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Biomedical subjects

E D Ross

Publications and source records attributed to E D Ross.

At least 37 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

Sensory aprosodia with left hemiparesis from subcortical infarction. Right hemisphere analogue of sensory-type aphasia with right hemiparesis?

We report a case of sensory aprosodia with left hemiparesis following an ischemic infarction of the right thalamus and posterior limb of the internal capsule. Bedside evaluation, confirmed by special quantitative tests, demonstrated normal spontaneous affective prosody and gesturing with marked impairment of affective repetition and comprehension of affective prosody and gestures. A left hemiparesis with sensory loss was also present. This combination of deficits appears to represent the right-side analog to the unusual syndrome of Wernicke-type aphasia with right hemiparesis occasionally observed following left subcortical injury, thus providing further support for the hypothesis that the functional-anatomic organization of affective language in the right hemisphere mirrors that of propositional language in the left.

Auditory Perception↗

Spasmodic dysphonia subsequent to head trauma.

Spasmodic dysphonia (SD) is a low-incidence voice disorder of unknown origin. A subgroup of seven patients with SD from our larger pool of 70 report vocal symptoms subsequent to head injury. This article is a case report of the neurodiagnostic findings, including computed tomography, magnetic resonance imaging, auditory brain-stem response, brain electrical activity mapping, and single photon emission computed tomography for three such patients. For each patient, two or more tests revealed positive neurologic findings. Each test, except computed tomography, demonstrated abnormalities in one or more patients. Two principles of clinical management are derived: (1) information regarding head trauma sustained before SD symptom onset is significant; (2) the absence of neuropathology on a single measure of central nervous system function should not be considered conclusive evidence that no neurologic lesions exist.

Adult↗

Pathological display of affect in patients with depression and right frontal brain damage. An alternative mechanism.

Two patients are reported with the acute onset of pathological crying following right inferior frontal brain damage. Both had severe endogenous depression and neither had pseudobulbar palsy. These and other cases argue that two organic brain diseases--one structural and the other "physiopharmacological"--may interact to produce pathological display of affect that cannot be accounted for by traditional neurological explanations. A pharmacological mechanism for the rapid amelioration of pathological affect by tricyclic medications and its possible relationship to the newly discovered descending motor systems of the brain that use norepinephrine and serotonin as neurotransmitters is offered. These cases also suggest that pathological affect is a valuable clinical indicator of an underlying major depression in some brain-injured patients.

Aged↗

The aprosodias: further functional-anatomical evidence for the organisation of affective language in the right hemisphere.

Fourteen right-handed patients with right hemispheric strokes were examined for disorders of affective language in order to further define the clinical-anatomical correlates of the aprosodias. A bedside evaluation strategy and CT scan mappings were utilised to make these comparisons. There were six patients with motor aprosodia, one with global aprosodia, two with conduction aprosodia, one with sensory aprosodia, one with transcortical sensory aprosodia, one with pure affective deafness and two with normal examinations of affect. Functional-anatomical correlations were consistent with those predicted previously. Recovery of affective language function in selected cases was characterised by improvements in affective-prosodic repetition and/or evolution into other aprosodic subtypes. Our results lend further support to the hypothesis that the organisation of affective language in the right hemisphere mirrors that of propositional language in the left hemisphere.

Adult↗

Topography of the human corpus callosum.

This study was undertaken to determine the topographical organization of fibers coursing through the human corpus callosum. We correlated the distribution of Wallerian degeneration in the corpus callosum with the anatomical sites of focal cortical lesions due to ischemic infarctions or circumscribed contusions. Fibers from the inferior frontal and anterior inferior parietal regions course through the rostrum and genu of the corpus callosum. Callosal connections from the temporo-parieto-occipital junctional region course through the splenium and caudal portion of the body of the corpus callosum. Both the superior parietal lobule and the occipital cortex give rise to interhemispheric fibers that course exclusively through the splenium of the corpus callosum. No callosal degeneration was associated with a cortical lesion in the anterior superior frontal region. The topographical organization of fibers in the human corpus callosum appears to be fairly similar to that found in the rhesus monkey (Macaca mulatta).

Animals↗

Progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy in a renal transplant recipient. Increased diagnostic sensitivity of computed tomographic scanning by double-dose contrast with delayed films.

A progressive, deteriorating neurologic disorder developed in a 28-year-old white man 10 years after he successfully received a living related donor kidney transplant. An extensive neurologic evaluation was unrevealing, including normal results of computed tomographic scanning of the brain with and without contrast medium. Repeated computed tomographic scanning after a double dose of radiocontrast medium in conjunction with delayed imaging revealed multiple areas of abnormal enhancement. This technique helped to direct brain biopsy, which led to the early diagnosis of progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy and the institution of specific therapy.

Adult↗

The aprosodias. Functional-anatomic organization of the affective components of language in the right hemisphere.

It was recently proposed that the affective components of language, encompassing prosody and emotional gesturing, are a dominant function of the right hemisphere, and that their functional-anatomic organization in the right hemisphere mirrors that of propositional language in the left hemisphere. Ten right-handed patients with focal lesions of the right hemisphere and disorders of affective language are described. Observations were made about each patient's spontaneous prosody, prosodic repetition, prosodic comprehension, and comprehension of emotional gesturing. Using this particular examination strategy, which is derived from the usual bedside approach to aphasic disorders, the organization of affective language in the right hemisphere does mirror the organization of propositional language in the left hemisphere. Furthermore, the disorders of affective language seem to be classifiable in the same manner as the aphasias. Thus, the term "aprosodia," preceded by specific modifiers such as motor, global, transcortical sensory, etc, seems appropriate when classifying the various disorders of affective language that occur following-right-hemisphere damage. The relationships between affect, mood, pathologic laughing and crying, and depression are also discussed.

