Quantitative EEG Findings Among Men Convicted of Murder

Abstract

Quantitative EEG data were collected from 20 men convicted of murder and sentenced to death. Measures of coherence, phase, amplitude asymmetry, and relative power from 19 scalp electrode sites during an eyes closed, resting condition were compared to a normative database. Measures significantly different from normal were tallied to determine electrode site locations with greatest concentrations of abnormalities. There were more right than left hemisphere abnormalities of coherence, phase, and amplitude asymmetry, and more anterior than posterior abnormalities of phase, amplitude asymmetry, and relative power. Bilateral frontal, right temporal, and parietal sites had the greatest concentrations of multiple abnormalities. Increased coherence and longer neural conduction times characterized the majority of coherence and phase abnormalities. The concentrations of frontal and right hemisphere abnormalities are discussed as relating to impairment, in executive functions, modulation of affect, and perception of affect in others. Such impairments perhaps in conjunction with adverse environmental events, are suggested as placing one at risk for violent behaviors. Relevance of these findings for future research, forensic neuropsychological assessments, and neurofeedback treatment is mentioned.     

Multiple contrast type tests for the evaluation of animal carcinogenicity studies

The Cochran–Armitage (CA) test is frequently used for testing the dose–response relationship in tumor incidence. This test is based on a weighted linear regression of proportions. It is well known that the CA test lacks power for nonlinear tumor outcomes. For general shape of outcomes, Hothorn and Bretz (2000) proposed a multiple contrast (MC) test. This test suggests the use of the maximum over several single contrasts, where each of them is chosen appropriately to cover a specific dose–response shape. In this work, two new test procedures are proposed and they are compared to the CA and MC tests using power.     

配偶夫妻疾病沟通与肠造口患者感知社会约束的交叉滞后模型

目的 探讨SHEL事故分析法在院前急救护理安全管理中的应用效果.方法 应用SHEL事故分析法对2010年1月至2011年12月院前急救护理工作中出现的25例次护理缺陷进行分析,制定护理安全管理措施并进行针对性的管理.结果 加强护理安全管理后,2012年1～12月发生护理缺陷4例次,较管理前(25例次)显著减少(P＜0.05).结论 应用SHEL事故分析法对院前急救护理缺陷进行原因分析,针对性的制定护理安全管理措施,能明显降低护理缺陷的发生,保证护理安全.     

腔镜下与开放手术行会师术治疗后尿道断裂临床疗效对照研究

目的:探讨腔镜下与开放手术行会师术在后尿道断裂患者中的应用效果。方法:选择我院泌尿外科后尿道断裂患者86例,随机分为观察组和对照组,对照组43例开放手术行会师术,而观察组43例则腔镜下行会师术,分析对比两组患者术中出血量、手术时间、住院时间、住院费用及术后性功能障碍发生率等。结果 :观察组患者在术中出血量、手术时间、住院时间及术后性功能障碍发生率均低于对照组(P<0.05),而观察组患者住院费用明显高于对照组(P<0.05),但两组手术成功率无显著性差异(P>0.05)。结论:腔镜下行会师术治疗后尿道断裂具有术中出血量少、手术时间短、住院时间及术后性功能障碍发生率少等优点。     

A pilot study of nimotuzumab plus single agent chemotherapy as second- or third-line treatment or more in patients with recurrent,persistent or metastatic cervical cancer

Nimotuzumab is a humanized IgG1 monoclonal antibody against the EGFR extracellular domain that has been evaluated in solid tumors as a single agent or in combination with chemotherapy and radiation. Cervical cancer patients who are refractory or progressive to first-line chemotherapy have a dismal prognosis, and no second- or third-line chemotherapy is considered standard. This pilot trial aimed to evaluate the efficacy and safety of nimotuzumab in 17 patients with pre-treated advanced refractory or progressive cervical cancer. Nimotuzumab was administered weekly at 200 mg/m² as single agent for 4 weeks (induction phase), then concurrent with 6 21-day cycles of gemcitabine (800 mg/m²) or cisplatin (50 mg/m²) for 18 weeks (concurrent phase) and then once every 2 weeks (maintenance phase). Nimotuzumab could be continued beyond disease progression. Seventeen patients were accrued and evaluated for safety and efficacy. The median number of nimotuzumab applications was 20 (5–96). The median number of chemotherapy cycles administered was 6 (1-6). No toxicity occurred during induction and maintenance phases (single agent nimotuzumab). In the concurrent phase, grade 3 toxicity events observed were leucopenia, anemia and diarrhea in 11.7%, 5.8% and 11.7% respectively. No complete or partial responses were observed. The stable disease (SD) rate was 35%. The median PFS and OS rates were163 days (95% CI, 104 to 222), and 299 days (95% IC, 177 to 421) respectively. Nimotuzumab is well tolerated and may have a role in the treatment of advanced cervical cancer.     

Longitudinal diffusion tensor imaging of patients with degenerative cervical myelopathy following decompression surgery

Previous studies have reported the utility of diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) as an imaging biomarker for the severity of myelopathy and subsequent surgical outcome in patients with degenerative cervical myelopathy (DCM). We hypothesized that DTI may reflect neurological recovery following surgery. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the ability of DTI to assess the post-operative alteration of neural status in patients with DCM as well as to predict post-operative recovery. We enrolled 15 patients with DCM who underwent decompression surgery. The Japanese Orthopaedic Association (JOA) score was evaluated before and 1 year after surgery. The participants were examined using DTI on a 3.0 T magnetic resonance scanner before, and 1 year after surgery. Fractional anisotropy (FA) and mean diffusivity (MD) were assessed for both time points. The correlations between the pre- and post-operative FA and MD values and the pre- and post-operative JOA scores were analyzed. Although the JOA score improved significantly after surgery from 8.9 to 12.3, there was no significant change between the pre- and post-operative FA and MD values. The post-operative outcomes after 1 year moderately correlated with the pre-operative FA values (Spearman’s ρ = 0.55, p = 0.03 and Spearman’s ρ = 0.56, p = 0.03 for change and recovery rate of the JOA score, respectively). However, there was no correlation between the post-operative FA and post-operative JOA scores nor between MD and clinical outcomes. DTI cannot be utilized as a biomarker for post-operative alterations of neural status of the spinal cord; however, pre-operative DTI may be useful as a predictor of surgical outcomes.