老视客观检查法的探索和应用

目的 探索一种可用于临床客观检查、简便可行的老视检查装置,并评价此种装置在老视测定中的应用价值.方法 自制分光同时视验光镜架,对60例45～65岁的老视患者进行老视检查,每位患者皆分别采用经验法、规范验光方法[移近法测调节幅度、试验性近附加=工作距离（用屈光度表示）-1/2调节幅度、正负相对调节进行精细调整]、分光同时视检影法进行检查,记录每种方法测量所需时间及配镜度数,就3种测量方法所测得的结果与最终处方的符合程度、验配的速度作比较分析.结果 45～54岁患者检查结果：（1）经验法、规范验光方法及分光同时视检影法所得的配镜度数无明显差异（P ＞0.05）;规范验光方法与分光检影法一致性较好,临床上可接受.（2）分光同时视检影法所消耗的时间介于规范验光方法和经验法之间,差异有统计学意义（P＜0.05）.55～65岁患者检查结果：（1）经验法、规范验光方法及分光同时视检影法所得的配镜度数两两比较差异均有统计学意义（均P＜0.01）;分光检影法一致性较其余两者好,临床上可接受.（2）分光同时视检影法所消耗的时间介于规范验光方法和经验法之间,差异有统计学意义（P＜0.01）.结论 分光同时视检影法是一种可靠而又简便可行的老视患者ADD客观检查装置;对于45～65岁年龄段患者,相对于经验法和规范验光方法,分光同时视检影法更具优越性.     

Mapping the information flow from one brain to another during gestural communication

Both the putative mirror neuron system (pMNS) and the ventral medial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC) are deemed important for social interaction: the pMNS because it supposedly “resonates” with the actions of others, the vmPFC because it is involved in mentalizing. Strictly speaking, the resonance property of the pMNS has never been investigated. Classical functional MRI experiments have only investigated whether pMNS regions augment their activity when an action is seen or executed. Resonance, however, entails more than only “going on and off together”. Activity in the pMNS of an observer should continuously follow the more subtle changes over time in activity of the pMNS of the actor. Here we directly explore whether such resonance indeed occurs during continuous streams of actions. We let participants play the game of charades while we measured brain activity of both gesturer and guesser. We then applied a method to localize directed influences between the brains of the participants: between-brain Granger-causality mapping. Results show that a guesser''s brain activity in regions involved in mentalizing and mirroring echoes the temporal structure of a gesturer''s brain activity. This provides evidence for resonance theories and indicates a fine-grained temporal interplay between regions involved in motor planning and regions involved in thinking about the mental states of others. Furthermore, this method enables experiments to be more ecologically valid by providing the opportunity to leave social interaction unconstrained. This, in turn, would allow us to tap into the neural substrates of social deficits such as autism spectrum disorder.     

Mirror movement associated with neural tube defects

Objective

Association of mirror movements with special kinds of neural tube defects, particularly cranial dermal sinus and cervical myelomeningocele, is extremely rare. We have tried to explain the probable pathophysiology underlying this rare condition.

Clinical presentation

Two cases are presented. Case 1: A right-handed 3-year-old boy brought to the outpatient clinic for evaluation of mirror movement had been operated on at 10 days of age to repair a cervical myelomeningocele. At examination, mirror movements were observed on both sides. Case 2: A right-handed 7-year-old boy referred for vertigo and occasional vomiting since 3 months of age. The mirror movements were present in the upper extremities, and reportedly had existed since early childhood. Brain magnetic resonance imaging disclosed the dermal sinus, tract, and midline dermoid tumor.

Conclusion

To describe a meaningful association between mirror movements and congenital abnormalities in 2 cases reported here, we propose development of an abnormality in the cervical spinal cord (case 1) and cervicomedullary junction (case 2) associated with gross anomalies in the affected areas.     

Parents of childhood X-linked adrenoleukodystrophy: high risk for depression and neurosis

The purpose of this study was to assess mental health in parents of patients with the childhood cerebral form of X-linked adrenoleukodystrophy (CCALD) and to investigate factors relating to psychological problems in order to improve clinical management and quality of life. Sixteen fathers and 21 mothers of patients with CCALD completed a battery of psychological examinations including the Beck Depression Inventory second edition (BDI-II), the General Health Questionnaire 60 (GHQ60), and the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI). Three fathers and 11 mothers showed high scores on the BDI-II, suggesting that they were in a depressive state. Depression in the mothers was serious as compared with previous reports. Six fathers and 11 mothers were considered to be in a state of neurosis, according to the results of the GHQ60. Four fathers and 8 mothers showed high levels of anxiety on the STAI. Health and social status of the mothers correlated with their mental health, and younger mothers with young patients tended to be more depressed. Thus, parents of patients with CCALD have a high risk of depression and neurosis. Understanding the mental state of these parents and improvements in the social support system including mental counseling, home nursing care, supports in workplace and community are necessary to prevent and treat psychological problems. Especially, early intervention for mental health problems should be provided for younger mothers with few years since the child's diagnosis.     

