A long-term review of severely disabled spina bifida patients using a reciprocal walking system.

Purpose: The purpose of the study was to establish long-term compliance of paediatric spina bifida patients using a reciprocal walking orthosis, prescribed to enhance function and long-term therapeutic benefit.

Methods: Data from current clinical notes of 28 spina bifida patients prescribed with the Parawalker reciprocal walking orthosis between 1973 and 1984 were compared with those established for the purposes of research at the time of original prescription. Patients were supplied via an on-going treatment regime by a specialist multi-disciplinary team.

Minimal standards for the performance and interpretation of toxicology tests in legal proceedings.

There have been several high profile criminal and civil cases that have been litigated in recent years involving toxicologic analyses and interpretations of blood, urine, and other specimens for drugs of abuse. Disputes have erupted between prominent toxicologists and laboratory scientists as to the validity and interpretation of the data presented. The disputes centered around the fact that the procedures used in these cases had not been properly validated with analytical noise being misinterpreted as a positive result.

Word stem priming in unilateral stroke patients: word type and laterality effects.

We explored word type and lesion laterality effects in visual word stem completion priming. Participants were 24 stroke patients (12 left, 12 right) and 11 non-brain damaged, medical controls. Participants studied 32 threatening and 32 nonthreatening words and completed cued recall and word stem priming tasks (Mathews, Mogg, May, & Eysenck, 1989).

Transcortical motor aprosodia: functional and anatomical correlates.

Transcortical motor aprosodia (TMA), one of eight hypothesized disorders of affective communication, is characterized by impaired production of affective prosody and facial gestures, with intact imitation and comprehension of affect. It has been proposed that cortical TMA arises from lesions in the superior or anterior lateral surface of the right frontal lobe, but for various reasons it has not been possible to fully test this proposal. There have been few cases of TMA reported, and lesions have been too diffuse to permit accurate localization.