The music of speech: music training facilitates pitch processing in both music and language

The main aim of the present experiment was to determine whether extensive musical training facilitates pitch contour processing not only in music but also in language. We used a parametric manipulation of final notes' or words' fundamental frequency (F0), and we recorded behavioral and electrophysiological data to examine the precise time course of pitch processing. We compared professional musicians and nonmusicians. Results revealed that within both domains, musicians detected weak F0 manipulations better than nonmusicians. Moreover, F0 manipulations within both music and language elicited similar variations in brain electrical potentials, with overall shorter onset latency for musicians than for nonmusicians. Finally, the scalp distribution of an early negativity in the linguistic task varied with musical expertise, being largest over temporal sites bilaterally for musicians and largest centrally and over left temporal sites for nonmusicians. These results are taken as evidence that extensive musical training influences the perception of pitch contour in spoken language.     

Bulimia and depression

In recent years several lines of evidence have emerged suggesting that eating disorders in general, and bulimia in particular, are in some way linked to affective illness. However, there are few data on the frequency of affective syndromes among patients who have anorexia nervosa or bulimia. This report describes the results of semistructured interviews using the Schedule for Affective Disorders and Schizophrenia (SADS) to evaluate the frequency of the current and lifetime diagnoses of affective illness among 50 female patients meeting DSM-III criteria for bulimia. Seventy percent of the patients had, at some time during their lives, met Research Diagnostic Criteria (RDC) for an episode of major depression and 88% had met RDC at some time during their lives for some affective disturbance. The implications of this high frequency of affective disturbance among patients with bulimia are discussed.     

Utilization of the 2017 diagnostic criteria for hEDS by the Toronto GoodHope Ehlers–Danlos syndrome clinic: A retrospective review

The new 2017 diagnostic criteria for hypermobile Ehlers–Danlos Syndrome (hEDS) provide a framework for diagnosing hEDS but are more stringent than the previous Villefranche criteria. Our clinical experience at the GoodHope EDS clinic was that the 2017 criteria left many highly symptomatic patients without a diagnosis of hEDS. We conducted a retrospective cohort study to confirm our clinic experience and assess the accuracy of the 2017 diagnostic criteria for hEDS in patients who had a previous hEDS diagnosis based on the Villefranche criteria. Our study found that 15% (n = 20 of 131) of patients with a prior diagnosis of hEDS met the 2017 diagnostic criteria, and many of the traits used to distinguish hEDS were not significantly more frequent in patients who met 2017 criteria versus those who did not. In both groups objective systemic manifestations were found less frequently than subjective systemic manifestations. Beighton score (BS) as assessed by primary care practitioner was found to be higher than assessment by EDS practitioner in 81% (n = 74 of 91) of cases. Generalized joint hypermobility was confirmed in only 46% (n = 51 of 111) of patients who had a previous diagnosis of hEDS. Higher BS did not correlate with increased number of systemic manifestations in our cohort. Common comorbidities of hEDS were found with similar frequency in those who met 2017 criteria and those who did not. Based on our cohort, the 2017 hEDS diagnostic criteria require refinement to improve its diagnostic accuracy.     

Comparison of magnetic resonance imaging and ultrasonography in staging early prostate cancer. Results of a multi-institutional cooperative trial

BACKGROUND. In 1987, a cooperative study group consisting of five institutions was formed to determine the relative benefits of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and endorectal (transrectal) ultrasonography in evaluating patients with clinically localized prostate cancer (stage Ta or Tb). METHODS. Over a period of 15 months, 230 patients were entered into the study and evaluated with identical imaging techniques. We compared imaging results with information obtained at the time of surgery and on pathological analysis. RESULTS. MRI correctly staged 77 percent of cases of advanced disease and 57 percent of cases of localized disease; the corresponding figures for ultrasonography were 66 and 46 percent (P not significant). These figures did not vary significantly between readers; moreover, simultaneous interpretation of MRI and ultrasound scans did not improve accuracy. In terms of detecting and localizing lesions, MRI identified only 60 percent of all malignant tumors measuring more than 5 mm on pathological analysis and ultrasonography identified only 59 percent. CONCLUSIONS. The MRI and ultrasonography equipment that is currently available is not highly accurate in staging early prostate cancer, mainly because neither technique has the ability to identify microscopic spread of disease. Further evaluation with improved equipment may improve the accuracy of these techniques.     

