Thiamine and folate treatment of chronic epileptic patients: a controlled study with the Wechsler IQ scale.

Seventy-two epileptic patients receiving phenytoin (PHT) alone or in combination with phenobarbital for more than 4 years were divided into four groups, the first taking two placebo tablets per day; the second folate (5 mg/day) and placebo; the third placebo and thiamine (50 mg/day); and the fourth both vitamins. The clinical trial lasted 6 months. At baseline assessment, 31% of the patients had subnormal blood thiamine levels and 30% had low folate.

Treatment of heredo-degenerative ataxias with amantadine hydrochloride.

Amantadine hydrochloride (AH) was administered (200 mg/day) for more than three months to 17 patients with Friedreich's ataxia (FA) and to 12 patients with olivopontocerebellar atrophies (OPCA) in an open clinical trial. Reaction time (RT) and movement time (MT) with the right and left hand were measured before and after treatment. A striking improvement on both RT and MT was observed in the OPCA group (on seven out of eight measures), whereas in the FA patients improvement was seen only in two out of four MT measures with no improvement in RT.

Single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) in cerebellar disease: cerebello-cerebral diaschisis.

Single photon emission computed tomography assessments were conducted in normal controls (n = 25), patients with unilateral cerebellar infarctions (n = 4), patients with olivopontocerebellar atrophy (OPCA; n = 15) and patients with Friedreich's ataxia (FA; n = 6). In subjects with unilateral cerebellar infarctions, crossed cerebellar-cortical diaschisis was observed: reduced cerebellar hexamethylpropyleneamine oxime (HMPAO) uptake was invariably accompanied by a diminution of HMPAO in the contralateral basal ganglia and frontoparietal cortex. OPCA and FA patients had various degrees of decreased HMPAO uptake in both the cerebellum and cerebral hemispheres.

Role of the cerebellum in complex human behavior.

Thirty-three outpatient epileptics with normal CT scans (group 1) and 31 patients with cerebellar and brain stem (CBS) atrophy (group 2) were randomly included in this study. There were no significant statistical differences between the groups with regard to age, education, and number of grand mal and other seizures. Statistical analyses showed that group 2 had a longer history of epilepsy with a consequently longer duration of phenytoin (PHT) consumption.

Defective revisualization: dissociation between cognitive and imagistic thought case report and short review of the literature.

A 38-year-old shifted-sinistral patient displayed a definite deficit in visual imagery accompanied by defective dreaming capacity, loss of hypnagogic imagery, some defects in topographical memory, a mild unilateral right spatial neglect and mild difficulties in right-left orientation on the examiner's body. CT-scan and NMR studies showed evidence of an inborn hypoplasia of the right hemisphere and a stretched corpus callosum in its posterior and superior part. The vicarious compensatory action of the cognitive-verbal function of the defect of visual imagery was obvious.

The Wechsler subtests in mild organic brain damage associated with folate deficiency.

Forty-nine patients with low serum and cerebrospinal fluid folate levels completed the Ottawa-Wechsler Scale after 7-11 months of folate supplementation (10 mg daily). Twelve patients exhibited major neurological symptoms, while 37 patients displayed depression and minor neurological signs. After folate therapy, Verbal, Performance and Full Wechsler scores were significantly improved (P less than 0.

Folate-responsive neurological and mental disorders: report of 16 cases. Neuropsychological correlates of computerized transaxial tomography and radionuclide cisternography in folic acid deficiencies.

Two groups of patients with folic acid responsive neurological and psychiatric disorders are reported. The first group (7 patients) had well-established acquired folate deficiency due either to defective absorption (4 cases with atrophy of jejunal mucosa) or to a deficient diet (3 cases). One patient had a subacute combined degeneration of the spinal cord while others were depressed and had weight loss, permanent muscular and intellectual fatigue, restless legs syndrome, depressed ankle jerks, diminution of the sense of vibration in the knees and a stocking-type tactile hypoesthesia.