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.     

The role of sensory-motor modality compatibility in language processing

Language processing requires the combination of compatible (auditory-vocal and visual-manual) or incompatible (auditory-manual and visual-vocal) sensory-motor modalities, and switching between these sensory-motor modality combinations is very common in every-day life. Sensory-motor modality compatibility is defined as the similarity of stimulus modality and the modality of response-related sensory consequences. We investigated the influence of sensory-motor modality compatibility during performing language-related cognitive operations on different linguistic levels. More specifically, we used a variant of the task-switching paradigm, in which participants had to switch between compatible or between incompatible sensory-motor modality combinations during a verbal semantic categorization (Experiment 1) or during a word-form decision (Experiment 2). The data show higher switch costs (i.e., higher reaction times and error rates in switch trials compared to repetition trials) in incompatible sensory-motor modality combinations than in compatible sensory-motor modality combinations. This was true for every language-related cognitive operation, regardless of the individual linguistic level. Taken together, the present study demonstrates that sensory-motor modality compatibility plays an important role in modality switching during language processing.     

Visual statistical learning produces implicit and explicit knowledge about temporal order information and scene chunks: Evidence from direct and indirect measures

We examined whether visual statistical learning (VSL) produced implicit and/or explicit knowledge about temporal order information and scene chunks, using a rapid serial visual presentation target detection task and a two-alternative forced-choice (2AFC) familiarity test as indirect and direct measures of VSL, respectively. In the familiarization phase, participants viewed a visual stream of natural scenes consisting of four triplets (i.e., three images that always appeared in the same order). In the subsequent target detection task, participants were required to detect target items embedded in a stream of 12 images or 12 words representing each natural scene. In the final 2AFC familiarity test, participants observed two test sequences (statistically related triplets vs. unrelated foils) and decided whether the first or second sequence was more familiar based on the familiarization phase. In both test phases, we included the same (forward) and reverse (backward) order of scenes as presented during the familiarization phase to examine whether the expression of VSL was based on temporal order of scenes or scene chunks. The results of the target detection task showed a learning effect for both temporal order in the forward condition and chunks in the backward condition, irrespective of whether stimuli were images or words; in contrast, we did not observe a learning effect in the backward condition for scene images in the familiarity test. Our findings are compatible with a learning mechanism that has both implicit and explicit components based on temporal order information and scene chunks.