Emotional lability in motor neuron disease (Besta)

A cohort of newly diagnosed motor neuron disease patients studied by the Motor Neuron Disease Centre and Neuroradiology Unit of the Carlo Besta neurological institute in Milan. The study behind it asked how often pathological laughter and crying (emotional lability) occurs in amyotrophic and primary lateral sclerosis, and whether laughing and crying episodes relate differently to motor, cognitive, psychiatric and brain imaging findings. The authors deposited the anonymized data as a restricted Zenodo record that has to be requested.

Composition

198 incident patients with motor neuron disease were enrolled. The record holds demographic, clinical, neuropsychological and MRI data of the 198 patients. Emotional lability was rated with the Center for Neurologic Study Lability Scale and found in 36% of patients. How many patients have amyotrophic versus primary lateral sclerosis, and the sex and age distribution, are not given in the abstract or the record.

Acquisition

The study analysed structural brain MRI, with the institute's neuroradiology unit among the authors. Cortical thickness was measured in a subset of 48 patients. Scanner, field strength and sequences are not described in the public sources used here.

Annotations

Each patient has clinical ratings of motor function, mood, behaviour and cognition from a neuropsychological battery, and the lability scale score. No image labels are described.

Known limitations

The record lists no files, so it is unclear whether the MRI part contains images or only derived measures such as cortical thickness. Cortical thickness was measured in only 48 of the 198 patients. All authors are from one Italian institute, and the abstract does not say whether other centres contributed. Access is at the owners' discretion even though the record carries a CC BY 4.0 label.