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Biomedical subjects

R Mutani

Publications and source records attributed to R Mutani.

At least 91 records · Page 5Linked to original sources
PubMed1981

Diphenylhydantoin and primidone in tears.

Diphenylhydantoin (PHT) and primidone (PRM) were determined by the EMIT technique in the plasma, tears, saliva, and CSF of epileptic patients. Results indicate for PHT that tear values are more strictly correlated than are the saliva values to plasma and CSF concentrations. As for PRM, the data obtained show great interindividual variability of concentration in the different body fluids--in agreement with the wide range of both protein binding and half-life of this drug.

Adult↗
PubMed1980

Psychotic onset of multiple sclerosis.

A case is reported of a woman in whom acute manic attacks were followed later in life by neurological signs of multiple sclerosis, thus suggesting a possible correlation between the two clinical entities.

Adult↗
PubMed1980

Mechanisms of interaction of asymmetrical bilateral epileptogenic foci in neocortex.

The mechanisms of interaction of bilateral asymmetrical foci on cat neocortex were studied with varying concentrations of the epileptogenic agent and with callosal splitting and cortical-callosal isolation. When epilepsy was severe, a facilitatory interaction occurred. This was the result of two opposing mechanisms simultaneously operating, namely a transcallosal inhibitory mechanism and a predominant facilitatory subcortical mechanism. When epilepsy was less intense, subcortical structures were not involved and only the inhibitory transcallosal mechanism was at work, leading to an inhibitory interaction. The conclusion is put forward that two asymmetrical cortical foci do not necessarily interact in only one simple way. Their type of interaction (facilitatory or inhibitory) depends on the pathways involved in the interaction and this, in turn, depends on the severity of epilepsy.

Animals↗
PubMed1980

[Reflex epilepsy evoked by decision making: report of a case (author's transl)].

A 17-year-old girl with a story of Gran Mal attacks occurring during lessons of mathematics or solving mathematical problems, was investigated with prolonged EEG recordings. During the sessions, relax periods were alternated with arithmetical or mathematical testing, with card or checkers games and solution of puzzles and crossword problems, and with different neuropsychological tests. EGG recordings were characterized by the appearance, on a normal background, of bilaterally synchronous and symmetrical spike-and-wave and polispike-and-wave discharges, associated with loss of consciousness. During relax their mean frequency was one/54 min., it doubled during execution of tests involved with nonsequential decision making, and was eight times as high (one/7 min.) during tests involving sequential decision making. Some tension, challenge and complexity of the performance were also important as precipitating factors. Their lack deprived sequential tests of their efficacy, while on the contrary their presence sometimes gave nonsequential tests full efficacy.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1979

Epileptic laughter: electroclinical and cinefilm report of a case.

A woman, aged 30, experienced attacks of pathological laughter which began during the first months of life; they meet the qualifying criteria of epileptic laughter. Several attacks were recorded by polygraphy and cinefilm. The attack begins with a feeling of unreality associated with a forced, involuntary smile progressing to full laughter. The patient tried to mask the laughter which was not accompanied by euphoria but was followed by loss of consciousness and automatisms. Only during the latter phase of the previously normal EEG did an ictal discharge appear over the right hemisphere. On the basis of the electroclinical pattern and of a review of the literature, the seizure is tentatively explained in terms of a progressive ictal involvement of temporodiencephalic structures.

Adult↗
PubMed1979

Myotonia, potassium and taurine. A preliminary report.

The effect of taurine administration upon potassium-induced muscular hyperexcitability was studied in patients affected with dystrophic myotonia and in normal volunteers. Intra-arterial infusions of increasing concentrations of potassium chloride were given and venous potassium levels simultaneously monitored. Taurine prevented or remarkably reduced the electric signs of muscular hyperexcitability. Potassium chloride and taurine effects upon muscular excitability are discussed in terms of changes of membrane conductance, particularly for potassium ions.

Action Potentials↗
PubMed1979

Tears as the best practical indicator of the unbound fraction of an anticonvulsant drug.

Phenobarbital and carbamazepine concentrations were determined by the EMIT technique in tears, saliva, cerebrospinal fluid (CSF), and plasma of patients with epilepsy. Closer correlation was shown between tear/plasma and tear/CSF ratios than between saliva/plasma and saliva/CSF ratios for the two agents. The phenobarbital CSF/serum ratio was in good agreement with data in the literature, and the higher ratio found for carbamazepine may be caused by an EMIT assay cross-reaction for the free fraction of carbamazepine-10,11-epoxide. In our hands, tears seem to represent the best practical indicator of the unbound fraction of an anticonvulsant drug, and the noninvasiveness of the method makes it specifically useful in pediatric neurology.

Adult↗
PubMed1979

Plasma and cerebrospinal fluid tryptophan in multiple sclerosis and degenerative diseases.

Tryptophan and competing neutral amino acid levels were found to be diminished in the plasma of patients with multiple sclerosis and degenerative diseases, the greatest decrease being of tryptophan. Cerebrospinal fluid tryptophan was decreased in multiple sclerosis and motor neurone disease, while leucine and valine were increased. These changes might lead to decreased synthesis of brain serotonin and brain proteins. The ratio between neutral amino acids and tryptophan might be used as an ancillary test in the screening of degenerative diseases.

