11,326 research outputs found
Eye movement desensitisation and reprocessing (EMDR) treatment associated with parent management training (PMT) for the acute symptoms in a patient with PANDAS syndrome: a case report
BACKGROUND: The purpose of this report was to present the results of eye movement desensitisation and reprocessing (EMDR) therapy associated with parent management training (PMT) in a child with paediatric autoimmune neuropsychiatric disorder associated with streptococcus (PANDAS), who had previously only been treated with pharmacological treatment. CASE PRESENTATION: The case concerns an 11-year-old boy who presented with simple and complex vocal tics, motor tics, obsessive-compulsive traits and irritability from the age of 6 years, in addition to a positive result for streptococcal infection. The course of symptoms followed a relapsing-remitting trend with acute phases that were contingent on the infectious episodes. CONCLUSIONS: Following eight sessions of EMDR, preceded by training sessions with the parents, the child showed a significant reduction in symptoms and disappearance of the exacerbation. These results indicate the possibility of improving the treatment outcomes of patients with PANDAS by a combined approach using both antibiotic and EMDR therapies
Lower bound for electron spin entanglement from beamsplitter current correlations
We determine a lower bound for the entanglement of pairs of electron spins
injected into a mesoscopic conductor. The bound can be expressed in terms of
experimentally accessible quantities, the zero-frequency current correlators
(shot noise power or cross-correlators) after transmission through an
electronic beam splitter. The effect of spin relaxation (T_1 processes) and
decoherence (T_2 processes) during the ballistic coherent transmission of the
carriers in the wires is taken into account within Bloch theory. The presence
of a variable inhomogeneous magnetic field allows the determination of a useful
lower bound for the entanglement of arbitrary entangled states. The decrease in
entanglement due to thermally mixed states is studied. Both the entanglement of
the output of a source (entangler) and the relaxation (T_1) and decoherence
(T_2) times can be determined.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figure
Simultaneous Contralateral Vestibular Schwannoma and Middle Ear Paraganglioma Tumor
To the best of our knowledge, only 2 cases of a simultaneous contralateral vestibular schwannoma (VS) and middle ear paraganglioma (MEP) have previously been reported in literature. We report the third case observed in a 43-year-old male, who presented with an 11-year history of right-sided hearing loss and a 1-year history of left-sided pulsatile tinnitus. A magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) showed a VS on the right side and computer tomography (CT) identified a Fisch type A1 paraganglioma on the left side. The VS was treated using a translabyrinthine approach and the MEP was kept under radiological observation for 1 year. Due to the growth of the MEP (Fisch type A2), it was treated with excision via a retroauricular approach. Our case was very challenging because there was a different and important pathology on each side, both carrying a risk of deafness as a consequence of the disease and/or the treatments
Coincident onset of multiple sclerosis and herpes simplex virus 1 encephalitis. a case report
Background: Along with vitamin D, smoking, body mass index and others, Epstein Barr virus, other herpesviruses
and human endogenous retroviruses represent plausible environmental risk factors for multiple sclerosis. However,
it is difficult to obtain direct proof of their involvement in the etiology of this condition.
Case presentation: In order to contribute further evidence of the importance of these viruses, and speculate about
disease-relevant interactions between these agents and a predisposed genetic background of the host, we describe
the temporal association between multiple sclerosis onset and Herpes simplex 1-encephalitis in a female patient.
