[Changes in disordered motor skills in depressed right handed patients due to antidepressive therapy].

30 right-handed male and female inpatients with Major Depression diagnosed with the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, revised Third Edition, (DSM-III-R) were investigated with reference to the retarded motor activity of their dominant hand. The treatment included antidepressants, neuroleptics and tranquilizers. The tests (handedness test, HDT; a test showing evaluation for the degree of depression, TSD; a test for mood disturbance, EWL) were carried out at the onset of drug treatment (t1) and after improvement of the depression (t2).

Penumbra around chronic cerebral infarction?

In a series of 13 patients with cerebrovascular occlusive disease regional cerebral blood flow (rCBF) measurements (two-dimensional intravenous 133Xe clearance method) and quantitative EEG analysis (sensorimotor rhythms) as well as electronic measurement of handforce were performed before and during intravenous infusion of 1 microgram kg/min of one of the lipophilic dihydropyridine calcium channel blocker nimodipine (Nimotop). The aim of the study was to test the hypothesis of the existence of hypoperfusion (ischaemic penumbra) in the surroundings of chronic cerebral infarcts. All 3 parameters improved in one patient.

The effects of haemodialysis on cerebral blood flow.

Cerebral blood flow (CBF ml/100g/min) was measured by 133Xenon in 24 patients before and after haemodialysis (HD) and in 27 normal persons. A wide scatter of the absolute CBF values were observed to correlate with the haematocrit, whereas blood pressure, pCO2 and weight loss during HD did not. Before HD, when compared with the control group, the patients showed a distinct elevation of CBF due to the severe anaemia of this group.