Clinical and genetic findings in Finnish ataxia patients with the spinocerebellar ataxia 8 repeat expansion.

Spinocerebellar ataxia 8 (SCA8) is caused by a CTG repeat expansion in an untranslated region of a recently cloned gene on 13q21. The pathogenic role of this trinucleotide repeat was evaluated by examining 154 Finnish ataxia patients and 448 controls. Expansions ranging from 100 to 675 repeats were present in 9 (6%) unrelated patients and in 13 (3%) controls.

High prevalence of Kennedy's disease in Western Finland -- is the syndrome underdiagnosed?

Objectives: To assess the prevalence of Kennedy's disease in the Vasa region of Western Finland.

Patients And Methods: Verification of diagnosis by molecular genetic techniques since 1995.

Results: Within 2 years we have been able to identify a large number of families with this disorder.

Piracetam relieves symptoms in progressive myoclonus epilepsy: a multicentre, randomised, double blind, crossover study comparing the efficacy and safety of three dosages of oral piracetam with placebo.

Objective: To compare the efficacy, tolerability, and safety of three daily dosage regimens of oral piracetam in patients with progressive myoclonus epilepsy.

Methods: Twenty patients (12 men, eight women), aged 17-43 years, with classical Unverricht-Lundborg disease were enrolled in a multicentre, randomised, double blind trial of crossover design in which the effects of daily doses of 9.6 g, 16.

Tibial muscular dystrophy. Late adult-onset distal myopathy in 66 Finnish patients.

Objective: To clarify the classification of two previously reported groups of patients with anterior tibial distal dystrophy, to find additional patients with the disease, and to describe the clinical features of this disease.

Design: National survey of the records of patients with neuromuscular diseases in Finland. Findings of selected patients were compared with those of previously reported cases.

Piracetam in the treatment of post-concussional syndrome. A double-blind study.

The effect of piracetam, a cyclical derivative of GABA, was compared with that of a placebo in a double-blind study of 60 patients with post-concussional syndrome of 2-12 months' duration. The daily dose of piracetam was 4,800 mg. After 8 weeks of treatment piracetam significantly reduced the occurrence and severity of the following symptoms: vertigo, headache, tiredness, decresed alertness, increased sweating and neurasthenic symptoms.