Conclusions: This case illustrates a possible relationship between HSV-1 encephalitis and multiple sclerosis. Bearing
in mind that association does not imply causation, some speculations about the etiology and pathophysiology of
the two diseases can be made. The hypothesis of a genetic background predisposing to HSV-1 encephalitis and to
immune-mediated demyelination is supported by the coincidence of the two conditions in this patient, along with
data from animal models and genetic studies
Linkages between the southern Patagonia Pre-Permian basements : new insights from detrital zircons U-Pb SHRIMP ages from the Cerro Negro District
The Patagonian basement rocks are dominated by Precambrian to Early Paleozoic metamorphic rocks intruded by Paleozoic granitoids. Recently discovered basement rocks in the Cerro Negro District are characterized mainly by quartz-muscovite-chlorite schists; the metamorphic grade reaches greenschist facies (biotite-garnet grade) with a regional S1 schistosity subparallel to the original sedimentary structure S0 and a secondary non-penetrative S2 foliation. New detrital zircon U-Pb geochronology shows that maximum depositional ages for detrital zircons are Devonian, ages of 379 ± 4Ma. These results suggest that the Cerro Negro basement rocks are the youngest basement in the Deseado Massif, overlapping some detrital zircon ages in the eastern Andean Metamorphic Complex in the Andean region. Most of detrital zircons are igneous in origin with a major peak around ~396Ma, provably sourced from the Devonian granitoids of the Río Deseado Complex (El Laurel and Bahía Laura granites) and equivalent northern Patagonia granitoids (e.g. Colan Conhué and Lago Lolog granites). Secondary peaks correspond to Ordovician to Silurian ages, being the Río Deseado Complex and La Modesta Formation (and their igneous contributors) the possible sources of the zircons. The minor oldest peaks yield Cambrian-Neoproterozoic; Mesoproterozoic and Paleoproterozoic-Archean ages, evidencing a common source from the interior of Gondwana. The results provide new insights about the relationships between the pre-Permian metasedimentary rocks of the extra-Andean and Andean region during Mid-Paleozoic ages
Steady-state visual evoked potentials and phase synchronization in migraine
We investigate phase synchronization in EEG recordings from migraine
patients. We use the analytic signal technique, based on the Hilbert transform,
and find that migraine brains are characterized by enhanced alpha band phase
synchronization in presence of visual stimuli. Our findings show that migraine
patients have an overactive regulatory mechanism that renders them more
sensitive to external stimuli.Comment: 4 page
Theory of Boundary Effects in Invasion Percolation
We study the boundary effects in invasion percolation with and without
trapping. We find that the presence of boundaries introduces a new set of
surface critical exponents, as in the case of standard percolation. Numerical
simulations show a fractal dimension, for the region of the percolating cluster
near the boundary, remarkably different from the bulk one. We find a
logarithmic cross-over from surface to bulk fractal properties, as one would
expect from the finite-size theory of critical systems. The distribution of the
quenched variables on the growing interface near the boundary self-organises
into an asymptotic shape characterized by a discontinuity at a value ,
which coincides with the bulk critical threshold. The exponent of
the boundary avalanche distribution for IP without trapping is
; this value is very near to the bulk one. Then we
conclude that only the geometrical properties (fractal dimension) of the model
are affected by the presence of a boundary, while other statistical and
dynamical properties are unchanged. Furthermore, we are able to present a
theoretical computation of the relevant critical exponents near the boundary.
This analysis combines two recently introduced theoretical tools, the Fixed
Scale Transformation (FST) and the Run Time Statistics (RTS), which are
particularly suited for the study of irreversible self-organised growth models
with quenched disorder. Our theoretical results are in rather good agreement
with numerical data.Comment: 11 pages, 13 figures, revte
Naturwall: active timber wall for renovation of existent buildings
The renovation of old buildings is actually the challenge to cope with increased effort in order to reduce climate global change, channeling more investment and awareness in this sense, defining more experimentations and find innovative solutions. The difficulty of carrying out an intervention on the existing buildings necessarily arise from the lack of information on the existing structure and the lack of coordinated processes between the multidisciplinary skills involved, as well as a difficulty to optimize the process that would make it even more competitive on the renovation work instead on the new construction. Naturwall is an innovative energy saving system for existent buildings by using wood in multifunctional components able to mitigate the environmental effort in building management. The project meant to introduce an industrialized design method in the renovation of existing build environment that highlights opportunities gave by "off site" production and parametric design approach, without neglecting the aesthetical values and the possibility to change the architectural image of residential and non residential constructions. The project aims to create a representative model of solution that will be promoted in Italy and widespread in other similar contex
Fair Loss-Tolerant Quantum Coin Flipping
Coin flipping is a cryptographic primitive in which two spatially separated
players, who in principle do not trust each other, wish to establish a common
random bit. If we limit ourselves to classical communication, this task
requires either assumptions on the computational power of the players or it
requires them to send messages to each other with sufficient simultaneity to
force their complete independence. Without such assumptions, all classical
protocols are so that one dishonest player has complete control over the
outcome. If we use quantum communication, on the other hand, protocols have
been introduced that limit the maximal bias that dishonest players can produce.
However, those protocols would be very difficult to implement in practice
because they are susceptible to realistic losses on the quantum channel between
the players or in their quantum memory and measurement apparatus. In this
paper, we introduce a novel quantum protocol and we prove that it is completely
impervious to loss. The protocol is fair in the sense that either player has
the same probability of success in cheating attempts at biasing the outcome of
the coin flip. We also give explicit and optimal cheating strategies for both
players.Comment: 12 pages, 1 figure; various minor typos corrected in version
- …