1/35. Unconscious activation of visual cortex in the damaged right hemisphere of a parietal patient with extinction.Visual extinction is a sign classically associated with right parietal damage. The patient can see a single stimulus presented in the ipsilesional or contralesional visual field, but is characteristically unaware of the same contralesional stimulus during simultaneous stimulation of both fields. The ipsilesional stimulus is said to 'extinguish' the contralesional stimulus from awareness during bilateral stimulation, perhaps due to a pathological bias in attention towards the ipsilesional side. Recent psychophysical evidence suggests that, although extinguished stimuli are not consciously seen, they may undergo residual processing and exert implicit effects on performance. However, the neural structures mediating such residual processing for extinguished stimuli remain unknown. Here we studied the neural activity evoked by an extinguished visual stimulus, using event-related functional MRI (fMRI), in a patient with circumscribed right inferior parietal damage and profound left-sided extinction. Monochrome objects (faces or houses) were presented in the left or right field, either unilaterally or bilaterally on each trial, with the patient indicating by button press whether he saw an object on the left, the right or on both sides. He usually saw only the right object on bilateral trials, yet the fMRI data showed activation of visual cortex contralateral to the extinguished left stimulus on these trials (compared with right-only stimulation), in both striate and early extrastriate areas of the right hemisphere. This activity had a similar location and time-course to that resulting from a single stimulus in the left versus right visual field. Cortical pathways involved in the normal processing of a single seen stimulus can thus still be activated by an unseen, extinguished stimulus after right parietal damage. Comparison of fMRI responses for faces versus houses revealed some category-specific activation for extinguished stimuli in right fusiform regions, but only at low statistical threshold. These results are discussed in terms of theoretical accounts for parietal extinction and, more generally, for the neural substrates of visual awareness.- - - - - - - - - - ranking = 1keywords = physical (Clic here for more details about this article) |
2/35. When instructions fail. The effects of stimulus control training on brain injury survivors' attending and reporting during hearing screenings.Bedside hearing screenings are routinely conducted by speech and language pathologists for brain injury survivors during rehabilitation. Cognitive deficits resulting from brain injury, however, may interfere with obtaining estimates of auditory thresholds. Poor comprehension or attention deficits often compromise patient abilities to follow procedural instructions. This article describes the effects of jointly applying behavioral methods and psychophysical methods to improve two severely brain-injured survivors' attending and reporting on auditory test stimuli presentation. Treatment consisted of stimulus control training that involved differentially reinforcing responding in the presence and absence of an auditory test tone. Subsequent hearing screenings were conducted with novel auditory test tones and a common titration procedure. Results showed that prior stimulus control training improved attending and reporting such that hearing screenings were conducted and estimates of auditory thresholds were obtained.- - - - - - - - - - ranking = 1keywords = physical (Clic here for more details about this article) |
3/35. Orthodontic treatment in handicapped children: report of four cases.Mentally and physically handicapped children show in the orofacial system motor-sensitivity disturbances and malocclusions of varying severity. These dysfunctions affect the breathing and speech ability and inhibit the food intake. Myotherapeutic exercises for strengthening of lip and tongue muscles and orthodontic treatment of the malocclusions help provide esthetic and functional improvements in these patients. The limited compliance necessitates a differentiated procedure during the diagnostic and therapeutic process and demands compromises in some cases.- - - - - - - - - - ranking = 1keywords = physical (Clic here for more details about this article) |
4/35. Extreme risk taker who wants to continue taking part in high risk sports after serious injury.The case is reported of a 40 year old male high risk sport athlete who had seriously injured himself several times and as a result was partially physically disabled and had trouble with mental tasks requiring concentration such as spelling, reading numbers, and writing. The athlete was referred to a sports psychologist. In consultations, it became clear that he was having difficulty reconciling the difference between his life as it used to be and as it would be in the future. Part of his difficulty was dealing with the frustration and anger "outbursts" which resulted from not being able to perform straightforward everyday motor skills. In spite of his injuries and disability, the patient badly wanted to continue participating in extreme sports. Reversal theory is used in the discussion to provide theoretical explanations of the motivation for his extreme risk taking behaviour.- - - - - - - - - - ranking = 1keywords = physical (Clic here for more details about this article) |
5/35. Is there an upper limit of intracranial pressure in patients with severe head injury if cerebral perfusion pressure is maintained?Authors of recent studies have championed the importance of maintaining cerebral perfusion pressure (CPP) to prevent secondary brain injury following traumatic head injury. Data from these studies have provided little information regarding outcome following severe head injury in patients with an intracranial pressure (ICP) greater than 40 mm Hg, however, in July 1997 the authors instituted a protocol for the management of severe head injury in patients with a glasgow coma scale score lower than 9. The protocol was focused on resuscitation from acidosis, maintenance of a CPP greater than 60 mm Hg through whatever means necessary as well as elevation of the head of the bed, mannitol infusion, and ventriculostomy with cerebrospinal fluid drainage for control of ICP. Since the institution of this protocol, nine patients had a sustained ICP greater than 40 mm Hg for 2 or more hours, and five of these had an ICP greater than 75 mm Hg on insertion of the ICP monitor and later experienced herniation and expired within 24 hours. Because of the severe nature of the injuries demonstrated on computerized tomography scans and their physical examinations, these patients were not aggressively treated under this protocol. The authors vigorously attempted to maintain a CPP greater than 60 mm Hg with intensive fluid resuscitation and the administration of pressor agents in the four remaining patients who had developed an ICP higher than 40 mm Hg after placement of the ICP monitor. Two patients had an episodic ICP greater than 40 mm Hg for more than 36 hours, the third patient had an episodic ICP greater than of 50 mm Hg for more than 36 hours, and the fourth patient had an episodic ICP greater than 50 mm Hg for more than 48 hours. On discharge, all four patients were able to perform normal activities of daily living with minimal assistance and experience ongoing improvement. Data from this preliminary study indicate that intense, aggressive management of CPP can lead to good neurological outcomes despite extremely high ICP. Aggressive CPP therapy should be performed and maintained even though apparently lethal ICP levels may be present. Further study is needed to support these encouraging results.