Motor neuron disease in blacks

A series of 86 black, Indian and white patients with motor neuron disease were analysed retrospectively. Although the material does not allow statistically valid conclusions, there are sufficient cases among blacks to allow two prima facie observations in this population group: (i) motor neuron disease has an earlier age of onset than in whites and Indians; and (ii) more patients come from peripheral and rural areas than would be expected in prevailing circumstances.S Af Med J 1989; 76: 155-15

Problems in the optimal management of myasthenia gravis patients - A prospective clinical survey at Kalafong hospital

Objectives. This study forms part of a clinical survey of problems in the optimal management of patients  with inherited  neuromuscular diseases seen at Kalafong Hospital in Pretoria. Our objectives  were to determine the problems associated with providing patients with optimal management until true remission (cure), and to apply the findings to ongoing improvement of optimal management. This is the first report of the series.Methods. Twenty-six patients were studied prospectively from 1986to1998. Early sternal-splitting  thymectomy on class II -V patients as well as anticholinesterases, corticosteroids, azathioprine, plasma exchange, intensive care and various combinations of these constituted part of the optimal management. An assessment of the total monthly income and distance from hospital was done for each patient.Results. Five of the 15 thymectomised patients (33.3%) were lost to follow-up after reaching remission.  Of the remaining 10 patients, 6 (40%) are in true remission and the remaining 4 (26.7%) are in  pharmacological remission. Four of the 11 patients (36%) treated non-surgically were lost to follow-up. Of the remaining patients, 1 (9.1 % ) is in true remission and the remaining 6 (54.5%) are in   pharmacological remission. The average monthly income of patients lost to follow-up in the   thymectomised group was lower than that of patients who continued follow-up, and their homes were   further away from hospital. In the non-surgical group the average monthly income of patients lost to  follow-up was higher than that of patients who continued follow-up and their homes were nearer to the  hospital.Conclusion. Early thymectomy (the aggressive approach) resulted in 40% cures, 26.7%  pharmacological remissions, no mortality, minimal morbidity, and early discharge. Loss to follow-up was one of the biggest problems in providing optimal management for these patients.We modified optimal management in response to our patients' concerns without sacrificing excellence, and found that poverty and poor access to tertiary hospitals were possible contributory factors to loss to follow-up. Suggestions are made with regard to tackling the problems. Myasthenia gravis (MG) is a disorder of neuromuscular function resulting from an immunologically based premature destruction of acetylcholine receptors

Nodal-paranodal antibodies in HIV-immune mediated radiculo-neuropathies: clinical phenotypes and relevance

Background: The frequency of nodal–paranodal antibodies in HIV-infected patients with chronic immune-mediated radiculo-neuropathies (IMRN) has not been previously described. Methods: HIV-infected patients who met the inclusion criteria for chronic IMRN were screened for immunoglobulin G (IgG) antibodies directed against nodal (neurofascin (NF)186) and paranodal (NF155, contactin-1 (CNTN1) and contactin-associated protein(Caspr1)) cell adhesion molecules, using a live, cell-based assay. To explore potential pathogenicity, binding of human IgG to myelinated co-cultures was assessed by incubation with patients' sera positive for nodal or paranodal antibodies. Normal human serum was added as a source of complement to assess for complement activation as a mechanism for myelin injury. Results: Twenty-four HIV-infected patients with IMRN were included in the study, 15 with chronic inflammatory demyelinating polyneuropathy (CIDP), 4 with ventral root radiculopathies (VRR), and 5 with dorsal root ganglionopathies (DRG). Five patients with CIDP had combined central and peripheral demyelination (CCPD). Three patients (12.7%) tested positive for neurofascin IgG1 antibodies in the following categories: 1 patient with VRR was NF186 positive, and 2 patients were NF155 positive with DRG and mixed sensory-motor demyelinating neuropathy with optic neuritis, respectively. Conclusion: The frequency of nodal–paranodal antibodies is similar among IMRN regardless of HIV status. Interpretation of the results in the context of HIV is challenging as there is uncertainty regarding pathogenicity of the antibodies, especially at low titres. Larger prospective immune studies are required to delineate pathogenicity in the context of HIV, and to establish a panel of antibodies to predict for a particular clinical phenotype

Beyond nutrition screening: A systems approach to nutrition intervention. Challenges and opportunities for dietetics professionals

Malnutrition in older Americans involves many disparate and complex causes. Dietetics professionals need to broaden their scope of practice in dealing with nutrition screening and intervention themselves and in providing expert consultation to others. Health and social services generalists such as physicians, nurses, and social workers must become more aware of the presence and risk of nutrition-related problems in the elderly and must adopt a systematic, collaborative approach to their solution. Nutrition screening, intervention, appropriate referral, and consultation must be built into daily practice. The NSI is a challenge and a call to action for all dietetics professionals. Registered dietitians must become active participants on interdisciplinary teams. They must assume a leadership role in areas of nutrition screening, assessment, and intervention. Their knowledge, skills, and expertise must continue to keep pace not only with advances in the science and technology of nutrition but also with relevant areas of related fields. The tools provided by the NSI and partnerships between nutrition and other health and social services professionals provide opportunity for the widespread incorporation of a systematic approach to delivery of nutrition services. Attention to nutritional health is too important to be left solely to health specialists or to generalists; all must become active participants in maximizing the nutritional health of older Americans. © 1993 The American Dietetic Association

pymc-devs/pymc: v5.8.2

What's Changed Bugfixes Fix bug in compute_log_likelihood when variable has dims without coords by @jaharvey8 in https://github.com/pymc-devs/pymc/pull/6882 Full Changelog: https://github.com/pymc-devs/pymc/compare/v5.8.1...v5.8.

