Retinal function in patients with the neuronal ceroid lipofuscinosis phenotype.

Purpose:: To analyze the clinical features, visual acuity, and full-field electroretinogram (ERG) findings of 15 patients with the neuronal ceroid lipofuscinosis (NCL) phenotype and to establish the role of ERG testing in NCL diagnosis.

Methods:: The medical records of five patients with infantile NCL, five with Jansky-Bielschowsky disease, and five with juvenile NCL who underwent full-field ERG testing were retrospectively analyzed.

Results:: Progressive vision loss was the initial symptom in 66.

The prevalence of tic disorders in children and adolescents in Brazil.

Tourette syndrome (TS) and tic disorders represent events of familiar magnitude characterized by involuntary movements and/or vocalization. To determine the prevalence of TS/tic disorders we studied a sample of 762 subjects (388 M, 374 F), between 1992 and 1997, age 6 to 43 years old, taken out of a population of 10,155 subjects (4,918 M, 5,237 F; age: 3-56 years old). A structured 4-item questionnaire, direct interview (multistaged), >1 yr follow-up, were used.

Applications of visual evoked potentials and Fourier-domain optical coherence tomography in Parkinson's disease: a controlled study.

Purpose: The goal of this cross-sectional observational study was to quantify the pattern-shift visual evoked potentials (VEP) and the thickness as well as the volume of retinal layers using optical coherence tomography (OCT) across a cohort of Parkinson's disease (PD) patients and age-matched controls.

Methods: Forty-three PD patients and 38 controls were enrolled. All participants underwent a detailed neurological and ophthalmologic evaluation.

Urinary dysfunction with detrusor hyperactivity in women with Parkinson's disease cannot be blamed as a factor of worsening motor performance.

Introduction: Detrusor hyperactivity is the leading cause of urinary dysfunction in Parkinson's disease (PD). There are few studies correlating PD clinical aspects with this autonomic feature.

Methods: A cohort of 63 women with PD were prospectively examined for assessment of clinical aspects and disease severity using unified Parkinson's disease rating scale and Hoehn-Yahr scale, respectively.

Topiramate-associated acute, bilateral, angle-closure glaucoma: case report.

This paper describes a topiramate induced acute bilateral angle-closure glaucoma. This rare adverse effect is an idiosyncratic reaction characterized by uveal effusion and lens forward displacement, leading to increased intraocular pressure and vision loss. We describe a 55 year-old white woman with migraine, spasmodic torticollis and essential tremor, who developed bilateral acute angle-closure glaucoma, one week after starting topiramate 25 mg/day.

Prospective, randomized, double-blind study, comparing botulinum toxins type a botox and prosigne for blepharospasm and hemifacial spasm treatment.

Botulinum toxin A (BTA) is considered an effective treatment of blepharospasm and hemifacial spasm, but there are few studies to permit a comparison of its different formulations. This prospective, randomized, double-blind study compared Prosigne, a BTA of Chinese origin, with Botox to establish safety, efficacy, and equivalence of doses between those 2 formulations in blepharospasm and hemifacial spasm treatment. Fifty-seven patients participated in this study: 21 blepharospasm (from whom 11 were treated with Botox; and 10, with Prosigne) and 36 hemifacial spasm patients (17 were treated with Botox; and 19, with Prosigne).

A prospective, randomized, double-blind study comparing the efficacy and safety of type a botulinum toxins botox and prosigne in the treatment of cervical dystonia.

Botulinum toxin A (BTA) is considered an effective treatment of cervical dystonia. The aim of this prospective, randomized, double-blind study was to compare Botox and Prosigne, a BTA of Chinese origin, with a view to establish the safety, the efficacy, and the equivalence of doses of the 2 formulations in the treatment of cervical dystonia. Twenty-four patients were randomized to receive 300 U of Botox or Prosigne (12 patients in each group).

The effect of psychotherapy in patients with PD: a controlled study.

The purpose of this study was to evaluate whether group psychotherapy was effective in improving of quality of life and would decrease the symptoms of anxiety and depression in Parkinson's disease patients. Sixteen subjects, with idiopathic Parkinson's disease recruited from the school clinical Hospital/UNICAMP. Were randomly divided in to two groups, experimental and control.

