Oral feeding difficulties occur in 86% of advanced dementia patients, with 41% also experiencing pneumonia, especially aspiration pneumonia.¹ Nasogastric feeding (NGF) is commonly used due to its convenience and perceived benefits of overcoming dysphagia.² Choosing an ideal feeding method for these patients could be complicated, as there is a need for the balance between comfort with oral feeding and minimizing the aspiration pneumonia risk, in addition to the comorbidities that patients are likely to have.³ A recent study by Yuen and her team found a breakthrough in the feeding method of careful hand feeding (CHF) to minimize the pneumonia risk in advanced dementia patients.⁴

B cells play an important role in the pathogenesis of multiple sclerosis (MS), hence immunosuppressive therapy employing B-cell depletion is an important milestone in MS management.¹ Ofatumumab is a fully human B-cell depleting, anti-CD20 monoclonal antibody approved in 2020 for treating adults with relapsing MS.² Ofatumumab has been shown to be safe, efficacious and have significant benefits over teriflunomide, a mitochondrial enzyme inhibitor, in relapsing MS patients in the phase 3 ASCLEPIOS I and II trials.¹ However, its long-term safety and efficacy as well as the increased risks associated with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) for MS patients has to be monitored further.⁴ Recently, interim data on the long-term (up to 4 years) safety of ofatumumab in relapsing MS from the ALITHIOS study were presented at the American Academy of Neurology (AAN) Annual Meeting.³ Additionally, interim analysis from another prospective open-label study, KYRIOS, also evaluated the T- and B-cell responses in COVID-19 vaccinated relapsing MS patients on ofatumumab.⁵

At the recent ILAE Europe Epilepsy Congress 2022, Professor Kette Valente delivered a presentation on recommendations for the diagnosis and treatment of depression for children with epilepsy, and Dr. Marco Mula presented on the possibility of taking antidepressants, as recommended by healthcare prov