VThornleyMD

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Bredesen protocol for mild and subjective cognitive disorder and Alzheimer's disease: is there any scientific basis?

Bredesen protocol for mild and subjective cognitive disorder and Alzheimer’s disease: is there any scientific basis?

Bredesen protocol for mild and subjective cognitive disorder and Alzheimer’s disease: is there any scientific basis? Virginia Thornley, M.D., Neurologist, Epileptologist August 19, 2020

Introduction There has been much interest in turning the focus to dietary and lifestyle changes in order to treat medical symptoms with patients disillusioned by the current state of treatments for disorders that…

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Anosmia and ageusia as a clinical manifestation of COVID-19

Anosmia and ageusia as a clinical manifestation of COVID-19

Anosmia and ageusia as a clinical manifestation of COVID-19 Virginia Thornley, M.D. Neurologist April 24, 2020

photo credit CDC by Unsplash Neurologybuzz.com http://virginiathornleymd.com/

Introduction COVID-19 can present with a variety of symptoms and is not necessarily limited to fever and respiratory symptoms. As the pandemic continues, more observations of the wide spectrum of clinical…

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A review of the literature: cytokine storm in COVID-19 and novel treatments and trials

Virginia Thornley, M.D. Neurologist April 13, 2020

Introduction COVID-19 is now a global pandemic. The world is in the midst of a virus that is still an unknown entity. Here we look at the published research of what we know so far.

Cytokine storm COVID-19 or the coronavirus is thought to incite a cytokine storm. On review of the literature for severe influenza, a cytokine storm refers to the…

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Review of literature: introduction to the COVID19 and clinical presentations

Review of literature: introduction to the COVID19 and clinical presentations

Virginia Thornley, M.D. Neurologist April 2, 2020

Introduction A new virus emerged in Wuhun, China in December 2019. But the information is still emerging on how to treat it and the exact pathophysiology.

The coronavirus is a type of virus that can infect both animals and humans. It was named COVID19 for corona virus…

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Platelet-rich plasma and mechanism of action

Platelet-rich plasma and mechanism of action

Virginia Thornley, M.D., Neurologist January 26, 2020

Introduction Pain is one of the most common conditions that brings a patient to see a physician. Pain is a sign of dysfunction, something is not quite right. There is a plethora of research devoted to understanding the mechanisms.

One of the more novel approaches is platelet rich plasma and stem cell. Currently, it is not FDA approved in the…

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My clip on ABC7 SUNCOAST roundtable news on vaping

https://www.mysuncoast.com/video/2019/11/16/abc-news-roundtbale-discussion-november/

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Deep brain stimulation and essential tremor

Deep brain stimulation and essential tremor

Virginia Thornley, M.D. Neurologist, Epileptologist November 6, 2019 Essential tremor is now treated with implantation of a deep brain stimulating device. It has been approved for treatment for Parkinson’s disease, essential tremor, dystonic tremor and obsessive compulsive disorder (1). Basically, within the brain, there is a recurrent loop that is not inhibited by the correct feedback inhibition…

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Do anti-depressants or anxiolytics cause lower levels of vitamins and minerals?

Do anti-depressants or anxiolytics cause lower levels of vitamins and minerals?

Virginia Thornley, M.D., Neurologist, Epileptologist November 4, 2019 A recent question prompted this literature search. We know that patients ho are depressed often complain of fatigue. But which came first the chicken or the egg? Fatigue could be a result from not sleeping well due persistent thoughts and rumination at night. But can long-term anti-depressants and anxiolytics cause a lowering…

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What are the risks of vaping medical cannabinoids in the state of Florida?

What are the risks of vaping medical cannabinoids in the state of Florida?

