A learning assessment procedure as a test supplement for monitoring progress with two post-coma persons with a diagnosis of vegetative state

Objective: Evaluating a learning assessment procedure for monitoring progress with two post-coma adults with a diagnosis of vegetative state.

Method: ABABCBCB and ABABCB designs were used for the two participants, with A representing baseline, B intervention and C control conditions. Participants’ activation of an optic microswitch by eyelid closure produced stimulation during B phases.

Results: One participant increased responding during B phases and decreased it during the C condition, suggesting a non-reflective minimal level of consciousness. She showed P300 and mismatch negativity responses and scored at the vegetative level on the Coma Recovery Scale-Revised (CRS-R). The other participant increased responding during the initial B phases without decline during the first (viable) part of the C condition, suggesting a pre-conscious level. He showed indistinct P300 and mismatch negativity responses and vegetative-level scores on the CRS-R.

Conclusion: Learning data seemed reconcilable with neurophysiological measures and more positive than CRS-R scores.     

Episodic memory and self-awareness in Asperger Syndrome: Analysis of memory narratives

Previous findings from researchers on individuals with Asperger Syndrome (AS) suggest peculiarities of autobiographical memory (AM). They have shown a personal episodic memory deficit in the absence of a personal semantic memory impairment. The primary aim of this study was to explore AM in individuals with AS, and more specifically to investigate the link between episodic memory, self-awareness, and autonoetic consciousness through language analysis. We asked fifteen adults with AS and fifteen age- and IQ-matched controls to recall autobiographical memories from three life periods. Recorded interviews were processed using Alceste software. We found that participants with AS recalled fewer and less-detailed episodic memories than did controls. A content analysis revealed that family-related vocabulary as well as possessive pronouns was significantly less frequent in AS interviews than in those of controls. In conclusion, our results support the hypothesis that a deficiency of episodic memory may be due to poor awareness of the self in social relationships. Reduced use of possessive pronouns may also indicate less self-investment in life experiences, which would in turn impact recall.     

Reimbursement rates and policies for primary molar pit-and-fissure sealants across state Medicaid programs

BackgroundLittle is known about Medicaid policies regarding reimbursement for placement of sealants on primary molars. The authors identified Medicaid programs that reimbursed dentists for placing primary molar sealants and hypothesized that these programs had higher reimbursement rates than did state programs that did not reimburse for primary molar sealants.MethodsThe authors obtained Medicaid reimbursement data from online fee schedules and determined whether each state Medicaid program reimbursed for primary molar sealants (no or yes). The outcome measure was the reimbursement rate for permanent tooth sealants (calculated in 2012 U.S. dollars). The authors compared mean reimbursement rates by using the t test (α = .05).ResultsSeventeen Medicaid programs reimbursed dentists for placing primary molar sealants (34 percent), and the mean reimbursement rate was $27.57 (range, $16.00 [Maine] to $49.68 [Alaska]). All 50 programs reimbursed dentists for placement of sealants on permanent teeth. The mean reimbursement for permanent tooth sealants was significantly higher in programs that reimbursed for primary molar sealants than in programs that did not ($28.51 and $23.67, respectively; P = .03).ConclusionsMost state Medicaid programs do not reimburse dentists for placing sealants on primary molars, but programs that do so have significantly higher reimbursement rates.Practical ImplicationsMedicaid reimbursement rates are related to dentists' participation in Medicaid and children's dental care use. Reimbursement for placement of sealants on primary molars is a proxy for Medicaid program generosity.     

Spatiotopic updating across saccades in the absence of awareness

Despite the continuously changing visual inputs caused by eye movements, our perceptual representation of the visual world remains remarkably stable. Visual stability has been a major area of interest within the field of visual neuroscience. The early visual cortical areas are retinotopic-organized, and presumably there is a retinotopic to spatiotopic transformation process that supports the stable representation of the visual world. In this study, we used a cross-saccadic adaptation paradigm to show that both the orientation adaptation and face gender adaptation could still be observed at the same spatiotopic (but different retinotopic) locations even when the adapting stimuli were rendered invisible. These results suggest that awareness of a visual object is not required for its transformation from the retinotopic to the spatiotopic reference frame.     

部分液体通气对无心跳供体肺的保护作用

目的 观察部分液体通气对无心跳供体(NHBD)肺的保护作用.方法 36只清洁级SD大鼠随机分为3组:氧气组(C组)、盐水组(B组)和部分液体通气组(A组).建立NHBD肺模型后行机械通气2h并监测大鼠气道压,2h后测量P-V曲线,切除大鼠左肺下叶,观察供体肺病理特点.行右肺支气管灌洗,测量灌洗液中肺表面活性物质相关蛋白B、C(SP-B、SP-C)的浓度.切除大鼠右肺上叶,并进一步行SP-B、SP-C的实时定量聚合酶链反应(Real-time PCR)检测.结果 A组大鼠动态顺应性和静态顺应性在2h热缺血期间都优于B和C组(P＜0.05);病理组织评分A组优于B组和C组(P＜0.05);肺泡灌洗液酶联免疫吸附试验(ELISA)检测和肺组织的Real-time PCR检测说明SP-B和SP-C蛋白和RNA含量差异有统计学意义,其中A组含量明显高于B组和C组(P＜0.05).结论 部分液体通气可以对热缺血期间供肺的肺功能和肺组织起到很好的保护作用,并对SP-B和SP-C有较好的保护作用.     

