1,721,034 research outputs found
Opsoclonus-myoclonus syndrome in the era of neuronal cell surface antibodies: A message for clinicians
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Pediatric opsoclonus–myoclonus syndrome: the role of functional brain connectivity studies
No full textHIGH-DEFINITION VOICE CEPSTRAL ANALYSIS IN ADDUCTOR-TYPE SPASMODIC DYSPHONIA
No full textTo date, uncertainties regarding diagnostic criteria and distinctions among the different subtypes of laryngeal dystonia (ASD versus AbSD) are important challenges. ASD diagnosis is achieved according to the best clinical practice (Schwarz et al., 2009; Jinnah et al., 2013) and is based on phoniatric evaluation (laryngoscopic exam and voice narrow-band spectrogram) and clinical neurological evaluation. To help clinicians in the quantification of voice disability, a number of clinical subjective scales can be employed, being the VHI (consisting in three domains: emotional, functional, and physical)(Jacobson et al., 1997; Schindler et al., 2010) and the qualitative dysphonia clinical scale (DCS)(Scontrini et al., 2009), the two most diffused.
To date, in ASD no standardized tool to quantify the effect of BoNT-A therapy is available. Starting from these observations and, given the absence of a standardized objective analysis to quantify voice abnormalities in ASD, the aim of the present study was to investigate differences in voice parameters between patients affected by ASD, both under the effect and not-under the effect of BoNT-A therapy, and compare these results with those obtained in a homogeneous group of age, sex, weight and height-matched non-smokers healthy subjects (HS)
Therapeutic interventions in parkinsonism: corticobasal degeneration
No full textCorticobasal degeneration (CBD) is a progressive neurodegenerative disorder resulting from pathological accumulation of tau protein and is included in the spectrum of Atypical Parkinsonism. The typical clinical phenotype of CBD is characterized by the Corticobasal syndrome (CBS). In recent years it has become clear that the clinical picture of CBS may be caused by different pathological conditions, resulting in frequent misdiagnosis. CBD has high morbidity and poor prognosis with no effective therapies. In this review, we will discuss the symptomatic treatment, the palliative care and the disease modifying strategies currently in use. Symptomatic treatment in patients with CBD may sometimes be useful for improving motor (parkinsonism, dystonia and myoclonus) and non-motor (cognitive-behavioral) symptoms, but the effects are often unsatisfactory. In addition, non-pharmacological strategies and palliative care are useful integrating components of the multidisciplinary therapeutic approach for patients with CBD. Despite many efforts, a disease-modifying treatment is still unavailable for CBD
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
Diagnostic Criteria for Parkinson’s Disease: From James Parkinson to the Concept of Prodromal Disease
Full text linkThe diagnosis of Parkinson's disease (PD) is based on clinical features and differently to the common opinion that detecting this condition is easy, seminal clinicopathological studies have shown that up one-fourth of patients diagnosed as PD during life has an alternative diagnosis at postmortem. The misdiagnosis is even higher when only the initial diagnosis is considered, since the diagnostic accuracy improves by time, during follow-up visits. Given that the confirmation of the diagnosis of PD can be only obtained through neuropathology, to improve and facilitate the diagnostic-therapeutic workup in PD, a number of criteria and guidelines have been introduced in the last three decades. In the present paper, we will critically re-appraise the main diagnostic criteria proposed for PD, with particular attention to the recently published criteria by the International Parkinson and Movement Disorder Society (MDS) task force, underlying their novelty and focusing on the diagnostic issues still open. We also emphasize that the MDS-PD criteria encompass the two main previous sets of diagnostic criteria (United Kingdom PD Society Brain Bank and Gelb's criteria), introducing at the same time new aspects as the use of non-motor symptoms as additional diagnostic features, and the adoption of the concept of prodromal PD, crucial to enroll in clinical trials PD patients in the very early phase of the disease. To better understand the real diffusion of the new MDS-PD diagnostic criteria among neurologists, we have also collected selective opinions of sixteen movement disorder experts from various world regions on their practical approach for the clinical diagnosis of PD. Results from this brief survey showed that, although innovative and complete, the revised diagnostic criteria produced by MDS task force are still scarcely employed among clinicians. We believe that both national and international scientific societies should operate in the future for a broader diffusion of these criteria with specific initiatives, including dedicated events and teaching courses
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
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