Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
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Query: UMLS:C0026838 (spasticity)
 6,471 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

Equinus in hemiplegic children is multifactorial. In some cases it is due to a short muscle, in others to simple foot-drop, tonic spasticity, rigidity, compensation for a short limb, fixed flexion contracture at the hip, dominantly inherited forefoot deformity, forefoot equinus secondary to chronic toe-walking, or abnormalities of the visco-elastic properties of the muscle, with true intramuscular contracture. This neurophysiological study confirms that hemiplegia in children is not a homogeneous condition. Some have tonic spasticity; some, although stiff, show electrical silence on stretching; some appear to have a short muscle, with no hypertonicity; and others have hypertonicity in relation to position (i.e. rigidity). A short muscle is not always associated with tonic spasticity with reciprocal inhibition. Weakness can occur without spasticity. Speed of movement of toes, ankle and hip is also significantly reduced.
Dev Med Child Neurol 1991 Dec
PMID:Neurophysiology of lower-limb function in hemiplegic children. 177 40

In recent years, new neuroimaging techniques have revived interest in syringomyelia with respect to indications and results of surgery. Fifty patients, 36 of whom underwent surgery, have been reviewed. All patients but 3 underwent a new clinical assessment and 33 of them were also neurophysiologically investigated. In approximately one-third of the non-surgically treated patients the clinical course was benign. In 26 of the surgically treated patients an improvement was noted at the short-term assessment both for spasticity and pain, but in most of them it was not maintained in the medium term. Therefore, an accurate selection of the patients to be treated surgically is strongly recommended, particularly when the natural history of the disease is considered. Decompression of the posterior fossa seems to give the best results, yet no curative surgical treatment has been devised to date.
J Neurol 1991 Dec
PMID:The natural history and results of surgery in 50 cases of syringomyelia. 177 49

Tropical spastic paraparesis or HTLV-I-associated myelopathy is a progressive spastic disorder associated with the human T-lymphotropic virus type I. Some cases have responded to prednisone. Danazol is an attenuated androgen with minimal virilizing effects. It is used in the treatment of endometriosis and various autoimmune hematologic diseases shown to be responsive to prednisone. Because danazol is anabolic, useful in prednisone-responsive diseases, and less toxic than prednisone, we gave danazol to 6 patients with TSP and 1 with HIV, HTLV-I-associated myelopathy. Five patients had a favorable response. Two became ambulatory after having been confined to a wheelchair. Three were able to ambulate greater distances (in walkers) than prior to danazol. Three had noticeable decreases in spasticity. Urinary incontinence resolved in two. Physical therapy was variably employed in all except one patient. Two patients who had not responded to physical therapy responded to physical therapy and danazol. One patient did not tolerate danazol and one patient did not improve. Toxicities noted were mild elevations in liver enzymes in 4 patients; these responded to a decrease in dose of danazol; amenorrhea in one and mild fluid retention in one. We conclude that danazol is a useful agent in the management of TSP.
AIDS Res Hum Retroviruses 1991 Dec
PMID:Tropical spastic paraparesis/HTLV-1-associated myelopathy (TSP/HAM): treatment with an anabolic steroid danazol. 181 44

Aberrant iron metabolism in the brain is typified by Hallervorden-Spatz syndrome. In this disorder, large amounts of iron are deposited in the globus pallidus and the pars reticulata of the substantia nigra. It is characterized by extrapyramidal dysfunction, as demonstrated by dystonia, rigidity, and choreoathetosis; onset during the first two decades of life; and progression of signs and symptoms. Corroborative findings include corticospinal tract involvement, ie, spasticity and extensor toe signs, progressive intellectual impairment, retinitis pigmentosa and optic atrophy (usually associated visual evoked response and electroretinogram abnormalities), seizures, familial occurrence, hypointense areas in the basal ganglia on magnetic resonance imaging scans (particularly in the substantia nigra), abnormal cytosomes in circulating lymphocytes, and sea-blue histiocytes in bone marrow. Iron function in normal brain metabolism is manifold, but high concentrations of iron in the basal ganglia area may signal a unique relationship. Data support the likelihood that iron plays a role in the modulation of dopamine binding to postsynaptic receptors. In addition, transferrin receptors and iron are also concentrated in oligodendrocytes in normal brain and, thus, may have a function in myelination. A role of iron also seems likely in oxidation and peroxidation reactions involving membranes and DNA, a capability that becomes uncontrolled when protective biologic mechanisms become inadequate.
Arch Neurol 1991 Dec
PMID:Hallervorden-Spatz syndrome and brain iron metabolism. 184 35

Because clinicians are introducing joint mobilization into treatment programs for children with cerebral palsy, we felt that a review of the procedure and its scientific basis would be timely. The goals of the introductory section of this article are to define joint mobilization as it has been used for adults with musculoskeletal disabilities, to discuss various rationales for its effects, to describe contraindications and precautions for its use, and to discuss its efficacy as reported in the research literature. The latter part of the article deals with the use of joint mobilization for children with central nervous system (CNS) disorders. In an effort to understand precautions for the use of joint mobilization in children, musculoskeletal development will be described both for typically developing children and for children with spastic cerebral palsy. Indications for using joint mobilization techniques in children with spasticity will be outlined. Specific neurodevelopmental disabilities for which joint mobilization would be strongly contraindicated will be listed. Finally, future research directions in evaluating reliability of assessment of joint dysfunction and efficacy of joint mobilization in children will be discussed.
Phys Ther 1991 Dec
PMID:Joint mobilization for children with central nervous system disorders: indications and precautions. 194 23

