Visuospatial deficits in children 3 - 7 years old with shunted hydrocephalus

Objective. To define non-verbal intelligence deficits in children 3- 7 years of age following shunted hydrocephalus (HCP).Design. Prospective randomised single-blinded study. Thirty shunted HCP (study) and 30 cardiac (control) patients between the ages of 3 and 7 years were compared on eight non-verbal subtests of the Junior South African Individual Scales (JSAIS).Setting. Department of Neurosurgery at Wentworth Hospital, Durban, South Africa.Results. Significant differences between the HCP and cardiac groups were recorded on all eight subtests of the JSAIS. The HCP group experienced problems with spatial orientation, perceptual planning and organisation, emotive deficits, abstract thinking and visual concepts.Conclusion. All patients with shunted HCP had specific deficiencies in defined cognitive areas of non-verbal intelligence when compared with the controls. Futher studies are warranted to determine the effects of ventriculoperitoneal shunting on non-verbal intelligence so that the special educational needs of HCP children may be met

Enthesopathic patterns of two South African female cadavers

Enthesopathy is considered to be an osseous phenomenon, either disease-specific or bone-site specific, which occurs at the enthesis of bone. Upon routine cadaveric dissection of the glenohumeral region in two Caucasian females, enthesopathy of the right proximal humerus was observed unilaterally in both cases. Case 1 exhibited an inconsistent pattern of bony protuberances and crests dispersed across the lesser and greater tuberosities of the right humeral head. Varying degrees of ossification of the distal subscapularis muscle was also observed. Case 2 presented with a distinctively large enthesophyte that protruded supero-medially from the proximal right humerus. In addition, ossification of the distal-most aspect of the supraspinatus muscle was identified. Cases 1 and 2 were both reflective of osteophytic enthesopathy as proliferative change was clearly visible on the proximal aspect of each humerus. Whilst the presence of enthesopathies may be indicative of underlying pathology, it may prove beneficial to the field of bioarchaeology for the remodelling of lifestyles of ancient civilizations through the provision of current day variations as seen in these two case studies

Assuring the Quality of Teaching at Makerere University in Uganda: Practices and Experiences of Academics and Students

Quality is an ethos in academia and assuring it is top of the agenda at many universities. Since the 1990s, substantial research has been conducted on the quality assurance systems of developed countries with advanced higher education systems. However, literature on quality assurance systems in the context of Sub-Saharan Africa is limited. The study examined the practices and experiences of stakeholders at the student-academic interface in assuring the quality of teaching at Makerere University. A case study design was employed and respondents included academics and final-year students. Data was collected through documents review, interviews and focus group discussions. Thematic analysis and content analysis were used to analyse the data. The findings demonstrate that the university employs five practices to assure the quality of teaching, namely, recognition of teaching, student evaluation of teaching, pedagogical training, monitoring and supervision of teaching, competence-based deployment and interfacing. The findings further show that stakeholders had varying experiences of teaching quality assurance practices

An anatomical investigation of the carotid canal

Background: The carotid canal (CC) located in the petrous temporal bone transmits the internal carotid artery, internal carotid venous plexus and sympathetic nerve plexus from the neck into the cranial cavity. It is an accessible passage into the cranial cavity and is considered an important anatomical landmark for neurosurgeons. The aim of this study was to investigate the topographical, morphometric and morphological parameters of the CC. Materials and methods: An examination of the CC and related adjacent structures in 81 dry skull specimens was performed. Distribution of sample by sex was 34 females and 47 males, and by race 77 African and 4 Caucasian. The mean age was 50 years (range: 14–100 years). Results: The external opening of the CC was found to be round-shaped, oval-shaped and tear-drop-shaped in 28.4%, 49.4% and 22.2% of the specimens, respectively. (1) Mean diameters [mm]: (a) medio-lateral 7.52 mm and (b) antero-posterior 5.41mm. Statistically significant difference in the vertical diameter was recorded in the race groups and laterality of the samples. (2) Mean distances [mm] between: (a) medial margins of external opening of CC was 50.03 mm, (b) lateral margins of external opening of CC was 62.73 mm and (c) external openings of CC and foramen lacerum was 15.6 mm. There was a statistically significant correlation between race and location of the opening of external CC in relation to foramen lacerum (viz. postero-lateral, lateral and diagonal, and lateral). Conclusions: The present study corroborated previous reports on the CC; however, the tear-drop shaped external CC opening was a unique finding. The knowledge of the reference measurements pertaining to the CC and its relationship to adjacent structures may postulate a suitable surgical “safe-zone” range within the CC area

