Positive Correlation between Severity of Blepharospasm and Thalamic Glucose Metabolism

A 43-year-old woman with drug-related blepharospasm was followed up for 22 months. She had undergone etizolam treatment for 19 years for indefinite complaints. We examined her cerebral glucose metabolism 5 times (between days 149 and 688 since presentation), using positron emission tomography, and identified regions of interest in the thalamus, caudate nucleus, putamen, and primary somatosensory area on both sides. The severity of the blepharospasm was evaluated by PET scanning using the Wakakura classification. Sixteen women (mean age 42.4 ± 11.7 years) were examined as normal controls. The thalamic glucose metabolism in our patient was significantly increased on days 149, 212, and 688. The severity of the blepharospasm was positively correlated with the thalamic glucose metabolism, suggesting that the severity of blepharospasms reflects thalamic activity

Cardiac Hypertrophy May Be a Risk Factor for the Development and Severity of Glaucoma

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between glaucoma and cardiac abnormalities. We evaluated 581 patients with open-angle glaucoma (285 men and 296 women) and 595 individuals without glaucoma (273 men and 322 women). All of the participants underwent visual field testing using a Humphrey Visual Field Analyzer (30-2 program), an electrocardiogram (ECG), and blood pressure measurement. We examined the ECG abnormalities and other factors (age, intraocular pressure (IOP) and systemic hypertension) involved in the development and severity of glaucoma. Logistic regression analyses revealed significant correlations of glaucoma with IOP (OR = 1.43; 95% CI: 1.36–1.51; p p = 0.04), left ventricular hypertrophy (LVH) (OR = 2.21; 95% CI: 1.15–4.25; p = 0.02), and bradycardia (OR = 2.19; 95% CI: 1.25–4.70; p = 0.02). Regression analyses revealed significant correlations of the mean deviation of the visual field with age (t = –6.22; 95% CI: −0.15, −0.08; p t = −6.47; 95% CI: −0.42, −0.23; p t = −2.15; 95% CI: −3.36, −0.29; p = 0.02). Atrial fibrillation, LVH and bradycardia may decrease the cerebral blood flow, and may also affect the ocular blood flow. Cardiac abnormalities may be associated with the development and severity of glaucoma

Transient Visual Hallucinations with Eye Closure After Gamma Knife Radiosurgery

Visual hallucination with eye closure is rare and we report the case after Gamma Knife radiosurgery

Two Cases of Painful Ophthalmoplegia

Even though painful ophthalmoplegia may be attributable to serious diseases, sometimes it is difficult to make a diagnosis. We present two cases of painful ophthalmoplegia

Auditory Triggered Mental Imagery of Shape Involves Visual Association Areas in Early Blind Humans.

Previous neuroimaging studies identified a large network of cortical areas involved in visual imagery in the human brain, which includes occipitotemporal and visual associative areas. Here we test whether the same processes can be elicited by tactile and auditory experiences in subjects who became blind early in life. Using positron emission tomography, regional cerebral blood flow was assessed in six right-handed early blind and six age-matched control volunteers during three conditions: resting state, passive listening to noise sounds, and mental imagery task(imagery of object shape) triggered by the sound of familiar objects. Activation foci were found in occipitotemporal and visual association areas, particularly in the left fusiform gyrus(Brodmann areas 19-37), during mental imagery of shape by both groups. Since shape imagery by early blind subjects does involve similar visual strctures as controls at an adult age, it indicates their developmental crossmodal reorganization to allow perceptual representation in the absence of vision

Auditory triggered mental imagery of shape involves visual association areas in early blind humans

Previous neuroimaging studies identified a large network of cortical areas involved in visual imagery in the human brain, which includes occipitotemporal and visual associative areas. Here we test whether the same processes can be elicited by tactile and auditory experiences in subjects who became blind early in life. Using positron emission tomography, regional cerebral blood flow was assessed in six right-handed early blind and six age-matched control volunteers during three conditions: resting state, passive listening to noise sounds, and mental imagery task (imagery of object shape) triggered by the sound of familiar objects. Activation foci were found in occipitotemporal and visual association areas, particularly in the left fusiform gyrus (Brodmann areas 19-37), during mental imagery of shape by both groups. Since shape imagery by early blind subjects does involve similar visual structures as controls at an adult age, it indicates their developmental crossmodal reorganization to allow perceptual representation in the absence of vision. (C) 2001 Academic Press

Mapping adenosine A1 receptors in the cat brain by positron emission tomography with [11C] MPDX.

We evaluated the potential of[11C]MPDX as a radioligand for mapping adenosine A1 receptors in comparison with previously proposed[11C]KF15372 in cat brain by PET, Two tracers showed the same brain distribution. Brain uptake of[11C]MPDX (Ki=4.2nM)was much higher and washed out faster than that of[11C]KF15372 (Ki=3.0nM),and was blocked by carrier-loading or displaced with an A1 antagonist. The regional A1 receptor distribution evaluated with kinetic analysis is consistent with that previously measured in vitro.[11C]MPDX PET has a potential for mapping adenosine A1 receptors in brain

Increased regional cerebral blood flow but normal distribution of GABAa receptor in the visual cortex of subjects with early-onset blindness

Before the completion of visual development, visual deprivation impairs synaptic elimination in the visual cortex.The purpose of this study was to determine whether the distribution of central benzodiazepine receptor(BZR)is also altered in the visual cortex in subjects with early-onset blindness. Positron emission tomography was carried out with [150]water and [11C]flumazenil on six blind subjects and seven sighted controls at rest, We found that the CBF was significantly higher in the visual cortex for the early-onset blind subjects than for the sighted control subjects. However, there was no significant difference in the BZR distribution in the visual cortex for the subject with early-onset blindness than for the sighted control subjects. These results demonstrated that early visual deprivation does not affect the distribution of GABAa receptors in the visual cortex with the sensitivity of our measurements. Synaptic elimination may be independent of visual experience in the GABAergic system of the human visual cortex during visual development