Fasting headache, weight loss, and dehydration.

Recently, we showed that fasting is a strong headache precipitator unrelated to coffee, tea, or smoking withdrawal or to oversleeping. In the current study, we evaluated the role of dehydration as a possible precipitator of fasting headache. The effects of a 25-hour fast of the Jewish Yom Kippur (Day of Atonement) were studied in women who participated in our previous Yom Kippur study.

Postmeningitis headache.

Acute meningitis is associated with headache, but the natural history of the headache following recovery is unknown. We addressed this issue in 141 patients admitted during 1990 to 1993 with laboratory-confirmed meningitis. We excluded patients younger than 5 years (n=44), elderly demented patients (n=6), and those with potential causes of headache other than meningitis (n=4).

Increased thrombin inhibition in experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis.

Multiple sclerosis (MS) and its animal model, experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE), are inflammatory diseases of the central nervous system (CNS). Activated coagulation factors are associated with inflammation and are elevated in the plasma of animals with EAE. Thrombin is a key coagulation factor and its major endogenous inhibitors are antithrombin III (ATIII) in the plasma and protease nexin 1 (PN-1) in the brain.

Plasma homocysteine, vitamin B12 and folate in Alzheimer's patients and healthy Arabs in Israel.

High plasma homocysteine (tHcy) is a risk factor for cardiovascular disease and stroke and Alzheimer's disease (AD). An inverse relationship has been reported between tHcy and plasma B12 and folate levels. Seventy-nine AD patients and 156 controls from three Arab villages in northern Israel participated.

Idiopathic intracranial hypertension: risk of recurrences.

Long-term prognosis and visual outcome of 54 patients with idiopathic intracranial hypertension (IIH) was studied. Mean observation period was 6.2 years; 33 patients had two or more recurrences.

Antiparkinsonian medication is not a risk factor for the development of hallucinations in Parkinson's disease.

Background: It was commonly assumed that psychotic phenomena in Parkinson's disease (PD) are mainly drug related. Accumulating evidence suggests the existence of other risk factors for psychosis in PD. Aims.

A paradigm for single nucleotide polymorphism analysis: the case of the acetylcholinesterase gene.

Acetylcholinesterase (AChE) plays a crucial physiological role in termination of impulse transmission at cholinergic synapses through rapid hydrolysis of acetylcholine. It is a highly conserved molecule, and only a few naturally occurring genetic polymorphisms have been reported in the human gene. The goal of the present study was to make a systematic effort to identify natural single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in the human ACHE gene.

Drug treatment of Parkinson's disease.

Parkinson's disease (PD) is a common neurodegenerative disease. While its cause remains elusive, much progress has been made regarding its treatment. Available drugs have a good symptomatic effect, but none has yet been shown to slow the progression of the disease in humans.

Nicotinic acetylcholine receptor alpha5 subunits modulate oxotremorine-induced salivation and tremor.

Neuronal nicotinic acetylcholine receptors (nAChRs) are composed of 12 subunits (alpha2-alpha10 and beta2-beta4). alpha5 Subunits, expressed throughout the central nervous system (CNS) and the autonomic nervous system (ANS), possess unique pharmacological properties. The effects of oxotremorine (OXO) on autonomic functions and tremor were examined in mice lacking alpha5 nAChR subunits (alpha5-/-) and compared with those in wild-type (WT) control mice.

Subdivision of essential tremor patients according to physiologic characteristics.

Objective: To test the effect of different forearm postures on tremor characteristics. We hypothesized that changes in tremor characteristics in relation to posture can subclassify essential tremor (ET) patients.

Methods: Fourteen ET patients were tested while seated and holding a full cup in three well-defined arm postures: 15 cm above the armrest, elbow at 90 degrees flexion and when the cup was near the mouth.

Ropinirole in Gilles de la Tourette syndrome.

The effects of treatment with ropinirole (0.25 to 0.5 mg bid) were examined using an open-label design for 8 weeks in 15 subjects with Gilles de la Tourette syndrome (GdlT).

LGI1 mutations in temporal lobe epilepsies.

Background And Objectives: A number of familial temporal lobe epilepsies (TLE) have been recently recognized. Mutations in LGI1 (leucine-rich, glioma-inactivated 1 gene) have been found in a few families with the syndrome of autosomal dominant partial epilepsy with auditory features (ADPEAF). The authors aimed to determine the spectrum of TLE phenotypes with LGI1 mutations, to study the frequency of mutations in ADPEAF, and to examine the role of LGI1 paralogs in ADPEAF without LGI1 mutations.

