Journal of neurology
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Journal of neurology · Jan 2004
Comparative StudyPrevalence and predictors of unexplained neurological symptoms in an academic neurology outpatient clinic--an observational study.
(a) To determine the prevalence of unexplained symptoms among newly referred patients in a Dutch academic outpatient clinic for general neurology; (b) To identify factors that can serve as characteristics and possibly as screening instruments for unexplained symptoms in this population. ⋯ Unexplained symptoms are common in the neurology outpatient clinic and are to some extent predicted by the physician's preliminary judgement of symptoms. However, history taking and neurological examination remain indispensable for the detection of less obvious organic disorders.
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Journal of neurology · Dec 2003
Olfactory dysfunction in cerebellar ataxia and multiple system atrophy.
Olfactory dysfunction has been reported in Parkinson's (PD) and Alzheimer's disease (AD). ⋯ The present data suggest that olfactory dysfunction is common to various neurodegenerative disorders and not specifically restricted to PD or AD. Cerebellar dysfunction affected suprathreshold olfactory function more severely than odor thresholds. Thus cerebellar lesions may affect the processing of odor-related information to a higher degree than the transport of odorants to the receptor through sniffing.
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Journal of neurology · Nov 2003
Comparative StudyMuscle structural changes in mitochondrial myopathy relate to genotype.
It is well known that morphological changes at the cellular level occur in muscle of patients with mitochondrial myopathy (MM), but changes in muscle structure with fat infiltration and gross variation of muscle fiber size with giant fibers, normally encountered in the muscular dystrophies, have typically not been associated with mitochondrial disease. We investigated gross and microscopic muscle morphology in thigh muscles by muscle biopsy and MRI in 16 patients with MM, and compared findings with those obtained in muscular dystrophy patients and healthy subjects. ⋯ Dystrophic changes of muscle architecture were also present in one MM patient with a unique, sporadic mutation in the mtDNA tRNA(Met) gene. These findings provide evidence that morphological changes in muscle of MM patients are common and may resemble those of muscular dystrophies, but that development of dystrophic-like changes in muscle relate to genotype.