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Chronic inflammation is now a well-recognized cause of atherosclerotic vascular disease, including coronary artery disease and stroke. Asymptomatic individuals harboring the common bacterium Chlamydia pneumoniae have been shown to have an elevated incidence of plaque in both the coronary and carotid arteries.
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Huntingtons disease is a progressive neurodegenerative disease with onset generally in midlife. Insoluble huntingtin protein aggregates have been seen in vitro in mammalian cells, as well as in transgenic mouse models and in brain tissues from patients with Huntingtons disease. The relationship between the presence of the insoluble protein aggregates and Huntingtons disease pathogenesis has been controversial.
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As discussed previously in Neurology Alert, there is increasing evidence that a number of dietary manipulations may significantly affect the risk of dementia and Alzheimers disease (AD). Three studies in 2002 indicated that dietary intake of vitamins E and C lowered the risk of getting AD. However, there appeared to be no association with intake from dietary supplements. This is an important point since it is much easier to take dietary supplements than to increase ones dietary intake of antioxidant vitamins.
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Correction
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How does one physiologically explain ulnar neuropathies at the elbow that clinically localize to the wrist? Why do proximal sciatic neuropathies sometimes masquerade clinically as peroneal neuropathies at the knee? In this lucid, well-articulated review, Stewart thoroughly and evenhandedly comments on the literature going back to 1913, convincingly arguing that nerve fibers do not randomly intertwine as they progress distally in nerve bundles.
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Although there are no approved medications to treat levodopa-induced dyskinesias, several strategies are commonly used. Reducing the interval and amount of each dose of levodopa, maximizing the dose
of dopamine agonists, and even liquefying the daily levodopa and giving it in small hourly increments are useful in selected patients. The present study evaluates clozapine in a double-blind, placebo-controlled trial as a treatment for levodopa-induced dyskinesias.
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Although infectious agents are not widely believed to be the primary cause of Alzheimers disease (AD), some evidence implicates certain neurotrophic viruses and bacteria as possible contributing factors. Canadian investigators Loeb and colleagues suggest that Chlamydia pneumonia infection might play a role in AD. They carried out a randomized, blinded, and placebo-controlled trial testing whether antichlamydial antibiotics (rifampin/doxycycline) could serve as a potential therapy for patients with mild-to-moderate AD.
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Six patients are the focus of this report defining the neuropathic side effects of thalidomide treatment in multiple myeloma. All patients developed a pure or predominant sensory polyneuropathy while on thalidomide. Thalidomide can induce an axonal sensory neuropathy or, infrequently, a ganglionopathy.
