Cystatin C, alias post-gamma-globulin: a marker for multiple sclerosis?

Cystatin C, alias post-gamma-globulin or gamma-trace protein, has been shown to be a potent inhibitor of cysteine proteinases; this protein is normally present in different biological fluids, but particularly so in cerebrospinal fluid. The concentration of cystatin C was determined by radial immunodiffusion in cerebrospinal fluid from patients affected with multiple sclerosis, patients affected with various neurological diseases and in controls; it was also determined in brain tissue from 2 patients affected with multiple sclerosis and 3 control brains. Cystatin C cerebrospinal fluid levels were undetectable or depressed in many multiple sclerosis cases and the median value differed significantly from the control one. Its low concentration in multiple sclerosis suggests that the regulation of cysteine proteinases is impaired in this disease; hence enhanced activity of cysteine proteinases could initiate, or increase the breakdown of myelin. Although it is perhaps a little premature to consider cystatin C as a marker for multiple sclerosis, this protein is nevertheless associated to demyelination; consequently its biochemical assay in cerebrospinal fluid is recommended as a complementary diagnostic tool.     

Unilateral pseudobulbar syndrome with limited capsulothalamic infarction

A unilateral pseudobulbar syndrome consequent to unilateral capsulothalamic infarction is described. Motor deficit of the face was associated with marked velar and pharyngeal unilateral palsy; paresis of limbs was mild. ACT scan revealed a circumscribed infarction of the genu of the internal capsule. This raised the problem of unilateral supranuclear pharyngeal palsies and of the precise anatomy of the genicular tract in the genu of the internal capsule.     

Posterior ischemic optic neuropathy during general surgery

We examined two patients who awoke with profound bilateral visual loss after operations under general anesthesia. Their fundi, initially normal, later showed bilateral optic atrophy. Neither patient showed other neurologic deficits, although one demonstrated radiologic evidence of a small cerebral infarction in the deep white matter. These patients probably suffered intraoperative infarction of the retrobulbar segments of both optic nerves, producing posterior ischemic optic neuropathy. Profound systemic hypotension may have been a contributing factor in one patient, the use of the pump-oxygenator in the other, and anemia in both.     

Minimizing macrovessel signal in cerebral perfusion imaging using independent component analysis.

The pronounced susceptibility effect of macrovessels in MR bolus-tracking studies induces spots of artificially high blood flow and volume in perfusion parameter images. These high-intensity regions impede the detection of perfusion changes and lead to elevated perfusion parameters in adjacent tissues. The purpose of this work was to explore postprocessing methods to reduce the influence of macrovessel signal in dynamic MRI. After data reduction was performed with the use of a principal component analysis (PCA), an independent component analysis (ICA) was applied to separate signal components of different compartments. Based on this decomposition, the dynamic time series were reconstructed with minimized contributions of macrovessel signal and noise. The influence of the temporal resolution and signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) of the source data were investigated by means of a simulation study. A region-of-interest (ROI)-based analysis of corrected and uncorrected in vivo data demonstrated that the influence of arteries and veins was reduced at least by 50%, while gray matter (GM) and white matter (WM) tissues were nearly unaffected by the correction process. Hemodynamic parameter images of the cerebral blood volume (CBV), cerebral blood flow (CBF), and mean transit time (MTT) were calculated from corrected and uncorrected scans. The corrected parameter images showed a clearly reduced macrovessel signal and an improved perceptibility of microvascular perfusion changes compared to the uncorrected ones.     

Einsatz von Bone-morphogenetic Protein-7 (BMP-7) in der Behandlung von Pseudarthrosen der oberen und unteren Extremität

Bone morphogenetic proteins (BMPs) are bone growth factors, which regulate bone formation during fetal development and bone repair after injury in postfetal life. Since 1992 BMP-7 has been produced by recombinant technique (rhBMP-7). Numerous animal models and clinical trials have shown that rhBMP-7 can induce de novo bone formation in segmental defects of bones and in cases of nonunion. Since 2001 rhBMP-7 has been approved for treatment of tibial nonunion in Europe. The effect of rhBMP-7 is comparable to the clinical and radiological results achieved with bone autografts. The problem of donor site morbidity (which occurs in up to 20% of all cases) is eliminated by the use of BMP-7. Long-term results and experience in clinical practice are not yet available.     

Group versus individual treatment in obsessions without compulsions

The principal goal of the current study was to compare the efficacy of two treatment formats, group and individual, of an empirically proven manualized cognitive–behavioural treatment (CBT) package, for obsessions without overt compulsions. It was hypothesized that individualized treatment would be more effective both in terms of post-treatment group mean improvement and end state functioning. A secondary goal was to assess the relationship between cognitive and behavioural change during treatment and link it to symptom change. Both group and individual CBT format produced a significant clinical change, but as expected individual treatment produced the greater change in symptoms and in obsessional belief. Also, the individual format showed a clear superiority over the group format in the reduction of anxiety and depression. Severity of OCD symptoms showed little relationship with strength of obsessional beliefs at the start of treatment, but change in beliefs was strongly correlated with behavioural improvement post-treatment. The results of the study suggest that the impact of a group format may lie in the value of shared social support and motivational effect of peer feedback, but at the expense of individualized targets. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.