Alireza Minagar

Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center Shreveport · Department of Neurology

The risks and benefits of arteriovenous malformation (AVM) treatment should be considered cautiously in each patient since management strategy of it depends on various factors including age of the patient, location and volume of AVM and presence of other vascular abnormalities. Current management options of AVM include observation, endovascular emb...

Study objectives: The role of obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) in the overall outcome of ruptured intracranial aneurysms (RIAs) is unknown. We have investigated the role of OSA in overall outcome of RIAs. Methods: Data from 159 consecutive patients were retrospectively reviewed. A chi-square test and regression analysis were performed to determine...

Modern biotechnology techniques with focus on RNA and protein gene expression have fundamentally altered our view of the pathogenesis of neurological diseases, in general, and HIV-associated neurocognitive disorders (HAND), in particular. Extensive analysis of gene expression enables scientists to assess the simultaneous expression modes of enormou...

The lymphatic system maintains tissue homeostasis by transporting interstitial fluid, lipids and debris from tissues to the main circulation, and delivers antigen and antigen presenting cells to local lymph nodes where they elicit immune responses. During inflammation, lymph flow increases to limit edema and prevents tissue antigen-presenting cell...

Introduction. Multiple sclerosis (MS) is the most common neurological disease responsible for early disability in the young working population. In the last two decades, based on retrospective/prospective data, the use of disease-modifying therapies has been shown to slow the rate of disability progression and prolonged the time to conversion into s...

Optimal treatment of intracranial aneurysms (IAs) in elderly patients has not yet been well established. We have investigated the clinical and radiological outcomes and predictors of unfavorable outcome of IAs in elderly patients. Radiological and clinical data of 85 elderly patients from 2010 through 2015 were retrospectively reviewed. Significant...

Background: Proteomic analysis of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) has shown great promise in identifying potential markers of injury in neurodegenerative diseases [1-13]. Here we compared CSF proteomes in healthy individuals, with patients diagnosed with traumatic brain injury (TBI) and subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH) in order to characterize molecular bi...

Introduction Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) is associated with the progression of abdominal and thoracic aortic aneurysms. However, the role of OSA in the overall outcome of intracranial ruptured aneurysms (RIAs) has not yet been known. We have investigated the role of OSA in overall outcome of RIAs. Methods Data of 159 consecutive patients were re...

Sarcoidosis is a systemic immune-mediated inflammatory disease which significantly affects three major organs: the skin, pulmonary tract, and lymph nodes. Up to 10 % of patients with sarcoidosis develop neurosarcoidosis, and in a minority of patients, neurologic manifestations constitute the presenting clinical picture. The inflammatory non-caseati...

Acute disseminated encephalomyelitis (ADEM) is an acute multifocal or diffuse inflammatory demyelinating disease of human central nervous system (CNS), which usually has a monophasic course. ADEM affects the white and gray matters of the brain and spinal cord and is more frequent in pediatric population than adults. It commonly occurs following sys...

Multiple sclerosis (MS) is increasingly being viewed and studied not only as an immune-mediated demyelinating and neurodegenerative disease of the human central nervous system (CNS) but as a vascular-based form of neuroinflammation. Irrespective of the MS type (relapsing-remitting (RRMS, 85%), secondary progressive (SPMS, 12%), primary progressive...

OBJECTIVE Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) is associated with the progression of abdominal and thoracic aortic aneurysms. However, the role of OSA in the overall outcome of intracranial aneurysms (IAs) has not yet been established. Authors of this report investigated the role of OSA in the overall outcome of IAs. METHODS Radiological and clinical dat...

Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a demyelinating and neurodegenerative disease of the human brain, optic nerves, and spinal cord, which commonly leads to irreversible neurological disability. The etiology and cure of MS remain far from our reach. However, we are making slow, but persistent progress in our understanding of the fundamental mechanisms under...

