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Biomedical subjects

J Cambier

Publications and source records attributed to J Cambier.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1992

Hot-water epilepsy in an adult: ictal EEG, MRI and SPECT features.

Reflex epilepsy constitutes a rare form of epileptic seizures. We observed a 20-year-old man who presented with seizures induced by immersion in hot water. The trigger stimulus was specific. Contrast CT scan and MRI were all normal, not revealing any structural lesion. Ictal EEG recorded during a hot bath showed focal epileptic discharges in the left temporo-occipital area. Interictal SPECT showed a hypometabolism in the same cerebral region. Neuroimaging studies were rarely performed in this uncommon type of epilepsy. Nevertheless, in our case the result of the SPECT suggests a localized functional disturbance in the emergence of the disorder.

Adult↗
PubMed1992

Thalamocortical diaschisis: positron emission tomography in humans.

To investigate further the relations between cortical energy metabolism and neuropsychological impairment after unilateral thalamic lesion, 55 patients underwent positron emission tomography studies of either cortical oxygen consumption or glucose utilisation, including eight repeat studies, at times ranging from 4 days to 98 months after the onset of the lesion [stroke (n = 44) or stereotaxic VL-Vim thalamotomy performed for movement disorders (n = 11)]. Patients with thalamotomy were also studied preoperatively and the surgery induced a significant fall in cortical metabolism on both sides (more so ipsilaterally); post-operatively the magnitude of the ipsilateral cortex hypometabolism was positively correlated to the severity of global neuropsychological impairment; similar but less significant findings were obtained for the ipsilateral/contralateral cortical metabolic asymmetry. With respect to the whole patient sample, the cortical metabolic asymmetry was initially pronounced, with subsequent monoexponential recovery, in the cognitively impaired study group, but it was only mild and showed no meaningful trend for recovery in the cognitively unaffected study group; yet even soon (< 3 months) after thalamic lesion there was a noticeable overlap of individual asymmetry values among the two study groups. These results lend further support to the view that the neuropsychological impairment that frequently follows unilateral thalamic lesions is reflected in a depression of synaptic activity in both the overlying and the contralateral cerebral cortices. For individual patients, this study also illustrates the potentially misleading nature of the measured cortical metabolic asymmetry with respect to neuropsychological status, especially at late times after lesion, in part because side to side metabolic ratios do not reflect bilateral changes.

Adult↗
PubMed1992

[Left prerolandic infarction with initial epilepsy. Development of chronic hallucination psychosis].

A 34-year-old woman had three tonico-clonic seizures and aphasia revealing a left prerolandic infarct. Three weeks later, she began to develop psychiatric symptoms leading to the diagnosis of chronic hallucination psychosis. These symptoms were probably related to epilepsy and their cause was compatible with the diagnosis of interictal psychosis. It has been suggested that kindling of the mesolimbic system could account for psychosis in epilepsy. In our case, however, the sort time interval between the onset of epilepsy and the appearance of psychosis is not in favour of this mechanism.

Adult↗
PubMed1992

[Diffuse cerebral gliomatosis. An anatomoclinical case].

A 52-year old man had a generalized seizure followed by progressive memory disturbances, affective changes, right hemiplegia and aphasia. He died 4 years later after a period of coma. Neuropathological findings included slight cortical atrophy, pallor of the centrum ovale, and infiltration of the cortex and subcortical white matter by neoplastic glial cells, with neither major neuronal loss nor spongiosis. Microglial rod cells were observed. The gliomatosis extended within the thalamus and subthalamic area on both sides, whereas the brain stem was much less involved. The spinal cord and peripheral nerves were not examined. Abnormal glial cells were stained by the glial fibrillary acid protein, which confirms the astrocytic differentiation of the tumoral cells.

Brain↗
PubMed1992

[Participation of the right hemisphere in the recovery of language in aphasics].

The functional lateralization of the brain for language is a dynamic process going on during the life. The sole responsibility for ensuring normal speech lies within the neural nets of the left hemisphere. The right hemisphere who has a predominant role in extra-linguistic communication maintain a linguistic potential linked with age and modalities of lateralization. Methods allowing his activation have for first objective the recovery of an elementary communication.

Aphasia↗
PubMed1991

Altered antigen receptor signaling in anergic T cells from self-tolerant T-cell receptor beta-chain transgenic mice.

T-cell tolerance to the minor lymphocyte-stimulating antigen Mls-1a in a T-cell receptor (TcR) V beta 8.1 transgenic line of mice is maintained by both clonal deletion and clonal anergy. Approximately 20-50% of peripheral CD4+ (but not CD8+) T cells isolated from these mice are anergic and fail to proliferate following TcR ligation. We have examined key events in T-cell signaling in peripheral T cells isolated from these mice. In this report, we show that the anergic CD4+ T cells did not mobilize calcium or express receptors for interleukin 2 (IL-2) following TcR ligation. However, the cells retained viability and functional potential because stimulation with phorbol 12-myristate 13-acetate and ionomycin bypassed the block in receptor-mediated signaling and induced IL-2 receptor expression and proliferation of the anergic cells.

