Familial Handedness and Access to Words, Meaning, and Syntax during Sentence Comprehension

We compared right-handed familial dextral (FS-) and familial sinistral (FS+) participants who were aged either 10-13 years (children) or 18-23 years (adults). In word probe and associative probe tasks, FS+ adults responded faster than all other groups and FS+ children responded more slowly than all other groups. In the word probe task, only the FS- adults showed a significant effect of the serial position of the target word. We interpret these differences to support an analysis-by-synthesis model of comprehension in which individuals who differ in familial handedness and age emphasize different linguistic representations during comprehension. In general, FS+ individuals focus on words and meaning, while FS- individuals focus on syntactic representations. In FS+ individuals, age-related experiences with language produce a shift in responding from compositional meaning to words and their associations. In FS- individuals, age-related experiences with language produce a shift toward responding based more on detailed syntactic representations, including the serial order of words and possibly the structural roles of clauses.     

年龄相关性黄斑变性治疗的比较分析

从治疗原理、费用、疗效、不良反应等方面对年龄相关性黄斑变性的不同治疗方法进行比较和分析,为患者进行治疗上的选择提供帮助,同时指导和规范该类疾病治疗的临床决策,以期能在目前条件下不仅提高病人的治疗效果和生活质量同时又达到降低医疗费用的目的。     

Leaving London: Three Autoethnographic Sketches

In this essay, I use autoethnographic sketching (Rambo, 2007 Rambo, C. (2007). Sketching as autoethnographic practice. Symbolic Interaction, 30(4), 531–542. doi:10.1525/si.2007.30.4.531[Crossref], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]) to explore the experience of arriving at and withdrawing from the London School of Economics and its impact on my life and work. I especially draw on the importance of close relationships with family, which helped me cope with and overcome limitations associated with my physical disability, cerebral palsy, as I work toward personal and professional fulfillment. It is my hope that these words will motivate others to better cope with and overcome challenges in pursuit of their goals.     

Longitudinal study of quality of life in acquired brain injury: A self- and proxy-report evaluation

Background/ObjectiveAfter an acquired brain injury (ABI), the person remains with several impairments and disabilities that cause a decrease in his/her quality of life (QoL), which could change over time. The objective of the study was to analyse the evolution patterns of QoL in a sample of persons with ABI for one-year as well as the differences in proxy- and self-report versions of a QoL instrument. Method: The sample comprised 402 persons with ABI with ages ranging between 18 and 91 years, whom 36.20% had had the accident recently (i.e., three years or less). Patients, professionals and relatives responded at three evaluation points to the CAVIDACE scale, an ABI-specific QoL tool. Results: ANOVAs showed an improvement in QoL in the two follow-ups; the improvement was especially significant in the period between baseline and six months. The respondent factor did not interact with the evaluation time, but significant differences were found between respondents, with scores of patients higher than that for proxies. Finally, the QoL’s evolution interacts with the time elapsed since injury, showing significant improvements in the most recent group (i.e., three years or less). Conclusions: QoL must be considered from the earliest moments after ABI to obtain more significant improvements.     

Menstrual cycle-related changes of functional cerebral asymmetries in fine motor coordination

Fluctuating sex hormone levels during the menstrual cycle have been shown to affect functional cerebral asymmetries in cognitive domains. These effects seem to result from the neuromodulatory properties of sex hormones and their metabolites on interhemispheric processing. The present study was carried out to investigate whether functional cerebral asymmetries in fine motor coordination as reflected by manual asymmetries are also susceptible to natural sex hormonal variations during the menstrual cycle. Sixteen right-handed women with a regular menstrual cycle performed a finger tapping paradigm consisting of two conditions (simple, sequential) during the low hormone menstrual phase and the high estrogen and progesterone luteal phase. To validate the luteal phase, saliva levels of free progesterone (P) were analysed using chemiluminescence assays. As expected, normally cycling women showed a substantial decrease in manual asymmetries in a more demanding sequential tapping condition involving four fingers compared with simple (repetitive) finger tapping. This reduction in the degree of dominant (right) hand manual asymmetries was evident during the luteal phase. During the menstrual phase, however, manual asymmetries were even reversed in direction, indicating a slight advantage in favour of the non-dominant (left) hand. These findings suggest that functional cerebral asymmetries in fine motor coordination are affected by sex hormonal changes during the menstrual cycle, probably via hormonal modulations of interhemispheric interaction.     

阻塞性睡眠呼吸暂停低通气综合征与脑卒中

阻塞性睡眠呼吸暂停低通气综合征(obstructive sleep apnea hypopnea syndrome,OSAHS)作为一种脑卒中独立的危险因素已经广泛受到重视,是脑卒中、冠心病、高血压、充血性心力衰竭等心脑血管疾病的一个主要发病因素.OSAHS引起的频繁血氧饱和度下降和夜间睡眠结构紊乱对心脑血管系统产生严重的危害.本综述主要讨论OSAHS对脑卒中患者的影响和对此类患者的治疗.了解OSAHS和脑卒中之间的联系对于脑卒中的一、二级预防具有重要的意义.     

高血压中等量脑出血微创抽吸与内科治疗的对比研究

对比研究微创穿刺血肿吸除与内科保守治疗中等量高血压脑出血患者的临床效果.对82例高血压中等量脑出血患者行回顾性分析,随机分为研究组(微创穿刺吸除)和对照组(内科保守),对比两组患者的临床疗效、并发症及死亡情况.研究组临床有效率(92.68％)明显优于对照组(70.73％)(P＜0.05);研究组在并发症发生率(7.32％)与病死率(2.43％)方面显著低于对照组(29.27％,14.53％) (P＜0.05).微创穿刺血肿吸除治疗高血压中等量脑出血可提高疗效、降低并发症发生率及病死率.     

外伤性脑梗死的病因分析与防治策略

外伤性脑梗死是颅脑外伤患者比较常见且严重的一种并发症.其病因主要是脑血管壁损伤、血管受机械牵拉挤压、脑血管痉挛及低灌注、氧自由基及其他血管活性物质的改变.随着影像技术的发展进步,外伤性脑梗死的早期诊断已基本能做到,了解其主要发病机制以后,针对性地给予扩容,保证脑灌注压.通过提早预防、早期手术和内科药物、物理治疗方法,改善预后.     

Author Index

The association between family functioning and adolescent adjustment was examined in 429 Chinese adolescents via children's and parents' reports. The ratings obtained from the different sources indicated that family functioning was significantly related to measures of (a) adolescent psychological well-being (general psychiatric morbidity, life satisfaction, purpose in life, hopelessness, and self-esteem), (b) school adjustment (perceived academic performance and school conduct), and (c) problem behavior (smoking and abusing psychotropic drugs). The findings suggest that there is an intimate link between family functioning and the psychosocial adjustment, particularly the positive mental health, of Chinese adolescents.