Pharmacist's Impact on Medication Adherence and Drug-Related Problems in Patients with Epilepsy.

Objectives: Drug-related problems (DRPs) and non-adherence are important barriers to ensuring optimal antiseizure drug treatment. The aim of this study was to improve medication adherence, detect and manage DRPs, and decrease the number of seizures with pharmacist-led education in patients with epilepsy.

Materials And Methods: A prospective and interventional study was conducted in collaboration with the Department of Neurology, the rational drug usage unit of a hospital pharmacy in a university hospital.

Experiences in the molecular genetic and histopathological evaluation of calpainopathies.

Calpainopathy is mainly characterized by symmetric and progressive weakness of proximal muscles. Several reports showed that the most common LGMD subtype is LGMDR1 or calpainopathy, which had previously been defined as LGMD2A. Until now, more than 500 likely pathogenic/pathogenic variants in the CAPN3 gene have been reported.

Neuromyelitis optica presenting with horner syndrome: A case report and review of literature.

Neuromyelitis optica (NMO) is a demyelinating disease of the central nervous system that predominantly affects the spinal cord and optic nerves. We describe a 19 years old woman with left Horner syndrome (HS), who was diagnosed as NMO with characteristic longitudinally extensive myelitis and positive serum aquaporin-4 immunoglobulin G antibodies (AQP4-IgG). Our report describes one of the very rare ocular motor symptoms in NMO patients.

Human Leucocyte Antigen B50 Is Associated with Conversion to Generalized Myasthenia Gravis in Patients with Pure Ocular Onset.

Objectives: The aim of this study was to investigate the associations between major histocompatibility complex (MHC) class I and II alleles and disease characteristics in Turkish patients with myasthenia gravis (MG).

Subjects And Methods: The MHC class I and II alleles of 108 unrelated MG patients were genotyped. The human leucocyte antigen (HLA) distribution of all MG patients and subgroups of MG patients (grouped according to disease characteristics) was compared to that of 250 healthy controls.

Spontaneous Swallowing during All-Night Sleep in Patients with Parkinson Disease in Comparison with Healthy Control Subjects.

Study Objectives: Spontaneous saliva swallows (SS) appear especially during sleep. The rate of SS was rarely investigated in all-night sleep in patients with Parkinson disease (PD). Dysphagia is a frequent symptom in PD, but the rate of SS was never studied with an all-night sleep electroencephalogram (EEG).

Risk Factors for Hemorrhagic Transformation in Patients with Acute Middle Cerebral Artery Infarction.

Introduction: Hemorrhagic transformation (HT) after acute ischemic stroke (AIS) can be seen at any time following ischemic stroke. Although HT usually occurs as a complication of antithrombotic, anticoagulant, or thrombolytic treatments, it can also occur spontaneously. We aimed to investigate the occurrence of early HT and its relevant risk factors in patients diagnosed with acute middle cerebral artery (MCA) infarction who were not treated with thrombolytic agents.

Is adiponectin a risk factor for transient ischaemic attacks?

Adiponectin is an adipocytokine, and it plays a role in atherosclerosis. The role of adiponectin in the development of ischaemic stroke is controversial. Up to now, adiponectin was not evaluated in transient ischaemic stroke.

Electrophysiological association of spontaneous yawning and swallowing.

Yawning and swallowing are fundamental physiological processes that are present from fetal stages throughout life and that involve sequential motor activities in the oropharyngo-larynx making it likely that they may share neuroanatomical pathways. We postulate that yawning and swallowing are controlled by a distributed network of brainstem regions including the central pattern generator of swallowing, and therefore spontaneous swallowing is frequently associated with spontaneous yawning. In this study, we sought to test this hypothesis by evaluating the elementary features of yawning in the facial, masseter and submental muscles, together with laryngeal movement sensor and respiratory recordings for spontaneous swallowing.

IL-1β, IL-6 and IL1Ra levels in temporal lobe epilepsy.

Purpose: There is now extensive evidence to support the involvement of inflammation in the course of epileptic seizures. Seizure-induced changes in serum IL-1β, IL-6 and IL-1Ra levels are reported in several studies. Serum cytokine levels may also be disturbed in inter-ictal period due to seizure activity.

Dural puncture: an overlooked cause of cerebral venous thrombosis.

Cerebral venous thrombosis (CVT) accounts for 0.5-1 % of all strokes. Although dural puncture is proposed as one of the rare risk factors, this association has only been mentioned in anecdotal reports.

Eagle syndrome: case report.

Eagle syndrome is an aggregate of symptoms caused by an elongated styloid process, most frequently resulting in headache, facial pain, dysphagia and sensation of foreign body in throat. The proper diagnosis is not difficult with clinical history, physical examination and radiographic assessment if there is a sufficient degree of suspicion. The treatment is very effective.

Interleukin-6, interleukin-1 beta and interleukin-1 receptor antagonist levels in epileptic seizures.

Purpose: Data are accumulating to support the involvement of inflammatory mechanisms in the pathogenesis and course of epilepsy.

Methods: The aim of this study was to examine seizure-induced changes in plasma concentrations of interleukin-6 (IL-6), interleukin-1 receptor antagonist (IL-1Ra), and interleukin-1 beta (IL-1β) in 23 patients with epilepsy undergoing a video-electroencephalography (EEG) study. Patients were divided into groups based on epilepsy type as follows: temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE) (n=6), extra-temporal lobe epilepsy (XLE) (n=8) and idiopathic generalised epilepsy (IGE) (n=9).

Myasthenia gravis as a cause of head drop in Parkinson disease.

Head drop is characterized by marked anterior flexion of the cervical spine. As a result, the affected patient presents with the head tilted forward and the chin resting on the chest. We report a 75-year-old male patient with parkinsonism and head drop caused by isolated myasthenic weakness of the neck extensor muscles.

Sensory nerve conduction in branches of common interdigital nerves: a new technique for normal controls and patients with morton's neuroma.

In this article, a new electrodiagnostic approach is described for patients with Morton's neuroma. The new method is based on the anatomic fact that the two branches of the common plantar interdigital nerves innervate the lateral side of one toe and the medial side the next one. This study included 20 normal subjects (aged 28-58 years, 10 men and 10 women) and 4 patients with Morton's neuroma (aged 44-52 years, 4 women).

The effect of carbamazepine treatment on serum leptin levels.

Patients with epilepsy may manifest metabolic adverse effects throughout the course of their management with antiepileptic drugs. Leptin is a hormone that plays a major role in the regulation of feeding and energy expenditure. Leptin has been expected to form a link to weight gain in epilepsy with the use of some antiepileptic drugs.