ABSTRACT
The cyclic alternating pattern (CAP) is a long-lasting periodic activity consisting of two alternate electroencephalogram (EEG) patterns. This variation in EEG is closely related to fluctuations in the level of arousal that characterize two different functional states in the arousal control mechanism. We studied 20 sleep records of 10 healthy subjects to see if CAP appears under physiologic conditions. During NREM sleep, CAP corresponded to a periodic succession of spontaneous phasic phenomena recurring within every stage, i.e., intermittent alpha rhythm, K-complex sequences, and reactive slow wave sequences. The following analyses were performed. Each EEG specific alternating pattern, defined as a cycle, was subdivided into two phases depending on the arousal response to stimulation. Average cycle length, average duration of each phase, and average ratio phase/cycle were calculated. CAP rate defined as (CAP time/Sleep time) was calculated for total sleep time (TST), (Cap time/TST); for NREM sleep, (CAP time/Total NREM); and for each NREM sleep stage. CAP is the EEG translation of the reorganization of the sleeping brain challenged by the modification of environmental conditions.
Subject(s)
Electroencephalography , Sleep Stages , Acoustic Stimulation , Adult , Arousal , Evoked Potentials , Female , Humans , Male , Photic Stimulation , Sleep, REMABSTRACT
Some antiepileptic drugs, when administered at toxic plasma levels or more rarely at levels within the therapeutic range, induce asterixis. We report the case of a patient with painful syndrome of central origin being treated with carbamazepine, in which asterixis appeared with toxic serum levels. A pharmacologic interference was also observed between carbamazepine and beta-methyldigoxin, which in our patient was being used to treat disease. The blood digoxin levels were inversely proportional to those of carbamazepine. The therapeutic effectiveness of digoxin being sharply reduced when carbamazepine reached toxic levels.
Subject(s)
Carbamazepine/adverse effects , Digoxin/analogs & derivatives , Medigoxin/administration & dosage , Movement Disorders/chemically induced , Aged , Carbamazepine/administration & dosage , Carbamazepine/blood , Drug Interactions , Drug Therapy, Combination , Electroencephalography , Humans , Male , Medigoxin/blood , Movement Disorders/diagnosisABSTRACT
Autoscopy is an hallucinatory phenomenon during which the subject see his own image. It may be caused by organic processes like migraine, vascular diseases, tumoral lesions, and exceptionally by epileptic seizure. The case of 15 years old boy is reported, affected by hemianopia, surgically treated squint, who presented occipital epileptic seizures consisting of autoscopic hallucinations, leftward conjugate eye deviation, followed by a typical major seizures. A right parieto-occipital epileptic focus was a constant finding on EEG. On CT a poroencephalic cyst in the corresponding cerebral region could be demonstrated.
