Diseases is a neurologist
The most common neurological diseases are migraine and other headaches, memory loss, dementia and Alzheimer’s disease, sleep disorders, Parkinson’s disease and tremor, gait disorders, epilepsy and unconscious, the pains and neuralgia, muscle weakness and neurological impact of general diseases, stress and depression.

Diagnostic tools which employs
The most important diagnostic tool is the history, during which the patient exhibits symptoms, allowing deduction of injured nervous system. The fundus examination of the cranial nerves, gait and station, reflections, sensitivities and cerebellum to confirm the injury. Finally, if necessary, use additional powerful diagnostic tools to confirm the clinical impression, such as brain MRI, Angio-Reosnancia the brain, and EEG mapping studies, electromyographic studies and conduction velocity, genetic studies , etc.

Treatments that are used
Neurological treatments are usually pharmacological, ie with drugs. On special occasions it is necessary to resort to physical therapy and other physical therapy or psychotherapy that is administered by psychologists and physiotherapists. Generally, medications are prescribed for three to six months and after this time is often convenient to make a review to monitor the effects of treatments.

Other fields of neurology
One area of particular interest is the Forensic Nurses, as the source of neurological disability, with corresponding legal consequences. One of the most important aspects is to determine the ability to make the person insane.

Contact in special situations
In an emergency you can phone at any time. During the holiday season includes an answering calls and answered at least weekly to patients who leave their name and phone number.

There are more than 600 neurological disorders. The most recognized include:

* Diseases caused by defective genes, such as Huntington’s disease and muscular dystrophy

* Problems with nervous system development, such as spina bifida

* Degenerative disease in which nerve cells are damaged or die, such as Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s disease

* Diseases of the blood vessels supplying the brain, such as stroke

* Injuries to the spinal cord and brain

* Seizure disorders such as epilepsy

* Cancer, such as brain tumors

* Infections such as meningitis

The MP is manifested by burning or tingling sensation unpleasant side or the outer thigh, never below the knee. This discomfort can be permanent and may worsen at night or when you are calmer, and although not disabling, can become very annoying.

The NFC is born of the union of several roots arising from the lumbar spine (L2L3) and running through the abdomen and pelvis from the most dorsal up to the groin, where does the NFC and its branches is given to the sensitivities of the lateral or outer thigh.

The NFC may be compressed by the uterus during pregnancy, especially in more advanced stages of pregnancy. Sometimes, in people who have risen sharply in weight, the NFC is compressed in its output in the groin, l which can also cause the symptoms of MP.

In many cases simply not managed to determine the cause of the MP, it will normally take about 3-6 months and then gradually disappear.

In some particular cases it is necessary to deepen the study with lower limb electromyography (nerve roots and to explore them one by one), CT or MRI of abdomen and pelvis to look for tumors that can compress the NFC in the trajectory and MRI of the lumbar spine when wants to rule out pathology column that can simulate a MP.

The treatment for pregnant women is waiting for delivery, after which symptoms usually improved completely. In overweight, lose weight, and the symptoms, drugs such as carbamazepine, amitriptyline, gabapentin, pregabalin, oxcarbazepine, Duloxetine, etc.

These drugs not only decrease the risk of a new cerebrovascular event, but also reduce the risk of coronary events, even in patients without history of cardiovascular disease.

This follows from the SPARCL study (Stroke Prevention by Aggressive Reduction in Cholesterol Levels) presented at the 15th European Stroke Conference in mid last year.

Statins have been used traditionally to normalize cholesterol levels in patients with dyslipidemia.

However, the evidence of this scientific work shows that the statin (Lipitor) has benefits beyond just reducing LDL “bad” or LDL, but even in patients with normal total cholesterol, this drug prevents the possibility of a new stroke or coronary event.

The high-dose drug was well tolerated by most patients and detected only a subtle increase in cerebral hemorrhages, which is far outweighed by the benefits of the drug.

The question one asks is whether this benefit is specific for Lipitor, or can be extrapolated to other statins that are in the market.

More likely is that this benefit is not exclusive to Lipitor, but the latter drug has the merit of having been made ua an interesting test in the SPARCL study.

