irritability. The adverse event profile was similar to that in the controlled phase III partial-onset seizure trials of the drug. Eisai, headquartered in Woodcliff Lake, New Jersey, manufactures Fycompa.

Imaging biomarkers, including white matter disruption, may help explain some of the heterogeneity in postinjury outcome among children with traumatic brain injury (TBI), according to a study published July 15 in Journal of Neuroscience. Researchers used high angular resolution diffusion-weighted imaging to evaluate the structural integrity of the corpus callosum following brain injury in a sample of 32 children with moderate-to-severe TBI at one to five months post injury, and in healthy control children. A subset of children with TBI had markedly impaired functioning and structural integrity in the corpus callosum. These impairments were associated with poor neurocognitive functioning. The children with impaired functioning also had significantly slower interhemispheric transfer times than the control group did, as measured using event-related potentials.

Longitudinal CSF biomarker patterns consistent with Alzheimer’s disease are first detectable during early middle age and are associated with later amyloid positivity and cognitive decline, according to a study published online ahead of print July 6 in JAMA Neurology. Cognitively normal middle-aged participants enrolled in the Adult Children Study at Washington University underwent serial CSF collection and longitudinal clinical assessment at three-year intervals. A subset of patients underwent longitudinal amyloid PET imaging with Pittsburgh compound B (PiB) in the same period. The researchers found no consistent longitudinal patterns in Aβ40. Longitudinal reductions in Aβ42 were observed in some individuals as early as middle age, and low Aβ42 levels were associated with the development of cortical PiB-positive amyloid plaques. The patterns were more apparent in at-risk carriers of the ε4 allele.

Men with high exposure to formaldehyde at work had an almost three times greater rate of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) mortality than men with no exposure, according to a study published online ahead of print July 13 in the Journal of Neurology Neurosurgery & Psychiatry. Researchers examined data for 794,541 men and 674,694 women included in the National Longitudinal Mortality Study who were 25 or older when surveyed. They used a formaldehyde exposure matrix constructed by industrial hygienists at the National Cancer Institute. Exposure to formaldehyde differed between males and females. All men with high-intensity exposure were funeral directors. Few women had high-exposure jobs, and there were no ALS deaths among women with such jobs. Participants with exposure were poorer and less educated than those without exposure.

—Kimberly Williams

Incident stroke is associated with an acute decline in cognitive function and accelerated and persistent cognitive decline over six years, according to a study published July 7 in JAMA. Researchers used data from 23,572 cognitively healthy participants age 45 or older from the Reasons for Geographic and Racial Differences in Stroke study. Participants resided in the United States, were enrolled in the study from 2003 through 2007, and were followed up through March 31, 2013. In all, 515 participants survived expert-adjudicated incident stroke, and 23,057 remained stroke-free. Stroke was associated with acute decline in global cognition, new learning, and verbal memory. Participants with stroke, compared with those without stroke, had faster declines in global cognition and executive function, but not in new learning and verbal memory, compared with prestroke changes.

Childhood adversities are associated with migraine, and greater numbers of adversities are associated with increasing odds of migraine, according to a study published online ahead of print June 23 in Headache. Researchers used a representative sample of 10,358 men and 12,638 women and performed gender-specific logistic regression analyses to determine the association between number and type of self-reported childhood adversities and migraine, while controlling for sociodemographics, comorbid adversities, health behaviors, depression, and anxiety. Overall, 6.5% of men and 14.2% of women reported migraines. Physical abuse, witnessing parental domestic violence, and sexual abuse were significantly associated with migraine for both genders, even after controlling for variables. Men reporting all three adversities had more than three times the odds of migraine, compared with those without childhood adversities.

Full truncal vagotomy is associated with a decreased risk for subsequent Parkinson’s disease, suggesting that the vagal nerve may be involved in the pathogenesis of Parkinson’s disease, according to a study published online ahead of print May 29 in Annals of Neurology. Researchers constructed cohorts of all patients in Denmark who underwent vagotomy from 1977 through 1995, and a matched general population cohort. Investigators used Cox regression analysis to compute hazard ratios for Parkinson’s disease, adjusting for potential confounders. Risk of Parkinson’s disease was decreased in patients who underwent truncal vagotomy, compared with superselective vagotomy. Risk of Parkinson’s disease also was decreased following truncal vagotomy when compared with the general population cohort. In patients who underwent superselective vagotomy, risk of Parkinson’s disease was similar to that of the general population.

