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[Evaluation of velopharyngeal function after later surgical repair of cleft palate. ]

This study detected 60 cases of patients of later surgical cleft palate repairing with different operative procedures,based on nasopharyngeal fiberscope and image processing detective system of nasopharyngeal function.They were divided into two groups,30 cases with Furlow's double reversing Z plasty,and others with traditional palatoplasty.The results were as follows:the type of velopharyngeal closure with later palatoplasty mainly were circus,semi-circus,and the rate of operative success only was 46.6%,which was lower than other reports.Author described that compensation of lateral and posterior pharyngeal wall made the type of velopharyngeal closure.The elder the age,the more the compensation is.For the late cleft palate repair,although the variable surgical procedure made a condition for speech improvement, patients with later cleft palate repair still can't improve their phonation.

Journal Article↗

Visual recognition memory: a predictor of later cognitive functioning in preterms.

A number of preterms who had participated in a study of visual recognition memory when they were 6 months of age were seen at older ages to assess the predictive validity of the early visual measures for cognitive outcome. The Bayley scales were administered at 6, 12, and 24 months, the Stanford-Binet at 34 and 40 months, and the WISC-R at 6 years. Novelty scores, which reflect the relative amount of time infants look at new compared to familiar stimuli, constituted the measure of infant visual processing. These scores, obtained by averaging over performance on the 3 or 4 problems administered at 6 months of age, were consistently and significantly related to cognitive measures from 24 months to 6 years, with correlations ranging from r = .53 to r = .66. Parental education, which was unrelated to novelty scores, bore a strong relationship to outcome beginning at 24 months. Although both measures contributed uniquely to the variance in cognitive outcome at 24 months and 6 years, visual novelty scores made a stronger contribution than did parental education. Neither 6- nor 12-month Bayley scores, nor various perinatal variables, were related to outcome.

Child Development↗

Lateralization and functional organization of the locus coeruleus projection to the trigeminal somatosensory pathway in rat.

The primary goals of this study were to (1) examine the distribution of locus coeruleus (LC) neurons, which project to cortical and subcortical sites along the trigeminal somatosensory pathway in rats, and (2) determine the extent to which different regions within this ascending sensory system receive collateral projections from the same LC neuron. Long-Evans hooded rats received unilateral pressure injections of different combinations of retrograde fluorescent tracers into whisker-related regions of primary (SI) and secondary (SII) somatosensory cortices, the ventrobasal (VB) and posterior group (POm) nuclei of the thalamus, and the principalis nucleus of the trigeminal complex (PrV). Coronal sections (40-100 microm) through the LC were examined by fluorescence microscopy, and the distribution of retrogradely labeled cells was recorded. The major finding was that whisker-related regions of the cortex receive efferent projections from neurons concentrated in the caudal portion of the ipsilateral LC, whereas subcortical trigeminal somatosensory structures receive bilateral input from both LC nuclei. Despite the bilateral nature of the LC projection to subcortical sites, the majority of LC efferents to VB and POm thalamus originate in the ipsilateral LC nucleus, whereas projections to PrV originate primarily from the contralateral LC. An additional finding was that a relatively large proportion of LC cells, which project to a single somatosensory structure, also send axon collaterals to other relay sites along the same ascending somatosensory pathway. Taken together, these results suggest that the LC-noradrenergic system maintains a more selective relationship with functionally related efferent targets than has been previously appreciated.

Animals↗

Detour tests reveal task- and stimulus-specific behavioral lateralization in mosquitofish (Gambusia holbrooki).

We studied detour responses of male mosquitofish faced with a vertical-bar barrier through which a group of females was visible. Mosquitofish showed a consistent population bias to detour the barrier preferentially leftwise when a straight barrier was used, whilst the asymmetry disappeared if a U-shaped barrier was used. The leftward bias was apparent even when using a simulated-predator as a target (which induced detour behaviour for predatory-inspection responses), but not when using an empty environment or a group of males as a target. Moreover, when faced with an opaque barrier, mosquitofish tended to turn on their right side. These lateral biases could be accounted for in terms of a right eye preference during lateral (monocular) fixation of any stimulus of interest, suggesting functional lateralization in a teleost species for the analysis of visual information.

