Dedalo Vola project: The effect of choral singing on physiological and psychosocial measures. An Italian pilot study.

Several studies have been conducted that show the crucial role of active participation in music in health promotion (e.g. Dingle et al.

Hyperostosing meningiomas of the sphenoid ridge--clinical features, surgical therapy, and long-term observations: review of 49 cases.

Thirty-three patients with en plaque, 9 with en masse (but with extensive bone involvement), and 7 with recurrent hyperostosing meningiomas of the sphenoid ridge were operated on. All patients underwent large extradural resection of the base of the skull as well as extirpation of the intradural tumors or adjacent plaques. The periorbita was involved in 13 patients (26.

Acromegaly: analysis of 132 cases treated surgically.

The surgical treatment of 132 acromegalics is analyzed. There was an equal sex distribution among patients between the ages of 30 and 59. In the younger patients there was a preponderance of males, and the opposite situation occurred in patients older than 59 years.

[Long-term outcome of surgery for myelopathy due to cervical arthrosis. 35 cases (author's transl)].

The authors report on 57 patients operated upon for myelopathy secondary to cervical arthrosis, 56 of whom underwent posterior laminectomy. The clinical symptoms were those reported in the literature for such cases. During the first post-operative year 66% of the patients improved, 5% became worse and 28% remained unchanged.

Endocrine outcome after transsphenoidal adenomectomy for prolactinoma: prolactin levels and tumor size as predicting factors.

The level of prolactin in the serum was determined pre- and postoperatively in 90 patients who were operated upon transsphenoidally for prolactin-secreting pituitary adenomas. Twenty-three had microadenomas and 67 had macroadenomas. Those patients who were cured had a distinctly lower mean prolactin level (about 200 ng/ml or less) than those who were not cured.

[Endocrine prognosis of PRL-secreting pituitary adenomas. In 90 female cases (author's transl)].

This study based upon 90 cases of prolactinomas where hormonal and clinical results have been compared demonstrates: 1) a good correlation between a normal postoperative plasma PRL level (less than 30 ng/ml) and the cure of the amenorrhea galactorrhea syndrome (90% of the cases); 2) a good correlation between the cure of the patients and the preoperative plasma PRL level: below 200 ng/ml, 85% of the patients are cured compared to 24% only when the preoperative PRL plasma level is above 200 ng/ml.

[Prolactin secreting adenomas: surgical treatment and results. 120 female cases, 30 males cases (author's transl)].

Twenty one per cent of the female cases concerned microadenomas discovered because of amenorrhea with or without galactorrhea. Sixty two per cent of these cases were cured by surgery alone, against 40% of the other types of prolactin (Prl) -- secreting tumors with extra-sellar extensions which were not cured. With men, no microadenomas was discovered (although one case demonstrated their possible existence) and in the most frequent cases, tumors exhibited extra-sellar extensions sometimes very large (giant tumors).

Thalamic spatial variability and the surgical results of lesions placed with neurophysiologic control.

One hundred stereotactic thalamotomies performed for upper extremity tremor were reviewed and the spatial positions of the anterior limit of ventralis posterior (VP), the thalamic-internal capsular boundary and somatotopic areas within VP plotted with respect to the midline and the place of the anterior comissure. Considerable variability was noted as to the location of these points. The surgical results following 97 of the 100 thalamotomies were evaluated at least three months after the procedure.

[10 cases of giant lumbo-sacral neurinoma].

Among giant tumours of the cauda equina, apart from ependymomas, neurinomas merit a special place. Depending on their site, they give rise to severe lumbar pain or root pain, with, almost constantly, aggravation during the night. X ray suggests the diagnosis when one finds displacement of the bone without inflammation, a regular bony defect, well-limited and asymmetric, and when the tumour is frequently prolonges in several directions across the bony orifices, sometimes giving a very large paravertebral mass which requires a double approach during surgery.

Afterdischarges elicited by electrical thalamic stimulation in the hemicerebellectomized baboon.

Electrical stimulation of the ventrolateral (VL) nucleus of the thalamus was performed on hemicerebellectomized baboons. Stimulation was delivered in volleys of 40 to 60 Hz lasting 5 to 25 sec, and at intensities ranging from 1 to 6 mA (width of shock 0.5 to 5 msec).