Determination of the median nerve safe-zone in the carpal tunnel using the distal forearm bony prominences

Background: The compression of the median nerve (MN) in the carpal tunnel (CT) is one of the most common aetiologies of entrapment neuropathy syndromes in clinical practice. The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship of the palpable bony prominences of the distal forearm (radial styloid process [RSP] and ulnar styloid process [USP]) with MN in the CT, in order to determine a safe-zone of the MN during carpal tunnel procedures. Materials and methods: This study involved the bilateral dissection of the CT region of 30 adult cadaveric specimens (n = 60). Results: The mean distance between the RSP and USP was 49.34 mm. The mean distance of the MN from the RSP and the USP were 22.44 mm and 26.66 mm, respectively. The mean diameter of the MN within the CT deep to the flexor retinaculum was 5.93 mm. In addition, the MN was located postero-lateral and postero-medial to palmaris longus tendon (PLT) in 78.33% and 21.67% of specimens, respectively. Conclusions: This study found that the MN was located less than 60% of the RSP-USP distance from the RSP. Furthermore, the MN was mostly located postero-lateral to the PLT. Therefore, injection or surgical incision made at/medial to a point 60% of the RSP-USP distance from the RSP will be outside the safe-zone of the MN. The knowledge of this surface anatomical relationship of the MN may be useful during decompression for CT syndrome

Interplanetary flow systems associated with cosmic ray modulation in 1977 - 1980

The hydromagnetic flow configurations associated with cosmic ray modulation in 1977 to 1980 were determined using solar wind plasma and magnetic field data from Voyagers 1 and 2 and Helios 1. The modulation was related to two types of large scale systems of flows: one containing a number of transients such as shocks, post shock flows and magnetic clouds; the other consisting primarily of a series of quasi-stationary flows following interaction regions containing a stream interface and often bounded by a forward reverse shock pair. Each of the three major episodes of cosmic ray modulation was characterized by the passage of the system of transient flows. Plateaus in the cosmic ray intensity time profile were associated with the passage of systems of corotating streams

Finfish resources in the north eastern region in the Indian EEZ

Bottom trawling conducted in 53 stations lat. 16°00'N -20°30'N; long. 81°30'E - 87°15'E revealed a production range of 3 - 15000 kg/haul with a mean of 581 kg/haul; the average catch in the region was 567.3 kg/hr. The dominant finfish in the surveyed area were Indian drift fish (36.4%), carangids (22.5%), catfishes (7.1%), bull's eye (6.9%), goat fishes (3.9%), nemipterids (3.3%) etc. The bathymetric zones above 200 m and 51-100 m were found to be highly productive with average catch rate of 1615 and 830 kg/hr respectively. In the surveyed region the highest production rate was at lat. 19°N (1384 kg/hr)

The role of cerebral edema in ischemic cerebral neuropathy after cardiac arrest in dogs and monkeys and its treatment with hypertonic urea

1. 1. The value of hypertonic urea in forestalling the neurologic sequellae after cardiac arrest has been assessed in dogs and monkeys. Simulated cardiac arrest was produced with an inflow-outflow occlusion technique in which the blood supply to the heart was maintained during the period of complete cerebral ischemia. 2. 2. A number of factors increase the duration of cardiac arrest which can be tolerated without gross neurologic sequellae. These include the presence of an effective circulatory state before and after the arrest, the administration of 100 per cent oxygen before and after the test period, the use of an efficient respirator, and avoidance of premature efforts to promote spontaneous respirations postoperatively. 3. 3. Under optimum conditions almost all dogs and monkeys will recover completely after 12 minutes of simulated cardiac arrest. With longer occlusions, death and serious neurologic morbidity occur. 4. 4. Monkeys and dogs were subjected to simulated cardiac arrest for 14 minutes. Hypertonic urea did not materially decrease either the mortality rate or neurologic morbidity in either species, as compared to the recovery rate in controls, despite the fact that the urea-treated animals had demonstrably less brain swelling. 5. 5. From this it is concluded that cerebral edema is an overemphasized factor in the post-cardiac arrest syndrome, and that the principal deterrent to recovery is anoxic injury to the neurons which is not beneficially influenced by reduction of brain volume. © 1960