Prognostic criteria in haemorrhagic stroke with good outcome potential.

168 patients with haemorrhagic stroke (H.S.) were clinically and paraclinically studied.

Orienting reaction in therapy-resistant generalized epilepsy.

A polygraphic study of the somatic, autonomic and EEG components of the orienting reaction elicited by an auditory stimulus was performed in 39 epileptics with therapy-resistant generalized seizures (TRGS) and in 119 matched subjects in two control groups. The study showed a significant interictal hyperresponsivity in epileptics with TRGS vs. the normal subjects of control group I, which consisted in a marked increase of the intensity of the orienting reaction components.

Catamnestic study of cases with tardive decompensated hydrocephalus.

One hundred patients with decompensated hydrocephalus (60 operated, 40 nonoperated) were studied both retrospectively and prospectively at 3 moments of the disease course. The indicators were clinical: neurologic, psychic and social, and paraclinical: results of pneumoencephalography, encephalography, radioisotope cisternography. The effects of surgical treatment (ventriculocardiac derivation) and of medical treatment were evaluated at short and long term.

Semantic relations of the word in aphasics.

The study of the semantic relations of the word in aphasics was performed by an associative experiment applied in two samples, one of 20 aphasic patients and the other of 40 normal subjects. Following application of this associative experiment in normal subjects, a model design was achieved based on the hierarchy of the categories within the semantic field. In this model, the associations were grouped by meaning into semantic categories, while the categories were hierarchized according to the number of words included and to their frequency of association.

Diabetes insipidus in a patient with suspected multiple sclerosis.

A 53-year-old man developed spastic ataxia associated with diabetes insipidus. The patient experienced frequent attacks of stiffness and numbness of the four limbs accompanied by difficulty of speech. During an eight years' follow-up a progressive deterioration of the motor function was observed but no extracerebral manifestations were noticed.

The serum creatine-kinase as a biologic marker in major depression.

The paper aims at finding whether the serum creatine-kinase activity may be considered as a biological state or a trait-marker in major depression. The study performed in 76 patients (males and females) led to the conclusion that significant increases of the enzymic activity as compared with controls are present in depressive and not in euthymic patients. The same significant increase was found when comparing the depressive and euthymic patients (but not in the group of monopolar depressive females).

Use of word- or short-syntagma-stimulation for utterance production in aphasics.

In 50 aphasics and 30 normal controls, a therapeutic stimulating technique using different classes of words and short syntagmas was performed. The different classes of words or short syntagmas elicited different types of answers. Unlike controls, the aphasics showed a tendency to less often include the stimulus in the answer and to substitute it inadequately.

Contribution of EEG mapping to diagnosis setting in a supratentorial damage.

Forty neurologic patients were investigated in order to disclose the diagnostic advantages by power ratio EEG mapping. Typical examples of EEG maps in brain tumours, cerebral infarction, encephalitis and epilepsy are given. In spite of obvious limitations, the necessity of EEG mapping utilization in the neurological clinic is supported.

Retention of orienting reaction habituation in chronic alcoholics.

A polygraphic study on resistance to habituation of the somatic (EMG), autonomic (finger plethysmogram, galvanic skin reaction, respiration) and EEG (acoustic-evoked potential and EEG-blocking reaction) components of the orienting reaction, elicited by a repetitive auditory stimulus during successive (weekly) sessions was performed in 67 chronic alcoholics and in 70 matched normal subjects (control group). The study showed significant retention disturbances of orienting reaction habituation (i.e.

Propranolol corrects the abnormal catecholamine response to light during migraine.

The catecholamine (CA) response to light before and after propranolol therapy was studied in 25 migrainous subjects. Before therapy an abnormal CA response to light consisting of a rise in epinephrine excretion and a depression in norepinephrine (NE) excretion was noticed in migrainous patients. After propranolol administration (60 mg daily for 10 days) the post-photic augmentation in epinephrine excretion and the post-photic depression in NE excretion no longer occurred.

Children aged 10-17 of endogenous unipolar depressive parents and of normal parents. I. Psychopathology rate and relationship of the severity of the psychopathology to familial and environmental variables.

Seventy two children aged 10-17 of 42 endogenous unipolar depressive parents (proband children) and 72 children aged 10-17 of 66 normal parental couples (control children) were studied. Overall rate of psychopathology (disorders present at the time of investigation and one year before) reached 51% in proband children and 29% in control children. Depressive disorder rate reached 10% in proband children and 4% in control children.

