1,721,053 research outputs found
Hemicrania continua and chronic paroxysmal hemicrania: a comparison of pupillometric findings.
Get PDFPupillometric studies were carried out in 9 patients with chronic paroxysmal hemicrania (CPH), in 10 patients with hemicrania continua (HC) and in age- and sex-matched controls (n = 12-17). Studies were carried out in the basal condition and after instillation of 2% tyramine, 1% OH-amphetamine, or 1% phenylephrine. The pupillary response to tyramine in HC was more marked than in controls on a percentage increase basis, but not so much when the increment is calculated in absolute values. In this series, there was no asymmetrical response (relative miosis on the symptomatic side) like in previous case reports. The pupil reaction was less in HC than in CPH after hydroxyamphetamine instillation and without any marked asymmetry. There was no definite evidence of supersensitivity to a directly acting sympathicomimetic agent, phenylephrine. No gross abnormalities as regard the sympathetic function in HC was thus observed. The asymmetry on tyramine testing differed in CPH and HC (most marked in HC). No major emphasis should probably be attached to this finding, since on testing with OH-amphetamine, a similar substance, this finding was not reproduced
Pressure algometry in healthy subjects: inter-examiner variability.
No full textThe purpose of this study was to estimate inter-examiner reliability of head and neck algometry. Pain perception thresholds were assessed with a mechanical pressure algometer in 21 healthy individuals. Thresholds were assessed at 13 symmetrical points on each side of the head and neck, at the deltoid muscle and at the median finger. The pressure range of the instrument proved insufficient to study the pain perception threshold on the finger, however. Two different examiners carried out one or two examinations in each subject during one day. The sequence of investigations was varied randomly. The inter-examiner reliability was found to be good, with a mean intra-class correlation coefficient (ICC) of 0.75. Intra-examiner reproducibility was excellent (mean ICC = 0.84). The mean inter-examiner coefficient of variation was 18.7%, while the mean coefficient of repeatability (CR) was 1.60 kg/cm2. In comparison, the mean intra-examiner coefficient of variation was 15% while the mean CR was 1.29 kg/cm2. Statistically significant differences between examiners were found for the frontal point (p < 0.01), while a trend towards lower thresholds in one of the two observers was seen in 10 of the 13 non-significant points. Inter-examiner reliability of side differences was excellent, with CR = 1.23 kg/cm2. In conclusion, manual algometry with a rather inexpensive mechanical device has a good to excellent inter-rater reliability. When studying patients, however, the possible bias introduced by different examiners should be taken into account, both regarding study design and data analysis
Sweating patterns in humans: I Exercise-and pilocarpine-induced forehead sweating in healthy individuals.
Get PDFIn cluster headache, forehead sweating is frequently pathological and for this reason it is important to know the normal pattern. In the present work, sweating was induced by exercise and pilocarpine in 14 healthy individuals in the age group 24-50 years. A comparison was also made with patterns of heat-induced forehead sweating. No definite left-right asymmetry or medial-lateral preponderance were observed. As expected, the sweat patterns following body heating and exercise were rather similar. However, there was a significant relative increase in lateral forehead sweating with heat-induction as compared to pilocarpine-induction. In comparative intra- or inter-individual studies of forehead sweating, the method of sweat provocation may, therefore, not be indifferent
Cluster headache: a comparison of the proportions of abnormal recordings for several derived variables in tyramine pupillometry
Get PDFTyramine pupillometry was performed in 27 cluster headache patients and in 45 healthy controls. Asymmetry variables, i.e. symptomatic(S)-nonsymptomatic(NS) side diameter difference and the ratios (S/NS, log NS/S or S/S+NS) displayed higher sensitivities than variables which express the function of the symptomatic and the nonsymptomatic side pupil separately. Thirty percent of patients had abnormal S-NS values at maximal pupillary dilatation. The statistical properties of different ratio variables are discussed and it is concluded that the transformed ratio (log(NS/S], anisocoria (S-NS) and the anisocoria index (S/S+NS) may be superior to the conventional S/NS ratio
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Get PDFThe 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
Sweating patterns in humans: II Heat-induced forehead sweating and cutaneous temperature in healthy individuals
Get PDFA comparison of heat-induced forehead sweating and cutaneous temperature patterns has been carried out in 17 healthy individuals (a total of 54 measurements). Only minor asymmetries in facial sweating and temperature were observed. No significant correlation between sweating and cutaneous temperature was found. The reproducibility of the method was excellent
Unilaterality of headaches in class migraine
No full textThe localization of a headache is a matter of importance for the diagnosis. Migraine is considered to be a unilateral headache. There is, however, only limited information available on the constancy of the unilaterality: how frequently is the pain locked to one side? This aspect is of importance in the differential diagnosis vs. cervicogenic headache, where the pain persistently seems to occur on the one side. In the present study, 31 cases (26F, 5M with a mean age of 40 years; range: 17-63) with a diagnosis of classic migraine were questioned with regard to laterality of headache at the first consultation. A unilaterality as such was present in 42%; unilaterality alternated with bilaterality in 42% of the cases; unilaterality in some form was therefore found in 84% of the cases. In classic migraine, unilaterality thus seems to outweigh bilaterality. In every case of unilaterality there was a sideshift. A side-locked unilaterality thus seems to be a rare phenomenon in classic migraine. These patients were followed-up after between 3 and 9 years; they then filled in a questionnaire (response rate: 81%). The consistency between the two sets of information in the responders was good. Only one case (possibly two) showed a side-locked unilaterality at the time of the questionnaire
The effect of hyperventilation in cluster headache patients
Get PDFThe effect of voluntary hyperventilation was assessed in 22 cluster headache patients (8 in a cluster period and 14 in a remission) and 19 healthy individuals. Using an ear oximeter and a capnograph with a nasal probe, the oxygen saturation (SaO2) and the end-tidal CO2 were monitored continuously. During the hyperventilation per se, cluster headache patients and controls showed absolute values of end-tidal CO2 and of SaO2 of the same order of magnitude. In the posthyperventilation phase, however, the average of the lowest SaO2 levels was lower in controls than in cluster headache patients. In the posthyperventilation phase, headache patients outside the cluster period showed a trend more similar to that of the controls with respect to SaO2 than did those inside the cluster period. The observed discrepancy might, if reproducible, be a consequence of an altered chemoreceptor sensitivity in cluster headache patients during the bout
Variations on the Author
Get PDF“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
- …
