Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery and Psychiatry articles from April 2002

Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery and Psychiatry archives from April 2002

Mitochondrial optic neuropathies: A model for a unifying theory. (Neuropathies).
April 1, 2002... Many optic neuropathies produce a similar clinical presentation. Investigations show that these optic neuropathies involve inherited or acquired impairments of mitochondrial function. Further reflection on these diseases and the selected sites...

A new antiepileptic drug: levetiracetam, a pyrrolidone recently licensed as an antiepileptic drug. (Epilepsy).
April 1, 2002... Recently a new antiepileptic drug, levetiracetam (LEV), was approved for the add on treatment of partial epilepsy, both in the United States and in Europe. This is of potential importance, because this drug is from a class not previously used...

Improved antisaccade performance in schizophrenia with risperidone: atypical treatment improves cognitive function. (Schizophrenia).(Brief Article)
April 1, 2002... Several recent studies have suggested that atypical antipsychotic medications such as risperidone can ameliorate certain cognitive deficits associated with schizophrenia. (1) Such findings have important implications, as cognitive impairment is...

Respective potencies of Botox and Dysport: a double blind, randomised, crossover study in cervical dystonia; clinically appropriate conversion factor may be less than three. (Cervical Dystonia).(Brief Article)
April 1, 2002... The issue of apparently different potencies of the two available formulations of botulinum toxin type A--Dysport and Botox--has continued to perplex clinicians for more than a decade. Empirically chosen doses expressed in mouse units in...

Intensity of rehabilitation: some answers and more questions? No benefits to intensive rehabilitation in the long term. (Rehabilitation).(Brief Article)
April 1, 2002... For many years rehabilitation researchers have pondered whether the observed recovery of patients from stroke occurs at the optimum natural recovery rate or may be further enhanced by rehabilitation interventions, in particular by increasing...

Headache and hypertension: refuting the myth; why does the hypertension headache myth persist? (Headache and Hypertension).(Brief Article)
April 1, 2002... Patients often tell their physicians, "I know when my blood pressure is high because I get a headache". The relation of headache to hypertension has been debated in the medical literature for almost a century. Janeway observed it in a large...

Functional brain mapping of psychopathology. (Advances in Neuropsychiatry).
April 1, 2002... In this paper, we consider the impact that the novel functional neuroimaging techniques may have upon psychiatric illness. Functional neuroimaging has rapidly developed as a powerful tool in cognitive neuroscience and, in recent years, has seen...

Intravenous immunoglobulin in neurological disease: a specialist review. (Review).
April 1, 2002... Treatment of neurological disorders with intravenous immunoglobulin (IVIg) is an increasing feature of our practice for an expanding range of indications. For some there is evidence of benefit from randomised controlled trials, whereas for...

Improved antisaccade performance with risperidone in schizophrenia. (Paper).
April 1, 2002... Objective: Antisaccade errors are consistently increased in schizophrenia. As they have been demonstrated only in cross sectional studies, it is unclear how they vary longitudinally or with different medications. In a previous cross sectional...

Structural MRI of the brain in presumed carriers of genes for schizophrenia, their affected and unaffected siblings. (Paper).
April 1, 2002... Background: Schizophrenia is a highly heritable disorder associated with structural brain abnormalities. The aim of this study was to establish if the gene(s) for schizophrenia are associated with specific abnormalities of brain structure. ...

Respective potencies of Botox and Dysport: a double blind, randomised, crossover study in cervical dystonia. (Paper).
April 1, 2002... Objectives: Botulinum toxin type A is a potent neuromuscular paralyzing agent used in various disorders including cervical dystonia. Two preparations of botulinum toxin are now commercially available (Dysport and Botox), but much controversy...

Blood pressure and risk of headache: a prospective study of 22 685 adults in Norway. (Paper).
April 1, 2002... Objectives: Prevalence studies of the association between blood pressure ond headache hove shown conflicting results. The aim was to analyse the relation between brood pressure and risk of headache in a prospective study. Methods: A total...

Dynamic cerebral autoregulation and beat to beat blood pressure control are impaired in acute ischaemic stroke. (Paper).
April 1, 2002... Objectives: Hypertension and chronic cerebrovascular disease are known to alter static cerebral autoregulation (CA) but the effects of acute stroke on dynamic CA (dCA) have not been studied in detail. Those studies to date measuring dCA have...

