Selegiline versus oxiracetam in patients with Alzheimer-type dementia.

The efficacy and tolerability of the monoamine oxidase B inhibitor selegiline and of the nootropic agent oxiracetam were compared in a single-blind, controlled, parallel study. The trial involved 22 men and 18 women with mild-to-moderate senile and presenile dementia of the Alzheimer type. The treatments were administered for 90 consecutive days as follows: one 10-mg selegiline tablet once daily and one 800-mg oxiracetam tablet twice daily. Efficacy was evaluated by means of a complex battery of neuropsychological tests, administered monthly for three months, starting from baseline. Safety was evaluated by monitoring adverse drug reactions as well as any pathological changes in hematology, blood chemistry, or liver and kidney function, measured at baseline and again at the conclusion of the study. Analysis of the results demonstrates that, at the dosage used, selegiline is more effective than oxiracetam in improving higher cognitive functions and reducing impairment in daily living. In particular, short- and long-term memory, sustained concentration, attention, verbal fluency, and visuospatial abilities were, for the most part, positively affected by selegiline. Gastroenteric and systemic tolerability of both drugs was also very good.

Variations in the 5-hydroxy-indoleacetic acid concentration in the cerebrospinal fluid during the sleep-wake cycle in man.

A variation in the ventricular fluid 5-HIAA concentration has been observed during the phases of the sleep-wake cycle in man. This variation affects the NREM phase, during which 5-HIAA increases markedly, rather than the waking state and the REM phase. The results are discussed in relation to the possible relevance of serotonin to the sleep mechanism.

[Limb-girdle muscular dystrophy: clinical, hereditary and histological features: study of a family (author's transl)]. / Distrofia muscolare dei cingoli: evidenze cliniche, ereditarie ed istologiche. Studio di una famiglia.

The family of an "affected" subject with limb girdle dystrophy has been studied in order to assess the clinical-hereditary characteristics of the disease and to contribute to its definite genetic features (phenotypical expressiveness of the pathologic gene). The diagnosis of certitude was based on the anamnestic-clinical criteria and instrumental investigations, supported by histological and histochemical studies of the muscles. The clinical, electromyographic and biochemical data made it possible to distinguish the "affected" from the "subclinical" and the healthy subjects. The subjects that, without noticeable symptoms of neuromuscular disorders, showed a slight clinical expressiveness which didn't alter the normal social and working activities, have been defined "subclinical". The modalities of hereditary transmission of this form of muscular dystrophy are considered in the light of the genetics most present trends that are tending to overcome the dominant-recessive dualism. The possibility of a modality of transmission definable as "intermediate inheritance" is proposed. In the case of the examined family the hypothesis that a pathologic recessive autosomic gene gives rise to a clinical expressiveness in heterozygote subjects seems tenable. This situation definable as "incomplete recessive" is rarely found in the limb girdle dystrophy.

Circadian variation in 5-hydroxyindoleacetic acid levels in human cerebrospinal fluid.

Circadian variation of 5-hydroxyindoleacetic acid (5-HIAA) in the ventricular fluid of 5 neurosurgical cases is examined. The 5-HIAA level increases progressively during the day (highest values at 24.00 h) and returns to the initial level the following day at 6.00 h. The results are discussed.

[Physiopathological and clinical aspects of Parkinson disease. Current problems]. / Aspetti di fisiopatologia e clinica del Parkinson. Problemi attuali.

Some interpretative hypotheses of the most important symptoms of Parkinson's disease are formulated, on the ground of acquired neurohistopathologic elements and in the light of new observations of experimental neuro-physiology. The possible role of the inferior olivary body in the genesis of parkinsonian tremor is pointed out. The psycho-behavioural disorders and among these the severe weakness of pulsional control and the scanty elaboration of the affective-emotional motivation would be in relation, according to the Authors, to the involvement of the pallido-habenular pathways and the habenuloreticular midbrain outflow (limbic midbrain area).