Palaeoenvironmental changes based on foraminifera during the late Holocene at the Beagle Channel, Argentina.

A foraminiferal faunal study was carried out in a Holocene marine section from Arroyo Baliza, located on the northwest coast of the Beagle Channel, to contribute to the knowledge of the palaeoenvironmental conditions during the marine Holocene event. Foraminiferal assemblage was represented by 32 species distributed among 21 genera. The assemblage was dominated by Elphidium macellum (Fichtel & Moll) Elphidium alvarezianum (d'Orbigny), Cribroelphidium excavatum (Terquem) and Buccella peruviana (d'Orbigny), accompanied by Cibicides fletcheri Galloway & Wissler and Cibicidoides dispars (d'Orbigny) in low proportion.

Ability and fitness to drive of Parkinson's disease patients.

The authors review reports in the literature on the fitness and ability to drive of neurosurgical patients and subjects afflicted by neurological disorders, before focusing on their own series of 204 idiopathic Parkinson's disease (PD) patients. The study sample comprised 173 men and 31 women (average age 70.6 and 74.

Long-Term Nicergoline Treatment of Mild to Moderate Senile Dementia : Results of a Multicentre, Double-Blind, Placebo-Controlled Study.

The efficacy and tolerability of nicergoline were evaluated in a long-term, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial. 108 patients, fulfilling DSM III-R criteria for mild to moderate senile dementia of degenerative, vascular or mixed origin, were selected from a pool of outpatients attending five Italian neurological centres and randomised to receive nicergoline 30mg twice daily (54 patients) or placebo (54 patients) for 12 months. Treatment efficacy on cognitive and behavioural performances was assessed by the Sandoz Clinical Assessment Geriatric scale (SCAG) and Mini Mental State Examination (MMSE), at baseline and after 3, 6, 9 and 12 months of treatment.

Elective neurotraumatology and therapeutic strategies in early post-trauma.

The aim of elective neurotraumatology is to outline new and valid therapeutic strategies in early post-trauma in order to obtain a more favourable long-term outcome for cranial and spinal trauma patients than usually achieved with conventional intensive therapies. After a critical review of all drugs and measures currently used for the treatment of damage due to cerebral trauma and a brief mention of new agents still being studied, the results of a retrospective study of 128 patients with severe head injury are reported. For all patients a complete clinical and pharmacological history of their traumatic event, which had occurred from 5 to 14 years before the present evaluation, was available.

[Multiple sclerosis. A report of a case treated with thymopentin].

The authors analyse the case of a 58-year-old male suffering from substantially "atypical" multiple sclerosis (MS), both in terms of the late onset and because of some characteristics of the course of disease. The patient was treated with a subcutaneous immunomodulator (thymopentin) at a dose of 50 mg/day in 3-monthly cycles with intervals of 2 months between cycles, for a total of 3 cycles. Instrumental (CAT-NMR) and laboratory (immunological) tests were not significant, whereas others provided complex responses that allowed the presence of a demyelinating syndrome to be ascertained, above all due to the positivity of isoelectrofocusing.

Angiopathic parkinsonism: does it exist?

The Authors report on 150 cases of patients suffering from Parkinson's disease. The patients represent 8.3% of total parkinsonian patients and are selected on the basis of clinical and laboratory criteria that allow the diagnosis of "angiopathic parkinsonism" as an autonomous entity.

[Nonpsychotic involutional inhibited depressions and psycho-organic deteriorations: treatment with Viloxazine and piracetam].

Involutional depression is often the first symptom of a psycho-organic syndrome or dementia and may not present overt symptoms itself; these depressive states have been variously classified by different schools in various countries. The hypothesis of catecholamine and indolamine in the aetiopathogenic agent is oversimplistic and the theory that abnormal receptor hypersensitivity is the cause of the condition is more convincing. On the basis of this hypothesis numerous studies have been conducted into the efficacy of various antidepressants in the treatment of this hypersensitivity.

Long-term evaluation of cervical spine disorders following laminectomy.

The Authors report the results obtained by long-term clinical and radiological evaluation of patients who had undergone cervical multiple bilateral laminectomy to relieve the compression exerted on the cord by different diseases (spondylarthrosis, syringohydromyelia, intramedullary and extramedullary tumours, leptomeningeal cysts and extradural tumours). 98 patients were reviewed, the follow-up ranging from 8 to 24 years (mean 14 years). The results demonstrate that the most severe post-laminectomy changes are recorded in patients with intramedullary lesions and when middle-low cervical spine levels (C4-C7) are affected.

