Pain as a First Manifestation of Paraneoplastic Neuropathies: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.

INTRODUCTION: Paraneoplastic neurological syndromes (PNS) consist of a heterogeneous group of neurological disorders triggered by cancer. The aim of this systematic review is to estimate the reported prevalence of pain in patients with paraneoplastic peripheral neuropathy (PPN). METHODS: A systematic computer-based literature search was conducted on PubMed database. RESULTS: Our search strategy resulted in the identification of 126 articles. After the eligibility assessment, 45 papers met the inclusion criteria. Full clinical and neurophysiological data were further extracted and involved 92 patients with PPN (54.5% males, mean age 60.0 ± 12.2 years). The commonest first manifestation of PPN is sensory loss (67.4%), followed by pain (41.3%), weakness (22.8%), and sensory ataxia (20.7%). In 13.0% of the cases, pain was the sole first manifestation of the PPN. During the course of the PPN, 57.6% of the patients may experience pain secondary to the neuropathy. CONCLUSIONS: Pain is very prevalent within PPN. Pain specialists should be aware of this. Detailed history-taking, full clinical examination, and requesting nerve conduction studies might lead to an earlier diagnosis of an underlying malignancy

The effect of auditory-visual information and orthographic background in L2 acquisition

Visual information from the lips and face is an integral part of speech perception. In addition, orthography can play a role in disambiguating the speech signal in foreign/second language (L2) perception and production. The current study investigates the effect of auditory and visual speech information and orthographic depth, the degree to which a language is transparent (high phoneme-grapheme correspondence), or opaque (low phoneme-grapheme correspondence) on L2 acquisition. Speakers of Turkish and Australian English (transparent and opaque orthographies, respectively) were tested for their production of legal non-words in Spanish and Irish (transparent and opaque orthographies, respectively). Transparent orthographic input (Spanish) enhanced pronunciation in L2, and orthographic reproduction. Native speaker ratings of the participants’ productions also revealed that orthographic input improves accent. Overall results confirm previous findings that visual information enhances speech perception and production, and extend previous results to show the facilitative effects of orthographic input in L2 acquisition under certain conditions

The role of audiovisual speech and orthographic information in nonnative speech production

Visual information from the face is an integral part of speech perception. Additionally, orthography can play a role in disambiguating the speech signal in nonnative speech. This study investigates the effect of audiovisual speech information and orthography on nonnative speech. Particularly, orthographic depth is of interest. Turkish (transparent) and Australian English (opaque) speakers were tested for their production of nonwords in Spanish (transparent) and Irish (opaque). We found that transparent orthography enhanced pronunciation and orthographic responses. Results confirm previous findings that visual information enhances speech production and extend them to show the facilitative effects of orthography under certain conditions. Implications are discussed in relation to audiovisual speech perception and orthographic processing and practical considerations such as second language instruction

Auditory-visual speech perception in school and preschool children

The development of auditory-visual speech perception was investigated in pre-schoolchildren, school children and adults. Results show a link between auditory-visual speech perception and language-specific speech perception in school children. In addition it was found that speech reading ability in early childhood was predicted by cognitive abilities. Additionally, adults’ and preschool children’s level of visual speech influence was predictable from auditory-only native language perception.Results are discussed in relation to language-specific developmental challenges that might necessitate support information in the form of visual speech information

Auditory–visual speech perception in three- and four-year-olds and its relationship to perceptual attunement and receptive vocabulary

Despite the body of research on auditory–visual speech perception in infants and schoolchildren, development in the early childhood period remains relatively uncharted. In this study, English-speaking children between three and four years of age were investigated for: (i) the development of visual speech perception – lip-reading and visual influence in auditory–visual integration; (ii) the development of auditory speech perception and native language perceptual attunement; and (iii) the relationship between these and a language skill relevant at this age, receptive vocabulary. Visual speech perception skills improved even over this relatively short time period. However, regression analyses revealed that vocabulary was predicted by auditory-only speech perception, and native language attunement, but not by visual speech perception ability. The results suggest that, in contrast to infants and schoolchildren, in three- to four-year-olds the relationship between speech perception and language ability is based on auditory and not visual or auditory–visual speech perception ability. Adding these results to existing findings allows elaboration of a more complete account of the developmental course of auditory–visual speech perception