This arrhythmia causes turbulence in the atrium or left atrium, which helps the formation of thrombi or clots that travel through the aorta to the brain, causing blockage of a cerebral artery and finally AC.

To prevent AC in patients with AF, can handle a blood thinner such as warfarin or acenocoumarol, or simply aspirin.

In under 75 years it is clear that thinner is better than aspirin in preventing AC in patients with AF. But over 75 years, the benefit is lower, increasing the risk of bleeding from anticoagulant, sometimes fatal.

The study BAFTA (Birmingham Atrial Fibrillation Treatment of the Aged) compared Warfarin versus aspirin in patients over 75 years with AF and showed that warfarin is superior to aspirin in the Stroke Prevention in Atrial Fibrillation, as long as they keep a good control of anticoagulation, which should be indicated by blood tests regularly calls the prescribing physician.

The results were published in the journal Lancet on August 11, 2007 and had previously been released in Glasgow, at the 16th European Stroke Conference in Glasgow, Scotland, where I was fortunate to attend.

On October 18, 2007 was published in the New England Journal of Medicine a double-blind study compared the effects of prednisone and acyclovir in Bell’s palsy or facial nerve palsy (PFP).

The study was conducted in Scotland led by Dr. Frank M. Sullivan, of the Scottish School of Primary Care at the University of Dundee, Scotland.

A 94.4% of patients receiving prednisone within 72 hours of the start of the PFP, had an excellent performance in following up to 9 months. 85.4% of those who received acyclovir had an excellent performance.

The group of patients who received placebo, was in 85.2% of the total recovery, almost the same percentage as the group with acyclovir.

It is clear from this study that only the Prednisone would be useful in early treatment of the PFP, and that Aciclovir alone or with prednisone, it would be useless.

Currently, the Cochrane Database, found no compelling evidence to support the use of either acyclovir or prednisone in patients with PFP.

Be at the discretion of the treating neurologist then, that drug (I) use in patients who consult within the first 72 hours after the start of the PFP.

The study included 3718 patients over 65 years between 1993 and 2002 and the beneficial effects of vegetables, especially green vegetables, would be given by the high concentration of vitamin E, a potent antioxidant, provided by them.

On the other hand, did not show the same beneficial effect of fruit consumption. It follows that neither vitamin C nor beta-carotene allow a protective effect on cognition.

This study raises again the need for a healthy diet in everybody, not only because it reduces the risk of cardiovascular disease among others, but it reduces the risk of cognitive impairment that usually develops with age.

Intensify fight against diabetes, to reduce risk of dementia

The fight against depression and diabetes may help prevent or delay dementia praecox, according to a study published in the British Medical Journal, which estimates that risk factors such as obesity, hypertension and high cholesterol levels are the dark environment conducive for these patients.

A team of British and French researchers studied a group of 400 people older and sought to identify symptoms of dementia at two, four and seven years. At the same time, recorded the height, weight, level of education, income, mobility, eating habits, alcohol consumption and snuff and intellectual absorption capacity of its readings.

The experts concluded that the failure to eliminate depression and diabetes, coupled with greater consumption of fruits and vegetables can reduce 21 percent of new cases of dementia praecox.

Raising the level of education could help reduce by 18 percent of new cases of dementia in the general population over a period of seven years, say doctors.

These weapons are much more effective than simply removing a gene linked to the disease, which only reduce by 7 percent of new cases.

Another study published in the British Medical Journal suggests that people with dementia are three times more likely to die within twelve months from the time they are diagnosed with the disease than the rest of the population.

That study, conducted with 135 000 individuals in the UK, seems to show that the diagnoses are made when the disease is already advanced.

In Mexico, there are also contributions to the diabetes study

For their part, Mexican scientists of the Centre for Research and Advanced Studies (CINVESTAV) National Polytechnic Institute, found that the agave fructans, carbohydrates that are used to make tequila, acting on rats against various diseases like diabetes, colon cancer, osteoporosis and obesity.

“Although the existing market dietary supplements containing powder agave fructans (non-digestible sugar molecules), under the name of inulin (other than insulin), are still little known and studied its benefits,” noted a statement from academic center, one of the first centers in the area of Mexico.

