Reliability of clinical diagnosis of dystonia.

Background: There is only one small single-center study on the reliability of the diagnosis of focal dystonia. The aim of this study was to assess the inter-rater reliability of dystonia diagnosis among neurologists with different professional experience.

Methods: Twenty-nine adults (18 with dystonia, 9 with other movement disorders, and 2 healthy controls) were videotaped while undergoing neurological examination and during the process of collecting information on the history of their condition.

Changes in lamotrigine pharmacokinetics during pregnancy and the puerperium.

To assess changes in the pharmacokinetics of the anti-epileptic drug lamotrigine (LTG) during pregnancy, plasma LTG concentrations at steady-state were determined at different intervals during 11 pregnancies in 10 women with epilepsy stabilized on long-term LTG therapy. In the five pregnancies that could be assessed both during gestation and after delivery, plasma LTG concentrations increased on average by 164% (range +75 to +351%) between the last observation during pregnancy and the puerperium (P < 0.05).