Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery and Psychiatry articles from March 2003

Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery and Psychiatry archives from March 2003

Letter from Cuba. (Editorial: Cuba).(Editorial)
March 1, 2003... Imagine a country where housing, health, and education are free, without drug reps or private medicine, where the average consultant neurologist earns US $30 per month and a mobile phone is rarer than hens' teeth. This is not Arcadia, but a...

Vigabatrin, tiagabine, and visual fields: a retinotoxic class effect of GABAergic antiepileptic drugs seems unlikely. (Editorial Commentaries: Epilepsy).(Brief Article)
March 1, 2003... The paper by Krauss et al (this issue, pp 339-343) (1) helps to settle a controversy that has been simmering in the epilepsy world for several years. (1) Initial reports that vigabatrin use was associated with irreversible visual field defects...

Objective measures for the progression of Parkinson's disease; objective measure of the nigrostriatal dopaminergic deficit: evidence that SPECT does the job. (Editorial Commentaries: Parkinson's Disease).
March 1, 2003... A persisting frustration in the diagnosis, treatment, and research of Parkinson's disease is the lack of an objective measure of the nigrostriatal dopaminergic deficit. In particular, we need a tool to monitor the progress of the neuronal...

Quality of life in motor neurone disease--towards a more practical assessment tool? The ideal QoL measure in MND needs to fulfil a range of requirements. (Editorial Commentaries: Motor Neurone Disease).
March 1, 2003... The optimal approach to the evaluation of quality of life (QoL) in people with motor neurone disease (MND)/amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is still unclear. The paper by Jenkinson and others (JNNP February issue, 242-245) is an important...

Harvard Whole Brain Atlas: www.med.harvard.edu/AANLIB/home.html. (Neuronline).(Brief Article)
March 1, 2003... It is not difficult to find neuroimaging sites on the ever burgeoning world wide web. Unfortunately, many of the sites are very limited in their scope, or are simply so poorly designed that one's interest rapidly wanes. The Harvard Whole Brain...

Vestibular reflexes and positional manoeuvres. (Physical Signs).
March 1, 2003... Dizziness and vertigo are some of the more frequently encountered symptoms in neurology clinics. In turn, one of the most common causes of vertigo is benign paroxysmal positional vertigo (BPPV), accounting for a quarter of all patients with...

[[I.sup.123]][beta]-CIT SPECT is a useful method for monitoring dopaminergic degeneration in early stage Parkinson's disease. (Paper).
March 1, 2003... Objectives: To examine the validity of [[I.sup.123]][beta]-CIT SPECT for monitoring the progression of dopaminergic degeneration in Parkinson's disease; to investigate the influence of short term treatment with [D.sub.2] receptor agonists on...

Discrete and dynamic scaling of the size of continuous graphic movements of parkinsonian patients and elderly controls. (Paper).
March 1, 2003... Objectives: To systematically investigate the ability of Parkinson's disease patients to discretely and dynamically scale the size of continuous movements and to assess the impact of movement size on outcome variability. Methods: Ten...

Neuropsychological and quality of life outcomes 12 months after unilateral thalamic stimulation for essential tremor. (Paper).
March 1, 2003... Objectives: To evaluate the one year cognitive, mood state, and quality of life (QoL) outcomes of unilateral thalamic deep brain stimulation (DBS) for essential tremor (ET). Methods: 40 patients diagnosed with ET completed comprehensive...

Raised plasma oxidised LDL in acute cerebral infarction. (Paper).(low density lipoprotein)
March 1, 2003... Background: The association between oxidised low density lipoprotein (OxLDL) and cerebral infarction is suspected but not established. Objectives: To determine whether plasma OxLDL is a useful marker for monitoring oxidative stress in...

Incidence, risk, and case fatality of first ever stroke in the elderly population. The Rotterdam Study. (Paper).
March 1, 2003... Objective: To estimate the incidence, survival, and lifetime risk of stroke in the elderly population. Methods: The authors conducted a study in 7721 participants from the population based Rotterdam Study who were free from stroke at...

S100B as a surrogate marker for successful clot lysis in hyperacute middle cerebral artery occlusion. (Paper).
March 1, 2003... Objectives: The astroglial protein S100B is a marker of cerebral tissue damage. This study investigated whether the serum kinetic of S100B may serve as a surrogate marker of successful clot lysis and early recanalisation ( Methods: The...

A study of persistent post-concussion symptoms in mild head trauma using positron emission tomography. (Paper).
March 1, 2003... Background: Complaints of persistent cognitive deficits following mild head trauma are often uncorroborated by structural brain imaging and neuropsychological examination. Objective: To investigate, using positron emission tomography...

Second harmonic imaging: a new ultrasound technique to assess human brain tumour perfusion. (Paper).
March 1, 2003... Background: Second harmonic imaging is a new ultrasound technique that allows evaluation of brain tissue perfusion after application of an ultrasound contrast agent. Objective: To evaluate the potential of this technique for the assessment...

