News
Multidisciplinary Rehab in Acute Stroke: Canadian Model Sign of Things to Come?
February 1st 2007Organized and early acute stroke treatment has been shown to improve functional deficits, reduce the need for institutionalization after stroke, and reduce patient mortality. Today, stroke research has evolved to incorporate an integrated, multidisciplinary treatment approach. Data from a study done in 2005 in Ontario, Canada, demonstrate the utility of providing rapid and integrated acute stroke treatment in a real-world setting. The study evaluated functional outcomes associated with rehabilitation services that are part of a flagship stroke treatment program initiated by the Ontario government. The hope for the future is that this approach to patient management will reduce associated health care costs, which are anticipated to increase dramatically in the coming decades.
SIDS Traced to Aberrant Brain Chemistry
February 1st 2007Sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) is the leading cause of postneonatal death in the United States.1 This unfortunate disorder is characterized by the sudden, unexpected death of an of infant between ages 1 and 12 months whose cause of death remains a mystery in the aftermath of a thorough postmortem examination that includes an autopsy, an investigation of the death scene, and a careful review of the infant's medical history. New research, published in the November 2006 issue of The Journal of the American Medical Association,2 that made recent headlines confirmed earlier research by the same investigative team3,4 showing that serotonergic brain stem abnormalities may be the at the root of SIDS.
Ketamine and NMDA Receptor Antagonists for Depression
February 1st 2007In recent months, it's been the rare week that doesn't come with a report about the dangers of antidepressants. These drugs do have their drawbacks, but the dangers they pose are not their main problem. Their biggest shortcoming is that they don't work very well; fewer than half of the patients treated with them get complete relief, and that relief takes an unacceptably long time 2 o 3 weeks t kick in.
Melanoma and PD: New Findings Absolve Levodopa, Warrant Cancer Screening
February 1st 2007The connection between Parkinson disease (PD) and melanoma is becoming increasingly apparent, leading some researchers to call for increased melanoma screening in the PD population. In addition, researchers are disproving previous theories that levodopa may be implicated in the link between melanoma and PD.
Melanoma and PD: New Findings Absolve Levodopa, Warrant Cancer Screening
February 1st 2007Patients with PD may be at more than twice the risk for the development of malignant melanoma than the general population, according to research by John M. Bertoni, MD, PhD, professor and chair of the Department of Neurology at Creighton University, Omaha, and colleagues.1 He presented the results of this research at the American Neurological Association's 131st Annual Meeting this past October in Chicago.
When Environment and Genes Meet, the Mix Might Be Parkinson Disease
February 1st 2007Theories about the causes of Parkinson disease (PD) are as tangled as the neurofilament proteins of Lewy bodies. However, investigators are teasing out threads of evidence that increasingly implicate environmental factors--perhaps aided and abetted by genetics--as contributors to this common neurodegenerative disorder.
News From The Annual Meeting of the American Epilepsy Society, San Diego, December 1-5, 2006
February 1st 2007Patients with established epilepsy may have a 48% chance of becoming seizure-free, according to research by Nathan B. Fountain, MD, associate professor of neurology, and colleagues at the University of Virginia (UVA), Charlottesville. Although the rate of freedom from seizure is unknown except for in a few specific epilepsy syndromes, the authors hypothesized that the rate may be higher than expected.
Finessing the Fine Line Between Pain Management and Opioid Addiction
February 1st 2007Up to 30% of patients for whom opioids are prescribed for chronic pain show an escalating pattern of opioid abuse characterized by taking more opioids than prescribed, seeking early refills, and finding additional sources of opioids. Although many of these drug-seeking patients are addicted to opioids, some are suffering not from addiction but from inadequate pain management, according to Martha Wunsch, MD, chair of Addiction Medicine and associate professor of pediatrics at Edward Via Virginia College of Osteopathic Medicine (VCOM) in Blacksburg.
Assessing Statins for Alzheimer Disease: Conflicting Evidence
February 1st 2007The second report from the Alzheimer's Disease Cholesterol-Lowering Treatment (ADCLT) trial was recently published, along with several reviews of clinical and laboratory investigations of the statins, in a theme issue of Acta Neurologica Scandinavica. The accumulated data reflect the potential of the agents to affect the onset or course of Alzheimer disease (AD), with contradictory or insufficient evidence of treatment effect.
Clinical Pearls on the Management of Parkinson Disease
February 1st 2007The ideal medication for Parkinson disease (PD) would reduce disability and halt or slow disease progression without intolerable adverse effects. Although such an agent is not yet available, current treatments offer significant symptom control for most patients. The decision about when to start therapy is highly individual; however, delaying treatment because of fear of adverse effects may not be in the patient's best interest.
Parkinson Disease: Essentials of Diagnosis
February 1st 2007Parkinson disease (PD) is the second most common neurodegenerative disorder among elderly persons (after Alzheimer disease [AD]), and the incidence is expected to double in the next 15 to 20 years. About a million Americans have PD which means that it is about 3 times as common as multiple sclerosis and half as common as epilepsy.
Stroke Rare in Absence of Known Risks
January 6th 2007The reason a person has a stroke is no mystery. Results of a Danish study, reported at the 10th Congress of the European Federation of Neurological Societies in Glasgow, Scotland, held September 2 to 5, confirmed that risk factors could be identified in 98.5% of acute ischemic stroke patients.
