Subcutaneous methylnaltrexone for treatment of opioid-induced constipation in patients with chronic, nonmalignant pain: a randomized controlled study.

Unlabelled: Methylnaltrexone is effective for opioid-induced constipation (OIC) in advanced illness patients. This 4-week, double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled study investigated the effect of subcutaneous methylnaltrexone on OIC in patients receiving opioids for chronic, nonmalignant pain. Patients (N = 460) received subcutaneous methylnaltrexone 12 mg once daily (QD) or every other day (alternating with placebo) compared with placebo.

A multicenter, randomized, double-blind, controlled study of NGX-4010, a high-concentration capsaicin patch, for the treatment of postherpetic neuralgia.

Objectives: To confirm the efficacy, tolerability, and safety of NGX-4010, an 8% capsaicin dermal patch (capsaicin 640 µg/cm(2) ), in patients with postherpetic neuralgia (PHN). PHN is a chronic pain disorder that can be difficult to treat and for which current treatment options are often limited by poor tolerability.

Design: A total of 418 patients were randomized to receive a single 60-minute application of NGX-4010 or a 0.

NGX-4010, a high-concentration capsaicin patch, for the treatment of postherpetic neuralgia: a randomised, double-blind study.

Background: The limitations of current treatments for postherpetic neuralgia (PHN) have led to the investigation of localised, non-systemic alternatives. NGX-4010, a high-concentration (8%) capsaicin dermal patch, was developed to treat patients with neuropathic pain. We report the results of a randomised, double blind, 12-week study of the efficacy and safety of one application of NGX-4010 in patients with PHN.

The incremental validity of lumbar surface EMG, behavioral observation, and a symptom checklist in the assessment of patients with chronic low-back pain.

This study evaluated the comparative ability of lumbar surface EMG, behavioral observation, and a symptom checklist to correctly classify three groups of participants, (1) 18 patients with chronic low-back pain (CLBP), demonstrating excessive and/or anatomically inconsistent motor, sensory, and tenderness responses during a neurological examination, (2) 33 patients with CLBP exhibiting few or no inconsistent responses, and (3) 30 healthy matched controls. Discriminant analyses were used to develop predictive models. Correct classification rates for the individual assessments and all combinations of assessments were contrasted.

Frequency and cooccurrence of vocal tract dysfunctions in the speech of a large sample of Parkinson patients.

In this study, the frequency of occurrence of speech and voice symptoms in 200 Parkinson patients was defined by two expert listeners from high-fidelity tape recordings of conversational speech samples and readings of the sentence version of the Fisher-Logemann Test of Articulation Competence. Specific phonemes that were misarticulated were catalogued. Other vocal-tract dysfunctions, including laryngeal disorders, rate disorders, and hypernasality, were also recorded.

Speech and swallowing evaluation in the differential diagnosis of neurologic disease.

Examination of the speech mechanism (the vocal tract) frequently provides information about certain neurologic lesions. The speech, swallowing and respiratory patterns of patients with cerebellar, upper motor neuron, lower motor neuron and extra-pyramidal lesions (parkinsonism) were studied, 10 of each category. The patient's lingual, labial and velar movement was examined cineradiographically during production of four short speech samples and the oral, through esophageal structures, during chewing and swallowing.

Molecular biology of neurological and psychiatric disorders. I. Effect of parkinsonism, age, sex and L-dopa on platelet monoamine oxidase.

Since there is substantial evidence for a nigrostriatal dopamine defect in Parkinson's disease and since monoamine oxidase (MAO) appears to be essential for the degradation of dopamine, we investigated whether this enzyme is involved in the pathogenesis of this disease or in the therapeutic action of L-dopa. To gain a solid basis for our analysis we studied some properties of platelet MAO, at present the only practical in vivo source for human MAO. Substrate and inhibitor pattern clearly pointed to a predominant B-type character of this enzyme.

Elantrine in the treatment of parkinsonism.

A new drug, elantrine, blocks the tremorogenic effect of exotremorine, nicotine and harmine in animals. A double blind study compared elantrine with trinhexyphenidyl and against a baseline placebo period, in a group of Parkinson patients. Both, elantrine and trihexyphenidyl treatment, reduced tremor scores at the conclusion of the respective treatment periods, but closer analysis revealed 65% of patients receiving elantrine had lower tremor scores compared to their baseline (placebo) opposed to only 53% receiving trihexyphenidyl.

Thyrotropin-releasing hormone (TRH): Measurements in human spinal fluid.

Levels of thyrotropin-releasing hormone (TRH) were quantitated in human lumbar spinal fluid (CSF) utilizing a sensitive and specific TRH radioimmunoassay. Endogenous TRH was sufficiently stable in CSF to permit 85% recovery of intact TRH after 48 h storage at 4 C. TRH levels in AM or PM samples obtained from 15 women and 12 men were easily detected in all CSF specimens.

Comparison of speech and swallowing function in patients with tremor disorders and in normal geriatric patients: a cinefluorographic study.

In a study of vocal tract and esophageal function during speech and swallowing, unmedicated Parkinson patients were found to have specific disorders in oral and esophageal stages of deglutition and a predictable sequence of deterioration in speech. To determine whether these disorders are exclusive to parkinsonism or are typical of all patients with tremor or of geriatric patients in general, a cinefluoroscopic study was initiated to examine the physiology of speech and swallowing in these other patients. Subjects were 10 normal geriatric patients and 10 patients with essential tremor.