245 research outputs found
"A lady of few words": Review of literature and report of a case of progressive nonfluent aphasia type of frontotemporal dementia
Frontotemporal dementia (FTD) is a clinically and pathologically heterogeneous syndrome. It can be classified into three clinical syndromes depending on the early and predominant symptoms: A behavioral variant FTD and two language variants namely, semantic dementia, and progressive nonfluent aphasia (PNFA) which are very rare and elude diagnosis. We report the case of an elderly homemaker who came to our institute with features of cognitive decline and behavioral problems with language deficits in the form of nonfluent speech, impaired vocabulary to three pairs of words, agrammatism, and impaired single sentence comprehension with corroborative magnetic resonance imaging findings. PNFA is a rare clinical variant of FTD and often underdiagnosed. It should be considered in elderly patients who apart from having cognitive decline, behavioral problems, and absent insight also develop limited vocabulary, especially using a set of nouns to express themselves. Speech therapy and behavioral therapy in the initial stages can be of utility
Transcranial magnetic stimulation in patients with early cortical dementia: A pilot study
Context: The diagnostic accuracy of the currently available tools carries poor sensitivity resulting in significant delay in specific diagnosis of cortical dementias. Considering the properties of default mode networking of the brain it is highly probable that specific changes may be seen in frontotemporal dementias (FTDs) and Alzheimer′s disease sufficiently early. Aim: The aim of this study is to look for changes in Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS) in cortical dementia. Materials and Methods: Evaluated with a single pulse TMS with the figure of eight coil and recorded from right first dorsal interossei (FDI). Resting Motor Threshold (RMT) was estimated on the opposite motor cortex (T1). Second site of stimulation was cervical spine at C7-T2. Central motor conduction time (CMCT) is equal toT1-T2.Silent Period (SP) identified by applying TMS pulse to contracting FDI. Conclusions: RMT was reduced in seven out of eight Alzheimer′s dementias. CMCT was in the upper limit of normal in both patients with FTD. The most consistent observation was that SP was reduced and there were escape discharges noticed during the SP suggesting increased cortical excitability and decreased cortical inhibition. This suggests probable early asymptomatic changes in the gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) nergic and cholinergic system is taking place. This if confirmed may give some insight into early diagnosis and therapeutic role of GABA agonists in these disorders
1848 : Gregor Mendel, le moine qui voulait être citoyen
Au début du mois d’août 1848, six moines augustins du monastère Saint-Thomas de Brünn (Moravie) envoient une pétition à l’Assemblée impériale constituante de Vienne. La signature de Gregor Mendel au bas de ce texte en fait un des rares documents susceptibles de nous informer sur son comportement durant ce qui fut pour lui une période cruciale.This article proposes a previously unpublished French translation of a petition, in German, addressed by six Augustinian friars to the Constitutional Parliament of Vienna in the revolutionary year 1848. The petition states that members of religious orders are deprived of civil rights and demands that they be given citizenship ; it also contains a bitter attack on the monastic institution. We suggest that Mendel was the author of this text, which he signed and actually hand-wrote
Demographic features and neuropsychological correlates in a cohort of 200 patients with vascular cognitive decline due to cerebral small vessel disease
Introduction: Vascular dementia is the second most common form of dementia and is potentially reversible. Small vessel disease (SVD) closely mimics degenerative dementia in view of its sub-acute onset and progressive course. Therefore, unlike large vessel disease, Hachinski Ischemic scale score may not always reflect vascular cognitive decline resulting in diagnostic and therapeutic confusions. Therefore, there is a need for detailed neuropsychological assessment for various cognitive domains for early identification of vascular cognitive decline as it carries a very good long term prognosis for cognitive morbidity, unlike degenerative dementias. Patients and Methods: This prospective study involves thorough domain based neuropsychological assessment of patients with a radiological diagnosis of SVD involving the following parameters-digit forward and backward, category fluency, color trails, stick test, logical memory test, and bender gestalt test. Magnetic resonance imaging scans done using 3-tesla machines and SVD graded using Fazekas visual scale. Results: The mean Hachinskis score was less sensitive for differentiating vascular dementia from degenerative dementia. However, the domain based neuropsychological scores were highly sensitive showing statistically significant impairment in all 6 domains tested and compared with Fazekas 1-3 grades in imaging. Discussion and Conclusion: This study aimed at establishing an early diagnosis of vascular mild cognitive impairment using domain wise neuropsychological testing and correlating it with radiological scores. Hachinskis score is more sensitive for large vessel disease in view of acute onset and step-like progression as against steady progression in SVD. However, domain-wise testing was highly sensitive in identifying early cognitive impairment in patients with SVD, and early therapeutic interventions are highly rewarding
The Public Nature of Private Law?
In this paper the author challenges the liberal vision of the private sphere as a realm of in which agents are justified in acting without taking into consideration anyone else’s interests. The private realm cannot be thought in isolation of private law, which should in turn be conceived as an embodiment of the mutual interest of the members of that group in the flourishing of one another
An ‘axe for the frozen sea’ : Estrin’s magic agential realism, insect thigmotaxis, and the problem with Kafka
This paper seeks to demonstrate how Marc Estrin’s Insect Dreams: the Half Life of Gregor Samsa constitutes the first piece of magic agential realist literature about insects. The term ‘magic agential realism’ has been coined from an observed coincidence in the literary commitments of Estrin’s novel to the literary genre of magic realism and the posthumanist assumptions it shares with the agential realism of Karen Barad. Given Kafka’s axiom that a literary work ought to function as an ‘axe for the frozen sea within us’. A further claim will be defended is the claim that Estrin’s Insect Dreams is the magic agential axe that shatters the frozen sea of liberal humanist representationalism within Kafka. In providing us with a book that affects us like a disaster and like a suicide (both of which are evoked and exceeded by the ever-more pressing concerns of posthumanism), I will demonstrate how Estrin both fulfils the literary criteria laid out by Kafka to Oskar Pollak and opens up the possibility of re-configuring ethics in order to account for insects through the observed phenomenon of thigmotaxis.peer-reviewe
Searching the Scriptures: Andrews University Seminary Emerging Scholars Pay Tribute to Their Professors
The purpose of this project is simple. In writing these essays each author wishes to offer a tangible expression of appreciation and gratitude to those professors who have invested their time in teaching them the value of studying Scripture. Each one of the professors represented has greatly influenced the authors’ understanding of the Biblical text, and for this they are forever indebted to them. This festschrift recognizes the scholarship of the following professors: Drs. Richard M. Davidson, Jiří Moskala, Roy Gane, Ranko Stefanović, Paul Gregor, and Thomas Shepherd.https://digitalcommons.andrews.edu/books/1037/thumbnail.jp
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