THE USE OF SMALL PARENT-GROUPS IN AN ADULT TRAINING CENTRE

SUMMARY: 28 parents of adult trainees were involved in three separate courses of about eight weeks in a 150 place adult training centre (ATC). The purpose and content of the courses is described. It was concluded that these courses have practical, and other less-easily observable, long-term advantages for trainees, parents and staff.     

AGE-ASSOCIATED CHANGES IN THE SYMPTOMATOLOGY OF GUILLAIN-BARRÉ SYNDROME IN CHILDREN

The medical records were reviewed of 83 children with Guillain-Barré syndrome, with reference to the age-associated changes found in the initial symptoms, the intervals between the preceding illness and the onset of disease, and the patterns of affected cranial nerves. A close correlation was observed between cranial nerve involvement and respiratory complications. The findings suggest the involvement of nervous system maturation in the clinical manifestations of Guillain-Barré syndrome in children.     

MECHANISMS INVOLVED IN THE ‘DYING-BACK’ PROCESS—AN HYPOTHESIS IMPLICATING COENZYMES

Annotation. Mechanisms involved in the ‘dying-back’ process—an hypothesis implicating coenzymes Attention is drawn to the occurrence of the ‘dying back’ type of neuronal degeneration in several vitamin deficiencies and in many toxic neuropathies. It is suggested, hypothetically, that these toxic substances may be inactivating or in other ways interfering with the function of cofactors in the axons of peripheral nerves. It is further suggested from this that the distal distribution of the axonal lesions in such toxic neuropathies may depend upon the distance from the source of materials and of enzymes that would normally be derived from the cell soma for the synthesis and supply of new cofactors upon which survival of the axon will depend. This hypothesis suggests a number of different experimental approaches to this basic neuronal lesion.