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The study assessed whether the auditory reference provided by a music scale could improve spatial exploration of a standard musical instrument keyboard in right-brain-damaged patients with left spatial neglect. As performing music scales involves the production of predictable successive pitches, the expectation of the subsequent note may facilitate patients to explore a larger extension of space in the left affected side, during the production of music scales from right to left. Eleven right-brain-damaged stroke patients with left spatial neglect, 12 patients without neglect, and 12 age-matched healthy participants played descending scales on a music keyboard. In a counterbalanced design, the participants' exploratory performance was assessed while producing scales in three feedback conditions: With congruent sound, no-sound, or random sound feedback provided by the keyboard. The number of keys played and the timing of key press were recorded. Spatial exploration by patients with left neglect was superior with congruent sound feedback, compared to both Silence and Random sound conditions. Both the congruent and incongruent sound conditions were associated with a greater deceleration in all groups. The frame provided by the music scale improves exploration of the left side of space, contralateral to the right hemisphere, damaged in patients with left neglect. Performing a scale with congruent sounds may trigger at some extent preserved auditory and spatial multisensory representations of successive sounds, thus influencing the time course of space scanning, and ultimately resulting in a more extensive spatial exploration. These findings offer new perspectives also for the rehabilitation of the disorder.

The authors report a case of Pager's disease of bone and ocular neuromyotonia (ONM) in a 72-year-old woman. As far as we are aware, this association has never been previously described. The patient had an acquired left third cranial nerve palsy with oculomotor synkinesis and a left sixth cranial nerve palsy, Subjectively, she complained of recurring episodes of transient horizontal and vertical diplopia, lasting for about 30-40 sec and accompanied with discomfort in the left eye (LE), During those episodes, which occurred spontaneously or after sustained eccentric gaze, the LE became more esotropic with increasing restriction of abduction or hypotropic with increasing restriction of elevation. Electromyography (EMG) of the left medial rectus detected repetitive bursts of motor unit potentials with aspect of 'multiplets'. The oculomotor findings and the neurophysiological data evoked the diagnosis of ocular neuromyotonia which was subsequently confirmed by the effective response to carbamazepine. The patient had no history of radiation therapy, a frequent association of ONM. Cerebral and orbital CT scan showed a severe remodelling of the base of the skull, We suggest that cranial nerve palsies as clinically present in this patient, even if not neuroradiologically demonstrable, may result from bone thickening, especially the sphenoid and petrous bones, It is well-established that bone remodelling in Pager's disease may induce a local vascular 'steal phenomenon' which is known to cause neurological symptoms. Both mechanisms may be responsible for ONM.

During the years 1957-1958 and 1959 some thirty experiments were made on the phenomenon of ionospheric selfmodulation at oblique incidence. Measurements made totalled 101,273 of which only 70,581 were of use. Various disturbances (interference from radiotelegraphic stations, defects of the camera) affected 22,504 and the remaining 8188 could not be used because of distortions due to the ionosphere. For the first time it was ascertained that it is possible to have overmodulation as well as demodulation and for this reason it was decided to call the phenomenon ionospheric selfmodulation instead of ionospheric selfdemodulation.