A Systematic Review of Action Imitation in Autistic Spectrum Disorder

Imitative deficits have been associated with autistic spectrum disorder (ASD) for many years, most recently through more robust methodologies. A fresh, systematic review of the significance, characteristics, and underlying mechanism of the association is therefore warranted. From 121 candidates, we focused on 21 well-controlled studies involving 281 cases of ASD. Overall, children with ASD performed worse on imitative tasks (Combined Logit p value < .00005). The emerging picture is of delayed development in imitation, implicating a deficit in mapping neural codings for actions between sensory and motor modalities, rather than in motivation or executive function. We hypothesise that ASD is characterised by abnormal development of these mappings. such that they are biased towards object-oriented tasks at the expense of those required for action imitation per se.     

《素问》王冰注使用祖本探讨

根据王冰序,王冰在整理《素问》时使用了不同的版本,但并未说明以何本作祖本。根据对王冰序、《素问》新校正等提供的有关材料进行的分析,认为王冰所用祖本虽源自梁代传本,但不是全元起本,似应是张公秘本;今存《素问》中有些篇文结构应是祖本旧貌;祖本与全元起本、《针灸甲乙经》及《太素》应属不同传本系统。     

A pseudoisochromosome 18q and an isodicentric chromosome 18

A case of pseudoisochromosome 18q of prezygotic origin and a case of isodicentric chromosome 18 of postzygotic origin are presented to validate the differentiation between a true isochromosome and a pseudoisochromosome. This differentiation may be useful in elucidating the mechanism of the origin of an isochromosome.     

关于如何避免激光仪器中光学镜片的再次污染问题

本文介绍激光器中光学镜片的次污及可能带来的后果。并提出了方法 ,供参考     

126例肺结核病纤支镜取材诊断分析

本文通过对126例肺结核病纤支镜取材的诊断讨论，阐明在临床中只有利用纤支镜行三种取材及阳检率对照分析，达到互补的优点，从而对症状不典型的肺结核和排菌阴性的肺结核进行明确诊断，最终达到治疗的目的。     

Mirror system based therapy for autism spectrum disorders

This paper reviews the present theories and empirical research of autisms’ cognitive research and mirror systems and introduces a new hypothesis about the causes of autism spectrum disorders (ASD): autistic mirror neuron dysfunction hypothesis. ASD subjects show obvious lack of the activation of the mirror system during the task of observation or emotional cognition. It is significant to investigate the mirror system for revealing the causes of autism and it is also helpful for developing new ways to diagnose or treat this disorder.     

清代滇版医籍刊刻初探

清代随着边疆经济发展和社会需求,云南的刻书业走向盛行,咸同年间的回民战争使鼠疫流行区域扩大并几乎波及全省。清代云南雕版印刷开始形成官、私、坊3个体系。在医籍刊刻方面,以坊刻尤为突出。     

Validation of the classification of migraine without aura (IHS A1.1) proposed in ICHD-2

OBJECTIVE: This study attempts to validate the alternative criteria for classification of migraine without aura (International Headache Society [IHS] A1.1) proposed in the appendix of The International Classification of Headache Disorders, 2nd edition. This method uses at least two of the associated symptoms (nausea, vomiting, photophobia, phonophobia, and osmophobia) in category D of the IHS classification. BACKGROUND: In the appendix of The International Classification of Headache Disorders, 2nd edition, an alternative method of classification of migraine without aura is proposed. This method of classification has never been validated. METHODS: A total of 1480 consecutive headache patients in a tertiary care setting were evaluated at first visit. Headache-associated features, such as intensity, lifetime duration, frequency per month, duration, triggers, prodrome, percentage recurrence, and postdrome frequency, were recorded. In addition, medication satisfaction, acute and monthly disability, grading of headache days, sleep normality, mood, and habits were documented. RESULTS: Of the 1480 patients, 901 were initially classified as having migraine IHS 1.1. Using the proposed alternative method (IHS A1.1), 885 (98.2%) of these patients were reclassified as having migraine. The remaining 16 (1.8%) patients not classified had only nausea and none of the other specified associated symptoms. They also exhibited different characteristics from the IHS migraine population as a whole regarding their headache and other features. CONCLUSIONS: This classification of migraine in a headache center population shows that the proposed use of any two of nausea, vomiting, photophobia, phonophobia, and osmophobia in category D of the classification may be a valid alternative method of classification. This study also demonstrates that the standard IHS methodology includes a very small group of patients who appear to be different from other migraine patients.     

Successful Graded Mirror Therapy in a Patient with Chronic Deafferentation Pain in Whom Traditional Mirror Therapy was Ineffective: A Case Report

A 43‐year‐old man had deafferentation pain in his right upper extremity secondary to brachial plexus avulsion from a traffic accident 23 years previously. On our initial examination, he had severe tingling pain with numbness in the right fingers rated 10 on the numerical rating scale. The body perception of the affected third and fourth fingers was distorted in the flexed position. Although he performed traditional mirror therapy (TMT) for 4 weeks in the same methods as seen in previous studies, he could not obtain willed motor imagery and pain‐alleviation effect. Therefore, we modified the task of TMT: Graded mirror therapy (GMT). GMT consisted of five stages: (1) observation of the mirror reflection of the unaffected side without imagining any movements of the affected side; (2) observation of the mirror reflection of the third and fourth fingers changing shape gradually adjusted from a flexed position to a extended position; (3) observation of the mirror reflection of passive movement; (4) motor imagery of affected fingers with observation of the mirror reflection (similar to TMT); (5) motor imagery of affected fingers without mirror. Each task was performed for 3 to 4 weeks. As a result, pain intensity during mirror therapy gradually decreased and finally disappeared. The body perception of the affected fingers also improved, and he could imagine the movement of the fingers with or without mirror. We suggested that GMT starting from the observation task without motor imagery may effectively decrease deafferentation pain compared to TMT.     

Force requirements of observed object lifting are encoded by the observer’s motor system: a TMS study

Several transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) studies have reported facilitation of the primary motor cortex (M1) during the mere observation of actions. This facilitation was shown to be highly congruent, in terms of somatotopy, with the observed action, even at the level of single muscles. With the present study, we investigated whether this muscle‐specific facilitation of the observer’s motor system reflects the degree of muscular force that is exerted in an observed action. Two separate TMS experiments are reported in which corticospinal excitability was measured in the hand area of M1 while subjects observed the lifting of objects of different weights. The type of action ‘grasping‐and‐lifting‐the‐object’ was always identical, but the grip force varied according to the object’s weight. In accordance to previous findings, excitability of M1 was shown to modulate in a muscle‐specific way, such that only the cortical representation areas in M1 that control the specific muscles used in the observed lifting action became increasingly facilitated. Moreover, muscle‐specific M1 facilitation was shown to modulate to the force requirements of the observed actions, such that M1 excitability was considerably higher when observing heavy object lifting compared with light object lifting. Overall, these results indicate that different levels of observed grip force are mirrored onto the observer’s motor system in a highly muscle‐specific manner. The measured force‐dependent modulations of corticospinal excitability in M1 are hypothesized to be functionally relevant for scaling the observed grip force in the observer’s own motor system. In turn, this mechanism may contribute, at least partly, to the observer’s ability to infer the weight of the lifted object.