Accounts of Chemical Research最新文献

Background: Arteriovenous malformations commonly present with hemorrhage, seizures, headache and other symptomatology. However, AVMs presenting as venous hypertension, owing to downstream stenosis/occlusion of venous sinuses, are very rare. This presentation is much more common in patients with dural AVFs.

Case description: We present a young lady with left frontal arteriovenous malformation with bilateral transverse-sigmoid sinus stenosis, presenting with features of venous hypertension, which was treated with surgical excision of AVM. This case demonstrates a rare example of AVM with co-existing venous sinus stenosis distal to the nidus.

Conclusions: High flow AVMs may co-exist with venous sinus stenosis or occlusion and lead to congestive venopathy. Treatment of AVM with surgical resection can be performed safely to relieve the hyper-dynamic venous congestion.

The literature on white-collar crimes committed by women is sparse, dealing mostly with their motivations, the incidence of the phenomenon, and differences between the women who commit them and those who commit other types of offenses. This qualitative study maps factors leading women to commit such crimes, with particular focus on their family and personal histories, and on the various roles they played as children and adults, which prepared and "trained" them for future illegal behavior. Data were collected using semi-structured interviews with 18 women convicted and imprisoned for white-collar crimes. A relationship was found between problematic family background and difficulty in help seeking and a nearly obsessive need for love in adulthood, and between the latter and white-collar crime. Theoretical and practical conclusions are discussed and future directions proposed.

Although demographic characteristics are the most analyzed variables in the literature on workplace friendship, their effects on its formation and development remain unclear, owing to conflicting results. To draw generalizable conclusions, this study employed meta-analytical techniques to examine the relationships between employees' demographic characteristics and their workplace friendship, and investigated whether collectivism and year of data collection moderated this relationship. Seventy-seven empirical pieces of literature and 219 correlations (N = 34,856) were included in the final meta-analysis. Our findings revealed that male employees acquired more workplace friendships than female employees, and that organizational tenure, hierarchical position, and education were positively related to workplace friendships. However, employees' age and marital status had no significant effect on workplace friendships. Furthermore, the results of the moderating effects analysis suggested that, as collectivism diminished and data collection was delayed, the impact of certain demographic characteristics on workplace friendships became weaker.

This study investigated relationships between thin mental boundary functioning, creativity, imaginary companions (ICs), and anomalous '(entity) encounter experiences.' A convenience sample of 389 respondents completed the Revised Transliminality Scale, Oxford-Liverpool Inventory of Feelings and Experiences, Creative Experiences Questionnaire, Survey of Strange Events, and a measure of Childhood Imaginary Companions. Competing testing with path analysis found that the best-fitting model was consistent with the causal chain of 'Thin Boundaries (transliminality and schizotypy) → Creative Experiences → ICs → (Entity) Encounter Experiences.' These results suggest that deep-types of ICs (i.e., showing apparent independent agency) are perhaps most accurately characterized as syncretic cognitions versus hallucination-like experiences. The authors examine these findings relative to study limitations, as well as discussing the need for future research that approaches ICs as a special mental state that can facilitate allied altered-anomalous experiences. In this context, this study furthered understanding of relationships between conscious states related to mental boundaries, childhood imaginary companions, creative experiences, and entity encounters.

Background: Spinal paragangliomas are tumors of neuroendocrine origin that present with symptoms of mass effect or neurosecretion but rarely involve the central nervous system. Raised intracranial pressure and papilledema are therefore unusual presentations of a spinal paraganglioma.

Methods: We review the case of a 54-year-old man who presented with headache and visual disturbance. Fundoscopy confirmed papilledema with normal intracranial imaging. Neuraxis imaging revealed a lumbar intradural extramedullary tumor and pathological analysis confirmed a WHO Grade I spinal paraganglioma. The tumor was resected and post operatively his vison improved with resolution of optic disc swelling.

Conclusions: Raised intracranial pressure and papilledema are unusual clinical manifestations of spinal tumors and imaging the entire neuraxis can be valuable.

Background: Brain arteriovenous malformations (bAVMs) are vascular lesions that commonly present with intracranial haemorrhage. Pregnancy has been associated with an increased risk of bAVM rupture. However, their natural history in pregnant women is uncertain.

Case description: A 27-year-old female at 28 weeks of gestation presented with a compromised neurological status secondary to a ruptured left frontal Spetzler-Martin scale (SM) III + bAVM. An emergent caesarean section was performed due to the high risk of foetal distress. Endovascular treatment successfully controlled the bleeding site, and stereotactic radiosurgery was offered as a subsequent treatment option.

Conclusion: bAVMs should be considered in pregnant women with intracranial haemorrhage. The management of these lesions during pregnancy is controversial. Surgical risk and foetal development should be considered when selecting a management strategy.

