L Tremolizzo

Sleepwalking in Italian Operas: A Window on Popular and Scientific Knowledge on Sleep Disorders in the 19th Century

There is little knowledge on sleepwalking in ancient times even though it is a very common condition. The aim of this report is to describe the backgrounds of medical knowledge on somnambulism in the 19th century, a key period in the development of neurosciences, by analysing its representation in two famous Italian operas: La Sonnambula by Vincenzo Bellini and Macbeth by Giuseppe Verdi. The 19th-century operas may be considered as a crossing point between the popular and intellectual world because they mirror popular answers to phenomena that were still awaiting scientific explanations. Shakespeare’s play Macbeth was also considered. In Shakespeare’s play and in Verdi’s Macbeth, sleepwalking is looked upon as a neuropsychiatric disorder, a manifestation of internal anxiety. In La Sonnambula by Bellini, this condition is considered as common disorder that anticipates scientific theories. The analysed Italian operas provide two different views on sleepwalking, probably because they are based on texts belonging to different periods. Their examination allows one to understand the gradual evolution of theories on sleepwalking, from demoniac possession to mental disorder and sleep disease. At the same time, this analysis throws some light on the history of psychological illnesses.

Psychopathological traits of adolescents with functional hypothalamic amenorrhea: a comparison with anorexia nervosa

BackgroundFunctional hypothalamic amenorrhea (FHA) is a form of anovulation, due to the suppression of hypothalamic–pituitary–ovarian axis, not related to identifiable organic causes. Like adolescents with anorexia nervosa (AN), subjects with FHA show dysfunctional attitudes, low self-esteem, depressive mood, anxiety and inability to cope with daily stress. The aim of the study is to examine similarities and differences between FHA and AN in terms of clinical profiles and psychological variables.Methods21 adolescents with FHA, 21 adolescents with anorexia nervosa, and 21 healthy adolescents were included in the study. All the teenagers completed a battery of self-administered psychological tests for the detection of behaviors and symptoms attributable to the presence of an eating disorder (EDI-2), depression (CDI), and alexithymia (TAS-20).ResultsDifferent from healthy controls, subjects with FHA and with AN shared common psychopathological aspects, such as maturity issues, social insecurity and introversion, a tendency to depression, excessive concerns with dieting, and fear of gaining weight. Nevertheless, adolescents with AN presented a more profound psychopathological disorder as observed at test comparisons with subjects with FHA.ConclusionsResults show a clinical spectrum that includes AN and FHA and suggest the necessity to treat FHA with a multidisciplinary approach for both organic and psychological aspects.

The Hand Pronation Phenomenon: A Franco-German Tale

The hand pronation phenomenon due to a pyramidal tract lesion is a sign commonly used for identifying a mild paresis, but the first descriptions of this maneuver seem to have been only partially investigated by the historians of neuroscience. Here we illustrate that this sign was most probably originally described by Adolf Strümpell (1853–1925) in 1901 and subsequently re-proposed by the illustrious French neurologist Joseph Babinski (1857–1932) in 1907, although with a slightly different focus of application. Finally, the Pronationsphaenomen was analyzed in detail in the subsequent work of Nikolaus Gierlich (1865–1944), a less-known German neurologist who tried one of the first detailed reports of the phylogenetic significance of this sign, publishing a paper in 1925. These works are reported here, detailing the existing discrepancies, along with notes on the relevant surrounding historical context. In particular, the undervalued contribution of Gierlich to the history of neuroscience and to the phylogenetic approach to semeiotics is analyzed in more detail and acknowledged.

Erratum: An apparently sporadic case of oculopharyngeal muscular dystrophy: The first Italian report (Neurol Sci) (10.1007/ s10072-007-0850-9))

Here we report the case of a 73-year-old Italian woman affected by genetically confirmed oculopharyngeal muscular dystrophy (OPMD) with a negative family histo- ry. As OPMD is usually transmitted as an autosomal-dom- inant meiotically stable trait, this case allows us to suggest that putative de novo OPMD mutations might occur more frequently than previously thought; moreover, when com- patible with a proper clinical phenotype, OPMD might be