SUMMARY Neuropsychological deficits following mild head injury have been reported recently in the literature. The purpose of this study was to investigate this issue with a strict methodological approach. The neuropsychological performance of 50 mildly head injured patients was compared with that of 50 normal controls chosen with the case-control approach. No conclusive evidence was found that mild head injury causes cognitive impairment one month after the trauma.Effects of head injury on mental functions have usually been studied in patients with severe trauma. Studies on the consequences of mild injury are much rarer, in spite of the fact that these patients frequently complain of difficulties in concentration and memory and poor intellectual efficiency.Gronwall and Wrightson' found reduced efficiency in 10 patients with mild head trauma and subjective post-concussion syndrome as revealed by the PASAT test (which requires the patient to sum a series of numbers given at a rapid rate) in comparison to the performance of a patient group with head injury of the same degree but without the subjective syndrome. Altered PASAT scores were found in the initial phase, and returned to normal within 30-35 days. In 1981 Rimel et a12 published an exhaustive analysis on 538 patients with mild head injury defined on the basis of the following parameters: loss of consciousness for less than 20 min, Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS) values ranging between 13 and 15, length of hospitalisation less than 48 hours. Follow-up was performed on 424 patients 3 months after the trauma: of these 79% complained of persistent headaches, 59% had memory loss, and 34%
Paradoxical kinesia refers to a sudden transient ability of akinetic patients to perform motor tasks they are otherwise unable to perform. The mechanisms underlying this phenomenon are unknown due a paucity of valid animal models that faithfully reproduce paradoxical kinesia. Here, in a first experiment, we present a new method to study paradoxical kinesia by "awakening" cataleptic rats through presenting appetitive 50-kHz ultrasonic vocalizations (USV), which are typical for social situations with positive valence, like juvenile play or sexual encounters ("rat laughter"). Rats received systemic haloperidol to induce catalepsy, which was assessed by means of the bar test. During that test, 50-kHz USV, time- and amplitude-matched white noise (NOISE), or background noise (BACKGROUND) were played back and compared to SILENCE. Every animal was exposed to all four acoustic stimuli in random order, with four independent groups of rats being tested. Only when exposed to playback of appetitive 50-kHz USV, the otherwise akinetic rats rapidly started to move efficiently. The acoustic control stimuli, in contrast, did not release rats from catalepsy, despite eliciting the auditory pinna reflex and head movements towards the sound source. Moreover, in a second experiment, playback of aversive 22-kHz USV and relevant acoustic control stimuli did also not significantly affect catalepsy time. Together, our animal model provides a completely new approach to study mechanisms of paradoxical kinesia, which might help to improve behavioral therapies for Parkinson's disease and other disorders, where akinetic or cataleptic states occur.
Gut, 1984, 25, 948-952 VIP-, substance P-and met-enkephalinimmunoreactive innervation of the human gastroduodenal mucosa and Brunner's glands SUMMARY VIP-, substance P-and met-enkephalin-containing innervation of the human gastroduodenal mucosa and Brunner's glands was studied by immunocytochemistry on whole mount tissue preparations. A dense VIP-containing nerve supply was found around fundic and pyloric glands, while the few and scattered substance P-immunoreactive fibres tended to run across the full thickness of the gastric mucosa. In the duodenum, both VIP and substance P were present in a striking nerve network in the villi as well as in the muscularis mucosae and around blood vessels. Both peptides were also immunostained in nerve bundles and neuronal perikarya between the lobules of Brunner's glands, while only very few fibres reached the proximity of acinar cells. Met-enkephalin-immunoreactivity was detected in a small number of nerve fibres, virtually confined to the basal parts of the mucosa and to the duodenal submucous plexus.
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