"Attentional Dyslexia" in Alzheimer's Disease: A Case Study

We report a case study of a patient, NY, who developed features of an attentional dyslexia as one manifestation of a variant of Alzheimer's disease in which parieto-occipital areas are most affected. Although able to read single w ords w ithout diffi culty, N Y w as unable to read text. W hen reading two-word displays, he showed an apparent tendency for letters from one word to intrude into the other. Investigation of this phenomenon demonstrated that these errors were due to letter migration as opposed to non-contextual substitution and that the incidence of m igrations decreased when the two words appeared in different case letters. This reduction in interference by physical dissimilarity among the display elements differentiates NY from the two cases described in the original account of attentional dyslexia (Shallice & Warrington, 1977). Analyses of NY's error patterns pointed to the loss of location information as a significant factor in the generation of his migration errors.     

Male subfertility as a chronic illness: the role of adaptive challenges

Male factor infertility (MFI) is extremely common, often with several associated chronic health conditions. Because a man’s fertility assessment may be their first contact with health services, the health care team has a responsibility to act as male health advocates to ensure comprehensive care. The diagnosis of subfertility allows a broader view of these men as patients with a chronic illness who have complex health needs. Because of the associated complexity of care following evaluation, there needs to be new approach in how men affected by MFI should be managed long term. In this commentary, we propose that the Adaptive Leadership Framework model for Chronic Illness is a suitable vehicle to use for management of the MFI patient’s journey towards optimized health.     

Hyperpolarized [1,4‐13C]‐diethylsuccinate: a potential DNP substrate for in vivo metabolic imaging

The tricarboxylic acid (TCA) cycle performs an essential role in the regulation of energy and metabolism, and deficiencies in this pathway are commonly correlated with various diseases. However, the development of non‐invasive techniques for the assessment of the cycle in vivo has remained challenging. In this work, the applicability of a novel imaging agent, [1,4‐¹³C]‐diethylsuccinate, for hyperpolarized ¹³C metabolic imaging of the TCA cycle was explored. In vivo spectroscopic studies were conducted in conjunction with in vitro analyses to determine the metabolic fate of the imaging agent. Contrary to previous reports (Zacharias NM et al. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2012; 134: 934–943), [¹³C]‐labeled diethylsuccinate was primarily metabolized to succinate‐derived products not originating from TCA cycle metabolism. These results illustrate potential issues of utilizing dialkyl ester analogs of TCA cycle intermediates as molecular probes for hyperpolarized ¹³C metabolic imaging. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.