Acta neurologica Scandinavica
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Acta Neurol. Scand. · Feb 1988
Fasciculation and focal loss of nerve accommodation in peripheral neuropathies.
Fasciculation of muscle and repetitive response of single motor units to brief electric stimuli in diffuse demyelinative and focal (compression) neuropathies are associated with localised loss of accommodation of motor nerve fibres. The pathogenesis of spontaneous and triggered repetitive firing of neurones is discussed and it is proposed that the discrete sites of abnormally low accommodation may be in regenerating (sprouting) neurones. An improved rapid method for measuring single fibre accommodation may be used to identify regenerating neurones.
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Acta Neurol. Scand. · Dec 1987
Pudendal nerve involvement in patients with hereditary motor and sensory neuropathy.
Pudendal nerve involvement was demonstrated by electromyography of perineal muscles and by recordings of their direct and reflex responses on perineal electrical stimulation in 10 patients with hereditary motor and sensory neuropathy. Patients reported no defecation disturbances and the 6 men had good erections. Urinary stress incontinence was seen in those 2 (of 4) female patients who had delivered.
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A neurological outpatient department studied 323 consecutive referrals for suspected dementia: 135 (41.8%) were not demented. Of the patients 12.1% had diffuse cognitive disorder; 10.2% circumscribed memory disorder; 0.9% other circumscribed cognitive disorder, 14.2% psychiatric disorder, and 4.3% were judged to be normal. ⋯ Patients with specific cause were significantly younger than those with other causes of dementia. A potentially treatable cause was found in 10.7% of all demented patients, the most common being metabolic disorders, meningioma, hydrocephalus, subdural haematoma, and depressive pseudodementia.
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Acta Neurol. Scand. · Nov 1986
Neuropsychological differentiation between normal aging, Alzheimer's disease and vascular dementia.
A random sample of 182 elderly community residents and 211 demented patients were studied using the D-Test Battery based on the Luria's neuropsychological investigation method. A steady but selective cognitive impairment was observed with increasing age in normal healthy subjects. The most sensitive areas of cognition to the effects of normal aging were mnestic and conceptual functions, as well as arithmetical skills. ⋯ The test also differentiated patients with mild, moderate and severe dementia from each other on the basis of their social competence. It failed to demonstrate specific patterns of impairment and to clearly differentiate between patients with Alzheimer's disease and vascular dementia who had the same degree of cognitive decline. Further qualitative analyses are needed to improve the sensitivity and specificity of the test.
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Cluster headache is a rare headache entity that predominantly occurs in younger males. The clinical features are characterized by sudden attacks of unilateral excruciating pain localized periorbitally, associated with ipsilateral autonomic symptoms. The attacks occur in periods: clusters. ⋯ As prophylactic treatment ergotamine, methysergide, lithium and prednisone have proved efficacious. Most patients benefit from such treatment and may become virtually free from attacks. It is, therefore, important to differentiate this headache entity from classical migraine, common migraine and trigeminal neuralgia.