The short-term supplementation of monacolin K improves the lipid and metabolic patterns of hypertensive and hypercholesterolemic subjects at low cardiovascular risk

A nutraceutical compound containing 10 mg of MK appeared to be safe, well tolerated and effective at improving lipid and glucose patterns

SARS-CoV-2 vaccination, Parkinson's disease, and other movement disorders: case series and short literature review

BACKGROUND: Several neurological complications have been reported following SARS-Cov-2 vaccination, without a clear causal relationship ever being verified, including some cases of worsening of Parkinson’s disease (PD) symptoms and new onset of movement disorders in non-parkinsonian patients. METHODS: We describe two new cases of PD patients treated with device-aided therapy who developed worsening of parkinsonian symptoms after receiving the third vaccine dose (booster). We also conducted a short review of the cases reported in literature of PD symptoms worsening and new onset of movement disorders in non-parkinsonian patients after SARS-Cov-2 vaccination. RESULTS: The first patient, a 46-year-old man implanted with bilateral Subthalamic Deep Brain Stimulation, experienced temporary motor and non-motor symptoms worsening after mRNA-1273 booster, improved after stimulation settings modification. The second patient, a 55-year-old man implanted with percutaneous endoscopic transgastric jejunostomy (PEG-J) for levodopa-carbidopa intestinal gel (LCIG) infusion experienced severe temporary worsening of dyskinesia and managed through temporary LCIG dose reduction. Other seven cases of vaccine-related movement disorder are currently reported in literature, four describing PD symptoms worsening and three the onset of new movement disorders in otherwise healthy people. CONCLUSION: Both our patients and the cases described so far completely recovered after few days with parkinsonian therapy modification, symptomatic treatment, or even spontaneously, underlining the transient and benign nature of side effects from vaccine. Patients should be reassured about these complications, manageable through a prompt evaluation by the reference neurologist. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s10072-022-06182-w

Pisa Syndrome in Parkinson's Disease Is Associated With Specific Cognitive Alterations

Background: Pisa syndrome (PS) is a lateral flexion of the trunk frequently associated with Parkinson's disease (PD). The pathophysiology of PS remains unclear, but the role of cognitive deficits has been postulated.Methods: We included 12 consecutive PD patients with PS (PS+) and 12 PD patients without PS (PS–) matched for gender, age, level of education, PD duration, and PD stage. As primary aim, we compared the neuropsychological scores of 16 tests evaluating 6 cognitive domains between PS+ and PS–. Additionally, we evaluated the presence of misperception of the trunk position in PS+, defined as a mismatch between the objective vs. subjective evaluation of the trunk bending angle >5°, and analyzed whether a correlation exists between the misperception of the trunk position and alterations in the visual-spatial abilities.Results: PS+ group showed significantly worse performances in the visual-spatial abilities (p: 0.008), attentional domain (p: 0.001), and language domain (p: 0.023). No differences were found in the other cognitive domains nor in the general cognitive assessment. All PS+ patients showed a misperception of the trunk position, with an average underestimation of the trunk bending angle of 11.7° ± 4.3. The degree of misperception of the trunk position showed a trend toward a correlation with the visual-spatial scores (p: 0.089).Conclusions: The study reveals an association between PS and specific cognitive alterations, suggesting a possible link between the abnormal posture of PD patients with PS and their cognitive functions

UV telescope TUS on board Lomonosov satellite: Selected results of the mission

The Tracking Ultraviolet Setup (TUS) was the first orbital detector aimed to check the possibility of recording ultra-high energy cosmic rays (UHECRs) at E≳100 EeV by measuring the fluorescence signal of extensive air showers in the atmosphere. TUS was an experiment funded by the Russian Space Agency ROSCOSMOS, and it operated as a part of the scientific payload of the Lomonosov satellite since April 2016 till late 2017. During its mission, TUS registered almost 80,000 events in its main operation mode, with a few of them being sufficiently interesting to be more deeply scrutinized as they showed light profile and duration similar to UHECR events, even though much brighter. At the same time, the data acquired by TUS in different acquisition modes have been used to search for more exotic matter such us strangelets and nuclearites, and to measure occurrence, time profile and signal amplitude of different classes of transient luminous events among other scientific objectives, showing the interdisciplinary capability of a space-based observatory for UHECRs. In this paper, we report a selection of studies and results obtained with the TUS telescope which will be presented and placed in the contest of the present and future missions dedicated to the observation of UHECRs from space such as Mini-EUSO, K-EUSO and POEMMA