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Biomedical subjects

H Costeff

Publications and source records attributed to H Costeff.

At least 37 records · Page 2Linked to original sources
PubMed1988

Eye-sighting preference of normal and hemiplegic children and adults.

Monocular eye-sighting preference was examined in 32 children with hemiplegia, 51 adult-onset hemiplegic patients and 57 normal children and adults. Eye preference was compared with ear preference on dichotic listening for 25 of the hemiplegic children. No independent association could be detected between eye preference and ear preference. In both the children and adults with hemiplegia the preferred eye tended to be on the same side as the damaged hemisphere. Among the adults, this tendency was more pronounced with more extensive lesions, as manifested by aphasia and/or hemianopia. These findings are interpreted as indicating that eye-sighting preference is unrelated to unitary hemispheric dominance, and that, unlike dominance for hearing and speech, it is not irreversible after a critical period of development. A simpler explanation than incomplete hemispheric dominance is offered for the weakly positive association between mixed laterality and cerebral dysfunction.

Adult↗
PubMed1988

Blink reflex in stroke: follow-up and correlation with function and CT parameters.

Blink reflex (BR) was examined serially in patients 1, 2 and 3 months after unilateral hemispheric cerebrovascular accident and compared with functional state and CT findings of lesion extent and location. BR R2 components were depressed and correlated with lesion size. Initial walking ability was correlated with latency and amplitude of both direct and consensual R2 elicited by stimulation of the paretic side. No correlation was found between BR and arm function or the final ambulatory ability. A model suggesting a close association between BR projection-facilitating fibers and those mediating facial movements is presented.

Blinking↗
PubMed1987

The risk of having a second retarded child.

We have studied segregation ratios in 282 Israeli families with normal, nonconsanguineous parents and retarded offspring without specific etiologic diagnosis. Severity of retardation and nature of medical history significantly affected recurrence risk, while sex of propositus and sibs and presence or absence of epilepsy, cerebral palsy, microcephaly, and short stature did not. Segregation rations were 0.095 in cases of severe retardation with normal medical history, 0.216 for mild retardation with normal medical history, 0.230 in cases of all retardation with maternal reproductive inefficiency, and 0.110 for all retardation with other reported prenatal, perinatal, or infantile complications. Estimated recurrence risks in most simplex families dropped sharply with each additional normal child. The recurrence risks are higher than some previously published estimates. Different ascertainment criteria may be responsible for this variation. The criteria used here were compatible with a 3.2% population prevalence of mental retardation with a 0.223 segregation ratio in multiplex sibships. It is recommended that future studies of recurrence risks include similar data permitting evaluation of sensitivity of ascertainment criteria.

Birth Order↗
PubMed1987

Fluctuating dystonia responsive to levodopa.

Four cases of hereditary progressive dystonia with diurnal fluctuation were studied. All were sporadic; three of them mimicked spastic diplegia; and the fourth showed some similarity to torsion dystonia. Emotional or cognitive disturbance, or both, was seen in three. The correct diagnosis was suggested by fluctuating signs and symptoms, which worsened towards evening, but this was reached only after many years of handicap, hospital admissions, and invasive diagnostic procedures. Typically there was a prompt, pronounced, and sustained response to moderate doses of levodopa. Sleep recordings were obtained in three patients and showed increased body movements during rapid eye movement sleep. Several close relatives had periods of increased leg movements during sleep. It is suggested that hereditary dystonia responsive to levodopa should be considered as the diagnosis in children with fluctuating signs of motor disability syndromes, simulating torsion dystonia or spastic diplegia. Polysomnographic studies may be helpful in diagnosis and may also detect early or subclinical cases.

Child↗
PubMed1986

Evaluation of Tinel's and Phalen's signs in diagnosis of the carpal tunnel syndrome.

In 80 upper extremities clinically suspected of carpal tunnel syndrome, electromyography (EMG) was performed and the Phalen and Tinel signs were sought. These two signs showed relatively low sensitivity (60-67%) and specificity (59-77%) despite a statistically significant association with the EMG findings. These two signs are not reliable as clinical criteria for carpal tunnel syndrome.

Adult↗
PubMed1985

Survivors of severe traumatic brain injury in childhood. II. Late residual disability.