- - - - - - - - - - ranking = 1keywords = physical (Clic here for more details about this article) |
6/35. Long-term survival following treatment of multiple supra- and infratentorial aspergillus brain abscesses.aspergillus brain abscess is a rare but frequently fatal disease. Despite the scarcity of reported survivors, a combination of medication and surgical treatment might be effective. We report a 37-year-old man who developed multiple aspergillus brain abscesses after severe bacterial pneumonia. The following strategy was used to treat the patient: diagnostic puncture of one of the abscesses, long-term treatment with medication, excision of chronic granuloma in the occipital lobe and fourth ventricle, surgical treatment of the hydrocephalus. Following various surgical and antifungal treatments, the patient survived. Nearly three years after discharge, he still is in good physical condition and has a moderate neurologic deficit. Only 36 patients have been reported to have survived longer than three months after receiving treatment for brain aspergillosis. A course of medication in combination with various surgical procedures was required to achieve a successful outcome in this otherwise fatal disease.- - - - - - - - - - ranking = 1keywords = physical (Clic here for more details about this article) |
7/35. Behaviour rehabilitation of the challenging client in less restrictive settings.Individuals who have sustained traumatic brain injury may provide friends, family, and rehabilitation professionals with challenges through an increased likelihood of their engaging in socially inappropriate behaviours. At extremes the inappropriate behaviours include vocal and physical assault, non-compliance, self-injurious behaviours, elopement, and property destruction. While these maladaptive behaviours are by themselves troublesome, for some individuals they provide severe barriers to rehabilitation. One option for the challenging rehabilitation client is a neurobehavioural programme, typically offering an access-limited or otherwise secure physical environment and which focuses on behaviour reduction. While outcomes from neurobehavioural programmes are typically positive, their expense and the negative connotations of this type of programme will at times dissuade family members from enrolling the client. We describe an alternative, less restrictive behavioural programme operated in the physical and social context of a larger, more typical community-based rehabilitation programme for traumatically brain-injured individuals. This programme has been in operation for nearly three years, successfully serving more than 200 clients, of which approximately 20% posed behaviour management problems. Identified variables accounting for these successes include: formal guidelines for programme development, staff training and monitoring, data collection, integration of an interdisciplinary team, discharge planning and post-discharge follow-up. We provide a general programme description followed by discussions of four brief case studies to illustrate basic principles of the programme. Programme strengths are discussed, as are constraints placed on the programme by the physical and social environments in which it operates.- - - - - - - - - - ranking = 4keywords = physical (Clic here for more details about this article) |
8/35. Effects of emotional face cueing on line bisection in neglect: a single case study.One patient with left neglect (FM) and four right brain-damaged controls were tested on a line bisection task with pictures of neutral and emotional faces as unilateral cues. We thus manipulated the attentional salience of the cues (higher for emotional and lower for neutral faces) while keeping constant their physical dimensions. Our findings showed that left emotional faces were more effective than left neutral faces in reducing bisection errors only in FM. These data indicate that in the neglected hemispace cues bias attention rather than simply altering the perceptual point of balance of the line in the horizontal plane.- - - - - - - - - - ranking = 1keywords = physical (Clic here for more details about this article) |
9/35. The epidemiology of delirium in the community: the Eastern baltimore mental health Survey.The 1981 East baltimore mental health Survey, part of the Epidemiological Catchment Area (ECA) program, provided data for the examination of the prevalence of delirium in the general adult population. From an original 3,841 households surveyed, 810 individuals were selected for psychiatric evaluation and, of these, 6 individuals were diagnosed as suffering from delirium. The estimated prevalence of delirium in the population was .4% and 1.1% among those 55 years of age and over. A comparison of these cases with cases of diagnosed dementia and individuals of the same age range who did not receive a psychiatric diagnosis found that those with a diagnosis of delirium suffer from a greater number of medical conditions, take more prescribed medications, and have a higher level of physical disability.- - - - - - - - - - ranking = 1keywords = physical (Clic here for more details about this article) |
10/35. Post-traumatic stress disorder and severe head injury.Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is described following a road traffic accident in which the patient suffered a severe head injury. The stress reaction was associated with intrusive thoughts and avoidance of cognitive and physical events associated with consequences of the accident. The condition was successfully treated by behavioural intervention. It seems clear that PTSD can occur even where there is loss of consciousness and organic amnesia for the event and its immediate sequelae.- - - - - - - - - - ranking = 1keywords = physical (Clic here for more details about this article) |
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