ABSTRACT
In this retrospective (1980-1998) study, we have analyzed clinico-demographically, from the records of the University Hospital of Fortaleza (Brazil), a group of 87 patients showing signs and symptoms of motor neuron diseases (MNDs). Their diagnosis was determined clinically and laboratorially. The WFN criteria were used for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) diagnosis. The clinico-demographic analysis of the 87 cases of MNDs showed that 4 were diagnosed as spinal muscular atrophy (SMA), 5 cases as ALS subsets: 2 as progressive bulbar paralysis (PBP), 2 as progressive muscular atrophy (PMA) and 1 as monomelic amyotrophy (MA), and 78 cases of ALS. The latter comprised 51 males and 27 females, with a mean age of 42.02 years. They were sub-divided into 4 groups according to age: from 15 to 29 years (n= 17), 30 to 39 years (n= 18), 40 to 69 years (n= 39) and 70 to 78 years (n= 4). From the 78 ALS patients, 76 were of the classic sporadic form whilst only 2 were of the familial form. The analysis of the 87 patients with MNDs from the University Hospital of Fortaleza showed a predominance of ALS patients, with a high number of cases of juvenile and early onset adult sporadic ALS
Subject(s)
Humans , Male , Female , Adolescent , Adult , Middle Aged , Hospitals, University , Motor Neuron Disease/diagnosis , Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis/diagnosis , Brazil , Bulbar Palsy, Progressive/diagnosis , Muscular Atrophy, Spinal/diagnosis , Retrospective Studies , Risk FactorsABSTRACT
Baclofen (Beta-p-chlorophenyl-GABA) has been used in humans to treat spasticity, as well as trigeminal neuralgia Since GABA (gamma-aminobutyric acid) has been implicated in inhibitory and analgesic effects in the nervous system, it was of interest to study the effect of baclofen in experimental neuropathic pain. With this purpose, experiments were carried out in 17 neuropathic rats with constrictive sciatic injury, as described by Bennet and Xie (1988), taking as pain parameters scratching behaviour and the latency to the thermal nociceptive stimulus. The results showed that baclofen induces, in a dose-dependent manner, significant decrease (p<0.05) of scratching behaviour and significant increase (p<0.05) of the latency to the nociceptive thermal stimulus. The absence of antagonism of naloxone suggested a non-participation of an opioid-mediated mechanism in this analgesic effect of baclofen on experimental neuropathic pain.
Subject(s)
Animals , Male , Rats , Baclofen/pharmacology , Behavior, Animal/drug effects , GABA Agonists/pharmacology , Pain/physiopathology , Peripheral Nervous System Diseases/physiopathology , Pruritus , Sciatic Nerve/pathology , Chronic Disease , Naloxone/pharmacology , Narcotic Antagonists/therapeutic use , Pruritus/drug therapy , Rats, WistarABSTRACT
HTLV-I infection and associated myelopathy has been reproduced experimentally in vitro and in vivo and these studies have shown the possibility of creating several lines of infective cells and of detecting minor and major clinical expressions of HTLV-I associated myelopathy in rabbits and rats.