Journal of the neurological sciences
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Randomized Controlled Trial
Botulinum toxin A does not alter capsaicin-induced pain perception in human skin.
A genuine peripheral antinociceptive and anti-inflammatory effect of Botulinum neurotoxin type A (BoNT/A) has been proposed but could not be demonstrated in humans so far. Therefore, 100 mouse units of Botulinum toxin A (Dysport) and placebo were injected in a double blind paradigm in defined skin areas of 50 subjects. ⋯ No BoNT/A related differences in pain perception were found at any quality. There is neither a direct peripheral antinociceptive effect nor a significant effect against neurogenic inflammation of BoNT/A in humans.
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Deep brain stimulation (DBS) of the ventral intermediate (Vim) nucleus of the thalamus has been the target of choice for patients with disabling essential tremor or medication refractory parkinsonian tremor. Recently there is evidence that the subthalamic nucleus (STN) should be the targets for patients with tremor associated with Parkinson's disease (PD). To assess the effects of STN DBS on parkinsonian tremor, eight consecutive patients with PD and disabling tremor were videotaped using a standardized tremor protocol. ⋯ Compared with DBS off state there were significant improvements in mean UPDRS tremor score 79.4% (p=0.008), total TRS score 69.9% (p=0.008) and upper extremity 92.5% (p=0.008) TRS subscore. Functional improvement was noted with pouring liquids. Our findings provide support that STN DBS is an effective treatment of tremor associated with PD.
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Acute basilar artery occlusion is an infrequent but potentially fatal cause of stroke, both in adults and children. We present our experience with a 6-year-old child and we investigate the rationality for late treatment of acute basilar occlusion in children. ⋯ To our knowledge, this is the first report of complete clinical recovery after delayed (50 h) endovascular recanalization of basilar artery in a child. Intra-arterial thrombolysis combined with cerebral angioplasty, can successfully restore the patency of the basilar artery and the neurologic deficit of children with acute basilar artery occlusion, even after a considerable delay.
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Multiple sclerosis (MS), the most important human inflammatory demyelinating disease of the central nervous system, is characterized by heterogenous genetic backgrounds and immunopathogenetic subtypes, various clinical disease courses, and inhomogeneous and unpredictable therapeutic effects. Because of this heterogeneity, subtyping of our MS patients by genetical, clinical, neuroradiological, and neuroimmunological parameters will be an urgent need in the near future. ⋯ This review summarizes the current status and potential applicability of antibodies as biological markers for the diagnosis, classification, disease activity and prediction of clinical courses in MS. Antibodies (and other molecules) serving as biomarkers will help to establish a differential therapeutic concept in MS, which should allow to treat individuals selectively according to their pathogenetic subtype and disease status.
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The cerebral distribution of microbleeds in cerebral amyloid angiopathy (CAA) is quite different from that in hypertension, i.e., microbleeds in central gray matters are frequently found in patients with advanced hypertension (aHT), but not in patients with CAA. Distributions within the cortico-subcortical (CSC) area have not been compared between the diseases, and remain poorly understood. ⋯ In this study sample, aHT and CAA show different topographical microbleeds distributions, even in the CSC area. Our results suggest that the CSC microbleeds may reflect different pathophysiological mechanisms between aHT and CAA.