Alterations in brain-stem auditory responses induced by head down tilting in hypertensives with supine brain-stem disorders.

The influence of head down (HD) tilting on brain-stem auditory evoked responses (BAER) was studied in hypertensives with supine brain-stem disorders (occipital headache, vertigo, nausea, diplopia, blurred vision occurring after night recumbency), in hypertensives without such phenomena and in normotensives. In the latter two categories of subjects HD tilting had no effect on BAER. On the contrary, in hypertensives with supine brain-stem disorders the manoeuvre induced a constant prolongation of I-V and III-V intervals and a depression in the amplitude of wave V; the alterations of BAER produced by HD tilting reveal probably a dysfunction of the superior brain-stem area and might be due to the impaired cerebral venous draining subsequent to the manoeuvre.

Brain amino acid levels in audiogenic seizure-susceptible rats following habituation to the auditory stimulus.

Hippocampic and brain stem levels of amino acids were determined in audiogenic seizure-susceptible rats following habituation by repeated exposure to the acoustic stimulus. The biochemical determinations were performed in the brains of 42 habituated animals and 23 not habituated seizure susceptible rats used as controls. It was found that the habituation process is associated with: a) increased levels of aspartate in hippocampus and pons; b) significantly decreased levels of glycine in the hippocampus and pons; c) decreased concentration of glutamate in the pons; d) no significant changes in the GABA concentrations in hippocampus and brain stem.

Psychopathology in children aged 10-17 of bipolar parents: psychopathology rate and correlates of the severity of the psychopathology.

Seventy-two proband children aged 10-17 of bipolar parents, matched with 72 control children of normal parents, were investigated using DSM-III diagnostic criteria and multiple sources of information. The psychopathology rate in children (61% in probands versus 25% in controls) was related to the impact of psychic disorders on the children's adaptive functioning. The effect of several variables describing the psychiatric status of both parents and familial environment on the severity of psychopathology in children was analysed.

Orienting reaction habituation in chronic alcoholics.

A polygraphic study on resistance to habituation of the somatic (EMG), autonomic (finger plethysmogram, galvanic skin reaction, respiration) and EEG (acoustic-evoked potential and EEG-blocking reaction) components of the orienting reaction elicited by a repetitive auditory stimulus was performed in 67 chronic alcoholics and in 70 matched normal subjects (control group). The study showed a significantly lower resistance to habituation of the orienting reaction in alcoholics than in normal control subjects. The severity of this habituation disturbance depended on the patients' age, type of alcoholism, alcohol consumption intensity and chronicity, as well as the type of resting EEG.

Catecholamine response to light in migraine.

The effect of the shift from a low to a high luminosity of the environment on the urinary excretion of norepinephrine (NE) and epinephrine (E) was studied in migraineurs (26 cases) and controls (25 cases). In the latter the shift from a low to high light exposure increased NE excretion; in contrast, in migraineurs exposure to high luminosity resulted in a depression of NE excretion and an augmentation of E excretion. The possible participation of E discharge produced by photostimulation or by other stimuli in the pathogenesis of migraine attack is discussed.

Age-dependent amplitude variation of brain-stem auditory evoked potentials.

Normative amplitude values of brain-stem auditory evoked potential (BAEP) components are given for normally hearing subjects at 1, 10, 30, 50 and 70 years of age, with an intragroup age variation of only +/- 6 months. Under these circumstances amplitude standard deviations decreased to less than 20% of the mean values. In contrast with the reduced evolution of latency with age, BAEP amplitude (for components I-V) undergoes a greater oscillation during ontogeny.

Polyneuropathy with lipid deposits in Schwann cells and axonal degeneration in cerebrotendinous xanthomatosis.

The present paper is a histological, histochemical and electron microscopic study of biopsied specimens from both right and left Achilles tendon, sural nerve and gastrocnemius muscle in a case of peripheral neuropathy with decreased sensory conduction velocity within a cerebrotendinous xanthomatosis confirmed biochemically in a 29-year-old woman. The tendon specimens contained large deposits of complex, non-homogeneous lipids, distributed intra- and extracellularly. The right sural nerve specimen showed a very severe neuropathy with massive diffuse myelinated fiber loss, presence of foamy macrophages and lipid droplets in Schwann cells.