Levetiracetam versus carbamazepine in patients with late poststroke seizures: a multicenter prospective randomized open-label study (EpIC Project).

Background: Strokes are the leading cause of epileptic seizures in adults and account for 50% of seizures in those over the age of 65 years. The use of antiepileptic drugs to prevent recurrent poststroke seizures is recommended.

Methods: One hundred and twenty-eight patients with poststroke seizures were randomly allocated to treatment with either levetiracetam (LEV) or sustained-release carbamazepine (CBZ) in a multicenter randomized open-label study.

Juvenile myoclonic epilepsy with generalised and focal electroencephalographic abnormalities: a case report with a molecular genetic study.

This is the case of a 16-year-old girl with juvenile myoclonic epilepsy (JME) and maternal family history positive for epilepsy and febrile seizures, presenting ictal and interictal generalised, as well as focal paroxysmal abnormalities over the right central-temporal regions activated during sleep. The brain magnetic resonance image was normal and the seizures responded to therapy with valproate and lamotrigine. A molecular genetic analysis led to the identification of a polymorphism (A-->G) in position 10 in the intron 3 (rs949626) of the EFHC1 gene; and a polymorphism (T-->C) of the exon of the GABRA1 gene, without aminoacidic exchange.

Association in the same patient of autosomal dominant progressive external ophthalmoplegia with multiple mtDNA deletions and X-linked ichthyosis: clinical, biochemical, histological, submicroscopic and molecular genetic study.

Autosomal dominant chronic progressive external ophthalmoplegia (AdPEO) is a muscle mitochondrial disorder due to multiple large scale rearrangements of the mitochondrial DNA. This disorder is probably due to a nuclear defect which causes genetic instability or an impairment in the replication of mitochondrial DNA. X-linked ichthyosis (XLI) is a skin disorder caused by a deletion in the steroid-sulphatase gene.

Electrophysiological and neuropsychological functions in patients treated with interferon-beta.

The neurotoxicity of interferon-beta (IFN-beta) was assessed by performing electrophysiological examinations and neuropsychological tests on 22 patients with malignant hematological diseases before, during, and after IFN-beta treatment. IFN-beta (6 x 10(6) IU/m2) was infused i.v.

Acute neurotoxicity after trichloroethylene ingestion. Case report.

Trichloroethylene (TCE), a solvent widely used in the chemical industry, in dry cleaning because of its degreasing action and as a household grease remover, is known to have a toxic action, especially on the nervous system. Cases of intoxication, acute and chronic, due to inhalation, are reported. We report a case, certainly an unusual one, of acute oral intoxication.

Neuralgic amyotrophy of the shoulder girdle. The Parsonage-Turner syndrome.

From 1971 to 1983 we observed 58 cases of the Parsonage-Turner syndrome. This is a neuromuscular disease of the shoulder girdle and upper extremity which up to now has been dealt with almost exclusively in the French and Anglo-Saxon literature. The aetiology remains obscure.

Progressive bulbar paralysis in childhood: a case report.

The case of a progressive bulbar paresis in a nine and a half year old child is reported. The first symptoms were present at birth; however, the subsequent evolution was very low. Lesion of the motor nuclei of the V, VII, IX, XII, cranial nerves was evident on electromyographic investigation.

[The problem of Parkinsonism associated with the motor neuron disease. Clinical report on 11 sporadic cases (author's transl)].

The clinical data are presented of 11 subjects affected by a sporadic form of Parkinsonism with associated motor neuron disease. Combined lesions of upper and lower neuron were found in 10 of 11 cases, while in the remaining case only lower motor neuron disorder was present. The female/man ratio is 1/11.

[Uremic neuropathy. Study of the motor conduction rate in patients treated with maintenance hemodialysis and peritoneal dialysis].

Forty-four patients, treated with different systems of dialysis (peritoneal dialysis, two-weekly and three-weekly hemodialysis) have been controlled by electroneurographic, electromyographic and ematochimical examinations during a six months to five years period. The results can be summarized as follow: a) motor nerve conduction velocity of the peroneal nerve is reduced proportionally to the clinical status in all patients. Motor nerve conduction velocity of the ulnar nerve is reduced only in the most severe cases; b) there are no significant correlations between the examined ematochimical data and the maximal motor nerve conduction velocity; c) there is a slight improvement of the maximal motor nerve conduction velocity of the peroneal nerve when passing from a twelve hours two weekly dialytic treatment to a five hours three weekly hemodialytic treatment.

Toxic polyneuropathy of shoe-industry workers. A study of 122 cases.

The toxic polyneuropathy observed in a group of shoe-industry workers in Italy was clinically characterised by a symmetrical prevalently distal motor deficit, with occasional marked weakness of pelvic girdle muscles, and frequently by only subjective sensory symptoms; non-specific disturbances usually preceded neurological signs. Subclinical cases of 'minimal' chronic neuropathy, characterised by alterations of a neurogenic type in the EMG without a reduction of motor nerve conduction velocity, were also observed. Worsening of the clinical picture, with further lowering of nerve conduction velocity, was noted in some cases up to four months after removal from the toxic environment.

Shoe-makers' polyneuropathy in Italy: the aetiological problem.

Since 1957, when the first cases of the so-called shoe-makers' toxic polyneuropathy were reported, nearly 400 cases have been described in the Italian literature. The substance that was considered to be responsible for the disease was triorthocresylphosphate (TOCP) contained in glues, artificial leathers, and some types of paints. However numerous chemical analyses of glues and leathers taken from factories where cases of the disease occurred have shown that in almost all instances little or no TOCP was present.