Operatory indications and licence of craniostenosis.

On average 0.04% of the population is affected by craniostenosis. It is believed there are anatomo-clinical forms at moderate risk and others at high risk.

[Neurotraumatology and post-traumatic epilepsy. Prevention, treatment and long-term follow-up. Barbexaclone + phenobarbital (maliasin) versus diphenylhydantoin, phenobarbital, primidone, carbamazepine].

A report is presented on 58 patients (46 males, 12 females) all suffering from post-traumatic epilepsy (PTE) and followed up for a minimum of 1 year to maximum of 23 years after the injury (mean 6.3 years). The type and site of the head injury, the nature of the brain lesions, the time elapsing before the first critical manifestation, the clinical character of the epileptic attacks, EEG, cerebral CAT and RMN data were performed are given for all patients.

Involutional dementias: new perspectives.

13 patients with psycho-organic syndrome (POS) and 10 patients with dementia (senile, Alzheimer, multi-infarct) were treated with drugs considered to influence the neuronal turnover of acetylcholine (Phosphatidylcholine, piracetam, S-adenosylmethionine) for 30 days and compared in respect of CSF ACh levels, reaction times to simple visual stimuli (TRS-V) and to simple hearing stimuli (TRS-H) and scores on the Sandoz Clinical Assessment Geriatric (SCAG) rating scale. The POS patients presented higher CSF ACh levels, shorter TRS-V and TRS-H times and lower SCAG scores than the demented patients before treatment. During treatment the CSF ACh values fell in the POS but not in the demented patients.

[Rational medical and surgical therapy of essential facial hemispasm. Experiences in 21 cases].

After a brief review of the definition, aetiopathogenetic hypotheses and various medical and surgical treatment of idiopathic hemifacial spasm, 21 personal cases are reported. It is concluded that the most effective treatment is surgical release of the compressed nerve with various types of vascular loop. The most effective medical treatment is large doses of carbamazepine, though it does not always produce a lasting improvement.

[Tetraventricular ependymoma. Presentation of a case].

The clinical study of encephalic ependymoma shows that cases present with polymorphous clinical pictures depending on intra and/or periventricular tumoural growth, generally such as to hinder precise diagnosis during life, unless under direct control, or, currently, using computerized axial tomography. The reported case, completed by macro and microscopic autoptic study, takes on particular importance because the neoplasia involved all encephalic ventricular cavities. This exceptional localisation and extension, only gave an aspecific clinical picture, dominated by the presence of a slight internal communicating type hydrocephalus and immediate general convulsive signs.

Usefulness of gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) therapy in pathologies of neurosurgical competence.

The Authors, after giving some theoretical and pharmacodynamic opinions on GABA, report their clinical experience for 18 consecutive years with the use of gamma-aminobutyric acid in cases of central comas, psycho-organic post-operative syndromes, Parkinson's Disease. The drug, in the various above listed pathologies, shows respectively a wakening effect, with actual rising of the level of consciousness, a re-equilibrating action towards psycho-organic involutions, especially acute ones, and a considerable antiakinetic activity. After analyzing the original results obtained, considered especially in the light of the most modern researches on the importance of GABA-ergic mediation on the basal ganglia, some interesting neurofunctional hypotheses are put forward, which are connected with the problem of nervous conduction in human pathology.

[EEG screening of candidates for underwater activity].

Following a review of a number of EEC recording technique, a screening technique for candidates for sporting and/or professional underwater activities is proposed in replacement of the routine examinations which are considered unsuitable. Modalities are described involving basic recordings in hyperpnoea and 12 tests in apnoea. Examples are given and the practical advantages of the proposed technique are discussed in the light of experience.

[Juvenile myasthenia gravis of possible post-vaccinal inoculation: study of 2 cases].

The AA. describe two cases of serious juvenile myasthenia arisen after jennerian vaccination, antidiphteric and antitetanic vaccination in the first patient and after antitetanic vaccination in the second one. They put forward the hypothesis that in the two patients juvenile serious myasthenia is a complication due to vaccination for the following reasons: 1) the chronological relation between vaccination and the arising of myasthenic sumptomatology is very close; 2) the vaccine produces in the body a reaction of immunity type and myasthenia is nowadays generally considered as an immunity disease.