[An ambulatory regional center for extrapyramidal and cerebellar disorders. 10 years' experience in Campania]. / Un centro ambulatoriale regionale per le malattie extrapiramidali e cerebellari. Dieci anni di esperienza in Campania.

This study concerns an analysis of outpatients seen at a Regional Clinic for Extrapyramidal and Cerebellar Disorders during the period 1974-1984. The main findings to emerge from this study are: 1) a predominance of males; 2) peak attendance figures correlated with precise factors; 3) the geographic origin of patients reflected the distance from the Regional Clinic and the relationship between local physicians and physicians at the Regional Clinic. Lastly, this epidemiological study has led to improvements in specific protocols for the management of the long-term outpatient, and to an increase in the number of patients attending the Center.

A double-blind, cross-over trial with madopar HBS in patients with Parkinson's disease.

Fourteen patients with Parkinson's disease and motor fluctuations were given 125 mg of Madopar HBS or placebo twice a day in addition to their optimal standard Madopar treatment in a double-blind, cross-over study. Clinical response was evaluated by the King's College Hospital Parkinson's Disease Rating Scale, the Mobility in Bed Scale and self-scoring diaries. A significant improvement with the drug was found according to the rating scales, whereas evaluation by self-scoring diaries showed no significant changes. In three patients we observed worsening of abnormal involuntary movements. The present trial suggests that a low dose of Madopar HBS can be useful in addition to levodopa therapy in some patients on long-term treatment.

Benign essential tremor. A clinical survey of 82 patients from Campania, a region of southern Italy.

We report a clinical survey of 82 patients with benign essential tremor (ET). Sixty five patients had a positive family history. Onset age showed two peaks before 20 years and in the sixth decade. Segregation analysis confirmed an autosomal dominant inheritance. Head tremor occurred mainly in aged women, mental symptoms occurred mainly in subjects with a low onset age and a disabling tremor. An early onset age was not related to paternal or maternal transmission. In one family ET was associated with retinitis pigmentosa and ichthyosis.

[Chronic experimentation with TRH administered intramuscularly in spinocerebellar degeneration. Double-blind cross-over study in 30 subjects]. / Sperimentazione cronica del TRH per via intramuscolare nelle degenerazioni spino-cerebellari. Studio in doppio cieco cross-over su 30 soggetti.

Thyrotropin-releasing hormone (TRH) has been reported to improve the clinical picture of patients with the predominantly cerebellar form of spinocerebellar degeneration. The authors performed a double-blind, double cross-over, four-month trial, where TRH, at the daily dose of 2 and 4 mg, and placebo were given intramuscularly over a period of one month each. Sixteen patients with Friedreich's disease and 14 patients with different forms of spinocerebellar degeneration completed the trial. Features of cerebellar involvement, such as dysarthria, dysmetria and stance ataxia, showed a slight but significant improvement during TRH treatment. TRH was well tolerated. Transient nausea was the most frequent side-effect.

A hemagglutinin specific for sialic acids in a rat brain synaptic vesicle-enriched fraction.

A hemagglutinating activity was detected in a synaptic vesicle-enriched fraction prepared from adult rat brain, using trypsinized glutaraldehyde-fixed rabbit erythrocytes. The specific activity of the fraction, in two series of experiments, was 7.5 and 16-fold higher than in the other subcellular fractions. The activity was absent from the synaptosome cytosol. In a study using twenty-five different carbohydrates and glycoproteins, best inhibitors were N-acetylneuraminic acid and N-glycolylneuraminic acid, together with bovine submaxillary mucin and a glycopeptide fraction prepared from rabbit erythrocyte membranes. The activity was thermolabile and very sensitive to proteolytic enzymes (but insensitive to neuraminidase) indicating that a protein (agglutinin) is responsible for the activity. Experiments using detergents and high ionic strength showed that the agglutinin is tightly bound to membranes, inactivated by the so-called non denaturing detergents, and stable in diluted sodium dodecyl sulphate. Hypotheses are discussed on the possible function of the agglutinin.