Contribution of frontal cerebral blood flow measured by (99m)Tc-Bicisate spect and executive function deficits to predicting treatment outcome in alcohol-dependent patients.

Aim: To determine whether inhibition and working memory deficits, and reduced regional cerebral blood flow (rCBF) (previously shown to be related), measured at the end of a detoxification programme, predict alcoholic relapse 2 months later.

Methods: Twenty uncomplicated alcoholic inpatients were investigated at the end of detoxification, at least 7 days since the last dose of diazepam, and a mean of 18.8 days since the last drink.

Magnesium bioavailability from mineral water. A study in adult men.

Objective: To assess magnesium enteral absorption from a magnesium-rich mineral water.

Design: Experimental study.

Setting: Department of Nuclear Medicine, Brugmann Hospital, Brussels, Belgium.

Correlation between inhibition, working memory and delimited frontal area blood flow measure by 99mTc-Bicisate SPECT in alcohol-dependent patients.

Recently detoxified non-neurological alcoholic patients appear to be impaired in cognitive tasks measuring inhibitory processes as well as working memory (involving storage and manipulation of information). The aim of this study was to investigate in alcoholic participants the relationship between these two cognitive functions and regional cerebral blood flow (rCBF) studied at rest in regions of interest selected on the basis of recent PET studies which explored inhibitory and working memory in normal subjects. Twenty non-neurological alcoholic patients and 20 normal volunteers were selected for a neuropsychological exploration, including assessment of inhibition processes (by means of the Hayling test) and working memory (by means of the Alpha-span task).

Quantitative EEG in subcortical neglect.

Right-sided capsulo-lenticular strokes may cause left visuo-spatial neglect. The neural mechanism most frequently evoked to account for the occurrence of related cognitive disorders is remote cortical dysfunction in the posterior part of the right hemisphere. We studied 33 patients with capsulo-lenticular stroke, with (n = 16) or without (n = 17) associated subcortical neglect.

Pathogenesis of subcortical visuo-spatial neglect. A HMPAO SPECT study.

The pathophysiology of neuropsychological disorders due to right deep-seated hemispheric lesions remains a debated point. We undertook this study to check the hypothesis according to which remote cortical dysfunction could be responsible for the occurrence of neglect. Twenty-eight patients presenting with a right-sided subcortical stroke were studied.

Remote cortical dysfunction as a possible cause of subcortical neglect? A regional cerebral blood flow study.

Cortical remote effects of right deep-seated lesions were studied with two cerebral blood flow measurement methods (two-dimensional xenon-133 inhalation and 99mTc HMPAO SPECT) in a population of 13 right-handed stroke patients. A neuropsychological battery of tests suitable for assessment of possible visual neglect was performed. Neglect was present in 7 cases.

Cerebral blood flow in just detoxified alcohol dependent patients. A 99 m Tc-HMPAO-SPECT study.

Chronic alcohol abuse is responsible for several organic brain disorders. However, even the most characteristic of them are largely underdiagnosed by routine procedures. Therefore, there is need for sensitive, noninvasive and low-cost diagnostic procedures.

Influence of patient's weight on dual-photon absorptiometry and dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry measurements of bone mineral density.

Lumbar spine bone mineral density (BMD) was measured by dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA) (Hologic QDR 1000) and by 153Gd dual-photon absorptiometry (DPA) (Novo Lab 22a) in 120 postmenopausal women. Though a high correlation existed between the two techniques, the ratio between DXA and DPA values was not constant. Using DXA we observed a higher dependence of BMD on weight than in the DPA measurements.

Contribution of remote cortical dysfunction to the pathogenesis of subcortical aphasia: A (99m)Tc-HMPAO SPECT study.

Remote cortical effects of deep-seated lesions were studied by (99m)Tc-hexamethyl-propylenenamine oxime single-photon emission computed tomography at about 50 days after stroke in a population of 16 right-handed aphasic patients. A left-sided regional cortical hypoperfusion was present in all cases. Significant relations were observed between the severity of verbal expression disorders and the degree of regional cortical flow decrease, suggesting that, from a given level of remote dysfunction, the affected cortical areas no longer would be able to play their functional role in language elaboration.

Predictors of the variation of the ejection fraction during exercise in patients with and without coronary heart disease.

The aim of this study was to determine the factors influencing the different response of the ejection fraction (EF) of the left ventricle at exercise observed in patients with and without significant coronary heart disease. We have studied 98 patients referred for coronary angiography (82 men, 16 women), of whom 49 patients had a previous myocardial infarction and 71 patients had significant coronary heart disease. Exercise testing was performed and combined with a cardiac blood pool imaging at equilibrium.

Lack of evolution of the cerebral blood flow during clinical recovery of a stroke.

Cerebral blood flow and clinical parameters were studied in 30 stroke patients at 15th, 30th, 60th, 90th days after the cerebral insult (Xenon 133 inhalation method). The clinical improvement was not accompanied by a progressive normalization of the CBF at rest. No relationship was found between the clinical data and the CBF values; either on the affected hemisphere or on the contralateral one.

Longitudinal study of calcium and bone metabolism in paraplegic patients.

A longitudinal study of bone and calcium metabolism in 28 patients with spinal chord lesion shows an enhancement of bone calcium accretion, generalized to the whole skeleton. The bone calcium turnover rate is more increased in the non-paralysed area during the first 2 months.