Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
Pivot Concepts:   Target Concepts:
Query: UMLS:C0003635 (apraxia)
 2,817 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

A rare case of basal ganglionic angioleiomyoma in a 12-year-old girl is reported. She presented with features of raised intracranial tension, multifocal seizures, left hemidystonia and apraxia of eyelid closure. Cranial CT scan showed a large hypodense lesion with an enhancing mural nodule in the region of head of the caudate nucleus on the right side. The lesion was extending to the posterior limb of internal capsule postero-medially and to globus pallidus laterally. Another small, hyperdense, enhancing lesion was seen in the region of globus pallidus on the left side. The right basal ganglionic mass was excised through frontal craniotomy. Histopathological, Immunocytochemical and Ultrastructural examination of the right basal ganglionic mass showed features characteristic of angioleiomyoma. Following surgery the patient improved initially with respect to dystonia but worsened later on. Repeat cranial CT, 20 months after surgery, showed bilateral frontotemporal atrophy without any tumor recurrence while the lesion on the left side remained quiescent.
 ...
PMID:Basal ganglionic angioleiomyoma. 888

The accuracy of the clinical diagnosis of corticobasal degeneration (CBD) is unknown. To determine its diagnostic accuracy, we presented 105 cases with known neuropathologic diagnoses, including CBD (n = 10), progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP, n = 24), Parkinson's disease (n = 15), diffuse Lewy body disease (n = 14), multiple system atrophy (n = 16), postencephalitic parkinsonism (n = 7), Pick's disease (n = 7), Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (n = 4), Alzheimer's disease (n = 4), vascular parkinsonism (n = 3), and Whipple's disease (n = 1), as clinical vignettes to six neurologists unaware of the autopsy findings. Reliability was measured with the kappa statistics. The neurologists' clinical diagnoses were compared with clinicopathologic diagnoses for sensitivity, specificity, and positive predictive values at first and last clinic visits. The group reliability for the diagnosis of CBD significantly improved from moderate for the first visit (mean = 34 months after onset) to substantial for the last (68 months after onset). For the first visit, mean sensitivity for CBD was low (35%), but specificity was near-perfect (99.6%). For the last visit, mean sensitivity minimally increased (48.3%), and specificity remained stable. False-negative misdiagnoses mainly occurred with PSP. False-positive diagnoses were rare. The extremely low sensitivity of the clinical diagnosis of CBD suggests that this disorder is markedly underdiagnosed. Although the validity of the clinical diagnosis might have been improved if neurologists could have examined these patients, more important is that this disorder was misdiagnosed by the primary neurologists. In our data set, the best predictors for the diagnosis of CBD included limb dystonia, ideomotor apraxia, myoclonus, and asymmetric akinetic-rigid syndrome with late onset of gait or balance disturbances.
 ...
PMID:Accuracy of the clinical diagnosis of corticobasal degeneration: a clinicopathologic study. 900 6

Corticobasal degeneration (CBD) is not rare disease, because in our clinic 13 patients were observed for the past 8 years, with ratio to those with Parkinson's disease being 1:18. Our clinical criteria of this disease consist of the combination of 1) limb-kinetic apraxia as cortical sign, 2) akinetic-rigid sign as extrapyramidal sign, 3) their marked asymmetry, and as additional findings, 4) the presence of grasp reflex, alien hand sign, reflex myoclonus, limb dystonia, and others, and 5) neuroimagings (MRI, SPECT) suggestive of asymmetric cortical lesions. There are reports indicating that clinical CBD was diagnosed as Pick's disease, progressive supranuclear palsy and Alzheimer's disease, pathologically. Therefore, more basic investigations, especially from molecular biology are necessary to discriminate these corticobasal complex disorders.
 ...
PMID:[Cortico-basal degeneration]. 901 38

We report 3 patients with progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP) who developed limb apraxia, focal dystonia, and arm levitation late in the course of the disease. Neuropathological examination revealed cortical degeneration in addition to the characteristic pathological findings of PSP. Semiquantitative comparative histological and immunohistological studies of the neocortex of these patients as well as 5 cases of classical PSP and 4 cases of cortical-basal ganglionic degeneration (CBGD) revealed a distinctive form of cortical degeneration in PSP. The cortical degeneration was often circumscribed and confined to premotor and motor cortex. It was characterized by neuronal loss and gliosis. Swollen neurons were only rarely observed in neocortex of PSP cases in contrast with CBGD, where they were abundant. Neuronal and glial tau as well as tau immunoreactive threads were seen in both PSP and CBGD, but were more abundant in CBGD. The appearance of tau reactive astrocytes also differed in both disorders; tufted astrocytes were seen exclusively in PSP, while typical annular astrocytic plaques were confined to CBGD. These observations indicate that cortical degeneration occurs in PSP and may be associated with atypical clinical manifestations that lead to diagnostic difficulties.
 ...
PMID:Cortical degeneration in progressive supranuclear palsy. A comparison with cortical-basal ganglionic degeneration. 918 63

