Activity

Alien hand syndrome (AHS) is a disabling condition in which one hand behaves in a way that the person finds “alien”. This feeling of alienation is related to the occurrence of movements of the respective hand performed without or against conscious intention. Most information on AHS stems from single case observations in patients with frontal, callosal, or parietal brain damage.

Retrospective analysis of distinctive clinical features of three out of 18 epilepsy patients who developed AHS with antagonistic movements of the left hand after corpus callosotomy (CC) (one anterior, two complete) for the control of epileptic seizures, particularly epileptic drop attacks (EDA).

Remarkably, these three patients, two men and one woman, displayed atypical language dominance with a bilateral, left more than right hemisphere language representation in intracarotidal amobarbital testing before surgery. The overall additional distinctive feature of the target patients was genuine left-handedness, with writing retrained to right-handedness in two patients. After surgery the left hands became alien. The problem was permanent, despite strategies for compensation.

From this observation we suggest that under the conditions of dissociation of language and motor dominance, loss of both intentional control of contralateral action and physiological inhibition of antagonistic movements lead to post-callosotomy alien-hand-like motor phenomena. The dissociation pattern posing this risk seems rare but needs to be considered when evaluating candidates for callosotomy.

From this observation we suggest that under the conditions of dissociation of language and motor dominance, loss of both intentional control of contralateral action and physiological inhibition of antagonistic movements lead to post-callosotomy alien-hand-like motor phenomena. The dissociation pattern posing this risk seems rare but needs to be considered when evaluating candidates for callosotomy.The hypomethylating agents (HMA) decitabine and azacitidine are used in acute myeloid leukemia (AML) for induction therapy in select patients. They are given on either inpatient (IP) or outpatient (OP) services and the decision where to administer them is complex but ultimately depends on the risk for neutropenic infections, hyperleukocytosis and other complications. In our study, we investigated 100-day survival differences between IP and OP HMA induction. This study reviewed 68 patients, 29 of whom received HMA as an IP while 39 received it as an OP. Using a logistic regression model, we found that IP induction was associated with a significantly lower odds of survival at 100-days (Odds Ratio 5.90; p=0.005). Given these results, we hypothesize the survival difference was related to the inherent risk associated with being admitted for chemotherapy, whether it be neutropenic fever, hyperleukocytosis or other reasons. We advise physicians who are administering IP HMA to consider its’ inherent risk associated with its’ administration.The possibility of accumulation of excess energy in the active medium formed by the gadolinium isotopes Gd-155 and Gd-156 possible due to the formation and accumulation of Gd-156m nuclei in the isomeric state during radiation capture of neutrons by the nuclei of a stable isotope with a lower mass is shown. A numerical simulation of the dynamics of the energy levels population of Gd-156 nuclei at repetitively-pulsed pumping of the active medium formed by isotope-modified gadolinium oxide was carried out. The calculation for various combinations of neutron duty cycle of pulses, flux density, and neutron energy spectrum in pulses was performed. It was established that combinations of these parameters, which provide the possibility of inverting the population of the excitation levels of Gd-156 isotope nuclei were largely determined by the energy neutron flux spectrum in pulses.

Prior studies examining sex-related risk of readmission for ischemic stroke (IS) after coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) did not adjust for preoperative comorbidities and used small study samples that were single-center or otherwise poorly generalizable. We assessed risk of readmission for IS after CABG for females compared to males in a nationwide sample.

The 2013 Nationwide Readmissions Database contains data on 49% of all U.S. hospitalizations. Tosedostat research buy We used population weighting to determine national estimates. Using all follow-up data up to 1 year after discharge from CABG hospitalization, we estimated Kaplan-Meier cumulative risk of IS, stratified by sex, using the log-rank test for significance. We created Cox proportional hazard models to calculate hazard ratios (HR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) for IS readmission, with sex as the main independent variable. We ran unadjusted models and models adjusted for age, vascular risk factors, estimated severity of illness and risk of mortality, hospital k of readmission for IS up to 1 year after CABG for females compared to males in a fully adjusted model utilizing a large, contemporary, nationwide database. Further research would clarify mechanisms of this increased risk among women.

With family centred practice as one of the tenets in early childhood intervention (ECI), it is important to understand family outcomes as a means of assessing the effectiveness of ECI services.

The present paper investigates the psychometric properties of an expanded measure of caregivers’ perceptions of helpfulness of ECI services, the Family Outcomes Survey – Revised, Expanded Part B (FOS-RE B).

Two-hundred and forty-six caregivers of children enrolled in an ECI programme in Singapore completed the FOS-RE B, as well as convergent validity measures (FOS-R Part A, Depression, Stress and Anxiety Scale and questions addressing perceptions of family situation and optimism for the child’s future). Confirmatory factor analysis was used to examine the factor structure of the FOS-RE B and correlations were used to examine convergent validity.

The factor structure of the FOS-RE B was found to mirror the structure of the FOS-R A, as hypothesized. Evidence for convergent validity, in the form of correlations with family well-being measures was found, as well as evidence for good internal consistency reliability.