Long term effects of intensity of upper and lower limb training after stroke: a randomised trial. (Paper).
April 1, 2002... Objective: To assess long term effects at 1 year after stroke in patients who participated in an upper and lower limb intensity training programme in the acute and subacute rehabilitation phases. Design: A three group randomised controlled...

Timing of surgery for supratentorial aneurysmal subarachnoid haemorrhage: report of a prospective study. (Paper).
April 1, 2002... Objectives: The debate on the timing of aneurysm surgery after subarachnoid haemorrhage (SAH) pivots on the balance of the temporal risk for fatal rebleeding versus the risk of surgical morbidity when operating early on an acutely injured...

Endovascular management of unruptured intracranial aneurysms: does outcome justify treatment? (Paper).
April 1, 2002... Objective: The appropriate management of unruptured intracranial aneurysms depends on a complete understanding of their natural history and on the risks and efficacy of treatment options. There is little current data on the risks of...

Medial temporal lobe atrophy predicts Alzheimer's disease in patients with minor cognitive impairment. (Paper).
April 1, 2002... Objectives: To investigate whether medial temporal lobe atrophy predicted outcome in patients with minor cognitive impairment and whether assessment of the medial temporal lobe could increase the predictive accuracy of age and delayed recall...

Expression of chemokines in the CSF and correlation with clinical disease activity in patients with multiple sclerosis. (Paper).(cerebrospinal fluid)
April 1, 2002... Objective: To define the chemokine profile in the CSF of patients with multiple sclerosis (MS) and compare it with three control groups; patients with benign headache (headache), non-inflammatory neurological diseases (NIND), and other...

The value of temporary external lumbar CSF drainage in predicting the outcome of shunting on normal pressure hydrocephalus. (Paper).(cerebrospinal fluid)
April 1, 2002... Objective: It has been reported that temporary external lumbar CSF drainage (ELD) is a very accurate test for predicting the outcome after ventricular shunting in patients with normal pressure hydrocephalus (NPH). However, only a limited number...

Long term course of childhood epilepsy following relapse after antiepileptic drug withdrawal. (Paper).
April 1, 2002... Objective: To explore the course of epilepsy following relapse after antiepileptic drug (AED) withdrawal. Methods: Forty two patients were identified with onset of epilepsy in childhood in whom AEDs had been withdrawn after at least 2 years...

Long term reshaping of language, sensory, and motor maps after glioma resection: a new parameter to integrate in the surgical strategy. (Paper).
April 1, 2002... Objectives: To describe cortical reorganisation and the effects of glioma infiltration an local brain function in three patients who underwent two operations 12-24 months apart. Methods: Three patients who had no neurological deficit...

Concurrent excitatory and inhibitory effects of high frequency stimulation: an oculomotor study. (Paper).
April 1, 2002... Objective: To describe a reversible neurological condition resembling a crossed midbrain syndrome resulting from high frequency stimulation (HFS) in the midbrain. Methods: Postoperative evaluation of quadripolar electrodes implanted in the...

Abnormal visual projection in a human albino studied with functional magnetic resonance imaging and visual evoked potentials. (Short Report).
April 1, 2002... The albino visual pathway is abnormal in that many fibres from the temporal retina project to the contralateral visual cortex. The visual projections in a human albino and a control have been investigated with fMRI and VEP during independent...

Nikola Tesla (1856-1943). (Neurological Stamp).(Brief Article)
April 1, 2002... The advent of magnetic resonance scanners has drawn the term "Tesla" into the neurological vocabulary, by denoting as it does the strength of the magnet used. Tesla was born in Luka, Croatia, on the Adriatic coast and studied mathematics and...

Ataxia in the setting of complicated enteropathy: double jeopardy. (Short Report).
April 1, 2002... The differential diagnosis of subacute onset ataxia in the setting of enteropathy is wide. A 54 year old patient with a pancerebellar syndrome and known ulcerative jejunoileitis is described. Small bowel biopsy showed evidence of enteropathy...

Separating depersonalisation and derealisation: the relevance of the "lesion method". (Short Report).
April 1, 2002... Objectives: Depersonalisation (DP) and derealisation (DR) are often met with in patients with a wide range of localisable neurological conditions. This suggests that the "lesion method" might be a valid approach to study the neurobiology of...

