Time estimation is associated with the levels of distress in patients prior to starting radiotherapy.

Purpose Or Objective: The aim of this study was to explore the potential relationship between the time estimation and psychological distress in patients with solid tumors prior to starting radiotherapy.

Materials And Methods: In this multicenter study were included a total of 344 patients with solid tumors (197 with and 147 without metastatic disease). The time estimation was assessed by evaluating each subjects prospective estimation of how fast 1 min passed compared to the actual time.

Ultrasound fusion imaging system in neurology practice.

The ultrasound fusion imaging (UFI) system is a new promising imaging modality that combines live ultrasound investigations with preregistered CT, MRI, or PET images. In this study, we want to present our initial experience with the new method that combines the transcranial color-coded sonography (TCCS) in different insonation planes and the 3T-weighted MRI cerebral images. The study validates the diagnostic capabilities of the system to detect different normal cerebral structures in healthy volunteers.

Levetiracetam effectiveness as add-on therapy in Bulgarian patients with drug-resistant epilepsy.

Introduction: There are no reliable prospective studies on the effectiveness of LEV in Bulgarian adult patients with drug-resistant epilepsy.

Aim: The study aimed at conducting an open, prospective study on various aspects of levetiracetam (LEV) effectiveness in Bulgarian patients with drug-resistant epilepsy.

Materials And Methods: The study was performed with patients with epilepsy recruited from those attending the Department of Neurology at the University Hospital in Plovdiv, Bulgaria.

Characteristics of Unstable Carotid Plaques - New Image Modalities.

Ischemic stroke is a socially significant health problem due to high mortality and disability. One of the leading causes for cerebrovascular accidents is the carotid atherosclerosis. The mechanism of its formation presents not only lipid accumulation in the arterial wall but a complex inflammatory disease.

25 Hydroxyvitamin D and Cytokines in Multiple Sclerosis.

Introduction: Clinical trials of patients with multiple sclerosis (MS) have produced inconsistent results for the profile of cytokine secretion in serum and cerebrospinal fluid in patients with multiple sclerosis during periods of relapse and remission. Epidemiological and clinical observations data reveal an association of the changes in vitamin D serum concentration with the risk of developing MS.

Aim: To evaluate changes in serum concentrations of 25(OH)D, IL17, IFN-gamma, TGFβ1, IL4, IL10 in relapse and remission and their correlation with the severity of disability.

Vitamin D immunomodulatory potential in multiple sclerosis.

Multiple sclerosis (MS) is an autoimmune disease of unknown etiology whose treatment is of limited efficiency and therefore has a high social burden. As it has been suggested that myelin destruction model, the clinical manifestation and the potential of therapeutic response in MS are correlated, it is quite justifiable that we study various factors (genetic, hormonal, environmental) that take part in the autoimmune process in order to improve the control over the disrupted immune regulation. Results from epidemiological and clinical studies clearly suggest that changes in vitamin D serum concentrations are correlated with the magnitude of the risk of developing MS, the phases of relapse and remittance and with gender differences in vitamin D metabolism.

Clinical and laboratory study of pro-inflammatory and antiinflammatory cytokines in women with multiple sclerosis.

Unlabelled: Multiple sclerosis (MS) is an autoimmune demyelinating disorder of the central nervous system characterised with a complex system of interactions between proinflammatory and anti-inflammatory cytokines in its course.

Aim: The aim of the present study was to investigate the serum levels of cytokines TNF-a, IFN-gamma, IL-4 and IL-10 in female patients with MS and healthy individuals, the changes occurring in the relapse and remission phases of the disease and their correlation with the severity of the neurological deficit.

Patients And Methods: Thirty-five women with relapsing-remitting MS were examined.

A case of encephalocraniocutaneous lipomatosis syndrome with epilepsy (Haberland syndrome).

Encephalocraniocutaneous lipomatosis is a rare congenital neurocutaneous syndrome characterized by scalp, facial, and ocular lesions and multiple intracranial malformations. Approximately 50 cases have been described in the literature. We report a 34-year-old woman with a 6-year history of epilepsy, without mental retardation, with predominantly ipsilateral skin lesions evident at birth, with limbal lipodermoid of the left eye and multiple non-progressive, ipsilateral intracranial structures of soft, cystic components.

Pseudoresistance in patients with epilepsy--characteristics and determining factors.

Introduction: In pseudorefractory epilepsy (20% of the cases diagnosed with refractory epilepsy) the factors responsible for triggering the seizures are extraneous to epilepsy and the seizures can be controlled after diagnostic and therapeutic re-evaluation.

Aim: To determine the factors causing development of pseudoresistance in patients with epilepsy.

Patients And Methods: Detailed case histories of 191 patients with a diagnosis of drug-resistant epilepsy were collected; the medical records were analyzed retrospectively.

Depressivity, anxiety and quality of life in patients with refractory epilepsy.

Introduction: Depressive and anxiety disorders are very often comorbid with refractory epilepsy.

Aim: To determine the impact of depressivity and anxiety on some aspects of the quality of life of patients with refractory epilepsy.

Patients And Methods: The present open prospective study included 94 patients (67 women) with refractory epilepsy (mean age 42 years) who were categorised according to their medical history, individual clinical parameters and results of paraclinical studies.

Female sex hormones and multiple sclerosis.

Multiple sclerosis is the most frequent debilitating neurological disease in young subjects. The autoimmune process predominantly affects females. This paper presents a review of experimental and clinical data about the effect of female sex hormones and conditions associated with hormonal alterations on the disease process.