0000000001163416

AUTHOR

Angela Puma

Anodal transcranial direct current stimulation of the right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex enhances memory-guided responses in a visuospatial working memory task.

Several studies have shown that transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) is able to enhance performances on verbal and visual working memory (WM) tasks. Available evidence points to the right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) as a critical area in visual WM, but to date direct comparisons of the effects obtained by stimulating the left versus the right DLPFC in the same subject are lacking. Our aim was to determine whether tDCS over the right DLPFC can differently affect performance as compared with left DLPFC stimulation. Ten healthy subjects performed a memory-guided visuospatial task in three conditions: baseline, during anodal stimulation applied over the right and during ano…

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TWO CASES OF NON-ALCOHOLIC WERNICKE ENCEPHALOPATHY SUCCESSFULLY TREATED BY THIAMINE REPLACEMENT: DIAGNOSTIC AND THERAPEUTIC CONSIDERATIONS

Wernicke’s encephalopathy (WE) is an acute neurologi- cal disorder, due to a lack of thiamin (vitamin B1) which is observed mainly in alcoholic patients. Unfortunately, the syn- drome is underestimated in clinical practice and most often recognized only on autopsy, especially among non-alcoholics. The common clinical picture include mental status changes, ocular dysfunction, and gait ataxia. Treatment consists of timely thiamine replacement through intravenous infusion. We describe the case of two patients who developed a non-alcoholic WE post-surgical, regressed completely after intravenous infusion of thiamine. These cases suggest intere- sting diagnostic and therapeutic implications.

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Validity and reliability of measurements of the parameters of smile aesthetics: a comparison between digital and plaster models

This study aims to evaluate the validity and reliability of the TRIOS3 Color intraoral scanner (3Shape A/S, Copenhagen, Denmark) and its associated Ortho Analyzer™ software in measuring parameters of smile aesthetics compared with measurements on plaster casts. The study sample comprised plaster casts and digital models obtained from 30 subjects. Height (H), mesiodistal diameter (MDD) and connecting space (CS) of the anterior teeth were measured with a digital calliper on the plaster models and with the orthodontic software on the digital models. Validity was assessed using a 2-tailed paired t-test; the reliability of measurements for intra-examiner was evaluated with the Intra-class Correl…

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