Internal carotid and vertebral artery dissections - a comparison of clinical, radiological and prognostic characteristics.

Aim Of Study: To examine whether baseline characteristics, potential risk factors, clinical symptoms, radiological presentation, and long-term outcomes differ between internal carotid artery dissection (ICAD) and vertebral artery dissection (VAD).

Clinical Rationale For Study: Cervical artery dissection (CeAD) is a major cause of cerebral ischaemia in young adults. Its clinical course is highly variable, resulting in challenges in making a proper diagnosis.

Wernicke-Korsakoff syndrome as a rare phenotype of sporadic Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease.

We reported the case of a patient with Wernicke-Korsakoff syndrome (WKs) as an early clinical manifestation of sporadic Creutzfeld-Jakob disease (sCJD). The 66-year-old female complained of dizziness and imbalance which mostly occurred while walking. A neurological examination revealed a triad of symptoms characteristic for WKs such as gaze paresis, ataxia of limbs and trunk as well as memory disturbances with confabulations.

[Management of ureteric sticture via a percutaneous double J stent implantation--description of 2 cases].

Ureteric stricture is the cause of urinary retention above the stricture level and obstructive nephropathy development with progressive renal parenchyma destruction leading to the renal failure. In the management of ureteric stricture, apart from surgery, less-invasive methods of recanalization are applied: transurethral (retrograde) double J stent implantation or, if the above method is unsuccessful, percutaneous (antegrade) double J stent implantation. In this paper we present 2 cases of percutaneous double J stent implantation: in patient after cystoprostatectomy with ureteric stricture at the level of uretero-ileostomy and in patient after renal transplantation with ureteric stricture at the level of ureterovesicostomy.

[Endovascular treatment of a subclavian fistula as a complication after cardiac pacemaker implantation].

Increasing number of complications of cardiac pacemaker implantations is related to increasing number of this procedures due to the aging of the population. A rare complication after pacemaker implantation is subclavian fistula. We present endovascular treatment of subclavian fistula with a covered stent after implantation of cardiac pacemaker.

Agmatine enhances the anticonvulsant action of phenobarbital and valproate in the mouse maximal electroshock seizure model.

Accumulating evidence indicates that agmatine (AGM--an endogenous neuromodulator/neurotransmitter in the brain) exerts the anticonvulsant action in various in vivo experiments. Therefore, the aim of this study was to assess the influence of AGM on the protective action of numerous conventional and newer antiepileptic drugs [carbamazepine (CBZ), lamotrigine (LTG), oxcarbazepine (OXC), phenobarbital (PB), phenytoin (PHT), topiramate (TPM) and valproate (VPA)] in the mouse maximal electroshock seizure (MES) model. Results indicate that AGM (up to 100 mg/kg, i.

Dynamic perfusion CT: optimizing the temporal resolution for the calculation of perfusion CT parameters in stroke patients.

Purpose: To assess the influence of different temporal sampling rates on the accuracy of the results from cerebral perfusion CTs in patients with an acute ischemic stroke.

Material And Methods: Thirty consecutive patients with acute stroke symptoms received a dynamic perfusion CT (LightSpeed 16, GE). Forty millilitres of iomeprol (Imeron 400) were administered at an injection rate of 4 ml/s.

Endogenous neuroprotective factors: neurosteroids.

Neurosteroids are a group of steroid hormones synthesized by the brain in the presence of steroidogenic enzymes. Specific neurosteroids modulate function of several receptors, and also regulate growth of neurons, myelinization and synaptogenesis in the central nervous system. Some neurosteroids have been shown to display neuroprotective properties, which may have important implications for their potential use in the treatment of various neuropathologies such as: age-dependent dementia, stroke, epilepsy, spinal cord injury, Alzheimer's disease (AD), Parkinson's disease (PD) and Niemann-Pick type C disease (NP-C).

Stiripentol. A novel antiepileptic drug.

Epilepsy is one of the most widespread pathologies of human brain, affecting approximately 1% of world population. Despite the development of new methods of seizure control, chronic administration of antiepileptic drugs (AEDs) remains the treatment of choice. Nevertheless, pharmacotherapy is not always effective.

Calcium modulation in epilepsy.

The ideal antiepileptic drug (AED) should correct the aberrant pathophysiology of epileptogenesis without interfering with normal neurotransmission A new group of drugs with antiepileptic efficacy, without sedative properties, would be an exciting prospect. Theoretical considerations and results from experimental animal models of epilepsy have put forward the possibility that calcium (Ca2+) antagonists may form such a group. The initiation of epileptogenic activity in the neuron is thought to be connected with the phenomenon known as "intrinsic burst firing", which is activated by an inward Ca2+ current.

Is nitric oxide involved in the anticonvulsant action of antiepileptic drugs?

Experimental data indicate that nitric oxide (NO) may play a role in the pathophysiology of epilepsy. It is also possible that NO-mediated events are involved in the expression of the anticonvulsant action of some antiepileptics. The aim of this review was to assemble current literature data on the role of NO in the anticonvulsant action of antiepileptic drugs (AEDs).