Michael Binzer

TL;DR: Heterozygosity for an exon 4 mutation, Asp90Ala, is reported in fourteen patients among four unrelated ALS families and four apparently sporadic ALS patients from Sweden and Finland, suggesting that this CuZn–SOD mutation causes ALS by a gain of function rather than by loss, and that the Asp 90Ala mutation is less detrimental than previously reported mutations.

TL;DR: Electrophysiological studies confirmed the slow progression and spatial distribution of clinical symptoms in the peripheral motor system and marked slowing of transmission in central motor pathways in ALS patients homozygous for an Asp90Ala mutation.

TL;DR: The results support the notion that conversion should be treated as a symptom rather than a diagnosis and that efforts should be made in diagnosing and treating possible underlying somatic and psychiatric conditions.

TL;DR: Patients with pseudoseizures are less likely than those with epilepsy to see psychological factors as relevant to their symptoms, more likely to deny that they have suffered from life stress and also to have a more external locus of control.

TL;DR: Differences in their characteristics and associated factors raised the question of whether it is helpful to group patients with pseudoseizures and motor conversion symptoms in a single diagnostic category of conversion disorder.