In women with acute ischemic stroke treated with alteplase, uric acid reduced infarct growth in selected patients and was better than placebo for reaching excellent outcome, according to a study published online ahead of print July 9 in Stroke. Researchers reanalyzed 2014 data from the randomized, double-blind URICO-ICTUS trial of patients admitted to Spanish stroke centers. Participants included 206 women and 205 men. All participants received therapies to remove the clots, while half in each gender group also received either 1,000 mg of uric acid IV or placebo. Uric acid doubled the effect of placebo to achieve excellent outcome in women, but not in men. The interactions between treatment and serum uric acid levels or allantoin–uric acid ratio on infarct growth were significant only in women.

Women with epilepsy are at a heightened risk for adverse outcomes during their delivery hospitalizations, according to a study published online ahead of print July 6 in JAMA Neurology. Researchers examined a retrospective cohort study of pregnant women identified through delivery hospitalization records from the 2007 through 2011 Nationwide Inpatient Sample. Investigators obtained a weighted sample of delivery hospitalizations from 69,385 women with epilepsy and 20,449,532 women without epilepsy. Women with epilepsy had a risk of death during delivery hospitalization of 80 deaths per 100,000 pregnancies, compared with six deaths per 100,000 pregnancies among controls. Women with epilepsy also were at increased risk for pre-eclampsia, preterm labor, and stillbirth. They also had increased health care utilization, including an increased risk of cesarean delivery and prolonged hospital stay.

Eight-hour sleep duration may help consolidate newly learned procedural and declarative memories and ensure full access to them during periods of subjective stress, according to a study published online ahead of print June 22 in Sleep. For this study, 15 healthy young men learned object locations and a finger tapping sequence in the evening. Participants either had the opportunity to sleep for eight hours or could sleep between the hours of 3:00 am and 7:00 am. Retrieval of both memory tasks was tested in the morning after each sleep condition, both before and after stress exposure. Post-sleep memory changes did not differ between sleep conditions. Men who received less sleep, however, had reduced recall ability after exposure to stress, while post-stress recall was not affected in those who received a full night of sleep.

Cognitive impairment may manifest in the preclinical phase of Alzheimer’s disease substantially earlier than previously established, according to a study published online ahead of print June 24 in Neurology. A composite cognitive test score based on tests of episodic memory, executive function, and global cognition was constructed in a prospective population-based sample of 2,125 participants ages 65 and older. In all, 442 participants developed clinical Alzheimer’s disease over 18 years of follow-up. Lower composite cognitive test scores were associated with the development of Alzheimer’s disease. The magnitude of association between composite cognitive test score and development of Alzheimer’s disease dementia increased from an odds ratio of 3.39 at 13.0 to 17.9 years to an odds ratio of 9.84 at 0.1 to 0.9 years, per standard deviation increment.

Shared biological processes contribute to the risk of migraine and coronary artery disease, but this commonality is restricted to migraine without aura, according to a study published online ahead of print July 2 in Neurology Genetics. Researchers analyzed two large genome-wide association studies of migraine and heart disease. The migraine study involved 19,981 people with migraine and 56,667 people without migraine. Also included were 21,076 people with heart disease and 63,014 people without heart disease. Investigators found a significant overlap of genetic risk loci for migraine and coronary artery disease. When stratified by migraine subtype, this overlap was limited to migraine without aura. The overlap was protective, in that patients with migraine had a lower load of coronary artery disease risk alleles than controls did.

Women with stimulant dependence have significant changes in gray matter volume after prolonged abstinence, but men do not, according to a study published online ahead of print July 14 in Radiology. For this prospective, parallel-group study, 127 age- and sex-matched participants underwent T1-weighted spoiled gradient-echo inversion recovery MRI of the brain at 3 T. Compared with female control subjects, women with stimulant dependence had significantly lower gray matter volume in various brain regions. There were no significant differences in gray matter volume between male control subjects and men with stimulant dependence. Dependence symptom count negatively correlated with gray matter volume in the nucleus accumbens in women. Behavioral approach and impulsivity correlated negatively with frontal and temporal gray matter volume changes in women with stimulant dependence.