125Ⅰ粒子植入术后密切接触者辐射剂量的监测及防护

目的 探讨125Ⅰ粒子植入术后密切接触者受照射的有效剂量及其警戒时间、安全距离.方法 术后24h内,采用袖珍辐射仪监测30例患者距粒子植入部位垂直距离30、50、60、70、80、90、100、110、120、130、140、150 cm处(模拟密切接触者)受照剂量率,并根据公式计算各人群各距离受照有效剂量、警戒时间及安全距离.结果 与患者同床成人、同事、同住未成人及孕妇、同住成人的警戒时间分别为108、78、55、0d.相对应者安全距离及此距离的有效剂量分别为:60 cm和(3.22±1.97) mSv、140 cm和(0.516 ±0.225) mSv、120 cm和(0.612±0.306) mSv、100 cm和(0.938±0.509) mSv.结论 3.5个月内各人群与术后患者接触则需采取时间、距离等防护措施;3.5个月之后不必采用防护措施.     

Finding a way in: A review and practical evaluation of fMRI and EEG for detection and assessment in disorders of consciousness

Diagnoses and assessments of cognitive function in disorders of consciousness (DOC) are notoriously prone to error due to their reliance on behavioural measures. As a result, researchers have turned to functional neuroimaging and electrophysiological techniques with the goal of developing more effective methods of detecting awareness and assessing cognition in these patients. This article reviews functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and electroenchphalography (EEG)-based studies of cognition and consciousness in DOC, including assessment of basic sensory, perceptual, language, and emotional processing; studies for detection of conscious awareness; paradigms for the establishment of communication in the absence of behaviour; and functional connectivity studies. The advantages and limitations of fMRI and EEG-based measures are examined as research and clinical tools in this population and an explanation offered for the rediscovery of the unique advantages of EEG in the study of DOC.     

Music Therapy Assessment Tool for Awareness in Disorders of Consciousness (MATADOC): Standardisation of the principal subscale to assess awareness in patients with disorders of consciousness

Establishing valid and reliable measures for use with patients with disorders of consciousness (DOC) following profound brain injury is challenging due to a number of factors including the complex presentation of such patients and assessor variability. The auditory modality has been demonstrated to have greater sensitivity for detecting awareness in DOC patients. However, there are no measures developed to assess auditory responsiveness specifically. The objective of this study was to examine the psychometric properties of the principal subscale of a music therapy assessment tool (MATADOC) developed for use with adult DOC patients. The subscale assesses behavioural domains essential for diagnosis of awareness. Twenty-one adult patients were recruited from a specialist rehabilitation unit. In a prospective study with repeated measures, internal consistency, inter-rater and test–retest reliability and dimensionality were examined. The five-item scale showed satisfactory internal reliability (α = .76) and a strong first principal component. Corrected item-total correlations were all > .45. Inter-rater intra-class correlations (ICCs) ranged from 0.65–1.00 and intra-rater ICCs from 0.77–0.90. Rasch analysis confirmed these impressions of a reliable, unidimensional and homogenous scale. Diagnostic outcomes had 100% agreement with a validated external reference standard. The results indicate that the MATADOC principal subscale provides a new behavioural measure that can contribute to interdisciplinary assessment of awareness with DOC patients.     

The complementary role of music therapy in the detection of awareness in disorders of consciousness: An audit of concurrent SMART and MATADOC assessments

In the behavioural assessment of disorders of consciousness (DOC), best practice is for several different assessment tools to be used to encourage a variety of different responses indicative of awareness. Anecdotal evidence suggests a range of musical stimuli may be particularly effective in eliciting responses to guide the assessment process, although comparative data regarding behavioural domains is lacking. This study examined 42 concurrent records of patients assessed using the Sensory Modality Assessment and Rehabilitation Technique (SMART), and the Music Therapy Assessment Tool for Awareness in Disorders of Consciousness (MATADOC) to explore the relationship between diagnosis and behavioural characteristics of the cohort. Whilst the two tools produced a high level of agreement in diagnostic outcome (Spearman Rho .80), divergent diagnosis and weaker correlations between behavioural response items highlight contrasting sensitivities of the tools. Whilst MATADOC has higher sensitivity within auditory and visual domains relative to SMART, SMART has higher sensitivity in the motor domain. The significant contribution of musical response items in MATADOC, and the tactile response item in SMART, indicates both tools provide unique behavioural data predictive of awareness. Multidisciplinary assessment using SMART and MATADOC provides complementary data contributing to a fuller understanding of a patient's level of awareness.