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F Assal

Publications and source records attributed to F Assal.

7 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1998

Post-traumatic stimulus suppressible myoclonus of peripheral origin.

A patient is described who presented with myoclonus of the first dorsal interosseus muscle of the right foot. This myoclonus occurred 18 months after trauma of the cutaneous branch of the deep peroneal nerve on the dorsal aspect of the foot. Tactile stimulation in the dermatome of this nerve, or an anaesthetic block of the deep peroneal nerve stopped the myoclonus. The different innervation between the efferent motor activity responsible for the movements and the sensory afference suppressing it points firmly towards involvement of central connections. However, abolition of the movement by anaesthesia suggests the presence of a peripheral ectopic generator. This finding confirms that focal myoclonus can have its origin in the peripheral nervous system and may be modulated by sensory inputs.

Adult↗
PubMed1997

Low-dose clozapine improves dyskinesias in Parkinson's disease.

The severity of parkinsonian motor disability and dyskinesias was evaluated in seven levodopa-responsive patients with Parkinson's disease after an acute challenge with the mixed dopamine agonist apomorphine, before and after low-dose clozapine (50 mg) for 18 +/- 2 days. There was a significant 59% improvement (p < 0.05) of apomorphine-induced dyskinesias without aggravation of parkinsonian motor disability following clozapine treatment. The results suggest that low-dose clozapine, already shown to improve psychotic symptoms, may help to reduce severe levodopa-induced dyskinesias in parkinsonian patients.

Aged↗
PubMed1992

Emergence of callosally projecting neurons with stellate morphology in the visual cortex of the kitten.

Callosally projecting neurons in areas 17 and 18 of the adult cat can be classified into two types on the basis of their dendritic morphology: pyramidal and stellate cells. The latter are nearly exclusively of the spinous type and are predominantly located in upper layer IV. Retrograde transport of the carbocyanine dye DiI, applied to the corpus callosum, showed that, up to P6, all callosally projecting neurons resemble pyramids in the possession of an apical dendrite reaching layer I. At P10, however, callosally projecting neurons with stellate morphology were found. A study was designed to distinguish whether these neurons are late in extending their axons to the corpus callosum or, alternatively, have transient apical dendrites. To this end, callosally projecting neurons were retrogradely labeled by fluorescent beads injected in areas 17 and 18 at P1-P3 and then either relabeled with DiI applied to the corpus callosum at P10 or intracellularly injected with Lucifer Yellow at P57. Double-labeled stellate and pyramidal cells were found in similar proportions to those found for the total, single-labeled population of callosally projecting neurons. It is therefore concluded that callosally projecting spiny stellate cells initially possess an apical dendrite and a pyramidal morphology. At P6, i.e. close to the time when stellate cells appear, layer IV neurons with an atrophic apical dendrite were found, suggestive of an apical dendrite in the process of being eliminated.

Animals↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Transient intra-areal axons in developing cat visual cortex.

Transient axons reaching the medialmost part of area 17 were demonstrated with anterogradely transported biocytin injected in the dorsal part of the lateral gyrus in kittens during the first and second postnatal weeks. The axons decreased in number during the third postnatal week and were only exceptionally found thereafter. Computer-aided reconstructions from serial sections demonstrated axons with different degrees of complexity. The most complex ones were found at postnatal days 7-9 and were characterized by multiple branches terminating with growth cones in the white matter. Characteristically, endings of axons that entered the cortex remained confined to the infragranular layers V and VI. A few axons entered the supragranular layers. Transient axons terminated with different endings, which may indicate different stages of maturation. A few, possibly permanent, axons were still found in the medial part of area 17 at the end of the first, and during the second postnatal months; they arborized widely in the infragranular layers, and modestly or not at all supragranularly.

Animals↗
PubMedDate not supplied

[Hyponatremia of therapeutic origin. Apropos of a case].

Recent epidemiologic studies (11) have shown a frequency of 3-5% of hyponatremia in chronic psychiatric patients, characterized by headaches, blurry vision, weakness, cramps, vomiting and sometimes seizures or coma leading to death. The etiopathology of this electrolytic syndrome is still debated and intriguing. Six to 17% of hospitalized patients in psychiatry present primary polydipsia, among which 25-50% develop hyponatremia. Another cause is the syndrome of inappropriate secretion of anti-diuretic hormone, SIADH, which may be due to a number of psychotropic drugs as carbamazepine, thioridazine, amitriptyline, desipramine, haloperidol, chlorpromazine and fluoxetine (1, 2, 7, 9, 15, 18, 24). These medications can be associated with primary polydipsia but not necessarily, and the hyponatremia is reversible after discontinuiting the treatment. We describe a case of hyponatremia possibly related to clomipramine which has been rarely reported in the literature and discuss the relations between hyponatremia, psychosis, and SIADH.

Adult↗