36 survivors of very severe traumatic childhood brain injury have been followed for a median period of 48 months after injury. One remains in a vegetative state and 35 have been discharged. 34 regained ambulation, and motor function became essentially normal in 14 of them. Ataxia and movement disorders were as common among the residua as was spasticity. Only one child remained aphasic, but 14 showed dysarthria. Six of the 36 showed major dementia and most of the rest showed very significant new impairment of cognitive and social function. This impairment was greater than expected from changes in the I.Q. Motor and speech function showed prolonged recovery while learning ability and social function did not. The overall degree of recovery seems not much better in these children than in adults.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1985

Survivors of severe traumatic brain injury in childhood. I. Incidence, background and hospital course.

Survivors of severe craniocerebral injury in childhood require prolonged rehabilitation care. We have surveyed the incidence, social characteristics and early hospital course of such patients in Israel. Yearly incidence was 1:100,000. Thirty-six patients were surveyed. Thirteen of these patients (36%) were described as suffering from cognitive deficits prior to injury and in 11 families (30%), the parent pair showed disturbed function before the injury. Thirty-three of the patients (92%) were victims of road accidents, the child being a pedestrian in 70% of these. Duration of coma was over 1 week in all the children but one, and only a minority of the children underwent neurosurgical interventions. The data on premorbid disturbed function are highly suggestive but not conclusive in the absence of a relevant control group. However, the findings are in accord with findings in adult craniocerebral injured patients in whom recognizable social factors seem clearly associated with craniocerebral injury.

Accidents, Traffic↗
PubMed1984

Auditory perception in early lateralized brain damage.

In a study of hemispheric dominance for the perception of speech the performance of 28 young children with congenital or infantile hemiplegia was compared with that of their normal peers and recently brain damage nonaphasic adults. Our results confirm Goodglass's findings that in children with early left hemisphere damage the transfer of dominance for speech processing is completed in childhood, and they show that this process of hemispheric transfer can be completed by 3 years of age. Comparison with results on adults with CVA provides additional evidence that in early lateralized brain cognitive functions normally dominant in one cerebral hemisphere are developed in the alternative hemisphere in a way that apparently does not happen later in life.

Adult↗
PubMed1984

The diagnostic value of three common primitive reflexes.

Systematic attempts were made to elicit the snout, palmomental and corneomandibular reflexes in 50 young patients with prolonged traumatic coma, 50 elderly hemiplegics soon after their first cerebrovascular accident and in 100 normal age-matched controls. None was found significantly more frequently alone in brain-damaged patients than in age-matched controls. Only combinations of two or three reflexes showed diagnostic value in distinguishing between neurologically damaged patients and normal age-matched controls. Only the combination of all three was completely absent in the normal controls; this combination was found in 13% of the brain-damaged subjects.

Adult↗
PubMed1984

Adrenoleukodystrophy in Israel: a genetic, clinical and biochemical study.

Adrenoleukodystrophy (ALD) is a fatal X-linked recessive lipid storage disease characterized by progressive CNS demyelination and adrenal insufficiency. Adrenomyeloneuropathy (AMN) is a variant of ALD, with a later onset and more prolonged course, presenting as a peripheral myeloneuropathy. A wide spectrum of clinical manifestations exists in both forms of the ALD complex. Affected infants are clinically normal at birth and in early infancy. Progressive cerebral dysfunction and adrenal failure appear usually between 5 and 10 years of age. Brain white matter macrophages, adrenal cortical cells and other tissues contain characteristic cytoplasmic inclusions. The specific biochemical abnormality in the ALD complex is an accumulation of very long-chain fatty acids (VLCFA) in different tissues and plasma, mainly tetracosanoic (C24:0) and hexacosanoic (C26:0) acids. Metabolic studies have been consistent with an oxidative defect of VLCFA. Clinical, genetic and biochemical data are presented on the first six families with documented ALD in Israel. There appears to be no ethnic predilection. ALD and AMN are found concomitantly, and all clinical forms are present.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1984

Glenohumeral malalignment in the hemiplegic shoulder. An early radiologic sign.

