Language dominance in mesial temporal lobe epilepsy: a functional transcranial Doppler sonography study of brain plasticity.

Functional transcranial Doppler sonography was used to study hemispheric language dominance (HLD) in 24 right-handed patients with left temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE) and a structural lesion in the left temporal lobe and in 69 healthy controls. Twenty-five percent of the patients and 4% of controls showed atypical (right or bilateral) HLD. Degree of HLD was not correlated with age, Full Scale IQ, Verbal IQ, spike frequency, seizure frequency, age at seizure onset, or duration of TLE.

Inhibition by adenosine A(2A) receptors of NMDA but not AMPA currents in rat neostriatal neurons.

Whole-cell patch clamp experiments were used to investigate the transduction mechanism of adenosine A(2A) receptors in modulating N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA)-induced currents in rat striatal brain slices. The A(2A) receptor agonist 2-p-(2-carboxyethyl)phenethylamino-5'-N-ethylcarboxamidoadenosine (CGS 21680) inhibited the NMDA, but not the (S)-alpha-amino-3-hydroxy-5-methyl-4-isoxazolepropionic acid (AMPA) current in a subset of striatal neurons. Lucifer yellow-filled pipettes in combination with immunostaining of A(2A) receptors were used to identify CGS 21680-sensitive cells as typical medium spiny striatal neurons.

Adenosine A2A receptors inhibit the conductance of NMDA receptor channels in rat neostriatal neurons.

Whole-cell patch clamp experiments were carried out in rat striatal brain slices. In a subset of striatal neurons (70-80%), NMDA-induced inward currents were inhibited by the adenosine A2A receptor selective agonist CGS 21680. The non-selective adenosine receptor antagonist 8-(p-sulphophenyl)-theophylline and the A2A receptor selective antagonist 8-(3-chlorostyryl)caffeine abolished the inhibitory action of CGS 21680.

Mutants with substitutions for Glu171 in the catabolite activator protein (CAP) of Escherichia coli activate transcription from the lac promoter.

Single amino acid substitutions for residue Glu171 in helix E of the catabolite gene activator protein (CAP) of Escherichia coli have been reported to abolish activation of transcription without impairing binding to the CAP site of the lac promoter. The negative charge of Glu171 was proposed to transmit the activating signal from CAP to RNA polymerase. However, this idea has been challenged by later work.

[McCune-Albright syndrome in association with meningioma and mental and psychological retardation].

Report of a boy aged 17 years and review of the literature on the neoplasias of CAS. The cause of examination was a psychic maldevelopment. Cranial arteriography exhibited extreme wide Carotis communis and CT temporal meningioma right and septum pellucidum cyste.

[Preoperative computer tomography and postoperative classification of brain tumors].

Imaging of different brain tumor types by computed tomography (CT) or contrast-enhanced CT scans is often very similar. Therefore, the exact preoperative CT diagnosis of intracranial neoplasms is difficult. Among 100 cases (88 primary brain tumors, 12 brain metastases), the preoperative classification by CT was correct in 51 and partially correct in 22 cases.

[Case reports of the Kümmel-Verneuil syndrome].

The significance of the complex clinical-radiological diagnosis is demonstrated in three cases of the Kümmel-Verneuil syndrome, the bone scintigraphy allows the demonstration and localisation of the bone process, but in respect to the differential diagnosis the results are unspecific. The CT allows an early and sure demonstration of the intravertebral vacuum phenomenon. In patients with nonspecific vertebral fractures the quantitative determination of the mineral content of the vertebral bones is indicated.

[Pulmonary alveolar microlithiasis (disease in 2 siblings--case report)].

This article presents case reports on brother and sister suffering from microlithiasis alveolaris pulmonum. Diagnosis was established by means of the course of the disease, the relatively typical x-ray film and the findings on performing scintigraphy of the skeleton and also by computed tomography. Findings confirmed that the course of the disease is symptom-free for a long time; that it occurs in both sexes; and that it becomes manifest with considerable incidence in some families.

[Recurrent cystic "hypophyseal abscess"].

A report is given on a primary hypophyseal abscess with an acute chiasmal syndrome, the only case among 426 hypophyseal interventions. In spite of two pterional exposures a relapse occurred, so that in the third operation a transethmoideo-sphenoid access was chosen. In this procedure--as the method of choice--a drainage into the paranasal sinuses is reached.

[Diagnosis and differential diagnosis of primary empty sella].

A report is given on 12 patients (6 men, 6 women) presenting primary Empty Sella who were admitted as inpatients with a provisional diagnosis of a hypophyseal tumour. The most frequent first symptom was uncharacteristic cephalgia. Visual disturbances and an impairment of potency/libido were only mentioned in the second place.

[Ergotism within the scope of the postoperative prevention of thromboembolism].

Vasospastic reactions (ergotism), a complication in postoperative prophylaxis against thrombo-embolism, using heparin-dihydroergotamine, are assessed in this paper on the basis of the authors' own observations and following evaluation of 19 literature references. The authors feel that the above combination of active substances may be recommended also for the future in routine prophylactic medication to prevent thrombo-embolism.

[Diagnosis of infectious spondylitis following urological interventions].

Spread of infection to the spine following urological surgery is extremely rare. The diagnosis is therefore often made at a late stage resulting in delayed treatment. Four patients observed by the authors are described and the diagnosis is discussed.

[Simulation of a hypophyseal tumor in carotid-ophthalmic aneurysms].

Case report. A 59 year old woman was thought to suffer from a neoplasm of the hypophysis. This "tumour" was simulated by a giant aneurysm of the infraorbital segment of the left carotid artery.