Iron superoxide dismutase protects against chilling damage in the cyanobacterium synechococcus species PCC7942.

A strain of Synechococcus sp. PCC7942 lacking functional Fe superoxide dismutase (SOD), designated sodB-, was characterized by its growth rate, photosynthetic pigments, inhibition of photosynthetic electron transport activity, and total SOD activity at 0 degrees C, 10 degrees C, 17 degrees C, and 27 degrees C in moderate light. At 27 degrees C, the sodB- and wild-type strains had similar growth rates, chlorophyll and carotenoid contents, and cyclic photosynthetic electron transport activity.

Hot-water epilepsy in an adult: ictal EEG, MRI and SPECT features.

Reflex epilepsy constitutes a rare form of epileptic seizures. We observed a 20-year-old man who presented with seizures induced by immersion in hot water. The trigger stimulus was specific.

[Value of X-ray computed tomography of the brain in controlled carotid surgery].

The usefulness of computerized tomography (CT) in elective carotid surgery was evaluated in a prospective study of 402 patients who had a surgical operation on one or two atheromatous arteries and were explored by pre and post-operative CT of the brain. Pre-operative CT scans revealed an ischaemic lesion in 22 per cent of asymptomatic patients and in 29 per cent of patients who had experienced a transient ischaemic accident. Abnormal pre-operative CT scans were associated with a statistically significant increase in per-operative electroencephalographic changes, but there was no significant increase in post-operative neurological complications.

[Unilateral paralysis of saccades caused by pontine tuberculoma].

A unilateral lesion of the paramedian pontine reticular formation results in an ipsilateral laterality paralysis with abolition of all saccadic movements directed to the side of the lesion. It is generally accepted that the oculocephalic reflex alone enables the eyes to be deviated beyond the median line of the affected side. In the present case of a paramedian pontine tuberculoma, a paralysis of laterality in accordance with the above mentioned opinion was observed initially.

[Eales' disease with neurologic disorders].

Two cases of Eale's disease, with neurological involvement have been studied with magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). In the first case the ophthalmological disease had been diagnosed ten years before the onset of a cerebellar ataxia. In the second case the characteristic ocular changes were followed eight years later by a myelopathy.

[Amnesia and stiff-man syndrome. Manifestations disclosing paraneoplastic encephalomyelitis].

The authors report a case of hypertonia, the clinical and electrophysiological features of which were identical to those of the Stiff-man syndrome first described by Moersch and Woltman in 1956. This and the five other previously reported cases can be attributed to encephalomyelitis of the anterior horns of the spinal cord. All of these cases had severe but partial involvement of the anterior horns and the probable physiopathological mechanism of the resulting contractures was elective destruction of the small inhibitory neurones.

[Results of EEG mapping in brain tumors. Comparison with imaging methods].

Thirty-nine patients with brain tumors were studied with conventional and Q. EEG mapping (FFT) comparatively to CT-Scan. In 33 cases, Q.

[Macrosaccadic oscillations symptomatic of cerebellar hemorrhage].

Electro-oculographic recordings in a patient with an oculomotor disorder due to hemorrhage of the vermis showed macrosaccadic oscillations. Data from reported cases suggest the specific significance of this type of disorder for acute cerebellar lesions.

[Transformation of cerebral infarction into hemorrhage during x-ray computed tomography in a patient under anticoagulant treatment].

Repeated CT scans provide the only means of confirming the initial ischemic nature of a cerebrovascular accident and its eventual course towards a hemorrhage. Precise data can be obtained as to the frequency of this complication as a function of factors such as the embolic origin of the infarct or associated anticoagulant therapy. The present case shows that contrast medium, at least in patients receiving anticoagulant treatment, may constitute a risk factor by increasing the possibility of transformation of a pale infarct into a hemorrhagic one.

[Tonic deviation of gaze in Wallenberg's syndrome].

A case of tonic deviation of gaze in a case of Wallenberg's syndrome is presented. Apart from oculostatic signs there were oculokinetic disorders presenting as a dysmetria of saccades with hypometria contralateral to the lesion. The physiopathology of this disorder is discussed.

[Fischer's "one and a half" syndrome: associated paralysis of horizontal eye movements and anterior internuclear ophthalmoplegia: report of 5 cases (author's transl)].

Five cases of Fischer's "one and a half" syndrome are reported. A complex central ophthalmoplegia provokes paralysis of horizontal eye movements on the affected side in both eyes and an internuclear ophthalmoplegia on the same side. No horizontal movement, except in convergence, is possible in the eye on the affected side, the other eye exhibiting movement between the median line and abduction only.

[Ocular tracking movements: organization and disturbances in occipitoparietal lesions (author's transl)].

Disturbances of ipsilateral pursuit movements in unilateral occipitoparietal lesions have led to accept that each occipitoparietal region controls the ipsilateral slow movement. The study of 7 patients with unilateral occipitoparietal lesions demonstrated that the pursuit (ramp) movement directed towards the lesion is not completely absent; but that the tracking is of an extremely fragile nature and overloaded with saccades. Furthermore, though it is true that the disorganization mainly affects the pursuit ipsilateral to the lesion, it does also involve to some extent the contralateral movement.

[Disseminated sclerosis: diagnostic value of neurophysiological investigations (author's transl)].

Demyelinisation lesions of disseminated sclerosis actually present within the white matter are much more numerous than clinical manifestations would suggest that the majority of these lesions are clinically latent. Ophtalmologists were the first to seek a functional deficit reflecting the demyelinisation which so often affects the optic pathways. In practice, the recording of evoked visual potentials has proved to be the most reliable method.

[Macrosaccadic oscillations in a case of paraneoplastic myoclonic encephalopathy (author's transl)].

Abnormal ocular movements were observed in a patient with myoclonic encephalopathy secondary to branchial carcinoma. Clinical, cinematographic, and oculographic studies demonstrated the presence of rapid, large amplitude, conjugated, horizontal movements which occurred in bursts. They had a tapered appearance and were triggered by fixing vision and jerking movements, while they were abolished by rest and closing the eyelids.

Congenital insensitivity to pain and the "morphine-like" analgesic system.

Congenital insensitivity to pain remains without a satisfactory physiopathological explanation. In an electrophysiological study on a nociceptive flexion reflex of the lower limb, the effects of naloxone and of placebo were compared in 8 normal subjects and in a patient with congenital insensitivity to pain. In normal subjects, no significant change in the reflex threshold was observed with naloxone or with placebo.

[Electro-oculographic study of a case of abolition of horizontal saccades with viscosity of eye movements in hereditary cerebellar degeneration].

A case of familial cerebellar ataxia is reported during the course of which horizontal ocular movements were slow, and "viscous". The electro-oculographic study showed complete abolition of horizontal jerks, induced by either voluntary, automatic (optokinetic nystagmus), or reflex (vestibular) stimuli. Slow movements, however, were normal, and voluntary vertical jerks were conserved while being slightly slowed towards the top.