A new radiologic sign is described which seems to diagnose an early presubluxation phase of glenohumeral malalignment in hemiplegic shoulders. The sign consists of a V-shaped widening of the upper part of the space between the humeral head and the glenoid cavity on anteroposterior shoulder films in the erect position. Twelve of 14 patients showing this sign went on to develop chronically painful shoulders, and four of them developed radiologically evident subluxation within several months. The sign may be helpful in diagnosing shoulder pathology following stroke at an early stage, when orthotic measures may still have preventive value.

Adult↗
PubMed1983

Relative importance of genetic and nongenetic etiologies in idiopathic mental retardation: estimates based on analysis of medical histories.

A method of analyzing subgroups of mental retardates for proportions of cases caused by nongenetic brain damage is presented here and applied to 490 Israeli retardates. Among mild retardates in simplex and multiplex families with normal unrelated parents, most of the cases were caused by nongenetic brain damage and only a minority were caused by polygenic heredity. Among severe retardates in multiplex families with normal unrelated parents, nongenetic brain damage is probably a more important cause than is homozygosity. In all groups except two (mild retardates with normal consanguineous parents, and severe retardates with retarded parents) the contribution of nongenetic brain damage was surprisingly large.

Brain Damage, Chronic↗
PubMed1983

Biological factors in mild mental retardation.

A group of 434 children with non-syndromic mental retardation was analysed for frequency of recorded prenatal, perinatal and infantile biological disturbances. Mildly retarded individuals for unrelated parentage, both idiopathic and familial, had a strikingly higher prevalence of recorded disturbances than did a control group of retarded individuals with consanguineous parents and of probably genetic aetiology. These disturbances were as frequent among those with mild retardation as among parallel groups with severe retardation. The most significant single disturbance among the mildly retarded was a history of maternal reproductive inefficiency. These findings conflict with the view that mild retardation is predominantly 'cultural-familial' and is not pathological in nature.

Craniocerebral Trauma↗
PubMed1983

Childhood head injuries in Israel: epidemiology and outcome.

Results are reported of a regional survey of hospitalized head injuries in Israeli children aged 0-7 years during the period 1970-1976. There were 370 such cases surveyed. Incidence of head injury requiring hospitalization was 1.71/1000 per year. Follow-up examination 4-10 years after injury was achieved in 50 per cent of the cases. Late seizures and focal neurological deficit were rare, while school failure and various neuropsychiatric symptoms were common. Prevalence of seizures and new nervous habits was significantly related to severity of injury, while the prevalence of fears, nightmares, dizziness and school failure was not.

Achievement↗
PubMed1982

Reported seizures in early childhood: a 14-year follow-up.

A detailed medical history is commonly regarded as a reliable means of classifying unexplained childhood losses of consciousness into diagnostic groups such as febrile seizures, epileptic attacks and breath-holding spells. The authors have tested this assumption by comparing adolescent follow-up status with the initial medical history in 56 individuals who suffered sudden losses of consciousness before age five. Only three of these 56 were epileptic when followed-up in adolescence and only two had received anticonvulsants at any time. The prognosis for 26 individuals with afebrile seizures without evidence of breath-holding syncope was not significantly worse than that for another 16 with febrile seizures. These findings indicate a good prognosis for untreated childhood seizures of a type often classified as epileptic.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1981

Pathogenic factors in idiopathic mental retardation.

Pathogenic factors in a mentally retarded population were evaluated by comparing their frequency among three groups of patients: a control group with predominantly genetic retardation and consanguineous parents; a group with severe idiopathic retardation and unrelated parents; and a group with mild idiopathic retardation and unrelated parents. Seven factors were found to be significantly more common among the patients with idiopathic retardation than in the genetic control group: a history of maternal reproductive inefficiency; bleeding during pregnancy; toxemia during pregnancy; signs of perinatal stress; neonatal anoxia; neonatal jaundice; and seizures during the first year of life. A history of repeated maternal abortions was particularly associated with mild retardation, and infantile seizures were particularly associated with severe retardation. The latter association remained significant even after exclusion of all infantile spasms, neonatal seizures and symptomatic seizures. Since the control group in this study was composed mainly of genetically retarded patients, the associations observed seem likely to be related to the causes of retardation rather than simply being the effects of a damaged fetus.

Abortion, Spontaneous↗