While amyotrophic lateral sclerosis is widely recognised as a multi-network disorder with extensive frontotemporal and cerebellar involvement, sensory dysfunction is most of the time denied as "ALS is a motor neuron disease", despite the wide reports of pain by patients and multiple MRI studies telling degeneration in many areas in the brain. This study complements the work in this area, hopefully many progress could be expected when scientists will stop to think of ALS as only "a motor neuron disease".

In a prospective neuroimaging study the authors have systematically evaluated cerebral grey and white matter structures involved in the processing, relaying and mediation of sensory information. Twenty two C9orf72 positive Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis patients, 138 C9orf72 negative Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis patients and 127 healthy controls were included.

Widespread cortical alterations were observed in C9+ Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis including both primary and secondary somatosensory regions. In C9- Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, cortical thickness reductions were observed in the postcentral gyrus.

Thalamic nuclei relaying somatosensory information as well as the medial and lateral geniculate nuclei exhibited volume reductions. Diffusivity indices revealed posterior thalamic radiation pathology and a trend of left medial lemniscus degeneration was also observed in C9- Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis.

The authors' radiology data confirm the degeneration of somatosensory, visual and auditory pathways in Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, which is more marked in GGGGCC hexanucleotide repeat expansion carriers.

In contrast to the overwhelming focus on motor system degeneration and frontotemporal dysfunction in recent research studies, authors' findings confirm that sensory circuits are also affected in Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis.

The involvement of somatosensory, auditory and visual pathways in Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis may have important clinical ramifications which are easily overlooked in the context of unremitting motor decline.

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Advanced therapies, including cell and gene therapies, are in development for Parkinson's disease. In many cases, the goal is to replace the lost dopamine, which is anticipated to improve motor dysfunctions associated with dopamine loss. This publication casts some doubts on this strategy.

For Mariah J Lelos from Cardiff University, it is not clear the extent to which these therapeutic interventions may impact on the wide range of cognitive symptoms that manifest as the disease progresses.

Although the accepted perception is that cognitive symptoms are predominately non-dopaminergic in origin, in this commentary, Lelos argues that several, specific cognitive processes, such as habit formation, working memory and reward processing, have been reported to be dopamine-dependent.

Furthermore, there is evidence of dopaminergic medications modulating these behaviors in Parkinson disease patients. Finally, the potential for cell and gene advanced therapies to influence these symptoms is considered.

Lelos concludes that dopamine replacement through advanced therapies is likely to improve certain dopamine-dependent symptoms, but only sparse clinical data are currently available and the ability to precisely titrate dopamine transmission is likely to be complex.

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Accumulating evidence suggests defective energy metabolism in ALS patients, which contributes to weight loss and a poor prognosis.

Lipid metabolism disorders have been widely reported in patients with ALS, presenting with hypercholesterolemia, hypertriglyceridemia, and other mixed dyslipidemias. Leptin, an adipokine, plays a neuroprotective role in neurodegenerative diseases, including Alzheimer's disease and Parkinson's disease. Nagel et al. suggested that leptin concentrations were positively correlated with the survival rate in ALS patients, indicating protective effects of leptin in patients with ALS.

Serum leptin concentration is strongly correlated with body weight or BMI, which was also confirmed in this study written by scientists from Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences. And higher body weight and BMI have been found to be associated with a lower risk of ALS and better prognosis in ALS patients.

Adipokines are a group of factors released or secreted by adipose tissue and have many physiological functions, such as fat distribution, energy expenditure, appetite and satiety regulation, insulin secretion and sensitivity, and inflammation.

Previous studies on the biological functions of adiponectin provide some evidence that adiponectin is beneficial in ALS. As one of the most abundant adipokines secreted by adipocytes, adiponectin functions in multiple physiological processes, including insulin sensitization, glucose regulation, lipid metabolism, and anti-inflammatory and antiapoptotic activities.

Fifty-two subjects were recruited between October 2020 and January 2022 among patients newly diagnosed with ALS in the Neurology Department of Peking Union Medical College Hospital. The study also included 24 healthy participants to compare adipokines and other metabolic biomarkers.

When comparing adipokines in patients and controls, the authors, found significant differences in the levels of adiponectin, adipsin, resistin, and visfatin between the two groups.

ALS patients had higher levels of adipokines (adiponectin, adipsin, resistin, and visfatin) and other metabolic biomarkers [C-peptide, glucagon, glucagon-like peptide 1 (GLP-1), gastric inhibitory peptide, and plasminogen activator inhibitor type 1] than controls.

Leptin levels in serum were positively correlated with body mass index, body fat, and visceral fat index.

Adiponectin was positively correlated with the visceral fat index and showed a positive correlation with the ALSFRS-R and a negative correlation with baseline disease progression.

Lower leptin and adiponectin levels were correlated with faster disease progression. After adjusting for confounders, lower adiponectin levels and higher visfatin levels were independently correlated with faster disease progression.

Berberine, an isoquinoline alkaloid, has been shown to increase adiponectin expression, which partly explains its beneficial effects on metabolic disturbances. Mice fed the omega-3 fatty acids eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA), both omega-3 fatty acids, have also shown increased plasma adiponectin. Curcumin, capsaicin, gingerol, and catechins have also been found to increase adiponectin expression.

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The Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis diagnostic challenges necessitate more robust diagnostic and prognostic methods. A potential biomarker in this regard is the alterations of ferritin levels in the serum and cerebrospinal fluid of patients compared to controls.

The cerebrospinal fluid and serum ferritin levels were measured in 50 Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis cases and 50 control patients with predefined exclusion criteria. The ELISA method was utilized for laboratory measurement and was statistically analyzed using the SPSS.

