Characteristics of exodeviations: II. Changes with treatment with orthoptics

This study examined retrospectively the records of 179 patients who had binocular visual dysfunction as a result of an exodeviation (either at distance or near or both). The patients were classified as having convergence insufficiency (N = 110), equal exodeviations (N = 49), or divergence excess (N = 18). The diagnostic groups and the different frequencies of deviation reacted differently to treatment with a standard orthoptic regimen. Nearly all the patients (97%) achieved some improvement in either objective or subjective areas or both. However, fewer were able to satisfy the criteria set for total success. Factors correlated with the success of the treatment were the initial angle of deviation at distance and the initial level of stereopsis. The results and implications of this study are discussed.     

Relational and non-relational memory – electrophysiological correlates of novelty detection, repetition detection and subsequent memory

The dissociability of novelty detection in relational (RM) and non-relational memory (NRM) is currently under debate. To further address the time courses and underlying brain correlates of novelty detection, event-related potentials (ERPs) were analysed for encoding and retrieval on three memory tasks in healthy subjects. Spatial and non-spatial RM as well as NRM were assessed separately. The ERPs related to RM and NRM were dissociable for hits and correct rejections in an early and late time window. An early old/new effect was observed for NRM. A late old/new effect replicated the frequently reported recollection-associated old/new effect in terms of direction and amplitudes. Four different novelty types (spatial relational, non-spatial relational, horizontal non-relational and inverted non-relational) were examined. The P3a related to novelty detection differed in horizontal vs. inverted distractors in NRM, but not in spatial vs. non-spatial RM. ERPs for repetition detection (hits during retrieval) and also for subsequent hits (encoding phase) differed between RM and NRM. These findings are discussed in relation to potential brain correlates in RM and NRM during encoding and retrieval.     

Involvement of the human thalamus in relational and non-relational memory

Damage to the human thalamus has been associated with selective anterograde recognition memory impairments. Recently, recognition memory has been subdivided into relational and non-relational memory. The aim of the present study was to assess the potentially differential involvement of the human thalamus in relational and non-relational memory. Ten patients with focal ischemic thalamic lesions were compared to individualized control groups of healthy subjects matched to each individual patient on age and IQ. Six patients showed poorer relational memory than their respective control samples. None of the 10 patients showed a significant deficit on the non-relational memory task. These observations suggest an involvement of the thalamus in relational memory, and are discussed in terms of disruption of mediotemporal-thalamic and thalamic-fronto-striatal circuits.     

Computerized system to enhance the clinical diagnosis of pigmented cutaneous malignancies

BACKGROUND: An increase in the incidence of cutaneous malignant melanoma in recent years has not been accompanied by satisfactory progress in diagnostic methods. This study was carried out to evaluate a specially designed computerized image analysis system, called Derma Vision, to aid in the differentiation between malignant and benign cutaneous pigmented lesions. METHODS: Seventy-one lesions were photographed with a digital camera and the data were analyzed by the Derma Vision system. The system assessed the variation of hues in each image, calculated the mean standard deviation of the hues, and produced a value that expressed the range of hues in the lesion. The lesions were then excised and examined histologically. The computer-assisted clinical diagnosis was correlated with the histologic diagnosis to determine the accuracy of the former. RESULTS: Derma Vision predicted the malignant character of a lesion with 92% precision, compared with 87% accuracy based only on the clinical features. CONCLUSIONS: This simple, inexpensive device can boost the accuracy of clinical diagnosis and provide a useful tool to the physician faced increasingly with having to determine whether pigmented lesions are malignant or benign.     

Research in physical medicine and rehabilitation. VII. The role of the principal investigator

The roles and responsibilities of the principal investigator of a research project are described to allow the young researcher to make an intelligent decision regarding which role to take in a research project. Guidelines are given about which tasks may be delegated and how to do this. These tasks include formulation of the question, project design, obtaining funding, project startup and ongoing management, data analysis and publication. Particular attention is paid to design/analysis and publication, since these determine authorship on biomedical research articles.     

Lateralisation of language functioning by the Wada procedure and divided visual field presentation of a verbal task

In cases of intractable epilepsy, language and memory functioning in the hemisphere contralateral to the lesion is determined prior to unilateral temporal surgery. Patients with unilateral temporal lobe lesions were assessed using the intracarotid sodium amytal (Wada) procedure to determine the lateralisation of language and memory functioning. They also performed a divided visual field task in which letters were presented in pairs for brief durations on a computer screen in a phonemic matching task. The results showed only moderate agreement between the two methods with regard to identification of the speech-dominant hemisphere, indicating the divided visual field matching paradigm to be unsuitable as a basis for surgical decision-making.     

Targeted drug-carrying bacteriophages as antibacterial nanomedicines

While the resistance of bacteria to traditional antibiotics is a major public health concern, the use of extremely potent antibacterial agents is limited by their lack of selectivity. As in cancer therapy, antibacterial targeted therapy could provide an opportunity to reintroduce toxic substances to the antibacterial arsenal. A desirable targeted antibacterial agent should combine binding specificity, a large drug payload per binding event, and a programmed drug release mechanism. Recently, we presented a novel application of filamentous bacteriophages as targeted drug carriers that could partially inhibit the growth of Staphylococcus aureus bacteria. This partial success was due to limitations of drug-loading capacity that resulted from the hydrophobicity of the drug. Here we present a novel drug conjugation chemistry which is based on connecting hydrophobic drugs to the phage via aminoglycoside antibiotics that serve as solubility-enhancing branched linkers. This new formulation allowed a significantly larger drug-carrying capacity of the phages, resulting in a drastic improvement in their performance as targeted drug-carrying nanoparticles. As an example for a potential systemic use for potent agents that are limited for topical use, we present antibody-targeted phage nanoparticles that carry a large payload of the hemolytic antibiotic chloramphenicol connected through the aminoglycoside neomycin. We demonstrate complete growth inhibition toward the pathogens Staphylococcus aureus, Streptococcus pyogenes, and Escherichia coli with an improvement in potency by a factor of approximately 20,000 compared to the free drug.     

Comorbidity of fibromyalgia and psychiatric disorders

There are mounting data supporting comorbidity of fibromyalgia syndrome (FMS) and psychiatric conditions. These include depression, panic disorders, anxiety, and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). The nature of the relationship between depression and FMS is not fully understood, and it was hypothesized that chronic pain causes depression, or vice versa, and that chronic pain syndromes are variants of depression. A link between PTSD symptoms and FMS has been reported, and both conditions share similar symptomatology and pathogenetic mechanisms. Assessment of comorbid psychiatric disorders in FMS patients has clinical implications because treatment in these patients should focus both on physical and emotional dimensions of dysfunction.