The FDA has approved Fycompa (perampanel) CIII for adjunctive therapy in the treatment of primary generalized tonic-clonic seizures. The approval is based on a phase III, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled clinical trial of 162 patients taking one to three antiepileptic drugs. Patients treated with Fycompa achieved a 76% median reduction in primary generalized tonic-clonic seizure frequency. In addition, 64% of patients treated with Fycompa had a 50% or greater reduction in primary generalized tonic-clonic seizure frequency versus 40% with placebo. The most frequently reported adverse events in patients treated with Fycompa were dizziness, fatigue, headache, somnolence, and irritability. The adverse event profile was similar to that in the controlled phase III partial-onset seizure trials of the drug. Eisai, headquartered in Woodcliff Lake, New Jersey, manufactures Fycompa.

Imaging biomarkers, including white matter disruption, may help explain some of the heterogeneity in postinjury outcome among children with traumatic brain injury (TBI), according to a study published July 15 in Journal of Neuroscience. Researchers used high angular resolution diffusion-weighted imaging to evaluate the structural integrity of the corpus callosum following brain injury in a sample of 32 children with moderate-to-severe TBI at one to five months post injury, and in healthy control children. A subset of children with TBI had markedly impaired functioning and structural integrity in the corpus callosum. These impairments were associated with poor neurocognitive functioning. The children with impaired functioning also had significantly slower interhemispheric transfer times than the control group did, as measured using event-related potentials.

Longitudinal CSF biomarker patterns consistent with Alzheimer’s disease are first detectable during early middle age and are associated with later amyloid positivity and cognitive decline, according to a study published online ahead of print July 6 in JAMA Neurology. Cognitively normal middle-aged participants enrolled in the Adult Children Study at Washington University underwent serial CSF collection and longitudinal clinical assessment at three-year intervals. A subset of patients underwent longitudinal amyloid PET imaging with Pittsburgh compound B (PiB) in the same period. The researchers found no consistent longitudinal patterns in Aβ40. Longitudinal reductions in Aβ42 were observed in some individuals as early as middle age, and low Aβ42 levels were associated with the development of cortical PiB-positive amyloid plaques. The patterns were more apparent in at-risk carriers of the ε4 allele.

Men with high exposure to formaldehyde at work had an almost three times greater rate of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) mortality than men with no exposure, according to a study published online ahead of print July 13 in the Journal of Neurology Neurosurgery & Psychiatry. Researchers examined data for 794,541 men and 674,694 women included in the National Longitudinal Mortality Study who were 25 or older when surveyed. They used a formaldehyde exposure matrix constructed by industrial hygienists at the National Cancer Institute. Exposure to formaldehyde differed between males and females. All men with high-intensity exposure were funeral directors. Few women had high-exposure jobs, and there were no ALS deaths among women with such jobs. Participants with exposure were poorer and less educated than those without exposure.

—Kimberly Williams

Incident stroke is associated with an acute decline in cognitive function and accelerated and persistent cognitive decline over six years, according to a study published July 7 in JAMA. Researchers used data from 23,572 cognitively healthy participants age 45 or older from the Reasons for Geographic and Racial Differences in Stroke study. Participants resided in the United States, were enrolled in the study from 2003 through 2007, and were followed up through March 31, 2013. In all, 515 participants survived expert-adjudicated incident stroke, and 23,057 remained stroke-free. Stroke was associated with acute decline in global cognition, new learning, and verbal memory. Participants with stroke, compared with those without stroke, had faster declines in global cognition and executive function, but not in new learning and verbal memory, compared with prestroke changes.

