Characterization of sedation and anesthesia complications in patients with alternating hemiplegia of childhood.

Background: Alternating hemiplegia of childhood (AHC) pathophysiology suggests predisposition to sedation and anesthesia complications.

Goals: Hypotheses: 1) AHC patients experience high rates of sedation-anesthesia complications. 2) ATP1A3 mutation genotype positivity, age, and AHC severity correlate with more severe complications.

Differences in Levodopa Response for Progressive and Non-Progressive Micrographia in Parkinson's Disease.

Micrographia, one element of the dysgraphia of Parkinson's disease (PD), may be classified according to the presence or absence of a decremental pattern. The decremental form, progressive micrographia, is an expression of the sequence effect seen generally in bradykinesia. Its responsiveness to levodopa has not been evaluated kinematically.

Raised visual contrast thresholds with intact attention and metacognition in functional motor disorder.

Functional motor disorders (FMDs) are distinguished by signs that lack congruence with recognised patterns of organic disease and show inconsistency over time. Their pathophysiology is poorly understood, but there is evidence that irregularities in perceptual and cognitive processing lie at the heart of these conditions. Here, we draw on a predictive coding account of functional neurological disorders to study perceptual decision-making in three groups: 20 patients with FMDs (14 with functional movements and 6 with functional weakness), 20 with phenotypically-matched organic motor disorders, and 20 age-matched healthy controls.

From medications to surgery: advances in the treatment of motor complications in Parkinson's disease.

Motor complications are responsible for the large burden of disability and poor quality of life in Parkinson's disease (PD). The pulsatile nature of stimulation with oral dopaminergic therapies due to relatively short pharmacokinetic profiles and dysfunctional gastrointestinal absorption have been attributed to the development of PD motor complications. In this review, we will provide an overview of the pharmacologic and surgical therapies currently available and under investigation for the treatment of motor fluctuations and dyskinesia.

A Kinematic Study of Progressive Micrographia in Parkinson's Disease.

Progressive micrographia is decrement in character size during writing and is commonly associated with Parkinson's disease (PD). This study has investigated the kinematic features of progressive micrographia during a repetitive writing task. Twenty-four PD patients with duration since diagnosis of <10 years and 24 age-matched controls wrote the letter "" repeatedly.

Effect of levodopa on handwriting tasks of different complexity in Parkinson's disease: a kinematic study.

Levodopa treatment does improve Parkinson's disease (PD) dysgraphia, but previous research is not in agreement about which aspects are most responsive. This study investigated the effect of levodopa on the kinematics of writing. Twenty-four patients with PD of less than 10 years duration and 25 age-matched controls were recruited.

Inferring the long duration response to levodopa in Parkinson's disease.

Introduction: The long duration response to levodopa in Parkinson's disease outlasts drug elimination by days to weeks. Though a substantive part of anti-parkinsonian motor benefit, it cannot easily be observed.

Objectives: To infer the magnitude of the long duration response during the first decade of Parkinson's disease and identify factors that influence it.

Paraneoplastic acute disseminated encephalomyelitis associated with multiple myeloma.

We describe a man recently diagnosed with multiple myeloma who presented with progressive spastic paraparesis, encephalopathy and multifocal MRI lesions with haemorrhage. Brain histopathology was consistent with acute disseminated encephalomyelitis (ADEM) with no new clinicoradiological findings on follow-up. This case emphasises the growing paraneoplastic spectrum, including non-classical but treatable disorders such as ADEM.