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Pathological Patterns (pathological + pattern)

Distribution by Scientific Domains
Medical Sciences85%

Selected Abstracts

Abstracts of the 8th Meeting of the Italian Peripheral Nerve Study Group: 46

JOURNAL OF THE PERIPHERAL NERVOUS SYSTEM, Issue 1 2003
L Padua
Traditional outcome assessment in neurological diseases has always been based on physician-derived and instrumental findings. Over the last two decades, clinical and public health researchers emphasized the need for a thorough evaluation of concepts such as Health Related Quality of Life (HRQoL) to study the impact of chronic illnesses and their treatments on the patient's life. The most frequent inherited neuropathy is Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease (CMT). CMT Patients develop progressive weakness and sensory disturbances, becoming sometimes severely disabled even at very young age. In CMT clinic, neurophysiologic, pathologic and genetic evaluation, are considered fundamental to assess nerve involvement and diagnose, but how these findings are related to HRQoL and disability is not assessed. We propose a prospective follow-up (24,30 months) of CMT patients with multiple measurements of CMT. Besides conventional clinic, pathologic, neurophysiologic and genetic measurements we adopt validated patient-oriented measurements to assess HRQoL and disability. Aims of the study are: 1) to assess HRQoL and disability of CMT patients in a wide and well-represented sample and to evaluate the relationships between conventional parameters and the patient's perception of his own HRQoL and disability; 2) to evaluate natural history of HRQoL and disability in CMT, and to evaluate the predictive value of phenotype, genetic picture, neurophysiological and pathological pattern 3) to develop a national network and a database on CMT disease (this aim includes the standardization, based on a consensus validation process, of the most used terms and measurements in CMT and the development of a database software). In a preliminary reunion, the authors developed a dedicated database for patients affected by CMT. Details about this database will be presented. [source]

High incidence of thyroid cancer in toxic multinodular goiters

ASIA-PACIFIC JOURNAL OF CLINICAL ONCOLOGY, Issue 3 2007
Irshad Ahammed SHAIKH
Abstract Aim: The aim of this study is to analyse the incidence of carcinoma thyroids in toxic multinodular goiters (MNG) and the pathological pattern of these cancer nodules. Methods: This is a retrospective review of 2344 patients, operated for MNG over a period of 10 years from January 1993 to December 2002 at Lourdes Hospital, Kochi, Kerala, India. Results: We operated on 2344 patients for MNG, out of whom 160 patients presented to us in a toxic state and the remaining 2184 in a non-toxic state. Of the patients operated for MNG 4.5% were found to have associated thyroid cancer. The incidence of thyroid cancer in toxic MNG patients was 26.25% whereas in non-toxic MNG patients it was 2.5%. All the malignant nodules detected were papillary cancers of the thyroid and relatively large nodules (range 0.6 cm,4.1 cm) were found in toxic MNG compared to non-toxic MNG. Conclusion: Patients with toxic MNG showed a very high incidence of coexisting thyroid cancer. Thyroid cancers can coexist in toxic MNG despite the suppression of thyroid stimulating hormone (TSH). The coexisting thyroid cancer size is larger in toxic MNG than euthyroid MNG. A total thyroidectomy is the treatment recommended for toxic MNG in an endemic area. [source]

Clinical, neuroimaging and neurophysiological features in addicts with manganese-ephedrone exposure

ACTA NEUROLOGICA SCANDINAVICA, Issue 4 2010
K. Sikk
Sikk K, Taba P, Haldre S, Bergquist J, Nyholm D, Askmark H, Danfors T, Sörensen J, Thurfjell L, Raininko R, Eriksson R, Flink R, Färnstrand C, Aquilonius S-M. Clinical, neuroimaging and neurophysiological features in addicts with manganese-ephedrone exposure. Acta Neurol Scand: 2010: 121: 237,243. © 2009 The Authors Journal compilation © 2009 Blackwell Munksgaard. Objective,,, To identify biomarkers supporting the clinical diagnosis of manganism in patients several years after exposure to manganese (Mn). Methods,,, Neurophysiological examinations, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), single-photon emission computed tomography and fluorodeoxyglycose (FDG) positron emission tomography were performed in four former ephedrone addicts with extrapyramidal symptoms. Results,,, Peripheral nervous system was not affected. No patients had reduced uptake of 123I Ioflupane in the striatum. MRI signal intensities were slightly changed in the basal ganglia. All patients showed a widespread, but not uniform, pathological pattern of FDG uptake with changes mainly located to the central part of the brain including the basal ganglia and the surrounding white matter. Conclusions,,, Presynaptic neurons in the nigrostriatal pathway are intact in Mn-induced parkinsonism after prolonged abstinence from ephedrone. The diagnosis is principally based on clinical signs and the history of drug abuse. [source]

