There is only a weak relationship between lesion laterality and QL. Survivors of hemorrhagic strokes do not evidence more QL impairment than survivors of ischemic strokes. Stroke per se is not unequivocally followed by emotional discomfort. In addition to stroke type, patient and clinical characteristics are also important in explaining impaired QL patterns.

To study the extent to which patients experience residual problems in daily functioning several years after having Guillain-Barre syndrome (GBS) a survey of 123 patients who had had GuillainBarre syndrome three to six years previously was performed, using the sickness impact profile (SIP) for measuring functional health status and a functional assessment scale (F score) for measuring physical condition. The patients were diagnosed according to the international criteria for Guillain-Barre syndrome and were at the time of diagnosis unable to walk more than 10 metres without support. The physical SIP score correlated positively with final physical recovery (Pearson's r = 0.79). The psychosocial SIP score indicated impairment in all patient groups compared with matched normal control values; they included the group with no, or mild, residual symptoms (P < 0.05). No relation was found between clinical variables related to the severity or duration of Guillain-Barre syndrome and residual psychosocial dysfunctioning, except for a relation with disturbance of sensation in the arms.In conclusion, in many patients with Guillain-Barre syndrome, psychosocial functioning is still seriously affected, even when they have physically recovered, or show only mild residual signs. (7 Neurol Neurosurg Psychiatry 1997;62:637-640)

Human islet amyloid polypeptide (hIAPP), a pancreatic islet protein of 37 amino acids, is the main component of islet amyloid, seen at autopsy in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (DM2). To investigate the roles of hIAPP and islet amyloid in DM2, we generated transgenic mice expressing hIAPP in their islet beta cells. In this study, we found that after a long-term, high-fat diet challenge islet amyloid was observed in only 4 of 19 hIAPP transgenic mice. hIAPP transgenic females exhibited severe glucose intolerance, which was associated with a downregulation of GLUT-2 mRNA expression. In isolated islets from hIAPP males cultured for 3 weeks on high-glucose medium, the percentage of amyloid containing islets increased from 5.5% to 70%. This ex vivo system will allow a more rapid, convenient, and specific study of factors influencing islet amyloidosis as well as of therapeutic strategies to interfere with this pathological process.