Fifty-two stroke patients, 43 with cerebral ischemia and nine with cerebral hemorrhage, underwent continuous cardiac monitoring in an Intensive Stroke Care Unit shortly after the onset of the acute cerebrovascular accident. In the group of patients with no evidence of pre-existing heart disease, eight of 18 with cerebral ischemia and five of seven with hemorrhage developed ECG abnormalities. Additional ECG changes were noted in 21 of 25 patients with cerebral ischemia and two of two with hemorrhage who were known to have previous heart disease. Both disturbances in rhythm and conduction and "ischemic" ST-T alterations were detected and the frequency of the former exceeded that of the latter. The ECG alterations were transient in 32 patients and permanent in four. New electrocardiographical abnormalities in patients without evidence of heart disease prior to the stroke were associated with poorer prognosis. The pathogenetic mechanisms leading to the appearance of cardiac abnormalities in stroke patients are considered.

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A quantitative EEG study was done in order to confirm previous impressions that there is a significant EEG response to levodopa in parkinsonian patients, and in order to trace the existence of dopaminergic mechanisms in the generation of the human EEG. EEGs of twenty-five parkinsonian patients were recorded both before and during levodopa treatment, two to four weeks apart, when levodopa doses reached maintenance levels of 3-5g/d. Derivations from F7-T3, F8-T4, T5-O1, and T6-O2 were recorded and digitally processed into power density spectra. These spectra were analyzed for levodopa effects in a full factorial repeated measures multiple analysis of variance (MANOVA). A significant effect of levodopa treatment on the EEG was found, and localized to the left occipital lobe. This effect manifested as an increase in power in all the EEG frequency bands. These findings are compatible with multiband synchronization of the EEG generating processes, attributable to dopaminergic mechanisms.

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Passive transfer of experimental autoimmune myasthenia (EAM) was performed with lymph node cells from donor guinea pigs immunized with purified acetylcholine receptor (AChR) from Torpedo californica. Recipient animals revealed the same clinical signs and electromyographic patterns as observed in actively challenged animals. These phenomena are parallel to the clinical manifestations of the human disease myasthenia gravis, in which cellular response to AChR was recently demonstrated.

In Israel between the years 1949 and 1960, approximately 20,000 children ranging from 1 to 15 years of age were irradiated for eradication of tinea capitis. Radiation to the cerebral hemipheres ranged up to 140 rads. Of those treated, now adults, 44 subjects were elected by stratified sampling for recording and analysis of visual evoked responses (VERs). A control group of 57 subjects similar in age and ethnic origin was chosen. Two occipital leads, a right and a left, were recorded by the international 10-20 system. Fifty responses to diffuse white-flash stimulation were averaged in each case. The first 256 msec (data points) of each VER were reduced to 77 variables by repeated averaging over three adjacent data points; these variables were then analyzed by several statistical methods. The analyses detected significant differences between the VER averages in study subjects compared with controls. These differences may reflect delayed, probably permanent functional damage to the central nervous system caused by small doses of x-radiation (XR) to immature normal human brain. The left hemispheres appeared to be more involved, consistent with the fact that these children received, on the average, more XR to the left side of the brain, as shown in simulated phantom models. This disparity is reflected in a greater degree of difference between the left VERs of the irradiated versus control group. The major differences between the VERs occurred in the first part of the secondary response and suggest possible subcortical involvement. The results strengthen previous evidence of potential hazards of XR in children.

An intracerebral space occupying lesion was found in a 20-year-old woman with acute myelogenous leukemia (AML) when she was in complete hematological remission. Computerized tomography of the brain demonstrated the tumor in the roof of the third ventricle and its subsequent resolution after cranial irradiation and intraventricular cytosine-arabinoside. This form of central nervous system complication in AML has not been previously reported.