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Case Reports 2007; 28(3): 255-258 PubMed PMID: 17627258 Citation  Keywords:  Adult, Brain:pathology, Dandy-Walker Syndrome:pathology, Humans, Kallmann Syndrome:pathology, Male, Tomography, X-Ray Computed,.   

BACKGROUND & AIM: Dandy-Walker malformation, a rare congenital brain malformation, is described as a triad of cystic dilatation of the fourth ventricle, complete or partial agenesis of the cerebellar vermis, and an enlarged posterior fossa with elevated tentorium. We aimed to report an association of Kallmann's syndrome and Dandy-Walker malformation.r />r /> CASE: A fifteen years old boy was referred to endocrinology department due to delayed puberty. Stages of male genital development according to Marshall and Tanner, was stage G1 and P1 respectively. In the LHRH test, peak LH level was 40th min.:15.3 IU/ml. Peak growth hormone with insulin tolerance test was 14.5 microg/L. Olfactory test revealed light anosmia. With these findings the patient was accepted as isolated gonadotropin deficiency (Kalmann's syndrome). In computed tomography of the brain, cerebellar vermis was found to be hypoplastic and 4th ventricle was large and in posterior fossa broad hypodens area with cerebrospinal fluid density were seen (Dandy-Walker malformation).r />r /> CONCLUSION: We reported an association of Kallmann's syndrome and Dandy-Walker malformation. This is second reported case probably....

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Case Reports 2007; 28(3): 252-254 PubMed PMID: 17627257 Citation  Keywords:  Diabetes Mellitus, Type 2:complications, Humans, Male, Middle Aged, Myelinolysis, Central Pontine:etiology,.   

: Central pontin myelinolysis and extra-pontin myelinolysis (CPM/EPM) implies the clinical picture after rapid recovery of hyponatremia or hyponatremia alone. SPM/EPM picture can occur without hyponatremia. Findings such as dysarthria, dysphagia, tetraparesia/plegy accompanies the clinical table. Our case was also diabetic, but there were no electrolyte imbalance in admission. The presence of diarrhea in medical history of the patient might indicate a short-term undetected electrolyte imbalance. In our diabetic case that has borderline metabolic status and lack of any detected electrolyte imbalance, we decided to present SPM/EPM table together with literature information....

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Letter 2007; 28(3): 250-251 PubMed PMID: 17627256 Citation  Keywords:  Adult, Brain Stem Neoplasms:diagnostic imaging, Female, Glioma:diagnostic imaging, Humans, Indium Radioisotopes, Receptors, Somatostatin:analysis, Somatostatin:analogs & derivatives, Tomography, Emission-Computed, Single-Photon,.   

: In diffuse brainstem gliomas often surgical biopsies cannot be obtained. The diagnosis relies upon imaging criteria, first line being MRI. Gliomas generally express somatostatin receptors (SSTR), which might enable receptor imaging. We present the case of a female adolescent with acute onset of hallucinations, dysphagia and diplopia. MRI detected a suggestive large pontine glioma. This lesion presented with marked In-111-pentreotide tracer uptake. SSTR-scan provided information about SSTR-expression, tumour viability and extension. Radiopeptide therapy for selected patients might be discussed....

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Letter 2007; 28(3): 247-249 PubMed PMID: 17627255 Citation  Keywords:  Humans, Microscopy, Electron, Purkinje Cells:ultrastructure,.   

: Conventional electron microscopy of human cerebellar cortex has revealed two types of Purkinje neurons with different staining intensities. The light-stained type constitute the major type and both types have similar diameters. This finding was not reported in human before but in lower mammalian. Whether the different staining pattern of Purkinje neurons implies a specific histo-functional aspect a pathological one or histological artifacts is not known....

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Journal Article 2007; 28(3): 231-246 PubMed PMID: 17627254 Citation  Keywords:  Brain:physiology, Consciousness, Dissociative Disorders:etiology, Epilepsy, Temporal Lobe:complications, Humans, Memory, Neural Networks (Computer), Psychotic Disorders:physiopathology,.   

