Erythrocyte superoxide dismutase activity differs in clinical subgroups of Parkinson's disease patients.

There is controversy as to whether there are clinical subgroups in Parkinson's disease (PD). Six tremor-dominant and six bradykinesia-dominant patients identified among 29 cases with PD were compared in terms of erythrocyte superoxide dismutase (SOD) activity and several clinical variables. Erythrocyte SOD activity in tremor-dominant patients was higher than in bradykinesia-dominant patients. According to our preliminary results obtained from small number of patients, the difference of SOD activity in clinically distinct subgroups suggests there may be separate clinical subgroups of PD which can be differentiated by a biological marker.

Bilateral sixth-nerve palsy associated with dural arteriovenous malformation.

A fifty-two year old postmenopausal woman was admitted to the hospital with complaints of diplopia, headache, humming over the head, and pain over the left eye. Neurological examination showed right abducens nerve palsy. In a few days, she also developed left abducens nerve palsy and chemosis, exophthalmos, and proptosis of both eyes. There was pulsation over the left eye. Intraocular pressure was found to be elevated bilaterally. Selective carotid angiograms showed the presence of bilateral dural arteriovenous malformations (AVM) supplied by the external carotid arteries. Two months after the embolisation of the AVMs, eye movements improved. Repeat angiograms showed the absence of flow into the previously embolised AVMs.

Retinal nerve fiber layer thickness is unaffected in migraine patients.

OBJECTIVES: To search for possible structural effects of migraine on the retina. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The study group included 39 consecutive migraine patients, 15 with visual aura and 24 without aura, and 25 healthy subjects as the control group. Scanning laser polarimetry was used to measure and compare retinal nerve fiber layer (RNFL) thickness between migraine and control groups. RESULTS: The mean age of the patients and the control group were 35.64 +/- 8.3 and 35.96 +/- 9.14 years, respectively (P = 0.92) and the mean duration of migraine in patients with aura and without aura as 4.4 +/- 2.9 and 5.3 +/- 4.3 years, respectively (P = 0.68). Parameters related to RNFL thickness were found to be similar (P > 0.001) in migraine and control subjects. After examining the whole patient group migraine patients with and without aura were compared to each other and the control group individually for RNFL thickness parameters. Briefly no statistical difference was found for any of the test parameters between migraine patients with aura, without aura and controls (P > 0.001). CONCLUSION: Retinal nerve fiber layer thickness was found to be unaffected in migraine patients.