Hyperthermia after discontinuance of levodopa and bromocriptine therapy: impaired dopamine receptors a possible cause

Hyperthermia, with no signs of any underlying infection, may occur in the course of neuroleptic malignant syndrome, fatal catatonia, heat stroke, or malignant hyperthermia. We describe hyperthermia as a complication after discontinuance of antiparkinsonian treatment with levodopa/carbidopa and bromocriptine. Impaired nigrostriatal, hypothalamic, and mesolimbic dopaminergic functions could be involved in pathogenesis.     

New heterocyclic derivatives of benzimidazole with germicidal activity. III. Synthesis and activity of derivatives of (formyl-5'-furyl-2')-2-benzimidazole with different substitutions at position 5

The synthesis and germicidal properties of 28 new derivatives of furyl-2-benzimidazole are described. The compounds are substituted both in position 5 of the benzene moiety and in position 5' of the heterocycle moiety. The germicidal properties of the new molecules were tested using 9 strains of bacteria and Candida albicans. Some of them exhibited germicidal properties versus Gram + bacteria and versus Candida. Some derivatives were also tested using Mycobacterium aurum: two isonicotinoylhydrazones derivatives exhibited tubercolostatic activity comparable to that of streptomycin and not much lower than that of isoniazide.     

Abnormal pattern of luteinizing hormone pulsatility in women with epilepsy

Dysfunction of the hypothalamic-pituitary-ovarian axis in epileptic females has been suggested in the latest years. To further elucidate this issue, we assessed reproductive endocrine function in 10 normally cycling, drug-free epileptic women and in 5 normal controls, evaluating the basal hormonal profile and luteinizing hormone (LH) pulsatility in the midfollicular phase. Luteinizing hormone pulse frequency was significantly higher in epileptic women with a consequent reduction of the LH interpulse interval. We suggest that epilepsy may interfere with the functional activity of the gonadotropin-releasing hormone pulse generator. The pathogenetic mechanisms for this phenomenon may be the spreading of paroxysmal activity within the hypothalamic areas or, alternatively, a neurotransmitter dysfunction giving rise both to the seizure disorder and to the abnormal LH pulsatile pattern.     

The physiopathology of supranuclear structures in oculomotor disorders

Several structures, located at different levels in the Central Nervous System (CNS), collaborate to the control and realization of ocular movements (O.M.) Therefore, alterations of oculomotricity, of varying degree and of different kinds, may be found in a lot of diseases of the CNS. The study of O.M., expecially when carried out by means of specific techniques such as electro-oculography, may represent an useful tool in the diagnosis (both from a topographic and an etiological standpoint) and in the follow-up of patients, possibly also allowing a precise evaluation of therapy effectiveness. In this review the Authors briefly examine the role of the supranuclear structures mostly involved in the control and in the execution of oculomotricity and the characteristics of the different types of O.M. (rapid and slow, vergence movements). Successively, they analyze the semeiological features of supra-nuclear disturbances of O.M., describing alterations of saccadic movements (slowing, dysmetria) and of smooth pursuit, fixation instability (square waves, flutter, opsoclonus, nystagmus,...) and other alterations of O.M. (ocular bobbing, see-saw nystagmus, skew deviation,...). Successively, disturbances of O.M. are analyzed in relation to their topodiagnostic significance, describing oculomotor involvements due to focal lesions of different areas of CNS (frontal cortex, parieto-occipital cortex, basal ganglia, cerebellum, brainstem) and particular syndromes (Foville syndromes, locked-in syndrome, Parinaud syndrome, anterior internuclear ophthalmoplegia, "one and a half" syndrome, Balint syndrome,...). Finally, particular attention is drawn to the oculomotor disturbances observed in degenerative cerebellar and multisystemic diseases, and several abnormal "oculomotor patterns", which seem to be specifically related to particular diseases, are described. In particular, the oculomotor patterns of Steele-Richardson-Olszewsky disease (slowing and hypometria of horizontal saccades, loss of upward saccades with preservation of reflex movements) and of Friedreich ataxia (fixation instability mostly due to the occurrence of square waves, saccadic dysmetria, impairment of smooth pursuit) are stressed.     

Simulation of radioactive decay in GEANT Monte Carlo codes: Comparison between spectra and efficiencies computed with sch2for and G4RadioactiveDecay

Two CERN Monte Carlo codes, i.e. GEANT3.21 and GEANT4, were compared. The specific routine (sch2for), implemented in GEANT3.21 to simulate a disintegration process, and the G4RadioactiveDecay class, provided by GEANT4, were used for the computation of the full-energy-peak and total efficiencies of several radionuclides. No reference to experimental data was involved. A level of agreement better than 1% for the total efficiency and a deviation lower than 3.5% for the full-energy-peak efficiencies were found.