Biomedical subjects
Publications and source records attributed to G A Ottonello.
74 heavy drinkers, divided in two groups by positive or negative history for withdrawal seizures, were evaluated on the history, clinical, biochemical, CT, EEG and psychometric investigations. Some of them have been followed up for 20 months. The results suggest the possible role of a constitutional predisposition for withdrawal seizures.
2 cases of familial paroxysmal kinesigenic choreoathetosis are described. The results of a pharmacological trial with phenobarbital, valproic acid, diazepam, iota-Dopa plus carbidopa, and haloperidol are reported. Phenobarbital is the only effective drug. On this basis the pathophysiological mechanisms of this rare disorder are briefly discussed.
The nocturnal sleep of four patients with dyssynergia cerebellaris myoclonica (DCM) of Ramsay-Hunt was recorded with a polygraph. The following features were observed: a reduction of spindles, K complexes and vertex spikes; frequent arousals; rare rapid eye movements with a modification of their morphology and pattern; change in sleep stage percentages. In addition, myoclonus and polyspike-and-wave complexes appeared less frequently during sleep than during wakefulness. Three generalized convulsive and sixteen clonic seizures were recorded during stage 3/4 or on arousal. The clinical and physiopathological implications of these data are discussed.
Parenteral G Penicillin has been administered to 10 rats and EEG pattern has been recorded. High voltage spikes appeared on one hemisphere, 12 to 25 minutes after injections. Gradually spike frequency and voltage increased till periodical EEG was observed on both hemispheres. Such activity was synchronous, symmetrical, stereotyped and often accompanied by myoclonias. This pattern lasted from 45 to 100 minutes. The authors underline the analogies with the Ouabain model of epilepsy and with periodical EEG patterns in man.
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Corticosteroids are commonly used in the treatment of stroke, although their clinical effectiveness has not been established. Side effects, especially gastrointestinal complications, occur in patients with cerebral disease. A necroscopy study of 124 patients investigated the occurrence of gastrointestinal lesions in patients with acute stroke treated with high-dose of corticosteroids compared to untreated patients with stroke and to patients dying from non-vascular neurological diseases. A significant relationship between the use of steroids and gastrointestinal lesion in strokes is demonstrated.
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The authors test epileptic subjects as far as their professional ability is concerned. An enquiry into patients admitted to the Epilepsy Centre of San martino Hospital in Genova has been performed through a questionnaire about professional performance and quality of life. As far as work related problems are concerned 44.6 per cent of the subjects show the presence of difficulties, while the quality of life is primarily repressed in men relatively to work and in women relatively to social relationship.
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174 subjects suffering from late onset epilepsy were examined. The incidence of cerebral atrophy, defined with objective criteria on CT scans by means of a comparative analysis with a matched for age control group was 37.9%. Head traumas, cerebrovascular disorders and alcoholism were the presumed etiological factors in most of the cases while in 25 subjects (20%) the etiology of cerebral atrophy remained unknown ("cryptogenous atrophy"). Clinical profil, psychometric performance and EEG characteristics of these subjects were investigated and compared with the remainder groups of late-onset epileptics. The results obtained show that the subjects with cryptogenous atrophy behave, as regard the features considered, as the late-onset epileptics with normal CT but present an higher familial prevalence for epilepsy. On the contrary they differs in various ways from late-onset epileptics with atrophy of known origin and from epileptics with focal lesions.
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