BACKGROUND Sleep complaints and various sleep symptoms are common in elderly persons with cardiac diseases. Nightmares are associated with profound sleep disturbances. METHODS The present questionnaire survey with questions on sleep symptoms, nightmares and cardiac symptoms comprised 6103 elderly subjects (39.5% men). RESULTS Nightmares occurred rather often in 6.9% and very often in 2.1% o...

OBJECTIVE: Botulinum A toxin has been reported to provide excellent symptomatic relief for patients with dystonia. To analyse the treatment, complications, and outcome of patients receiving botulinum A toxin injection, the case records of 170 patients attending the Botox Clinic at the Kwong Wah Hospital from 1 December 1992 to 31 December 1996 were reviewed. Of these 170 patients, 130 (76.5%) h...

BACKGROUND Spasmodic torticollis is a movement disorder of the nuchal muscles, characterized by tremor or by tonic posturing of the head in a rotated, twisted, or abnormally flexed or extended position or some combination of these positions. The abnormal posturing of the head allows this disorder to be clinically diagnosed. Psychiatric symptoms frequently accompany or precede the diagnosis of t...

The changes in airway occlusion pressure and airflow, occurring during two spasmodic breathing patterns, were studied and compared with normal breathing pattern in 12 anaesthetized cats. The inspiratory effort developed during the sniff-like aspiration reflex elicited by mechanical stimulation of the nasopharynx under control conditions proved to be very similar in character and intensity to th...

Introduction Typically, cervical dystonia (CD), or spasmodic torticollis, is described as a condition in which the cervical paraspinal muscle groups in the neck undergo uncontrollable and prolonged spasm. It has been well described in the literature that CD presents in most patients with an extreme head tilt or tremor due to spasm. This has become the all-encompassing definition of CD to many c...