pymc-devs/pymc: v5.9.2

<p><!-- Release notes generated using configuration in .github/release.yml at main --></p> <h2>What's Changed</h2> <h3>New Features </h3> <ul> <li>Recognize alternative form of sigmoid in logprob inference by @ricardoV94 in https://github.com/pymc-devs/pymc/pull/6978</li> <li>Allow IntervalTransform to handle dynamic infinite bounds by @ricardoV94 in https://github.com/pymc-devs/pymc/pull/7001</li> </ul> <h3>Bugfixes </h3> <ul> <li>Fix compute_test_value error when creating observed variables by @vandalt in https://github.com/pymc-devs/pymc/pull/6982</li> <li>Fix memory leak in logp of transformed variables by @ricardoV94 in https://github.com/pymc-devs/pymc/pull/6991</li> </ul> <h3>Documentation </h3> <ul> <li>fix typo in notebook about Distribution Dimensionality by @nicrie in https://github.com/pymc-devs/pymc/pull/7005</li> </ul> <h3>Maintenance </h3> <ul> <li>Add more missing functions to math module by @ricardoV94 in https://github.com/pymc-devs/pymc/pull/6979</li> </ul> <h2>New Contributors</h2> <ul> <li>@vandalt made their first contribution in https://github.com/pymc-devs/pymc/pull/6982</li> <li>@nicrie made their first contribution in https://github.com/pymc-devs/pymc/pull/7005</li> </ul> <p><strong>Full Changelog</strong>: https://github.com/pymc-devs/pymc/compare/v5.9.1...v5.9.2</p&gt

pymc-devs/pymc: v5.9.1

<p><!-- Release notes generated using configuration in .github/release.yml at main --></p> <h2>What's Changed</h2> <h3>New Features </h3> <ul> <li>Allow batched parameters in MvNormal and MvStudentT distributions by @ricardoV94 in https://github.com/pymc-devs/pymc/pull/6897</li> <li>Logprob derivation of Max for Discrete IID distributions by @Dhruvanshu-Joshi in https://github.com/pymc-devs/pymc/pull/6790</li> <li>Support logp derivation of <code>power(base, rv)</code> by @LukeLB in https://github.com/pymc-devs/pymc/pull/6962</li> </ul> <h3>Bugfixes </h3> <ul> <li>Make <code>Model.str_repr</code> robust to variables without monkey-patch by @ricardoV94 in https://github.com/pymc-devs/pymc/pull/6942</li> <li>Fix bug in GP Periodic and WrappedPeriodic kernel full method by @lucianopaz in https://github.com/pymc-devs/pymc/pull/6952</li> <li>Fix rejection-based truncation of scalar variables by @ricardoV94 in https://github.com/pymc-devs/pymc/pull/6923</li> </ul> <h3>Documentation </h3> <ul> <li>Add expression for NegativeBinomial variance by @ricardoV94 in https://github.com/pymc-devs/pymc/pull/6957</li> </ul> <h3>Maintenance </h3> <ul> <li>Add constant and observed data to nutpie idata by @Y0dler in https://github.com/pymc-devs/pymc/pull/6943</li> <li>Improve multinomial moment by @aerubanov in https://github.com/pymc-devs/pymc/pull/6933</li> <li>Fix HurdleLogNormal Docstring by @amcadie in https://github.com/pymc-devs/pymc/pull/6958</li> <li>Use numpy testing utilities instead of custom close_to* by @erik-werner in https://github.com/pymc-devs/pymc/pull/6961</li> <li>Include more PyTensor functions in math module by @jaharvey8 in https://github.com/pymc-devs/pymc/pull/6956</li> <li>Improve blackjax sampling integration by @junpenglao in https://github.com/pymc-devs/pymc/pull/6963</li> </ul> <h2>New Contributors</h2> <ul> <li>@Y0dler made their first contribution in https://github.com/pymc-devs/pymc/pull/6943</li> <li>@amcadie made their first contribution in https://github.com/pymc-devs/pymc/pull/6958</li> <li>@erik-werner made their first contribution in https://github.com/pymc-devs/pymc/pull/6961</li> </ul> <p><strong>Full Changelog</strong>: https://github.com/pymc-devs/pymc/compare/v5.9.0...v5.9.1</p&gt

pymc-devs/pymc: v5.8.1

What's Changed New Features Logprob derivation for Min of continuous IID variables by @Dhruvanshu-Joshi in https://github.com/pymc-devs/pymc/pull/6846 Derive logprob for exp2, log2, log10, log1p, expm1, log1mexp, log1pexp (softplus), and sigmoid transformations by @LukeLB in https://github.com/pymc-devs/pymc/pull/6826 ### Bugfixes Fix wrong ZeroSumNormal logp expression by @lucianopaz in https://github.com/pymc-devs/pymc/pull/6872 Fix bug in univariate Ordered and SumTo1 transform logp by @ricardoV94 in https://github.com/pymc-devs/pymc/pull/6903 ### Documentation Link to updated PyMC port of DBDA in README by @cluhmann in https://github.com/pymc-devs/pymc/pull/6890 ### Maintenance Reject logp derivation of binary operations with broadcasted measurable input by @shreyas3156 in https://github.com/pymc-devs/pymc/pull/6893 Cast ZeroSumNormal shape operations to config.floatX by @thomasjpfan in https://github.com/pymc-devs/pymc/pull/6889 Bump docker/build-push-action from 4.1.1 to 4.2.1 by @dependabot in https://github.com/pymc-devs/pymc/pull/6900 Bump pytensor by @ricardoV94 in https://github.com/pymc-devs/pymc/pull/6910 Full Changelog: https://github.com/pymc-devs/pymc/compare/v5.8.0...v5.8.