Animals↗
PubMed1991

[Cognitive evoked potentials in the diagnosis of senile dementia and dementia of Parkinson's disease: significance of multivariate analysis].

P300 latency is often delayed in dementia but some authors have questioned its value in clinical practice, because of the relatively low specificity and sensibility of the method. Numerous parameters (latency, duration, amplitude and surface) of N100, N200 and P300 waves were therefore studied in patients with senile dementia, subjects suffering from Parkinson's disease with dementia, and non-demented elderly patients. Using discriminant analysis, more than 90% of the patients were correctly classified. This method could thus be contributory in diagnosing dementia in clinical practice.

Cognition↗
PubMed1991

[Left pseudothalamic cortical syndrome and pain asymbolia].

We report a case of left pseudothalamic cortical syndrome associated with asymbolia for pain in a right-handed male patient. The responsible lesion, detected at both CT and MRI, was infarction of the superficial territory of the middle cerebral artery, restricted to the posterior insula, the superior aspect of T1, the parietal operculum and the supramarginal gyrus. The ascending parietal gyrus and the thalamus were spared. This case, together with data from the literature, suggest that the somatosensory area II was responsible for the pseudothalamic syndrome. This interpretation is concordant with the hypothesis that S II plays the principal role in passive somatosensory discrimination, whereas S I plays the principal role in active discrimination implying stimulus exploration. The location of lesions that were responsible for asymbolia for pain is discussed. This case and those reported by Berthier et al. (1988), provide arguments in favour of Geschwind's hypothesis which attributes asymbolia for pain to sensory-limbic disconnection due to damage of the insula.

Cerebral Cortex↗
PubMed1991

[Right unilateral auditory agnosia following left lenticular hemorrhage].

A 33-year old patient who had had left lenticular hemorrhage presented with an inability to understand with the right ear oral language and, in a less dramatic way, nonverbal sounds. This unilateral auditory agnosia was first associated with a right motor underutilization and right motor, sensitive, visual and auditive extinctions. Speech discrimination scores were 100% with the left ear and 15% with the right ear, even less in dichotic conditions. Tonal audiogram, as well as early and late components of the auditory evoked potentials were normal. Cerebral regional perfusion and metabolism were impaired over the left parietotemporal area. There was severe hypoactivation of the left hemisphere with right monaural verbal stimulations. Rehabilitation consisting of non-specific attention tasks and repetitions of words reaching only the right ear was undertaken 15 months after the stroke. The oral language comprehension improved, as did the left hemisphere activation, and the extinction phenomena disappeared, except for the auditory one. The unilaterality of the auditory agnosia could be due, in part, to a peculiar physiological processing in this patient, such as poor performance of his right ipsilateral auditory pathway which could be improved with practice. A striatal lesion could induce a spatial hemi-inattention as reflected by the multimodal extinction in this case. Besides, a lack of selective activation for verbal stimulation of the left hemisphere is suggested.

Adult↗
PubMed1990

[Schistosomiasis of the spinal cord. Contribution of magnetic resonance imaging].

The authors report a case of spinal cord schistosomiasis presenting as myelitis, with rapidly developing deficit, signs of severe cerebrospinal fluid inflammation, normal myelography and computerized tomography. The patient's country of origin suggested schistosomiasis, and the diagnosis was confirmed by serology and rectal biopsy which showed eggs of Schistosoma mansoni. Magnetic resonance imaging was helpful as it confirmed the absence of spinal cord compression and showed a lesion of the conus medullaris, this region being the most frequent site of schistosomial myelitis.

Adult↗
PubMed1990

Positron emission tomography study in progressive supranuclear palsy. Brain hypometabolic pattern and clinicometabolic correlations.

In 41 patients with progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP) that was diagnosed on the basis of eight clinical criteria (25 patients with all eight criteria [probable PSP] and 16 with six or seven criteria [possible PSP]), we studied cerebral energy metabolism by using positron emission tomography and the fludeoxyglucose F 18 or the oxygen 15 method. Compared with age-matched controls, each of the cortical and subcortical metabolic values was significantly reduced, with a predominance in the frontal cortex, in both groups of patients with probable and possible PSP, without a difference between these two groups, suggesting similar underlying disease. The frontal metabolic value decreased with disease duration, but the relative frontal hypometabolism (expressed as the fronto-occipital metabolic ratio) was apparently already present in the early stages of the disease. The parkinsonian motor score was correlated with the caudate and thalamic metabolic values. The intellectual deterioration index was significantly correlated with both the frontal and the nonfrontal metabolic values. Finally, the frontal neuropsychological score was significantly correlated with only the fronto-occipital metabolic ratio. Hence, in PSP, a degenerative brain disease with subcortical lesions, the prominent frontal lobe-like syndrome essentially depends on the relative hypometabolism of the frontal cortex.

Aged↗
PubMed1990

[Improvement of Joseph's disease with sulfamethazole-trimethoprim].

A case of Joseph's disease characterized by spasticity in all 4 limbs, dystonia and disorders of ocular motility was considerably improved by cotrimoxazole, which confirms a recently published case. Further studies are required to establish this therapeutic effectiveness.

Adult↗