Object The authors report their experience in the treatment of 12 symptomatic patients with intradural spinal neurocysticercosis. Methods The mean age of the 12 patients was 33 years. There were eight female and four male patients. Cysticercosis was present in association with hydrocephalus in nine cases. In nine of 12 patients the spinal lesion was confined to the thoracic or lumbar spinal cord, and in three the cysticerci occupied the cervical region. In all patients with hydrocephalus nerve root symptoms developed seven to 48 months later (mean 27.6 ± 15.5 months). In one patient hydrocephalus was absent, but he presented with cysticercal meningitis 24 months before spinal cord compression developed. Presenting symptoms suggesting spinal cysticercosis included muscular weakness (67%), pain (67%), and sphincter disturbance (25%). Neurological examination demonstrated a motor deficit in nine patients, sensory deficit in four, and radicular pain in three. The prognosis was worse in patients with moderate-to-severe arachnoiditis and spinal cord compression compared with those with isolated nerve roots involvement in whom outcome was favorable. Ten patients underwent laminectomy, after which neurological status improved in 44%, remained unchanged in 33%, or worsened in 22.2%. Conclusions The authors discuss their findings in these cases. Additionally they briefly review the literature, patho-physiology, and therapeutic and/or surgical strategies involved in this disease.

This case report describes a patient with manic and psychotic symptoms who had a history of neurocysticercosis and presented with an episode of hypertensive hydrocephalus in 2003. Despite her history, she was initially treated for primary psychiatric disease.

RESUMO -Os autores apresentam sua experiência em 102 crianças com hidrocefalia de diversas etiologias, acompanhadas por 5 1/2 anos.Cerca de 80% dessas crianças tinham idade inferior a dois anos, o que possibilitou seu acompanhamento com a ultra-sonografia craniana (4,4 exames por paciente). Os resultados a longo prazo são comparáveis aos obtidos na literatura com redação ao número de procedimentos por paciente (1,66), índice de infecqões (5,2%), mortalidade (6,8%) e desenvolvimento intelectual.A ultra-sonografia mostrou-se útil porque é inócua, tem baixo custo operacional, é comparável à tomografia computadorizada nessa faixa etária, podendo ser repetida rotineiramente e permitindo um relacionamento entre o médico, a criança e sua mãe que afetam favoravelmente o diagnóstico precoce de complicações e a melhor compreensão da patologia pelos pais.Infantile hydrocephalus: long-term results in a series of 102 children with special emphasis on brain sonography.SUMMARY -A personal series (in 94% of the cases) of 102 children who underwent 170 procedures (1.66 procedures/patient) for hydrocephalus has been followed for 5 1/2 years (Jan-S3 to Jun-88). Most of the children were under two years of age (80%) and in these cases brain sonography was the examination of choice for both diagnosis and follow-up (307 examinations, 4.4 per patient).Only occasionally was computed tomography necessary for better study in these cases.Our results suggest that there was no significant difference between our cases and those published in the litterature concerning the number of procedures/patient (1.66)., infection rate (5.2%), mortality rate (6.8%) and intellectual performance. We recommend the use of brain sonography both in diagnosis and follow-up studies for hydrocephalic children since this examination is innocuous, inexpensive and easy to perform by neurosurgeons.Also it provides a good interaction between the examiner, the child and the parents, which is of utmost importance for the comprehension of the disease by the parents and early diagnosis of complications by the neurosurgeon. 5,8,11,32.

IntroductionBrain ischemia is a major cause of death and neurologic disability in many countries. It is a frequent clinical condition of difficult therapeutic solution mainly because its physiopathological studies are embarrassed by factors like the diversity of the anatomical location of the lesions, its etiology and clinical signs and symptoms. The alcoholism is a health problemin many societies,larger studies are needed on effects of alcohol associated with cerebral ischemia. It is known that neurons can die few days after stroke and some researchers suggest that apoptosis is the main physiopathological mechanism involved in delayed neuronal death.ObjectivesTo evaluate the histopathological changes, morphometry, expression of apoptosis‐related proteins CASPASE3 and BCL2, serum expression of miR‐21 after experimental cerebral ischemia followed by reperfusion for 48 hours, with or without a model of chronic alcoholism.Material and MethodsWe used 50 Wistar rats, divided into 5 experimental groups: Control: only anesthetic procedure; Sham: complete simulation of the surgical procedure; Ischemia (I): focal cerebral ischemia for 90 minutes + reperfusion for 48 hours; Alcoholic(A): received daily absolute ethyl alcohol diluted to 20% in water for four weeks, and, Alcoholic and Ischemic (I + A): the same treatment in group A and I. The brain samples collected were processed for histopathological analysis (by light microscopy and transmission electron microscopy), morphometric (counting of neurons in the striatum), both by the technique of luxol fast blue, and immunohistochemistry (for protein expression of CASPASE3 and BCL2). The blood of the ventral tail artery was collected for analysis of expression of miR‐21 by qPCR.ResultsWe observed histopathological changes in animals with a higher degree of ischemic and ischemic groups associated with alcoholism in three areas analyzed: swelling of neuronal cytoplasm, foamy nucleus, neural cells with pyknotic nuclei, interstitial edema and foci of inflammatory infiltrate. The neuronal loss was higher in the medial striatum of animals in groups I and I+A. The protein expression of CASPASE3 was higher than the expression of BCL2, especially in groups I and I + A for the two proteins. The expression of CASPASE3 was higher in the region corresponding to the penumbra. Histopathology revealed that the ischemic focus had a greater number of pyknotic nuclei suggestive of necrosis.ConclusionsThe histopathologic and morphometric changes observed mainly in the ischemic focus were correlated with the expression of CASPASE3, the greater the area of penumbra, and were more severe in the ischemic animals when associated with chronic alcoholism. The expression of BCL2 was slightly higher where histopathological changes and expression of CASPASE3 were less evident. The serum expression of miR‐21 was not indicative of ischemic and/or associated with chronic alcoholism.This abstract is from the Experimental Biology 2018 Meeting. There is no full text article associated with this abstract published in The FASEB Journal.

Nas décadas de 1980 e 1990 efetuar viagens para o exterior para aprimoramento profissional era muito mais difícil que nos dias atuais, um alto custo financeiro. Naquela ocasião, os contatos eram efetuados por cartas e mais raramente através de fax, meio mais rápido de comunicação.[...]

P.C. Novais et al. 2 (IR), Alcoholic (A); Alcoholic and ischemic (I + A); Ischemiareperfusion and Alcoholic (IR+A). The blood samples were collected for gene expression analysis of some serum miRNAs by PCR in real time. The serum expression of miRNA-16 was higher in the IR group compared to C and S groups (P < 0.05) but no association with chronic alcoholism was found. The serum expressions of miRNA-21,-221 and-222 were low in all groups and were not correlated with ischemic injury and/or chronic alcoholism. The serum expressions of miRNA-15b,-21,-221 and-222 were similar among the experimental groups, with no correlation with ischemia, with or without reperfusion, and/or alcoholism. The overexpression of miRNA-16 in the blood of I and IR groups demonstrated a correlation with the ischemic process, mainly after reperfusion for 48 hours, associated or not with alcoholism.