Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery and Psychiatry articles from January 2003

Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery and Psychiatry archives from January 2003

Drug treatments for eye movement disorders: advances in the treatment of eye movement disorders. (Eye Movement Disorders).
January 1, 2003... PATHOGENESIS OF ABNORMAL EYE MOVEMENTS AND THEIR VISUAL CONSEQUENCES The modern rationale for the treatment of abnormal eye movements rests on current concepts of the neurobiology of ocular motility and vision. In order to see clearly the...

Assessment of health needs in multidisciplinary care: comprehensive care for people with disabling neurological disease--finding the best approach. (Multidisciplinary Care).
January 1, 2003... Comprehensive care for people with disabling neurological illnesses is widely acknowledged to require input from many specialisms. The foundation of such multifaceted care should be a detailed assessment of physical and psychosocial function...

Blood-brain barrier permeability in type II diabetes: there is a direct link between diabetes, a leaky blood-brain barrier, leukoaraiosis, and cognitive impairment. (Blood-Brain Barrier Permeability in Diabetes).
January 1, 2003... Diabetes has an important and readily demonstrable association with cognitive impairment and stroke. Starr et al, in their paper on page 000, have concentrated on a more subtle pathology, that of leukoaraiosis. They have shown increased...

Spontaneous retinal venous pulsation: aetiology and significance. (Physical Signs).
January 1, 2003... Spontaneous retinal venous pulsation is seen as a subtle variation in the calibre of the retinal vein(s) as they cross the optic disc. The physical principles behind the venous pulsations has been the point of much debate. Initial theories...

Hans Berger (1873-1941), Richard Caton (1842-1926), and electroencephalography. (Neurological Stamp).
January 1, 2003... Hans Berger recorded the first human electroencephalograms (EEGs) in 1924. He obtained his medical degree from the University of Jena, Germany, in 1897 and then joined the university psychiatric clinic directed by Otto Binswanger. There he...

Internet resources for psychiatry and neuropsychiatry. (Review).
January 1, 2003... Some of the most useful internet resources relevant to psychiatry and neuropsychiatry are summarised. Web sites recommended for professionals and patients are detailed, including where to find evidence based psychiatry, psychiatry news, and...

Constipation in neurological diseases. (Review).
January 1, 2003... Hippocrates noted that "it is a general rule, that intestines become sluggish with age", though the precise mechanisms for this association remains uncertain even today. ********** Many neurological and psychiatric disorders are...

The INTERMED: a screening instrument to identify multiple sclerosis patients in need of multidisciplinary treatment. (Paper).
January 1, 2003... Objective: To analyse the value of the INTERMED a screening instrument to assess case complexity, compared with the Expanded Disability Status Scale (EDSS) and the Guy's Neurological Disability Scale (GNDS) to identify multiple sclerosis (MS)...

Multiple sclerosis in Finland: incidence trends and differences in relapsing remitting and primary progressive disease courses. (Paper).
January 1, 2003... Objective: To compare the secular trends and geographical differences in the incidence of relapsing-remitting (RRMS) and primary progressive multiple sclerosis (PPMS) in Finland, and to draw inferences about aetiological differences between the...

Incidence (1988-97) and prevalence (1997) of multiple sclerosis in Vasterbotten County in northern Sweden. (Paper).
January 1, 2003... Objective: To investigate the incidence and prevalence of multiple sclerosis in Vasterbotten County in northern Sweden. Methods: Multiple sources were used in the case identification process. Fallow up interviews with clinical examinations...

Thalamic proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy in vegetative state induced by traumatic brain injury. (Paper).
January 1, 2003... Objectives: To determine whether proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS), a newer radiographic technology, would be useful in the evaluation of the thalamus of patients in vegetative states resulting from traumatic brain injury. ...

Outcome after mild traumatic brain injury: an examination of recruitment bias. (Paper).
January 1, 2003... Objectives: Research concerning the natural history after mild traumatic brain injury (TBI) faces a number of methodological challenges, including those related to subject recruitment. The aim of this study was to determine whether subjects who...

fMRI studies of associative encoding in young and elderly controls and mild Alzheimer's disease. (Paper).
January 1, 2003... Objective: To examine alterations in patterns of brain activation seen in normal aging and in mild Alzheimer's disease by functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) during an associative encoding task. Methods: 10 young controls, 10...

Persistent abnormality detected in the non-ictal electroencephalogram in primary generalised epilepsy. (Paper).
January 1, 2003... Objectives: Gamma oscillations (30-100 Hz gamma electroencephalographic (EEG) activity] correlate with high frequency synchronous rhythmic bursting in assemblies of cerebral neurons participating in aspects of consciousness. Previous studies in...

