Biomedical subjects
R Gallassi
Publications and source records attributed to R Gallassi.
Neuropsychological, electroencephalogram and brain computed tomography findings in motor neuron disease.
Thirty-five patients affected with sporadic motor neuron disease (MND) and without clinically evident mental deterioration were systematically investigated by means of neuropsychological tests, quantitative analysis of EEG and brain CT. The MND patients as a group showed a slight but definite and stereotyped cognitive impairment. Temporal slow EEG activity was increased in the whole MND group and posterior background activity was slower in the more cognitively impaired patients. No significant differences were found in CT measurements of brain atrophy between MND and controls.
Binswanger's disease: a review of the literature and a personal contribution.
Binswanger's disease is the name which has been given to a form of subcortical vascular dementia. These patients have a particular clinical profile which progressively includes strokes, gait disorder, pseudobulbar signs and cognitive impairment suggesting dysfunction of the prefrontal cortex. The radiological pattern of hypodensity of the white matter on CT scan (or an increased MRI signal), albeit much debated, seems to be more closely associated with hypertension, previous strokes and neuropsychological defects. Binswanger's disease probably represents the end stage of a pathological process in which hypertensive arteriolopathy, demyelination of the centra semiovale and deep infarcts all play a role.
Carbamazepine and phenytoin. Comparison of cognitive effects in epileptic patients during monotherapy and withdrawal.
We compared the cognitive effects of carbamazepine and phenytoin with neuropsychological tests exploring intelligence, vigilance, attention, memory, and visuomotor performances in 25 epileptics (13 receiving carbamazepine and 12 receiving phenytoin) and 26 matched normal controls. Patients were seizure free for at least two years and taking prolonged monotherapy. We also evaluated the effects of drug withdrawal by retesting patients three months after reduction at half drug dose and three months and one year after complete withdrawal. Our findings suggest that phenytoin affects the cognitive functions more than carbamazepine does, although the negative effects of both drugs are reversible by complete therapy withdrawal.
Extrapyramidal syndrome and depression induced by flunarizine.
Apathy, mood depression and extrapyramidal signs consisting of akinesia, amimia, gait apraxia, slight rigidity and tremor were induced in 10 patients by long-term treatment with flunarizine for trivial complaints. These symptoms suggest a mild antidopaminergic activity of flunarizine. Long-term administration of flunarizine should be avoided particularly in the elderly and in patients with extrapyramidal disorders.
Dementia in subjects over 65 years of age in the Republic of San Marino.
A study on neurological conditions was performed in the Republic of San Marino, which is the smallest independent state in the world (60 km2, 21,792 people). We personally examined or collected information on all people born in 1898, 1903, 1908, 1913 and 1918 and living in the Republic of San Marino on 31 July 1985. We found 29 people out of 488 with mild to severe dementia. Frequency of dementia increased progressively with age, from 1.8% among 67-year-olds to 25% among 87-year-olds. In women the increase was due mainly to primary degenerative dementia, whereas in men other types of dementia were involved. Our study shows a female/male ratio of more than 2:1 for primary degenerative dementia even considering mild dementia, and this form of dementia represents about 50% of all types of dementia. We found an association between severe auditory loss and primary degenerative dementia.
MELAS syndrome: characteristic migrainous and epileptic features and maternal transmission.
Severe prolonged migrainous symptoms and prolonged partial status epilepticus are characteristic features of the MELAS syndrome (mitochondrial encephalomyopathy, lactic acidosis, and stroke-like episodes). Maternal transmission previously found in myoclonus epilepsy and ragged-red fibers (MERRF), another mitochondrial disease, is suggested in this disorder as well.
Transient global amnesia follow-up: a neuropsychological investigation.
A neuropsychological follow-up was made in a group of patients affected by transient global amnesia (TGA). The results suggest that TGA could leave some attentional and mnesic "fragility".
Epileptic transient amnesia.
Transient global amnesia (TGA) was formerly supposed to have an epileptic origin thought unlikely by more recent authors. Further, epileptic seizures rarely present transient memory dysfunction as prominent symptom. These particular cases of which we report here three examples were previously identified as epileptic amnesic attacks (EAA). They have uniform clinical characteristics quite different from TGA and respond favorably to antiepileptic therapy. The features differentiating these two conditions are discussed. The authors suggest that an epileptic origin should be considered in patients presenting frequent transient amnesic attacks.
[Ogilvie's syndrome: description of 2 cases].
Explore the source record for details and available documents.
Transient global amnesia: neuropsychological study of a "pure" case.
Explore the source record for details and available documents.
Cranial bone density in motor neuron disease (MND)
Explore the source record for details and available documents.
Cognitive effects of phenytoin during monotherapy and after withdrawal.
We studied the psychomotor performance of 10 seizure-free epileptics during a fixed monotherapy with phenytoin and after its withdrawal. Our findings suggests some adverse effects of phenytoin which seem reversible after withdrawal.
Neuropsychological findings during a transient global amnesia attack and its follow-up.
An extensive neuropsychological study was made during an attack of transient global amnesia and during four follow-up. The neuropsychological findings are compared to those of previous reports. Transient global amnesia appears to be a relatively benign syndrome but it leaves some "fragility" of memory, detected by complex neuropsychological tasks.
Withdrawal of phenobarbital and carbamazepine in epileptic patients: a preliminary neuropsychological report.
We systematically investigated the neuropsychological effects of controlled withdrawal of antiepileptic therapy with a battery of tests exploring intelligence, vigilance, attention, memory and sensori-motor performance. 16 patients without seizures for at least 2 years, 9 on therapy with phenobarbital (PB) and 7 with carbamazepine (CBZ), were examined 4 times over a period of 21 months. No significant correlation was found between drug levels and performance in the tests. The slight differences found between the PB and CBZ groups at full doses disappeared completely one year after withdrawal.
Neuropsychological assessment of mental deterioration: purpose of a brief battery and a probabilistic definition of "normality" and "non-normality".
A brief battery for mental deterioration assessment was obtained by Discriminant Analysis techniques from the Mental Deterioration Battery (MDB) (1) and yielded 98% correct classifications in a sample of 60 subjects (30 pathological and 30 controls). This battery, named Brief Mental Deterioration Battery (BMDB), both quick and easy to administer, is composed of four tests: Rey's 15 Words Test, Immediate Visual Memory, Barrage, and Simple Analogies Test. MDB was administered to a further sample of 60 normal subjects and, by multivariate statistical techniques, a probabilistic definition of "normality" and consequently of "non-normality" was given. When applied to pathological and control groups, this probabilistic dichotomic classification yielded groups almost identical to the previous ones.
Neuropsychological findings in epileptic amnesic attacks.
Explore the source record for details and available documents.
The prevalence of lingual-facial-buccal dyskinesias in the elderly.
We examined an unselected sample of 398 subjects aged 67 to 87 years. Only six (1.5%) subjects presented lingual-facial-buccal dyskinesias (LFBD). LFBD, therefore, are rare neurologic manifestations. They are more frequent in women than in men and in more elderly subjects. Furthermore, in three of six cases, they were associated with senile dementia. Previous studies performed on hospital-based populations probably overestimated the prevalence of LFBD.