MYOPATHIES Clinical Features Myopathies are diseases that primarily affect the muscles and are usually characterized clinically by weakness, fatigue, or stiffness (myotonia). They are usually characterized by symmetrical proximal muscle weakness and wasting, normal sensation, and normal stretch reflexes. More than one-half of muscle bulk must be lost before functional weakness can be demonstrat...

Sir, Uncommon manifestations of chronic graft versus host disease (GvHD) include a variety of neurological presentations (Bolger et al., 1986; Urbano-Marquez et al., 1986; Nelson and McQuillen, 1988; Tse et al., 1999; Takahashi et al., 2000; Ma et al., 2002; Nagashima et al., 2002) and sclerodermatous skin changes (Shulman et al., 1978; Chosidow et al., 1992; Janin et al., 1994; Penas et al., 2...

Back pain and sciatica secondary to degenerative disc disease of the adult lumber spine are incredibly common medical complaints heard repeatedly by physicians. In spite of this mundane complaint most physicians, including both neurosurgeons and orthopaedic surgeons, continue to be perplexed by this entity, which exasperatingly remains fraught with confusion, controversy, and obfuscating termin...

Since 1970s, tamoxifen has widely been used in the adjuvant and metastatic settings and also in risk reduction of hormone receptor positive breast cancer. Long-term use of tamoxifen in the adjuvant setting of hormone receptor positive breast cancer, such as up to 5 or 10 years duration, is standard of care and associated with favorable survival outcomes, almost in all stages of disease. Symptom...

CONTEXT Electrically induced muscle cramps (EIMC) do not last long enough to study many cramp treatments. Increasing stimulation frequency lengthens cramp duration; it is unknown which frequency elicits the longest EIMC. OBJECTIVE To determine which stimulation frequency elicits the longest EIMC and whether cramp duration and stimulation frequency are correlated. DESIGN Randomized, crossove...

Hereditary angiopathy, nephropathy, aneurysms, and muscle cramps (HANAC) syndrome is an autosomal dominant syndrome caused by mutations in COL4A1 that encodes the α1 chain of collagen IV, a major component of basement membranes. Patients present with cerebral small vessel disease, retinal tortuosity, muscle cramps, and kidney disease consisting of multiple renal cysts, chronic kidney failure, a...

OBJECTIVES To identify the clinical, electrophysiological, histological, and genetic characteristics of a Japanese family with a muscle cramp syndrome. METHODS Fourteen patients (eight men, six women) were studied in four generations of a single family. Electrophysiological examinations were performed in four cases and muscle and nerve biopsies were performed on the propositus. RESULTS The ...