[Normal pressure hydrocephalus: prognostic value of height in patients treated with an identical shunt system].

Introduction: Normal pressure hydrocephalus (NPH) is a clinical entity frequently managed by means of a cerebrospinal fluid shunt. Hydrodynamic hypotheses consider hydrostatic pressure (as well as height) a very important variable for shunt system function. However, we did not find empirical studies supporting the influence of height on clinical response in the literature.

Patterns of care and outcome for patients with glioblastoma diagnosed during 2008-2010 in Spain.

Background: To assess management patterns and outcome in patients with glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) treated during 2008-2010 in Spain.

Methods: Retrospective analysis of clinical, therapeutic, and survival data collected through filled questionnaires from patients with histologically confirmed GBM diagnosed in 19 Spanish hospitals.

Results: We identified 834 patients (23% aged >70 years).

[Infectious nature of leprosy, by Juan de Azúa].

In this article by Juan de Azua, published in the second issue of Actas Dermosifiliográficas in 1909, the author reports his experience in 139 patients, most of them from Hospital San Juan de Dios, Madrid,Spain, and states he is sure that leprosy is a contagious disease. He discusses the factors related to contagion,which occurs in a closed and family environment, emphasizing socioeconomic factors such as hygiene and promiscuity. He considers direct contact to be important, though also recognizing indirect contact through drinks and food; he totally rejects a hereditary mechanism.

Factors contributing to the decline of leprosy in Spain in the second half of the twentieth century.

Background: Leprosy is a chronic infectious disease that is considered to be declining, though it still remains prevalent in many parts of the world. A study was made to explore the health and socioeconomic factors that most influenced the trend of the disease in a typical Mediterranean country.

Materials And Methods: An ecological study was conducted, investigating possible social, economic and health factors related to the evolution of leprosy incidence.

[Brainstem injury diagnosed by MRI. An epidemiologic and prognostic reappraisal].

Introduction And Objectives: CT-scan allows emergency surgical evaluation of head injury lesions, but does not offer a comprehensive diagnosis of the resulting brain injuries. Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) can complete the evaluation of head injury, particularly in the brain stem. We attempted to estimate the frequency of traumatic primary brain stem injuries

Material And Methods: Thirty patients with moderate or severe head injury (GCS < or = 13) underwent a MRI study during the first two weeks after trauma.

Diagnosis of brain abscess by magnetic resonance spectroscopy. Report of two cases.

Two cases of brain abscess were diagnosed by combining magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS) and magnetic resonance (MR) imaging. The resonances observed in vivo were assigned by means of an in vitro MRS study of the exudates extracted during surgical aspiration of the abscesses. The technique of MRS was demonstrated to be very powerful in the differential diagnosis of brain abscesses from other brain pathologies such as neoplasms.

The natural history of arachnoid cysts: endoscopic and cine-mode MRI evidence of a slit-valve mechanism.

Arachnoid cysts are space-occupying lesions filled with CSF-like content and surrounded by a membrane resembling arachnoid matter. They are regarded as a development abnormality of the arachnoid, originating from a splitting or duplication of this membrane. However, precise etiology and natural history remain controversial.

Giant cephalhematoma in a 15-year-old boy. Unilateral amaurosis as the main complication.

Background: The term "cephalhematoma" is applied to a collection of blood under the periosteum of a skull bone. It most frequently occurs in the neonatal period and is rare at other times of life.

Methods And Results: We report on a 15-year-old boy with a subperiosteal hematoma involving the whole cranial surface.

Establishing a home care protocol for early discharge of patients with hip and knee arthroplasties.

Joint arthroplasty procedures are significant in number and cost. Discharging hip and knee arthroplasty patients early from the hospital to a transitional home care program has the potential to reduce costs, while maintaining quality. A retrospective review of hospital records of hip and knee arthroplasty patients quantified patient problems during postoperative days 3 through 12 and analyzed them by age, gender, and joint type.

Ultrastructural studies of endocrine cell populations showing an argentaffin reaction and/or serotonin immunoreactivity in the rat antral mucosa.

On the basis of staining results in closely related semi-thin sections from rat antral mucosa immunostained with polyclonal serotonin antibodies and silver-stained for the argentaffin reaction, respectively, three different cell populations could be distinguished. One of these cell populations showed both serotonin immunoreactivity and an argentaffin reaction, a second one serotonin immunoreactivity alone, and a third one only an argentaffin reaction. These cell populations were studied electron microscopically in ultra-thin sections located between the stained semi-thin sections.

Evidence for an HLA-DR4-associated immune-response gene for Mycobacterium tuberculosis. A clue to the pathogenesis of rheumatoid arthritis?

Antigens of Mycobacterium tuberculosis, M leprae, M scrofulaceum, and M vaccae were injected intradermally in 86 caucasoid leprosy patients, and skin responses (measured in mm of induration at 72 h) were analysed in relation to HLA class II phenotypes. HLA-DR4 was associated with high responsiveness to antigens specific to M tuberculosis but not to antigens shared with other mycobacteria (p = 0.0005).

A new concentration of human intestinal capillariasis on western Luzon.

A new concentration of 32 cases of human intestinal capillariasis is described. This subepidemic occurred 120 Km from the nearest previously reported cases and the disease is locally acquired. All but one patient ate raw food and all ingested the small freshwater fish Ambassis commersoni (bagsang).

[New drugs in the treatment of leprosy].

Two groups of patients were chosen for this treatment; the first group of 14 patients was treated with a daily dose of 600 mg. of Rifampicine and the second group with Rifampicine associated with Isoprodian (1-2 tablets). In the first group clinical and bacteriological improvement was apparent.

WHO co-ordinated short-term double-blind trial with thalidomide in the treatment of acute lepra reactions in male lepromatous patients.

The treatment of lepra reactions constitutes one of the most serious problems in leprosy. For this reason, the first reports in 1965 of the favourable results obtained with thalidomide aroused considerable interest and led WHO, in 1967, to carry out a trial with the co-operation of four centres. A short-term double-blind trial was designed to study the effect of thalidomide, in comparison with acetylsalicylic acid, in the treatment of acute lepra reactions in male lepromatous patients.