Animals↗

Contributions of clinical neuropsychology to the study of schizophrenia.

Clinical neuropsychological findings are examined with respect to competing hypotheses about localized neuropathology in schizophrenia. Two general models of structural and functional impairment are described. The first addresses deficits in cortical/subcortical processes concerned with arousal, attention, and higher cortical functions. The second addresses impairments in the balance of lateralized functions consistent with left hemisphere overactivation. Empirical data provide support for both models, and suggest that the explanatory power of these models may vary when they are applied to different subtypes of schizophrenia.

Cerebral Cortex↗

A neural network model of lateralization during letter identification.

The causes of cerebral lateralization of cognitive and other functions are currently not well understood. To investigate one aspect of function lateralization, a bihemispheric neural network model for a simple visual identification task was developed that has two parallel interacting paths of information processing. The model is based on commonly accepted concepts concerning neural connectivity, activity dynamics, and synaptic plasticity. A combination of both unsupervised (Hebbian) and supervised (Widrow-Hoff) learning rules is used to train the model to identify a small set of letters presented as input stimuli in the left visual hemifield, in the central position, and in the right visual hemifield. Each visual hemifield projects onto the contralateral hemisphere, and the two hemispheres interact via a simulated corpus callosum. The contribution of each individual hemisphere to the process of input stimuli identification was studied for a variety of underlying asymmetries. The results indicate that multiple asymmetries may cause lateralization. Lateralization occurred toward the side having larger size, higher excitability, or higher learning rate parameters. It appeared more intensively with strong inhibitory callosal connections, supporting the hypothesis that the corpus callosum plays a functionally inhibitory role. The model demonstrates clearly the dependence of lateralization on different hemisphere parameters and suggests that computational models can be useful in better understanding the mechanisms underlying emergence of lateralization.

Adult↗

Lateralization of aminopeptidase A activity in substantia nigra, striatum and frontal cortex of rats.

Several brain aminopeptidase activities have been reported to be asymmetrical, but no direct correlation with lateralized functions has been proposed. Cholecystokinin (CCK) coexists with dopamine (DA) in the nigrostriatal system, which is involved in lateralized motor behaviors. Because aminopeptidase A activity is probably responsible for the hydrolysis of CCK, we studied the left-right distribution of glutamate- (GluAP) and aspartate-aminopeptidase (AspAP) activities in their soluble (Sol) and membrane-bound (M-B) forms in the substantia nigra, striatum and cortex of rats. Although there was a highly significant predominance of the left side in the substantia nigra and striatum for Sol GluAP and M-B AspAP respectively, in the frontal cortex predominance was on the right side for M-B AspAP. These results suggest a relationship between aminopeptidase A activity and lateralized nigro-striato-cortical functions involving CCK.

Aminopeptidases↗

Lateralization of motor circuits and handedness during finger movements.

Although functional lateralization in the human brain has been studied intensively, there remains significant controversy over the brain mechanisms that instantiate it. The main objective of the present study is to characterize the regions associated with the generation of different movements by the fingers of both hands by right- and left-handed people. Thirteen right- and left-handers were studied using blood oxygen level dependent (BOLD) functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) during performance of single and sequential finger movement tasks. We used single-shot whole-brain spiral fMRI to map the functional components of the motor system during these tasks. Regions of interest included the primary motor and sensory cortices, the pre-motor cortices and the cerebellum. Sequential movements were associated with intense brain activation in several bilateral regions, whereas single movements were associated with less activation in fewer regions, but with greater laterality. Right- and left-handers differed in their pattern of activation, sharing a pattern of activation on simple movements but responding differently to sequential movements. On simple movements, the brain activation patterns of left- and right-handers were similar in volume, number of areas and laterality. By contrast, on sequential movement, left-handers activated larger volumes and a larger number of brain areas than right-handers, and showed significantly less brain lateralization. These results highlight differences in the functional organization of motor areas in right- and left-handed people. The discrepancies that might reflect differences in the network features of motor systems in these two groups, could also determine differences in motor activity that occur during recovery from injury (e.g. after stroke).

Adult↗

Hypothermic lung preservation functions, six or more years later.