Multiple sclerosis (MS) is presumed to be an autoimmune disease of human brain and spinal cord which mainly affects young adults. MS pathophysiology contains two neuroinflammatory and neurodegenerative arms which run concurrently; however, it is the neurodegeneration that eventually leads to loss of neurons and axons and permanent disability. Prese...

Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a presumably immune-mediated, demyelinating, and neurodegenerative disease of the human central nervous system, which usually affects young adults and causes significant irreversible neurological disability. Up to 85% of newly diagnosed MS patients have relapsing–remitting (RR) disease which is characterized by periods of...

Deviations from normal levels and patterns of vascular fluid shear play important roles in vascular physiology and pathophysiology by inducing adaptive as well as pathological changes in endothelial phenotype and gene expression. In particular, maladaptive effects of periodic, unidirectional flow induced shear stress can trigger a variety of effect...

Discovered in 1947, microparticles (MP) represent a group of sub-micron cell-derived particles isolated by high speed centrifugation. Once regarded as cellular ‘trash', in the past decade MP have gained tremendous attention in both basic sciences and medical research both as biomarkers and mediators of infection, injury and response to therapy. Bec...

To the Editor Gomm and colleagues¹ examine the association of proton pump inhibitor (PPI) use with the risk for incidental dementia in the elderly population. Using longitudinal data derived from the Allgemeine Ortskrankenkassen database, the largest German health insurer, the authors conclude that patients receiving regular PPIs were at significan...

Background: Psammoma bodies (PBs) are whorled, laminated hyaline spherules containing calcium deposits. Intracranially, the presence of PBs is associated with variants of meningioma and pituitary lesions, as well as aging choroid plexus. Limited information exists on their presence in vascular malformation. Results: In this report, we describe a...

Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is a complex neurologic and neuropathologic process that may affect the patient's behavior permanently. Clinically, TBI is associated with a wide gamut of neurologic and psychiatric disorders, such as amnesia, cognitive decline, seizures, attention and concentration deficits, depression, manic behavior, psychosis, hosti...

Reviews the book Improving Diagnosis in Health Care by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (see record 2015-45526-000 ). Despite major advances in our understanding of the molecular pathophysiology of human disease and development of many complicated diagnostic tools, which in many cases can pinpoint a diagnosis, our 21st...

Although multiple sclerosis (MS) is thought to represent an excessive and inappropriate immune response to several central nervous system (CNS) autoantigens, increasing evidence also suggests that MS may also be a neurovascular inflammatory disease, characterized by endothelial activation and shedding of cell membrane microdomains known as 'micropa...

In many cases, acute ataxia presents a neurologic emergency that must be assessed and treated effectively in order to save a patient's life and protect the patient from potential permanent complications and disabilities. A thorough knowledge of cerebellar anatomy and physiology and familiarity with common causes of acute ataxia, enable the clinicia...

The human cerebellum is composed of 2 hemispheres and a narrow medial section (vermis). Three pairs of dense fiber bundles (peduncles) connect the cerebellum to the brain. The cerebellum possesses widespread outgoing connections. Insult can result in neurologic deficits, including ataxia, hypotonia, dysarthria, and ocular motility problems. It is p...

Neuromyelitis optica (NMO) is an inflammatory, immune-mediated disease that targets the optic nerves and spinal cord. Clinically, NMO is characterized by severe attacks of optic neuritis (ON) and/or transverse myelitis. The clinical onset is often abrupt and may produce a prodrome that can include headache and low-grade fever. Upper respiratory sym...

Multiple sclerosis (MS) is an immune-mediated neurodegenerative disease of the central nervous system (CNS), which largely affects young adults with certain genetic backgrounds, often following exposure to several as yet unidentified environmental antigen(s). Based on the clinical disease pattern, four types of MS are recognized: relapsing–remittin...

Women are at great risk of developing psychiatric disorders during their reproductive years of life (between ages 18 and 45 years). Therefore, a large number of women may develop a new psychiatric illness or experience worsening of their existing psychiatric disorder during pregnancy or lactation. The two most common psychiatric disorders among wom...

