Initial study on quantitative electroencephalographic analysis of bioelectrical activity of the brain of children with fetal alcohol spectrum disorders (FASD) without epilepsy.

Fetal alcohol spectrum disorders (FASD) are spectrum of neurodevelopmental conditions associated with prenatal alcohol exposure. The FASD manifests mostly with facial dysmorphism, prenatal and postnatal growth retardation, and selected birth defects (including central nervous system defects). Unrecognized and untreated FASD leads to severe disability in adulthood. The diagnosis of FASD is based on clinical criteria and neither biomarkers nor imaging tests can be used in order to confirm the diagnosis. The quantitative electroencephalography (QEEG) is a type of EEG analysis, which involves the use of mathematical algorithms, and which has brought new possibilities of EEG signal evaluation, among the other things-the analysis of a specific frequency band. The main objective of this study was to identify characteristic patterns in QEEG among individuals affected with FASD. This study was of a pilot prospective study character with experimental group consisting of patients with newly diagnosed FASD and of the control group consisting of children with gastroenterological issues. The EEG recordings of both groups were obtained, than analyzed using a commercial QEEG module. As a results we were able to establish the dominance of the alpha rhythm over the beta rhythm in FASD-participants compared to those from the control group, mostly in frontal and temporal regions. Second important finding is an increased theta/beta ratio among patients with FASD. These findings are consistent with the current knowledge on the pathological processes resulting from the prenatal alcohol exposure. The obtained results and conclusions were promising, however, further research is necessary (and planned) in order to validate the use of QEEG tools in FASD diagnostics.

Assessment of explicit and implicit linguistic impairments in patients with aphasia after resection of tumour of the left cerebral hemisphere. Preliminary results.

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: Classical definitions of aphasia des-cribe deficits of different language levels (syntactic, semantic, phonologic) hindering the ability to communicate. Recent studies indicate, however, that impairment of particular aspects of linguistic competencies in aphasia differs in severity. Contemporary approach to the aphasic symptoms presents them as disturbed access of linguistic representations to the awareness system. Accordingly, such an approach requires different types of tasks: direct, involving explicit language processes, and indirect, based on implicit language representations. The aim of our study was to examine explicit and implicit language processes in patients with aphasia after resection of the tumour of left cerebral hemisphere along with characterization of relationships between explicit and implicit language processes. MATERIAL AND METHODS: Our cohort included 28 right-handed patients who were divided into four equal groups: two clinical (brain tumours) and two control (lumbar disc disease). Four tasks that assess and compare language processes: lexical decisions (at explicit and implicit levels), sorting of picture captions and word monitoring were implemented. RESULTS: In direct tasks, patients with aphasia provided less correct lexical decisions at word level, but did not show deficits in sentence comprehension. In both groups, no priming effect was observed in tasks requiring implicit lexical decisions. The longest time was found in non-primed words, the shortest in pseudowords. The differences between groups regarding word monitoring were also observed. Patients with aphasia obtained longer reaction times in all types of sentences (of different grade of language correctness), with respect to low- and high- frequency words. CONCLUSIONS: Patients with aphasia after brain tumour resection show more pronounced impairments of explicit than implicit linguistic behavior; the same effect was found in studies on forgetting in amnestic syndrome.

Correlation of clinical findings and results of percutaneous balloon compression for patients with trigeminal neuralgia.

OBJECTIVE: To investigate pain relief and recurrence after percutaneous balloon compression (PBC) and its association with type of pain, prior surgery, or other clinical factors. METHODS: Fifty-nine patients with medically refractory trigeminal pain were enrolled into this study. Patients were divided into those with typical trigeminal neuralgia (TN), and those with other types of trigeminal pain or "atypical pain." The post-surgical rate of recurrence was estimated by the Kaplan-Meier method. Cox-proportional hazards models were used to investigate associations between patient characteristics and recurrence of pain. RESULTS: Forty-two patients had TN, 17 patients had atypical pain. At last follow-up, 40 patients had excellent, 9 good, 7 fair and 3 poor pain relief. Recurrence was observed in 35 patients, and was associated with pain type (relative risk (RR)=2.38, 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.22-4.63, P=0.011) and pain duration before PBC (RR=1.33, 95% CI: 1.02-1.72, P=0.033). Other clinical factors were not significant. Two patients had transient paresis of the sixth cranial nerve, however, there were no permanent post-surgical complications. CONCLUSIONS: Our study demonstrates the safety and efficacy of PBC with 83% of patients being pain free at last follow-up. Patients with atypical pain and longer pre-surgical symptom duration appear to have a higher risk of recurrence. Repeat surgery is just as effective as initial surgery, justification for being conservative in parameter selection at the initial procedure to minimize complications.