Effects of prism adaptation and visual scanning training on perceptual and response bias in unilateral spatial neglect.

In some patients with unilateral spatial neglect, symptoms reflect impaired lateralized spatial attention and representation (perceptual bias) whereas in others the inability to respond to stimuli located in contralesional space (response bias). Here, we investigated whether prismatic adaptation (PA) and visual scanning training (VST) differentially affect perceptual and response bias and whether rehabilitation outcome depends on the type of bias underlying symptoms. Two groups of neglect patients in the subacute phase were evaluated before, immediately after, and two weeks following 10 days of PA ( = 9) or VST ( = 9).

Thin-Film Morphology and Optical Properties of Photoisomerizable Donor-Acceptor Oligothiophenes.

It was recently reported that the most popular electron-accepting units introduced to π-conjugated oligomers studied for organic photovoltaic applications are susceptible to unwanted and even destructive photochemical reactions. The consequences of / photoisomerization of the popular 2-(1,1-dicyanomethylene)rhodanine (RCN) unit on the optical and morphological properties of a homologous series of RCN-functionalized oligothiophenes are studied here. Oligomers consisting of one, two, or three thiophene units were studied as pure isomers and with isomer compositions of 25, 53, and 45%, respectively, for / mixtures.

The Effect of Hyperthermia and Radiotherapy Sequence on Cancer Cell Death and the Immune Phenotype of Breast Cancer Cells.

Hyperthermia (HT) is an accepted treatment for recurrent breast cancer which locally heats the tumor to 39-44 °C, and it is a very potent sensitizer for radiotherapy (RT) and chemotherapy. However, currently little is known about how HT with a distinct temperature, and particularly, how the sequence of HT and RT changes the immune phenotype of breast cancer cells. Therefore, human MDA-MB-231 and MCF-7 breast cancer cells were treated with HT of different temperatures (39, 41 and 44 °C), alone and in combination with RT (2 × 5 Gy) in different sequences, with either RT or HT first, followed by the other.

Trends in hospital admissions and mortality rates for asthma in Ecuador: a joinpoint regression analysis of data from 2000 to 2018.

Background: Although asthma has emerged as an important public health problem over recent decades in Latin America, there are limited published data on national hospital admission and mortality rates for asthma from countries in the region.

Objective: To analyse trends in asthma hospitalisation and mortality rates in Ecuador over a 19-year period from 2000 to 2018.

Methods: Hospital discharge and death certificates listing asthma, as defined in the International Classification of Diseases 10th Revision codes (J45 and J46), were used to analyse time trends in rates of hospital admissions and mortality for asthma.