Assessment of Collateral Circulation Using Perfusion CT in Middle Cerebral Artery Thrombectomy-Treated Patients.

Introduction: The prognostic value of leptomeningeal collateral circulation in thrombectomy-treated patients remains unclear. We evaluated the construct validity of assessing leptomeningeal collateral circulation using a new regional perfusion CT source image-based approach, the Perfusion Acquisition for THrombectomy Scale (PATHS). We also compared the prognostic value of PATHS with a further 6 scales based on various techniques: CT-angiography, perfusion CT, and digital subtraction angiography.

Prediction of Memory Impairment in Epilepsy Surgery by White Matter Diffusion.

Objective: To analyze the relationship between cognitive performance and white matter integrity in patients with temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE) to establish radiologic criteria to help with patient selection for surgery.

Methods: The study included 19 adults with temporal lobe epilepsy. A tractography analysis of fractional anisotropy and mean diffusivity (MD) of the following fascicles was performed: arcuate fascicle, cingulum, fornix, inferior fronto-occipital fascicle, inferior longitudinal fascicle, parahippocampal fibers of the cingulum, and uncinate fascicle.

Deep brain stimulation for aggressiveness: long-term follow-up and tractography study of the stimulated brain areas.

Objective: Initial studies applying deep brain stimulation (DBS) of the posteromedial hypothalamus (PMH) to patients with pathological aggressiveness have yielded encouraging results. However, the anatomical structures involved in its therapeutic effect have not been precisely identified. The authors' objective was to describe the long-term outcome in their 7-patient series, and the tractography analysis of the volumes of tissue activated in 2 of the responders.

Tantalum strength at extreme strain rates from impact-driven Richtmyer-Meshkov instabilities.

Recently, Richtmyer-Meshkov instability (RMI) experiments driven by high explosives and fielded with perturbations on a free surface have been used to study strength at extreme strain rates and near zero pressure. The RMI experiments reported here used impact loading, which is experimentally simpler, more accurate to analyze, and which also allows the exploration of a wider range of conditions. Three experiments were performed on tantalum at shock stresses from 20 to 34 GPa, with six different perturbation sizes at each shock level, making this the most comprehensive set of strength-focused RMI experiments reported to date on any material.

Tumefactive demyelinating lesions of 15 patients: Clinico-radiological features, management and review of the literature.

Background And Objective: Tumefactive demyelinating lesions (TDLs) are large inflammatory lesions that can mimic tumors or other space-occupying lesions. Differential diagnosis and management of these lesions remain challenging for neurologists. We aim to review the clinico-radiological features of patients with TDLs, as well as their management.

Use of active video gaming in children with neuromotor dysfunction: a systematic review.

Aim: To examine current evidence on use of active video gaming (AVG) to improve motor function in children with movement disorders including cerebral palsy, developmental coordination disorder, and Down syndrome.

Method: Scopus, MEDLINE, Cochrane Library, EMBASE, and CINAHL were searched. Included papers studied the use of AVG for improving movement-related outcomes in these populations.

Usefulness of multiparametric computerized tomography findings in the differential diagnosis of stroke mimics of epileptic origin: A preliminary study.

Objective: Thirty percent of the patients for whom code stroke is activated have stroke mimics, the most common being epilepsy. Our purpose was to evaluate the usefulness of multiparametric CT for differentiating between seizure-related symptoms and vascular events.

Material And Methods: We conducted a retrospective observational study; data were gathered prospectively during one year.

Integrating diffusion tensor imaging-based tractography into deep brain stimulation surgery: a review of the literature.

Background: It has been generally accepted that deep brain stimulation (DBS) not only acts in the nucleus where it is being applied, as initially thought, but that chronic stimulation activates axons located in its scope, and that this activation can exert its effects in distant areas. Considering this, DBS target identification should be made based on techniques that identify white matter tracts, such as tractography, rather than only by identifying specific nuclei on conventional magnetic resonance imaging.

Methods: In this study, we performed a review of the literature on the use of tractography in DBS surgery and provide an overview of the main results.

Insulin suppresses ischemic preconditioning-mediated cardioprotection through Akt-dependent mechanisms.

It is believed that the diabetic myocardium is refractory to cardioprotection by ischemic preconditioning (IPC) mainly because of impaired insulin signaling to phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (PI3K) and protein kinase B (PKB or Akt). However, human as well as animal studies have clearly showed that the hearts of type 2 diabetic humans and animals may exhibit increased signaling through PI3K-Akt but yet are resistant to cardioprotection by IPC or ischemic post-conditioning. Therefore, this study was designed to determine whether activation of insulin signaling prior to IPC is detrimental for cardioprotection and to assess the role of insulin receptors (IRs) and Akt in mediating this effect.

Primary central neurocytoma of the mesencephalic tectum in a pediatric patient.

Purpose: Neurocytomas are tumors or neuronal differentiation, typically located within the supratentorial ventricular system. The extraventricular location is uncommon. A limited number of cases involving the brainstem have been reported and may be misdiagnosed as brainstem gliomas.

