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This Month in Archives of Neurology
Arch Neurol. 1999;56:776.
GABAergic Therapy for Tremor
In a well-focused special article (SEE ARTICLE) , Louis describes the usefulness of GABAergic therapy for essential tremor. His findings provide a rationale for alternative pharmacological therapies for this common disorder.
Infarctions, Glucose, and Thinking
An interdisciplinary approach correlating subcortical infarction, glucose utilization, and cognitive function is provided by Kwan et al (SEE ARTICLE) . This study provides clear insights into the complex mechanisms underlying dementia in subcortical infarctions. The findings are put into critical perspective in a fine editorial by Foster and Hickenbottom (SEE ARTICLE) .
Inheriting Frontotemporal Dementia
Chow et al (SEE ARTICLE) describe the clinical and inherited features of frontotemporal dementia. Their observations extend our knowledge in this important and emerging field.
Posterior Circulation Infarcts
Yamamoto and colleagues (SEE ARTICLE) review their extensive experience in patients with posterior circulation disease and contribute valuable new information confirming that posterior circulation infarcts are usually caused by emboli. These findings, as reviewed by these authors, are important, especially in view of the treatable nature of the disease.
Sensory Findings in Posterior Circulation Infarctions
Georgiadis et al (SEE ARTICLE) provide detailed clinical and anatomical correlations in patients with posterior circulation infarcts with sensory findings. Overwhelmingly, sensory findings in these patients indicate thalamic ischemiaor infarction.
Testing Essential Tremor
Louis et al (SEE ARTICLE) present a performance-based test to objectively assess functional capacity in patients with essential tremor. This is a user-friendly guide to measure the natural progression of symptoms and potential responses to therapy.
Infection and Cervical Artery Dissection
Grau and colleagues (SEE ARTICLE) study patients with acute cervical artery dissection and find that recent infections are more common in these patients than in the control group. Respiratory tract infection is the dominant feature, while there is a trend toward an association between abnormalities in skin biopsy specimens and recent infection. This is an important and emerging area of investigation, for both cerebrovascular disease and coronary artery disease.
Variability in the Mini-Mental State Examination
Clark and colleagues (SEE ARTICLE) study patients with probable Alzheimer disease sequentially with the Mini-Mental State Examination and find considerable variability in test scores of individual patients over periods less than 3 years. The average annual decline of 2.8 points on the Mini-Mental State Examination is most valuable, they find, when assessments are separated by 3 or more years.
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