Neurology Alert articles from August 2003

Neurology Alert archives from August 2003

A new therapy for neuroleptic malignant syndrome.(Abstract & Commentary)
August 1, 2003... Source: Sato Y, et al. Efficacy of methylprednisolone pulse therapy on neuroleptic malignant syndrome in Parkinson's disease. J Neurol Neurosurg Psychiatry. 2003;74:574-576. NEUROLEPTIC MALIGNANT SYNDROME (NMS) PRESENTS SEVERAL unique...

The return of mitral valve prolapse as a cause of stroke.(Abstracts & Commentary)
August 1, 2003... Sources: Avierinos JF, et al. Cerebral ischemic events after diagnosis of mitral valve prolapse. A community-based study of incidence and predictive factors. Stroke. 2003;34:1339-1344; Oppenheimer S. Editorial comment. Is MVP an MVP in ischemic...

SAH risk may be reduced by healthy lifestyle.(Abstract & Commentary; SUBARACHNOID HEMORRHAGE)(Brief Article)
August 1, 2003... Source: Broderick JP, et al. Major risk factors for aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage in the young are modifiable. Stroke. 2003;34:1375-1381. SUBARACHNOID HEMORRHAGE (SAH) DUE TO A RUPtured cerebral aneurysm is a disorder that is without...

A true clinical application of functional MRI: predicting dysnomia following left temporal lobectomy.(Abstract & Commentary)
August 1, 2003... Source: Sabsevitz DS, et al. Use of preoperative functional neuroimaging to predict language deficits from epilepsy surgery. Neurology. 2003;60:1788-1792. FUNCTIONAL MRI (FMRI) HAS MADE TREMENDOUS strides as a research tool in providing...

Maintenance therapy for vasculitis associated with antineutrophil cytoplasmic autoantibodies.(Abstract & Commentary)
August 1, 2003... Source: Jayne D, et al. A randomized trial of maintenance therapy for vasculitis associated with antineurotrophil cytoplasmic autoantibodies. N Engl J Med. 2003;349:36-44. THE TREATMENT OF A VARIETY OF FORMS OF CNS vasculitis is difficult....

Is 14-3-3 a useful diagnostic tool for sporadic creutzfeldt-jakob disease?(Abstract & Commentary)
August 1, 2003... Source: Geschwind, et al. Challenging the clinical utility of the 14-3-3 protein for the diagnosis of sporadic Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease. Arch Neurol. 2003;60:813-816. THE VALUE OF THE 14-3-3 TEST FOR ESTABLISHING A diagnosis of probable...

Diagnosis of autoimmune autonomic neuropathies.(Abstract & Commentary)
August 1, 2003... Source: Klein CM, et al. The spectrum of autoimmune autonomic neuropathies. Ann Neurol. 2003;53:752-758. IN THIS REPORT BY KLEIN AND COLLEAGUES, THE clinical features of a series of 18 patients (13 female, 5 male, 61.4 years of age [+ or -]...

Neurologic complications of bladder cancer.(Abstract & Commentary)
August 1, 2003... Source: Anderson TS, et al. Neurologic complications of bladder carcinoma: A review of 359 cases. Cancer. 2003;97: 2267-2272. AMONG 359 PATIENTS WITH BLADDER CANCER confirmed by tissue diagnosis and seen between 1962 and 2001 at the...

Selective sympathicotomy stops sweaty palms.(Abstract & Commentary)
August 1, 2003... Source: Yoon SH, Rim DC. The selective T3 sympathicotomy in patients with essential palmar hyperhidrosis. Acta Neurochir. 2003;145:467-471. AMONG 54 PATIENTS WITH ESSENTIAL HYPERHIDROSIS, 24 underwent T2/T3 sympathicotomy and were compared...

CME questions.
August 1, 2003... Please review the text, answer the following questions, check your answers against the key, and then review the materials again regarding any questions answered incorrectly. To receive credit for this activity, you must return a CE/CME...

Nasally administered flu vaccine comes to United States.(Pharmacology Watch)
August 1, 2003... The FDA has approved the first nasally administered flu vaccine to be marketed in this country. Medimmune's "FluMist" is also the first influenza vaccine to use live virus. This year's version of the vaccine contains 3 attenuated viruses...

Increase in blood glucose concentration during antihypertensive treatment as a predictor of myocardial infarction.(Clinical Briefs in Primary Care)(Brief Article)
August 1, 2003... Source: Dunder K, et al. BMJ.2003; 326:681-684. RELEASE OF THE ALLHAT TRIAL, THE largest antihypertensive trial ever performed, has suggested that chlorthalidone, amlodipine, and lisinopril all provide favorable cardiovascular risk...

Adverse drug events in ambulatory care.(Clinical Briefs in Primary Care)(Brief Article)
August 1, 2003... Source: Gandhi TK, et al. N Engl J Med.2003;348:1556-1564. ADVERSE EVENTS (AE) FROM Medications have been well studied among hospital inpatients. It has been reported that as many as 6.5% of hospitalized patients have one or more AE, of...

Prevention of hip fracture by external hip protectors.(Clinical Briefs in Primary Care)(Brief Article)
August 1, 2003... Source: Van Schoor NM, et al. JAMA.2003;289:1957-1962. IN THE YEAR FOLLOWING A HIP Fracture (HIP), as many as one-third of persons die, and an equal number suffer inability to walk, or severe disability. One of the interventions intended to...

Rapid MRI vs radiographs for patients with low back pain.(Clinical Briefs in Primary Care)
August 1, 2003... Source: Jarvik JG, et al. JAMA. 2003 ;289:2810-2818. THE ROLE OF RADIOLOGIC Evaluation for acute low back pain (LBP) has been plagued with uncertainty, since as many as one-third of asymptomatic persons examined by MRI have signs consistent...

Effectiveness of anticholinergic drugs compared with placebo in the treatment of overactive bladder.(Clinical Briefs in Primary Care)(Brief Article)
August 1, 2003... Source: Herbison P, et al. BMJ. 2003;326:841-844. OVERACTIVE BLADDER (OAB) Comprises a syndrome that may include urgency, urge incontinence, frequency and/or nocturia. Incontinence troubles as many as one-third of all overactive bladder...

A randomized trial of a low carbohydrate diet for obesity.(Clinical Briefs in Primary Care)(Brief Article)
August 1, 2003... Source: Foster GD, et al. N Engl J Med. 2003;348:2082-2090. AT THE CURRENT TIME IN AMERICA, almost half of women and a substantial minority of men (30%) are dieting to lose weight. Unfortunately, diet interventions have had surprisingly...