Enhanced synaptic excitation,inhibition ratio in hippocampal interneurons of rats with temporal lobe epilepsy

EUROPEAN JOURNAL OF NEUROSCIENCE, Issue 2 2007
F. Stief
Abstract A common feature of all epileptic syndromes is the repetitive occurrence of pathological patterns of synchronous neuronal activity, usually combined with increased neuronal discharge rates. Inhibitory interneurons of the hippocampal formation control both neuronal synchronization as well as the global level of activity and are therefore of crucial importance for epilepsy. Recent evidence suggests that changes in synaptic inhibition during temporal lobe epilepsy are rather specific, resulting from selective death or alteration of interneurons in specific hippocampal layers. Hence, epilepsy-induced changes have to be analysed separately for different types of interneurons. Here, we focused on GABAergic neurons located at the border between stratum radiatum and stratum lacunosum-moleculare of hippocampal area CA1 (SRL interneurons), which are included in feedforward inhibitory circuits. In chronically epileptic rats at 6,8 months after pilocarpine-induced status epilepticus, frequencies of spontaneous and miniature inhibitory postsynaptic currents were reduced, yielding an almost three-fold increase in excitation,inhibition ratio. Consistently, action potential frequency of SRL interneurons was about two-fold enhanced. Morphological alterations of the interneurons indicate that these functional changes were accompanied by remodelling of the local network, probably resulting in a loss of functional inhibitory synapses without conceivable cell death. Our data indicate a strong increase in activity of interneurons in dendritic layers of the chronically epileptic CA1 region. This alteration may enhance feedforward inhibition and rhythmogenesis and , together with specific changes in other interneurons , contribute to seizure susceptibility and pathological synchronization. [source]

Latest view on the mechanism of action of deep brain stimulation,

MOVEMENT DISORDERS, Issue 15 2008
Constance Hammond PhD
Abstract How does deep brain stimulation (DBS) applied at high frequency (100 Hz and above, HFS) in diverse points of cortico-basal ganglia thalamo-cortical loops alleviate symptoms of neurological disorders such as Parkinson's disease, dystonia, and obsessive compulsive disorders? Do the effects of HFS stem solely or even largely from local effects on the stimulated brain structure or are they also mediated by actions of HFS on distal structures? Indeed, HFS as an extracellular stimulation is expected to activate subsets of both afferent and efferent axons, leading to antidromic spikes that collide with ongoing spontaneous ones and orthodromic spikes that evoke synaptic responses in target neurons. The present review suggests that HFS interfere with spontaneous pathological patterns by introducing a regular activity in several nodal points of the network. Therefore, the best site of implantation of the HFS electrode may be in a region where the HFS-driven activity spreads to most of the identified, dysrhythmic, neuronal populations without causing additional side effects. This should help tackling the most difficult issue namely, how does the regular HFS-driven activity that dampens the spontaneous pathological one, restore neuronal processing along cortico-basal ganglia-thalamo-cortical loops? © 2008 Movement Disorder Society [source]

Technical Mistakes during the Acquisition of the Electrocardiogram

ANNALS OF NONINVASIVE ELECTROCARDIOLOGY, Issue 4 2009
Javier García-Niebla R.N.
In addition to knowledge of normal and pathological patterns, the correct interpretation of electrocardiographic (ECG) recordings requires the use of acquisition procedures according to approved standards. Most manuals on standard electrocardiography devote little attention to inadequate ECG recordings. In this article, we present the most frequent ECG patterns resulting from errors in limb and precordial lead placement, artifacts in 12-lead ECG as well as inadequate filter application; we also review alternative systems to the standard ECG, which may help minimize errors. [source]

Antibody-negative neuromyelitis optica with heavy B-cell infiltration

APMIS, Issue 10 2009
DANIEL BLACKBURN
There are several distinct clinical phenotypes of inflammatory demyelinating diseases of the central nervous system. In classical multiple sclerosis (MS) there are varied pathological patterns, possibly with differences in pathogenesis. Neuromyelitis optica (NMO) is often associated with a specific antibody, suggesting a distinct pathogenesis. We report a case of a young Caucasian male who presented with right hemiparesis secondary to a left fronto-parietal inflammatory brain lesion, which improved over years leaving minimal deficit. Seventeen years later he re-presented with a progressive tetraparesis secondary to cervical myelitis that did not respond to treatment. The NMO antibody was not detected and neuropathological examination was unusual with evidence of a persistent B-cell inflammatory response in the cord. Although having some of the clinical features of NMO, this case presented novel clinico-pathological features that do not easily fit into current MS subtypes. [source]