Objective To investigate the association of serum ferritin and hemoglobin with the pathogenesis of primary restless legs syndrome(RLS). Methods Thirty-five patients with primary restless legs syndrome and twenty insomnia controls were included in this study. The level of serum ferritin and hemoglobin were measured, and the data have been analyzed using t-test. Results The level of serum ferritin in the primary RLS patients (89.77μg/L (SD:48.52)) was significantly lower than in the contruls (123.36 μg/L (SD:35.06)) (t=-2.713,P <0.01), whereas the level of hemoglobin have no statistical difference between the RLS group (142.77 g/L (SD: 11.79)) and the control group (139.05 g/L (SD: 12.33)) (t = 1.108, P > 0.05). Conclu-sions The decrease of serum ferritin may be a risk factor of primary restless legs syndrome, but the level of hemo-globin is not associated with primary restless legs syndrome.

Objectives To determine the causes of cubital tunnel syndrome by performing operation,and to assess the clinical value of neurophysiologic diagnosis in cubital tunnel syndrome Methods Twenty one patients (22 limbs from 16 men and 5 women, aged from 22 to 63 years, with mean age of 49 years)suspected of ulnar nerve involved in clinical symptoms and the signs of ulnar distribution were recorded with motor conduction velocity at different sites along with the ulnar nerve and sensory conduction velocity in the hand,and underwent anterior transposition of the ulnar nerve Results Electromyographic abnormality was seen in 21/22 (range MCV 15.9～47.5 m/s,mean 32.7 m/s) of patients with motor conduction velocity in across elbow segment of the ulnar nerve. And slowing was seen in 13/22 (MCV 15.7～59.6 m/s, mean 40.4 m/s )patients with MCV in the forearms. The absent or abnormal evoked sensory nerve action potential was seen in 14/22 patients in the little finger. The factors of ulnar compressed in this study by operation were:15 ulnar nerves compressed by arcuate ligaments, or muscle tendons, or bone hyperplasia; two were involved in fibrous by adhesion;three compressed by venous plexus or concurrent thick vein;two compressed by cysts Conclusions The factors of cubital tunnel syndrome include either the common factors reported or the rare factors, such as the venous plexus, thick vein and cysts. The tests of motor conduction velocity at different sites along the ulnar nerve should be helpful in diagnosis of cubital tunnel syndrome, especially the slowing velocity of MCV across the elbow segment.

Objective To explore the role of medial temporal lobe (MTL) structure in generating P 300.Methods Event-related potentials (ERPs) were performed in the patient following left lateral anterior temporal lobectomy and 17 health subjects. Two models of vision and auditus were involved in the study.Results The latency, amplitude and sideway distribution of auditory and visual P 300 were in the normal range gained from the healthy controls.Conclusion MTL structure may be not important in generating scalp P 300.

Objective To evaluate the eyeball movement examination on Parkinson' s disease (PD) and investigate their vestibular function.Methods Thirty healthy volunteers and 55 PD patients served as subjects.Thirty-one patients had bradykinesia, 23 patients had resting tremor at first visit and 1 had both.Electronystagmogram examinations were performed in all the subjects.The eyeball movment gain (G) of PD group was compared with controls and the difference between the bradykinesia group and resting tremor group was analyzed.Dissymmetry of the bilateral pursuit movement was investigated.Results The eyeball movement gains decreased in PD patients (Left G 0.79±0.10, Right G 0.78±0.11) significantly (U = 394.500, t = 3.547, P < 0.01) compared with controls (Left G 0.86±0.05, Right G 0.85±0.06).There was no difference (t = -0.100,2.005, P0.05) between the bradykinesia group (Left G 0.79± 0.14,Right G 0.74±0.14) and the resting tremor group ( Left G 0.79±0.06,Right G 0.81±0.07).The dissymmetry of the bilateral movement increased significantly (U = 755.500, P < 0.05) in PD group (1.03±0.97) than in controls (0.87±0.86).Conclusion The velocity of the eyeball movement has decreased in patients with PD.There is no difference of the pursuit gain between bradykinesia group and the resting tremor group.The bilateral vestibular function is involved dissymmetrically.