Childhood adversities are associated with migraine, and greater numbers of adversities are associated with increasing odds of migraine, according to a study published online ahead of print June 23 in Headache. Researchers used a representative sample of 10,358 men and 12,638 women and performed gender-specific logistic regression analyses to determine the association between number and type of self-reported childhood adversities and migraine, while controlling for sociodemographics, comorbid adversities, health behaviors, depression, and anxiety. Overall, 6.5% of men and 14.2% of women reported migraines. Physical abuse, witnessing parental domestic violence, and sexual abuse were significantly associated with migraine for both genders, even after controlling for variables. Men reporting all three adversities had more than three times the odds of migraine, compared with those without childhood adversities.

Full truncal vagotomy is associated with a decreased risk for subsequent Parkinson’s disease, suggesting that the vagal nerve may be involved in the pathogenesis of Parkinson’s disease, according to a study published online ahead of print May 29 in Annals of Neurology. Researchers constructed cohorts of all patients in Denmark who underwent vagotomy from 1977 through 1995, and a matched general population cohort. Investigators used Cox regression analysis to compute hazard ratios for Parkinson’s disease, adjusting for potential confounders. Risk of Parkinson’s disease was decreased in patients who underwent truncal vagotomy, compared with superselective vagotomy. Risk of Parkinson’s disease also was decreased following truncal vagotomy when compared with the general population cohort. In patients who underwent superselective vagotomy, risk of Parkinson’s disease was similar to that of the general population.

In women with acute ischemic stroke treated with alteplase, uric acid reduced infarct growth in selected patients and was better than placebo for reaching excellent outcome, according to a study published online ahead of print July 9 in Stroke. Researchers reanalyzed 2014 data from the randomized, double-blind URICO-ICTUS trial of patients admitted to Spanish stroke centers. Participants included 206 women and 205 men. All participants received therapies to remove the clots, while half in each gender group also received either 1,000 mg of uric acid IV or placebo. Uric acid doubled the effect of placebo to achieve excellent outcome in women, but not in men. The interactions between treatment and serum uric acid levels or allantoin–uric acid ratio on infarct growth were significant only in women.

Women with epilepsy are at a heightened risk for adverse outcomes during their delivery hospitalizations, according to a study published online ahead of print July 6 in JAMA Neurology. Researchers examined a retrospective cohort study of pregnant women identified through delivery hospitalization records from the 2007 through 2011 Nationwide Inpatient Sample. Investigators obtained a weighted sample of delivery hospitalizations from 69,385 women with epilepsy and 20,449,532 women without epilepsy. Women with epilepsy had a risk of death during delivery hospitalization of 80 deaths per 100,000 pregnancies, compared with six deaths per 100,000 pregnancies among controls. Women with epilepsy also were at increased risk for pre-eclampsia, preterm labor, and stillbirth. They also had increased health care utilization, including an increased risk of cesarean delivery and prolonged hospital stay.

Eight-hour sleep duration may help consolidate newly learned procedural and declarative memories and ensure full access to them during periods of subjective stress, according to a study published online ahead of print June 22 in Sleep. For this study, 15 healthy young men learned object locations and a finger tapping sequence in the evening. Participants either had the opportunity to sleep for eight hours or could sleep between the hours of 3:00 am and 7:00 am. Retrieval of both memory tasks was tested in the morning after each sleep condition, both before and after stress exposure. Post-sleep memory changes did not differ between sleep conditions. Men who received less sleep, however, had reduced recall ability after exposure to stress, while post-stress recall was not affected in those who received a full night of sleep.

Cognitive impairment may manifest in the preclinical phase of Alzheimer’s disease substantially earlier than previously established, according to a study published online ahead of print June 24 in Neurology. A composite cognitive test score based on tests of episodic memory, executive function, and global cognition was constructed in a prospective population-based sample of 2,125 participants ages 65 and older. In all, 442 participants developed clinical Alzheimer’s disease over 18 years of follow-up. Lower composite cognitive test scores were associated with the development of Alzheimer’s disease. The magnitude of association between composite cognitive test score and development of Alzheimer’s disease dementia increased from an odds ratio of 3.39 at 13.0 to 17.9 years to an odds ratio of 9.84 at 0.1 to 0.9 years, per standard deviation increment.

