A preliminary investigation of dissociation between subjective cognitive complaints and objective cognitive impairments in female patients with fibromyalgia: a role of information processing speed.

Objectives: Fibromyalgia (FM) is a chronic condition characterised by widespread pain, and cognitive difficulties represent one of the most common symptoms of FM. However, subjective cognitive complaints (SCC) may not necessarily indicate significant abnormalities in objective cognitive performances, and there is limited research investigating the relationship between these two aspects. This study thus aims to analyse the differences between SCC and objective cognitive performance in FM patients and to explore their associations.

Development of the Chronic Pain Cognition Scale: A Culture-Sensitive Pain Measurement in Chinese.

Purpose: People with pain problems are highly vulnerable to cultural disparities, and it is imperative to reduce these inequalities. This cross-sectional study aimed to develop a culturally sensitive Chronic Pain Cognition Scale (CPCS) for Chinese-/Chinese dialect-speaking populations and investigate its psychometric properties.

Patients And Methods: Adult patients with chronic low back pain or chronic neck pain who visited pain clinics at a medical center in northern Taiwan were enrolled.

Heart Rate Variability Biofeedback for Mild Traumatic Brain Injury: A Randomized-Controlled Study.

To determine whether heart rate variability biofeedback (HRV-BF) training, compared to a psychoeducation control condition can strengthen the integration of the central and autonomic nervous systems as measured by neuropsychological measures in patients with mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI). Participants were recruited from two university hospitals in Taipei, Taiwan. A total of 49 participants with mTBI were recruited for this study.

Synthesis of Nano-Structured Ge as Transmissive or Reflective Saturable Absorber for Mode-Locked Fiber Laser.

Amorphous-Ge (α-Ge) or free-standing nanoparticles (NPs) synthesized via hydrogen-free plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD) were applied as transmissive or reflective saturable absorbers, respectively, for starting up passively mode-locked erbium-doped fiber lasers (EDFLs). Under a threshold pumping power of 41 mW for mode-locking the EDFL, the transmissive α-Ge film could serve as a saturable absorber with a modulation depth of 52-58%, self-starting EDFL pulsation with a pulsewidth of approximately 700 fs. Under a high power of 155 mW, the pulsewidth of the EDFL mode-locked by the 15 s-grown α-Ge was suppressed to 290 fs, with a corresponding spectral linewidth of 8.

Long-term work quality of patients with mild traumatic brain injury: The associations with postconcussion symptoms.

Return to work (RTW) has always been a determinant functional outcome in patients with mild traumatic brain injury (MTBI). However, the quality of long-term RTW was still unclear. This study thus aims to examine long-term work quality and to reveal its associating factors.

Quality of life outcomes after surgical intervention in patients with multiple rib fractures: A prospective cohort study.

Background: Optimized conservative treatment of rib fractures has long been practiced, but surgical fixation has not been promising until recently. We aimed to examine and analyze immediate postoperative outcomes and 6-month quality of life after injury in patients with moderately severe traumatic rib fractures.

Methods: We conducted a prospective cohort study between July 2017 and June 2019 at the National Taiwan University Hospital.

Neuropsychological performances in patients with infiltrative non-GBM gliomas after postoperative adjuvant photon or proton radiotherapy: A prospective and preliminary investigation.

Infiltrative non-GBM gliomas are common primary intracranial malignancies, and postoperative adjuvant radiotherapy is recommended for most adult patients diagnosed with this disease to enhance local control and prolong intracranial progression-free survival (PFS). However, RT-related neurocognitive function (NCF) consequences should not be ignored. Early neurocognitive decline principally includes episodic memory, associated significantly with functions of the hippocampus.

Pre-Injury headache and post-traumatic headache in patients with mild traumatic brain injury: neuropsychological, psychiatric, and post-concussion symptom outcomes.

Primary Objective: Headache, both before and after injury, has been associated with worse outcome following mild traumatic brain injury (MTBI). This study examined whether three MTBI patient groups - no headache (reported no pre-/post-injury headache), pre-injury headache (reported pre-injury headache, nearly all of whom also reported post-injury headache), and post-traumatic headache only (denied pre-injury headache and reported post-injury headache) - differed in acute-to-subacute outcomes.

