Neurology Alert articles from February 2004

Neurology Alert archives from February 2004

Genetic vs environmental factors in the causation of Alzheimer's disease.(Abstract & Commentary)
February 1, 2004... THE AVAILABILITY OF COMPREHENSIVE RECORDS OF PUBLIC health in Scandinavian countries is a major advantage in working out epidemiological studies. This has enabled the assessment of the role of genetics vs environmental contributions to diseases...

Melatonin fails to improve sleep in Alzheimer's disease.(Abstract & Commentary)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2004... THERE ARE CONSIDERABLE ANECDOTAL DATA SUGgesting that melatonin may improve sleep. About half of patients with Alzheimer's disease (AD) experience some form of sleep disruption ranging from night-time awakenings to complete reversal of the...

Improved cortical metabolism in Huntington's disease patients following striatal neural grafting.(Abstract & Commentary)
February 1, 2004... THE PROSPECTS FOR THERAPY IN HUNTINGTON'S DISEASE (HD) are rapidly improving. A number of discoveries about disease pathogenesis have been made that have targeted abnormalities in gene transcription, as well as energy metabolism, as potential...

Alzheimer metal chelator shows some promise in phase II.(Abstract & Commentary)
February 1, 2004... THE ZINC AND COPPER CHELATING COMPOUND clioquinol has been shown to reduce beta-amyloid deposits in the brain of transgenic mice and is consequently being tested as a treatment for Alzheimer's disease (AD). The compound has been found to...

Subthalamic stimulation and urinary function.(Abstract & Commentary)
February 1, 2004... WITH THE APPROVAL AND WIDESPREAD USE OF DEEP brain stimulation (DBS) of the subthalamic nucleus (STN) in Parkinson's disease (PD), there has been increasing awareness of non-motor effects of DBS. Recent reports have illustrated that DBS may...

Back to basics: the right anti-epileptic drug for the right diagnosis.(Abstract & Commentary)
February 1, 2004... BENBADIS AND ASSOCIATES REVIEWED THE MEDICAtion history of patients with EEG-confirmed idiopathic generalized epilepsy (IGE). They classified patients according to the antiepileptic drugs (AEDs) used at the time of referral to their epilepsy...

Hepatitis C and neuropathy.(Abstract & Commentary)
February 1, 2004... FIFTY-ONE CONSECUTIVE HEPATITIS C PATIENTS WITH neuropathy were evaluated to determine whether, and by what mechanism, cryoglobulinemia was associated with peripheral neuropathy. None demonstrated other causes of neuropathy including diabetes,...

Lamotrigine for sciatica.(Abstract & Commentary)
February 1, 2004... FOURTEEN CONSECUTIVE PATIENTS VdITH SCIATICA were enrolled in this open-label trial of lamotrigine (LTG) to determine its efficacy in pain control and its dose response curve. Patients ranged in age from 18 to 75 and suffered from painful...

ED standards for assessment of cervical spine injury compared.(Abstract & Commentary)(emergency departments)
February 1, 2004... EACH YEAR IN NORTH AMERICA MORE THAN 13 million patients at risk for cervical spine fracture after trauma are assessed in emergency departments (ED). Despite the fact that very few of these patients have a cervical spine fracture, most undergo...

CME questions.(Brief Article)
February 1, 2004... 5. The use of melatonin for sleep disturbance in AD: a. shows dose-dependent improvement. b. is effective with 10 mg but not 2.5 mg. c. is effective with 2.5 mg but not 10 mg. d. is ineffective. 6. The zinc and copper...

Valacyclovir reduces genital herpes transmission.
February 1, 2004... A once-a-day dose of a valacyclovir reduces the rate of transmission of genital herpes (HSV-2) from an infected partner to an uninfected susceptible partner, according to a new study. The study group included 1484 immuno-competent,...

Sulfonamide antibiotics and sulfonamide nonantibiotics.(Brief Article)
February 1, 2004... SULFONAMIDE ANTIBIOTICS (SULF-a) are the drugs most commonly associated with both the dread consequences of Stevens-Johnson syndrome and agranulocystosis. More commonly, clinicians see modest allergic dermatitis in SULF-a allergic patients. The...

Autoantibodies before onset of SLE.(Systemic lupus erythematosus)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2004... THE DIAGNOSIS SYSTEMIC LUPUS erythematosus (SLE) is based, in part, upon laboratory findings, including measurement of autoantibodies (AAB) such as antinuclear antibody (ANA), anti-double-stranded DNA (aDS-DNA). Indeed, such AAB are...

Prevention of VTE with ximelagatran.(Venous thromboembolism)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2004... TYPICALLY, AFTER A FIRST EPISODE OF DVT, prophylaxis will be advised for 3-6 months, although recent data show no diminution of benefit when warfarin prophylaxis for recurrent DVT is continued for as long as 24 months. The rationale for 3-6...

Combined levothyroxine plus liothyronine compared to levothyroxine alone in primary hypothyroidism.(Brief Article)
February 1, 2004... PRIOR TO SOPHISTICATED DEVELOPMENT of drug therapy, thyroid hormone was administered as a derivative of animal thyroid glands, with varying amounts of T3 and T4. Currently, although solitary levothyroxine (T4) is the preparation provided to...

Specific site involvement in fixed drug eruption.(Brief Article)
February 1, 2004... FIXED DRUG ERUPTION (FDE) IS THE recurrent presentation of cutaneous drug allergy manifest at the same local site. In the United States, the glans penis is one of the most common sites of FDE, often precipitated by tetracycline or...

Anticoagulation therapy for stroke prevention in patients with atrial fibrillation.(Brief Article)
February 1, 2004... THERE IS LITTLE CHALLENGE TO THE credibility of anticoagulation for stroke prevention in atrial fibrillation (SPAF) as demonstrated in numerous large clinical trials. Nonetheless, clinicians may not apply the same sanguine approbation when...