Longitudinal studies of ischemic penumbra by using 18F-FDG PET and MRI techniques in permanent and transient focal cerebral ischemia in rats.

At present, the goal of stroke research is the identification of a potential recoverable tissue surrounding the ischemic core, suggested as ischemic penumbra, with the aim of applying a treatment that attenuates the growth of this area. Our purpose was to determine whether a combination of imaging techniques, including (18)F-FDG PET and MRI could identify the penumbra area. Longitudinal studies of (18)F-FDG PET and MRI were performed in rats 3 h, 24 h and 48 h after the onset of ischemia.

Somatotroph tumor progression during pegvisomant therapy: a clinical and molecular study.

Context: There is concern that pegvisomant could be associated with a higher risk of tumor growth. The rate and possible determinants of this tumor growth are unknown.

Objective: The objective of the study was to investigate the clinical, immunohistological, and molecular factors conditioning tumor growth in patients taking pegvisomant.

Intracranial intermediate-grade meningeal melanocytoma with increased cellular proliferative index: an illustrative case associated with a nevus of Ota.

Solitary primary melanocytic tumors of the central nervous system (CNS) represent a spectrum of lesions ranging from well-differentiated melanocytoma to melanoma. The association of a meningeal melanocytoma with an ipsilateral nevus of Ota is extremely rare, with only six cases reported in the literature to date. Only a minority of melanocytic tumors correspond to lesions of intermediate-grade malignancy, whose biological behavior and outcome remain undetermined.

Long-term treatment of acromegalic patients resistant to somatostatin analogues with the GH receptor antagonist pegvisomant: its efficacy in relation to gender and previous radiotherapy.

Context: Pegvisomant is an effective treatment for somatostatin analogue-resistant acromegaly, but the determinants defining the response to this treatment are largely unknown.

Objective: To investigate the efficacy of pegvisomant treatment in resistant acromegalic patients (e.g.

Progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy after stem cell transplantation, unsuccessfully treated with cidofovir.

We report a patient with progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy (PML) after autologous stem cell transplantation (SCT) for non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (NHL). This is an unusual association, and to date only seven cases have been reported. This is the first case of PML after SCT treated with cidofovir, and the fifth case treated with this drug in a patient without human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection.

Intraoral mandibular distraction osteogenesis: special attention to treatment planning.

Purpose: To demonstrate our experience using internal devices for unidirectional distraction osteogenesis in treating different mandibular hypoplasias (with or without maxillary deformities). An algorithmic table for diagnosis, and treatment planning is presented.

Patients And Methods: Twenty internal distraction devices were used in 16 patients with mandibular hypoplasia.

[Bullous emphysema and neurofibromatosis].

Clinical and image findings in a 43 year-old smoker man with advanced lung bullous emphysema and von Recklinhausen's neurofibromatosis are presented. Bullous emphysema and subpleural neurofibromas were detected in a chest computed tomographic study. The possible association or independence of these two conditions is discussed.

[Daily defined doses of parkinsonian drugs in Alcoi].

Background: Some authors have suggested that the use of DDD (defined daily doses) of L-dopa may be useful as an indicator of the frequency of Parkinson's disease.

Aim: To determine the measurement for L-dopa and selegiline in Alcoi.

Material And Methods: We have obtained the intakes for L-dopa and selegiline between January and December, 1990 and we have calculated the DDD/1,000 inhab/day.

Schinzel-Giedion syndrome: report of two sibs.

We report on two further cases, a sister and a brother, with Schinzel-Giedion syndrome. Both presented the following manifestations: "coarse face" with midface retraction, agenesis of corpus callosum, bilateral hydronephrosis, and typical skeletal anomalies. Patient 1 had a malignant sacrococcygeal teratoma.

Cardiovascular reflexes in Parkinson disease.

We have investigated the autonomic function of 95 patients with Parkinson disease (PD) by testing their cardiovascular reflexes and compared the results with those of 53 healthy volunteers. 51.1% of the patients were on antiparkinsonian therapy.

Radiohumeral synostosis, femoral bowing, other skeletal anomalies and anal atresia, a variant example of Antley-Bixler syndrome?

We report a newborn with radiohumeral synostosis, femoral bowing, anal atresia, a prominent nose (pear shaped nose), slender ribs, long tapering fingers with distal camptodactyly, genital hypoplasia and a neonatal humeral fracture. Among the possible differential diagnoses a variant example of Antley-Bixler syndrome is considered to be the most likely final diagnosis.

[Fulminant meningoencephalitis due to Listeria monocytogenes].

We present a case of meningoencephalitis due to Listeria monocytogenes type IV in a patient in which the diagnosis of small-cells malignant diffuse non-Hodgkin's lymphoma had been established. He was hospitalized with vague clinical manifestations and without showing any neurological focus. Hours later, he presented clinical brain stem semiology.