Muscle hypertrophy in myotonia congenita. (Neurological Picture).(Brief Article)
March 1, 2003... A 28 year old male presented to our neurology service with stiffness of a few years' duration in all muscles. The stiffness was maximum at the onset of exercise and his muscles loosened up after some time. He had no difficulty in releasing his...

A controlled study comparing visual function in patients treated with vigabatrin and tiagabine. (Paper).
March 1, 2003... Objective: Vigabatrin treatment is frequently associated with irreversible retinal injury and produces retinal electrophysiological changes in nearly all patients. Concern has been raised that tiagabine and other antiepilepsy drugs (AEDs) that...

Allvar Gullstrand (1862-1930). (Neurological Stamp).
March 1, 2003... Gullstrand studied medicine at the University of Uppsala, graduated in 1887, and in 1894 became professor of ophthalmology. From his student days his career was devoted to the study of "dioptrics", that is, the study of the human eye as a...

Hypothesis on the pathophysiology of syringomyelia based on simulation of cerebrospinal fluid dynamics. (Paper).
March 1, 2003... Objectives: Despite many hypotheses, the pathophysiology of syringomyelia is still not well understood. In this report, the authors propose a hypothesis based on analysis of cerebrospinal fluid dynamics in the spine. Methods: An electric...

Agreement among neurologists on the clinical diagnosis of dystonia at different body sites. (Short Report).
March 1, 2003... Objective: To study the reliability of the diagnosis of blepharospasm, oramandibular dystonia, cervical dystonia, and writer's cramp among neurologists. Methods: 12 patients with adult onset focal segmental dystonia were videotaped in a...

Diagnostic criteria and the use of ICD-10 codes to define and classify minor head injury. (Short Report).
March 1, 2003... Background: Epidemiological research on the incidence of traumatic head injuries relies on the correct definition and classification of the injury. Objective: To address the use of diagnostic criteria and ICD-10 codes to define minor head...

Central pontine myelinolysis associated with hypokalaemia in anorexia nervosa. (Short Report).
March 1, 2003... A 31 year old man was admitted to hospital with of anorexia, binge eating, and self induced vomiting. On admission, he showed a pronounced low weight and disturbance of the body image and was diagnosed as having anorexia nervosa. In addition,...

Eyelid tremor in a patient with a unilateral paramedian thalamic lesion. (Short Report).
March 1, 2003... A patient with a circumscribed infarction of the right paramedian thalamus developed a tremor of both eyelids on voluntary eye closure. Co-registration of the magnetic resonance image to a stereotactic atlas of the human thalamus revealed that...

Is neurocysticercosis a risk factor in coexistent intracranial disease? An MRI based study. (Short Report).
March 1, 2003... Background: Previous reports have suggested that neurocysticercosis is associated with glioma and Japanese encephalitis, and that it is a risk factor for stroke. Objective: To determine if neurocysticercosis has a significant association...

Saitohin gene is not associated with Alzheimer's disease. (Short Report).
March 1, 2003... Background: The deposition of tau protein in neurofibrillary tangles constitutes an important feature of many neurodegenerative disorders, including Alzheimer's disease. A polymorphic gene, saitohin (STH), nested within the tau gene...

A case of gliosarcoma appearing as ischaemic stroke. (Short Report).
March 1, 2003... Objectives: Ischaemic stroke attributable to malignant brain tumour is a rarely reported phenomenon and even various imaging techniques including angiography do not necessarily lead to an accurate diagnosis. Case description: A 46 year old,...

Seizures arising from the inferior parietal lobule can show ictal semiology of the second sensory seizure (SII seizure). (Short Report).
March 1, 2003... A 52 year old right handed man presented with medically intractable partial seizures consisting of numbness on the left upper back spreading to the left upper as well as lower limbs. Head computed tomography and magnetic resonance imaging...

Endplate dysfunction causing respiratory failure in a patient with prior paralytic poliomyelitis. (Short Report).
March 1, 2003... A 56 year old man with late amyotraphic sequelae from poliomyelitis experienced progressive dyspnoea requiring intubation and artificial ventilation in the intensive care unit. Repetitive stimulation studies showed a marked decrement of the...

Improvement of central motor conduction after bone marrow transplantation in adrenoleukodystrophy. (Short Report).
March 1, 2003... The case is described of a 20 year old man with adrenoleukodystrophy who showed right spastic hemiparesis and gait disturbance. Brain magnetic resonance imaging disclosed predominant involvement of the left corticospinal pathway. The clinical...

Decision making in humans: the effect of manipulating the central noradrenergic system. (Short Report).
March 1, 2003... Objectives: Damasio has proposed an influential model of human decision making--the Somatic Marker Hypothesis (SMH), where he orgues that somatic feedback to the brain influences decision making in humans. It is proposed that when choosing...

Repetitive stimulation of the long thoracic nerve in myasthenia gravis: clinical and electrophysiological correlations. (Short Report).
March 1, 2003... Objective: To investigate repetitive stimulation of the long thoracic nerve as a reliable and technically undemanding method for evaluating respiratory muscle function in myasthenia gravis. Methods: 15 patients with myasthenia gravis and...