Objective To investigate characteristics of memory-guided saccade in Parkinson' s disease (PD),and to evaluate the application of memory-guided saccade in diagnosing PD.Methods Fiftythree subjects with early- or mid- stage PD were chosen as PD group,meanwhile,36 age-matched healthy subjects were chosen as control group.Memory-guided saccade test and event-related potential P300 were performed in all subjects,and results of the two groups were compared; furthermore,results of subgroups comprised of 29 patients with early-stage PD were analyzed.Results In comparison with control group,memory-guided saccade in PD group showed decreased velocity and primary gain,prolonged latency,extremely increased incidence of unwanted saccade and multi-step saccade ( U =124.000,37.000;both P ＜0.01 ),such abnormalities has already stood out even in subgroup comprised of early-stage PD patients.Meanwhile,latency of event-related potential P300 in PD group was prolonged compared with control group ((384.76 ± 34.48) ms vs (352.42 ± 24.99) ms,t =- 4.791,P ＜ 0.01 ).Multi-step saccade measurement demonstrated excellent sensitivity (96.2％ ) and specificity (94.4％) in the ability to discriminate PD patients from controls.Conclusion Memory-guided saccade in PD patients shows highly abnormal which may reflect the impairment of pontine saccade pathway and the dysfunction of frontal lobe.Memory-guided saccade test may be a useful examination in assisting the diagnosis of PD.

ObjectiveTo investigate the clinical feature peripheral neuropathy and vasculopathy after acrylamide toxication. Methods2 young male patients with peripheral neuropathy who had exposed to acrylamide for job more than one year were reported.ResultsNeuroelectrophysiological examination showed marked abnormalities in both peripheral and central nerve conduction in both patients. Sural nerve biopsies revealed axonal degeneration, Wallerian degeneration and giant axon with accumulated neurofilaments. Additonally, vasculopathies including prominant thickness of arterial intesma and basal membrane of capillary as well as apoptosis of vascular pericyte, were evident. ConclusionAxonal degeneration and vascular involvement has been found in acrylamide toxication. Vascular impairment maybe plays an important role in the pathogenesis of neuropathy.

Objective To investigate the significance of quantitative thermal testing (QTT) in the diagnosis of diabetic peripheral neuropathy. Methods One hundred and sixty-nine diabetic patients with neurological deficit (DM group) and 53 age-matched healthy controls underwent the determination of cold threshold (CT), warm threshold (WT), clod pain threshold (CPT), warm pain threshold (WPT) in both dorsum of hand and dorsum of foot. DM group were divided into subgroups with a course of disease > 5 years or with a course of disease ≤ 5 years, or divided into subgroups with normal or abnormal nerve conduction study (NCS). Results CT and WT of DM group with a course of disease ≤ 5 years ((29.6 ± 1.4), (26. 5±4. 3) ℃ ; (35.9±3.0), (41.3±4. 0) ℃) were higher than the health controls' ((30. 2±1.2), (29.1±1.5) ℃; (35.0±1.9), (36.5±1.5) ℃, respectively; t=3.27, 6.63, 2.80, 8.61, all P< 0. 05). The CT and WT of DM group with a course of disease > 5 years' ((28. 2±4. 0), (23. 1 ±7.9) ℃ ; (37.0±4. 7), (42. 6±4. 2) ℃, respectively) were higher than the DM group with course of disease≤ 5 years(t =4. 09, 4.63, 2.55, 2. 68 ,all P <0. 05). CT and WT of the normal NCS group((29. 5 ± 1.8), (27.0±4. 6) ℃ ; (35.0±1.9), (40. 9±3. 8)℃, respectively) were higher than the healthy controls' , and the difference was significant(t =3.22, 4. 17, 3.51,9. 95,all P<0.01). The frequency of abnormal QTT in DM group was higher than that of NCS in DM group. The QTT and NCS of DM group with a course of disease >5 years were higher than these in DM group with a course of disease ≤5 years; the frequency of abnormal WT in DM group(86. 4% ,146/169)was higher than that of CT in DM group(68. 1% ,115/169,x2=15.49, P<0.01), the frequency of abnormal QTT in the dorsum of foot in DM group was higher than that in the dorsum of hand in the DM group. PT of diabetic patients were higher than that in the healthy controls. Condusions QTT is more sensitive than NCS in the diagnosis diabetic peripheral neuropathy, which is neeossary to assist NCS when diabetic peripheral neuropathy is suspected, WT in dorsum of foot is a sensitive parameter in the diagnosis of diabetic peripheral neuropathy.