Adult↗
PubMed1979

Post-convulsive spinal epidural haematoma in ankylosing spondylitis.

A case of post-convulsive spinal spidural haematoma in a patient with ankylosing spondylitis is presented. As acute tetraplegia developed, surgery was performed with finding of blood clots in the extradural space from C6 to D8. Lethal evolution due to late referral to medical care stresses the need for prompt decompression of the injured spine.

Hematoma, Epidural, Cranial↗
PubMed1978

Benign intracranial hypertension after minocycline therapy.

A case is reported of a young girl who developed benign intracranial hypertension, with severe bilateral papiledema and a left sixth cranial nerve palsy, after minocylcine therapy. This drug is a semisynthetic tetracycline which has proven to pass into the CSF more effectively and to have a greater lipoid solubility than the other antibiotics of the same group.

Abducens Nerve↗
PubMed1977

Longitudinal changes of brain amino acid content occurring before, during and after epileptic activity.

In cats affected with cortical epileptogenic foci induced by penicillin application to and cobalt implantation into the pericruciate area, the brain amino acids contents were determined in the focus as well as in extrafocal areas. In different groups of animals, brain removal for biochemical determinations was performed at different times before, during and after epilepsy and the values compared to controls. The only amino acid to show a significant change before appearance of spikes in both types of epilepsy was taurine, which decreased. Cobalt epilepsy was accompanied by changes in a larger number of amino acids than penicillin epilepsy: in the former the brain content of taurine, GABA, aspartate, glutamate, serine, threonine, glycine and alanine was altered. The changes were proportional to the severity of epilepsy and more prominent in the focus area. After disappearance of spikes the levels of most amino acids returned to normal except for some amino acids, previously unaffected by penicillin epilepsy, which were decreased. It is proposed that the decrease in brain taurine, occurring before the appearance of penicillin and cobalt epilepsy, could increase the excitability of a certain neuronal population and thus, by potentiating the effects on neurons of penicillin and cobalt, contribute to the initiation of epilepsy.

Amino Acids↗
PubMed1976

[Aspects of phosphorus and carbohydrate metabolism in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis].

The behaviour of glycaemia, insulinaemia, phosphoraemia, somatotropinaemia,free glycerol and triglyceridaemia was studied in six patients with A.L.S. following sugar load (1 g/Kg) in fasting. The results of glycaemia and insulinaemia were in tune with published data which have pointed to reduced sugar tolerance and reduced insulin secretion in patients with A.L.S. In the present experiments, particularly significant were the phosphoraemia responses. The failure of inorganic phosphorus values to fall after glucose loading suggests that the glycidic intolerance of these patients is related above all to a reduction in functioning muscular mass rather than to insufficient insulin secretion. The reduction in nervous tissue may also be of importance in this sense. In fact, not all biohumoral parameters investigated were similar to those of diabetes because the behaviour of somatotropinaemia, free glycerol and plasma triglycerides was normal. The changed behaviour of phosphorus would thus indicate altered glucose uptake at peripheral tissue level.

Adult↗
PubMed1976

Further observations on carbamazepine plasma levels in epileptic patients. Relationships with therapeutic and side effects.

Plasma levels of carbamazepine, phenytoin and phenobarbital were monitored weekly over a period of 9 weeks in 20 epileptic patients unresponsive to treatment. No attempts were made to modify phenytoin and/or phenobarbital plasma levels; emphasis was on achieving carbamazepine plasma levels of 4 to 10 mug per milliliter. A remarkable drop in seizure frequency was attained within 2 to 3 weeks of monitoring, with carbamazepine plasma and concentrations within the desired range. Children disposed of the drug faster than adults. No effects of phenytoin and phenobarbital on carbamazepine plasma levels could be observed, while phenobarbital on carbamazepine plasma levels fluctuated remarkably without any relationship to carbamazepine levels. Transient leukopenia was present in most of the patients, while a significant reversible drop in red blood cells was observed in eight patients. The data reported confirm that with a careful monitoring of drug plasma levels, carbamazepine may exert a definite passive effect on seizure frequency in epileptic patients poorly responsive to therapy.

Adult↗
PubMed1976

[Neuropsychiatric findings in a case of paramyoclonus multiplex].

In a subject affected with multiple paramyoclonus, showing asyncronous, bilateral, intermittent, spontaneous myoclonic jerks, a neuro-psychiatric investigation was performed. Several day-time poligraphic recordings were normal, while the night-time ones showed the lack of myoclonic jerks throughout the sleep. Metrazol activation pointed out a probable hyperexcitability of brain stem reticular formation. The psychiatric investigation, performed with a psychodynamic approach let realize the existence of a distortion of neuro-psychological functions due to an impaired elaboration of emotional information and psycho-structuring engrams. The Authors conclude for a posible convergence of biological and psychological factors causing the clinical symptoms.

Adult↗