Premature introduction of progestin-only contraceptive methods during lactation

INTRODUCTIONS: Cochlear implants are used for the rehabilitation of bilaterally deaf patients. Due to the improvements in speech processing they might be also useful for patients with residual hearing and some speech understanding. METHODS: Pre- and postoperative speech understanding scores in 26 patients receiving implants were evaluated in a retrospective study. RESULTS: The preoperative pure-tone threshold in the implanted ear was between 80 and 115 dB in the frequency range of 500 to 2000 Hz. On the contralateral side the mean threshold was 10 dB better. The mean score for the number test was 11.3%, for the monosyllables below 5%. Postoperatively speech understanding improved significantly up to 97% for numbers and 48% for monosyllables (tested with the Freiburger Speech Test). Cochlear implantation also benefits patients with residual hearing and some speech understanding with hearing aids under optimum conditions. The speech understanding scores must be below certain limits. General selection criteria cannot yet be specified. The individual decision must be based upon several criteria, especially the speech understanding scores in quiet and noise under optimum conditions. A prospective study is needed to develop generally applicable criteria.     

Routine use of ultrasound 24 hours before laparoscopic cholecystectomy can predict the need for intraoperative cholangiogram: results of a 12-month prospective audit

Progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP) is a progressive degenerative extrapyramidal disease that often masquerades as Parkinson's disease (PD). Similar to PD, dysphagia frequently complicates the course of PSP. Because there is only one published report characterizing dysphagia in PSP, we reviewed the neurologic features and dynamic videofluoroscopic swallowing function study results in 10 dysphagic PSP patients. Abnormalities during multiple stages of ingestion were recorded in each patient. Uncoordinated lingual movements, absent velar retraction or elevation, impaired posterior lingual displacement, and copious pharyngeal secretions were noted in all patients. Tongue-assisted mastication, noncohesive lingual transfer, excessive oral bolus lingual leakage to the pharynx prior to active transfer, vallecular bolus retention, abnormal epiglottic positioning, and hiatal hernias were noted in at least half of the cohort. Although ingestion abnormalities in PSP are similar to those previously reported in PD, the number of studied patients and observed differences were too few to clearly differentiate the two diseases.     

A new framework for sign language alphabet hand posture recognition using geometrical features through artificial neural network (part 1)

Neural Computing and Applications - Hand pose tracking is essential in sign languages. An automatic recognition of performed hand signs facilitates a number of applications, especially for people...     

Use of stable 48Ca in the clinical measurement of intestinal calcium absorption

Measurements of intestinal-calcium-absorption efficiency are fundamental for understanding calcium homeostasis in health and disease. Stable calcium isotopes are attractive tracers for such measurements, to avoid excessive radiation exposure to the subject and permit serial studies at short intervals. To realize this, we found it necessary to improve the sensitivity and precision of existing thermal neutron activation analyses for 48Ca. This report describes the details, sensitivity, precision, and accuracy of the improved method, and gives the results of studies in which intravenous 48Ca was used in conjunction with oral 47Ca to measure intestinal-calcium-absorption efficiency in patients.     

The role of digital bathymetry in mapping shallow marine vegetation from hyperspectral image data