Autonomic nervous system testing may not distinguish multiple system atrophy from Parkinson's disease. (Paper).
January 1, 2003... Background: Formal laboratory testing of autonomic function is reported to distinguish between patients with Parkinson's disease and those with multiple system atrophy (MSA), but such studies segregate patients according to clinical criteria...

Loss of spatial learning in a patient with topographical disorientation in new environments. (Paper).
January 1, 2003... The case is described of a patient who, following cerebral hypoxia, developed severe difficulty in orienting himself in new environments in the context of a mild global amnesic syndrome. Some episodes he related suggested that his main...

Increased blood--brain barrier permeability in type II diabetes demonstrated by gadolinium magnetic resonance imaging. (Paper).
January 1, 2003... Objectives: Patients with type II diabetes are at increased risk of cognitive impairment. The retinal and renal complications of diabetes follow microvascular damage permitting small arterioles to leak, hence the cerebral damage might also...

Willis on narcolepsy. (Historical Note).
January 1, 2003... Narcolepsy, a syndrome of unknown origin is characterised by excessive daytime sleepiness and often disturbed nocturnal sleep and pathological manifestations of REM sleep. From the Greek v[nu][alpha][rho][kappa][omega][sigma][tau][zeta] meaning...

The impact of delays in computed tomography of the brain on the accuracy of diagnosis and subsequent management in patients with minor stroke. (Paper).
January 1, 2003... Objectives: To determine the proportion of haemorrhagic strokes misdiagnosed as infarcts on computed tomography (CT) in patients with mild stroke, and the implications for health care. Methods: Patients with mild stroke presenting as...

Application of time-frequency analysis to somatosensory evoked potential for intraoperative spinal cord monitoring. (Paper).
January 1, 2003... Objective: To investigate the improvement in the reliability of intraoperative spinal cord monitoring by applying time- frequency analysis to somatosensory evoked potentials (SEP). Methods: 34 patients undergoing scoliosis surgery were...

Radiofrequency neurotomy for the treatment of third occipital headache. (Paper).
January 1, 2003... Objective: To evaluate the efficacy of a revised technique of percutaneous radiofrequency neurotomy for third occipital headache. Methods: The revisions included using a large gauge electrode, ensuring minimum separation between the three...

The Neuromuscular Disease Center: www.neuro.wustl.edu/neuromuscular. (Neuronline).
January 1, 2003... The website of the Neuromuscular Disease Center at Washington University School of Medicine, St Louis, is quite simply an excellent online resource for all issues related to neuromuscular disorders. It is up to date, extensive and highly...

Brain white matter lesions detected by magnetic resosnance imaging are associated with balance and gait speed. (Paper).
January 1, 2003... Objective: To investigate the relations between premorbid and current mental ability, mood, and white matter signal abnormalities detected by T2 weighted brain magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and impairment of balance and mobility in older...

Connecting impairment, disability, and handicap in immune mediated polyneuropathies. (Paper).
January 1, 2003... Background: In the World Health Organisation (WHO) International Classification of Impairments, Disabilities, and Handicaps (ICIDH), it is suggested that various levels of outcome are associated with one another. However, the ICIDH has been...

Coexistent cerebral metastasis and cavernous malformation. (Neurological Picture).
January 1, 2003... We report the case of a 66 year old man with squamous cell carcinoma of the lung who presented with a seizure. On magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), the contrast enhanced T1-weighted image showed a 2 cm lesion suggestive of a cavernous...

A case of frontal network amnesia. (Short Report).
January 1, 2003... A 63 year old man developed an amnesic syndrome coupled with an array of "frontal lobe" signs after bilateral small subcortical infarcts. His amnesia was characterised by severe difficulty in voluntary recall of recently memorised verbal and...

Limbic encephalitis presenting with topographical disorientation and amnesia. (Short Report).
January 1, 2003... A case of paraneoplastic limbic encephalitis presenting with topographical disorientation is reported. A 70 year old woman became unable to identify familiar buildings and landscapes and could not recall the way to destinations she had known...

Brain acetylcholinesterase activity in mild cognitive impairment and early Alzheimer's disease. (Short Report).
January 1, 2003... Objective: Brain acetylcholinesterase activity was determined in healthy controls and in patients with mild cognitive impairment and early Alzheimer's disease. Methods: A specific acetylcholinesterase tracer, [methyl-[C.sup.11]]...

