Behavioural neurology
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Behavioural neurology · Jan 2004
Comparative Study Clinical Trial Controlled Clinical TrialVarieties of alexia from fusiform, posterior inferior temporal and posterior occipital gyrus lesions.
Reading impairments of three alexia patients, two pure alexia and one alexia with agraphia, due to different lesions were examined quantitatively, using Kanji (Japanese morphogram) words, Kana (Japanese phonetic writing) words and Kana nonwords. Kana nonword reading was impaired in all three patients, suggesting that widespread areas in the affected occipital and occipitotemporal cortices were recruited in reading Kana characters (corresponding to European syllables). ⋯ Another type of alexia, alexia with agraphia for Kanji from a posterior inferior temporal cortex lesion (patient 3), results from deficient whole-word images of words per se, and thus should be designated "orthographic alexia with agraphia". To account for these impairments, a weighted dual-route hypothesis for reading is suggested.
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Behavioural neurology · Jan 2003
Case ReportsCognitive and emotional dysfunction after central pontine myelinolysis.
The case of a 67-year-old right-handed Chinese man with Central Pontine Myelinolysis [CPM] is described to illustrate the resulting cognitive and emotional disturbances. A comparison of the data in this report with that in published studies suggests that ethnicity does not seem to have much effect on the symptoms of CPM. Possible underlying neural-pathological mechanisms are discussed. This case further substantiates the speculation that the brainstem plays a role in higher cognitive processes and emotional regulation.
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The European Federation of Neurological Societies (EFNS) Scientific Panel on Neurorehabilitation established a Task Force on standards in neurological rehabilitation in June 1996. The remit for the Task Force was to: (1) produce a report on the state of neurological rehabilitation across Europe; and (2) recommend standards for the provision of neurological services for disabled people. The main conclusions of the Task Force were as follows:(1) A questionnaire circulated to each European member country has indicated a significant lack of adequate neurological rehabilitation facilities across Europe. ⋯ Such investment should produce benefits for disabled people and their carers and in the long term benefits for the national economy.(7) The Task Force realizes that neurological rehabilitation is poorly developed both in Europe and the world as a whole. We firmly endorse international co-operation in this field and are happy to co-operate with any international organization in order to develop such links for clinical, educational or research initiatives.(8) The Task Force encourages individual countries to produce a document summarizing their own situation with regard to these standards and to produce a timetable for action to improve their situation. The EFNS Task Force would be pleased to assist in the publication of such deliberations or to act as a focus for international education and research or for sharing of examples of good practice.
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Behavioural neurology · Jan 1995
Migraine with prolonged aura: correlation of clinical and EEG features.
Migraine with prolonged aura has rarely been examined with regard to the sequence of the neurological symptoms and the associated EEG changes. This report describes five patients who underwent clinical assessment and EEG recordings during attacks of migraine with prolonged aura. CT scan of the brain was obtained in four of them. ⋯ The EEG abnormalities showed good correlation with the patients' aura symptoms and resolved when the patients became symptom free. The posterior-to-anterior sequence of the aura symptoms is in accord with the findings during cerebral blood flow studies in patients having migraine with aura. Also the symptoms and EEG changes in our patients indicate dysfunction of the cerebral cortex, consistent with the notion that spreading cortical depression may be the underlying pathophysiological event in migraine with aura.
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The use of introspection is unavoidable even in psychological research on animals. Difficulties may arise from the absence of reliable introspective data; it is suggested that this could be the case for the so-called "reward system". In other circumstances confusion comes from using introspection without being aware of it: speaking and thinking have for many years been considered as the same operation, but the reason for this belief is not clearly documented and it may be suspected of being only introspection. Amongst other evidence, a careful and conscious use of introspection demonstrated by auto-analyses of former aphasic patients strongly suggests that language and thought are quite distinct entities.