Orofacial motor dysfunction in Moebius syndrome.

Aim: To review orofacial disabilities and their consequences in children with Moebius syndrome (MBS).

Method: We retrospectively analysed the records of 32 patients (21 males, 11 females) with non-progressive bilateral facial and abducens palsies who had been examined before 6 months of age.

Results: All facial muscles were severely involved in 17 patients; in the 15 others, partial movements were found in the lower face.

Pathogenesis of cranial neuropathies in Moebius syndrome: Electrodiagnostic orofacial studies.

Introduction: We designed a retrospective study of 59 patients with congenital sporadic nonprogressive bilateral facial and abducens palsies.

Methods: Examinations included needle electromyography (EMG) of facial and oral muscles, facial nerve motor latency and conduction velocity (FNCV), and blink responses (BR).

Results: Neurogenic EMG changes were found in 1 or more muscles in 55 of 59 patients, with no abnormal spontaneous activity.

Clinical validation of a prognostic tool in a population of outpatients treated for incurable cancer undergoing anticancer therapy: PRONOPALL study.

Background: In 2008, a study of the characteristics of hospitalised patients led to the development of a prognostic tool that distinguished three populations with significantly different 2-month survival rates. The goal of our study aimed at validating prospectively this prognostic tool in outpatients treated for cancer in terminal stage, based on four factors: performance status (ECOG) (PS), number of metastatic sites, serum albumin and lactate dehydrogenase.

Patients And Methods: PRONOPALL is a multicentre study of current care.

[The advent of a newborn specialty: 19th century pediatrics].

Pediatrics began under the most unfavorable conditions that are difficult to imagine nowadays. Children at the start of the 19th century were considered as negligible. The death rate was tremendous, increased by the work of children in factories as soon as 6 years of age in textile industries.

Outcomes of Neonatal Bulbar Weakness.

Background And Objective: Neonatal bulbar weakness (BW) has various etiologies and a broad prognostic range. We aimed to report outcomes in a large series of children with neonatal BW and explore the association of orofacial electrodiagnostic data with outcome.

Methods: We retrospectively reviewed the files of children who presented with facial, lingual, laryngeal, or pharyngeal weakness at birth and who underwent electrodiagnostic studies combining conventional needle electromyography (EMG) of orofacial muscles, blink responses, and EMG during bottle-feeding.

Congenital multiple cranial neuropathies: Relevance of orofacial electromyography in infants.

Introduction: The aim of this study was to assess diagnoses and outcomes of infants with 2 or more cranial neuropathies identified using orofacial electromyography (EMG).

Methods: This retrospective study involved 90 patients. Diagnoses took into account clinical, radiological, and genetic data.

Facial, lingual, and pharyngeal electromyography in infants with Pierre Robin sequence.

Introduction: We evaluated the role of electromyography (EMG) in assessing orofacial neurological dysfunction in 81 infants with Pierre Robin sequence (PRS).

Methods: Needle EMG of muscles of the face, tongue, and soft palate, and blink responses were recorded. A two-channel EMG recorded sucking and swallowing during bottle feeding.

Scattering of slow metastable argon atoms by dielectric nanospheres.

The elastic scattering at low energy of metastable argon atoms with internal angular momentum J = 0 and 2 by dielectric nanospheres is investigated. The differential cross sections are calculated for both isotropic and anisotropic interactions. A polarization effect is clearly evidenced.

Negative-index media for matter-wave optics.

We consider the extension of optical metamaterials to matter waves and then the down scaling of metaoptics to nanometric wavelengths. We show that the generic property of pulsed comoving magnetic fields allows us to fashion the wave-number dependence of the atomic phase shift. It can be used to produce a transient negative group velocity of an atomic wave packet, which results into a negative refraction of the matter wave.