Hyperspectral remote sensing is a proven technology for measurement of coastal ocean colour, including sea‐bed mapping in optically shallow waters. Using hyperspectral imagery of shallow (<15 m deep) sea bed acquired with the Compact Airborne Spectrographic Imager (CASI‐550), we examined how changes in the spatial resolution of bathymetric grids, created from sonar data (echosounding) and input to conventional image classifiers, affected the accuracy of distributional maps of invasive (Codium fragile ssp. tomentosoides) and native (kelp) seaweeds off the coast of Nova Scotia, Canada. The addition of a low‐resolution bathymetric grid, interpolated from soundings by the Canadian Hydrographic Service, improved the overall classification accuracies by up to ～10%. However, increasing the bathymetric resolution did not increase the accuracy of classification maps produced with the supervised (Maximum Likelihood) classifier as shown by a slightly lower accuracy (2%) when using an intermediate‐resolution bathymetric grid interpolated from soundings with a recreational fish finder. Supervised classifications using the first three eigenvectors from a principal‐components analysis were consistently more accurate (by at least 27%) than unsupervised (K‐means classifier) schemes with similar data compression. With an overall accuracy of 76%, the most reliable scheme was a supervised classification with low‐resolution bathymetry. However, the supervised approach was particularly sensitive, and variations in accuracy of 2% resulted in overestimations of up to 53% in the extent of C. fragile and kelp. The use of a passive optical bathymetric algorithm to derive a high‐resolution bathymetric grid from the CASI data showed promise, although fundamental differences between this grid and those created with the sonar data limited the conclusions. The bathymetry (at any spatial resolution) appeared to improve the accuracy of the classifications both by reducing the confusion among the spectral classes and by removing noise in the image data. Variations in the accuracy of depth estimates and inescapable positional inaccuracies in the imagery and ground data largely accounted for the observed differences in the classification accuracies. This study provides the first detailed demonstration of the advantages and limitations of integrating digital bathymetry with hyperspectral data for the mapping of benthic assemblages in optically shallow waters.     

New Insights in the Pathogenesis of Multiple Sclerosis—Role of Acrolein in Neuronal and Myelin Damage

Multiple sclerosis (MS) is an autoimmune disease of the central nervous system (CNS) characterized by an inappropriate inflammatory reaction resulting in widespread myelin injury along white matter tracts. Neurological impairment as a result of the disease can be attributed to immune-mediated injury to myelin, axons and mitochondria, but the molecular mechanisms underlying the neuropathy remain incompletely understood. Incomplete mechanistic knowledge hinders the development of therapies capable of alleviating symptoms and slowing disease progression in the long-term. Recently, oxidative stress has been implicated as a key component of neural tissue damage prompting investigation of reactive oxygen species (ROS) scavengers as a potential therapeutic option. Despite the establishment of oxidative stress as a crucial process in MS development and progression, ROS scavengers have had limited success in animal studies which has prompted pursuit of an alternative target capable of curtailing oxidative stress. Acrolein, a toxic β-unsaturated aldehyde capable of initiating and perpetuating oxidative stress, has been suggested as a viable point of intervention to guide the development of new treatments. Sequestering acrolein using an FDA-approved compound, hydralazine, offers neuroprotection resulting in dampened symptom severity and slowed disease progression in experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE) mice. These results provide promise for therapeutic development, indicating the possible utility of neutralizing acrolein to preserve and improve neurological function in MS patients.     

Food-search behavior and its relation to the central excitatory state in the genetic analysis of the blow fly Phormia regina..

Tested the hypothesis, derived from the work of V. G. Dethier (see record 1958-01228-001), that dance behavior in the blowfly might be an ethologically relevant manifestation of the central excitatory state (CES). Dance duration in lines selected for high- and low-CES levels was measured. As predicted, Ss from the high-CES line danced longer than those from the low-CES line, and the CES–dance correlation in individual Ss was high. This phenotypic correlation disappeared in the F? generation of a cross between the high- and low-CES lines, a result indicating that the observed variations in CES and dance duration were not caused by the same set of genes. Further characterization of the underlying genetic system showed that several linked autosomal genes with digenic epistatic interactions and a complex pattern of maternal inheritance were responsible for the difference in dance durations between the high- and low-CES lines. (21 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Chemical dynamics at surfaces

The current status of molecular dynamics simulations of chemical processes at surfaces is assessed. Limitations of the method are discussed, and recent progress towards overcoming the limitations is described. The reliability and depth of understanding achievable through interplay between simulation and experiment is illustrated by a simple example, the trapping of Ar on a Pt(111) crystal surface. The prognosis for extending these techniques to chemically reacting systems in real environments is addressed.     

The readability of currently used surgical/procedure consent forms in the United States

We report a patient diagnosed prenatally on routine fetal ultrasound, at 30 weeks' gestation, with subdural haemorrhage. The mother had suffered a mild abdominal trauma and had Factor XI deficiency; however, both were felt to be aetiologically insignificant. Prenatal follow-up showed a complete resolution of the haematoma and no postnatal sequelae have been noted to date. The aetiologies and outcomes in the few previously reported cases are reviewed and compared with our case.