[Occlusion or high grade stenosis of the internal carotid artery may be asymptomatic depending on the collateral patterns in the circle of Willis and the reserve capacity of the microvascular (arteriolar) system. The distensibility of the cerebral arterioles may be described quantitatively by the vasomotor reactivity. We present three patients with severe stenosis of an internal carotid artery associated with more severe stenosis or occlusion of the contralateral internal carotid artery. We continuously measured blood flow velocity in both middle cerebral arteries by transcranial Doppler ultrasound in rest and for 20 minutes after IV administration of 1 g acetazolamide. Arterial blood pressure was determined with tonometry, end-tidal CO2 was determined by a capnometer. In resting condition the anterior communicating artery, the posterior communicating artery and the ophthalmic artery supplied collateral blood flow towards the side of the more severe internal carotid artery disease. Blood flow velocity decreased after acetazolamide administration in all patients in the middle cerebral arteries on the side of the more severe occlusive carotid disease, while increased on the contralateral side. We assume that the exhausted arteriolar system on the more severely affected side was not able to further dilate and the open collateral system could have driven blood towards the other side with preserved reserve capacity. The reduced blood flow velocity in the middle cerebral arteries after acetazolamide may reflect this intracerebral steal phenomenon.]

[Patients with major depressive disorder (MDD) show neuropsychological impairments, including deficient executive functions and suboptimal decision-making strategies, which are mediated by several brain regions. In the development of these symptoms the pathology of the prefrontal cortex (PFC), including the dorsolateral, ventromedial and orbitofrontal regions, may also play an important role. Neuropsychological assessment is a useful tool in detecting and measuring these deficiencies, showing that patients with MDD exhibit altered sensitivity to reward and punishment. However, impairment of emotional decisionmaking strategies in MDD is influenced by genetic variations (5-HTTLPR polymorphism) and personality traits, which seem to have a higher predictive value on decision making performance than the clinical symptoms.]

[Our aim is to define optimal stimulation patterns for controlling lower limb movements of spinal cord injured patients. Here we report on a study about cycling movements of healthy subjects under regular conditions and spinal cord injured patients whose cycling movement was generated by functional electrical stimulation. The stimulation pattern required for coordinated activities of lower limb muscles of spinal cord injured patients was improved by using the observations what we gained from measuring and analyzing cycling movements of 42 young healthy subjects. Kinematical parameters (joint angles) and muscle activities (EMG) were recorded simultaneously by an ultrasound based movement analyzing system. We replaced the cycling program of the commercially available stimulator with a new one that we developed on the basis of the measured healthy cycling movements. We present that our new stimulation patterns provided a great increase in the performance of our spinal cord injured patients.]