Search results for "Function"
showing 10 items of 14432 documents
Complete Epstein-Barr virus seropositivity in a large cohort of patients with early multiple sclerosis
2020
ObjectiveTo determine the prevalence of antibodies to Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) in a large cohort of patients with early multiple sclerosis (MS).MethodsSerum samples were collected from 901 patients with a clinically isolated syndrome (CIS) or early relapsing–remitting multiple sclerosis (RRMS) participating in the German National MS cohort, a prospective cohort of patients with early MS with stringent inclusion criteria. Epstein-Barr nuclear antigen (EBNA)-1 and viral capsid antigen (VCA) antibodies were measured in diluted sera by chemiluminescence immunoassays (CLIAs). Sera of EBNA-1 and VCA antibody-negative patients were retested undiluted by an EBV IgG immunoblot. For comparison, we re…
Posterior tibial tendon dysfunction: Clinical and magnetic resonance imaging findings having histology as reference standard.
2017
Abstract Objective To investigate the correlation between MRI, clinical tests, histopathologic features of posterior tibial tendon (PTT) dysfunction in patients with acquired adult flatfoot deformity surgically treated with medializing calcaneal osteotomy and flexor digitorum longus tendon transposition. Materials and methods Nineteen patients (11 females; age: 46 ± 15 year, range 18–75) were pre-operatively evaluated using the single heel rise (HR) and the first metatarsal rise (FMR) sign tests. Two reviewers graded the PTT tears on a I–III scale and measured the hindfoot valgus angle on the pre-operative MRI of the ankle. The specimens of the removed portion of PTT were histologically ana…
Left-hemisphere dominance in early nociceptive processing in the human parasylvian cortex.
2003
Pain perception comprises sensory and emotional dimensions. While the emotional experience is thought to be represented in the right hemisphere, we here report a left-hemisphere dominance for the early sensory component of pain perception using brain electrical source analysis of laser-evoked potentials. Ten right-handed subjects underwent several series of laser radiant heat stimuli to pairs of parallel lines on the dorsum of the left or right hand. Stimulus location and intensity were randomised independently. The sensory-discriminative aspects of pain were emphasised by asking the subjects to perform either a spatial or an intensity discrimination task and were contrasted with active dis…
Functional changes in brain activity after hypnosis in patients with dental phobia.
2015
Visiting the dentist is often accompanied by apprehension or anxiety. People, who suffer from specific dental phobia (a disproportional fear of dental) procedures show psychological and physiological symptoms which make dental treatments difficult or impossible. For such purposes, hypnosis is often used in dental practice as an alternative for a number of treatments adjuvant or instead of sedation or general anaesthetics, as medication is often associated with risks and side effects. This is the first study to address the effects of a brief dental hypnosis on the fear processing structures of the brain in dental phobics using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). 12 dental phobics (…
Hypothalamic-pituitary-thyroid axis in acromegaly
1983
To evaluate the hypothalamic-pituitary-thyroid axis in acromegaly, total and free thyroid hormones and TSH response to TRH were determined in 36 acromegalic patients. In 10 patients, rT3 and thyroxine binding globulin (TBG) were also assayed by radioimmunoassay. In 15 patients the TSH response to TRH was also studied after medical or surgical therapy of the acromegaly. In 34 patients total thyroid hormones were in the normal range whereas two patients had low serum levels of free thyroid hormones. Thirty-two of the acromegalic patients were euthyroid. However, only 43.7% of the euthyroid patients had a normal TSH response to TRH. Nine patients had a reduced TSH rise after TRH, whereas in 4 …
ICD implantation in noncompaction of the left ventricular myocardium: a case report
2009
Isolated noncompaction of the ventricular myocardium (INVM) is an uncommon cardiomyopathy characterized by the persistence of fetal myocardium with prominent trabecular meshwork and deep intertrabecular recesses, often associated with systolic dysfunction and ventricular dilatation. A 23-year-old man from Burkina Faso was referred to our operative unit with a diagnosis of INVM, made with echocardiogram and magnetic resonance imaging and nonsustained ventricular tachycardia. The literature reports the incidence of malignant ventricular arrhythmias in as many as 47% of the patients and sudden cardiac death in almost 50% of them and this supported our decision to perform implantable cardiovert…
The facilitative effect of gestures on the neural processing of semantic complexity in a continuous narrative
2019
© 2019 Elsevier Inc. Gestures are elemental components of social communication and aid comprehension of verbal messages; however, little is known about the potential role of gestures in facilitating processing of semantic complexity in an ecologically valid setting. The goal of this study was to investigate whether cognitive load, as indexed by semantic complexity, is modulated by the presentation of gestures accompanying speech. Twenty healthy participants watched 16 video clips of a short narrative while instructed to carefully listen to and watch the narrator while functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) data were acquired. The videos contained passages with and without various co-s…
Asymmetric metabolic profile in mesial temporal lobes: Localized H-1 MR spectroscopy in healthy right-handed and non-right-handed subjects
1996
International audience; Abstract: PURPOSE: To determine a possible asymmetric metabolic profile in right-handed and non-right-handed healthy subjects by comparing proton spectra from temporal lobes. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Twenty-eight healthy adults (17 right-handers, 11 non-right-handers) underwent magnetic resonance (MR) imaging and single-voxel MR spectroscopy. N-acetylaspartate (NAA), choline (Cho), and creatine (Cr) peak areas were measured. RESULTS: Volume of hippocampal formations was larger on the right in right-handers (right volume: 4.04 cm(3) +/- 0.67 vs left volume: 3.84 cm(3) +/- 0.62; P = .00004) and in non-right-handers (right volume: 4.22 cm(3) +/- 0.78 vs left volume: 4.05 …
Instantaneous transfer entropy for the study of cardio-respiratory dynamics
2015
Measures of transfer entropy have been proposed to quantify the directional coupling and strength between two complex physiological variables. Particular attention has been given to nonlinear interactions within cardiovascular and respiratory dynamics as influenced by the autonomic nervous system. However, standard transfer entropy estimates have shown major limitations in dealing with issues concerning stochastic system modeling, limited observations in time, and the assumption of stationarity of the considered physiological variables. Moreover, standard estimates are unable to track time-varying changes in nonlinear coupling with high resolution in time. Here, we propose a novel definitio…
Instantaneous Transfer Entropy for the Study of Cardiovascular and Cardio-Respiratory Nonstationary Dynamics
2017
Objective: Measures of transfer entropy (TE) quantify the direction and strength of coupling between two complex systems. Standard approaches assume stationarity of the observations, and therefore are unable to track time-varying changes in nonlinear information transfer with high temporal resolution. In this study, we aim to define and validate novel instantaneous measures of TE to provide an improved assessment of complex nonstationary cardiorespiratory interactions. Methods: We here propose a novel instantaneous point-process TE (ipTE) and validate its assessment as applied to cardiovascular and cardiorespiratory dynamics. In particular, heartbeat and respiratory dynamics are characteriz…