Awake craniotomy with English and British sign language mapping in a patient with a left temporal glioblastoma reveals discordant speech-sign language maps.

The aim of this case study was to describe differences in English and British Sign Language (BSL) communication caused by a left temporal tumour resulting in discordant presentation of symptoms, intraoperative stimulation mapping during awake craniotomy and post-operative language abilities. We report the first case of a hearing child of deaf adults, who acquired BSL with English as a second language. The patient presented with English word finding difficulty, phonemic paraphasias, and reading and writing challenges, with BSL preserved. Intraoperatively, object naming and semantic fluency tasks were performed in English and BSL, revealing differential language maps for each modality. Post-operative assessment confirmed mild dysphasia for English with BSL preserved. These findings suggest that in hearing people who acquire a signed language as a first language, topographical organisation may differ to that of a second, spoken, language.

Preoperative morbidity and joint awareness while awaiting hip arthroscopy for femoroacetabular impingement.

PURPOSE: The Forgotten Joint Score (FJS-12) is a valid tool in the evaluation of patients undergoing hip arthroscopy, assessing the unique concept of joint awareness in the setting of a patient's hip pathology. The preoperative burden on patients' mental wellbeing of impaired joint function or symptoms is well established. The purpose of this study was to determine patients' awareness of their hip joint whilst awaiting hip arthroscopy for femoroacetabular impingement, to explore any association between joint awareness and mental health status, and to determine whether this relates to time spent waiting for arthroscopy preoperatively. METHODS: A prospective database of patients undergoing hip arthroscopy between January 2018 and November 2020 was analysed. All patients with a diagnosis of femoroacetabular impingement (FAI) undergoing arthroscopic treatment were included. Questionnaires included the FJS-12, twelve item international hip outcome tool (iHOT-12), EuroQol 5D-5L (EQ-5D-5L) and the Tegner activity score. Pearson's correlation coefficient was used to assess relationships between continuous variables. RESULTS: Preoperative functional outcomes were completed by 81 patients (97.5%) prior to undergoing hip arthroscopy. Median preoperative FJS-12 score was 16.67 (IQR 8.33 - 29.68). Forty-four patients reported any level of anxiety/depression preoperatively (54.3%). Preoperative FJS-12 showed a significant negative correlation with worsening mental health status (r = - 0.359, p <  0.001), and a significant positive correlation with EQ-5D-5L (r = 0.445, p <  0.001). The duration of symptoms or time on the waiting list did not correlate with increased joint awareness or worsened mental health. CONCLUSION: Joint awareness is high when awaiting hip arthroscopy for FAI. Increasing levels of joint awareness correlate with poorer mental health status and poorer quality of life measures, however these parameters do not seem to be associated with increased duration of symptoms prior to surgery or time on the waiting list for surgery.

Adaptive training and individual differences in perception.

Four types of training techniques were compared in the training of a perceptual concept-formation task. Adaptive training, a technique in which one parameter in the learning situation is varied so that the difficulty of a learning task remains constant for that individual, was compared to three intermediate approaches to training (self-adaptive, in which the trainees could control their own pace of learning by indicating when they felt they had mastered the problem, fixed sequence, and fixed task). The relationship between individual trainee's perceptual style and various stages of training was also investigated. Perceptual style was measured by the Hidden Figures Test, the Rod-and-frame Test, a Distracting Context Test, and a Cancellation Test. Results showed a definite (time to perform the task) advantage in favor of the adaptive training method. Fewer errors were committed under the self-adaptive approach, but the task completion time was significantly higher. Further analysis showed that for the adaptive-training group, measures of perceptual style could be used as predictors of future task success. No such relationship was found for other training techniques. In particular, field-independence appears to be important early in training but becomes increasingly less important, and for the final training criterion trials, is not predictive of performance. In contrast, the Distracting Contest Test-II, early in training, is not an important predictor but is an important predictor for the final criterion trials.