Virginia Thornley, M.D. October 9, 2019 Given the recent rash of deaths thought to be caused by vaping e-cigarettes, patients are scrambling to ask their doctors regarding the risks of vaping medical cannabinoids. Many of the reports reporting deaths have been with e-cigarettes which do have chemicals that can potentially cause irreversible damage to the lungs.  Some reports report that THC oils…

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Effects of barometric pressure changes in weather change in patients with migraine

Effects of barometric pressure changes in weather change in patients with migraine

Virginia Thornley, M.D. October 9, 2019 A common question that is asked in the office setting is whether weather changes can increase migraines. In one study of 98 patients, higher humidity between the warm months of April and September correlated with increase number of migraines (1). In a 7-year study of ER patients, an increase of barometric pressure resulted in more ER visits by patients with…

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Can anti-psychotic agents reduce brain volume?

Can anti-psychotic agents reduce brain volume?

Virginia Thornley, M.D. Neurologist, Epileptologist November 9, 2019 Can medications cause cerebral atrophy? Atrophy refers to shrinkage of the cells causing the appearance of the brain to have less volume than usual. This question was asked last week. Anti-epileptics such as phenytoin is well-known in the literature and clinically to cause cerebellar atrophy. But what about other agents such as…

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Animal study demonstrating CBD's (cannabidiol) effects on neuroplasticity and memory loss

Animal study demonstrating CBD’s (cannabidiol) effects on neuroplasticity and memory loss

Virginia Thornley, M.D. Neurologist, Epileptologist August 26, 2019In an animal study, one group demonstrates that Cannabidiol may help with the neuroplasticity in patients with Alzheimer’s disease (1). LTP in the hippocampus is the long-term potentiation seen that elevates the efficacy of synapses involved in memory. Beta-amyloid peptide is toxic towards this  feature. When animals were…

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How does cannabidiol (CBD) help with skin disorders

How does cannabidiol (CBD) help with skin disorders

Virginia Thornley, M.D. Neurologist, Epileptologist April 3, 2019 IntroductionCannabidiol has been in the news lately blown up by the media as the miracle cure. You see anecdotal information that it works for various conditions. The research has been slow since it was previously a  schedule 1 agent and is now declassified. Attention is now turned to the different conditions where it might work…

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Can anti-psychotic agents reduce brain volume?

Can anti-psychotic agents reduce brain volume?

Virginia Thornley, M.D. Neurologist, Epileptologist July 10, 2019 Can medications cause cerebral atrophy. Cerebral atrophy refers to shrinkage of the cells causing the appearance of the brain to have less volume than usual. This question was asked last week. An anti-epileptics such as phenytoin is well-known in the literature and clinically to cause cerebellar atrophy. But what about other agents…

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Can anti-cholinergics cause dementia?

Can anti-cholinergics cause dementia?

Can anti-cholinergics cause dementia? Virginia Thornley, M.D., Neurologist, Epileptologist July 1, 2019 In one study, they found that anti-cholinergic agents shows an increased risk of dementia. In the study certain anti-depressants and urologic agents were found to correlate more with the risk of dementia including dosulepine, duloxetine and amitriptyline for the anti-depressants and tolteridine…

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The impact of immunomodulating agents used in multiple sclerosis on the risk of cancer

The impact of immunomodulating agents used in multiple sclerosis on the risk of cancer

Virginia Thornley, M.D., Neurologist, Epileptologist June 14, 2019 IntroductionMultiple sclerosis is already an illness where the immune system recognizes the nervous system specifically the white matter tracts as foreign and attacks it. The complex cascade of mechanisms make adequate treatment challenging. Many treatments focus on the inflammatory mechanism with little attention on the…

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Genetics of Hereditary Cerebellar Ataxia and Hereditary Spastic Paraplegia

Genetics of Hereditary Cerebellar Ataxia and Hereditary Spastic Paraplegia

Virginia Thornley, M.D. Neurologist, Epileptologist March 18, 2019 IntroductionCerebellar ataxias are rare disorders, only a few types are treatable. This reviews some of the research regarding the genetics of cerebellar ataxias. Next generation sequencing is a revolutionary way of DNA sequencing that can sequence an entire genome in one day which previously took 10 years. Clinical applications…

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