Isolated hypoglossal nerve palsy secondary to basilar artery compression: A case report and reviewing of electrodiagnostic evaluation of the hypoglossal nerve

Introduction: Hypoglossal nerve palsy causes ipsilateral tongue weakness, commonly presenting with dysphagia, dysarthria, or perceived tongue weakness. Vascular compression is a rare cause of isolated hypoglossal nerve palsies. Imaging and serologic labs are common parts of the evaluation of hypoglossal nerve palsies. Though less commonly used, electrodiagnostic studies can be important in the diagnostic evaluation of hypoglossal nerve palsies.     Case: We report a case of a 53-year-old man with dysphagia found to have a left hypoglossal nerve palsy secondary to vascular compression from the basilar artery confirmed by electrodiagnostic and radiographic studies and we provide a review of the electrodiagnostic evaluation of the hypoglossal nerve

Neuromuscular Complications in COVID-19: A Review of the Literature

Coronavirus disease of 2019 (COVID-19) belongs to the betacoronavirus family which is known to cross species barriers and lead to high pathogenicity. There is rapidly growing evidence that COVID-19 infection can be associated with neuromuscular complications. A comprehensive literature review was conducted evaluating articles published related to neuromuscular complications in COVID-19.  In this review we focus our discussion on two ways that COVID-19 critically impacts neuromuscular medicine: (1) serious complications and outcomes associated with the viral infection and; (2) management considerations for neuromuscular patients on immunotherapies during the COVID-19 pandemic. &nbsp

Copilot: Monitoring Embedded Systems

Runtime verification (RV) is a natural fit for ultra-critical systems, where correctness is imperative. In ultra-critical systems, even if the software is fault-free, because of the inherent unreliability of commodity hardware and the adversity of operational environments, processing units (and their hosted software) are replicated, and fault-tolerant algorithms are used to compare the outputs. We investigate both software monitoring in distributed fault-tolerant systems, as well as implementing fault-tolerance mechanisms using RV techniques. We describe the Copilot language and compiler, specifically designed for generating monitors for distributed, hard real-time systems. We also describe two case-studies in which we generated Copilot monitors in avionics systems

Lineshape measurement of an extreme-weak amplitude-fluctuating light source by the photon-counting-based second-order correlation spectroscopy

We demonstrate lineshape measurement of an extreme-weak amplitude fluctuating light source by using the photon-counting-based second-order correlation spectroscopy combined with the heterodyne technique. The amplitude fluctuation of a finite bandwidth introduces a low-lying spectral structure in the lineshape and thus its effect can be isolated from that of the phase fluctuation. Our technique provides extreme sensitivity suited for single-atom-level applications.Comment: 3 pages, 3 figure

Benchmarking of Halogen Bond Strength in Solution with Nickel Fluorides : Bromine versus Iodine and Perfluoroaryl versus Perfluoroalkyl Donors

The energetics of halogen bond formation in solution have been investigated for a series of nickel fluoride halogen bond acceptors; trans-[NiF(2-C 5NF 4)(PEt 3) 2] (A1), trans-[NiF{2-C 5NF 3(4-H)}(PEt 3) 2] (A2), trans-[NiF{2-C 5NF 3(4-NMe 2)}(PEt 3) 2] (A3) and trans-[NiF{2-C 5NF 2H(4-CF 3)}(PCy 3) 2] (A4) with neutral organic halogen bond donors, iodopentafluorobenzene (D1), 1-iodononafluorobutane (D2) and bromopentafluorobenzene (D3), in order to establish the significance of changes from perfluoroaryl to perfluoroalkyl donors and from iodine to bromine donors. 19F NMR titration experiments have been employed to obtain the association constants, enthalpy, and entropy for the halogen bond formed between these donor-acceptor partners in protiotoluene. For A2–A4, association constants of the halogen bonds formed with iodoperfluoroalkane (D2) are consistently larger than those obtained for analogous complexes with the iodoperfluoroarene (D1). For complexes formed with A2–A4, the strength of the halogen bond is significantly lowered upon modification of the halogen donor atom from I (in D1) to Br (in D3) (for D1: 5≤K 285≤12 m −1, for D3: 1.0≤K 193≤1.6 m −1). The presence of the electron donating NMe 2 substituent on the pyridyl ring of acceptor A3 led to an increase in −ΔH, and the association constants of the halogen bond complexes formed with D1–D3, compared to those formed by A1, A2 and A4 with the same donors

Labour Market and Social Policy in Italy: Challenges and Changes. Bertelsmann Policy Brief #2016/02

vEight years after the outbreak of the financial crisis, Italy has still to cope with and overcome a plethora of economic and social challenges. On top of this, it faces an unfavourable demographic structure and severe disparities between its northern and southern regions. Some promising reforms have recently been enacted, specifically targeting poverty and social exclusion. However, much more remains to be done on the way towards greater economic stability and widely shared prosperity