Cognitive and linguistic abnormalities in benign childhood epilepsy with centrotemporal spikes

Aim: To assess the cognitive function and language ability in children with benign partial epilepsy with centrotemporal spikes. Methods: Twenty-five patients with benign partial epilepsy with centrotemporal spikes were included. They were divided into two subgroups. Group I: 10 patients with rolandic focus who were not treated. Group II: 15 patients with rolandic focus receiving treatment. A third Group of 12 healthy subjects have been studied. All children underwent standardized neuropsychological testing: electroencephalogram recording, Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children-revised, Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test-III (PPVT-III) and Boston Naming Test (BNT), both during active disease (T1) and 2 years after recovery from epilepsy (T2). Results: At T1 evaluation, no significant differences in group I and II patients about general intelligence, when compared with controls, were found. Group I and II patients were impaired with respect to controls in the receptive and expressive vocabulary evaluated with PCVT-III and BNT, respectively. At T2 evaluation, group I and II patients showed a normalization of the language abnormalities. Conclusion: Deficits of speech-related abilities can be detected in children with this type of epilepsy: these dysfunctions seem to be independent of the effects of antiepileptic treatment and are reversible after remission of epilepsy

Preliminary survey on the co-occurrence of DON and T2+HT2 toxins in durum wheat in Italy

This study was carried out to determine the co-occurrence of deoxynivalenol (DON) and the sum of T2 and HT2 toxins in durum wheat samples belonging to eight cultivars grown in a national network experimental trials over a three-year period (2011–2013). The effect of several factors (cultivar, year and cultivation area) affecting the occurrence of the two types of mycotoxins and their relationship with several agronomic and grain quality parameters were assayed by statistical analysis (GLZ). The results highlighted the different trend of incidence and contamination rate of the two types of mycotoxins in relation to the cropping year and to the growing examined areas. Year and its interaction with the cultivation area was the most important factor affecting the DON contamination, whereas genotype and its interaction with the year mainly influenced T2+HT2 toxins contamination rate. DON and T2+HT2 contamination levels were not significantly correlated with each other. The evidence that the two types of mycotoxins were differently related with several agronomic and grain quality parameters could be connected to the effects of the respective fungal disease on wheat plant

JPN Guidelines for the management of acute pancreatitis:surgical management

Acute pancreatitis represents a spectrum of disease ranging from a mild, self-limited course to a rapidly progressive, severe illness. The mortality rate of severe acute pancreatitis exceeds 20%, and some patients diagnosed as mild to moderate acute pancreatitis at the onset of the disease may progress to a severe, life-threatening illness within 2–3 days. The Japanese (JPN) guidelines were designed to provide recommendations regarding the management of acute pancreatitis in patients having a diversity of clinical characteristics. This article sets forth the JPN guidelines for the surgical management of acute pancreatitis, excluding gallstone pancreatitis, by incorporating the latest evidence for the surgical management of severe pancreatitis in the Japanese-language version of the evidence-based Guidelines for the Management of Acute Pancreatitis published in 2003. Ten guidelines are proposed: (1) computed tomography-guided or ultrasound-guided fine-needle aspiration for bacteriology should be performed in patients suspected of having infected pancreatic necrosis; (2) infected pancreatic necrosis accompanied by signs of sepsis is an indication for surgical intervention; (3) patients with sterile pancreatic necrosis should be managed conservatively, and surgical intervention should be performed only in selected cases, such as those with persistent organ complications or severe clinical deterioration despite maximum intensive care; (4) early surgical intervention is not recommended for necrotizing pancreatitis; (5) necrosectomy is recommended as the surgical procedure for infected pancreatic necrosis; (6) simple drainage should be avoided after necrosectomy, and either continuous closed lavage or open drainage should be performed; (7) surgical or percutaneous drainage should be performed for pancreatic abscess; (8) pancreatic abscesses for which clinical findings are not improved by percutaneous drainage should be subjected to surgical drainage immediately; (9) pancreatic pseudocysts that produce symptoms and complications or the diameter of which increases should be drained percutaneously or endoscopically; and (10) pancreatic pseudocysts that do not tend to improve in response to percutaneous drainage or endoscopic drainage should be managed surgically

Radionuclide Imaging of Viable Myocardium: Is it Underutilized?

Coronary artery disease is the major cause of heart failure in North America. Viability assessment is important as it aims to identify patients who stand to benefit from coronary revascularization. Radionuclide modalities currently used in the assessment of viability include 201Tl SPECT, 99mTc-based SPECT imaging, and 18F-fluorodexoyglucose (18F-FDG)-PET imaging. Different advances have been made in the last year to improve the sensitivity and specificity of these modalities. In addition, the optimum amount of viable (yet dysfunctional) myocardium is important to identify in patients, as a risk–benefit ratio must be considered. Patients with predominantly viable/hibernating myocardium can benefit from revascularization from a mortality and morbidity standpoint. However, in patients with minimal viability (predominantly scarred myocardium), revascularization risk may certainly be too high to justify revascularization without expected benefit. Understanding different radionuclide modalities and new developments in the assessment of viability in ischemic heart failure patients is the focus of this discussion

Erratum to: 36th International Symposium on Intensive Care and Emergency Medicine

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.1186/s13054-016-1208-6.]