This chapter reviews latest studies concerning pregnancy and movement disorders. Pregnancy may uncover a pre-existing movement disorder tendency such as for the development of chorea, or pregnant patients may develop chorea gravidarum (CG). Moreover, pregnancy can have variable effects on the clinical manifestations of such movement disorders as Pa...

Acute transverse myelitis (ATM) is an idiopathic inflammatory form of myelopathy that represents only one of the many causes of acute transverse myelopathies. A large and heterogeneous group of pathogenic disorders can cause transverse myelitis, including inflammatory demyelinating disorders like multiple sclerosis (MS), neuromyelitis optica (NMO),...

We previously reported a correlation between levels of micro particles carrying CD31 (PMP(CD31+)) and disease activity in MS. However, the effects of long term (12 month) treatment with high dose, high frequency interferon-β1a (Rebif™) on plasma levels of PMP(CD31+), PMP(CD146+), and PMP(CD54+) and MRI measures of disease activity have not yet been...

Inflammatory cytokines dysregulate microvascular function, yet how cytokines affect lymphatic endothelial cells (LEC) are unclear. Methods and Results: We examined effects of TNF-α, IL-1 beta, and IFN-gamma on LEC proliferation, endothelial cell adhesion molecule (ECAM) expression, capillary formation, and barrier changes in murine (SV-LEC) and hum...

Abstract BACKGROUND: Interferon-beta1b (IFN-beta1b), an effective treatment for multiple sclerosis (MS), lessens disease severity in MS patients. However, the mechanisms of its immunoregulatory and anti-inflammatory effects in MS remain only partially understood. Matrix metalloproteinases (MMP) and tissue inhibitor of matrix metalloproteinase-1 (TI...

OBJECTIVES: The study was designed to find evidence that brain electrical activity associated with processing the abrupt appearance or disappearance of a sensory stimulus differed in the presence and absence of the neuropathological changes that are characteristic of multiple sclerosis (MS). METHODS: A subliminal stimulus (electrical field) was ap...

Recent clinical trials indicate the efficacy of interferon (IFN)-β1b in reducing relapse rate in relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis (MS), whereas a surge of IFN-γ precedes and provokes acute relapses. Disruption of the cerebral endothelial barrier and transendothelial migration of inflammatory cell migration into the brain play a significant ro...

This study is a retrospective analysis of 17 patients with multiple sclerosis. The total volume of plaques from three different MR image sets of the brain was correlated with the EDSS ratings of the patients. Each of the correlations showed a positive relationship, but none was statistically significant. A more extensive study is required in order...

Epigenetics studies factors related to the organism and environment that modulate inheritance from generation to generation. Molecular epigenetics examines non-coding DNA (ncdDNA) vs. coding DNA (cdDNA), and pertains to every domain of physiology, including immune and brain function. Molecular cartography, including genomics, proteomics, and inter...

We describe current research that applies epigenetics to a novel understanding of the immuno-neuropathogenesis of HIV-1 viral infection and NeuroAIDS. We propose the hypothesis that HIV-1 alters the structure-function relationship of chromatin, coding DNA and non-coding DNA, including RNA transcribed from these regions resulting in pathogenesis in...

Alzheimer's disease (AD), the most common cause of dementia, has few clinical similarities to HIV-1-associated dementia (HAD). However, genes were identified related among these dementias. Discovering correlations between gene function, expression, and structure in the human genome continues to aid in understanding the similarities between pathogen...

To evaluate the efficacy, safety, and tolerability of combination therapy with intramuscular interferon beta-1a and oral doxycycline, a potent inhibitor of matrix metalloproteinases, in patients with relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis (RRMS) having breakthrough disease activity. Open-label, 7-month trial. Louisiana State University Health Scien...

The neurological complications of AIDS (NeuroAIDS) include neurocognitive impairment and HIV-associated dementia (HAD; also known as AIDS dementia and HIV encephalopathy). HAD is the most significant and devastating central nervous system (CNS) complications associated with HIV infection. Despite recent advances in our knowledge of the clinical fea...

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