A Comparison of Interventions for Children with Cerebral Palsy to Improve Sitting Postural Control: A Clinical Trial

Background The ability to sit independently is fundamental for function but delayed in infants with cerebral palsy (CP). Studies of interventions directed specifically toward sitting in infants with CP have not been reported. Objective The purpose of this study was to compare 2 interventions for improving sitting postural control in infants with CP. Design For this randomized longitudinal study, infants under 2 years of age and at risk for CP were recruited for intervention directed toward sitting independence. Setting The intervention was conducted at home or at an outpatient facility. Patients and Intervention Fifteen infants with typical development (mean age at entry=5 months, SD=0.5) were followed longitudinally as a comparison for postural variables. Thirty-five infants with delays in achieving sitting were recruited. Infants with delays were randomly assigned to receive a home program (1 time per week for 8 weeks; mean age=15.5 months, SD=7) or a perceptual-motor intervention (2 times per week for 8 weeks; mean age=14.3 months, SD=3). Measurements The primary outcome measure was center-of-pressure (COP) data, from which linear and nonlinear variables were extracted. The Gross Motor Function Measure (GMFM) sitting subsection was the clinical outcome measure. Results There was a main effect of time for the GMFM sitting subscale and for 2 of the COP variables. Interaction of group × time factors indicated significant differences between intervention groups on 2 COP measures, in favor of the group with perceptual-motor intervention. Limitations The small number of infants limits the ability to generalize the findings. Conclusions Although both groups made progress on the GMFM, the COP measures indicated an advantage for the group with perceptual-motor intervention. The COP measures appear sensitive for assessment of infant posture control and quantifying intervention response

Clinical value of cerebrospinal fluid neurofilament light chain in semantic dementia

© Author(s) (or their employer(s)) 2019. Re-use permitted under CC BY. Published by BMJ. This is an open access article distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 Unported (CC BY 4.0) license, which permits others to copy, redistribute, remix, transform and build upon this work for any purpose, provided the original work is properly cited, a link to the licence is given, and indication of whether changes were made. See: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.Background: Semantic dementia (SD) is a neurodegenerative disorder characterised by progressive language problems falling within the clinicopathological spectrum of frontotemporal lobar degeneration (FTLD). The development of disease-modifying agents may be facilitated by the relative clinical and pathological homogeneity of SD, but we need robust monitoring biomarkers to measure their efficacy. In different FTLD subtypes, neurofilament light chain (NfL) is a promising marker, therefore we investigated the utility of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) NfL in SD. Methods: This large retrospective multicentre study compared cross-sectional CSF NfL levels of 162 patients with SD with 65 controls. CSF NfL levels of patients were correlated with clinical parameters (including survival), neuropsychological test scores and regional grey matter atrophy (including longitudinal data in a subset). Results: CSF NfL levels were significantly higher in patients with SD (median: 2326 pg/mL, IQR: 1628-3593) than in controls (577 (446-766), p<0.001). Higher CSF NfL levels were moderately associated with naming impairment as measured by the Boston Naming Test (rs =-0.32, p=0.002) and with smaller grey matter volume of the parahippocampal gyri (rs =-0.31, p=0.004). However, cross-sectional CSF NfL levels were not associated with progression of grey matter atrophy and did not predict survival. Conclusion: CSF NfL is a promising biomarker in the diagnostic process of SD, although it has limited cross-sectional monitoring or prognostic abilities.This study was funded by a Memorabel grant from Deltaplan Dementie (The Netherlands Organisation for Health Research and Development, and Alzheimer Nederland grant number 7330598105), National Institutes of Health (Grants AG010124, AG032953, AG043503, NS088341, AG017586, AG052943, AG038490), the Wyncote Foundation, Dana Foundation, Brightfocus Foundation, Penn Institute on Aging, Pla estratègic de recerca i innovació en salut 2016-2020, Catalan Department of Health (grant number SLT002/16/00408), Italian Ministry of Health (Ricerca Corrente) and the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (FTLDc 01GI1007A). MS was supported by the Else Kröner-Fresenius-Stiftung. CW was supported by the Vaillant Stiftunginfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

The Seventeenth Data Release of the Sloan Digital Sky Surveys: Complete Release of MaNGA, MaStar and APOGEE-2 Data

This paper documents the seventeenth data release (DR17) from the Sloan Digital Sky Surveys; the fifth and final release from the fourth phase (SDSS-IV). DR17 contains the complete release of the Mapping Nearby Galaxies at Apache Point Observatory (MaNGA) survey, which reached its goal of surveying over 10,000 nearby galaxies. The complete release of the MaNGA Stellar Library (MaStar) accompanies this data, providing observations of almost 30,000 stars through the MaNGA instrument during bright time. DR17 also contains the complete release of the Apache Point Observatory Galactic Evolution Experiment 2 (APOGEE-2) survey which publicly releases infra-red spectra of over 650,000 stars. The main sample from the Extended Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey (eBOSS), as well as the sub-survey Time Domain Spectroscopic Survey (TDSS) data were fully released in DR16. New single-fiber optical spectroscopy released in DR17 is from the SPectroscipic IDentification of ERosita Survey (SPIDERS) sub-survey and the eBOSS-RM program. Along with the primary data sets, DR17 includes 25 new or updated Value Added Catalogs (VACs). This paper concludes the release of SDSS-IV survey data. SDSS continues into its fifth phase with observations already underway for the Milky Way Mapper (MWM), Local Volume Mapper (LVM) and Black Hole Mapper (BHM) surveys

Frontotemporal Dementia

Frontotemporal dementia (FTD) is a heterogeneous disorder with distinct clinical phenotypes associated with multiple neuropathologic entities. Presently, the term FTD encompasses clinical disorders that include changes in behavior, language, executive control, and often motor symptoms. The core FTD spectrum disorders include behavioral variant FTD, nonfluent/agrammatic variant primary progressive aphasia, and semantic variant PPA. Related FTD disorders include frontotemporal dementia with motor neuron disease, progressive supranuclear palsy syndrome, and corticobasal syndrome. In this article, the authors discuss the clinical presentation, diagnostic criteria, neuropathology, genetics, and treatments of these disorders