Isolated corpus callosal infarction secondary to pericallosal artery disease presenting as alien hand syndrome. (Short Report).
April 1, 2002... Two patients are described with the callosal type of alien hand syndrome. Both presented with abnormal feelings in the left upper limb and intermanual conflict without clinical evidence of callosal apraxia or frontal lobe dysfunction such as...

A Raymond Chandler Trio. (Neurology in Literature).(Brief Article)
April 1, 2002... The big sleep: Hamish Hamilton 1939 Her hand holding the empty gun began to shake violently. The gun fell out of it. Her mouth began to shake. Her whole face went to pieces. Then her head screwed up towards her left ear and froth showed on...

Intrinsic spinal cord lesions complicating epidural anaesthesia and analgesia: report of three cases. (Short Report).
April 1, 2002... Serious neurological complications related to epidural anaesthesia and analgesia are only rarely reported. We describe the clinical and radiological features of three patients who sustained intrinsic spinal cord lesions after attempted epidural...

Acute small fibre sensory neuropathy: another variant of Guillain-Barre syndrome? (Short Report).
April 1, 2002... Six patients who presented with acute sensory neuropathy were studied. All patients underwent detailed clinical assessment along with electrophysiological tests and relevant laboratory investigations. All patients had acute onset numbness,...

A case of aceruloplasminaemia: abnormal serum ceruloplasmin protein without ferroxidase activity. (Short Report).
April 1, 2002... A 34 year old diabetic man with a complete deficiency of serum ferroxidase activity, regardless of the presence of serum ceruloplasmin (Cp), a multicopper ferroxidase protein, is described. The patient had had diabetes mellitus for 13 years,...

Deep brain stimulation of the centre median-parafascicular complex in patients with movement disorders. (Short Report).
April 1, 2002... The centre median-parafascicular (CM-Pf) complex of the thalamus is considered to be a possible target for deep brain stimulation (DBS) in patients with movement disorders. In a prospective study on the effect of CM-Pf DBS versus somatosensory...

Outpatient video EEG recording in the diagnosis of non-epileptic seizures: a randomised controlled trial of simple suggestion techniques. (Short Report).
April 1, 2002... Objective: To assess the yield of recorded habitual non-epileptic seizures during outpatient video EEG, using simple suggestion techniques based on hyperventilation and photic stimulation. Design: Randomised controlled trial of "suggestion"...

Vertebral artery dissection presenting as neuralgic amyotrophy.(Letter to the Editor)
April 1, 2002... Vertebral artery dissection usually presents with neck, occipital, or shoulder pain along with symptoms of ischaemic stroke in the posterior circulation. Isolated pain, asymptomatic cases, or misleading presentation mimicking migraine or...

Postoperative pseudoaneurysm of the superficial temporal artery.(Letter to the Editor)
April 1, 2002... Pseudoaneurysms of the superficial temporal artery (STA) are rare lesions. Reported cases typically occur after blunt trauma or penetrating injuries to the scalp along the course of the STA. However, such a complication after cranial surgery...

Correspondence. (Post Script).(Letter to the Editor)
April 1, 2002... Restless legs syndrome and peripheral neuropathy The Editorial by Chaudhuri et al (1) opportunely reviews various aspects of restless legs syndrome (RLS), but it is disappointing that RLS associated with peripheral neuropathies is poorly...

The Cranio-Cervical Syndrome: Mechanisms, Assessment and Treatment.
April 1, 2002... By Howard Vernon (Pp 262, [pounds sterling]39.99]. Published by Butterworth-Heinenmann, Oxford, 2001. ISBN 0 7506 4495 8 An unusual book, multiauthored and multidisciplinary, which despite the title deals largely with pain in general, and...

The New Phrenology: The Limits of Localizing Cognitive Processes in the Brain.
April 1, 2002... Edited by W R Uttal (Pp 255, [pounds sterling]27.50). Published by MIT Press, USA, 2001. ISBN 0 262 210 177 The notion that particular areas of the brain mediate specific functions is central to neurological diagnosis. In the 19th century,...

Anxiety Disorders in Children and Adolescents. Research, Assessment and Intervention.
April 1, 2002... Edited by Wendy K Silverman and Philip A D Treffers (Pp 418, [pounds sterling]39.95). Published by Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 2001. ISBN 0 521 78966 4. Child psychiatric epidemiology has consistently identified anxiety...