Verbal short-term memory and language impairments in Cantonese speakers after stroke

Purpose: The study examined the relationship between verbal short-term memory (STM) and language impairment in Cantonese speakers after stroke. It is hypothesised that Cantonese speakers with left-hemisphere (LH) stroke would perform worse than those with right hemisphere (RH) stroke and normal controls. Specific linguistic factors of Cantonese might affect results in the tasks. Method: Fifteen participants with LH stroke, 10 with RH stroke and 25 healthy controls were tested with auditory–verbal immediate serial recall (ISR) tasks and auditory linguistic tasks. All stroke participants were assessed with the Cantonese version of Western Aphasia Battery (CAB). Result: The LH group performed significantly worse than the RH and healthy control groups in the auditory verbal ISR and auditory linguistic tasks. There were significant lexicality, frequency and imageability effects in most tasks. Auditory discrimination and word comprehension tasks, but not the auditory word recognition task had correlations with ISR tasks. Conclusion: Verbal STM and language performance of Cantonese-speakers with history of LH stroke were inferior to RH stroke and healthy controls. The effects of lexicality, word frequency and imageability on verbal STM memory performance were found. Cantonese tones have effects on performance in auditory word recognition task, similar to onset, nucleus and rime

Large-Scale Whole-Genome Sequencing of Three Diverse Asian Populations in Singapore

10.1016/j.cell.2019.09.019Cell1793736-74

Natriuretic peptide receptor 3 (NPR3) is regulated by microRNA-100

10.1016/j.yjmcc.2015.02.019Journal of Molecular and Cellular Cardiology8213-2

Safety of hospital discharge before return of bowel function after elective colorectal surgery

Background: Ileus is common after colorectal surgery and is associated with an increased risk of postoperative complications. Identifying features of normal bowel recovery and the appropriateness for hospital discharge is challenging. This study explored the safety of hospital discharge before the return of bowel function. Methods: A prospective, multicentre cohort study was undertaken across an international collaborative network. Adult patients undergoing elective colorectal resection between January and April 2018 were included. The main outcome of interest was readmission to hospital within 30 days of surgery. The impact of discharge timing according to the return of bowel function was explored using multivariable regression analysis. Other outcomes were postoperative complications within 30 days of surgery, measured using the Clavien\u2013Dindo classification system. Results: A total of 3288 patients were included in the analysis, of whom 301 (9\ub72 per cent) were discharged before the return of bowel function. The median duration of hospital stay for patients discharged before and after return of bowel function was 5 (i.q.r. 4\u20137) and 7 (6\u20138) days respectively (P < 0\ub7001). There were no significant differences in rates of readmission between these groups (6\ub76 versus 8\ub70 per cent; P = 0\ub7499), and this remained the case after multivariable adjustment for baseline differences (odds ratio 0\ub790, 95 per cent c.i. 0\ub755 to 1\ub746; P = 0\ub7659). Rates of postoperative complications were also similar in those discharged before versus after return of bowel function (minor: 34\ub77 versus 39\ub75 per cent; major 3\ub73 versus 3\ub74 per cent; P = 0\ub7110). Conclusion: Discharge before return of bowel function after elective colorectal surgery appears to be safe in appropriately selected patients