The natural history of Vigabatrin associated visual field defects in patients electing to continue their medication.

PURPOSE: To determine the natural history of visual field defects in a group of patients known to have Vigabatrin-associated changes who elected to continue the medication because of good seizure control. METHODS: All patients taking Vigabatrin alone or in combination with other antiepileptic drugs for at least 5 years (range 5-12 years) were entered into a visual surveillance programme. Patients were followed up at 6-monthly intervals for not less than 18 months (range 18-43 months). In all, 16 patients with unequivocal defects continued the medication. Following already published methodology (Eye 2002; 16;567-571) monocular mean radial degrees (MRDs) to the I/4e isopter on Goldmann perimetry was calculated for the right eye at the time of discovery of a visual field defect and again after not less than 18 months follow-up. RESULTS: Mean right eye MRD at presentation was 36.98 degrees (range 22.25-51.0), compared to 38.40 degrees (range 22.5-49.75) after follow-up; P=0.338 unpaired t-test. Only one patient demonstrated a deterioration in visual field during the study period and discontinued treatment. CONCLUSION: Established visual field defects presumed to be due to Vigabatrin therapy did not usually progress in spite of continuing use of the medication. These data give support to the hypothesis that the pathogenesis of Vigabatrin-associated visual field defects may be an idiosyncratic adverse drug reaction rather than dose-dependent toxicity.

A slow wave investigation of working memory biases in mood disorders.

Mood-congruent working memory biases were examined in a delayed matching to sample paradigm using the slow wave (SW) event-related brain potential (ERP) component. Mood-congruent working memory biases, indexed by SW amplitudes, were demonstrated among individuals experiencing a major depressive episode (MDE) and nondepressed controls but not individuals with dysthymia. However, analyses of symptom severity demonstrated that those with dysthymia exhibited significantly less negative SW amplitudes with increasing depressive mood severity, whereas individuals with major depression demonstrated more negative SW amplitudes with increasing depressive mood severity. These results are discussed in the context of diagnostic specificity for cognitive biases associated with working memory of mood-disordered individuals.

Cloning of a full-length cDNA sequence encoding a cdc2-related protein kinase from human endothelial cells.

cDNA clones encoding a novel serine/threonine protein kinase were isolated from human endothelial cell cDNA libraries. The compiled nucleotide sequence is 1757 base pairs in length and contains an open reading frame encoding a 372 amino acid protein, designated C-2k, with a calculated molecular weight of 43 kDa. Sequence analysis indicates that C-2k contains a conserved protein kinase catalytic domain of 308 residues which exhibits its highest sequence identity of 42% to members of the cdc2 kinase family and contains the structural elements characteristic to cdc2-like kinases. C-2k may therefore represent a new member of the cdc2 kinase family.