Neurotoxic snakes of the Americas.

Snake envenomation is a global problem and often a matter of life or death. Emergency treatment is not always readily available or effective. There are numerous neurotoxic snakes in the Americas, chiefly elapids; some crotalids have also evolved neurotoxic venom.

Neurology and altitude illness.

Problems at altitude are most often thought of in trained athletes summiting extremes of elevation. A more common group that needs consideration is the average person with obstructive sleep apnea who must travel to high altitudes for business or pleasure. While the altitudes involved are not likely to be as extreme as for those athletes climbing peaks like Mt.

Traumatic brain injury ? What do we know?

Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is a significant problem in both the civilian and military worlds. Although much is understood about the effects of TBI, relatively few diagnostic or therapeutic modalities are available. Currently, TBI treatment is in a primitive phase and other than acute lifesaving interventions, is largely relegated to rehabilitation efforts.

Visual working memory deficits in patients with Parkinson's disease are due to both reduced storage capacity and impaired ability to filter out irrelevant information.

Given that Parkinson's disease broadly affects frontostriatal circuitry, it is not surprising that the disorder is associated with a reduction of working memory. We tested whether this reduction is due to diminished storage capacity or impaired ability to exclude task-irrelevant items. Twenty-one medication-withdrawn patients and 28 age-matched control subjects performed a visuospatial memory task while their electroencephalograms were recorded.