Unusual combination of cerebral dysplasias. Report of two cases.

Two types of a rare combination of cerebral malformations originating from parenchymal and/or vascular developmental disorders are described. In the first case, there is a coincidence of aneurysm, AVM, persistent trigeminal artery and arachnoid cyst. In the second case a giant infratentorial aneurysm, dural AVM and haemangioma of the neck are combined. The underlying disturbances of gestation in the multiple dysplasias are discussed in their embryological context. Both cases were considered by neurosurgeons as well as neuroradiologists to be untreatable.

Peripheral neuropathy after administration of tetanus toxoid.

A reversible paresis of several muscles of the right arm was observed in a 20-year-old female, 3 weeks after the intragluteal injection of tetanus toxoid and 6--7 weeks after multiple injuries. The EMG findings indicated a transitory conduction block of nerve fibers to the deltoid and pectoralis muscles and a more severe axonal-demyelinating lesion of fibers to the biceps muscle. The cause of the palsy was probably a reaction to the administration of tetanus toxoid; other possible causes are discussed.

The development of periodicity of heart rate and respiration during sleep in newborn babies.

Polygraphic records of EEG, ocular movements, respiration, and heart rate were made continuously in 10 full term babies between 2 and 7 days old. Power spectral analysis was then computed for heart and respiratory rate. The period durations obtained by this method ranged from 20 to 70 minutes. Most of the power spectra showed two maxima. In many cases cycles of respiration and heart rate were not identical. The experiments show that newborns have two separate cycles with different period durations. Most probably the shorter cycle originates from the fetal life, the longer one represents the development of the periodicity of the adult.

[Studies on the effect of drugs on somatosensory cortical evoked potentials (author's transl)]. / Untersuchungen zur Beeinflussung kortikaler somatosensorischer Reizantwortpotentiale durch Pharmaka

The effect of the following drugs in therapeutic doses on somatosensory cortical evoked potentials was studied: methamphetamine, chlorpromazine, imipramine, diazepam, phenobarbital, pethidine, and novaminesulfone. Physiological saline was used as control. Each of these compounds was studied in 5 healthy subjects. Three evoked potentials were recorded before, and another three after administration of the drug. Each potential was averaged from 1024 single stimuli. None of the drugs, led to marked changes of the evoked potential, i.e., all data (latencies, amplitudes) were within the double standard deviation of the data obtained in normal subjects in a previous study. Although no significant changes were seen, some trends could be observed: methamphetamine and imipramine produced a decrease in the latency of the first positive peak, chlorpromazine increased the latency of the third positive peak. The amplitude of the third peak was reduced under phenobarbital. It is concluded that the drugs investigated in the presents study do not produce significant changes in the somatosensory cortical evoked potential and therefore drug application may be continued when evoked potentials are used for diagnostic purposes.

[Studies on the circadian periodicity in patients with the awakening type of idiopathic epilepsy (author's transl)]. / Untersuchungen zur circadianen Periodik bei der genuinen Epilepsie vom Aufwachtyp

In 6 patients with idiopathic epilepsy of the awakening type and 3 control subjects, the heart rate, body temperature and urinary excretion of sodium, potassium and calcium were measured over 72 h. The patients and the control subjects stayed in the hospital under constant environmental conditions including a standard diet with a constant content of sodium, potassium and calcium. The diet began 2 days before the onset of data collection. No drugs were given during the whole period. The data obtained during the 72-hour period were scored visually concerning the position of the maxima and minima, whereas the period duration was calculated by means of power spectral analysis. The epileptic patients showed more inconstant results concerning the time of maxima and minima as well as the 24-hour periodicity. However, a constant deviation i.e. a constant phase shift or a constant change in period duration into the same direction could not be observed. The different parameters showed different behavior even in the same patient. Thus a constant difference in the circadian periodicity between normal subjects and patients with epilepsy of the awakening type could not be found in the data recorded in the present study.