Pregnancy Outcomes in Refractory Epilepsy Patients with Vagus Nerve Stimulation: Long-Term Single-Center Experience.

Background And Study Aims:  Vagus nerve stimulation (VNS) has been employed worldwide as an adjunctive therapy in drug-resistant epilepsy patients. However, the mechanisms of VNS action potentially increase the risk of obstetric complications. The study presents the long-term single-center experience with pregnancies and childbirth in women with VNS for refractory epilepsy based on prospectively collected epileptologic data and a retrospective analysis of pregnancy, childbirth, and data about long-term child development.

Quantitative assessment of left ventricular longitudinal function and myocardial deformation in Duchenne muscular dystrophy patients.

Background: Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) manifests in males mainly by skeletal muscle impairment, but also by cardiac dysfunction. The assessment of the early phases of cardiac involvement using echocardiography is often very difficult to perform in these patients. The aim of the study was to use cardiac magnetic resonance (CMR) strain analysis and mitral annular plane systolic excursion (MAPSE) in the detection of early left ventricular (LV) dysfunction in DMD patients.

Hippocampal involvement in nonpathological déjà vu: Subfield vulnerability rather than temporal lobe epilepsy equivalent.

Introduction: Morphological correlates of nonpathological déjà vu (DV) have been identified recently within the human brain. Significantly reduced gray matter volume (GMV) within a set of cortical and subcortical regions reported in subjects experiencing DV seems to mirror the distribution of GMV reduction in mesial temporal lobe epilepsy (MTLE) patients but vary in terms of the hippocampus. Another condition associated with hippocampal GMV reduction and DV alike disturbance in memory processing is schizophrenia (SCH).

Retrospective analysis of paediatric injuries associated with water in Czech Republic in the context of the European at worldwide situation.

Background: Injuries encountered in association with the aquatic environment negatively affect morbidity and mortality rates in children. It is the second (in Bohemia the third) most frequent cause of injuries in children under 19 years of age. The targets of the study are as follows: to analyse the problems of children's injuries associated with water in the Czech Republic by the mechanism of their origination; to compare the analysis of results with the situation abroad; to evaluate risk factors associated with the aquatic environment.