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OBJETIVO: Investigar a ocorrência e os fatores de risco para morbidade depressiva em uma amostra de 38 pacientes ambulatoriais com neurocisticercose. MÉTODOS: O diagnóstico psiquiátrico baseou-se nos exames do estado mental atual e pregresso, respectivamente obtidos pelas entrevistas estruturadas do PSE-9 e SADS-L; as funções cognitivas foram avaliadas pelo MMS e pelo roteiro de Strub & Black (Mental Status Examination). RESULTADOS: Transtornos depressivos foram o achado psiquiátrico mais frequente (63,1%) entre os pacientes da amostra. Destes, 20 (52,6%) mostravam-se deprimidos no momento da avaliação e 4 apresentaram depressão no passado. Entre os pacientes deprimidos, 16 preencheram critérios diagnósticos do DSM-III-R para transtorno orgânico do humor (k = 0,4). Antecedentes pessoais de depressão (p = 0,006), sinais de atividade da doença (p = 0,044) e ocorrência de hipertensão intracraniana (p=0,065) foram os parâmetros clínicos que se correlacionaram com a presença de depressão. CONCLUSÕES: Tais achados, aliados à ausência de predomínio do sexo feminino entre os casos de depressão, sugerem etiologia orgânica. Os autores discutem essas observações à luz da literatura sobre outros transtornos mentais orgânicos.

Vinte e cinco pacientes com linfoma não-Hodgkin estudados para detecção de sinais e sintomas de comprometimento neurológico foram investigados quanto ao perfil proteico do líquido cefalorraqueano (LCR). Amostras de LCR e de soro sanguíneo colhidas no mesmo período foram estudadas comparativamente para analisar a barreira hemato-encefálica e a produção intratecal de IgG .Em 48% dos doentes foram registradas queixas e/ou sinais ao exame neurológico. A análise demonstrou: aumento das proteínas totais no LCR em 52%; imunoliberação local em um paciente HIV soropositivo; aumento de globulinas gama no LCR de dois pacientes na ausência de células neoplásicas no LCR e melhora clínica pós-quimioterapia; e registro de banda oligoclonal apenas no LCR em um doente HTLV-I soropositivo. Esses dados mostram que o estudo do perfil proteico no LCR contribui para a caracterização das manifestações do linfoma não-Hodgkin no sistema nervoso.

Copyright of Arquivos de Neuro-Psiquiatria is the property of Thieme Medical Publishing Inc. and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Arquivos de Neuro-Psiquiatria is the property of Thieme Medical Publishing Inc. and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Arquivos de Neuro-Psiquiatria is the property of Thieme Medical Publishing Inc. and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The author highlights the role of editor Oswaldo Lange in the adoption of the publication as the official journal of the Brazilian Academy of Neurology (Academia Brasileira de Neurologia).

The author examines issues related to neurocysticercosis (NC), the cerebral infection with Taenia solium. He discusses the natural history of cysticerci in the central nervous system (CNS). He also comments on a study that investigated important points related to NC that remain unclear and the implications for the reformulation of studies on the disease.

Introduction: The hygiene hypothesis suggests an inverse relationship between the prevalence of parasitic infections and the frequency of multiple sclerosis (MS). Objective: To study whether antibodies against parasites could be demonstrated more frequently in blood serum from MS patients with oligoclonal bands (OCB) than from MS patients without OCB. Methods: We studied serum samples from 164 patients who had previously been examined to investigate OCB. Parasitic antibodies were analyzed through unidimensional electrophoresis of proteins on polyacrylamide gel against Taenia antigens, searching for anti-parasitic antibodies: (1) specific (low molecular weight); (2) nonspecific (high molecular weight). Results: In the group of MS patients, those with OCB presented anti-Taenia antibodies at a similar frequency to those without OCB (p = 0.9). The same was obtained for nonspecific antibodies (p = 0.3). This finding was repeated when the group with clinically isolated syndrome was studied to detect anti-parasitic antibodies in relation to the presence or absence of OCB (p = 0.6). Likewise, in the group of inflammatory neurological diseases, there was no significant difference when considering patients with and without OCB in relation to the presence of specific (p = 0.06) or nonspecific (p = 0.9) anti-parasitic antibodies. OCB were not detected in patients from the control group. Discussion: Frequency of specific anti-parasitic antibodies was similar in MS patients with or without OCB; Frequency of nonspecific anti-parasitic antibodies was similar in MS patients with or without OCB. It was not possible to attribute the low frequency of OCB in this sample of patients to the presence of anti-parasitic antibodies in the serum. The set of anti-parasitic antibodies, irrespective of specificity, presented similar frequency in patients with MS and controls. Conclusion: Anti-parasitic antibodies are detected with similar frequency in MS patients with OCB and in MS patients without OCB. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]