Results of catamnestic studies on the social prognosis of childhood epilepsies

Owing to the progress in pharmakotherapy the individual prognosis of epilepsy is characterized above all by brainorganic or psychoreactive caused disorders of the adaptability. The results of the examination of 153 children are presented, which were stationary treated for epilepsy. The special problems in the family, the school and in the choice of a job are referred.     

Value of various social and biological risk factors in child development

The medical reports of 400 children stationarilly treated for several symptoms and syndromes of abnormal behavior were evaluated. Especially important social factors are the in complete family and disorders of the parent-child-relations as well as the insufficient over-coming of educational problems. Children with results from infantile brain damage are especially endangered by a failure of compensation.     

Computerized tomography findings in malignant progressive Duchenne muscular dystrophy

A correct diagnosis of progressive muscle dystrophy type Duchenne is important for consultation of the family of patients. The muscles of neck, shoulder, back, pelvis and legs of 23 patients were examined by computed tomography. The density of selected muscles were measured and compared with that of normal probands. Typical changes in the density-pattern were found. It is show, that the measurement of the density-pattern of muscles in pelvis and legs is sufficient for a sure diagnosis of progressive muscle dystrophy Duchenne.     

Results of nuclear medical, electroencephalographic, and angiographic examinations after brain tumor operations]

The methods of nuclear medicine and electro-encephalography allow, in combination, in almost every case the answer to the question of the cerebral tumour relapse. Our evaluation confirms the discovery of the greater sensitivity of the isotopic methods with relapses of glioblastomas, while relapses of meningiomas, astrocytomas, oligodendrogliomas and spongioblastomas can be recognized more frequently only by electro-encephalographic methods. The value of angiography is limited in cases of cerebral tumour relapses without pathological vascularisation, since the swelling can spread in the resection cavity without retroaction on the surrounding areas. For this reason vascular displacement (an only be observed very late on. Clinical judgement is furthermore complicated by the fact that after the removal of the primary tumour, often no reposition of the arteries ensues. After our exainations, a negative angiographic condition can be rule out a diagnosis of a relapse which has been established by electro-encephaolographic and isotopic methods.     

Modified recording procedure for the determination of I/t-curves with arterial pulse recording and acoustic signal generation

I/t-curves were derived by means of a piezo-electric transducer. To receive the minimum responses more than just optically, an amplifier, which was coupled to a transducer, generated an acoustic signal. This modified technique serves to objectivity of the minimum response, which is important in the recording of the I/t-curves. As has been shown in a great number of tests, this procedure has proved to be useful in practice.     

Representations of dread: the dreaded self and the dreaded state of the self

The experience of dread, an extreme form of fear that is induced by terror and horror, is seen as manifested in the shapes of a "dreaded self" and a "dreaded state of the self." These representations reflect psychic dangers ranging from a common, feared identification to states of disconnection, desolation, ego dissolution, and nonexistence. It is suggested that life crises and traumatic impingements, informed by developmental and psychic realities, are critical determinants of multiple dreaded self-representations; that disavowal often serves to massively ward off the recognition of the awful; and that these representations serve a preconscious signal function that anticipates the danger of reexperiencing an original terror. Case examples illustrate these points and reflect the utility of the language of dreaded representations in the treatment situation.     

The F-wave in healthy subjects - origin, derivation, standardization

The determination of the maximum F-wave conduction speed by means of the photographic superposition technique is a method that can be carried out in a technically simple manner and can give an insight into the peripheral motor neuron up to the anterior horn cell. The values can be determined in a more exact manner than the respective motor conduction speeds. Similar to the motor conduction speed, influencing factors are to be taken into consideration such as the temperature and the age of patients under ten years. The normal values for the N. ulnaris, radialis, fibularis and tibialis are submitted.     

A Comparison of ML,WLSMV, and Bayesian Methods for Multilevel Structural Equation Models in Small Samples: A Simulation Study

Multilevel structural equation models are increasingly applied in psychological research. With increasing model complexity, estimation becomes computationally demanding, and small sample sizes pose further challenges on estimation methods relying on asymptotic theory. Recent developments of Bayesian estimation techniques may help to overcome the shortcomings of classical estimation techniques. The use of potentially inaccurate prior information may, however, have detrimental effects, especially in small samples. The present Monte Carlo simulation study compares the statistical performance of classical estimation techniques with Bayesian estimation using different prior specifications for a two-level SEM with either continuous or ordinal indicators. Using two software programs (Mplus and Stan), differential effects of between- and within-level sample sizes on estimation accuracy were investigated. Moreover, it was tested to which extent inaccurate priors may have detrimental effects on parameter estimates in categorical indicator models. For continuous indicators, Bayesian estimation did not show performance advantages over ML. For categorical indicators, Bayesian estimation outperformed WLSMV solely in case of strongly informative accurate priors. Weakly informative inaccurate priors did not deteriorate performance of the Bayesian approach, while strong informative inaccurate priors led to severely biased estimates even with large sample sizes. With diffuse priors, Stan yielded better results than Mplus in terms of parameter estimates.