1,720,994 research outputs found
Patterns of neuropsychological impairment in mild dementia: a comparison between Alzheimer Disease and multi-infarct dementia.
No full textThe objective was to investigate the clinical and psychometric differences between patients with dementia of Alzheimer type (DAT) and patients with multi-infarct dementia (MID), matched for age, sex, education, and severity. Sixteen patients with DAT, 16 patients with MID, and 30 healthy individuals, were drawn from a longitudinal study on aging and dementia. Subjects with medical or previous mental disorders were excluded. DAT and controls with focal brain abnormalities on magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) were excluded. Diagnosis of dementia was carried out according to DSM-III-R criteria. Dementia severity was staged using the Clinical Dementia Rating (CDR) scale, and only patients with a score of 0.5-1 on CDR were studied. The main outcome measures were quantitative clinical scales of the assessment of global mental status, depression and anxiety, as well as a wide battery of neuropsychological tests for the evaluation of executive/conceptual functions and memory, as well as attention verbal ability, and visuospatial skill functions. The performance of demented patients compared to normal controls was affected on all measurements except for depression and anxiety. DAT patients showed compared to MID patients a greater extent of impairment on tasks assessing verbal comprehension and memory while MID patients were more significantly impaired on measures of frontal lobe functioning. Clinically matched DAT and MID patients show a differential pattern of neuropsychological impairment when studied in an early stage of dementia and with a mild degree of severity. Such patterns might be of value for the development of clinical diagnostic criteria
Concurrent Validity of Physiological Cost Index in Walking over Ground and during Robotic Training in Subacute Stroke Patients
Full text linkPhysiological Cost Index (PCI) has been proposed to assess gait demand. The purpose of the study was to establish whether PCI is a valid indicator in subacute stroke patients of energy cost of walking in different walking conditions, that is, over ground and on the Gait Trainer (GT) with body weight support (BWS). The study tested if correlations exist between PCI and ECW, indicating validity of the measure and, by implication, validity of PCI. Six patients (patient group (PG)) with subacute stroke and 6 healthy age- and size-matched subjects as control group (CG) performed, in a random sequence in different days, walking tests overground and on the GT with 0, 30, and 50% BWS. There was a good to excellent correlation between PCI and ECW in the observed walking conditions: in PG Pearson correlation was 0.919 (p < 0.001); in CG Pearson correlation was 0.852 (p < 0.001). In conclusion, the high significant correlations between PCI and ECW, in all the observed walking conditions, suggest that PCI is a valid outcome measure in subacute stroke patients
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Full text linkThe present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation
counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings
are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that
only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into
account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed
Cerebral hemodynamics in young hypertensive subjects and effects of atenolol treatment.
No full textThe aim of this study was to evaluate changes in cerebral hemodynamics in young
patients with uncomplicated hypertension before and after effective
antihypertensive treatment with a beta-blocker drug. Changes in mean flow
velocity in the middle cerebral artery from normal condition to hypercapnia were
evaluated by means of a transcranial Doppler in 42 hypertensive patients and 21
healthy subjects comparable for age and sex distribution. We obtained hypercapnia
with breath-holding and evaluated cerebrovascular reactivity with the
breath-holding index (BHI). After a baseline evaluation (time 0), patients were
randomly assigned to a placebo (group 1) or atenolol (group 2) therapy. The
evaluation was repeated after 30 (time 1) and 60 (time 2) days of treatment.
Before treatment, hypertensive patients had significantly lower BHI values (0.96
+/- 0.1 group 1 and 0.85 +/- 0.3 group 2) than controls (1.69 +/- 0.4) (P <
0.0001). During treatment, mean blood pressure significantly decreased in group 2
patients. In the same group, BHI values significantly increased with respect to
the pre-treatment evaluation: 1.39 +/- 0.2 at time 1 and 1.44 +/- 0.2 at time 2
(P < 0.0001). On the contrary, mean blood pressure and BHI values remained
unchanged in the placebo group. Furthermore, BHI values were significantly higher
in group 2 than in group 1 patients at times 1 (P < 0.001) and 2 (P < 0.0001).
These findings suggest that hypertension causes reduced capability of cerebral
vessels to adapt to functional changes. This condition, which is reversible after
treatment, could be implicated in the increased susceptibility to ischemic stroke
in hypertension
Variations on the Author
Full text link“Variations on the Author” discusses two of Eduardo Coutinho’s recent films (Um Dia na Vida, from 2010, and Últimas Conversas, posthumously released in 2015) and their contribution to the general question of documentary authorship. The director’s filmography is characterized by a consistent yet self-effacing form of authorial self-inscription: Coutinho often features as an interviewer that rather than express opinions propels discourses; an interviewer that is good at listening. This mode of self-inscription characterizes him as an author who is not expressive but who is nonetheless markedly present on the screen. In Um Dia na Vida, however, Coutinho is completely absent form the image, while Últimas Conversas, on the contrary, includes a confessional prologue that moves the director from the margins to the center of his films. This article examines the ways in which these works stand out in the filmography of a director who offers new insights into the notion of cinematic authorship
Appropriate Similarity Measures for Author Cocitation Analysis
Full text linkWe provide a number of new insights into the methodological discussion about author cocitation analysis. We first argue that the use of the Pearson correlation for measuring the similarity between authors’ cocitation profiles is not very satisfactory. We then discuss what kind of similarity measures may be used as an alternative to the Pearson correlation. We consider three similarity measures in particular. One is the well-known cosine. The other two similarity measures have not been used before in the bibliometric literature. Finally, we show by means of an example that our findings have a high practical relevance.information science;Pearson correlation;cosine;similarity measure;author cocitation analysis
Cerebral hemodynamic patterns during stimuli tasks in multi-infarct and Alzheimer types of dementia
No full textTo examine differences in cerebrovascular reactivity between multi-infarct and Alzheimer types of dementia
Early vs delayed inptient stroke rehabilitation: a matched comparison condicted in Italy
No full textWho may benefit from robotic-assisted gait training?: A randomized clinical trial in patients with subacute stroke
No full textBackground. Robotic-assisted walking training after stroke aims to enable highly impaired patients to walk independently, but results have been mixed. Objective. The authors aimed to identify the characteristics of patients who may be most likely to benefit. Methods. A total of 48 participants with motor and gait dysfunction following subacute stroke were stratified by the motricity index into high (<29) and low (≥ 29) motor impairment groups. Each arm was randomized to a robotic or control group (RG or CG) at a mean of 20 days after stroke. All patients underwent 2 therapy sessions per day, 5 days per week for 3 months. Those in the RG underwent 20 sessions of robotic-assisted gait training in the first 4 weeks of inpatient therapy using controlled endpoint trajectories and abbreviated conventional therapy, whereas the CG received only conventional gait training. The primary outcome was the functional ambulation category (FAC), and secondary measures were the Rivermead mobility index (RMI) and 6-minute walking distance, all evaluated at hospital admission and at discharge. Results. The lower motricity group assigned to an electromechanical device significantly improved in the FAC (P <.001), RMI (P =.001), and walking distance (P =.029). Conventional and robotic therapies were equivalent in the higher motricity arm. Conclusion. Robotic therapy combined with conventional therapy may be more effective than conventional therapy alone in patients with greater motor impairment during inpatient stroke rehabilitation. © 2011 The Author(s)
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