Neuroprotective Effects of Testosterone on Regenerating Spinal Cord Motoneurons in Rats

Degeneration in the CNS and peripheral nervous system consists of degradation and phagocytosis of axons and their myelin sheath distal to the site of injury. Testosterone is a gonadal sex steroid hormone that plays an important role in CNS development. One of the lesser-known testosterone actions is neuroprotection. In the present study, the authors investigated the neuroprotectective effect of intracerebral ventricular injection of testosterone on the number of spinal motoneurons after sciatic nerve crush. In all, 32 male Wistar rats were divided to 4 groups (control, compression, compression + castration, compression + testosterone injections; n = 8). Four weeks after compression the lumber segments of spinal cord were sampled, processed, sectioned serially, and stained with toluidine blue (pH = 4.65) by using steriological quantitative technique (physical dissector), the number of alpha motoneurons in the right ventral horns of spinal cord were counted and compared between groups. Statistical analyses showed that testosterone injections (1μl icv, 4 times, 1 week interval between injections) significantly (p < .05) reduced neuronal damage. These results indicated that testosterone has an obvious neuroprotective effect on lumbar spinal motoneurons.     

Slowly progressive pure dysgraphia with late apraxia of speech: a further variant of the focal cerebral degeneration

We report a longitudinal neuropsychological investigation of a patient with slowly progressive pure dysgraphia. Cognitive analysis of writing errors suggested a selective impairment of the graphemic buffer. After about seven years, the patient developed an apraxia of speech. No other linguistic or generalized cognitive impairment occurred subsequently, so that, twelve years after the beginning of the disease, the patient showed complete independence in daily life and still remained professionally active. Functional neuroimaging revealed hypoperfusion confined to left fronto-temporal lobe. This well-recognizable syndrome does not fit any of the cases described previously in the literature. This report therefore, adds another variant to heterogeneous clinical spectrum of focal neurodegenerative disorders, further suggesting the opportunity of their distinction from pathological processes leading to dementia.     

从比较治疗学角度看老年性黄斑变性的治疗决策

老年性黄斑变性(AMD)是发达国家中老年人群主要致盲眼病,患病率逐年上升。近年来其治疗方面取得很大进展,但治疗方法诸多,各种方案的疗效参差不齐。为了促进老年性黄斑变性治疗选择的最佳途径,本文通过利用检索国内外报道的文献,对其中老年性黄斑变性的治疗方法归纳总结,并运用比较治疗学的研究方法进行比较分析,旨在寻求最有效的治疗方案。     

Too much to count on: impaired very small numbers in corticobasal degeneration

Patients with corticobasal degeneration (CBD) have calculation impairments. This study examined whether impaired number knowledge depends on verbal mediation. We focused particularly on knowledge of very small numbers, where there is a precise relationship between a cardinality and its number concept, but little hypothesized role for verbal mediation. We evaluated accuracy and reaction time (RT) for matching dot arrays and Arabic numerals involving smaller (2-4) and larger (5-9) cardinalities in non-aphasic patients with CBD (n=16), frontotemporal dementia (FTD; n=23), and healthy controls (n=15). CBD were less accurate and slowed at judging smaller Arabic numeral-dot array stimuli compared to FTD patients and controls. Moreover, only CBD showed longer RTs judging successively larger number-dot array pairs among the smaller cardinalities. Difficulty judging very small numbers is impaired in CBD, suggesting degraded representation of precise number knowledge that does not depend on language functioning.     

脾窝异位辅助性活体肝移植治疗Wilson’s病的多方位思考

肝豆状核变性（wilson’s病）是一种铜代谢异常的遗传性疾病,肝移植是治疗Wilson’s病的良好方法。我院器官移植中心于2007年6月至2008年6月期间应用脾窝异位辅助性活体肝脏移植治疗肝豆状核变性4例,在评估治疗效果和总结经验的同时,我们对这一治疗方法进行了几点思考,并对其伦理学争议进行了讨论。脾窝异位辅助性活体肝移植为治疗Wilson’s提供一条有效的、安全的、简单的全新途径。     

Tool use in neurodegenerative diseases: Planning or technical reasoning?

Recent works showed that tool use can be impaired in stroke patients because of either planning or technical reasoning deficits, but these two hypotheses have not yet been compared in the field of neurodegenerative diseases. The aim of this study was to address the relationships between real tool use, mechanical problem‐solving, and planning skills in patients with Alzheimer's disease (AD, n = 32), semantic dementia (SD, n = 16), and corticobasal syndrome (CBS, n = 9). Patients were asked to select and use ten common tools, to solve three mechanical problems, and to complete the Tower of London test. Motor function and episodic memory were controlled using the Purdue Pegboard Test and the BEC96 questionnaire, respectively. A data‐transformation method was applied to avoid ceiling effects, and single‐case analysis was performed based on raw scores and completion time. All groups demonstrated either impaired or slowed tool use. Planning deficits were found only in the AD group. Mechanical problem‐solving deficits were observed only in the AD and CBS groups. Performance in the Tower of London test was the best predictor of tool use skills in the AD group, suggesting these patients had general rather than mechanical problem‐solving deficits. Episodic memory seemed to play little role in performance. Motor dysfunction tended to be associated with tool use skills in CBS patients, while tool use disorders are interpreted as a consequence of the semantic loss in SD in line with previous works. These findings may encourage caregivers to set up disease‐centred interventions.     

轴突变性研究进展及思考

轴突变性是中枢神经系统疾病的基本病理过程,但是由于把其作为轴突失去胞体营养后的被动死亡,长期未受到重视。最近的研究发现轴突变性是神经元对外界刺激的可逆可控的主动过程,在这个研究过程中,我们体会到轴突变性所蕴涵的深刻哲学内涵,如其在细胞周期调控和凋亡的作用。这种研究使我们认识到应该用辩证的思维方法去认识分析客观事物。