Through the looking glass: counter-mirror activation following incompatible sensorimotor learning

The mirror system, comprising cortical areas that allow the actions of others to be represented in the observer's own motor system, is thought to be crucial for the development of social cognition in humans. Despite the importance of the human mirror system, little is known about its origins. We investigated the role of sensorimotor experience in the development of the mirror system. Functional magnetic resonance imaging was used to measure neural responses to observed hand and foot actions following one of two types of training. During training, participants in the Compatible (control) group made mirror responses to observed actions (hand responses were made to hand stimuli and foot responses to foot stimuli), whereas the Incompatible group made counter-mirror responses (hand to foot and foot to hand). Comparison of these groups revealed that, after training to respond in a counter-mirror fashion, the relative action observation properties of the mirror system were reversed; areas that showed greater responses to observation of hand actions in the Compatible group responded more strongly to observation of foot actions in the Incompatible group. These results suggest that, rather than being innate or the product of unimodal visual or motor experience, the mirror properties of the mirror system are acquired through sensorimotor learning.     

Possible association between the -2548A/G polymorphism of the leptin gene and olanzapine-induced weight gain

Antipsychotic-induced weight gain has important effects on treatment compliance and long-term health. Several reports have indicated that a -2548A/G single-nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) of the leptin gene is associated with antipsychotic-induced weight gain. We hypothesized that there is a similar relationship between the -2548A/G SNP and olanzapine-induced weight gain. A total of 74 Korean schizophrenic patients were examined. Their weight was measured before starting olanzapine and after long-term treatment lasting for at least 3 months. The weight gain was significantly higher for patients with the AG genotype than for those with the AA genotype (p=0.029). Analysis of covariance also showed the difference of weight gain was still significant when adjusted for sex and treatment duration (p=0.046). This finding supports the presence of a relationship between the -2548A/G SNP of the leptin gene and weight gain in Korean schizophrenic patients receiving olanzapine treatment.     

INFLUENCE OF MIRROR THERAPY ON HUMAN MOTOR CORTEX

This article investigates whether or not mirror therapy alters the neural mechanisms in human motor cortex. Six healthy volunteers participated. The study investigated the effects of three main factors of mirror therapy (observation of hand movements in a mirror, motor imagery of an assumed affected hand, and assistance in exercising the assumed affected hand) on excitability changes in the human motor cortex to clarify the contribution of each factor. The increase in motor-evoked potential (MEP) amplitudes during motor imagery tended to be larger with a mirror than without one. Moreover, MEP amplitudes increased greatly when movements were assisted. Watching the movement of one hand in a mirror makes it easier to move the other hand in the same way. Moreover, the increase in MEP amplitudes is related to the synergic effects of afferent information and motor imagery.     

Brain activation associated with motor skill practice in children with developmental coordination disorder: an fMRI study

Children with developmental coordination disorder (DCD) have difficulty in learning new motor skills. At present, it is not known whether these children employ a different set of brain regions than typically developing (TD) children during skilled motor practice. Using functional magnetic resonance imaging, we mapped brain activity associated with skilled motor practice of a trail-tracing task in 7 children with DCD and 7 age-matched controls (aged 8-12 years). We indexed change in motor performance as a reduction in tracing error from early practice to retention. Children with DCD showed less blood-oxygen-level-dependent signal as compared to TD children in a network of brain regions associated with skilled motor practice: bilateral inferior parietal lobules (Brodmann Area (BA) 40), right lingual gyrus (BA 18), right middle frontal gyrus (BA 9), left fusiform gyrus (BA 37), right cerebellar crus I, left cerebellar lobule VI, and left cerebellar lobule IX. While no statistically significant differences were detected, effect size testing revealed that children with DCD demonstrated poorer tracing accuracy than TD children at retention (d = 0.48). Our results suggest that, compared to TD peers, children with DCD demonstrate under-activation in cerebellar-parietal and cerebellar-prefrontal networks and in brain regions associated with visual-spatial learning. These data suggest a neurobiological correlation with impaired learning of motor skills in children with DCD, which will need to be confirmed with a larger sample.     

软式内镜清洗消毒保养体会

内镜设备和器械对于目前日新月异的微创技术来说有着举足轻重的作用,是开展内镜手术必需的工具.随着内镜器械的频繁使用,由内镜诊疗引起的医院感染的危险性大大增加.本文正式基于此,以软式内镜清洗消毒保养的相关注意事项为研究对象,通过对相关问题的阐述,提出了有效清洗消毒保养软式内镜的措施,旨在为相关操作实践提供指导和帮助.