Shared biological processes contribute to the risk of migraine and coronary artery disease, but this commonality is restricted to migraine without aura, according to a study published online ahead of print July 2 in Neurology Genetics. Researchers analyzed two large genome-wide association studies of migraine and heart disease. The migraine study involved 19,981 people with migraine and 56,667 people without migraine. Also included were 21,076 people with heart disease and 63,014 people without heart disease. Investigators found a significant overlap of genetic risk loci for migraine and coronary artery disease. When stratified by migraine subtype, this overlap was limited to migraine without aura. The overlap was protective, in that patients with migraine had a lower load of coronary artery disease risk alleles than controls did.

Women with stimulant dependence have significant changes in gray matter volume after prolonged abstinence, but men do not, according to a study published online ahead of print July 14 in Radiology. For this prospective, parallel-group study, 127 age- and sex-matched participants underwent T1-weighted spoiled gradient-echo inversion recovery MRI of the brain at 3 T. Compared with female control subjects, women with stimulant dependence had significantly lower gray matter volume in various brain regions. There were no significant differences in gray matter volume between male control subjects and men with stimulant dependence. Dependence symptom count negatively correlated with gray matter volume in the nucleus accumbens in women. Behavioral approach and impulsivity correlated negatively with frontal and temporal gray matter volume changes in women with stimulant dependence.

The FDA has approved Fycompa (perampanel) CIII for adjunctive therapy in the treatment of primary generalized tonic-clonic seizures. The approval is based on a phase III, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled clinical trial of 162 patients taking one to three antiepileptic drugs. Patients treated with Fycompa achieved a 76% median reduction in primary generalized tonic-clonic seizure frequency. In addition, 64% of patients treated with Fycompa had a 50% or greater reduction in primary generalized tonic-clonic seizure frequency versus 40% with placebo. The most frequently reported adverse events in patients treated with Fycompa were dizziness, fatigue, headache, somnolence, and irritability. The adverse event profile was similar to that in the controlled phase III partial-onset seizure trials of the drug. Eisai, headquartered in Woodcliff Lake, New Jersey, manufactures Fycompa.

Imaging biomarkers, including white matter disruption, may help explain some of the heterogeneity in postinjury outcome among children with traumatic brain injury (TBI), according to a study published July 15 in Journal of Neuroscience. Researchers used high angular resolution diffusion-weighted imaging to evaluate the structural integrity of the corpus callosum following brain injury in a sample of 32 children with moderate-to-severe TBI at one to five months post injury, and in healthy control children. A subset of children with TBI had markedly impaired functioning and structural integrity in the corpus callosum. These impairments were associated with poor neurocognitive functioning. The children with impaired functioning also had significantly slower interhemispheric transfer times than the control group did, as measured using event-related potentials.

Longitudinal CSF biomarker patterns consistent with Alzheimer’s disease are first detectable during early middle age and are associated with later amyloid positivity and cognitive decline, according to a study published online ahead of print July 6 in JAMA Neurology. Cognitively normal middle-aged participants enrolled in the Adult Children Study at Washington University underwent serial CSF collection and longitudinal clinical assessment at three-year intervals. A subset of patients underwent longitudinal amyloid PET imaging with Pittsburgh compound B (PiB) in the same period. The researchers found no consistent longitudinal patterns in Aβ40. Longitudinal reductions in Aβ42 were observed in some individuals as early as middle age, and low Aβ42 levels were associated with the development of cortical PiB-positive amyloid plaques. The patterns were more apparent in at-risk carriers of the ε4 allele.

Men with high exposure to formaldehyde at work had an almost three times greater rate of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) mortality than men with no exposure, according to a study published online ahead of print July 13 in the Journal of Neurology Neurosurgery & Psychiatry. Researchers examined data for 794,541 men and 674,694 women included in the National Longitudinal Mortality Study who were 25 or older when surveyed. They used a formaldehyde exposure matrix constructed by industrial hygienists at the National Cancer Institute. Exposure to formaldehyde differed between males and females. All men with high-intensity exposure were funeral directors. Few women had high-exposure jobs, and there were no ALS deaths among women with such jobs. Participants with exposure were poorer and less educated than those without exposure.

—Kimberly Williams