BACKGROUNDMultimodality treatment is the milestone of improving the prognosis of patients with small cell lung cancer (SCLC). The aim of this study is to retrospectively review the prognostic factors for SCLC.

METHODSFrom January 1999 to June 2005, clinical data were collected from 253 patients who had a good performance status (PS=0-1) and underwent multimodality therapy (chemotherapy+radiotherapy±surgery), and the prognostic factors were analyzed by Kaplan-Meier and COX multivariate proportional hazards model.

RESULTSWith a median follow-up of 23.2 months (3-85 months), 1-, 3-, and 5-year survival rate was 77.9%, 33.8% and 23.3% respectively, and 88.3%, 40.2%, 31.2% in LD patients, 62.9%, 22.0% and 8.8% in ED patients, respectively. Median survival time (MST) of all the patients was 23 months (95% CI: 19-27 months). Univariate analysis indicated that gender (P=0.0395), stage (P= 0.0000 ), LDH (P=0.0000), operation (P=0.0029), weight loss (P=0.0000) and the efficacy of first-line chemotherapy (P=0.0000) significantly influenced survival in SCLC. Multivariate analysis suggested that gender (P=0.019), LDH (P=0.000), operation (P=0.024) and weight loss (P=0.006) were the independent prognostic factors of survival.

CONCLUSIONSGender, LDH, operation, and weight loss are the important prognostic factors for patients with SCLC who have a good PS and undergo multimodality treatment.

Objective To study the therapeutic efficacy of dopaminergic agonists,? dihydroergocriptin(Cripar) by multiple center opened trial Methods Sixty cases of Parkinson's disease were divided into two groups: monotherapy group(27 cases) and combined therapy group(33 cases) The improvement in both groups after therapy was observed Results Patients undergone monotherapy were treated with ? dihydroergocriptin and those undergone combined therapy were treated with combined use of ? dihydroergocriptin and L doparmine All patients after treatment showed improvement of clinical symptoms There were 7 patients (28 0%) in the monotherapy group and 13 patients (39 4%) in the combined therapy group markedly improved Evaluation of therapeutic improvement by modified UPDRS revealed that the average scores was 5 01 in monotherapy group and was 6 39( P

AIM: To study the efficacy and safety of dispersible formulation of levodopa-benserazide on the parkinson disease.　METHODS: The multicenter, open-label, self-controlled trial was conducted at 23 hospitals in 15 cities. Two hundred and four patients with idiopathic parkinson who had received standard levodopa-benserazide previously participated in this study. Dispersible levodopa-benserazide instead of standard levodopa-benserazide for 8 wk as a course. The Webster rating scale and patient diary were applied to assess the efficacy and safety of dispersible levodopa-benserazide.　RESULTS： The medication with dispersible levodopa-benserazide increased “on” time by 47 min, decreased “off” time by 11 min, and speeded the onset of “on” time by 37 min. The Webster score was improved by 25 %. Statistical significant difference was calculated (P<0.01). Slight and few adverse reactions were found.　CONCLUSION: Dispersible formulation of levodopa-benserazide is a powerful anti-parkinsonian drug characterized by oral easy use and rapid reach to therapeutic action after ingestion. This drug is particularly used in the parkinsonian patients with morning akinesia, delayed onset of “on” time, afternoon “off” status and dysphagia.