Background:
Sexual dysfunction (SD) affects up to 80% of multiple sclerosis (MS) patients and pelvic floor muscles (PFMs) play an important role in the sexual function of these patients.
Objectives:
...The objective of this paper is to evaluate the impact of a rehabilitation program to treat lower urinary tract symptoms on SD of women with MS.
Methods:
Thirty MS women were randomly allocated to one of three groups: pelvic floor muscle training (PFMT) with electromyographic (EMG) biofeedback and sham neuromuscular electrostimulation (NMES) (Group I), PFMT with EMG biofeedback and intravaginal NMES (Group II), and PFMT with EMG biofeedback and transcutaneous tibial nerve stimulation (TTNS) (Group III). Assessments, before and after the treatment, included: PFM function, PFM tone, flexibility of the vaginal opening and ability to relax the PFMs, and the Female Sexual Function Index (FSFI) questionnaire.
Results:
After treatment, all groups showed improvements in all domains of the PERFECT scheme. PFM tone and flexibility of the vaginal opening was lower after the intervention only for Group II. All groups improved in arousal, lubrication, satisfaction and total score domains of the FSFI questionnaire.
Conclusion:
This study indicates that PFMT alone or in combination with intravaginal NMES or TTNS contributes to the improvement of SD.
The educational and cultural heterogeneity of the Brazilian population leads to peculiar characteristics regarding the diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease (AD). This consensus had the objective of ...recommending evidence-based guidelines for the clinical diagnosis of AD in Brazil. Studies on the diagnosis of AD published in Brazil were systematically evaluated in a thorough research of PUBMED and LILACS databases. For global cognitive evaluation, the Mini-Mental State Examination was recommended; for memory evaluation: delayed recall subtest of CERAD or of objects presented as drawings; attention: trail-making or digit-span; language: Boston naming, naming test from ADAS-Cog or NEUROPSI; executive functions: verbal fluency or clock-drawing; conceptualization and abstraction: similarities from CAMDEX or NEUROPSI; construction: drawings from CERAD. For functional evaluation, IQCODE, or Pfeffer Questionnaire or Bayer Scale for Activities of Daily Living was recommended. The panel concluded that the combined use of cognitive and functional evaluation based on interview with informant is recommended.
Mesial temporal lobe epilepsy (MTLE) is usually accompanied by memory deficits due to damage to the hippocampal system. In most studies, however, the influence of hippocampal atrophy (HA) is ...confounded with other variables, such as: type of initial precipitating injury and pathological substrate, effect of lesion (HA) lateralization, history of febrile seizures, status epilepticus, age of seizure onset, duration of epilepsy, seizure frequency, and antiepileptic drugs (AEDs). To investigate the relationship between memory deficits and these variables, we studied 20 patients with MTLE and signs of HA on MRI and 15 MTLE patients with normal high-resolution MRI. The findings indicated that (1) HA, earlier onset of seizures, longer duration of epilepsy, higher seizure frequency, and AEDs (polytherapy) are associated with memory deficits; and (2) there is a close relationship between deficits of verbal memory and left HA, but not between visual memory and right HA.
The etiology of arterial ischemic stroke (AIS) in the young remains unknown in one third of patients. Serum paraoxonase (PON1) is an HDL-associated esterase that hydrolyzes products of lipid ...peroxidation and prevents the oxidation of LDL. Two common polymorphisms in the PON1 gene, the 192 Gln (Q) --> Arg (R) and 55 Leu (L) --> Met (M) substitutions, determine interindividual variation in PON1 activity. The association of these polymorphisms with the risk of AIS remains controversial.
We analyzed 118 patients (64 women) with a first nonfatal AIS occurring <45 years of age and 118 1:1 age (+/-2 years)- and sex-matched controls. The PON1 polymorphisms were determined by polymerase chain reaction amplification and restriction digestion.
The prevalence of the PON1 192RR genotype (P=0.006) and the frequency of the R allele (P=0.010) were significantly increased among young AIS patients compared with controls. After adjustment for conventional vascular and prothrombotic risk factors, the 192RR genotype remained independently associated with a 4-fold increase in the risk of AIS (odds ratio=4.1; 95% CI, 1.14 to 14.73). Subanalyses stratified by the presence of vascular risk factors and ethnicity did not significantly modify the effect of the PON1 192 polymorphism on AIS risk. No significant differences were found between patients and controls regarding the PON1 55 polymorphism.
These findings suggest that the PON 192RR genotype is independently associated with an increased risk of nonfatal AIS among young adults. Further studies are necessary to understand better the mechanistic implications of these observations in the development of AIS in the young.
Several recent studies have analyzed a possible effect of thrombophilia risk factors such as factor V Leiden, the prothrombin variant (allele 20210 A), and homozygosity for thermolabile ...methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase (MTHFR-T) on the development of ischemic stroke (IS). In the present study, we determined the role of these prothrombotic polymorphisms in the early onset of arterial IS or cerebral venous thrombosis (CVT) in a group of young Brazilian adults of Caucasian and African descent.
