Vitamin B12, folate, and homocysteine levels in patients with obsessive-compulsive disorder.

It is known that elevated serum homocysteine, decreased folate, and low vitamin B12 serum levels are associated with poor cognitive function, cognitive decline, and dementia. Current literature shows that some psychiatric disorders, mainly affective and psychotic ones, can be related to the levels of vitamin B12, folate, and homocysteine. These results can be explained by the importance of vitamin B12, folate, and homocysteine in carbon transfer metabolism (methylation), which is required for the production of serotonin as well as for other monoamine neurotransmitters and catecholamines.

The role of DTI in early detection of cervical spondylotic myelopathy: a preliminary study with 3-T MRI.

Introduction: The radiological diagnosis of cervical spondylotic myelopathy (CSM) has to be made as soon as possible, since surgery performed in earlier stages during the course of CSM was reported to be more successful when compared with later stages. We hypothesized that diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) may detect CSM in earlier stages, before the appearance of signal increase in T2-weighted sequences.

Methods: A total of 16 patients with neurological signs and symptoms of CSM but without hyperintensity in spinal cord on T2-weighted sequences enrolled in the study.

The role of routine magnetic resonance imaging in the preoperative evaluation of adolescent idiopathic scoliosis.

The routine use of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in adolescent idiopathic scoliosis remains controversial, and current indications for MRI in idiopathic scoliosis vary from study to study. The purpose of this study was to demonstrate the prevalence of neural axis malformations and the clinical relevance of routine MRI studies in the evaluation of patients with adolescent idiopathic scoliosis undergoing surgical intervention without any neurological findings. A total of 249 patients with a diagnosis of idiopathic scoliosis were treated surgically between the years 2002 and 2007.