PREDICTORS OF BEREAVED PARENTS' SATISFACTION WITH GROUP SUPPORT: AN ISRAELI PERSPECTIVE

This study evaluates various aspects of groupwork with bereaved parents who lost a child during military service. More specifically, it assesses the unique and cumulative contributions of various features of groupwork to the participants' satisfaction with the group support. One hundred and thirty-eight bereaved parents, who participated in 16 support groups, answered a battery of questionnaires tapping 3 aspects of the groupwork: their motives for joining the group, the interpersonal relations among the group members, and the group leadership style. In addition, the participants were asked to evaluate the contribution of the intervention to their adjustment. The findings indicate that the supportive elements of the intervention were associated with the groups' perceived contribution. The clinical implications of these results are discussed.     

The effect of dental education and dental treatment on the dental status of a handicapped population: a longitudinal study

Thirty-nine patients, aged 3 to 22, who have handicapping conditions were examined twice in a range of 1 1/2 years to determine oral hygiene level, periodontal treatment needs, and level of caries. During this period, each patient was given periodontal treatment, including scaling, caries treatment, and oral health education, which also was given to hospital staff members. Findings showed a slight increase in the DMF rate, a minor improvement in oral hygiene, and a significant reduction in periodontal treatment needs. The results showed that without cooperation of the staff members, a dental education program would not succeed in this setting.     

Naming norms for brief environmental sounds: Effects of age and dementia

Brief nontonal sounds are used in electrophysiology in the novelty oddball paradigm. These sounds vary in the brain activity they elicit and in the degree to which they can be identified, named, and remembered. Because ease of sound identification may influence sound processing, naming and conceptual norms were determined for 100 sounds for 77 young adults (Experiment 1). Naming ability decreases in normal and pathological aging. Therefore, norms were also derived for older adults (Experiment 2) and for probable Alzheimer's disease patients (Experiment 3). With respect to the young adults, perseverative naming behavior increased in these groups, and sound and picture naming performance were correlated. In Experiment 4, the sound-naming performance of children aged 5–6, 9–11, and 14–16 yers was compared. Name and conceptual agreements improved with age, whereas perseverative behavior decreased. These normative data should be useful in guiding sound selection in future studies and help clarify the relationships between sound naming and other variables, including direct and indirect memory performance.     

The use of phospholipid liposomes for lithium administration. Polydipsic effect and tissue distribution of lithium

Administration of lithium entrapped in phospholipid liposomes increased the lithium-induced polydipsia, but did not accelerate the onset of this effect. It also resulted in a larger accumulation of lithium in the liver, kidney and spleen, but not in the brain. The time course of polydipsia suggests that it depends on the intracellular lithium concentration. However, the rate of development of this effect depends on some additional factor.     

The CB-12L: A New Device for Transtelephonic Transmission of a 12-Lead Electrocardiogram

The value of transtelephonic transmission of ECG information is well established, and technological advances have continuously provided improved state-of-the-art equipment. Shahal Medical Services provides professional care to subscribers who call the medical center and describe their symptoms, whereupon therapeutic measures are decided upon. A new 12-lead patient controlled device for telephonically transmitting an ECG (CB-12L) has become available; the aim of this study was to evaluate its accuracy and practicability. Forty tracings (20 standard ECG tracings obtained under medical supervision in the physician's office and 20 by the patient in his home using the new CB-12L ECG device and transmitted by telephone to the center) from 20 subjects with various electrocardiographic pathologies were reviewed by 19 experienced physicians who were asked to interpret the results and identify the recording device. In 82% of the possibilities, the interpretation of the tracings was identical for both those recorded by the standard ECG recorder and the CB-12L ECG. An equal number of physicians could not identify the means by which device the tracings were taken. Proper placement of the electrodes did not prove to be a problem for the patient. Thus, the CB-12L ECG was found to be an easily operable and reliable tool which may be of value for early and prompt diagnosis of threatening cardiac situations in the prehospital setting.     

A clinico‐radiological phenotype of voltage‐gated potassium channel complex antibody‐mediated disorder presenting with seizures and basal ganglia changes

In childhood, central nervous system (CNS) presentations associated with antibodies to voltage‐gated potassium channel (VGKC) complex include limbic encephalitis, status epilepticus, epileptic encephalopathy, and autistic regression. We report the cases of two individuals (a 6‐year‐old male and an 11‐year‐old female) who presented with an acute‐onset explosive seizure disorder with positive VGKC complex antibodies and bilateral basal ganglia changes on magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Both patients made a complete clinical recovery, without immunotherapy, with resolution of the MRI changes and normalization of the antibody levels. Extended antibody testing, including testing for leucine‐rich glioma‐inactivated 1 (LGI1), contactin‐associated protein 2, and contactin‐2 was negative. This could suggest that the clinico‐radiological phenotype in our patients may in fact be associated with a novel autoreactive target(s) within the VGKC complex, as may be the case in other children with VGKC complex‐mediated CNS disorders.     

Skin Test Hypersensitivity Study of a Cross-linked, Porcine Collagen Implant for Aesthetic Surgery

BACKGROUND The use of bovine collagen implants for dermal contour correction is associated with a 3% to 5% incidence of hypersensitivity, which necessitates pretreatment screening by an intradermal skin test.
OBJECTIVE The objective was to determine the incidence of hypersensitivity with the recently developed cross-linked, porcine collagen implant, EVOLENCE (ColBar LifeScience Ltd.), which is used intradermally for correction of rhytids and scars.
MATERIALS AND METHODS Enrolled subjects (n=530) received an intradermal injection of 0.1 mL EVOLENCE implant in the left forearm and a second injection in the right forearm after 2 weeks. Injection sites were assessed clinically at 30 minutes and 72 hours after each injection and at 30 days after the second injection. Serum anticollagen antibody determinations were performed at screening and at the end of the study.
RESULTS Study assessments were completed by 519 subjects. No significant erythematous reactions suggestive of positive hypersensitivity were observed. Most subjects did not display antibodies against porcine Type I collagen at any time, and those who did showed no changes in levels during the study. The single-sided 95% upper confidence limit for the possibility of moderate-to-severe erythematous reactions with the EVOLENCE implant was determined as 0.58% of subjects.
CONCLUSION Because the EVOLENCE implant has a low potential for hypersensitivity, intradermal skin testing before its use appears unnecessary.     

Tyrosyl interactions at the active site of carboxypeptidase B

The phosphorescence emission spectra of native carboxypeptidase B and of chemically modified carboxypeptidase B (at arginyl residues) was measured in the presence and absence of peptide and ester substrates (acetyl-L-arginine and its hydroxy ester analog: acetyl-L-argininic acid). Ester binding did not affect the state of the tyrosyl residue as compared with its state in the substrate-free enzyme. In the modified enzyme, which is devoid of peptidase activity, binding of the peptide pseudosubstrate did not perturb the state of the tyrosyl residue. The luminescence spectra of Zn²⁺- and Co²⁺-carboxypeptidase B in the presence of the metal coordinating ligand cyanide, used to displace the water from the metal coordination sphere, is also described. Cyanide did not affect the luminescence spectra of the active-site tyrosyl residue in either Zn²⁺-or Co²⁺-carboxypeptidase, indicating that the tyrosyl residue was not interacting directly with the metal bound water. Hence, the effect of peptide on tyrosyl phosphorescence is not caused by the displacement of the tyrosyl from the coordination sphere, but rather by direct interaction of the peptide bond. The data are consistent with the proposition that the tyrosyl residue participates as a proton donor in amide but not in ester hydrolysis.