Current Issue : July - September Volume : 2019 Issue Number : 3 Articles : 5 Articles
Empathy has been conceptualized as comprising a cognitive and an emotional component, the latter being further\ndivided into direct and indirect aspects, which refer, respectively, to the explicit evaluation of the observerâ??s feelings while\nattending someone in an emotional situation and to the physiological response of the observer. Empathy has been previously\ninvestigated in several neurological disorders. Objective. This study is aimed at investigating empathy in patients with spinal\ncord injury (SCI). We hypothesize that, due to deafferentation following their injury, SCI patients will display difficulty in the\nprocessing of emotional stimuli and blunted empathic responses as compared to healthy controls. Materials and Methods. 20\npatients with spinal cord injury (SCI) (12 males and 8 females, mean age = 50 9, standard deviation SD = 16 1 years; mean educati 9, SD = 4 1 years) were included in the study and compared to 20 matched healthy subjects. Participants were\ninvestigated using the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (Form Y) (STAI-Y), the Beck Depression Scale, and the Toronto\nAlexithymia Scale. Moreover, participants were further evaluated by means of the Interpersonal Reactivity Index (IRI), which\nexplores both cognitive and emotional aspects of empathy, and through an experimental protocol based on the use of a\nmodified version of the computerized Multifaceted Empathy Test (MET) to evaluate emotional (direct and indirect) empathy\nand the ability to judge the valence of complex emotional scenes. Results. As compared to healthy controls, SCI patients\nreported higher scores on the Perspective-Taking subscale of the IRI, while, on the modified MET, they were less accurate in\nidentifying the valence of neutral scenes, notwithstanding their spared direct and indirect emotional empathy ability.\nFurthermore, we found a significant negative correlation between the time interval since injury and the direct emotional\nempathy scores on the positive images, as well as a negative correlation with the indirect emotional empathy scores on both\npositive and neutral images, indicating a blunting of the empathic responses as time elapses. Conclusion. Results suggest that\nSCI patients, when analyzing the meaning of emotional stimuli, tend to rely on a cognitive empathy strategy rather than on\nemotion simulation....
Sodium thiopental, used in a narcotic dose, makes it possible to identify the\nnervous processes that underlie consciousness and establish the causes of its\ndisorder. When studying the cortical EEG activity, the impulses of individual\nnerve cells and the electromyographic activity of the muscles of the forelimb,\nit was found that thiopental blocks a number of neuronal reactions requiring\nenergy support: tonic activating reactions to acetylcholine, applied to neurons,\ncease; the rate of spontaneous neuronal activity drops; the stage of\nnon-specific activation in response to electrocutaneous stimulation disappears.\nSo, thiopental blocks consciousness by significant limitation of the\nbrain energy metabolism. This results in a loss of the adaptive function of the\ncentral nervous system. At the same time, glutamatergic excitation, the formation\nof which does not depend on energy support, is resistant to the action\nof thiopental. The blocking of the brainâ??s energy supply caused by thiopental,\nin accordance with its depth, develops in two stages-hypoxic and narcotic.\nThe hypoxic stage is accompanied by hyperactivity in the nervous system,\nwhich is manifested by epileptiform discharges on the EEG and powerful\nunmotivated movement; the narcotic stage is associated with blockade of\nmotor activity and flattening of EEG oscillations. The post-narcotic state associated\nwith the consequence of the hypoxic effect of thiopental leads to the\nloss of ionic homeostasis and is accompanied by a steady drop in the amplitude\nof cortical neuron spikes....