: Dissociated states represent pathological conditions where psychological trauma may emerge in a variety of forms such as psychic dissociative symptoms (hallucinations, derealization etc.) or on the other hand as somatoform symptoms (paroxysms, loss of motor control, involuntary movements etc.). Recent findings suggest that neurophysiological level of dissociative phenomena may be linked to the same neurophysiological principles that emerge in multi-stable perception of ambiguous stimuli likely caused by competing interpretations with mutual exclusivity. At this time there is evidence that temporal lobe seizure activity can produce dissociative syndrome and from these findings may be inferred that temporal lobe epileptic activity existing independently of neurological focal may share common neurobiological mechanism with dissociative symptoms. This conceptualization of dissociative phenomena is also in accordance with findings that originate from the study of the relationship between epilepsy and mental illness. The relationship was for the first time described in Meduna's concept of antagonism between epilepsy and psychosis and from the study of forced normalization introduced by Landolt in 1950s. The findings reported similar pathological conditions as in dissociative states when psychopathological symptoms and paroxysms may represent two different forms of the pathological process. Following the concept of forced normalization Tellenbach in 1965 introduced the term alternative psychosis implicating that stopping seizures does not mean vanishing or inactivity of the pathological state and that the epilepsy is still active subcortically and supplies energy for psychopathological symptoms. In the present review chaos in brain neural networks as a possible explanation of the relationship between dissociation and epileptic activity has been suggested that represents testable hypothesis for future research....

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Journal Article 2007; 28(3): 221-229 PubMed PMID: 17627253 Citation  Keywords:  Carcinoma, Papillary:genetics, Gene Rearrangement, Genotype, Humans, Neoplasms, Radiation-Induced:genetics, Phenotype, Proto-Oncogenes, Receptor, trkA:genetics, Thyroid Neoplasms:genetics,.   

: Papillary thyroid carcinoma (PTC) represents an example of tumour with high incidence of oncogenic sequences, such as RET/PTC and Trk. Both of them arise from the fusion of 3' terminal sequences of TK domain of RET or NTRK1 gene, respectively, with 5' terminal sequences of their activating genes. In case of NTRK1 oncogene, several rearrangement types are observed, characteristic for PTC: Trk (TMP3), Trk-T1, Trk-T2, Trk-T3 and Trk-2h, observed in human breast cancer cell line. Studies from different geographical regions, revealed significant population differences in the incidence of Trk rearrangements (0-50%), while within the same population, the frequency of Trk in spontaneous and radiation-associated PTCs is similar. The results of studies, focused on the correlation between tumour genotype and the histopathological type of tumour, involving cases of both RET/PTC and Trk rearrangements in PTC, are not unequivocal. In many studies, no correlation was observed between the presence of RET and/or NTRK1 rearrangement and such parameters, as patient's age at diagnosis, gender, histopathological type of tumour or clinical stage (TNM stage grouping), although the earliest clinical symptoms and the worst disease outcomes were observed for RET/NTRK1 rearrangement positive tumours. Differences in the rearrangement incidence between male and female patients were associated with the latency period of radiation-associated tumours, being significantly lower in women. In general, it is assumed that oncogenic Trk sequences are typical for the spontaneous type of PTC....

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Biography 2007; 28(3): 219-220 PubMed PMID: 17627252 Citation  Keywords:  History, 20th Century, History, 21st Century, Italy, Physiology,.   

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Journal Article 2007; 28(Suppl 2): 49-50 PubMed PMID: 17558383 Citation  Keywords:  Africa South of the Sahara:epidemiology, Anti-Bacterial Agents:therapeutic use, Antimalarials:therapeutic use, Artemisinins:therapeutic use, Ceftriaxone:therapeutic use, Chloramphenicol:therapeutic use, Diagnosis, Differential, Drug Therapy, Combination, .   

: Review of 497 cases of neuroinfections in 7 tropical clinics in Ethiopia, Uganda, Burundi, Kenya, Sudan within 2000-2007 was performed. 97.5% of all cases was cerebral malaria (40.1%) and bacterial meningitis (56.4%). TB meningitis, cerebral cryptococcosis and sleeping sickness were very rare....

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