Adult↗

How the brain integrates affective and propositional language into a unified behavioral function. Hypothesis based on clinicoanatomic evidence.

Recent publications suggest that the right hemisphere dominates in modulating the affective components of language. Disorders of language form right-sided focal brain lesions have been called "aprosodias" and can be classified in a manner similar to the aphasias. We describe a patient with motor aprosodia who subsequently died and underwent neuropathologic examination. From the neuropathologic findings and recent observations concerning the neurology of depression, we hypothesize that the motor integration of propositional and affective language takes place in the brainstem, whereas their higher-order integration takes place via the callosal connections between Wernicke's area on the left and its homologue on the right. Direct application of these functional and anatomic relations can help clinicians to properly interpret the often incongruous and disparate behavioral and language responses encountered in brain-damaged patients.

Affect↗

Diagnosis and neuroanatomical correlates of depression in brain-damaged patients. Implications for a neurology of depression.

Recognizing depression in brain-damaged patients poses considerable problems. The standard diagnostic criteria often are not applicable since the neurological lesion may distort or even obliterate salient features of depression. Patients actually may deny being depressed or dysphoric, not have a depressive affect, or be totally unaware of abnormal vegetative behaviors. Furthermore, brain lesions themselves may produce striking behavioral alterations that can be mistakenly attributed to depression, or striking behavioral changes due to depression may be mistakenly attributed to the brain lesion. Based on five case studies, several clinical guidelines for recognizing and diagnosing depression in brain-damaged patients are offered. These cases also provide a data base to generate initial hypotheses about the neuroanatomical basis of the depressive syndrome. By observing how focal brain lesions modify the signs and symptoms of depression, inferences are made about brain areas crucial for modulating the various features of the depressive syndrome.

Affect↗

Sensory-specific and fractional disorders of recent memory in man. I. Isolated loss of visual recent memory.

Two patients who lost, in isolation, visual recent memory following bilateral posterior cerebral artery infarctions are described. Tactile, verbal, and nonverbal auditory recent memory functions were preserved in both patients. Based on computerized tomography scans and behavioral and anatomical data in monkey, isolated loss of visual recent memory in man is best understood as a bilateral disconnection syndrome between the striate cortex and the structures in the medial temporal lobe that are involved with recent memory. The possible existence of two other sensory-specific disorders of recent memory, tactile and auditory, is postulated, and the clinical relationship of prosopagnosia, achromatopsia, and spatial disorientation to visual recent memory loss is discussed.

Adult↗

Sensory-specific and fractional disorders of recent memory in man. II. Unilateral loss of tactile recent memory.

Three patients were found to have unilateral tactile recent memory loss on examination. In two patients the loss occurred in the right hand and was accompanied by a disorder of verbal recent memory; in the third patient the loss occurred in the left hand and was not accompanied by any other disturbance in recent memory. An acute unilateral lesion, either structural or functional, in the medial temporal lobe contralateral to the tactile recent memory disturbance was the common denominator in all three cases. The proper methods for diagnosing a unilateral tactile disturbance of recent memory and other forms of fractional disorders of recent memory are discussed. Based on computerized tomography scans and behavioral and anatomical data in man and monkey, an anatomical explanation is offered to account for the syndromes of right and left unilateral tactile recent memory loss. The possible existence of other forms of fractional disturbances of recent memory and the role of the cerebral commissures in recent memory functions are discussed.

Adult↗

Localization of the pyramidal tract in the internal capsule by whole brain dissection.

Six human brains were dissected by blunt technique and sectioned horizontally to establish the three-dimensional relationships of the pyramidal tract and the internal capsule. In all instances, the pyramidal tract entered the rostral capsule in the anterior half of the posterior limb and progressively shifted into the posterior half of the posterior limb in the more caudal horizontal sections. These observations resolve the current controversy about the exact anatomic location of the pyramidal tract in the posterior limb of the internal capsule. This controversy arose because previous authors failed to consider the changing rostrocaudal/anterior-posterior anatomy of the pyramidal tract as it courses through the posterior limb.

Dissection↗

Left medial parietal lobe and receptive language functions: mixed transcortical aphasia after left anterior cerebral artery infarction.

Three aphasic patients with infarctions involving the left anterior cerebral artery have been studied. Two had trancortical motor aphasia, and one had mixed transcortical (or isolation) aphasia. Based on computerized tomography in two patients and whole-brain sections in one, the patient with mixed transcortical aphasia had a lesion that went beyond the rolandic fissure to involve the anterior precuneus lobule of the left medial parietal lobe. In the patients with transcortical motor aphasia, the lesion was confined to the frontal lobe. From these cases and other data, it seems likely that the left medial parietal lobe has receptive language functions analogous to the motor language functions of the left medial frontal lobe, thus accounting for the mixed transcortical aphasia observed in the patient whose left anterior cerebral artery infarction involved both the medial parietal and medial frontal lobes.

Aged↗

Dominant language functions of the right hemisphere? Prosody and emotional gesturing.

Two patients lost the ability to impart affective qualities to their speech following lesions in the right hemisphere. Arguments are given to support the idea that the right or "minor" hemisphere has a dominant role in modulating the affective components of speech. The anatomical organization of the cortical areas subserving affective speech in the right hemisphere seem to be similar to the organization of cortical areas subserving propositional speech in the left or "major" hemisphere.

Adult↗