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A 72-year-old woman who recently had been treated with metronidazole presented with subacute dysarthria, gait ataxia and encephalopathy with severe anxiety. Head MRI showed symmetrical T2-hyperintensities. Under suspicion of a metronidazole-induced encephalopathy, metronidazole was stopped immediately. The patient recovered completely and follow-up MRI showed complete resolution of T2-hyperintensities.

A 46-year-old man receiving tube feeding because of anorexia and weight loss developed progressive neurological symptoms initially resembling Guillain-Barré syndrome. Eventually axonal neuropathy due to severe hypophosphatemia was diagnosed. Hypophosphatemia can be caused by the so-called refeeding syndrome, which may occur in patients who start feeding after prolonged fasting. The neurological manifestations of hypophosphatemia are reversible if oral or intravenous suppletion of phosphate is started in time. Recognizing the refeeding syndrome is crucial in making a timely diagnosis.

A patient admitted to a psychiatric clinic because of a psychosis, developed a stutter. In this case report we review the literature in order to explain the differential diagnosis of stuttering acquired later in life. In the patient under study we considered the late development of stuttering to be either a side-effect of olanzapine or a symptom of disorganisation. Although the precise cause is still unclear, the patient's stutter decreased considerably after olanzapine was replaced by haloperidol.

Delirium is a common condition in the intensive care unit (ICU). Between 16-89% of all ICU patients experience an episode of delirium during admission. Several detection tools have been developed for use specifically in the ICU. The Confusion Assessment Method for the intensive care unit (CAM-ICU) and the Intensive Care Delirium Screening Checklist (ICDSC) combine high sensitivity with high specificity. Treatment consists of treatment of underlying disorders, nonpharmacological measures and symptomatic drug therapy. The prognosis for ICU patients who experience delirium is worse than for those who do not. Delirious patients are more likely to develop complications, spend longer in hospital and have a higher mortality rate. In view of the high frequency, poor prognosis, high costs and lack of studies into the treatment of ICU delirium, research into the possibilities for prevention, early detection and treatment of the condition is essential.

To determine whether socio-economic differences in hospital admissions of adolescents and young adults are related to differences in intelligence.. Retrospective cohort study.The data were derived from a group of 10,231 young adults and adolescents who were followed for a total of 47,212 person years with regard to their hospital admissions. Intelligence was measured in the first year of secondary school by 2 non-verbal intelligence tests for fluid intelligence. Data from hospital admissions were matched to a large-scale educational and occupational cohort. Data were analysed with Cox proportional hazards analysis.Intelligence was not found to be related to hospital admissions. However, a low occupational and educational level of the young adults or their parents, was strongly related to heightened risk for hospital admissions. In particular, the low socio-economic status of a respondent was associated with heightened risk for hospital admissions due to accidents (relative risk: 3.49; 95% confidence interval: 1.91-6.39).The small extent to which the socio-economic differences in hospital admissions seem to be based upon fluid intelligence, at least in adolescents and young adults, as well as the heightened risks of hospital admissions in lower socio-economic status groups and the associated high costs for health care legitimise further study of the determinants of these differences.

A 40-year-old, previously healthy man presented with a subacute coordination disorder and intermittent paraesthesias of the right arm that had begun several months before and had disappeared spontaneously within a few weeks. Neurological examination showed a mildly flattened nasolabial fold on the right side and subtle hypertonia of the right arm. A CT-scan of the brain revealed calcifications in the left caudate nucleus and putamen. Cerebral MRI showed markedly enlarged Virchow-Robin spaces bilaterally in the basal ganglia and extensive periventricular white matter lesions. The differential diagnosis of these radiological findings included carbon monoxide intoxication. Ancillary investigations excluded other causes for the radiological abnormalities, and a defective gas stove that produced carbon monoxide was found in the patient's house. Although carbon monoxide poisoning is relatively rare in the Netherlands, it remains important to be alert to the possibility of such exposure. Radiological findings, notably bilateral lesions of the basal ganglia, may point in the direction of the proper diagnosis.