Spontaneous Eye Blinking, a Measure of Dopaminergic Function, in Children With Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome

DSM-IV mental disorders and neurological complications in children and adolescents with human immunodeficiency virus type 1 infection (HIV-1)

“…An MDD diagnosis seems to be associated with progressive encephalopathy due to HIV according to CDC criteria. Our results are consistent with those from previous studies [2,8]. Our study is the first one to evaluate the association between encephalopathy and DSM-IV mental disorders.…”

“…In one study, the severity of HIV infection (percentage of CD4) was not correlated with the scores obtained on depression, anxiety and hyperactivity scales [6]. Two studies carried out on small samples showed an association between encephalopathy and symptoms of depression or hyperactivity [7,8]. In children infected with HIV, the depression score was related to the severity of computerized tomographic brain scan abnormalities; in contrast, the degree of cerebral abnormality was found to be negatively correlated with the hyperactivity score [2,8].…”

“…Two studies carried out on small samples showed an association between encephalopathy and symptoms of depression or hyperactivity [7,8]. In children infected with HIV, the depression score was related to the severity of computerized tomographic brain scan abnormalities; in contrast, the degree of cerebral abnormality was found to be negatively correlated with the hyperactivity score [2,8]. These studies therefore raise the possibility of a relationship between mental disorders and central nervous system abnormalities in HIV-infected patients, but no firm conclusions can be drawn from them because they describe behavior rather than diagnostic categories.…”

Oculomotor focal dystonia

“…These phenomena were first reported in association to blepharospasm5 and were present in Aramideh et al's 1 cases of eye movement dystonia with blepharospasm. However, they have also been reported in focal dystonias not involving the palpebral muscles (spasmodic dysphonia9 and cervical dystonia10) as well as in hyperkinetic extrapyramidal disorders10 and in other diseases 11, 12. It is feasible that the same pathophysiological mechanism, brainstem hyperexcitability, is responsible in all cases.…”

Frequent spontaneous eyeblink activity associated with reduced conjunctival surface (trigeminal nerve) tactile sensitivity

“…A spontaneous eyeblink activity is characteristic of normal healthy and awake individuals [1][2][3][4][5][6][7]. It can be easily assessed by counting or recording (including by electromyography) the number of eyelid closure events over a finite period of time to allow calculation of a spontaneous eyeblink rate (SEBR; also known as the eyeblink rate or EBR, or simply as the blink rate or BR).…”