Background
Cerebral abscesses are a rare complication after therapeutic neuro-endovascular procedures.
Method
The aim of this article is to report a case of cerebral abscess after the endovascular ...embolization of a cerebral aneurysm and to discuss and review all the cases of cerebral abscess secondary to neurovascular embolization described in the literature up to now.
Results
A 40-year-old female patient was treated using an endovascular embolization for a ruptured aneurysm of the basilar artery tip. After 2 months she presented with a cerebellar abscess. Antibiotic therapy was started, and a surgical drainage of the collection was performed, with a favorable postoperative outcome. Twelve other cases were reported in the literature, in five cases secondary to the treatment of a cerebral aneurysm, in six cases secondary to a cerebral arterio-venous malformation (AVM) and in one case secondary to a dural arterio-venous fistula (DAVF). The pathophysiology and risk factors of cerebral abscess formation are discussed in detail.
Conclusions
The risk of cerebral abscesses after neuro-endovascular embolization is not negligible, and a growing number of patients affected by this complication may be expected in the near future because of the spreading of neuro-endovascular techniques. The role of prophylactic antibiotic therapy in specific subgroups of patients is still debated.
Dyslexia: Cultural Diversity and Biological Unity Paulesu, E.; J.-F. Démonet; Fazio, F. ...
Science (American Association for the Advancement of Science),
03/2001, Letnik:
291, Številka:
5511
Journal Article
Recenzirano
The recognition of dyslexia as a neurodevelopmental disorder has been hampered by the belief that it is not a specific diagnostic entity because it has variable and culture-specific manifestations. ...In line with this belief, we found that Italian dyslexics, using a shallow orthography which facilitates reading, performed better on reading tasks than did English and French dyslexics. However, all dyslexics were equally impaired relative to their controls on reading and phonological tasks. Positron emission tomography scans during explicit and implicit reading showed the same reduced activity in a region of the left hemisphere in dyslexics from all three countries, with the maximum peak in the middle temporal gyrus and additional peaks in the inferior and superior temporal gyri and middle occipital gyrus. We conclude that there is a universal neurocognitive basis for dyslexia and that differences in reading performance among dyslexics of different countries are due to different orthographies.
Abstract
We compute the topological susceptibility $\chi_t$ of lattice QCD with $2+1$ dynamical quark flavors described by the Möbius domain-wall fermion. Violation of chiral symmetry as measured by ...the residual mass is kept at $\sim$1 MeV or smaller. We measure the fluctuation of the topological charge density in a “slab” sub-volume of the simulated lattice using the method proposed by W. Bietenholz, P. de Forcrand, and U. Gerber, J. High Energy Phys. 12, 070 (2015) and W. Bietenholz, K. Cichy, P. de Forcrand, A. Dromard, and U. Gerber, PoS LATTICE 2016, 321 (2016). The quark mass dependence of $\chi_t$ is consistent with the prediction of chiral perturbation theory, from which the chiral condensate is extracted as $\Sigma^{\overline{\rm MS}}(\mbox{2 GeV}) = 274(13)(29)\,\mbox{MeV}^3$, where the first error is statistical and the second one is systematic. Combining the results for the pion mass $M_\pi$ and decay constant $F_\pi$, we obtain $\chi_t = 0.229(03)(13)M_\pi^2F_\pi^2$ at the physical point.
Objectives
To explore the impact of sex and age on relationship between prodromal constipation and disease phenotype in Parkinson’s disease at early stages.
Methods
A total of 385 Parkinson’s disease ...patients from the PRIAMO study were classified according to the presence of prodromal constipation and followed for 24 months. Multivariable mixed-effect models were applied. All analyses were performed separately for sex (64.1% men) and median age (different by sex: 67 years-old in men and 68 years-old in women).
Results
As for sex, prodromal constipation was associated with greater odds of attention/memory complaints and apathy symptoms in women only. As for age, prodromal constipation was associated with lower cognitive and higher apathy scores in older patients only.
Conclusions
Prodromal constipation anticipates lower cognitive performances and more severe apathy since the earliest stages in women and older patients. Sex- and age-related heterogeneity of prodromal markers of Parkinson’s disease may impact disease phenotype.
Background
The optimal management of petroclival meningiomas (PCMs) continues to be debated along with several controversies that persist.
Methods
A task force was created by the EANS skull base ...section along with its members and other renowned experts in the field to generate recommendations for the management of these tumors. To achieve this, the task force reviewed in detail the literature in this field and had formal discussions within the group.
Results
The constituted task force dealt with the existing definitions and classifications, pre-operative radiological investigations, management of small and asymptomatic PCMs, radiosurgery, optimal surgical strategies, multimodal treatment, decision-making, and patient’s counselling.
Conclusion
This article represents the consensually derived opinion of the task force with respect to the management of PCMs.
Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) is a lethal X-linked recessive muscle disease due to defect on the gene encoding dystrophin. The lack of a functional dystrophin in muscles results in the fragility ...of the muscle fiber membrane with progressive muscle weakness and premature death. There is no cure for DMD and current treatment options focus primarily on respiratory assistance, comfort care, and delaying the loss of ambulation. Recent works support the idea that stem cells can contribute to muscle repair as well as to replenishment of the satellite cell pool. Here we tested the safety of autologous transplantation of muscle-derived CD133+ cells in eight boys with Duchenne muscular dystrophy in a 7-month, double-blind phase I clinical trial. Stem cell safety was tested by measuring muscle strength and evaluating muscle structures with MRI and histological analysis. Timed cardiac and pulmonary function tests were secondary outcome measures. No local or systemic side effects were observed in all treated DMD patients. Treated patients had an increased ratio of capillary per muscle fibers with a switch from slow to fast myosin-positive myofibers.
One primary problem in extremely preterm children is the occurrence of atypical language development. The aim of this study was to explore the components of language (articulatory phonetics, lexicon ...and syntax) in comprehension and production in extremely preterm children between the 4th and 5th year of age. The language section of the Preschool Neuropsychological Test was administered to 20 extremely preterm monolingual Italian children (GA < 28 weeks) and to a control sample of 40 full term children (GA > 37 weeks), matched for age and non-verbal IQ. Language comprehension was fully efficient in all of the components that we assessed. In the tasks of language production the clinical sample fared much worse than their age and IQ matched controls and the differences were highly significant (
p
< .001). Language acquisition in extremely preterm children may follow uneven developmental trajectories: language comprehension can be spared in the face of a selective impairment of language production at the level of articulatory phonetics and syntax.
Background
The optimal management of clinoidal meningiomas (CMs) continues to be debated.
Methods
We constituted a task force comprising the members of the EANS skull base committee along with ...international experts to derive recommendations for the management of these tumors. The data from the literature along with contemporary practice patterns were discussed within the task force to generate consensual recommendations.
Results and conclusion
This article represents the consensus opinion of the task force regarding pre-operative evaluations, patient’s counselling, surgical classification, and optimal surgical strategy. Although this analysis yielded only Class B evidence and expert opinions, it should guide practitioners in the management of patients with clinoidal meningiomas and might form the basis for future clinical trials.
PDF