Research Design: Cross-sectional observational study.

Oncological Outcomes After Hippocampus-Sparing Whole-Brain Radiotherapy in Cancer Patients With Newly Diagnosed Brain Oligometastases: A Single-Arm Prospective Observational Cohort Study in Taiwan.

Background: Promisingly, the technique of hippocampus sparing during WBRT (HS-WBRT) might preserve NCFs. In this research, we examined oncological outcomes, with emphasis on neurologic/non-neurologic causes of death, CNS progression, and leptomeningeal disease (LMD) recurrence in cancer patients who underwent HS-WBRT.

Methods: One hundred and fourteen cancer patients with newly diagnosed brain oligometastases underwent HS-WBRT were consecutively enrolled.

Baseline preseason ImPACT testing in Mandarin with adolescent student-athletes in the United States.

Researchers have examined differences on ImPACT in baseline symptom reporting and neurocognitive performances based on the language of administration and racial/ethnic identity. This is the first study to examine differences between student-athletes tested in Mandarin versus English on ImPACT during preseason baseline assessments conducted in high schools in the United States. Participants included 252 adolescent student-athletes who completed ImPACT testing in the state of Maine in Mandarin and 252 participants who completed testing in English, matched on age, gender, and health and academic history.

Complicated versus uncomplicated mild traumatic brain injuries: A comparison of psychological, cognitive, and post-concussion symptom outcomes.

Introduction: A complicated mild traumatic brain injury (MTBI) is defined as mild by all clinical severity indicators but is complicated due to a traumatic intracranial abnormality visible on neuroimaging. Researchers have reported mixed findings regarding whether neuropsychological and functional outcomes following complicated MTBI are worse than, or similar to, outcomes following uncomplicated MTBI. This study examined patients referred from a Taiwanese emergency department to a neurosurgical outpatient clinic.

Long-Term Presentation of Postconcussion Symptoms and Associated Factors: Analysis of Latent Class Modeling.

Objective: Postconcussion symptoms (PCS) are commonly reported by patients with mild traumatic brain injury (MTBI). Although PCS significantly recovered by 3-month postinjury, a number of patients still experienced persistent PCS for >1 year. As few researchers investigated long-term PCS endorsement, the present study thus aims to show the latent structure of long-term PCS and further uncover its associating factors.

Hippocampal avoidance whole-brain radiotherapy without memantine in preserving neurocognitive function for brain metastases: a phase II blinded randomized trial.

Background: Hippocampal avoidance whole-brain radiotherapy (HA-WBRT) shows potential for neurocognitive preservation. This study aimed to evaluate whether HA-WBRT or conformal WBRT (C-WBRT) is better for preserving neurocognitive function.

Methods: This single-blinded randomized phase II trial enrolled patients with brain metastases and randomly assigned them to receive HA-WBRT or C-WBRT.

Maintenance of multi-domain neurocognitive functions in patients with newly-diagnosed primary CNS lymphoma after primary cranial radiotherapy combined with methotrexate-based chemotherapy: A preliminary case-series study.

Conventional treatment for treating primary central nervous system lymphoma (PCNSL) has consisted of either whole-brain radiotherapy (WBRT) or methotrexate (MTX)-based combined modality therapy. However, delayed cognitive sequelae have emerged as a significant debilitating complication in PCNSL patients. A prospective observational case-series study with prospective assessments of neurocognitive functions (NCFs), neuroimaging, and activities of daily living in newly-diagnosed PCNSL patients was undertaken.

Perceived Change in Physical, Cognitive, and Emotional Symptoms after Mild Traumatic Brain Injury in Patients with Pre-Injury Anxiety or Depression.

The objective of this study was to compare patients with acute-to-subacute mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI) on post-concussion symptom reporting based on whether they retrospectively recalled experiencing pre-injury anxiety or depression. Patients with mTBI ( = 297; 40.4% men; mean = 38.