Corticobasal degeneration (CBD) is a slowly progressive disorder characterized by an asymmetrical akinetic-rigid syndrome, supranuclear ophthalmoplegia, dystonia, often accompanied by involuntary movements, particularly myoclonus, and associated with lateralized cortical signs such as alien limb behavior and apraxia. Computerized tomography demonstrates asymmetrical frontoparietal cortical atrophy in the later stages of the illness. Neuropathological examination reveals neuronal loss, gliosis and swollen achromatic neurons within the frontal and temporal cortices, and the substantia nigra. We discuss here a unique phenomenon not described so far in three patients with clinical features of CBD, one with subsequent autopsy observations. When awake, they all showed a common behavior, their mouth opened constantly and immediately, when a tongue-depresser was approached in front of it by the examiner. In two of them, their mouth also opened when its corner was stroked by a tongue-depressor. They could not control these phenomena at all, even they were asked not to open their mouth. We would like to call these phenomena "forced mouth opening reactions" because they were uncontrollable voluntarily. They may be divided into two groups, i.e. visual and tactile "forced mouth opening reactions". In all the patients the neurological, neuro-imaging and neuropathological data showed that the frontal lobes were damaged. Additionally, they had some frontal lobe release signs such as forced grasping, forced groping, or alien limb sign. We would like to apply the mechanism for these release signs to the "forced mouth opening reactions". Thus, we speculate that the frontal lobe contains a higher motor control mechanism for normal mouth opening movement, and the "forced mouth opening reactions" result from impairment of this control.
 ...
PMID:["Forced mouth opening reaction" associated with corticobasal degeneration]. 924 34

Corticobasal degeneration (CBD) was first reported by Rebeiz et al as corticodentatonigral degeneration with neuronal achromasia in 1967. After Gibb et al described 7 cases including 4 cases from the literature under the term of corticobasal degeneration, CBD has become widely recognized. The disease starts mainly in one's fifties and sixties with the duration of 6 to 7 years. The clinical features include asymmetric parkinsonism, cerebral cortical signs, and others. Typically, patients present with unilateral clumsiness with akinetic-rigid syndrome and limb-kinetic apraxia. Postural instability, gait disturbance and involuntary movements such as dystonia are not uncommon. The parkinsonism is DOPA-resistant. BEsides apraxia, alien limb syndrome, cortical sensory disturbances, frontal lobe-release signs, and dementia are representative cortical signs. Other clinical features include dysarthria, pyramidal tract signs and supranuclear gaze palsy. MRI, SPECT or PET reveals asymmetric atrophy, decrease in blood flow or reduction in metabolism of the frontal parietal region around the central sulcus. Electrophysiological and magnetic stimulation studies demonstrated increase in excitability of the cerebral cortex. Myoclonus in CBD is cortical in origin but without any preceding potential or giant somatosensory evoked potential. Neuropathologically CBD is characterized by involvement of the particular cortices and substantia nigra. Other structures such as the putamen, pallidum, thalamus, subthalamus, cerebellar dentate nucleus and brainstem are affected to various extents. Histological features include achromatic, ballooned neurons as well as tau and Gallyas positive neuronal and glial intracytoplasmic inclusions. Astrocytic plaque is considered to be a form of glial inclusions specific to CBD. Diagnosis of typical cases of CBD appears easy but atypical cases were reported with showed dementia or aphasia as a main feature, or were devoid of the asymmetry of signs and symptoms. CBD, progressive supranuclear palsy and Pick's disease share both clinical and neuropathological features to some extent while they are clearly distinct among typical cases. The etiology and pathomechanism of CBD remain to be elucidated.
 ...
PMID:[Corticobasal degeneration]. 957 68

So-called apraxia of eyelid opening (scAEO) has been described chiefly in the context of extrapyramidal disorders. We described 10 new patients with scAEO developing in the absence of any other CNS sign and reviewed the 11 cases with isolated scAEO reported in the literature. Combining our patients and those from the literature, peak age at onset was in the 6th decade and there was a female preponderance of 2:1. The characteristic inability to initiate lid elevation was frequently associated with failure to sustain lid elevation, thus suggesting that eyelid motor control may be abnormal in isolated scAEO. Antecedent events included ocular signs and symptoms consistent with diseases of eyes or face (4 cases in our series and 2 in the literature), chronic treatment with flunarizine (1 case), and family history of dystonia (1 case). Flunarizine discontinuation led to sustained remission of the eyelid disturbance. Overall, these clues suggest the involvement of the extrapyramidal system in the pathophysiology of isolated scAEO. Familial clustering of isolated scAEO in one of our patients may be in favor of a genetic contribution. In our series, botulinum toxin administration close to the pretarsal part of the orbicularis oculi muscle significantly improved scAEO in 8/10 cases, whereas orbital/preseptal injection had no effect. We conclude that the term 'apraxia' may not be the correct descriptive term even when the eyelid disturbance occurs without any other CNS disease.
 ...
PMID:Isolated so-called apraxia of eyelid opening: report of 10 cases and a review of the literature. 963 70