The relationship between auditory–visual speech perception and language-specific speech perception at the onset of reading instruction in English-speaking children

Speech perception is auditory–visual, but relatively little is known about auditory–visual compared with auditory-only speech perception. One avenue for further understanding is via developmental studies. In a recent study, Sekiyama and Burnham (2008) found that English speakers significantly increase their use of visual speech information between 6 and 8 years of age but that this development does not appear to be universal across languages. Here, the possible bases for this language-specific increase among English speakers were investigated. Four groups of English-language children (5, 6, 7, and 8 years) and a group of adults were tested on auditory–visual, auditory-only, and visual-only speech perception; language-specific speech perception with native and non-native speech sounds; articulation; and reading. Results showed that language-specific speech perception and lip-reading ability reliably predicted auditory–visual speech perception in children but that adult auditory–visual speech perception was predicted by auditory-only speech perception. The implications are discussed in terms of both auditory–visual speech perception and language development

The development of auditory-visual speech perception across languages and age

To understand the now well-established auditory-visual nature of speech perception, it is necessary to understand how it develops. We know that young infants perceive speech auditory-visually by the fact that they perceive the auditory-visual illusion known as the McGurk effect; that visual information use increases over age in English-language children; and that Japanese-language adults use less visual information than do their English-language counterparts. Here we complete the developmental scene and probe the processes involved. In Experiment, with 6-, 8-, and 11-year-old and adult Japanese- and English-language participants tested on a McGurk task, while 6-year-olds from both language groups were equivalently influenced by visual speech information, there was a significant jump in auditory-visual speech perception between 6 and 8 years in English- but not Japanese-language participants. To in-vestigate this further, in Experiment 2 we gave English-speaking 5-, 6-, 7- and 8-year-olds and adults a McGurk ef-fect task as well as a language-specific speech perception (LSPP) test with native- and non-native speech sounds, and reading and articulation tests. For children, but not adults, visual-only speech perception (lipreading) ability and LSSP predicted McGurk performance – children with good auditory-visual speech perception tended to be those who focussed more on native than non-native speech sounds. In Experiment 3, with 3- and 4-year-olds tested for McGurk effect, LSSP, receptive vocabulary, and cognitive skill, regression analyses showed that auditory-only speech percep-tion and cognitive skill, but not LSSP, predicted auditory-visual speech performance. Together the results show that there is an increase in auditory-visual speech perception between 6 and 8 years in English- but not Japanese-language children, and in English-language children this is related to language specific speech perception processes specifically around that age (5, 6, 7, 8 years) and not before (3, 4 years) or after (adults). It is suggested that LSSP is most vari-able and most predictive of visual influence in speech perception in the presence of significant linguistic challenges, such as those at the onset of reading instruction

CIRCUMCISION OPERATION WITHOUT USING BY-PASSING AGENTS IN PATIENT WITH HIGH RESPONDER INHIBITOR WHILE HE WAS IN WEEKLY EMICIZUMAB PROPHYLAXIS

WOS: 000509655000145[No abstract available

A case of sigmoid volvulus secondary to Hirschsprung's disease

We report a case of sigmoid volvulus accompanied by undiagnosed Hirschsprung's disease (HD). A 3-year-old boy who had had chronic constipation since birth was admitted because of progressive abdominal distention and obstipation. A plain abdominal film was compatible with megacolon and distal obstruction. Sigmoid volvulus secondary to HD was found at emergency laparotomy, and a colostomy was performed after detorsion. A Soave procedure performed 3 months later yielded complete loss of symptoms. Whenever an operation for sigmoid volvulus is performed in children, a frozen biopsy section of distal colon to exclude HD is recommended. © 1995 Springer-Verlag