Journal of neurology, neurosurgery, and psychiatry
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J. Neurol. Neurosurg. Psychiatr. · Apr 2004
Case ReportsConcurrent hereditary haemochromatosis and idiopathic Parkinson's disease: a case report series.
Hereditary haemochromatosis (HH) is a genetic disorder in which abnormal iron handling leads to excessive iron accumulation in systemic tissues. Magnetic resonance imaging studies suggest excess iron deposition in the basal ganglia of patients with HH. ⋯ Although three of the cases had risk factors for cerebrovascular and cardiovascular disease, computed tomography did not show ischaemic changes in the basal ganglia. We speculate that in these cases, abnormal deposition of iron in the basal ganglia induced the symptoms of IPD.
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J. Neurol. Neurosurg. Psychiatr. · Apr 2004
Hippocampal size and memory function in the ninth and tenth decades of life: the Sydney Older Persons Study.
The purpose of this study was to define magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) correlates of normal brain ageing, with the specific objective of investigating whether the size of the hippocampus is selectively correlated with age related memory performance in non-demented individuals in their ninth and tenth decades of life. ⋯ These findings suggest that hippocampal volumes are selectively correlated with memory functioning in both normal and successful ageing.
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J. Neurol. Neurosurg. Psychiatr. · Apr 2004
Patients with extratemporal lobe epilepsy do not differ from healthy subjects with respect to subcortical volumes.
Evidence from previous volumetric magnetic resonance studies has revealed that patients with chronic temporal lobe epilepsy show atrophy of distinct subcortical nuclei, predominantly ipsilateral to the focus side. We were interested to find out if there is also selective subcortical atrophy in patients suffering from long standing extratemporal lobe epilepsy. ⋯ We concluded that extratemporal lobe epilepsy in general is not associated with diminished volumes in the studied subcortical structures, which contrasts with findings in temporal lobe epilepsy patients. Thus, both entities differ both cortically and subcortically. However, we found that small putamen volume was bilaterally associated with absent or rare generalised tonic-clonic seizures, implicating the putamen in the control of the most disabling seizure type, independent of the site of neocortical focus.
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J. Neurol. Neurosurg. Psychiatr. · Apr 2004
Facial expression recognition and subthalamic nucleus stimulation.
Deep brain stimulation (DBS) of the subthalamic nucleus (STN) improves motor signs in Parkinson's disease. However, clinical studies suggest that DBS of the STN may also affect cognitive and emotional functions. ⋯ The findings may have important implications for social adjustment in these patients.
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J. Neurol. Neurosurg. Psychiatr. · Apr 2004
Percutaneous radiological gastrostomy: a safe and effective method of nutritional tube placement in advanced ALS.
Enteral nutrition may be required in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), and is usually achieved by percutaneous endoscopic gastrostomy (PEG). As PEG is not indicated in patients with severe respiratory impairment, an alternative is percutaneous radiological gastrostomy (PRG), involving air insufflation into the stomach under fluoroscopic guidance for tube insertion. ⋯ PRG appears to be safer than PEG in ALS patients with moderate or severe respiratory impairment, and is followed by a longer survival.