Surgery in the treatment of varicose veins

To identify variables which might influence the results of varicose vein surgery, a ten-year retrospective study was carried out on 612 patients undergoing varicose vein surgery. Patient symptomatology, type of venous insufficiency and operator experience were examined and correlated with the results of surgery. The female-to-male ratio was 2:1. The mean age was 47 years for women, 45 years for men. A family history of varicose veins was recorded in 74% of patients. A history of previous deep venous thrombosis was reported in 5% of cases, but in the sub-group of patients with stasis ulceration, the incidence was 9%. Cosmetic appearance was the commonest presenting complaint (54%), while ulceration was relatively infrequent (14%). There was moderate-to-marked improvement in 86% of cases at one year. This was sustained in 79% at three years, in 75% at five years and in 74% at ten years. There was no correlation between the type of venous insufficiency or the presenting complaint, and the result of surgery. Operator experience had the most significant effect on the outcome of surgery (P less than 0.001). Our findings indicate that varicose vein surgery offers most patients a satisfactory result. The only significant variable was operator experience. We strongly recommend closer supervision of junior staff performing this type of surgery, particularly as a large proportion of these patients (25% in this study) are operated on by the more junior staff.     

Effects of Various Environmental Stress Paradigms and Adrenalectomy on the Expression of Autoimmune Type 1 Diabetes in the Non-obese Diabetic (NOD) Mouse

The effects of long-term chronic stress (induced by repeated restraint, overcrowding or both), short-term chronic stress (induced by a triad of stressors over a short period of time early in life) and adrenalectomy were investigated on the prevalence, on the degree of insulitis and various physiological and immunological parameters in the NOD mouse, a spontaneous model of type I-insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus (IDDM). Long-term chronic stress, obtained by restraint once a week or overcrowding, significantly protected NOD females, while both applied concomitantly had only a tendency to protect against diabetes. In contrast, short-term chronic stress had no significant effect on diabetes expression, whereas adrenalectomy resulted in a trend toward accelerated diabetes onset. The various long-term chronic stress paradigms exerted different effects on the progression of insulitis: repeated restraint tended to protect against insulitis, overcrowding had no effect but, when associated with restraint, significantly counteracted the beneficial effect of restraint alone. Adrenalectomy and short-term chronic stress had no significant effect on the development of insulitis. Various parameters, such as body, thymus and spleen weights, thymus and spleen cellularities, mitogen-induced spleen cell proliferation and serum corticosterone levels were also studied under the various experimental conditions. Taken together, the observations suggest that stressors modulate the expression of spontaneous autoimmune diabetes by exerting pleiotropic effects on immune and/or inflammatory components at the pancreas level and on peripheral glucose metabolism.     

Effect of age and preexisting antibody on serum antibody response of infants and children to the F and G glycoproteins during respiratory syncytial virus infection.

The serum antibody response of 50 infants and children infected with respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) was determined by a glycoprotein-specific enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay, and the effects of age and preexisting antibody titer at the time of RSV infection on response to the G and F glycoproteins of RSV were examined. The immune response to the G and F glycoproteins was assessed with anti-human immunoglobulin A to permit measurement of the response of young infants in the presence of maternally derived immunoglobulin G. The findings suggested that age primarily affects the response to the F glycoprotein and that preexisting antibody titer affects the response to the G glycoprotein.     

Germinal center and activated b-cell profiles separate Burkitt lymphoma and diffuse large B-cell lymphoma in AIDS and non-AIDS cases

Morphologic features of Burkitt lymphoma (BL) and diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) overlap. No single phenotypic marker or molecular abnormality is pathognomonic. We tested a panel of 8 germinal center (GC) and activated B-cell (ABC) markers for their ability to separate BL and DLBCL. We diagnosed 16 BL and 39 DLBCL cases from 21 patients with AIDS and 34 without AIDS based on traditional morphologic criteria, Ki-67 proliferative index, and c-myc rearrangement (fluorescence in situ hybridization). After immunohistochemically staining tissue microarrays of BL and DLBCL for markers of GC (bcl-6, CD10, cyclin H) and ABC (MUM1, CD138, PAK1, CD44, bcl-2), we scored each case for the percentage of positive cells. Hierarchical clustering yielded 2 major clusters significantly associated with morphologic diagnosis (P < .001). For comparison, we plotted the sum of the GC scores and ABC scores for each case as x and y data points. This revealed a high-GC/low-ABC group and a low-GC/high-ABC group that were associated significantly with morphologic diagnosis (P < .001). Protein expression of multiple GC and ABC markers can separate BL and DLBCL.     

Routes to transplant tolerance versus rejection; the role of cytokines

The alloimmune response can be divided into specific junctures where critical decisions between tolerance and immunity are made which define the outcome of the transplant. At these "decision nodes" various cytokines direct alloresponsive T cells to develop either a proinflammatory response aimed at graft destruction or an immunoregulatory response facilitating graft acceptance. This review will focus on the role of these cytokines in influencing the progression of an alloimmune response leading ultimately to either allograft survival or rejection.