Subacute combined degeneration of the spinal cord: MR findings.

The authors present the initial and follow-up MR findings in a patient with subacute combined degeneration of the spinal cord, a complication of vitamin B12 deficiency, and a rare cause of demyelination of the dorsal and lateral columns of the spinal cord. Initial study showed high intensity in the dorsal columns of the cervical and thoracic spinal cord on T2-weighted image. Five months after treatment, the abnormal signal intensity was noted to have decreased.

Establishing brain death in South Carolina: a clinician's guide.

With recent technological and medical advances, basic cardiopulmonary function can now be prolonged in many patients. Concurrently, organ transplantations have become more common and interest in living wills has increased. As a result, the South Carolina physician is increasingly obligated to determine whether a patient receiving cardiopulmonary support is dead due to irreversible cessation of brain function (ICBF) (brain dead). Here we review the bedside clinical valuation of brain death (ICBF), the adjunctive use of the EEG and other tests, and the South Carolina laws pertaining to this complex decision.

CSF viral antibodies. Evaluation in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis and late-onset postpoliomyelitis progressive muscular atrophy.

Serum and CSF from 48 patients with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis and six patients with late-onset postpoliomyelitis progressive muscular atrophy were investigated for the presence of antibody to poliovirus types 1, 2, and 3, coxsackie viruses B3 and B4, influenza A, measles, rubella, mumps, herpes simplex types 1 and 2, cytomegalovirus, varicella-zoster, and Toxoplasma gondii. These results were compared with those from 53 control patients with neuromuscular disease matched for age, sex, race, and poliovirus vaccine exposure. There was no difference either in distribution of serum or CSF antibody titers or the geometric-mean antibody titers. There was no evidence suggesting the presence of locally produced specific viral antibody within the CNS to any of the agents studied. In particular, there was no serological evidence to suggest an association between persistent infection with any poliovirus type and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis or late-onset postpoliomyelitis progressive muscular atrophy.

Lack of association between defective delinquents and antibody of herpesvirus hominis.

Several groups have reported a relation between herpesvirus hominis infection and certain psychiatric disorders. We have investigated herpes antibody levels in chronic criminal offenders who were diagnosed as defective delinquents and in criminals who were not defective delinquents. We found no difference in the frequency of titers of herpesvirus type I or type 2 antibody in these groups.