1,720,961 research outputs found
Prospective memory in Parkinson’s disease: the role of the motor subtypes
No full textBackground: Prospective memory (PM) is defined as memory for future intentions and it is typically divided into time-based and event-based PM. Deficit of PM has been reported in patients with Parkinson’s disease (PD) but no study has yet explored the association between motor subtypes (tremor dominant and rigidity/bradykinesia dominant) and performance on PM tasks. The aim of the study was to explore the role of motor subtypes in the defect of PM. Methods: Consecutive outpatients with tremor dominant (TD-PD) or rigidity/bradykinesia dominant (PIGD-PD) PD and healthy subjects (HCs) were enrolled and underwent a neuropsychological battery assessing PM, verbal memory and executive functions and questionnaires assessing apathy, functional autonomy, and perceived memory disturbances. Results: We enrolled 28 patients with TD-PD, 28 patients with PIGD-PD and 50 HCs. The three groups did not differ on demographic and cognitive variables. Patients with TD-PD performed worse on time-based PM tasks than patients with PIGD-PD and HCs; no significant difference was found among the three groups on event-based PM tasks. Executive dysfunctions contributed to reduced time-based PM scores in TD-PD. Moreover, severe deficit of time-based and more frequency of perceived failures of PM contributed to reduced functional autonomy in TD-PD. Conclusion: The finding of a poorer performance of patients with TD-PD than ones with PIGD-PD and HCs suggests a selective deficit of time-based PM abilities in TD-PD group; therefore, deficit of time-based PM might be considered as a distinctive non-motor symptom of TD-PD and it might affect the functional autonomy in this subtype of PD
Functional evaluation of tubularized-incised plate repair of midshaft-proximal hypospadias using uroflowmetry
Full text linkThe role of the motor subtypes on the relationship between anxiety and cognitive dysfunctions in Parkinson’s disease
No full textAnxiety is a common neuropsychiatric symptom in Parkinson’s disease (PD). Until now, anxiety has been consistently related to cognitive deficits and severity of motor symptoms, whereas the association between anxiety and motor subtypes (TD-PD, tremor dominant and PIGD-PD, postural instability/gait disturbances dominant) revealed contrasting results. The present study aims to investigate the relationship between PD motor subtypes and anxiety and to explore whether the relationship between anxiety and cognitive deficits occurs in a specific PD motor subtype. Consecutive PD outpatients were recruited and divided into TD-PD and PIGD-PD groups according to Jankovic et al.’s criteria. All participants underwent a neuropsychological battery to evaluate anxiety, apathy, the global cognitive functioning, memory abilities, executive and visuo-constructional functions. Thirty-six patients with TD-PD and 35 patients with PIGD-PD were enrolled. The two groups did not differ on demographical and clinical variables. As for the severity of anxiety, no significant difference between the two groups was found. Regression analysis revealed that higher anxiety score was associated with poorer performance on constructional visuospatial test in both TD-PD and PIGD-PD. Clinical variables were not associated with anxiety in the two groups. Our findings indicated that the severity of anxiety was not associated with any PD motor subtypes. Moreover, regression analysis revealed that impaired visuo-constructional abilities are related to anxiety independently of PD motor subtypes. Since altered fronto-parietal network might be one of the pathogenetic mechanisms underpinning anxiety and constructional visuospatial deficits, the treatment of cognitive dysfunctions might reduce anxious symptoms
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
Laparoscopy for nonpalpable testis: Is inguinal exploration always necessary when the cord structures enter the inguinal ring?
No full textOn laparoscopic examination, about half the cases of impalpable testis present cord structures entering the inguinal ring. The aim of this study was to verify the validity of laparoscopy in selecting patients who need inguinal exploration. Since 1992, 40 laparoscopies (41 impalpable testis) have been performed in the authors' institution. The patients' ages ranged from 1 to 8 years (average, 4). After the introduction of the first trocar by an open approach, the internal inguinal ring on the side of the normally descended testis was studied, and the iliac areas and the pelvis were inspected with particular attention to the internal inguinal ring patency. In 6 patients (15%), blind ending cord structures were found above the inguinal ring. An intrabdominal testis was found in 13 patients (32.5%). In 21 patients, cord structures entering the inguinal ring were observed; 18 had hypoplasic spermatic vessels and a closed processus vaginalis. An inguinal exploration was performed, and specimens for histologic examination were collected when cord structures entering the inguinal ring were observed. Scars and/or calcifications were found in 70% and 50% of the cases, respectively; viable germ cells were identified in two remnants; no malignancy was recorded. No complications occurred, and all the patients were discharged 1-2 days postoperatively. Inguinal exploration can be avoided when hypotrophic vessels are found entering a closed internal inguinal ring, since hypotrophic vessels are inequivocable signs of intracanalicular vanishing testis. Inguinal exploration is indicated in syndromic patients and when normally developed vessels and/or open inguinal ring are found on laparoscopy
A simple device and technique for transumbilical open laparoscopy in children
No full textIn the last decade, transumbilical open laparoscopy has been widely used and accepted because it safely allows the insertion of the initial trocar without complication, such as major vascular or intra-abdominal visceral penetration. To avoid these complications, many authors have proposed using the open technique with a Hasson trocar. Pediatric-size laparoscopic equipment is difficult to obtain, however, so since 1992 the authors have used a simple device for open laparoscopy in pediatric patients. The open procedure is performed in the standard fashion. A small incision is made through the umbilical crease and is deepened through the linea alba. The peritoneum is picked up between hemostats and opened under direct vision. The distal part of a soft-seal endotracheal tube is forced over the end of the usual 5-mm cannula. The device thus assembled is inserted into the abdomen, and the balloon is inflated and is held back against the abdominal wall by the assistant. This maneuver avoids both gas leakage and sutures on the fascia and/or peritoneum. Since 1992 the authors have performed a total of 58 diagnostic and/or operative laparoscopies, using this simple device for open laparoscopy in 55 of them. No complications such as balloon burst or gas leakage have been recorded. This technique is safe, is time-saving, and does not require any sutures
[The correlation between psittacosis-ornithosis and the immune status in childhood: apropos 5 cases]
No full textThe authors studied 5 children affected with a pneumopathy by Chlamydia psittaci. They discuss the effects of a transitory immunodeficiency relative to NK cells in predisposing little patients to the infective disease
[Clinico-epidemiological considerations of 30 cases of pulmonitis and pleuropulmonitis in childhood]
No full textThe authors studied 30 children affected with pneumonia or pleuropneumonia. They point out some clinical and epidemiological features pertinent to the pathology examined
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