Spinal injury in cats is accompanied by urinary bladder and hind limb dysfunction. Ten cats subjected to spinal contusion at the ninth thoracic segment were treated with guanabenz (an alpha-2 agonist) intraperitoneally (0.65 mg./kg.) three hours after injury, and twice daily for eight weeks. An additional six spinal cats were untreated and served as controls. Urodynamic studies were performed on a weekly basis on all animals. Guanabenz modified the vesico-somatic reflex: detrusor-sphincter dyssynergia was either ablated or abolished. In contrast, the controls demonstrated detrusor-sphincter dyssynergia, high residual urine, and spasticity below the lesion. Histological evaluations of the spinal cords revealed that the six paraplegic animals (untreated) suffered marked cavitation of the cord and complete destruction of the grey matter. The five incomplete paraplegic animals (treated) showed minimal cavitation with some preservation of the grey matter. The five ambulators (treated) demonstrated some distortion of grey matter with preservation of white matter. Treatment with guanabenz post traumatic cord injury results in decreased cord cavitation. Detrusor-sphincter dyssynergia is diminished and hind limb function is improved in treated animals.
J Urol 1990 Dec
PMID:The effect of an alpha-2 agonist on bladder function and cord histology after spinal cord injury. 186 Dec 90

A new syndrome of congenital cataract, hearing loss, hypercholesterolemia, spasticity of the lower extremities, and perhaps mental retardation, is described. Manifestation in two brothers with no other affected family members suggests an autosomal recessive pattern of inheritance. A discussion of the differential diagnosis of oculo-auditory syndromes is presented.
Acta Ophthalmol (Copenh) 1990 Dec
PMID:Cataract, hearing loss and hypercholesterolemia. 208 Jul 9

The combined effects of a noradrenergic agonist, clonidine, and a serotonergic antagonist, cyproheptadine, together with an interactive locomotor training program incorporating progressive body weight support and treadmill walking exercise, were investigated in two chronic spinal cord injured subjects. Both subjects had no independent locomotor ability due to severe spasticity. Kinematic, temporal distance and electromyographic (EMG) data were collected during treadmill walking. The EMG activity of the lower limb muscles, initially characterized by tonic discharge and abnormal timing, became more phasic with less clonus following medication, which was related to a change in the kinematic pattern. Further kinematic and functional improvement were gained by training. Previously wheelchair-bound, both patients became functionally ambulatory overground with the aid of Canadian crutches. Thus, a potentially effective strategy for facilitating the expression of the locomotor pattern following spinal cord injury is proposed. This preliminary study showed that such a treatment strategy could possibly lead to a recovery of locomotor function in some chronic, wheelchair-bound spinal cord injured patients who had previously been stabilized on conventional therapies.
J Neurol Sci 1990 Dec
PMID:The combined effects of clonidine and cyproheptadine with interactive training on the modulation of locomotion in spinal cord injured subjects. 208 44

We studied 14 Arab infants with infantile spongy degeneration, 13 of whom were products of consanguineous marriages. They presented in infancy with macrocephaly, poor visual behavior or blindness, and axial hypotonia with appendicular spasticity. Brain CT and MRI showed diffuse symmetric leukoencephalopathy, even before neurologic symptoms. There were relatively normal EEGs. The visual evoked responses (P100) were either absent or delayed early in the course. The brainstem auditory evoked responses showed milder abnormalities, with loss of later components before the earlier ones. Deficient aspartoacylase activity in cultured fibroblasts or brain biopsy confirmed the diagnosis in all patients.
Neurology 1990 Dec
PMID:Infantile CNS spongy degeneration--14 cases: clinical update. 224 37

Spasticity commonly occurs after a spinal cord injury and is characterized by increased resistance to passive movement of peripheral joints. This study examined the effect of an antispasticity medication on stiffness from the myotatic reflex response generated by passive sinusoidal ankle motion. A repeated measures, multiple base-line, single-subject, double-blind design was employed. The independent variable was spasticity medication treatment, where the levels were 40 mg/day and 80 mg/day of baclofen v placebo treatment. Viscous and elastic stiffness measurements were taken at the ankle joint during a placebo base-line phase and during treatment with baclofen for five adult males with traumatic spinal cord injuries. Ankle sinusoidal oscillation frequencies were from 3 to 12 Hz during test sessions. Mean viscous and elastic stiffness scores for all frequencies were calculated for each phase of the study. Randomization tests of mean changes in stiffness measurements between each treatment phase of the study failed to provide any convincing evidence of a significant treatment effect for reduction of spasticity in the traumatic spinal cord injured subjects studied. Further testing is needed to exclude potential confounding factors before this conclusion can be confirmed. The results suggest that baclofen is not a universal treatment of choice for all individuals with spasticity resulting from traumatic spinal cord injury.
Am J Phys Med Rehabil 1990 Dec
PMID:Spasticity in spinal cord injured persons: quantitative effects of baclofen and placebo treatments. 226 51


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