Following the reports of J. L. Pines (1925) and R. Grevi ng (1926) on tractus supraoptico-hypophyseus, a nerve tract running from nucleus supraopticus to the hypophysis, the existence of tractus supraopticohypophyseus and tractus paraventricularis cinereus (tractus paraventriculohypophyseus) communicating the large cellular nuclei of the hypothalamus (i. e, nucleus supraopticus, nucleus supraop...

Gestational weight gain (GWG) is an important modifiable factor known to influence fetal outcomes including birth weight and adiposity. Unlike behaviors such as smoking and alcohol consumption, the effect of GWG throughout pregnancy on fetal development and other outcomes has not been extensively studied. The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship of GWG with endocrine factors su...

events associated with testosterone administration. N Engl J Med 2010;36:109–122. 47. Viigimaa M, Doumas M, Vlachopoulos C, Anyfanti P, Wolf J, Narkiewicz K, Mancia G. European Society of Hypertension Working Group on Sexual Dysfunction. Hypertension and sexual dysfunction: time to act. J Hypertens 2011;29: 403–407. 48. Apostolo A, Vignati C, Brusoni D, Cattadori G, Contini M, Veglia F, Magrı̀ D...

Objective. Pantothenate kinase-associated neurodegeneration (PKAN) is an autosomal recessive disorder with variable onset, rate of progression, and phenotypic expression. Later-onset, more slowly progressive PKAN often presents with neuropsychiatric as well as motor manifestations that include speech difficulties, progressive dystonia, rigidity, and parkinsonism. PKAN is caused by biallelic PAN...

Introduction. Pantothenate-kinase-associated neurodegeneration (PKAN) is a rare genetic disease and a form of neurodegeneration with brain iron accumulation (NBIA). It most commonly begins in the first two decades of life but should be considered in the differential diagnosis of patients at any age with an atypical progressive extrapyramidal disorder and cognitive impairment. Few late-adult cas...

OBJECTIVES Downbeat nystagmus (DBN) is the most common form of acquired involuntary ocular oscillation overriding fixation. According to previous studies, the cause of DBN is unsolved in up to 44% of cases. We reviewed 117 patients to establish whether analysis of a large collective and improved diagnostic means would reduce the number of cases with "idiopathic DBN" and thus change the aetiolog...

Pantothenatekinase-associated neurodegeneration is a rare progressive disorder characterized by dystonia, rigidity, choreoathetosis and mental deterioration. Patients requiring general anesthesia with this syndrome may have many anesthesia-relevant symptoms that influence the preanesthetic management, the induction of anesthesia and the postoperative care. In this case report, we present the an...

The spectrum of neuropsychological features of familial Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD) have seldom been reported, possibly because of (a) the rarity of this hereditary form of prion disease; (b) frequent delays in diagnosis, and; (c) the typically rapid demise of the patient, which affords little opportunity for comprehensive testing or serial analysis. Here we describe the neurobehavioral cha...

Pantothenate kinase-associated neurodegeneration (PKAN) is an autosomal recessive disorder caused by mutation in the PANK2 gene. It is characterized by abnormal brain iron accumulation, mainly in the globus pallidus. PKAN is included in a group of disorders known as neurodegeneration with brain iron accumulation (NBIA). We report a case of atypical PKAN with its most characteristic presentation...

Neurodegeneration with brain iron accumulation (NBIA) comprises a group of neurodegenerative disorders characterized by high brain content of iron and presence of axonal spheroids. Mutations in the PANK2 gene, which encodes pantothenate kinase 2, underlie an autosomal recessive inborn error of coenzyme A metabolism, called pantothenate kinase-associated neurodegeneration (PKAN). PKAN is charact...