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Biomedical subjects

R Bonanni

Publications and source records attributed to R Bonanni.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed2006

Verbal short-term memory in individuals with congenital articulatory disorders: new empirical data and review of the literature.

BACKGROUND: To investigate the nature of the articulatory rehearsal mechanism of the Articulatory Loop in Baddeley's Working Memory model, it seems particularly important to study individuals who developed a deficit (dysarthria) or total abolition (anarthria) of the ability to articulate language following a cerebral lesion. METHOD: In this study, a forced-choice recognition procedure for word sequences of increasing length was used to evaluate verbal short-term memory in nine individuals with severe congenital motor and verbal disabilities (seven anarthric and two severely dysarthric) and associated intellectual disability (ID) and 30 normal children of comparable mental age. RESULTS: The normal children exhibited classical phonological similarity effects (better performance on acoustically dissimilar than on similar word lists), word length (greater accuracy on two-syllable than on four-syllable word lists) and frequency of occurrence (an advantage of high-frequency over low-frequency words). Instead, all of these effects were lacking in the experimental group. CONCLUSIONS: These data suggest that persons with congenital anarthria/dysarthria and ID present defective maturation at many levels of the Articulatory Loop and reduced contribution of semantic-lexical processing in the temporary retention of phonological sequences. It is likely that in these individuals both communicative deficits and ID play a role in the impaired development of verbal short-term memory abilities.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2004

Gross morphology and morphometric sequelae in the hippocampus, fornix, and corpus callosum of patients with severe non-missile traumatic brain injury without macroscopically detectable lesions: a T1 weighted MRI study.

OBJECTIVE: The gross morphology and morphometry of the hippocampus, fornix, and corpus callosum in patients with severe non-missile traumatic brain injury (nmTBI) without obvious neuroradiological lesions was examined and the volumes of these structures were correlated with performance on memory tests. In addition, the predictability of the length of coma from the selected anatomical volumes was examined. METHOD: High spatial resolution T1 weighted MRI scans of the brain (1 mm3) and neuropsychological evaluations with standardised tests were performed at least 3 months after trauma in 19 patients. RESULTS: In comparison with control subjects matched in terms of gender and age, volume reduction in the hippocampus, fornix, and corpus callosum of the nmTBI patients was quantitatively significant. The length of coma correlated with the volume reduction in the corpus callosum. Immediate free recall of word lists correlated with the volume of the fornix and the corpus callosum. Delayed recall of word lists and immediate recall of the Rey figure both correlated with the volume of the fornix. Delayed recall of the Rey figure correlated with the volume of the fornix and the right hippocampus. CONCLUSION: These findings demonstrate that in severe nmTBI without obvious neuroradiological lesions there is a clear hippocampal, fornix, and callosal volume reduction. The length of coma predicts the callosal volume reduction, which could be considered a marker of the severity of axonal loss. A few memory test scores correlated with the volumes of the selected anatomical structures. This relationship with memory performance may reflect the diffuse nature of the damage, leading to the disruption of neural circuits at multiple levels and the progressive neural degeneration occurring in TBI.

Adult↗
PubMed2001

Neuropsychological assessment of patients with severe neuromotor and verbal disabilities.

In people with cerebral palsy, severe neuromotor disability and communication problems make standard neuropsychological tests impossible. Therefore, alternative methods and specific aids must be developed to allow patients to autonomously respond to the examiner's questions. In the present individuals and study, a neuropsychological evaluation was made of a group of eight individuals with cerebral palsy, and severe neuromotor and verbal disabilities, and a group of 19 normal subjects matched for mental age. The tests were administered using an autonomous selection method in which the patient selects the various responses through specific aids without the examiner's interference. Patients' group performances in visuo-spatial and memory tests were on average lower than the mean of the control group. In the verbal domain, patients' scores were comparable to those of normal children in all tests but one assessing the comprehension of syntactically complex sentences. An analysis of the patients' individual performances also revealed heterogeneous cognitive profiles: some patients presented a homogeneously distributed cognitive impairment and others a more selective one. This finding is particularly important for planning differentiated learning programmes, and identifying suitable communicative instruments in rehabilitative and educational settings.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1992

Radical orbital resections.

The authors describe the techniques for subtotal, total and radical orbital exenteration. The aspects of primary and late reconstructive surgery are also discussed, with special reference to Frezzotti's personal technique for temporalis muscle transplantation after subtotal exenteration.

Eye, Artificial↗
PubMed1991

Poor agreement of occupational data between a hospital-based cancer registry and interview.

With occupation recognized as a risk factor for various cancers, collecting occupation and industry data by a number of vital registries, including cancer registries, has developed. Registries may be data sources for cancer etiology research and occupational disease surveillance, despite concerns that their data are fragmentary and may lack validity. To improve completeness and validity of occupational information in a hospital-based cancer registry, this study compared information obtained through abstracting medical records for the registry with information obtained through lung-cancer patient interviews. Employing the kappa statistic, agreement was generally poor, largely due to data missing in the medical record. Data quality of hospital-based cancer registries can be improved by employing trained cancer registrars to elicit occupational histories from patients.

Data Collection↗
PubMed1982

Patterns of axillary nodal involvement in breast cancer. Predictability of level one dissection.

Two hundred consecutive mastectomies with total axillary dissection were analyzed for patterns of involvement at levels one, two and three. The purpose was to determine the accuracy of level one axillary dissection in predicting the status of the entire lymph node chain in carcinoma of the breast. Level one was defined as latissimus dorsi to lateral pectoralis minor; level two behind the pectoralis minor and level three medial pectoralis minor to thoracic inlet. The average number of nodes analyzed per patient was 22. The average number of nodes recovered per level was 14 at level one, 11.5 at level two and eight at level three. One hundred twenty patients (60%) had no nodal involvement, while 80 patients had metastases to axillary lymph nodes. There were seven patients (3.5% of the entire 200) who had positive nodes at levels two and/or three without metastasis to level one. This represents the incidence of "skip" metastases. The group exhibiting "skip" metastases comprise 5.5% of patients (seven of 127) with negative axillary nodes at level one and 8.7% of patients (seven of 80) with axillary metastases secondary to carcinoma of the breast. In the authors' experience, level one lymph node dissection is an accurate predictor of the status of the entire lymph node chain. Negative nodes at level one would indicate lack of involvement at levels two and three with nearly 95% accuracy.

Adult↗