Evaluation of Motor Imagery-Based BCI methods in neurorehabilitation of Parkinson's Disease patients.

The study reports the performance of Parkinson's disease (PD) patients to operate Motor-Imagery based Brain-Computer Interface (MI-BCI) and compares three selected pre-processing and classification approaches. The experiment was conducted on 7 PD patients who performed a total of 14 MI-BCI sessions targeting lower extremities. EEG was recorded during the initial calibration phase of each session, and the specific BCI models were produced by using Spectrally weighted Common Spatial Patterns (SpecCSP), Source Power Comodulation (SPoC) and Filter-Bank Common Spatial Patterns (FBCSP) methods. The results showed that FBCSP outperformed SPoC in terms of accuracy, and both SPoC and SpecCSP in terms of the false-positive ratio. The study also demonstrates that PD patients were capable of operating MI-BCI, although with lower accuracy.

Demyelinating hereditary neuropathies in children: a morphometric and ultrastructural study.

Twenty-three cases of hereditary demyelinating neuropathies are reported, 13 with different types of hereditary motor and sensory neuropathy (HMSN) and 9 with globoid cell or meta-chromatic leucodystrophies. Ultrastructural and morpho-metric studies showed some critical pathological features emphasizing: 1) the variability of the recessive forms of HMSN; 2) the morphological distinction between HMSN type I and type III; and 3) differences between these types of HMSN and other "onion bulb" neuropathies such as those found in leucodystrophies, which account for distinct underlying mechanisms.

"Enuresis risoria": evaluation and management.

"Enuresis risoria" or "giggle incontinence" is a particular condition characterized by a sudden, involuntary, uncontrollable and complete emptying of the bladder during giggling or hearty laughter. We had under observation a 15-year-old girl affected by this condition. The tests she underwent did not reveal anatomic or functional alterations. We were able to control her symptoms with Imipramine. We can thus assume that laughter reacts as a trigger that activates micturition reflex through the intermediation of the limbic system.

[Longitudinal study of 5 patients with "primary empty sella" (author's transl)]. / Studio longitudinale di 5 casi di "sella vuota" primaria.

The clinical symptoms and the radiographic findings of five female patients with "primary empty sella" were studied. The patients were treated with corticosteroid therapy and the clinical syndrome, with the exception of optic subatrophy of the left eye in one patient and of both eyes in another patients, improved in all of them. In subsequent controls, the radiographic findings did not show any evolution suggesting that the cause of the empty sella syndrome is a potentially regressive element (endocranial hypertension?). The small number of our cases does not prove with any certainty that corticosteroid treatment, was beneficial but as improvement occurred and in all the subjects this therapy should be tried in other patients with "empty sella" syndrome. The possible improvement of the empty sella syndrome has to be taken into account before deciding on surgical intervention.