Epidemiology and diagnostic challenges in neuromyelitis optica spectrum disorder in Taiwan: a hospital-based surveillance accompanied by a nationwide study.

Neuromyelitis optica spectrum disorder is a rare autoimmune inflammatory demyelinating disease that must be differentiated from multiple sclerosis. The impact of misclassification on these patients in Taiwan remains unclear. We conducted a hospital-based retrospective cohort study of neuromyelitis optica spectrum disorder patients using the Chang Gung Research Database from 2005 to 2021.

Cutaneous manifestations of infective endocarditis as presenting signs of left atrial myxoma in a patient with acute ischemic stroke: A case report.

Rationale: Approximately one-fifth ischemic stroke are attributed to cardioembolism. Patients with cardioembolic stroke often develop a more severe disability and a higher risk of stroke recurrence. Cardiac myxoma, although uncommon, can serve as a potentially curable cause of acute embolic strokes.

Case Report: Lacosamide unmasking -associated Brugada syndrome in a young female with epilepsy.

Background: Lacosamide is frequently used as a mono- or adjunctive therapy for the treatment of adults with epilepsy. Although lacosamide is known to act on both neuronal and cardiac sodium channels, potentially leading to cardiac arrhythmias, including Brugada syndrome (BrS), its adverse effects in individuals with genetic susceptibility are less understood.

Case: We report a 33-year-old female with underlying epilepsy who presented to the emergency department with a four-day history of seizure clusters, and was initially treated with lacosamide therapy.

Anti-recoverin antibody positive Heidenhain variant CJD: a case report.

The Heidenhain variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD) is characterized by isolated visual symptoms at disease onset, which may mimic numerous ophthalmological disorders. Anti-recoverin autoantibody can be found in patients with autoimmune-related retinopathies. The presence of this antibody with visual symptoms might be confusing in the early stages of the Heidenhain variant CJD.

Lumbar puncture for non-HIV-infected non-transplant patients with cryptococcosis: Should it be mandatory for all?

Background: The indications for lumbar puncture in non-HIV-infected, non-transplant (NHNT) patients with cryptococcosis without meningeal signs need to be more fully defined.

Objectives: This study was designed to determine the optimal predictors of central nervous system (CNS) involvement in adult NHNT patients with cryptococcosis.

Methods: The study population consisted of adult NHNT patients with culture-confirmed cryptococcosis who sought care at a university hospital in Taiwan from 2002 to 2016.

Progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy in a 27-year-old lady with systemic lupus erythematosus - rheumatoid arthritis overlap syndrome.

Progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy (PML) is a rare viral demyelinating disease of central nervous system. Immunosuppression is a significant risk factor for the disease. Previously, PML developed more commonly in patients of hematological malignancy and acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS).

Frontotemporal dementia and motor neuron disease: report of 3 cases in Taiwan and literature review.

Purpose: Case reports and a review of literature of the coexistence of motor neuron disease (MND) and frontotemporal dementia (FTD).

Case Report: All three patients demonstrated generalized lower motor neuron signs and very few upper motor neuron signs. In the level of patterns of cognitive impairments, neuropsychological studies do not distinguish between patients with onset of weakness from bulbar palsy and patients with onset of weakness from limbs.

Rhombencephalitis as an initial manifestation of primary Sjögren's syndrome: a case report and review of the literatures.

Purpose: We present a case report and a comprehensive review of the literature concerning aseptic meningoencephalitis and Sjögren's syndrome (SS).

Case Report: We report a 44-year-old woman of primary SS with initial presentation of aseptic meningoencephalitis and a reversible magnetic resonance image (MRI) lesion in the medulla. The diagnosis of primary SS based on ocular dryness, lacrimal hyposecretion, secretory and excretory dysfunction from sialocintigraphy, and positive anti-SS-A antibodies.

Iron deficiency anemia - a rare etiology of sinus thrombosis in adults.

Purpose: Cerebral venous thrombosis (CVT) has a wide spectrum of symptoms and is therefore difficult to diagnose. CVT has been reported to be associated with various etiologies. There are, however, very few reported cases of CVT associated with iron deficiency anemia (IDA), especially in adults.

A novel neuropsychiatric phenotype of KCNJ2 mutation in one Taiwanese family with Andersen-Tawil syndrome.

Andersen-Tawil syndrome (ATS) is a rare familial potassium channelopathy characterized by the clinical triad of periodic paralysis, cardiac arrhythmia and dysmorphic facial/skeletal features. The majority of ATS patients are caused by mutations of the KCNJ2 gene, which encodes the inward-rectifying potassium channel protein Kir2.1.

Association of anti-Helicobacter pylori neutrophil-activating protein antibody response with anti-aquaporin-4 autoimmunity in Japanese patients with multiple sclerosis and neuromyelitis optica.

There are two distinct subtypes of multiple sclerosis (MS) in Asians: opticospinal (OSMS) and conventional (CMS). OSMS has similar features to neuromyelitis optica (NMO) and half of OSMS patients have the NMO-Immunoglobulin G (IgG)/ anti-aquaporin-4 (AQP4) antibody. We reported that Helicobacter pylori (H.

Helicobacter pylori infection is a potential protective factor against conventional multiple sclerosis in the Japanese population.

Persistent Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) infection is a chronic inflammatory stimulus to hosts with an inverse correlation to atopic disorders. In this study, a total of 105 consecutive multiple sclerosis (MS) patients were divided into 52 opticospinal MS (OSMS) and 53 conventional MS (CMS), and their sera, along with those from 85 healthy controls (HC), were examined by an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay using antibodies against H.

Upregulation of vascular growth factors in multiple sclerosis: correlation with MRI findings.

Vascular permeability changes precede the development of demyelinating lesions in multiple sclerosis (MS), and vessel wall thickening and capillary proliferation are frequently seen in autopsied MS lesions. Although vascular growth factors are critical for inducing such vascular changes, their involvement in MS has not been extensively studied. Thus, we examined the involvement of various vascular growth factors in MS according to their clinical phase and subtype.