Pain in Parkinson's disease.

Pain may precede the diagnosis in Parkinson's disease (PD). The goal of this study was to assess the pain in a group of 20 females and 30 males with PD, after excluding co-morbidities as causes. It was used the following tools: Unified Parkinson's Disease Rating Scale, McGill questionnaire and Beck Depression Inventory.

Computerized manometry use to evaluate spasm in pharyngoesophageal segment in patients with poor tracheoesophageal speech before and after treatment with botulinum toxin.

Unlabelled: Tracheoesophageal voice (TEV) with voice prosthesis (VP) is an efficient and reproducible method used in vocal rehabilitation after total laryngectomy (TL), prevented by spasms in the pharyngoesophageal segment (PES). Computerized Manometry (CM) is a new, direct and objective method used to assess the PES.

Aim: to carry out an objective analysis of the PES, with CM, before and after the injection of botulinum toxin (BT).

Olfaction and essential tremor.

Objective: To characterize the olfactory identification in 40 essential tremor (ET) patients, with the University of Pennsylvania 12 Smell Identification Test (UPSIT), to correlate UPSIT scores to clinical and epidemiological data and to compare it to 89 aged matched controls.

Method: Patients were assessed using ET Clinical Scale of Evaluation and UPSIT.

Results: In patients with ET, the UPSIT medium score was 9.

Psychopathological features in patients with Parkinson's disease and related caregivers' burden.

Background: Along with classical motor disorders in Parkinson's disease (PD), psychopathological features frequently co-occur, which may increase the caregiver's burden.

Aims: To identify the profile of psychopathological symptoms in patients with PD and the impact imposed by this condition on the caregiver's burden.

Subjects: Fifty patients with idiopathic PD seen consecutively at the Movement Disorder Outpatient Clinic at the Hospital of State University of Campinas, Brazil, and their 50 respective caregivers were studied.

Use of computerized manometry for the detection of pharyngoesophageal spasm in tracheoesophageal speech.

Objective: To evaluate the utility of computerized manometry (CM) to identify pharyngoesophageal segment (PES) spasm during tracheoesophageal speech.

Study Design: Prospective clinical, controlled study.

Subjects And Methods: Intraluminal pressures of the PES were collected in 12 tracheoesophageal speakers without spasm and 8 tracheoesophageal speakers with PES spasm before and after localized injection of botulinum toxin to the PES.

Botulinum toxin in speech rehabilitation with voice prosthesis after total laryngectomy.

Unlabelled: In tracheo esophageal puncture (TEP), we carry out a myotomy of the pharynx constrictor muscle; however, about 9 to 79% of patients need such procedure. The consequence of such procedure is an increase in salivary fistula rates in the postoperative. Botulin toxin is used in an outpatient basis.

Pain in Parkinson's disease: analysis of 50 cases in a clinic of movement disorders.

Introduction: Pain is a common symptom in Parkinson's disease (PD), and is often related to the illness itself.

Objective: To prospectively establish the occurrence of pain in PD patients.

Method: This study was conducted within a population composed of 50 patients with PD to evaluate the presence of pain.

Dementia and functional decline in patients with Parkinson's disease.

Unlabelled: Functional decline in Parkinson's disease (PD), characterized by reduced ability to carry out activities of daily living, usually results from typical motor impairment and may be aggravated by concomitant cognitive impairment.

Objective: To compare the functional decline in Parkinson's disease between patients with dementia and cognitively preserved patients.

Methods: From an original sample composed of 50 patients with a clinical diagnosis of idiopathic PD seen in a consecutive series, 33 non-depressed patients were selected comprising 13 with dementia and 20 cognitively preserved individuals.

Vasopressin serum levels and disorders of sodium and water balance in patients with severe brain injury.

Background: Disorders of water and sodium balance are frequently seen in patients with severe brain injury (SBI), and may worsen their prognosis.

