OBJECTIVE To study the reliability of the diagnosis of blepharospasm, oromandibular dystonia, cervical dystonia, and writer's cramp among neurologists. METHODS 12 patients with adult onset focal segmental dystonia were videotaped in a standardised way. The tape was sent to six neurologists who are involved in clinical practice without a specific interest in movement disorders (general neurolo...

BACKGROUND New indications for misoprostol include medical abortion, cervical softening, induction of labor and treatment of postpartum hemorrhage. Various routes of misoprostol administration under study include oral, vaginal, buccal, sublingual and rectal. MATERIALS AND METHODS This was an open-label, randomized, cross-over study of the pharmacokinetic differences of buccal vs. sublingual m...

counselling. Fellow workers as well as employers should be well informed and concerned. A protective code of practice was thought desirable; but the Manpower Services Commission produced a good one on disability in general last year, and that is not well enough known.7 It is highly relevant to epilepsy both on recruitment and on promoting the interests of existing employees. In the spirit of th...

Last year we published a randomised trial demonstrating that stretching before sleep reduces the frequency and severity of nocturnal leg cramps in older adults (Hallegraeff et al 2012). The results of that study align perfectly with the uncontrolled study of Daniell (1979). In a recent letter to this journal, Daniell and Pentrack (2013) proposed an alternative stretching procedure for preventin...

After an absence of ≈200 years, chikungunya returned to the American tropics in 2013. The virus is maintained in a complex African zoonotic cycle but escapes into an urban cycle at 40- to 50-year intervals, causing global pandemics. In 1823, classical chikungunya, a viral exanthem in humans, occurred on Zanzibar, and in 1827, it arrived in the Caribbean and spread to North and South America. In...

Task-specific focal dystonias are thought to be due to a combination of individual vulnerability and environmental factors. There are no case-control studies of risk factors for writer's cramp. We undertook a case-control study of 104 consecutive patients and matched controls to identify risk factors for the condition. We collected detailed data on medical history and writing history as part of...

Musician's dystonia is generally considered a sporadic disorder. We present three families with the index patient affected by musician's dystonia, but other forms of upper limb focal task-specific dystonia (FTSD), mainly writer's cramp, in seven relatives. Our results suggest a genetic contribution to FTSD with phenotypic variability, including musician's dystonia.

OBJECTIVES This study aims to determine (1) total dialkylphosphate (ΣDAP) levels, occupational knowledge and practice, DNA damage, AChE activity, and health symptoms in rice, corn, and double-crop farmers; (2) the association of health symptoms with ΣDAP levels, occupational knowledge and practice, DNA damage, and AChE activity in farmers; and (3) the prevalence of health symptoms between farme...

BACKGROUND The most common complications during dialysis are hypotension and muscle cramps. There are many strategies to prevent and treat these complications. OBJECTIVES The aim of this study is to evaluate effects of vitamin E and L-carnitine supplementation alone and in combination on intradialytic complications. PATIENTS AND METHODS In a prospective study, 20 patients with end stage ren...