For decades, language and literacy scholars working within a sociocultural framework have laboured to bring attention to the strengths of marginalized students in an effort to create more inclusive and equitable learning environments (e.g., Cummins, 2000; Dyson, 1997; González et al., 2005; Heath, 1983). While this work has moved the field forward in invaluable ways, it has not consistently engaged with processes of marginalization as a complex practice, which has produced gaps in our understanding of how we can best address it in research and practice to the benefit of all learners. Drawing on the notions of literacy socialization (Sterponi, 2012) and syncretic literacy (Duranti and Ochs, 1996; Gregory et al., 2013a), in this paper I conduct a close examination of the in- and out-of-school literacy socialization practices of Max Calfu, a seven-year-old Chilean-Canadian boy, over the course of a year-long ethnography that I conducted with his family at their home, at his Spanish-English bilingual public school, and in transit between home and school in a large Western Canadian city. At school, Max's Indigenous identity was regularly rendered invisible by the cultural capital his Chilean-national heritage held within the Spanish bilingual program (Calderón and Urrieta, 2019). Using thematic analysis (Saldaña, 2013), I demonstrate how Max incorporated the wolf figure into his literacy practices over the course of the research year, considering multiple scales of space and time, and in relation to key mediators. My analysis calls attention to the ways in which he drew on his syncretic literacy experiences to author his Indigenous identity in official and unofficial learning spaces. I conclude the paper by arguing that examining syncretism in children's literacy practices can lay the foundation for a more ethically, emotionally, and culturally engaged language education.

Introduction: Falcine meningiomas present significant surgical challenges because they often involve the falx bilaterally, are concealed by a significant amount of normal brain parenchyma and are frequently deep in location and in close proximity to the anterior cerebral arteries. Many prefer the interhemispheric approach for these lesions, but this operative corridor is not without risk as venous infarctions and cortical injury can occur.

Clinical presentation: We present an alternative technique utilizing a transcortical approach to resect a giant, bilobed falcine meningioma in a 68-year-old female who presented with progressive abulia, urinary incontinence, and bilateral lower extremity weakness over 2 years. A unilateral right frontal craniotomy and a corticectomy through the right superior frontal gyrus was used to safely resect the entire tumor. The patient tolerated the procedure well and was discharged home without issue. Pathology demonstrated that the lesion was an atypical meningioma and she subsequently received adjuvant fractionated radiotherapy. At 2-year follow-up, she has no neurologic deficits, never developed any postoperative seizures and has not had any evidence of tumor recurrence.

Conclusion: The transcortical approach can be used as a safe alternative for resecting falcine meningiomas without adding significant undue risk to the patient.

Background: Craniofacial fibrous dysplasia (CFD) typically occurs in the facial bones and anterior cranial vault and can produce both disfigurement and functional limitations for patients disfigurement. Treatment consists of reducing the abnormal bone. Bone contouring can become challenging when the exposure does not extend to the corresponding normal contralateral structures for comparison or when normal landmarks are not available, which may compromise the overall aesthetic outcome. We describe a technique using dynamic mirroring to accurately contour the involved part of the cranium in a case of giant CFD.

Observations: A 49-year-old male presented with a giant deforming fibrous dysplasia of the right mastoid and parieto-temporo-occiput that was causing functional limitations due to the size of the bony mass. This was managed with multidisciplinary bony reduction. Several neurovascular structures were in proximity to the areas of planned drilling of the expansile lesion, and dynamic mirroring of the uninvolved left skull was utilized to maximize safety and symmetry of reduction. High-speed drilling of the right occipital bone was performed until the navigation system alerted the surgeon that symmetric depth had been achieved. There were no complications from the procedure and this technique maximized the limits of symmetric reduction without significantly increasing surgical complexity or duration.

Lessons: Dynamic mirroring of bony structures in the posterior cranium is not commonly employed in neurosurgical practice. This technique may help improve the aesthetic outcomes of bony reduction in craniofacial dysplasia and a variety of similarly managed bony lesions, contour cranioplasties, and in unilateral craniosynostosis surgery.

Introduction: Total resection of cystic craniopharyngiomas is challenging, especially for some large cystic tumors, because it is often associated with high recurrence and morbidity rates. Minimally invasive cyst decompression and continuous drainage are appropriate to manage clinical symptoms. We reviewed our experience of the past 11 years to determine the long-term effects of neuroendoscopic surgery (NES) combined with Ommaya reservoir (OR) for the treatment of cystic craniopharyngiomas.

Methods: We retrospectively analyzed the data of 15 adult patients with cystic craniopharyngiomas at a single institution with the primary goal to evaluate the treatment mode with initial adequate decompression of the cyst under visualization and continuous drainage. The study endpoints were functional outcome, cyst volume changes, and tumor progression.

Results: The median follow up was 77 (20-136) months. Clinical symptoms, e.g. increased intracranial pressure and visual impairment, could be rapidly improved after NES. The postoperative reduction in cyst volume (p < 0.001) and improvement in Karnofsky performance status (p < 0.001) were significant, and long-term tumor control was achieved in 10 patients (67%). Aspiration from the OR after progression of the tumor's cystic portion remains a major option, with only few patients requiring repeat NES procedures. No patient developed acute or severe clinical symptoms during follow up.

Conclusions: NES could decompress the craniopharyngioma cyst under visualization and enable faster clinical-symptom improvement. The minimally invasive NES combined with OR allowed long-term symptom control in most patients without surgery-related injury. This palliative treatment strategy could be an alternative modality for cystic craniopharyngioma treatment.