Clusterlike Headache as a First Sign of Brain Metastases of Lung Cancer

We report on a patient with clusterlike headache and multiple brain metastases of lung cancer. Initially, cluster headache was suggested clinically by characteristic symptoms without any focal central nervous system signs. However, magnetic resonance imaging demonstrated multiple brain metastases. It is possible that tumor necrosis factor may have played a role in initiating the clusterlike headache.     

Variations in prolactin secretion in hyper- and normoprolactinaemia with or without galactorrhoea

The circadian variations and secretory rhythms in prolactin secretion were examined in 10 hyperprolactinaemic and 10 normoprolactinaemic women with or without galactorrhoea in order to establish a clearer picture of this secretion and to find, if exists, correlation between the prolactin level and galactorrhoea. In the normoprolactinaemic women a rhythmical rise and fall were observed within 20 min, with higher values during nocturnal sleeping; these changes were more marked in the galactorrhoeic group. In the hyperprolactinaemic group the diurnal and pulsation changes were less pronounced, galatorrhoea usually being accompanied by a higher degree of hyperprolactinaemia. In galactorrhoeic patients with a normal basal prolactin level, a relative prolactin excess may be reckoned with at certain times. A proportion of these women can in fact then be regarded as hyperprolactinaemic. In the hyperprolactinaemic cases without galactorrhoea, a decreased prolactin sensitivity and milk-forming ability of the breasts may be assumed.     

Botulinum toxin and neuromotor rehabilitation: An integrated approach to idiopathic cervical dystonia.

Currently, the best treatment option for idiopathic cervical dystonia (ICD) is injection of botulinum toxin (BTX) into the affected muscles, whereas rehabilitative approaches have given disappointing results. We evaluated whether the association of an ad hoc rehabilitative program may improve the clinical efficacy of BTX treatment in a single-center, cross-over, controlled study. Forty patients with ICD were randomly assigned to two different treatment groups: (1) BTX type A (BTX-A) plus a specific program of physical therapy (BTX-PT) or (2) BTX-A alone (BTX-0). Patients in the BTX-PT group showed a longer duration of the clinical benefit (118.8 vs. 99.1 days) and needed a lower dose of BTX at reinjection (284.5 vs. 325.5 units). In addition, they showed more marked reductions in their disability in activities of daily living (-9.7 vs. -4.85 points) and subjective pain (-13.35 vs. 6.95 points) scores. Association of BTX-A therapy with a specific program of physical therapy may improve ICD treatment outcome.     

Clinicopharmacological examination of Anteovin

The effectiveness, side effects and serum FSH, LH, prolactin, estradiol and progesterone levels were monitored in 79 women taking Anteovin for a total of 506 cycles (mean 6.4 cycles). Anteovin is a biphasic oral contraceptive with 11 tablets containing 0.05 mg levonorgestrel and 0.05 mg ethinyl estradiol, and 10 tablets containing 0.125 mg levonorgestrel and 0.05 mg ethinyl estradiol. There were no pregnancies. 11 women dropped out because of hepatomegaly (1), bleeding disorder (3), gastric pain and nausea (1), breast pain (1), nausea and vomiting (1), and personal reasons (4). 10.3% of those continuing reported minor side effects. Menses occurred every 28 days for 3-5 days, with 2 cases of breakthrough bleeding but no oversuppression. Progesterone ranged from 1.5-2.0 nmol/1, estradiol varied between 68-93 pmol/1, LH stayed constant at 6.3-11 U/1, FSH remained at 5.8-6.8 U-1 without a peak, and prolactin levels were lower than those seen in control cycles. These hormone levels all resemble those observed in anovulatory cycles. This pill is especially suitable for teens and nulliparas.     

Integrating support vector machines and neural networks.

Support vector machines (SVMs) are a powerful technique developed in the last decade to effectively tackle classification and regression problems. In this paper we describe how support vector machines and artificial neural networks can be integrated in order to classify objects correctly. This technique has been successfully applied to the problem of determining the quality of tiles. Using an optical reader system, some features are automatically extracted, then a subset of the features is determined and the tiles are classified based on this subset.