Purpose: To evaluate vasopressin (AVP) serum levels and sodium and water balance disorders during the first week post-injury in patients with SBI.

Method: Thirty-six adult patients with SBI (admission Glasgow Coma Scale score < or= 8) and an estimated time of injury View Article and Find Full Text PDF

[Olfactory dysfunction in Parkinson's disease].

Objective: To characterize the olfactory dysfunction in 50 Parkinson's disease (PD) patients with the University of Pennsylvania 12 smell identification test (UPSIT), establishing a comparison with 76 age-matched healthy controls, and associate with clinical and epidemiologic picture.

Method: The PD group was evaluated in phase "on" through United Parkinson's disease rating scale, UPSIT, and Hoehn and Yahr stage and the control group with the UPSIT.

Results: The mean UPSIT score was 5.

Evaluation of Taenia solium and Taenia crassiceps cysticercal antigens for immunodiagnosis of neurocysticercosis using ELISA on cerebrospinal fluid samples.

The efficacy of whole parasite and vesicular fluid antigen extracts from Taenia solium and Taenia crassiceps cysticerci for immunodiagnosis of neurocysticercosis was evaluated using ELISA on cerebrospinal fluid samples. Anticysticercal IgG antibodies were assayed in cerebrospinal fluid samples from 23 patients with neurocysticercosis and 35 patients with other neurological disorders. The ELISA reaction for the whole Taenia solium cysticercal extract showed 91.

Vascular parkinsonism: analysis of seven cases.

Introduction: Neuroimaging studies of elderly individuals reveal alterations in the white matter that are incompatible with the patients parkinsonism, mistakenly classified as vascular parkinsonism (VP).

Method: This study was conducted on a population composed of 20 patients with Parkinsons disease (PD) whose neuroimaging exams revealed vascular alterations in the white matter and seven patients with VP in order to compare diagnostic criteria.

Results: Age at disease onset of patients with PD was 55+/-12 years and patients with VP it was 62+/-13 years.

Intrathecal synthesis of specific immunoglobulin G antibodies in neurocysticercosis: evaluation of antibody concentrations by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay using a whole cysticercal extract and cyst vesicular fluid as antigens.

The demonstration of intrathecal antibody production has proven useful for showing the involvement of the central nervous system (CNS) in several diseases. In the present study, the intrathecal synthesis of cysticercus-specific immunoglobulin G (IgG) antibodies was investigated in 30 patients with neurocysticercosis based on calculation of the specific IgG antibody index (AI(IgG)). An AI(IgG) > or =1.

Evaluation of Taenia solium and Taenia crassiceps cysticercal antigens for the serodiagnosis of neurocysticercosis.

We evaluated the usefulness of seven cysticercal antigen extracts, four from Taenia solium cysticerci (whole parasite-TsoW, membrane-TsoMe, vesicular fluid-TsoVF and scolex-TsoSc) and three from T. crassiceps cysticerci (whole parasite-TcraW, membrane-TcraMe and vesicular fluid-TcraVF), for serodiagnosis of neurocysticercosis with an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). Cysticercus-specific IgG were screened in serum samples from 23 patients with neurocysticercosis, 32 patients with other infections and 48 healthy persons.

Somatosensory evoked potential and EEG in children with focal idiopathic epilepsies with and without evoked spikes by tapping of the feet or hands.

The characteristics of SEP cortical components were studied in 40 children with focal idiopathic epilepsies of childhood. Twenty children had focal idiopathic epilepsies and evoked spikes (FIE-ES) on the EEG and 20 had benign focal epilepsy of childhood with centrotemporal spikes (CTE) but without evoked spikes (ES). These data were compared with those of a control group of 20 normal children.

Laryngeal electromyography: contribution to vocal fold immobility diagnosis.

Laryngeal Electromyography (LEMG) is a diagnostic test commonly used in patients with vocal fold movement disorder. The aim of this study is to describe LEMG in patients with vocal fold immobility. A total of 55 dysphonic patients with vocal fold immobility diagnosed by laryngeal endoscopy were grouped according to probable clinical cause: 1) unknown; 2) traumatic; or 3) tumoral compression.