Neurology Alert articles from July 2004

Neurology Alert archives from July 2004

What causes normal aging?(Abstract & Commentary)
July 1, 2004... Source: Trifunovic, et al. Premature aging in mice expressing defective mitochondrial DNA polymerase. Nature. 2004;429:417-423. THE CAUSE OF NORMAL AGING HAS BEEN WIDELY STUDIED, AND a large number of nuclear factors have been implicated in...

Electrodiagnostic Update 2004.
July 1, 2004... Carpal Tunnel Syndrome Source:Witt JC, et al. Carpal tunnel syndrome with normal, nerve conduction studies. Muscle Nerve. 2004;29:515-522. How valuable are nerve conduction studies (NCS) in the diagnosis and management of carpal tunnel...

Old and new options for Rasmussen encephalitis.(Abstract & Commentary)
July 1, 2004... Sources: Jonas R, et al. Cerebral hemispherectomy: Hospital course, seizure, developmental, language, and motor outcomes. Neurology. 2004;62:1712-1721; Duchowney M. Hemispherectomy for epilepsy: When is one half better than two? [Editorial]...

Plasma A[beta] levels and cerebrovascular disease in nondemented carriers of an E4 allele.(Abstract & Commentary)
July 1, 2004... Source: Van Dijk EJ, et al. Plasma Amyloid [beta] Apolipoprotein E, lacunar infarcts, and white matter lesions. Ann Neurol. 2004;55:570-575. CEREBRAL WHITE MATTER LESIONS (WML) AND lacunar infarcts frequently are observed on MRI scans in...

New Alzheimer's blood markers?(Abstract & Commentary)
July 1, 2004... Sources: Englehart M, et al. Arch Neurology. 2004;61:668-672; Squitti R, et al. Arch Neurology. 2004;61:738-743. INFLAMMATION IN THE BRAIN IS ONE OF THE ESTABLISHED features of the neuropathology of Alzheimer's Disease (AD). A large...

What is the risk of recurrent intracerebral hemorrhage after a lobar hemorrhage?
July 1, 2004... Source: Greenberg S, et al. Hemorrhage burden predicts recurrent intracerebral hemorrhage after lobar hemorrhage. Stroke. 2004;35:1415-1420. THIS PAPER CARRIED OUT A CLINICAL STUDY TO use gradient-echo MRI to determine prior evidence of...

CME questions.
July 1, 2004... 1. Potential repetitive nerve stimulation tests in the workup of a suspected myasthenia gravis patient include a. median nerve stimulation b. ulnar nerve stimulation c. facial nerve stimulation d. trigeminal nerve stimulation...

Alendronate for Osteoporosis.(Brief Article)
July 1, 2004... Source: Bone HG, et al. N Engl J Med. 2004;350:1189-1199. THE BISHOSPHONATES ALENDRONATE (ALE) and risedronate are the most commonly used pharmacologic agents for the treatment and prevention of osteoporosis (OSPS). Bisphosphonates have...

Exercise training in patients with chronic heart failure.(Brief Article)
July 1, 2004... Source: ExTraMATCH Collaborative. BMJ USA. 2004;4:109-112. IN THE NOT TOO-DISTANT PAST, CLINIcians were apprehensive about exercise for patients with chronic heart failure (CHF). Evolution of knowledge about optimizing treatment in CHF has...

Cardiovascular prognosis of "masked hypertension".(Brief Article)
July 1, 2004... Source: Bobrie G, et al. JAMA. 2004;291:1342-1349. THERE IS CONSISTENT AGREEMENT that ambulatory blood pressure monitoring (ABPM) provides a better indicator of ultimate cardiovascular risk than office blood pressure (OBP). Because...

Short-term intensive insulin therapy in newly diagnosed DM2.(type 2 diabetes)(Brief Article)
July 1, 2004... Source: Ryan EA, et al. Diabetes Care. 2004;27:1028-1032. THE BEST INITIAL TREATMENT FOR THE newly diagnosed type 2 diabetic (DM2) remains a matter of debate. Although there is consensus that DM2 is characterized by both insulin secretory...

Endothelial dysfunction and risk of type 2 diabetes mellitus.(Brief Article)
July 1, 2004... Source: Meigs JB, et al. JAMA. 2004;291:1978-1986. THE PRIMARY CAUSE OF MORTALITY IN type 2 diabetes (DM2) is cardiovascular disease (CVD). Indeed, our most recent national guidelines have recognized that at the point of diagnosis, a person...

Treatment of parkinson's disease with pergolide and relation to retrictive valvular heart disease.(Brief Article)
July 1, 2004... Source: Van Camp G, et al. Lancet. 2004;363:1179-1183. VEN MEDICATIONS THAT ARE GENERally considered safe and effective may cause adverse effects that are sufficiently uncommon that they escape adequate identification. Although valvular...

Britain to Allow over-the-counter sales of Zocor.(Brief Article)
July 1, 2004... THE BRITISH GOVERNMENT WILL SOON ALLOW over-the-counter (OTC) sales of Merck's simvastatin (Zocor), marking the first time any country has allowed the OTC sale of a statin. The drug lost its patent protection in England last year, and Merck is...

FDA rejects Plan B bid.(Food and Drug Administration)(Brief Article)
July 1, 2004... FDA regulators have rejected a bid from Barr Pharmaceuticals to market their "morning after pill" as an OTC. The product, called Plan B, contains 0.75 mg of levonorgestrel, a progestin commonly used in birth control pills. Plan B is marketed as...

Recombinant erythropoietin products may stimulate tumor growth.(Brief Article)
July 1, 2004... Two recent studies have raised the question of whether recombinant erythropoietin products may stimulate tumor growth in cancer patients. One study, published in the October 2003 Lancet, reviewed 351 adult patients with head neck cancer who...

Rosuvastatin: market's most potent statin.(Brief Article)
July 1, 2004... Rosuvastatin (Crestor-Astra Zeneca) appears to be the most potent statin currently marketed. In a study of 3140 patients with CAD, atherosclerosis, or type 2 diabetes, patients were randomized to rosuvastatin 10 mg, atorvastatin 10 or 20 mg,...

FDA actions.(Food and Drug Administration)
July 1, 2004... Immunex Corp.'s etanercept (Enbrel) has been approved for use in patients older than the age of 18 with moderate-to-severe plaque psoriasis. Enbrel is currently marketed for use in patients with ankylosing spondylitis, psoriatic arthritis,...