MDS Podcast

Cases of late-onset cerebellar ataxias are a challenge for neurologists. In this episode Dr. Orlando Barsottini and Dr. José Luiz Pedroso discuss new advances on the investigation of late-onset cerebellar ataxias and identification of new genes.

Dr. Michele Matarazzo interviews Prof. Hesheng Liu about his recent Nature paper proposing a major conceptual shift: Parkinson’s disease as a somato-cognitive action network (SCAN) disorder. Together they discuss how a large multimodal dataset suggests a characteristic pattern of hyperconnectivity between SCAN cortical areas and subcortical nuclei in Parkinson’s disease, how this signature changes with effective therapies, and why personalized SCAN targeting may help refine non-invasive stimulation and circuit-guided interventions. The conversation explores implications for biomarkers, patient-specific targeting, and key unanswered questions that will shape the next generation of studies.

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In this episode, Dr. Orlando Barsottini and Dr. Bart van de Warrenburg discuss the importance of precise neurological examination and classification of ataxias. The further discuss the rational etiological investigation for cases of ataxia and how to utilize different clinical assessments.

In this episode, Dr. Kirsten Müller-Vahl explores one of the first long-term follow-up studies of mass social media–induced functional tic-like behaviors (MSMI-FTLB). She discusses what their findings mean for clinical counseling, why early diagnosis appears to improve outcomes, how factors such as psychiatric comorbidity and secondary gain influence recovery. She also examines the surprising finding that reduced screen time did not significantly affect prognosis and what this suggests about social media as a trigger versus a maintaining factor.

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Dr. Eduardo de Pablo-Fernández is joined by Dr. Susan Fox and Dr. Claudia Trenkwalder to discuss how to improve the current MDS clinical diagnostic criteria for Parkinson's disease.

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