1,721,137 research outputs found
Slowly progressive pure dysgraphia with late apraxia of speech: a further variant of the focal cerebral degeneration.
No full textWe report a longitudinal neuropsychological investigation of a patient with slowly progressive pure dysgraphia. Cognitive
analysis of writing errors suggested a selective impairment of the graphemic buffer. After about seven years, the patient developed an
apraxia of speech. No other linguistic or generalized cognitive impairment occurred subsequently, so that, twelve years after the
beginning of the disease, the patient showed complete independence in daily life and still remained professionally active. Functional
neuroimaging revealed hypoperfusion confined to left fronto-temporal lobe. This well-recognizable syndrome does not fit any of the
cases described previously in the literature. This report therefore, adds another variant to heterogeneous clinical spectrum of focal
neurodegenerative disorders, further suggesting the opportunity of their distinction from pathological processes leading to dementia
Modularity of music: evidence from a case of pure amnesia.
No full textA case of pure amusia in a 20 year old left handed non-professional musician is reported. The patient showed an impairment of music abilities in the presence of normal processing of speech and environmental sounds. Furthermore, whereas recognition and production of melodic sequences were grossly disturbed, both the recognition and production of rhythm patterns were preserved. This selective breakdown pattern was produced by a focal lesion in the left superior temporal gyrus. This case thus suggests that not only linguistic and musical skills, but also melodic and rhythmic processing are independent of each other. This functional dissociation in the musical domain supports the hypothesis that music components have a modular organisation. Furthermore, there is the suggestion that amusia may be produced by a lesion located strictly in one hemisphere and that the superior temporal gyrus plays a crucial part in melodic processing
Catheter-ocking device-assisted external ventricular drain placement: a new surgical technique preventing intracranial drain displacement-technical note with preliminary single-center results
Full text linkBackground: External ventricular drain (EVD) placement is frequently performed in neurosurgical patients to divert cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) and monitor intracranial pressure. The traditional practice is the tunneled EVD technique performed in the operating room. EVD insertion through a bolt in intensive care units has also been reported. We describe here the usage of a novel technique, the catheter-locking device-assisted EVD placement, reporting our preliminary, observational single-center results. Methods: From January to October 2021, 15 patients underwent a catheter-locking device-assisted EVD placement at our institute. For each of these patients, the following data were evaluated: (1) demographics, (2) etiology, (3) clinical presentation, (4) EVD complications, and (5) final clinical outcomes. Results: Median age of our population was 64 years, with a female/male ratio of 2:1. Average Glasgow Coma Scale score on admission was 8. Each patient maintained the drainage for an average time of 14 days. None of the patients suffered from postoperative intracerebral hemorrhage, CSF leakage, catheter migration, or discontinuation of the drainage system; none developed signs of infection. Nine patients required a permanent CSF diversion system. Outcome was good in 14 patients. One patient died for the underlying disease. Conclusions: The catheter-locking device-assisted EVD placement appears to be a safe and accurate alternative to both the standard tunneled and the bolt-assisted EVD insertion techniques. The use of this procedure may significantly reduce the incidence of the commonest EVD complications, though further investigation is required
Negative evidence of difference between right- e left- handers in interemispheric transfer of information
No full text
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
Cervical Post-traumatic Unilateral Locked Facets: Clinical, Radiological and Surgical Remarks on a Series of 33 Patients.
No full textStudy Design: Radiographic and clinical analysis.
Objective: Review author's experience with anterior discectomy, interbody fusion and anterior cervical plating in 33 patients with post-traumatic unilateral cervical locked facets.
Summary of Background Data: Unilateral cervical locked facet syndrome is a relatively uncommon injury that often is misdiagnosed and therefore subject to a dangerous delay in surgery. Management of this trauma is controversial.
Methods: 33 patients with radiologically proven diagnosis of postraumatic unilateral cervical locked facets were treated by skull traction and surgical operation from January 2005 to December 2009. All patients preoperatively were assessed for neurological examination and underwent XRays, MRI and CT evaluation of the cervical spine.
Results: The unilateral locked facet level was C4-C5 in 13 patients, C5-C6 in ten, C6-C7 in eight and C3-C4 in two patients. After closed reduction attempt with Crutchfield system, the correct alignment was achieved in 30 patients, who underwent anterior discectomy with cage, interbody fusion and anterior cervical plating. In 3 patients there was an overdistraction and therefore a closed reduction was not possible, so they were firstly operated by posterior approach with opened reduction of the facets, lateral mass screws and posterolateral fusion. In two of these patients there was an anterior fragment of the disc in the canal, so was also performed an anterior approach with discectomy, cage and plating. There were no surgery-related complications. Post-operative neurological status was unchanged in the three patients with tetraplegia and improved in eight of the ten patients with radiculopathy. Fusion was obtained in all patients, as showed in the clinical and radiological follow-up.
Conclusion: The authors conclude that an anterior approach provides a safe and effective alternative for the treatment of patients with post-traumatic unilateral cervical locked facet, when preoperatively the cervical alignment of the dislocation is achieved with a closed reduction
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