The concentrations of ceftazidime in the serum and cerebrospinal fluid of patients with and without meningitis were measured at various times after a 2- or 3-g dose. At similar concentrations in serum, ceftazidime concentrations in cerebrospinal fluid at a given time were substantially lower in patients without meningitis (mean, 0.8 micrograms/ml) than in those with meningitis (mean, 22.6 micro...

Primary intracranial tumors occur with an incidence of between 2.5 and 6 per 100,000 individuals. They require specialist expertise for investigation and management including input from radiology, pathology, neurosurgery, and oncology. Therefore, most patients with intracranial neoplasia are investigated and managed in larger hospitals. The geographically dispersed population of Australia has f...

The clinical syndrome of meningeal carcinomatosis includes headache, dementia, radiculopathy, and cranial nerve palsies. Blindness may be the first, or most prominent, symptom. When blindness occurs in adult life, meningeal carcinomatosis should be included in the differential diagnosis, even in the absence of other symptoms and in the absence of known malignancy. Although all pathophysiologica...

Methylglyoxal bis(guanylhydrazone) (MGBG; NSC 32946) is currently being reevaluated for its clinical antineoplastic activity against both hematological and solid tumors. MGBG (100 to 200 mg/sq m) was administered by slow infusion over 3 hr to six patients during surgical resection of intracerebral tumors. Excised tumor tissue and plasma were assayed for MGBG by high-pressure liquid chromatograp...

The risk factors for and incidence of central nervous system involvement at first relapse in adult patients with acute myeloid leukemia have not been established. This single-center study analyzed the prognostic factors for and cumulative incidence of meningeal relapse in 458 adult patients achieving complete remission. Before 1990, patients received old chemotherapy approaches without stem cel...

Nerve growth factor (NGF) induces the differentiation and supports the survival of subpopulations of neurons in the PNS and CNS. Here we report that meningeal cells in the pia mater express immunoreactivity and mRNA for both known NGF receptors, the low-affinity receptor p75 and the tyrosine kinase receptor trkA. NGF induces rapid tyrosine phosphorylation of trkA in meningeal cells in vitro. NG...

The resonance Raman (RR) spectra of six types of human brain tissues are examined using a confocal micro-Raman system with 532-nm excitation in vitro. Forty-three RR spectra from seven subjects are investigated. The spectral peaks from malignant meningioma, stage III (cancer), benign meningioma (benign), normal meningeal tissues (normal), glioblastoma multiforme grade IV (cancer), acoustic neur...

To determine the diagnostic accuracy of Kernig's sign, Brudzinski's sign, and nuchal rigidity for meningitis, 297 adults with suspected meningitis were prospectively evaluated for the presence of these meningeal signs before lumbar puncture was done. Kernig's sign (sensitivity, 5%; likelihood ratio for a positive test result [LR(+)], 0.97), Brudzinski's sign (sensitivity, 5%; LR(+), 0.97), and ...