Retinotopic modulation of space misrepresentation in unilateral neglect: evidence from quadrantanopia. (Short Report).
January 1, 2003... A patient with right sided brain damage suffered contralesional neglect, inferior quadrantanopia (with 0[degrees] sparing in the left eye and 13[degrees] sparing in the right], and a visual field restriction (to 15[degrees]) in the upper...

Behavioural abnormalities contribute to functional decline in Huntington's disease. (Short Report).
January 1, 2003... The independent and relative contributions of motor, cognitive, and behavioural deficits to functional decline in patients with Huntington's disease are examined. Twenty two patients with Huntington's disease were assessed with rating scales...

Interferon [gamma] and interleukin 4 producing T cells in peripheral blood of multiple sclerosis patients undergoing immunomodulatory treatment. (Short Report).
January 1, 2003... Intracellular cytokine flow cytometry was used to analyse the percentages of interferon (IFN) [gamma] and interleukin (IL)-4 producing T cells in the peripheral blood of multiple sclerosis patients, before and after immunomodulatory treatment,...

Hypocretin (orexin) deficiency in narcolepsy and primary hypersomnia. (Short Report).
January 1, 2003... The discovery that hypocretins are involved in narcolepsy, a disorder associated with excessive daytime sleepiness, cataplexy, and unusually rapid transitions to rapid eye movement sleep, opens a new field of investigation in the area of...

Late clinical and magnetic resonance imaging follow up of Nipah virus infection. (Short Report).
January 1, 2003... The Nipah virus is a newly identified paramyxovirus responsible for an outbreak of fatal encephalitis in Malaysia and Singapore. This paper reports the follow up clinical and magnetic resonance imaging findings in 22 affected subjects. Of 13...

Letters.
January 1, 2003... Focal hand dystonia after cervical whiplash injury There is currently a general consensus of agreement that dystonia is a disease of the basal ganglia, although dystonic symptoms have been observed in association with lesions in various...

Correspondence. (Post Script).
January 1, 2003... Measuring carotid stenosis Comparing a new test with a standard involves measuring disagreement. In the case of measuring carotid artery stenosis, some of the disagreement between different tests is because of inherent differences in how...

Seizures, Medical Causes and Management. (Book Reviews).(Book Review)
January 1, 2003... Edited by Norman Delanty (Pp 352, US$125.00). Published by the Humana Press, New Jersey, 2002. ISBN 0-89603-827-0 This book is unusual among books about seizures because it focuses on acute symptomatic ("situation-related") seizures, rather...

Subcortical Stroke, 2nd Edition. (Book Reviews).(Book Review)
January 1, 2003... Edited by Geoffrey Donnan, Bo Norrving, John Bamford, and Julien Bogousslavsky (Pp 450, [pounds sterling]79.50). Published by Oxford University Press, New York, 2002. ISBN 0-19-263-157-8 This book is a must read for clinicians and...

Medical Risks in Epilepsy. .(Book Review)
January 1, 2003... Edited by Svein I Johannessen, Torbjorn Tomson, Matti Sillanpaa, and Birthe Pedersen (Pp 140, [pounds sterling]29). Published by Wrightson Biomedical Publishing Ltd, Hampshire, 2002. ISBN 1-871816-46-7 This is a very useful, reasonably...

Greenfield's Neuropathology, 7th Edition. (Book Reviews).(Book Review)
January 1, 2003... Edited by David I Graham and Peter I Lantos. (2 Vol set (HB), Vol 1 pp1190, Vol 2 pp1140, [pounds sterling]395). Published by Arnold, London, 2002. ISBN 0-340-74231-3. CD ram ([pounds sterling]145) ISBN 0-340-76-221-7. What can one say....

Smell and Taste Complaints. (Book Reviews).(Book Review)
January 1, 2003... Edited by Christopher H Hawkes (Pp 176, [pounds sterling]16.99). Published by Butterworth-Heinemann, Woburn, 2002. ISBN 0-7506-7287-0. Despite the fact that problems with tasting and smelling are common in the general population, few...

Corrections.(To: "Familial isolated hyperCKaemia associated with a new mutation in the caveolin-3 (CAV-3) gene" in issue 73, 2002, pp 65-67)("Demyelination in the brain as a paraneoplastic disorder: candidates include some cases of seminoma and central nervous system lymphoma" (Letter) in issue 73, 2002, p 352)(Correction Notice)
January 1, 2003... The following errors occurred in the short report by Merlini L, Carbone I, Capanni C, et al. Familial isolated hyperCKaemia associated with a new mutation in the caveolin-3 (CAV-3) gene. J Neurol Neurosurg Psychiatry 2002;73:65-7. On page 66,...