Revista de neurologia
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Restless legs syndrome (RLS) is a movement disorder with a neurological origin that manifests in the form of sensory-motor symptoms which are located mainly in the lower limbs. ⋯ Diagnosis of RLS is mainly clinical and is based on the criteria established by the National Institutes of Health consensus development conference in 2002. There are specific criteria for special groups (the elderly with cognitive impairment and children) in which it is not possible to determine whether RLS exists or not using the usual diagnostic criteria.
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Tourette syndrome is a neurologic disorder characterized by involuntary vocal and motor tics. It affects around 1 to 2% of school-age children and is the most common movement disorder in paediatric age. Tics are involuntary or semivoluntary, sudden, brief, intermittent, repetitive movements (motor tics) or sounds (phonic tics). It is often associated with psychiatric comorbidities, mainly attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder and obsessive-compulsive disorder. Given its diverse presentation, Tourette's syndrome can almost mimic many hyperkinetic disorders, making the diagnosis challenging at times. ⋯ Appropriate diagnosis and treatment can substantially improve quality of life and psychosocial functioning in affected patients.
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Tremor is the most common movement disorder. The differential diagnosis on its origin is sometimes difficult and the number of conditions that include this symptom as part of their clinical spectrum continues to increase. ⋯ In this paper we review the data available today that help in the differential diagnosis of tremor; the particularities concerning Parkinson's disease from the diagnostic, therapeutic and genotypic point of view are also discussed.
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To provide a summary of the different experimental models of cerebral ischemia designed both under in vivo and in vitro conditions. A clear and concise description of the specific types of brain lesion reproduced by each model is given together with the most frequent technical troubles associated. ⋯ The use of experimental models of cerebral ischemia constitutes the most suitable tool to investigate the physiopathology of this type of injury. However their simplicity prevents an exact reproduction of the cerebral damage observed in clinical settings. This could be the main reason for the discrepancies observed between the therapeutic effect in the experimental and clinical studies.
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Revista de neurologia · May 2008
Review[Can telemedicine re-establish geographic equity in the treatment of acute stroke?].
In acute stroke patients, urgent expert neurologic evaluation and thrombolytic treatment within the first hours alter onset are the only proven effective therapeutic measures. Patients living far from large hospitals do not have access to these measures. ⋯ Telemedicine systems allow around the clock specialized urgent evaluation of those patients arriving to hospitals lacking a neurologist on call. This may lead to the use of thrombolytic treatments in community hospitals under the supervision of an expert physician, reducing time to treatment and the number of unnecessary patient transfers to referral Stroke Centers.