Postoperative change of neuropsychological function after indirect revascularization in childhood moyamoya disease: a correlation with cerebral perfusion study.

Purpose: The relationships between postoperative functional improvement in various cognitive domains and regional hemodynamic change have not been sufficiently studied in childhood moyamoya disease (MMD). The present study aimed to examine the cognitive benefit of indirect revascularization, the underlying biological mechanism, and factors affecting surgical outcome in childhood MMD.

Methods: Twenty-three patients with MMD aged under 20 years received neuropsychological examinations before and after indirect revascularization surgery, evaluating intellectual function, verbal and visual memory, and executive function.

Heterogeneous influences of emotional disturbances on multi-domain quality of life after anterior cervical spine surgery: A prospective study.

Objective: Quality of life (QoL) has been identified as one of the most important outcome measurements following cervical spine surgery. The contributing factors to post-operative QoL remain limited. This study thus aimed to prospectively examine the QoL and related pre-operative emotional factors in patients who underwent anterior cervical spine surgery.

Maintenance of multidomain neurocognitive functions in pediatric patients after proton beam therapy: A prospective case-series study.

Proton Beam Therapy (PBT) was developed to minimize the harmful results of radiation therapy as treatment for brain tumors. This study examined the neurocognitive outcomes of PBT in pediatric patients. A total of 8 patients, who received either PBT or photon radiotherapy (XRT), were evaluated with multiple cognitive functions, which include intelligence, memory, executive functions, and attention.

Quality of return to work in patients with mild traumatic brain injury: a prospective investigation of associations among post-concussion symptoms, neuropsychological functions, working status and stability.

Primary Objective: Although 'return to work' (RTW) has been always emphasized for patients with mild traumatic brain injury (MTBI), methodological drawbacks weakened its representativeness. This study thus aims to evaluate the 'work quality' (WQ) which originated from 'working status' and 'working stability' simultaneously, and to further explore the associations among post-concussion symptoms (PCS), neuropsychological functions and WQ.

Methods And Procedures: A total of 179 participants, which included 132 patients with MTBI and 47 healthy participants, were prospectively recruited.

Iatrogenic Effect? Cautions when Utilizing an Early Health Education for Post-concussion Symptoms.

Objective: Patients with mild traumatic brain injury (MTBI) usually suffer from the post-concussion symptoms (PCS). PCS could recover by 3 months post-injury, but some patients still persistently complain of those symptoms for years. Accordingly, the Chang-Gung University Brief Intervention for Post-Concussion Symptoms (CGU-BIPCS) was developed to intervene PCS based on the established advantages of health education.

Frontal Assessment Battery as a Useful Tool to Differentiate Mild Cognitive Impairment due to Subcortical Ischemic Vascular Disease from Alzheimer Disease.

Background: Prominent executive dysfunction can differentiate vascular dementia from Alzheimer disease (AD). However, it is unclear whether the Frontal Assessment Battery (FAB) screening tool can differentiate subcortical ischemic vascular disease (SIVD) from AD at the pre-dementia stage. In addition, the neural correlates of FAB performance have yet to be clarified.

Ultrasonographic Changes after Indirect Revascularization Surgery in Pediatric Patients with Moyamoya Disease.

The marked cerebral hypoperfusion of moyamoya disease (MMD) can be treated with encephaloduroarteriosynangiosis (EDAS), an indirect revascularization surgery. Collateral establishment after the surgery is a gradual process; thus, easy access to serial assessment is of great importance. We prospectively recruited 15 pediatric moyamoya patients who underwent EDAS surgeries on a total of 19 hemispheres.

Chinese character fluency test: an investigation of psychometric properties.

Objective: Verbal fluency test (VFT), one of the most commonly used tests to evaluate executive function (EF), can be subdivided into letter fluency (LF) and semantic fluency (SF). Although SF tasks have been established in Eastern societies, it is difficult to develop a LF task (Non-SF task) in Mandarin. This study thus aims to examine the psychometric properties of the Chang Gung University Orthographical Fluency Test (CGUOFT), a non-SF task with Chinese characters.