Search results for "Diseases of the nervous system"
showing 10 items of 233 documents
Focusing on Increasing Velocity during Heavy Resistance Knee Flexion Exercise Boosts Hamstring Muscle Activity in Chronic Stroke Patients
2016
Background. Muscle strength is markedly reduced in stroke patients, which has negative implications for functional capacity and work ability. Different types of feedback during strength training exercises may alter neuromuscular activity and functional gains.Objective. To compare levels of muscle activity during conditions of blindfolding and intended high contraction speed with a normal condition of high-intensity knee flexions.Methods. Eighteen patients performed unilateral machine knee flexions with a 10-repetition maximum load. Surface electromyography (EMG) was recorded from the quadrics and hamstring muscles and normalized to maximal EMG (nEMG) of the nonparetic limb.Results. For the …
Gait Impairment in a Rat Model of Focal Cerebral Ischemia
2012
The availability of proper tests for gait evaluation following cerebral ischemia in rats has been limited. The automated, quantitative CatWalk system, which was initially designed to measure gait in models of spinal cord injury, neuropathic pain, and peripheral nerve injury, is said to be a useful tool for the study of motor impairment in stroke animals. Here we report our experiences of using CatWalk XT with rats subjected to transient middle cerebral artery occlusion (MCAO), during their six-week followup. Large corticostriatal infarct was confirmed by MRI in all MCAO rats, which was associated with severe sensorimotor impairment. In contrast, the gait impairment was at most mild, which i…
Emergency Endovascular Treatment of Petrous Carotid Artery False Aneurysm
2015
Abstract Introduction The management of ruptured intracranial false aneurysms (IFAs) might be tricky as any kind of treatment modality, surgical or endovascular, is burdened with significant challenges. A case report of the endovascular treatment of IFA in emergency setting is presented to provide more understanding of its pathophysiology as well as of the best operative work-up for petrous carotid artery reconstruction. Methods Technical notes from a left sided skull base abscess, involving and eroding the carotid canal and petrous carotid artery (PCA) resulting in an IFA are shown and analyzed. Results Balloon-assisted low viscosity Onyx embolization seems an effective method for the emer…
Depressive symptoms and childhood sleep apnea syndrome
2012
Marco Carotenuto,1 Maria Esposito,1 Lucia Parisi,2 Beatrice Gallai,3 Rosa Marotta,4 Antonio Pascotto,1 Michele Roccella21Sleep Clinic for Developmental Age, Clinic of Child and Adolescent Neuropsychiatry, Second University of Naples, Naples, Italy; 2Child Neuropsychiatry, Department of Psychology, University of Palermo, Palermo, Italy; 3Unit of Child and Adolescent Neuropsychiatry, University of Perugia, Perugia, 4Department of Psychiatry, "Magna Graecia" University of Catanzaro, Catanzaro, ItalyBackground: The relationship between sleep and mood regulation is well known, and some reports suggest a key role of sleep-related breathing disorders (SRBD) in the development of …
The rorschach test evaluation in chronic childhood migraine: A preliminary multicenter case-control study
2017
Object Migraine headache prevalence ranges from 1.2 to 3.2% at 7 years of age, increasing with age up to 4-19% in adolescents.1 The aim of the present study is investigating the personality style associated with children and adolescent affected by Migraine without aura (MwA), through administration of the projective Rorschach test and statistical comparison with a group of age- and sex matched healthy controls. Methods 137 patients (74 males and 63 females), aged 7.3–17.4 years (mean age 11.4, SD 3.02 years), affected by MwA according to the IHs-3 criteria. The projective Rorschach test has been administrered to all the cases and controls. Statistical comparisons of groups were performed th…
Typical asymmetry in the hemispheric activation during an fMRI verbal comprehension paradigm is related to better performance in verbal and non-verba…
2018
Chronic exposure to seizures in patients with left hemisphere (LH) epileptic focus could favor higher activation in the contralateral hemisphere during language processing, but the cognitive effects of this remain unclear. This study assesses the relationship between asymmetry in hemispheric activation during language fMRI and performance in verbal and non-verbal tasks. Whereas prior studies primarily used fMRI paradigms that favor frontal lobe activation and less prominent activation of the medial or superior temporal lobes, we used a verbal comprehension paradigm previously demonstrated to activate reliably receptive language areas. Forty-seven patients with drug-resistant epilepsy candid…
Force Control and Motor Unit Firing Behavior Following Mental Fatigue in Young Female and Male Adults
2020
Purpose: The neuromuscular mechanisms leading to impaired motor performance in the presence of mental fatigue remain unclear. It is also unknown if mental fatigue differentially impacts motor performance in males and females. The purpose of this study was to assess the impact of mental fatigue on force production and motor unit (MU) firing behavior in males and females. Methods: Nineteen participants performed 10-s isometric dorsiflexion (DF) contractions at 20 and 50% maximum voluntary contraction (MVC) before, during, and after completing 22 min of the psychomotor vigilance task (PVT), to induce mental fatigue. The DF force and indwelling MU firing behavior of the tibialis anterior (TA) w…
White cord syndrome after non-contiguous double-level anterior cervical decompression and fusion (ACDF): A “no reflow phenomenon”?
2017
Abstract Study design Case report and review of literature. Objective To report a rare complication of anterior cervical decompression and fusion (ACDF) in a patient with severe cervical cord compression and review of relevant literature. Introduction The white cord syndrome is a very rare condition characterized by an ischemic-edematous lesion of the spinal cord following a surgical procedure, lacking intra o perioperative surgical or anesthesiological complications. Case report A 64-years old male affected by a severe cervical stenosis at multiple levels, with voluminous C3–C4 and C5–C6 disc herniations associated to T2-hyperintense myelomalacic area at C3–C4 level was admitted to our Uni…
Stroke Care Within the COVID-19 Pandemic—Increasing Awareness of Transient and Mild Stroke Symptoms Needed
2020
Background: The COVID-19 pandemic might affect health care resources and alter patient admission to hospital in case of stroke or transient ischemic attack (TIA). We aim to determine whether the COVID-19 pandemic is affecting utilization of recanalization procedures and numbers of patients with stroke and TIA admitted to a primary care stroke center.Methods: In this retrospective observational study, we compared patients admitted from January 2019 until February 2020 with patients admitted during the COVID-19 pandemic (March/April 2020) in Germany. We included patients with stroke (hemorrhagic or ischemic) or TIA as classified by International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Rela…
Positive Effect of Steroids in Posterior Reversible Encephalopathy Syndrome
2019
We present a case of posterior reversible encephalopathy syndrome with severe clinical manifestation. Apart from initial aphasia, hemiparesis, and a generalized seizure, the patient had a prolonged loss of consciousness. Although blood pressure was normalized, the clinical status deteriorated continuously. After adding steroids to the therapy, the patient recovered rapidly, suggesting that this could have been a useful therapeutic approach. Even the vasogenic edema in the cerebral magnetic resonance imaging disappeared shortly within 6 days.