Phonological representations in children with SLI: a study of French.

The present research examined the quality of the phonological representations of French children with specific language impairment (SLI) and those with normal language development (NLD). Twenty-five children with SLI and 50 children with NLD matched on lexical age level participated in an auditory lexical decision task. The observations gathered in our study can be summarized as follows. First, children with a higher receptive lexical level performed better, and this was true both for children with NLD and children with SLI. Second, both children with NLD and those with SLI were more likely to reject pseudowords resulting from a modification affecting the number of syllables of a word than pseudowords resulting from a slight modification with the number of syllables unchanged. This difference, however, was greater for the children with SLI, who appeared to have much difficulty rejecting pseudowords resulting from slight modifications. Finally, the performance of children with SLI was particularly poor when presented with pseudowords resulting from a slight modification at the beginning or the end of a word. These findings are interpreted as supporting the hypothesis of an under-specification of phonological representations in children with SLI.     

Randomized parallel study of doxorubicin plus paclitaxel and doxorubicin plus cyclophosphamide as neoadjuvant treatment of patients with breast cancer.

PURPOSE: This randomized, noncomparative, parallel-group study was designed to evaluate the pathologic complete response (pCR) rate of combined doxorubicin plus paclitaxel (AP) and doxorubicin plus cyclophosphamide (AC) as neoadjuvant chemotherapy in patients with previously untreated breast cancer who were unsuitable for conservative surgery. PATIENTS AND METHODS: A total of 200 patients with T2-3, N0-1, M0 disease were randomly assigned in a 2:1 ratio to receive preoperative chemotherapy with either doxorubicin 60 mg/m(2) plus paclitaxel 200 mg/m(2) as a 3-hour infusion (AP) or doxorubicin 60 mg/m(2) plus cyclophosphamide 600 mg/m(2) (AC) every 3 weeks for 4 courses followed by surgery. RESULTS: A pCR (eradication of invasive carcinoma in tumor and in axillary lymph nodes) was found in 16% and 10% of patients in the AP and AC arms, respectively, by study center pathologists, and in 8% and 6% of patients, respectively, by independent pathologists. Patients with pCRs tended to have unifocal disease, tumors with negative hormonal receptor status, and less differentiation (Scarff, Bloom, and Richardson scale grade 3). Breast-conserving surgery was performed in 58% and 45% of patients in the AP and AC arms, respectively. An objective clinical response was achieved in 89% of patients in the AP arm and 70% in the AC arm. At a median follow-up of 31 months, disease-free survival (DFS) was higher in patients who reached pCR versus those without pCR (91% v 70%). CONCLUSION: The encouraging pathologic and clinical responses of patients with breast cancer after neoadjuvant chemotherapy with doxorubicin plus paclitaxel warrant additional investigation of paclitaxel in the neoadjuvant setting of breast cancer management.     

Phonology and syntax in French children with SLI: A longitudinal study

Maillart and Parisse found out that French children with specific language impairment (SLI) presented strong difficulties in phonology when compared with normally‐developing children matched by MLU (NLD). Some of the youngest children from this study were followed to provide developmental information about their language deficit. Children were tested again in the same way as before (free spontaneous production) and matched by MLU against other NLD children. The previous phonological analysis was extended to include syntax as well as phonology. Percentage of words correct was computed for both phonology and syntax. An analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) was performed with children's age as covariate. Results showed a significant difference between SLI and NLD children for phonology but not for syntax. There was a trend that showed that the difference between SLI and NLD children tended to increase with age. The same analysis was performed separately for 9 frequent syntactic categories for phonology and for syntax. A significant difference was found for prepositions, nouns, subject pronouns, and verbs in phonology. Effects were found for determiners and prepositions in syntax. As well as confirming the importance of phonological difficulties in SLI, our results call for a developmental theory of phonological and syntactic deficits in SLI, where differences between SLI and NLD grow with age and where there is a timing difference between phonology (earlier) and syntax (later).     

Rapid onset frontal leukodystrophy with decreased diffusion coefficient and neuroaxonal spheroids

Adult leukodystrophies with neuroaxonal spheroids (LNS) constitute a heterogeneous group of genetic diseases. Herein, we report on two unrelated patients with LNS characterized by rapid onset, predominant involvement of the frontal white matter, and areas of decreased apparent diffusion coefficient on diffusion-weighted imaging. We found similar cases in the literature and propose that they represent a distinct entity within the group of LNS. Further studies will be required to identify its molecular basis.     

MRI characteristics of MOG-Ab associated disease in adults: An update

Our knowledge of the radiological spectrum of myelin oligodendrocyte glycoprotein antibody associated disease (MOGAD) is growing rapidly. An update on the radiological features of the disease, and its evolution is thus necessary. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) has an increasingly important role in the differential diagnosis of MOGAD particularly from aquaporin-4 antibody-positive neuromyelitis optica spectrum disorder (AQP4-NMOSD), and multiple sclerosis (MS). Differentiating these conditions is of prime importance because the management is different between the three inflammatory diseases, and thus could prevent further attack-related disability. Therefore, identifying the MRI features suggestive of MOGAD has diagnostic and prognostic implications. We herein review optic nerve, spinal cord and the brain MRI findings from MOGAD adult patients, and compare them to AQP4-NMOSD and MS.     

Anti-MOG associated disease with intracranial hypertension after COVID-19 vaccination

Journal of Neurology -     

Suppression of heparinization of central venous catheters between cycles of chemotherapy

A phase I study to evaluate heparinization of tunnelled subclavian catheters (TSC) was conducted in 42 patients who each had a TSC for chemotherapy. They were enrolled in the study from August 1994 to December 1995. The inclusion criteria were: age 18–70, no general anticoagulant treatment, TSC used only for chemotherapy, informed consent. Heparinization was performed at the end of each cycle and then at increasing intervals: 11, 13, 15, 17, 19, and 21 days. A 21-day interval was intended to mimic the suppression of heparinization between cycles. Heparinization was performed with a 250 IU/ml heparin solution. Anti-Xa activity was studied before each heparinization. For each interval, at least 5 patients were followed up for two cycles. If no blockages were present progression to the next step was authorized. If one blockage was observed 5 additional patients were required to have their TSCs heparinized after the same interval. Two blockages (block) after the same interval meant that the previous interval was recorded as the longest tolerable. There were no blocks with the 11-day interval (6 patients), 1 block after 13 days (10 patients), 1 block after 15 days (10 patients), and no blocks after 17 days (5 patients), 19 days (6 patients), or 21 days (5 patients). The median anti-Xa activity (curative rate 0.2–0.6) was, respectively 11 days 6.74; 13 days 5.47; 15 days 4.71; 17 days 3.61; 19 days 3.67; 21 days 5.10 (NS). Heparinization between two cycles of chemotherapy is unnecessary. A high level of heparin activity persisted constantly inside the catheter lumen through the 3-week observation period.