The researcher Mercedes Guadalupe Lopez, Department of Biotechnology and Biochemistry of Cinvestav, in the city of Irapuato, Guanajuato, said that through the intake of fructans of agave (plant that is used to make tequila) can be controlled glucose levels.

“In addition, encourage the production of the hormone GLP1, responsible for insulin production, therefore can help regulate the disease (diabetes),” he said.

At the moment the only Cinvestav research has been conducted in laboratory rats, but has yielded “very positive,” he said.

According to Lopez, eating these sugar molecules Agave also has a beneficial impact on colon cancer, mainly because during its fermentation butyric acid generated in the large intestine, which keeps the colonic (colon cells) protected from bacterial attachment pathogenic, which reduces or prevents the development of this cancer.

In simple terms, the idea is to create in a laboratory, a protein that is very similar to proteins that normally are deposited in the brain of the sick patient and eventually cause the symptoms of dementia.

By exposing a healthy individual and any risk factors, such as a history of having close relatives with the EA, it creates antibodies created in the lab and also with proteins that are characteristic of AD.

This would prevent therefore, protein synthesis and deposition years later that will cause the first symptoms of dementia.

Already there have been many scientific studies and is expected to close in the future hopefully be approved this vaccine, which will undoubtedly be a great addition to the treatment of AD.

Galantamine: Another Alternative for the Treatment of Alzheimer

Soon more will be available in the Chilean market the drug Galantamine (Razadyne ER in the U.S.) and is part of the therapeutic alternatives for Alzheimer’s disease with early or intermediate.

Its mechanism of action is blocking an enzyme called Acetilcolinesteras, resulting in an increased concentration of acetylcholine in the brain and thus, improved part of the disease symptoms.

Route of administration is oral, and there is a prolonged-release (ER Razadyne) and conventional one. This drug, which in recent years is already being used in Europe, will enter into competition with other therapeutic alternatives that are already in the market for Chile: Donepezil, Rivastigmine, Memantine, and Cerebrolysin (also soon to be released to the market).

Impressive are the findings derived from a study on Alzheimer’s by a team of U.S. scientists from the Universities of California at Los Angeles and Southern California: the application of a drug for arthritis managed to turn “in ten minutes” some signs of disease in a patient of 81 years.

The trade publication Journal of neuroinflammation (Journal of Neuroinflammation) reports that physicians applied to the spine of the patient an injection of Etanercept, a drug used to relieve pain and inflammation associated with rheumatoid arthritis.

The professionals said the patient, who was just beginning to exhibit the symptoms of the disease, could remember the name of your doctor along with the date and place where he was, but ten minutes before had been unable to do so.

However, Dr. Anthony Alvarez, the Biomedical Research Centre in Spain, called for caution with the subject.

“We must be cautious whenever we speak of the experience of a single patient,” he told the BBC the professional currently working on a vaccine against Alzheimer’s disease.

Notes also that it is necessary to show that the drug is safe and runs on a significant number of patients.

Patients usually suffer from panic to see in the mirror and keeps your eyelid contract without being able to control is sometimes close to a patient that you mentioned this annoying condition.

The patient will automatically think the worst diagnosis: brain tumors, epilepsy, the onset of facial paralysis, etc., But fortunately is very wrong.

For peace of patients by far the most common cause of PD is anxiety or stress. Most patients are tired, has not slept well for several days or had problems at work or home.

Then the treatment is first of all try to relax, try to disconnect (it is that you can) the problems, sports, etc. If the MP is very upset or ashamed to have her patient, anxiety may be indicated to lower your anxiety level.

The problem with anxiety is that people are very sensitive to them and are permanently “dazed” after taking the drug.

In addition, the MP does not disappear immediately after taking the anti-anxiety, it is usual to take several days before this contraction is reduced involuntary “nervous.”

As it is extremely rare to find an organic cause of the MP, it is rare that additional tests are needed to make the diagnosis.

So the advice is to relax and if they have at some point the MP, is a good time to take a break or decrease engine speed, is the easiest way to get better.