Pediatric SUNCT Syndrome.

This report describes a 5-year-old male with sudden unilateral headache attacks (2-50 seconds) accompanied by conjunctival injection, lacrimation, and nasal congestion. The episodes occurred without a precipitating factor, never during sleep. Brain imaging was normal. The attacks resolved spontaneously within 5 months. This headache syndrome (short-lasting unilateral neuralgiform headache attacks with conjunctival injection and tearing) was previously described in two other children aged 10 and 11.Case ReportsJournal Articleinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishe

Generalized interpolators for advanced movement-compensated 50 Hz-60 Hz conversion of interlaced sequences

Several television standards exist for TV and for HDTV signals. The worldwide interchange of programs makes the conversion between them of critical importance. Conventional transcoders use a static interpolation filter which is not able to deal with incorrectly bandlimited television signals. Motion compensation has been introduced in order to adapt interpolation to the signal. This approach proposes movement-oriented filtering and has been shown to give significant improvement. However, the known algorithms do not offer a perfect reconstruction step when the desired pixels have to be interpolated. A new system is proposed for the conversion between the popular interlaced TV standards (625 lines, 50 fields/s or 525 lines, 60 fields/s). The key feature is the use of generalized interpolators that are based on nonuniform sampling theory. The performance is compared with alternative interpolation techniques. In addition, the attached motion estimation algorithm relies on segmentation in the target field (i.e. the unknown 60 Hz field) to avoid assignment problems.Anglai

Intrathecal synthesis of anti-mycobacterial antibodies in patients with tuberculous meningitis. An immunoblotting study.

Cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) and serum samples from eight patients with bacteriologically proven (6) or clinically suspected (2) tuberculous meningitis were tested for the presence of anti-mycobacterial IgG antibodies by an affinity-mediated immunoblot technique. This technique is based on agarose gel isoelectric focusing of paired CSF and serum samples diluted to the same IgG concentration, and transfer of the specific IgG antibodies onto mycobacterial antigen-loaded nitrocellulose sheets. An intrathecal synthesis of anti-mycobacterial oligoclonal IgG antibodies, often superimposed on diffuse polyclonal production was shown in all patients but not in patients with tension headache or other neurological disorders. Similar results were obtained when a purified mycobacterial antigen, A60, was used for coating the nitrocellulose sheets in place of a whole mycobacterial homogenate, indicating that A60 was a major immunogen. The number of anti-mycobacterial oligoclonal IgG bands increased with time, and persisted for years even in clinically cured patients. Some IgG bands had no detectable anti-mycobacterial activity, at least with the antigens preparations used in this study. The demonstration of such anti-mycobacterial IgG bands in the CSF could be a useful adjunct for the diagnosis of tuberculous meningitis, especially in the case of negative cultures

[Intracranial Plasmacytoma Symptomatic of Multiple-myeloma - Case-report]

Neurological complications of myeloma are multiple and various. Cranial and intracranial locations have been rarely reported. They can be classified into three clinical groups : (1) cranial nerve palsies se to single or multiple lesions in the base of the skull, (2) intraorbital tumors, (3) intracranial tumors, either cranial myeloma extending intracranially or pure intracranial tumor (dural and/or cerebral). In our case, macroscopic and microscopic examination of the brain showed dural and cerebral involvement, confirmed by immunohistochemical studies. The radiological features are discussed (CT scan, MRI, angiography) To our knowledge, a single report of intracranial plasmacytoma documented by MRI has been reported in the literature

Learning curve of medialization thyroplasty using a Montgomery™ implant

Type I thyroplasty--also called medialization thyroplasty (MT)--is considered as an effective treatment for glottic incompetence in general and for abductor vocal fold palsy in particular. In the past there have been some concerns about the experience a laryngeal framework surgeon should have in order achieve an acceptable voice outcome. To assess the learning curve of MT performed using the Montgomery(®) hard silicone implant. A retrospective study involving 36 patients divided into three consecutive groups (1, 2, 3) of 12 MT patients or six consecutive groups (1a, 1b, 2a, 2b, 3a, 3b) of six MT patients. OUTCOME MEASURES: acoustic and aerodynamic outcome improvements (δ) compared to the duration of intervention [operative times (OT)]. Data were analysed by Anova, Kuskal Wallis and χ (2) statistical tests, according to data distributions. OT decreased significantly between groups 1, 2 and 3 with a mean OT of 90.5', 71.5' and 56' (p < 0.001), respectively. Objective δ such as maximum phonation time (MPT) (p 0.376), Estimated Sub-Glottic Pressure (ESPG) (p: 0.675) Shimmer (p: 0.543) and Jitter (p: 0.709) did not show significant improvement. Only the voice handicap index (VHI) δ of group 2 showed significant improvement (p 0.005) compared with the two other groups 1 and 3. Surgeon experience decreases the OT significantly. On the other hand, our study did not show a correlation between surgeon experience and voice outcome measures improvemnts (MPT, ESGP, Shimmer, Jitter)