Emotional disturbances such as anxiety, fear, depression and aggression are\noften experienced by patients with temporal lobe epilepsy. These psychiatric\nsymptoms may occur during or just after (postictal) a seizure; however, in\nsome patients, they occur interictally (i.e. between seizures) and may profoundly\nchange the individualâ??s personality. Aside from confirming that a significant\nproportion of temporal lobe epileptics do suffer from interictal abnormal\nemotionality, there has been little progress to date in identifying the\nfundamental nature of these disturbances. There is a lack of evidences regarding\nthe influence of activation of emotiogenic structures and emotional behavior\non development of seizures. Kindling is a commonly used animal model\nfor study of interictal emotionality and the effects of kindling and human epilepsy\non emotional behavior are the primary focus of investigators and not\nvice versa. Respectively, the interrelation between emotional and seizure reactions\nwas studied in Wistar albino rats. In our study we tried to elucidate: can\nemotional behavior evoked by stimulation of the emotiogenic zones of the\nhypothalamus or of induction of acute pain stress modify manifestations of\ngeneralized seizures within the period where a â??fullâ? epileptic syndrom has\nbeen stable formed earlier? Our leading hypothesis is as follow: the emotional\ndisturbances can be considered as the emergence of instinctive behavior with\nan adaptive significance of defense and as a by-product of the inhibitory\nprocesses that build up to protect against the future occurrence of seizures....
Background: Many different preventatives have showed efficacy in the treatment of migraine. National guidelines\ndiffer in their recommendations and patientsâ?? characteristics are usually taken into account in their selection. In\nSpain, real life use of preventive therapies seems to be heterogeneous. We aimed to evaluate differences in clinical\npractice and adherence to national guidelines among Spanish neurologists.\nMethods: Observational descriptive study. A survey was conducted among neurologists ascribed to the Spanish\nSociety of Neurology. Participants were differentiated in accordance with their dedication to headache disorders.\nWe analysed socio-demographic parameters and evaluated 43 questions considering migraine management as well\nas therapeutic choices regarding migraine sub-types and finally, neurologistsâ?? personal perception.\nResults: One hundred fifty-five neurologists participated from 17 different regions, 43.4% of them female and 53.3%\nunder 40 years of age. 34.9% confirmed headache disorders as their main interest.\nThe first choice for preventive therapy in chronic migraine among participants was topiramate (57%) followed\nby amytriptiline (17.9%) and beta-blockers (14.6%). However in episodic migraine, the preferred options were\nbeta-blockers (47.7%), topiramate (21.5%) and amytriptiline (13.4%). Regarding perceived efficacy, topiramate\nwas considered the best option in chronic migraine (42.7%) followed by onabotulinumtoxinA (25.5%) and\namitryptiline (22.4%). Where episodic migraine was concerned, surveyed neurologists perceived topiramate (43.7%) and\nbeta-blockers (30.3%) as the best options. When we evaluated the duration of treatment use with a view to adequate\ntherapeutic response, 43.5% of neurologists preferred 3 months duration and 39.5% were in favour of 6\nmonths duration in episodic migraine. However, considering the preferred duration of treatment use in\nchronic migraine, 20.4% recommended 3 months, 42.1% preferred 6 months and 12.5% and 22.4% opted\nfor 9 and 12 months respectively. When considering onabotulinumtoxinA therapy, the number of prior\ntherapeutic failures was zero in 7.2% of neurologists, one in 5.9%, two in 44.1%, three in 30.9% and four\nor more in 11.9%. Following an initial treatment failure with onabotulinumtoxinA, 49% of subjects decided against a second\ntreatment. The number of OnabotA procedures before considering it as ineffective was two in 18.9% of neurologists, three\nin 70.8% and four in 10.4%.\nConclusions: The initial management of migraine among Spanish Neurologists is in line with most guidelines, where first\nchoice preventative drugs are concerned. The Management of episodic migraine differed from chronic migraine, both in\nterms of neurologist preference and in their perceived efficacy....
Depression is the most common psychiatric disorder in patients\nwith epilepsy. The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence of\ndepressive symptoms and its factors associated in patients with epilepsy at the\nYalgado Ouedraogo University Teaching Hospital (Burkina Faso). Methods:\nThis was a prospective 6-month study carried out in Neurology Department\nfrom February to July 2017. This study included all the patients with epilepsy\naged over 18 years. Sampling was non-random with systematic recruitment.\nThe informed consent of the patient was required. All included patients were\nassessed using the Hamilton Depression Scale and Gererd questionnaire. The\nanalysis of the data was performed by the software Epi Info version 7. Results:\nOne hundred two patients with epilepsy with a mean age of....................
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