OBJECTIVE With respect to the use of quinine for the treatment of nocturnal leg cramps, to determine whether the findings of a previously performed meta-analysis of published data are altered with the addition of unpublished data, and whether publication bias is present in this area. DESIGN A meta-analysis of eight (four published and four unpublished) randomized, double-blind, placebo-contro...

Neurosurgery is not widely used to complement pharmacological treatment of Parkinson’s disease. Pallidotomy, a procedure involving heating of malfunctioning brain tissue with an electrode, is the method which has received greatest attention during the 1990s. Several uncontrolled studies have shown that pallidotomy reduces symptoms such as hyperkinesia (involuntary movement), rigidity (stiffness...

BACKGROUND Rest cramps (also known as nocturnal leg cramps) are very common in a geriatric population. Oral magnesium supplements are marketed for prophylaxis of such cramps but clinical trials exploring the efficacy of oral magnesium conflict. A therapeutic trial of intravenous magnesium overcomes the limited oral bioavailability of magnesium and better assesses its therapeutic potential. ME...

Four patients with muscular pain, fasciculations, contractures or cramps are presented. Evidence of peripheral nerve involvement was revealed by electromyography and nerve conduction studies. Muscle biopsy showed mild signs of denervation and reinnervation and, at electron microscopy, dilatations of terminal cisternae were found. All patients showed a remarkable improvement after therapy with d...

We present an adolescent with McArdle disease and recurrent acute kidney failure due to rhabdomyolysis. The patient was admitted with acute kidney failure for 3 times and due to a history of proximal weakness, fatigue, and muscular cramps after physical activities a glycogen-storage disease was suspected. Serum creatine phosphokinase and urine myoglobin were found to be elevated. McArdle diseas...

The study by Hallegraeff et al (2012) was of unusual interest to us, having nicely supported our uncontrolled observation that nocturnal cramps could often be prevented by prophylactic calf stretching (Daniell 1979). Differences between our stretching regimen and that which they used included the number of muscle groups stretched, the position in which each stretch was performed, and the freque...