The functions of each lung were measured 41 and 79 months following hypothermic twenty-four four lung preservation and autotransplantation in six and four dogs respectively. Functional results were compared with long-term autotransplanted canine lungs. Compliance, total lung capacity, functional reserve capacity and ventilation of preserved lungs were similar to autotransplanted lungs, and only slightly decreased as compared with normal animals. There was no statistically significant difference between the pulmonary diffusion capacity and oxygen uptake of the preserved and autotransplanted lungs group and autotransplants alone. However, in both groups, diffusion capacity and oxygen uptake were decreased as compared with intact animals. Pulmonary hypertension was found on occlusion of the contralateral lung's artery: it was due to increased pulmonary vascular resistance. No gross narrowing of the pulmonary artery or venous anastomosis was found that could explain the increased resistance. Diffuse emphysema of various degrees was observed in all animals. This study seems to indicate that hypothermic preservation of the lung does not affect significantly the long-term functional ability of the organ, and probably will have practical value in future clinical lung transplantation.

Animals↗

Access to the posterior medial temporal lobe structures in the surgical treatment of temporal lobe epilepsy.

The authors describe a surgical technique that allows access to the posterior temporal horn of the lateral ventricle with preservation of the most functional lateral temporal cortex. Development of the technique was stimulated by the need to resect posteromedial temporal lobe structures in patients with intractable complex partial epilepsy and well-identified unilateral posterior hippocampal foci. This technique has also been of value in the resection of some lateral ventricular and posteromedial temporal lobe masses. The operation consists of three steps. No more than 4.5 cm of the anterolateral temporal lobe is removed en bloc such that the most anterior aspect of the temporal horn is entered. An incision is carried from the floor of the temporal horn through the inferior longitudinal fasciculus to the middle fossa dura mater and posteriorally into the lateral ventricular atrium. The lateral temporal cortex and white matter are then elevated with a self-retaining retractor. This exposes the posteromedial temporal horn or intraaxial mass for excision or allows en bloc resection of the entire hippocampus and medial temporal lobe structures while preserving the functional association areas of the lateral temporal cortex, including speech and visual spatial function.

Epilepsy, Temporal Lobe↗

Cerebral lateralization of neuronal activity during naming, reading and line-matching.

Changes in human right or left temporal cortical neuronal activity during language and visuospatial tasks were investigated during craniotomy under local anesthesia for medically intractable epilepsy in patients known to be left dominant for language based on preoperative intracarotid amobarbital perfusion testing. Extracellular recordings were obtained from 57 neuronal populations (26 from the left hemisphere) in the superior and middle temporal gyri of 34 patients. Frequency of activity was compared during over and silent object naming, word reading and line-matching. Although all recordings were from the cortex not essential for language, statistically significant changes in activity during these tasks were identified in 49% of the populations. Most populations showed significant changes to only one of the tasks, indicating discrete neural networks for reading and naming. Nearby neuronal populations recorded by the same microelectrode usually had different behavioral correlates. There were no significant differences in the proportion of neurons changing activity with language or spatial measures between right (non-dominant) or left (dominant) temporal lobes. Left superior and middle temporal gyrus populations, however, demonstrated significant early reductions in activity during overt or silent naming, while right middle temporal gyrus recordings showed significant early increased activity only during overt naming. Although reading measures elicited more activity from the non-dominant temporal lobe, early reductions in activity were recorded exclusively from the dominant side. Visuospatial tasks evoked changes in neuronal frequency predominantly in the middle temporal gyrus, and during one of these tasks, significant later increases in activity were present bilaterally. Our results indicate that the functional lateralization of cognitive behaviors may depend less on the anatomic location of the associated neuronal activity than on the neurophysiologic characteristics of that activity.

Adult↗

Linguistic lateralization and asymmetries in interhemispheric transmission time.

The Interhemispheric Conduction Delay (ICD) theory of cerebral lateralization claims that longer interhemispheric transfer times (IHTT's) should result in greater functional lateralization for time-critical tasks. IHTT was estimated in 40 normal participants using both a visual and an auditory version of the Poffenberger (1912) paradigm. There was a significant response-hand by side-of-presentation interaction, and the length of IHTT for auditory information being transferred from the right to left hemisphere was significantly related to linguistic lateralization as assessed with a dichotic-listening task. These results support the ICD theory of cerebral lateralization.

Brain↗