Bulletin of clinical neurosciences最新文献

The lupus anticoagulant (LA) is an antiphospholipid autoantibody that may predispose patients to thrombotic phenomena. Several authors have recently described the association of the LA with thrombotic cerebral disease. Speculation regarding the role of antiphospholipid antibodies in other neurologic diseases is increasing.

The effect of the opiate antagonist naloxone on both the neurological deficit and regional cortical blood flow after middle cerebral artery occlusion in the cat was investigated. In animals with mild symptoms, naloxone did not consistently produce a significant behavioral effect. In all cats with neurological deficits, including hemiplegia or severe hemiparesis, 2 mg/kg naloxone administered intravenously 4 h after the ischemic lesion produced a reversal of neurological symptoms. This effect began within 2 min following naloxone injection and lasted for approximately 20 min. Animals were then anesthetized and cortical blood flow was measured by the hydrogen clearance method. Average cortical blood flow on the side of the occlusion was 50% that of the control side. Naloxone produced a significant additional decrease of 19.5% in cortical blood flow in the ischemic hemisphere, whereas no effect on blood flow on the control side was noted. Thus, although naloxone appears to temporarily reverse the severe neurological deficits resulting from middle cerebral artery occlusion in the cat, this effect appears to be accompanied by a decrease in local blood flow to the ischemic cortex.

Camillo Golgi is well-known for his development of a staining technique that permitted profound contributions in histology. He is also well-known as the champion of a theory describing the organization of the nervous system as a reticular network. He shared the 1906 Nobel prize with Ramon y Cajal, who professed an antagonistic neuron theory which ultimately proved correct. We recently came across an original reprint of Golgi's work from an obscure reference. It deals with an important variation in the famous Golgi stain. In translating this original work into English, we present a piece of history, a comparison of Golgi's staining techniques, and a glimpse into Golgi's peculiar style and personality.

Several months after onset of typical stroke syndromes, two patients were found to harbor a glioblastoma multiforme in the area of infarction. Arteriographic and late CT studies suggested that one neoplasm caused parenchymal compressive occlusion of a sylvian branch mimicking embolism and the other entwined the origin of the middle cerebral artery in the leptomeninges simulating atherothrombosis.

A well-defined degenerative neurological condition has been associated with cholestatic liver disease in children. This syndrome, heralded by gait and limb ataxia, areflexia, and proprioceptive and vibratory sensory loss, has also been observed in abetalipoproteinemia (Bassen-Kornzweig syndrome), cystic fibrosis, and intestinal malabsorption states. A significant body of evidence suggests that vitamin E (alpha-tocopherol) deficiency is in large part responsible for this condition. In this article, a patient manifesting this syndrome is reported, and the current status of the vitamin E deficiency state is reviewed.

There is growing evidence for parallel processing of visual information. Visual information, spatially or temporally distinct, is transmitted to various regions of the brain. This paper presents clinical and anatomical evidence for parallel processing in the human visual system. The neuro-ophthalmologist often has psychophysical evidence for the separation of visual functions. Our own investigations have demonstrated that brightness sense and other visual functions may be impaired out of proportion to visual acuity in diseases of the optic nerve. Classes of retinal ganglion cells have been morphologically and physiologically described in several experimental animals. No such classification of retinal ganglion cell types has been made in man. However, psychophysical and retinal electrophysiological human studies suggest the segregation of human retinal ganglion cells into classes which subserve different functions. A new staining method (PPD) has made it possible to directly study the visual pathways in man. With this method, we have documented several previously undescribed human visual pathways to different brain visual nuclei: the lateral geniculate nucleus, the pretectum, the superior colliculus, the pulvinar, and three nuclei of the hypothalamus (SCN, PVN, SON). We have also developed a method which permits the accurate and rapid measurement of human retinal ganglion cell axon diameters through the optic nerve and through the fascicles of optic fibers entering several of these recently described visual nuclei. There is evidence for three size classes of axons which differentially distribute to the visual nuclei. These studies emphasize the need for overcoming the constraints of thinking that vision is the same as seeing.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)