Long-term outcome of neuroparacoccidioidomycosis treatment.

Introduction: Neuroparacoccidioidomycosis (NPCM) is a term used to describe the invasion of the central nervous system by the pathogenic fungus Paracoccidioides brasiliensis. NPCM has been described sporadically in some case reports and small case series, with little or no focus on treatment outcome and long-term follow-up.

Methods: All patients with NPCM from January 1991 to December 2006 were analyzed and were followed until December 2009.

Acute acquired toxoplasmosis: clinical-laboratorial aspects and ophthalmologic evaluation in a cohort of immunocompetent patients.

Most cases of acute acquired toxoplasmosis (AAT) are oligosymptomatic and self-limited. Therefore, these infections rarely indicate treatment. Prospective studies of AAT patients are rare in the medical literature.

Progression of acral bone resorption in multibacillary leprosy.

Although leprosy became a curable disease after implementation of the Global Strategy for the Elimination of Leprosy (WHO), mutilations and deformities are still commonplace in endemic countries. Hence, it remains important to evaluate the prevalence rate and the risk factors of acral bone resorption in the multidrug therapy (MDT) era. A cohort of 105 newly-diagnosed adult multibacillary leprosy patients admitted for treatment between 1990-1992 was surveyed until 1999.

Neurophysiology of pain-peripheral aspects. Speculation concerning the possibility of a unitary peripheral cutaneous input system for pressure, hot, cold and tissue damage.

The gate theory of pain is criticized at three levels: (1) at the dorsal horn "gate", where pre-synaptic inhibition in the primary afferent endings may go beyond mere reduction of synaptic power at the afferent endings and induce antidromic impulses (dorsal root reflexes) that may modulate peripherally by blocking; (2) central to the "gate", where postsynaptic neuronal repetitive (epileptiform) firing is believed to be an important underlying mechanism in clinical chronic pain syndromes; and, (3) in the periphery, where there is more to input coding than a balance between the ratio of large and smaller fiber inputs. Contrary to the belief of many sensory neurophysiologists, the present authors contend that pattern theory is viable; and that specificity, while important and not to be ignored, should be considered as only a partially evolved refinement superimposed on a basic underlying spatial and temporal patterning of input that probably requires central decoding, which begins in the dorsal horn.

Quantitative measures of the thermal reactivity of cutaneous mechanoreceptors.

Quantitative aspects of the non-specific response of cutaneous mechanoreceptors to two different modalities of stimulation were examined. Parameterization of stimulus temperature reveals the incompleteness of the commonly accepted criterion for thermal sensitivity and suggests the need for a re-examination of current concepts of specific mechanical, thermal and nociceptive sensibility.

The site of anoxic block in the spinal monosynaptic pathway.

Asphyxiation of the spinal cord for periods of 2-4 min leads to block of the monosynaptic pathway. At about the same time this blockage takes place, the afferent action potentials fail to invade the presynaptic terminals. Asphyxiation also interferes with the antidromic invasion of motoneurons, and the failure of the antidromic action potentials to invade the motoneuron dendrites coincides with the time of the disappearance of the orthodromic monosynaptic responses.