Table of contents
April 2008 Volume 4 No 4
Editorial
Viewpoint
Should newly diagnosed epilepsy be treated with generics?
176Mandatory generic substitution of antiepileptic drugs is an increasingly common practice that has many physicians and patients concerned because of the potential for breakthrough seizures and adverse effects. Do the same concerns apply to the treatment of newly diagnosed epilepsy? Peter Wolf investigates.
Research Highlights
Inhibition of specific brain functions might treat post-traumatic stress disorder
178Role of adenosine in attenuation of tremor by deep brain stimulation
178Fly model provides new insights into Huntington's disease pathogenesis
178Sequence variant on 9p21 might be associated with increased risk of aneurysms
179Diagnosis of AD by automated classification of MRI scans
179Telephone-based tool might improve pain management skills
180Robot-based therapy improves hand motor function following chronic stroke
180Electromyography-based model can distinguish early essential from parkinsonian tremor
181Practice Points
The importance of the heart in cluster headache treatment
182Rapid assessment and intervention at specialist outpatient clinics—time for a new standard in TIA care?
184doi:10.1038/ncpneuro0733 | Full Text | PDF (100K)
Early markers for unilateral spastic cerebral palsy in premature infants
186doi:10.1038/ncpneuro0745 | Full Text | PDF (101K)
Botulinum toxin A: a new treatment option for multiple-sclerosis-related bladder overactivity?
188doi:10.1038/ncpneuro0749 | Full Text | PDF (104K)
Reviews
Technology Insight: neuroengineering and epilepsy—designing devices for seizure control
190Although there have been substantial innovations in antiepileptic drug therapy over the past 15 years, the proportion of patients with medically refractory epilepsy has remained largely unchanged, highlighting the need for new therapeutic strategies. In this article, Stacey and Litt review recent progress in the development of implantable devices designed to detect, predict and extinguish seizures, and consider the challenges that lie ahead, including improvements in seizure prediction and personalized control.
doi:10.1038/ncpneuro0750 | Full Text | PDF (337K)
Mechanisms of Disease: aquaporin-4 antibodies in neuromyelitis optica
202Neuromyelitis optica (NMO) is a rare neuroinflammatory disorder that predominantly affects the optic nerves and spinal cord. NMO was originally considered to be a subtype of multiple sclerosis, but the recent discovery of NMO-specific serum autoantibodies has caused it to be reclassified as a distinct disease. In this article, Jarius et al. review clinical, serological and pathological findings in NMO, and discuss the evidence supporting an antibody-mediated mechanism in its pathogenesis.
doi:10.1038/ncpneuro0764 | Full Text | PDF (687K)
Mechanisms of Disease: pathophysiological concepts of stroke in hemodynamic risk zones—do hypoperfusion and embolism interact?
216Over the past century, the pathophysiology of ischemia in the borderzones between the large cerebral arteries has been the topic of considerable debate. Two seemingly mutually exclusive mechanisms—hemodynamic failure and microembolism—have been proposed to explain this phenomenon. As Förster et al. discuss in this article, a new model of borderzone infarction, incorporating both hypoperfusion and microembolism, is now emerging.
doi:10.1038/ncpneuro0752 | Full Text | PDF (914K)
Case Study
Clinical course of neuropathologically confirmed frontal-variant Alzheimer's disease
226In this Case Study, a 66-year-old man presented with a clinical syndrome consistent with frontal variant frontotemporal dementia, but neuropathological evidence established a diagnosis of frontal variant Alzheimer's disease. The authors provide detailed, longitudinal clinical data describing the course of this rare but increasingly recognized variant of Alzheimer's disease.
doi:10.1038/ncpneuro0746 | Full Text | PDF (514K)
