Myra Partridge

Antipsychotic medications for the treatment of agitation, aggression, psychosis, and other symptoms of Alzheimer disease (AD) are no better than placebo and may even be harmful, according to a highly publicized study by a team from the University of Southern California Keck School of Medicine. In a statement to the press, the lead author of the study Lon Schneider, MD, professor of psychiatry, neurology, and gerontology at Keck, commented that after 12 weeks participation in a double-blind placebo-controlled trial, no significant differences were seen in symptom improvement in patients taking an antipsychotic drug compared with patients taking placebo

A 50% improvement in function was seen in patients treated with botulinum toxin type A (BTX-A, Botox) for the reduction of spasticity in the wrist, finger, or arm after stroke.

Nontraumatic headaches are challenging for general practitioners (GPs) and emergency department (ED) physicians to diagnose. Studies have shown that migraine headaches in these settings are often misdiagnosed and that patients do not receive proper treatment.

The results of a recent study are changing the way physicians prescribe antiseizure medications to pregnant patients with epilepsy.

A possible link between diabetes and cognitive dysfunction, specifically Alzheimer disease (AD), is becoming increasingly apparent. Indeed, compared with AD risk in healthy persons, the risk of AD development is 65% to 100% greater in persons with diabetes.

Intrathecal baclofen therapy (IBT; Lioresal) may be underused in stroke patients with spasticity, according to a new survey by the National Stroke Association. Of patients responding to the survey, 58% experienced spasticity. Of these, only half (51%) received any type of treatment for their condition.

The direct and indirect costs of ischemic stroke may exceed $2.2 trillion from 2005 to 2050 in the United States, according to research by Devin L. Brown, MD, assistant professor in the Department of Neurology at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, and colleagues.

Men may be 2.2 times more likely than women to transmit multiple sclerosis (MS) to their children.

Mitoxantrone (Novantrone) may benefit patients with recurrent neuromyelitis optica (NMO) also known as Devic disease, an inflammatory disorder that strikes the optic nerves and spinal cord.

The addition of mitoxantrone (Novantrone) to interferon beta-1b (IFN beta-1b, Betaseron) therapy for the treatment of patients with aggressive multiple sclerosis (MS) unresponsive to standard therapy may reduce the number of new enhancing lesions as well as life-threatening risks associated with mitoxantrone therapy.

Ampakines, agents that have been shown to enhance memory, appear to trigger endogenous brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), a natural mechanism in the brain that could restore neuronal viability and synaptic plasticity through increased trophic support.