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A double-blind cross-over trial between pheneturide and phenytoin in ninety-four outpatients with epilepsy is described. There was no significant difference between the frequency of seizures in the two groups. The difficulties in comparing two anticonvulsants of similar efficacy are discussed particularly in relation to ethical problems, the selection of patients and trial design. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A Coulter Model "S Plus" counter has been used to study platelets from 39 migrainous patients between attacks, six during attacks, eight with active cluster headache and 26 controls. None of the patient groups showed any abnormality in platelet size profile. There was no correlation between platelet monoamine oxidase activity and mean platelet volume in any of the groups. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An experiment is described which compared visual evoked potential (VEP) amplitudes and latencies in normal subjects and migraine patients. Several VEP abnormalities were found: at vertex and to a lesser extent at temporal sites, P100-N120 amplitudes were larger in patients; at vertex and temporal sites N120 amplitudes were larger in patients; at temporal sites patents had larger N120-P200 amplitudes but smaller P100 amplitudes. Peak latencies of the VEP were also found to be abnormal in patients. At vertex, patients had delayed N120 peak latencies while at temporal sites delays were found in the P200 latencies. Patients were subdivided according to side of headache. Right-sided headache patients showed larger temporal P100 amplitudes and larger left temporal P100-N120 amplitudes than bilateral headache patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mean platelet monoamine oxidase activity was reduced compared with control values in groups of headache-free male (but not female) patients suffering from classical migraine and from tension headache. Mean activity in male cluster patients, headache free, both during acute and quiescent phases of their illness, was also notably reduced. Retesting some migraine subjects after up to four years, showed that low activity may be a persistent feature: the correlation coefficient for repeated assays was 0.91 (p less than 0.01). There was no relationship between platelet monoamine oxidase activity and history of dietary migraine. A subgroup of headache patients with permanently low monoamine oxidase activity values may have been defined. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Visual evoked responses were obtained in 47 Parkinsonian patients and 26 age-matched controls. The stimulation to binocular and uniocular latency of the major positive peak was longer in the Parkinsonian patients and its amplitude was smaller than in the control subjects. There was a large interocular difference suggesting that at least part of the delay occurs at prechiasmatic level. The latency and amplitude varied markedly following ingestion of levodopa as Sinemet. Auditory evoked potentials were obtained in 16 Parkinsonian patients and 11 age-matched controls. The latency of the NV wave was prolonged in the former although the amplitude was the same, suggesting that the abnormality may be a widespread one. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An analysis is presented of 220 cases of possible neurotoxic reactions to halogenated hydroxyquinolines reported from outside Japan. In 80 cases insufficient information was available for adequate comment and in 29 a relationship to the administration of clioquinol could be excluded. Of the remainder, a relationship to clioquinol was considered probable in 42 and possible in 69 cases. In six of the probable cases the neurological disturbance consisted of an acute reversible encephalopathy usually related to the ingestion of a high dose of clioquinol over a short period. The most common manifestation, observed in 15 further cases, was isolated optic atrophy. This was most frequently found in children, many of whom had received clioquinol as treatment for acrodermatitis enteropathica. In the remaining cases, a combination of myelopathy, visual disturbance, and peripheral neuropathy was the most common manifestation. Isolated myelopathy or peripheral neuropathy, or these manifestations occurring together, were infrequent. The onset of all manifestations (except toxic encephalopathy) was usually subacute, with subsequent partial recovery. Older subjects tended to display more side effects. The full syndrome of subacute myelo-optic neuropathy was more frequent in women, but they tended to have taken greater quantities of the drug. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sixty-three patients with motor neuron disease and sixty-one controls matched for age and sex were interviewed concerning life events. An antecedent history of back injuries was found more often and there was an increased incidence of prior electric shock amongst the patients. No increase of head injuries, fractures, malignancy or previous poliomyelitis was detected. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Patients with classical migraine whose auras included paraesthesiae or numbness in the hands have been reviewed. In 55 of 111 patients the symptoms were on the same side of the body as the headache and in only 20 on the opposite side to the headache. In the remaining 36 patients one or other was incompletely lateralised. Five right handed patients described dysphasia at the same time as paraesthesiae in the their non-dominant hand. These findings are incompatible with the notion that the headache is due to reactive hyperaemia following localised cerebral ischaemia, and it is suggested that the ischaemic and hyperaemic processes are both the result of some more generalised vasomotor disturbance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]