R-R interval variation in Parkinson's disease and multiple system atrophy.

Objective: To investigate whether the cardiac R-R interval variation (RRIV) is of value in differentiating patients with Parkinson's disease (PD) from multiple system atrophy (MSA).

Background: RRIV assessment is a simple procedure, reflecting mainly vagal efferent activity. Reduced RRIV was reported in MSA.

Sexual dysfunction in Parkinson's disease.

Sexual dysfunction is common in Parkinson's disease (PD). We investigated the premorbid and present sexual functioning of 75 people with PD (32 women and 43 men). Women reported difficulties with arousal (87.

Human-computer interaction in the administration and analysis of neuropsychological tests.

We developed a computerized neuropsychological assessment software, which employs innovative features in both the presentation of the tests and the interpretation of the subjects' performance. The usability features of the software enabled elderly subjects with no computer experience to undergo the cognitive tests, without a test administrator being present. New features extracted from reaction times allowed for enhancement of the performance analysis of the tests.

Parkin mutation associated parkinsonism and cognitive decline, comparison to early onset Parkinson's disease.

Background: Patients with Parkinson's disease (PD) have cognitive changes resulting, presumably, from a progressive disruption of the functional integrity of frontostriatal circuitry.

Objective: To assess the cognitive state of two brothers with early onset autosomal recessive (EO-AR) parkinsonism and a large deletion in the parkin gene, and to compare it to that of patients with sporadic young onset PD (YOPD).

Method: Two brothers with parkinsonism and deletion of axons 4-6 of the parkin gene (ages 51, 55 years; duration of symptoms, 22, 29 years respectively) and 4 randomly selected patients with YOPD (mean age 47.

Cortical lesions associated with transient neurological symptoms - not always a matter of cause and effect.

The occurrence of transient recurrent stereotypical neurological events mandates the exclusion of an underlying brain lesion. When imaging studies demonstrate the presence of a structural brain lesion, a cause and effect relationship between the two entities is assumed, and the decision for surgical intervention may then follow almost automatically. We describe five patients with transient neurological events suspected as being seizures that were referred for surgery because of an associated structural brain lesion.

Rivastigmine (Exelon) for dementia in patients with Parkinson's disease.

Objectives: To study the efficacy of cholinesterase inhibitors in the treatment of dementia in patients with Parkinson's disease (PD).

Methods: We treated twenty-eight demented patients with PD openly for 26 weeks with rivastigmine (mean daily dose 7.2 +/- 3.

Tolerance to the analgesic effect of buprenorphine, butorphanol, nalbuphine, and cyclorphan, and cross-tolerance to morphine.

Purpose: The increased use of opioids in the chronic treatment of pain, especially with oncologic patients, encourages the search for drugs with potent analgesic activity, but with minimal induced tolerance and cross-tolerance to morphine.

Methods: Four agonist-antagonist opioid derivatives (buprenorphine, butorphanol, nalbuphine, and cyclorphan) were examined. Tolerance to the analgesic effect of the four drugs and their cross-tolerance effects with morphine were evaluated in ICR albino mice by the "hot plate method".

Genetic and environmental epidemiology of Alzheimer's disease in arabs residing in Israel.

We have found an unusually high prevalence of Alzheimer's disease (AD) in Wadi Ara, an inbred Arab community in northern Israel. Allele frequencies of 4.5% and 3.

Generalized convulsive status epilepticus in Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease.

We report a patient who was referred to our department because of generalized status epilepticus. His condition deteriorated rapidly and he died 1 month after admission. Autopsy confirmed the clinical diagnosis of Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD).

Neuronal-binding antibodies from patients with antiphospholipid syndrome induce cognitive deficits following intrathecal passive transfer.

Antiphospholipid antibodies (aPL) have been suggested to play a role in causing cognitive and behavioral impairments. In the present study we investigated the pathogenic potential of aPL by intracerebro-ventricular (ICV) administration of immunoglobulins (IgG) from patients with antiphospholipid syndrome (APS). IgG, purified from the sera of four APS patients, was tested for binding to normal mouse brain by immunohistological staining.

Hexosaminidase A deficiency is an uncommon cause of a syndrome mimicking amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.

Patients with adult hexosaminidase A (Hex A) deficiency may have clinical manifestations similar to amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). Mutations in the hexosaminidase A (HEXA) gene are common in the Jewish Ashkenazi population in Israel. Serum samples of 115 Israeli patients with sporadic ALS were screened for enzymatic activity to detect "enzyme-based carriers.