We prospectively studied motor symptoms in 32 patients with CT- or MRI-proven acute pure parietal stroke. A transient, mild, 'pseudoparesis' of the hand (90%), was noted, improved by visual attention and prompting, associated with non-awareness of muscle power (53%), transient soft pyramidal signs (50%), unilateral akinesia (100%) and motor hemineglect (37%) in non-dominant lesions. Lower motoneurone-type atrophy was not observed in this acute phase. We called 'poikilotonia' the striking unpredictable variations in muscle tone, ranging from extreme hypertonia to hypotonia, found in all patients. When maintaining postures, patients showed large oscillations (100%), laterodeviation or levitation of the arm (60%), especially in the case of large or posterior lesions, or, occasionally (3%), motor persistence or even hemicatalepsy (3%). Limb kinetic and manipulatory apraxia, with inadequate organization and anticipation of motor sequences and synergies, motor arrests, perplexity, unrecognizable gestures and loss of bimanual coordination, was a constant finding (100%). Other apraxias (62%) and difficulty in copying intransitive gestures of the hand (84%) were associated with posterior lesions involving the supramarginal gyrus. When reaching towards objects, all patients showed abnormal anticipatory hand shaping, but visuomotor ataxia (3%) was only seen with bilateral posterior stroke. Sensory (70%) or pseudocerebellar (4%) ataxia, was seen in both anterior and posterior lesions. Avoidance behaviors (34%) were not uncommon, but had no localizing value. Of the dyskinesias, hand dystonia (84%) was frequent, but athetosis (16%), asterixis (15%), postural tremor (15%), myoclonus (9%) and stereotypia (9%), were uncommon. The abnormal eye movements were unilateral hypo-akinesia of exploratory saccades (43%), abnormal ipsilateral pursuit and contralateral optokinetic nystagmus in the case of posterior lesions, and oculomotor apraxia with bilateral posterior lesions. In conclusion, parietal motor syndrome can be recognized during bedside examination, and probably reflects the loss of multiple sensory feedback to motor programs, especially those directed to the extrapersonal space.
 ...
PMID:Parietal motor syndrome: a clinical description in 32 patients in the acute phase of pure parietal strokes studied prospectively. 987 53

We report a case of dystonia with a partial deletion of the short arm (p) of chromosome 18 and androgen insensitivity. Neurologic findings in the 18p syndrome are reported to include mental retardation, seizures, incoordination, tremor, and chorea. A 15-year-old girl with a denovo 18p deletion [karyotype 46, XY, del (18)(p11.1)] developed progressive asymmetric dystonia. She had oromotor apraxia and partial expressive aphasia since childhood, and she was able to partially communicate through elementary sign language. At the age of 15 years, she developed subacute and progressive choreic movements of the right arm, severe dystonic posturing of the left arm, and spastic dystonia in both legs. Her response to parenteral or oral benzodiazepines, oral trihexyphenidyl, benztropine mesylate, baclofen, and L-dopa were brief and inadequate. The response to intrathecal baclofen has been sustained over 18 months. In all likelihood, the 18p deletion syndrome affecting this patient is significant in the pathogenesis of her acquired dystonia. Chronic intrathecal baclofen therapy via pump has been effective in this case and should be considered as a treatment modality in carefully selected patients with dystonia.
 ...
PMID:Progressive dystonia in a child with chromosome 18p deletion, treated with intrathecal baclofen. 1007 26

Cocaine abuse is a well known cause of cerebrovascular complications. An inflammatory vasculopathy hypothesis has been proposed, but the medical literature has only reported a few pathological confirmations. We report a case with a biopsy demonstrating cerebral inflammatory vascular changes that are associated with cocaine abuse. A 21-year-old male, a twice weekly cocaine abuser, developed encephalopathy, apraxia and left hemiparesis with hemisensory loss during the first week after his last cocaine intake; postural tremor and dystonia appeared later. Laboratory data were unrevealing. Cerebral angiography showed a lack of vascularization in the left precentral and central arterial groups. A corticomeningeal cerebral biopsy demonstrated perivascular cell collection and transmural lymphomonocytic infiltration of the small cortical vessels. All symptoms improved with corticosteroid treatment, but 4 years later, the patient returned with a worsening of his encephalopathy and a severe memory impairment, emotional lability and apraxia. A cerebral magnetic resonance image (MRI) showed subcortical and periventricular lesions suggesting ischemic damage in small-size vessel areas as well as cortical atrophy. This new case supports the existence of an encephalopathy associated with vascular inflammatory changes in a cocaine abuser, although more clinical and experimental data are necessary to define its physiopathology.
 ...
PMID:Encephalopathy and biopsy-proven cerebrovascular inflammatory changes in a cocaine abuser. 1021 Aug 20


<< Previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Next >>