Heightened serum ferritin levels in cases were not statistically significant, however, cerebrospinal fluid ferritin levels were significantly higher in Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis patients.

Serum ferritin levels were significantly negatively correlated with the disease duration and were significantly positively correlated with the disease progression rate.

Heightened cerebrospinal fluid ferritin levels can be used for the diagnosis of Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis. The correlation between the serum ferritin levels with the DPR and its correlation with the disease duration suggests potential prognostic utilities.

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This book retraces the main achievements of ALS research over the last 30 years, presents the drugs under clinical trial, as well as ongoing research on future treatments likely to be able stop the disease in a few years and to provide a complete cure in a decade or two.

Applying machine-learning algorithms to large datasets such as those available in Huntington's disease offers the opportunity to discover hidden patterns, often not discernible to clinical observation.

A computer model of Huntington's disease progression is missing.

Longitudinal data encompassing 2079 assessment measures from four observational studies were integrated and machine-learning methods were applied to develop a probabilistic model of disease progression. The model was validated using a separate Enroll-HD dataset and compared with existing clinical reference assessments and CAG-age product.

Nine disease states were discovered based on 44 motor, cognitive, and functional measures, which correlated with reference assessments.

The validation set included 3158 participants of whom 61.5% had manifest disease. Analysis of transition times showed that "early-disease" states 1 and 2, which occur before motor diagnosis, lasted ~16 years.

Increasing numbers of participants had motor onset during "transition" states 3 to 5, which collectively lasted ~10 years, and the "late-disease" states 6 to 9 also lasted ~10 years. The annual probability of conversion from one of the nine identified disease states to the next ranged from 5% to 27%.

The natural history of Huntington's disease can be described by nine disease states of increasing severity. The ability to derive characteristics of disease states and probabilities for progression through these states will improve trial design and participant selection. © 2021 International Parkinson and Movement Disorder Society.

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To determine the long-term prognosis of the cognitive deficits progression in elderly people with amnestic mild cognitive impairment based on the analysis of the initial clinical and immunological parameters.

This study is based on a clinical and follow-up study of 252 outpatients with aMCI, who were observed in the Federal State Budgetary Scientific Institution «Mental Health Research Center» from 2018 to 2020.

The psychometric assessment complex included the following scales and tests: MMSE, MoCA, The 10 words test, BNT, David Wechsler's Scale, subtest 6, CDT, Memory test of 5 geometric shapes, BVRT Test, DRS - Mattis Dementia Rating Scale: Verbal fluency, DRS - Mattis Dementia Rating Scale, The Munsterberg Test.

As part of the study, the level of cytokines in the blood serum was determined in all patients by enzyme immunoassay, using diagnostic kits manufactured by Cytokine LLC.

In patients with a progression of aMCI syndrome, an increase in proinflammatory cytokines IL-1, IL-6, IL-8, TNF-α is initially detected, which may reflect the level of systemic inflammation or functional insufficiency of anti-inflammatory mechanisms.

In turn, the group with a subsequent improvement in cognitive functioning, on the contrary, is distinguished by an initially increased level of the anti-inflammatory interleukin system.

The scientists here provide new data on the presence of systemic inflammation and immune disturbances and their association with clinical course of disease in the majority of elderly patients with aMCI.

Signs of a chronic low-level systemic inflammatory response in patients with aMCI is the unfavorable prognosis criterion: in such patients, cognitive deficit significantly progresses or dementia due to Alzheimer disease develops within three years.

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Pramipexole or levodopa treatment has been suggested as a therapeutic method for Parkinson disease. Nonetheless, the combined effects of 2 drugs for Parkinson disease patients are not completely understood.The aim of this systematic review was to evaluate the clinical efficacy and safety of Pramipexole plus levodopa combination therapy in the treatment of Parkinson disease compared to that of levodopaL monotherapy, in order to confer a reference for clinical practice.

Randomized controlled trials of Pramipexole plus levodopa for Parkinson disease published up to April, 2020 were retrieved. Standardized mean difference, odds ratio, and 95% confidence interval were calculated and heterogeneity was measured with the I2 test. Sensitivity analysis was also carried out. The outcomes of interest were as follows: the efficacy, unified Parkinson disease rating scale scores, Hamilton depression rating scale score or adverse events.

Twenty-four RCTs with 2171 participants were included. Clinical efficacy of Pramipexole plus levodopa combination therapy was significantly better than levodopa monotherapy.

The Hamilton depression rating scale score showed significant decrease in the Pramipexole plus levodopa combination therapy compared to L monotherapy. In contrast to levodopa monotherapy, Pramipexole plus levodopa combination therapy reduced the number of any adverse events obviously in Parkinson disease patients.

Moreover, the safety profile of Pramipexole plus levodopa combination therapy was found to be better than that of levodopa monotherapy. Further well-designed, multicenter RCTs are needed to confirm the findings of this systematic review of the literature of the field.

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Thermoregulatory dysfunction is considered to be the least investigated among all the autonomic disorders in Parkinson disease. Pathophysiological mechanisms of this phenomena involve as central, as peripheric parts of nervous system.

Dopamine deficiency in combination with peripheric autonomic dysfunction leads to temperature balance disturbance, which may be expressed by various clinical symptoms. Dopaminergic innervation of preoptic-anterior hypothalamus area plays a crucial role in thermoregulation function of central nervous system.

Current thermoregulatory tests give possibility not only to reveal sudomotor and heat dissipation disorders in patients with Parkinson disease, but also to make differential diagnosis with other neurodegenerative disorders. Early detection and treatment of thermoregulatory dysfunction may improve quality of life in patients with Parkinson disease.

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