We conducted a cross-sectional study of 167 survivors of IS (153 patients with arterial IS and 14 cases of CVT; 66 men: 101 women; 124 of Caucasian and 43 of African origin; median age: 32.6 years; range: 15 to 45 years) and compared the prevalence of inherited thrombophilia risk factors with a control group of 225 sex and age matched individuals of the same ethnic background. To determine the interaction with atherogenic risk factors, the following diagnoses were considered: hypertension, hyperlipoproteinemia, diabetes mellitus, smoking status and use of oral contraceptives.
In the arterial IS group, no significant variation was found between patients and controls of Caucasian origin regarding the prevalence of factor V Leiden (P = 0.92), the prothrombin variant (P = 0.13) or homozygosity for MTHFR-T (P = 0.61). Among Brazilians of African descent, 10.3% were homozygous for MTHFR-T, which was significantly elevated, odds ratio of 5.9 (95% CI: 0.88 to 49.15). In the CVT group, two Caucasian patients (20%) were heterozygous for the prothrombin variant, odds ratio of 9.7 (95% CI: 0.95 to 89.71) and one patient was carrier of factor V Leiden (P = 0.49). No prothrombotic polymorphism was identified in patients with CVT of African descent. All women in the CVT group were in use of oral contraceptives or in the post-partum state.
Inherited thrombophilia risk factors were not found to increase the risk of arterial IS among young patients of Caucasian descent. However, a potential role of homozygosity for MTHFR-T was observed in a small group of patients of African origin. The analysis of patients with CVT revealed an increased risk due to the prothrombin gene variant or oral contraceptive use. Further studies including all incoming patients with IS are necessary to evaluate the impact of inherited thrombophilia risk factors on early mortality.
To investigate imaging findings, risk factors and outcome in patients with cerebral venous thrombosis (CVT).
Records of all patients with diagnosis of CVT between 1992 and 2002 were reviewed. ...Patients with CNS infection and with CVT secondary to invasive procedures were excluded. Inherited and acquired thrombophilia were searched in all patients.
Twenty-four patients (18 women, 6 men) with mean age of 29.5 years (range 3–48 years) were identified. Mean follow-up was 44 months (range 11–145 months). The most common symptoms were headache (75%), vomiting (33%) and impairment of consciousness (21%). Probable causes of CVT could be determined in 21 (88%) patients: pregnancy or puerperium in six (25%), oral contraceptive use in four (17%), head trauma in two (8%), mastoiditis in one (4%), nephrotic syndrome in one (4%), systemic disease in three (13%), and inherited thrombotic risk factors in four (17%) patients. CVT associated with pregnancy, puerperium and use of oral contraceptives had a significant better outcome than CVT caused by inherited thrombophilia or systemic disease (OR
=
14.4;
p
=
0.02). CT scans were abnormal in 15 (62.5%) patients and MRI with gadolinium was abnormal in all. Those with parenchymal involvement had neurological sequelae during follow-up. All were treated with heparin followed by oral anticoagulants, and none had new or worsening of pre-existing intracerebral hemorrhage.
MRI is superior to conventional CT for diagnosing CVT. Patients with parenchymal lesions, thrombophilia and antiphospholipid syndrome had greater risk to be left with neurological sequelae. Anticoagulant therapy did not predispose to further intracerebral hemorrhage.
The aim of this study was to evaluate working memory in normal controls and patients with mesial temporal lobe epilepsy (MTLE) associated with left hippocampal atrophy (HA) by means of EEG and ...functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI). EEG data were recorded with a 32-channel system (Brain Products, Munich, Germany) referenced to right mastoid (TP10), at a sampling rate of 1000 Hz with a bandwidth of 0.5 to 70 Hz.
Primitive reflexes and cognitive function Damasceno, Alfredo; Delicio, Adriane M; Mazo, Daniel F C ...
Arquivos de neuro-psiquiatria,
09/2005, Letnik:
63, Številka:
3A
Journal Article
Recenzirano
Odprti dostop
Data on the prevalence of primitive reflexes (PR) in adulthood, their pathological significance and relationship to age and cognition are controversial.
To study the relationship between PR and ...cognition in 30 patients with probable Alzheimer's disease (AD) and 154 control subjects.
Diagnosis of probable AD was based on DSM-IV, NINCDS-ADRDA, and CAMDEX criteria. Primitive reflexes were quantified from zero (absent) to 1 (mild) or 2 (markedly present). The Cognitive Abilities Screening Instrument-Short Form (CASI-S) was used to evaluate registration, temporal orientation, verbal fluency and recall. A drawing test was added.
Most frequent PR among demented and controls were suck (77% and 62%, respectively) and snout (60% and 27%), followed by glabellar (30% and 19%), paratonia (37% and 5%), and palmomental (23% and 5%). None of controls had more than three PR. Frequency of PR tended to increase with age and cognitive deterioration. Grasp and Babinski responses were found only in dementia patients. Primitive reflexes were not correlated with each other, except snout with suck, and snout with glabellar reflex.
The finding of grasp and Babinski sign, or the presence of more than three primitive signs, particularly the combination of paratonia, snout, suck, and palmomental reflexes strongly suggests brain dysfunction, especially when these signs are marked and accompanied by deficits in orientation, recall, verbal fluency, and constructional praxis.
The ROIs were originally chosen from the MarsBar anatomical library (which is based in the MNI / ICBM T1 template), but we subdivided the regions with volume greater then 10000 mm3 as well as the ...elongated structures (for example, hippocampus). ...the following structures were considered, all bilaterally:
PDF
