Collaborative Maze Game Using EEG for Paralyzed Patients

The brain movement of a general paralysis patient is normal even if the nerve cells that connect the brain and muscles are damaged and the body movement is hindered. When these patients live alone and cannot perform daily activities, they lose the motivation to live, their brains become dull, and their self-esteem degrades. Therefore, a method should be developed such that these patients can perform brain exercises on their own. The development of a maze-finding game based on mutual cooperation using electroencephalography (EEG) for patients with general paralysis is described herein. Paralyzed Patient 1 can view an overview map and identify the path to a destination. When this is sent to Paralyzed Patient 2 through brain waves, direction indications appear on the screen viewed by Patient 2. Patient 2 verifies the signal conveyed by Patient 1 and controls the character in the perceived direction using brain wave signals. In this game, EGG data through the EPOC+ device of Emotiv Co. are collected, and the maze game implemented by the patient’s EEG signal can be played. Excitement and interest arise when two people collaborate compared with when they are playing games in solitude. This finding suggests that paralyzed patients can exercise their own brain without any assistance, enabling them to experience more enjoyment in life and improve their self-image compared with when they are collaborating and interacting with assistants.

Monestiev. Contribution to the study of suicide in general paralysis. — Medico-psychological annals. March- April, 1900

The author says, quoting Magnan, that in progressive paralysis there are two different diseases: 1. paralytic dementia, the main disease, which is a long-term, continuous disease, has a fatal tendency; it represents certain disorders, known persistent symptoms; 2. madness, which seems to be changeable, transient; most often it depends on congestion and represents the most opposite manifestations. But, despite this variety of manifestations, dementia and disorderly, transient nature of delirium give this madness a peculiar imprint. For example, it is difficult to confuse criminal acts committed by paralytics with those in which the culprit is the mentally ill, but not paralytics. The same applies to attempts at suicide, in which you will encounter a little persistence and childish character of ideas that induce them to these attempts.

G. Etienne. Generalized paralysis in typhoid fever. Neurological review. February 1899

Prof. Etienne devotes his article to the analysis of three clinical cases of general paralysis depending on typhus. In the first case, the general paralysis observed by the author came on 3-4 days after he recovered from typhoid fever. It began with the lower extremities, crossed over to the upper limbs, captured the muscles of the trunk, and the patient died with the appearance of asphyxiation for several days. Paralysis developed painlessly. On the part of the rectum and urinary bladder, incontinence is noted. Such cases are usually diagnosed as Landry's disease, that is, a motor pair of an ascending type, ending with lethal bulbar phenomena, without disturbances from the side of sensitivity and without trophic disorders.

В. Stewart: The Increase of general Paralysis in England and Wales: its Causation and Significance. (The journal of mental science. 1896, № 143)

In England and Wallis for 1881-1891. the number of population increased by 11, 7%, while cases of mental insanity - by 15, 24%. The share of general progressive paralysis accounts for 9% of the total number of patients admitted to psychiatric hospitals in England and Wallis. For 15 years (1878-1892) the number of paralytics was 18438, accounting for 8% of the total number of patients in 1878-1882. 8.6% in 1883-1887 and 8, 9% in 1888-1892.

Cerebaral Hyperperfusion in General Paralysis Patients

Objective This study aimed to identify the cerebral blood flow (CBF) in patients with general paralysis (GP). Methods Three-dimensional pseudo-continuous arterial spin labeling (3D-pCASL) imaging was performed to measure the CBF in twenty patients with GP and twenty healthy subjects(NC). CBF was normalized to reduce variations among subjects. CBF was compared between the groups. Results Compared with the healthy subjects, the patients with GP exhibited increased CBF in the frontal lobe, temporal lobe, insular lobe, limbic lobe, and parietal lobe(all P<0.05). There was no difference in CBF of the occipital lobe between the GP group and the NC group(all P>0.05). Conclusions Our results suggest that the patients with GP may exhibit regional increased CBF, which may be one of the pathogenesis of general paralysis.

Malaria therapy in Spain: 100 years after its introduction as a treatment for the general paralysis of the insane

This article addresses the implementation of malaria fever therapy in Spain. Neuropsychiatrist Rodríguez-Lafora first used it in 1924, but Vallejo-Nágera was the main advocate for the technique. He had learned the method from Wagner von Jauregg himself, and he worked in the Military Psychiatric Clinic and the San José Mental Hospital, both in Ciempozuelos (Madrid). Vallejo-Nágera worked with the parasitologist Zozaya, who had travelled to England with a Rockefeller Foundation grant in order to learn from British malariologist, Sydney Price James. This article details the results of the uneven implementation of this treatment in Spanish psychiatric institutions. Although syphilologists and internists used fever therapy for the treatment of general paralysis of the insane, they were much less enthusiastic than psychiatrists.

Glimpses of Gilles de la Tourette’s Personality

Using unpublished letters as well as press excerpts, the author examines Gilles de la Tourette’s relationships with hospital administrators and journalists, which provide insight into his personality. Responding to an unfortunate case sensationalized by the press, Gilles de la Tourette aggressively defended his reputation while also revealing cognitive difficulties that would worsen over time. Starting in 1893, Gilles de la Tourette’s behavior gradually changed, a sign of syphilitic general paralysis. The chapter presents previously unpublished letters that he sent to the administrators of his hospital, where he was in charge of a department and describes his reaction to a slanderous press campaign. In addition to Gilles de la Tourette’s condition, the new documents elucidate the state of Parisian hospitals and the challenges of hospital physicians at the end of the nineteenth century.

A Sad End

Georges Gilles de la Tourette died on May 22, 1904, following a slow mental deterioration associated with general paralysis. After a brief history of the disease and its description, the author examines how Gilles de la Tourette’s illness came to light, why he was committed in Switzerland, and the details of his hospitalization, based on unpublished documents from the Loudun archives. His wife played an essential role, attending to her husband during the three years that preceded his death. Her devotion is evident in the many letters she wrote and received, including her correspondence with a number of medical celebrities.