Head trauma has been found with greater frequency in the histories of Alzheimer patients than age-matched controls in some studies, but not in others. We hypothesized that events that accelerate neuron loss, such as significant head trauma, hasten the onset of symptoms of Alzheimer's disease in persons vulnerable to the disorder. Retrospective data on 148 probable Alzheimer patients and 33 demented controls were examined. Alzheimer patients with severe head injury before the age of 65 showed onset of symptoms at an earlier age than Alzheimer patients without head trauma.

Episodic rage and aggression in mentally handicapped people have typically been very difficult to eliminate or even reduce. Behaviour modification programmes designed to reduce extremely aggressive outbursts are based on various theories which presume these behaviours are volitional. This paper considers the possibility that these behaviours are involuntary and probably due to frontal lobe dysfunction. Twenty extremely aggressive cases are reported which present the clinical picture of frontal lobe seizures. Specific eye, face, trunk and limb movements plus vocalizations are extracted from the neurologic literature on frontal lobe seizures. A similarity with Tourette syndrome is noted.

The etiology of Tourette Syndrome (TS) according to prevailing views is unknown; there is evidence for both familial and sporadic cases. The author theorizes that abnormal discharges in the frontal lobes comprise the “final common dysfunction” that results in numerous phenomena labelled Tourette syndrome. Facial, vocal, and other motor symptoms of TS are catalogued in parallel with facial, vocal, and body movements that occur during frontal lobe seizures. The variety of etiologies that cause frontal lobe seizures–when applied to TS–can account more readily for heterogeneity of clinical presentations, the numerous “dual diagnosis” cases, and differential response to medication than can a single‐gene theory.

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