Diffusion weighted imaging in radiation necrosis. (Short Report).
March 1, 2003... This case report suggests that magnetic resonance imaging with diffusion weighted imaging may help distinguish between tumour recurrence and radiation induced necrosis in patients previously treated for a brain tumour. ********** ...

Neurofibromatosis. (Historical Note).
March 1, 2003... Friedrich Daniel von Recklinghausen (1833-1910) was born in Gutersloh, Westphalia, and graduated in Berlin in 1855. In 1881, as a tribute to Rudolf Virchow's 25th year Jubilee, he wrote his classical article on neurofibromatosis. (1) The first...

Neuroleptic malignant syndrome in Kufs' disease. (Short Report).
March 1, 2003... A patient with adult neuronal ceroid lipofuscinosis (ANCL; Kufs' disease) is described in whom neuroleptic malignant syndrome occurred, initially presenting as catatonic syndrome. Comprehensive neuroimaging studies were conducted including...

Letters.
March 1, 2003... Acute rotatory vertigo caused by a small haemorrhage of the vestibular cortex Central rotatory vertigo is in most cases caused by a lesion of the cerebellum or brain stem. We describe a patient with acute rotatory vertigo following a small...

Correspondence. (PostScript).
March 1, 2003... Conflict and integration of spatial attention between disconnected hemispheres The article by Dr Ishial and colleagues (1) contains a critical piece of anatomical data (that is, the "sparing of the rostrum and the inferior half of the...

Cerebral vasospasm. (Book Reviews).(Book Review)
March 1, 2003... Edited by R W Seller and H-J Steiger (Pp 269, [pounds sterling]108.00) Published by Springer-Verlog, Wien, 2001. ISBN 3-21 1-83650.0 This book contains the proceedings of the Seventh International Conference on Cerebral Vasospasm held in...

Proceedings of the Association of British neurologists and the British neuropsychiatry Association. (ABN Abstracts).
March 1, 2003... Proceedings of the Association of British Neurologists and the British Neuropsychiatry Association, Royal College of Physicians, 2-4 October 2002. ABN MEDAL AWARD 2002 Lord Walton of Detchant Lord Walton of Detchant has made...

Neuropaediatrics.
March 1, 2003... Surprisingly paediatric and adult neurology practice appear, superficially, separate disciplines with training pathways that rarely cross. The truth is that we, in time, will inherit some, though not all patients, and knowledge of...

Congenital abnormalities of the central nervous system.
March 1, 2003... Christopher Verity Helen Firth Charles ffrench-Constant Advances in genetics and molecular biology have led to a better understanding of the control of central nervous system (CNS) development. It is possible to classify CNS...

Neurological and cognitive decline in adolescence.
March 1, 2003... The evaluation of progressive neurological and/or cognitive decline poses one of the greatest challenges to the paediatric neurologist. While the potential causes are individually quite rare, collectively neurodegenerative disorders are quite...

Interface between neurology and psychiatry in childhood.
March 1, 2003... In the post war years of the 20th century, the divide between neurology and psychiatry seemed nearly complete. Such a separation between the "organic" biologically based disorders with florid neurological physical signs, and the "functional"...

The cerebral palsies: a physiological approach.
March 1, 2003... The cerebral palsies (CP) are a heterogeneous group of non-progressive motor disorders of the developing brain. By convention, brain injuries occurring at any stage antenatally and postnatally to the age of 2 years are included in the...

Learning difficulties: what the neurologist needs to know.
March 1, 2003... Learning difficulties have a very significant effect on individuals and on society. The affected individual will have difficulties in thinking, acquisition, and processing of new information and knowledge. As a result of these difficulties many...

Taking over epilepsy from the paediatric neurologist.
March 1, 2003... The problems of coping with adolescence are greatly increased by an additional chronic disorder. This is particularly so for those with epilepsy, where there is social stigma and the need for potentially sedative and damaging medication....

Vein of Galen malformations.
March 1, 2003... Management of children with high flow arteriovenous shunts of the brain is among the most challenging areas in modern medicine. Intracranial arteriovenous shunts (AVS) in children differ considerably from those seen in adults, in whom brain...

Contemporary approaches to the study of hysteria, clinical and theoretical perspectives. (Book Reviews).(Book Review)
March 1, 2003... Edited by Peter W Halligan, Christopher Bass, and John C Marshall. New York: Oxford University Press, 2001, [pounds sterling]75.00, pp 346. ISBN 019263 254X This book ranges more widely than its title implies, including sections on...

Matter of mind, a neurologist's view of brain behaviour relationships. (Book Reviews).(Book Review)
March 1, 2003... Edited by Kenneth Heilman (Pp 214, [pounds sterling]29.95). Published by Oxford University Press, New York, 2002. ISBN 0-19-514490-2 The subtitle of Heilman's enjoyable book. "a neurologist's view of brain behaviour relationships", suggests...

Cerebral vasospasm. (Book Reviews).(Book Review)
March 1, 2003... Edited by R Loch Macdonald and B Weir (Pp 518, US$149.95). Published by Academic Press, San Diego, 2001. ISBN 0-12-464161 As many readers will appreciate, cerebral vasospasm is well recognised as a major cause of morbidity and mortality of...