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Results for “Functional Laterality”

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At least 73 records · Page 4Linked to original sources

The influence of partial or total thymectomy during open heart surgery in infants on the immune function later in life.

Infants undergoing open heart surgery often have all or part of their thymus removed. The activity of the immune system has not been investigated thoroughly in these children, and only shortly after the operation. Therefore, it was decided to investigate the activity of the immune system in more detail in children several years after their operation. Peripheral blood samples from 19 children who had undergone open heart surgery during their first months of life was collected (study group) and from 19 age- and gender-matched children (control group). The activity of the immune system was evaluated by measuring the number of different cell types in peripheral blood, the phenotype of lymphocytes and the response of T cells following in vitro stimulation by mitogen, tetanus toxoid and measles antigen. The study group had significantly lower counts of total lymphocytes, which was reflected in a lower number of T cells but not B cells. Furthermore, the study group had significantly lower proportion of T cells (CD3(+)) and helper T cells (CD4(+)), but not cytotoxic T cells (CD8(+)). The level of neutrophils in peripheral blood was significantly higher in the study group. This may indicate enhanced innate immunity when the acquired immunity is defective. The results indicate a shift to extrathymic T cell maturation, which is less efficient for CD4(+) helper cells than for CD8(+) cytotoxic cells.

Antigens, Viral↗

Cognition and cerebral blood flow in lateralised parkinsonism: lack of functional lateral asymmetries.

Cognitive and cerebral blood flow (CBF) lateral asymmetries have been quantified in 23 right handed patients with lateralised idiopathic Parkinson's disease. Thirteen patients who had predominant right-sided symptoms (RPD) were compared with ten who had predominant left-sided symptoms (LPD). The patient subgroups were matched for age, education, duration of illness, disease severity and medication. Normalised asymmetries scores were calculated from the data obtained with a test battery and SPECT. No correlation was found between laterality of motor Parkinsonian symptoms and cognitive or haemodynamic asymmetry scores.

Aged↗

Cortical lateralization of function in rats in a visual reaction time task.

Rats were trained to orient to a visual cue presented in either visual field. An asymmetry in reaction time showed that they used one eye to control responses to both visual fields. Cortical removal contralateral to this dominant eye produced a severe and permanent response deficit. Cortical removal ipsilateral to the dominant eye caused a mild and temporary change. Thus, in the rat, there is a functional lateralization that is similar to that seen in humans.

Animals↗

The investigation of functional brain lateralization by transcranial Doppler sonography.

Functional transcranial Doppler sonography (fTCD) adds to the techniques of functional imaging. fTCD measures cerebral perfusion changes related to neural activation in a way comparable to functional magnetic resonance tomography. fTCD contends itself with comparison of averaged, event-related blood flow velocity changes within the territories of two cerebral arteries, for example the left versus the right middle cerebral artery. It can thus serve to evaluate the functional lateralization of higher cognitive functions like hemispheric language dominance (HLD). We present typical applications of fTCD by summarizing studies employing the technique. Then, the physical and physiological underpinnings of fTCD are reviewed. After a brief description of a prototype paradigm for assessing HLD, a detailed outline of the fTCD data analysis is presented. Caveats for fTCD, like other functional imaging techniques, are that the validity of results depends on adequate control of the task parameters, particularly cooperation and reference conditions. We complete the review with examinations of the reliability and validity of the fTCD technique. We conclude that fTCD can be employed to substitute the invasive amobarbital procedure to determine language lateralization in individual patients before undergoing brain surgery. Because of its easy applicability, robustness and mobility, fTCD can also be used to examine many subjects (including children) to obtain representative data on the variability of lateralization of higher cognitive functions, or to scan for atypical patterns of lateralization.

Algorithms↗

[Changes in functional cerebral laterality of patients with torticollis spasmodicus].

By comparing the results of tapping with and without simultaneous speaking and by evaluating their lateral differences the probable lateralization of functional speech centre was established in 28 patients with torticollis spasmodicus and 28 healthy controls. In doing this, it became evident that unlike the controls the patients as a hole in a significant way lateralized the speech centre more frequently to the right. The changed cerebral laterality in the patients was supposed to be stimulated by pronounced emotional conflicts and to be involved in the disease of torticollis spasmodicus.

Brain↗

Sex differences in spatial ability: a lateralization of function approach.

The current study was designed to examine whether the extent of the male advantage in performance on a spatial task was determined by the extent to which the task was right-hemisphere dependent. Participants included 108 right-handed men and women who completed the mental rotation, waterlevel, and paperfolding tasks, all of which were presented bilaterally. The results partially supported the hypothesis. On the mental rotation task, men showed a right-hemisphere advantage, whereas women showed no hemispheric differences; however, no overall sex differences were observed. On the waterlevel task, men outperformed women, and both men and women showed a right-hemisphere advantage. On the paperfolding task, no sex or hemispheric differences were observed. Although the findings of the current study were mixed, the study provides a framework for examining sex differences across different types of spatial ability.

Adolescent↗