Clinical neurophysiology : official journal of the International Federation of Clinical Neurophysiology
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Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a severe neurodegenerative disease associated with short survival due to respiratory failure. We aimed to test the predictive value of the phrenic nerve motor response for survival, in a large population of ALS patients. ⋯ Phrenic nerve stimulation should be considered as an additional test for respiratory assessment in ALS.
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Previous studies have been inconclusive whether dominant resting state alpha rhythms differ in amplitude in dyslexic subjects when compared to control subjects, being these rhythms considered as a reflection of effective cortical neural synchronization and cognition. Here we used a validated EEG source estimation to test the hypothesis that resting state alpha rhythms are abnormal in dyslexic subjects and are related to reading deficits. ⋯ Dyslexia may be associated to some functional impairment of cortical neuronal synchronization mechanisms involved in the resting state condition.
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Comparative Study
Comparison of polysomnographic data in age-, sex- and Axis I psychiatric diagnosis matched HIV-seropositive and HIV-seronegative insomnia patients.
There is a high prevalence of insomnia in HIV-seropositive patients. Insomnia is associated with poorer disease outcomes, cognitive impairment and HIV-associated dementia. However there is limited data characterizing the type of sleep disturbances, and the cause. Previous studies report conflicting results, and observed changes in the distribution of REM and SWS were hypothesized to result from co-morbid mood disorders, although this is not established. We carried out this study to determine if there are differences in polysomnographic (PSG) sleep data in age-, sex- and Axis I diagnoses- matched HIV-seropositive and HIV-seronegative patients. ⋯ Unlike what previous authors have proposed, our results do not support the view that comorbid psychiatric disorders like depression are responsible for the observed differences in PSG findings and the greater incidence of insomnia, in HIV-seropositive patients when compared with other groups of insomnia patients. This suggests the presence of other etiologies including neuronal damage, psychosocial stressors, or comorbid medical conditions. Further studies are needed to determine the extent to which these play a role in insomnia in the HIV-seropositive population.
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To evaluate differences among patients with different clinical features of ALS, we used our Bayesian method of motor unit number estimation (MUNE). ⋯ These findings could indicate differences in disease pathogenesis.