[Whose life is it anyway? – Inevitable Christmas reflexions]
KAPÓCS Gábor
DECEMBER 19, 2023
Lege Artis Medicinae - 2023;33(12)
KAPÓCS Gábor
DECEMBER 19, 2023
Lege Artis Medicinae - 2023;33(12)
Szöveg nagyítása:
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Lege Artis Medicinae
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Lege Artis Medicinae
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Lege Artis Medicinae
[In the Laboratory of Systems Neuroscience of the Institute of Experimental Medicine, our main objective is the better understanding of the brain mechanisms of cognitive functions. We investigate the nervous system basis of learning, memory, attention and decision-making not only in normal conditions but also in pathological ones, especially concerning the neurodegenerative dementias such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease.
Our main profile is conducting animal studies, but we carry out human research too in collaboration with clinical partners. We analyse multichannel, i.e. multidimensional electrophysiological signals using both classical and modern statistical methods and new and powerful machine learning algorithms.
This study presents the activity of our team, while focusing on artificial intelligence applications.
]
Lege Artis Medicinae
[By nearing death, patients face more difficulties as they confront with their own transience, with ultimate loss of their life. Among all multidimensional needs of dying people, end-of-life spirituality has received increasing attention in scientific research during the recent decades. The aim of this study is mapping the impact of end-of-life spirituality on the quality of life as reflected in the relevant literature, and to present the scientifically significant key definitions and measurement options by their difficulties.
Review of English-language papers published after 2017, searched in PubMed and PsycINFO databases using the PRISMA-ScR protocol, with scoping review method, that investigate the impact of end-of-life spirituality. In addition, there was also supervised a review of the authors’ unpublished literature review on the same topic conducted in 2016.
A total of 59 articles were identified by the database searches. Only 2 of the previous review papers were applied here. Each reviewed paper was generally positive about the impact of end-of-life spirituality on the quality of life. Two papers mention a possible negative effect of spirituality on certain factors of the quality of life.
Semantic concerns and measurement difficulties of this topic cause discrepancies in evaluating the study results. Further research of practical spirituality should be valuable to clarify which components may cause negative coping experience in the patients.]
Clinical Neuroscience
In aging societies, the morbidity and mortality of dementia is increasing at a significant rate, thereby imposing burden on healthcare, economy and the society as well. Patients’ and caregivers’ quality of life and life expectancy are greatly determined by the early diagnosis and the initiation of available symptomatic treatments. Cholinesterase inhibitors and memantine have been the cornerstones of Alzheimer’s therapy for approximately two decades and over the years, more and more experience has been gained on their use in non-Alzheimer’s dementias too. The aim of our work was to provide a comprehensive summary about the use of cholinesterase inhibitors and memantine for the treatment of Alzheimer’s and non-Alzheimers’s dementias.
Clinical Neuroscience
[A growing body of evidence suggests that sleep plays an essential role in the consolidation of different memory systems, but less is known about the beneficial effect of sleep on relational memory processes and the recognition of emotional facial expressions, however, it is a fundamental cognitive skill in human everyday life. Thus, the study aims to investigate the effect of timing of learning and the role of sleep in relational memory processes. 84 young adults (average age: 22.36 (SD: 3.22), 21 male/63 female) participated in our study, divided into two groups: evening group and morning group indicating the time of learning. We used the face-name task to measure relational memory and facial expression recognition. There were two sessions for both groups: the immediate testing phase and the delayed retesting phase, separated by 24 hours. 84 young adults (average age: 22.36 (SD: 3.22), 21 male/63 female) participated in our study, divided into two groups: evening group and morning group indicating the time of learning. We used the face-name task to measure relational memory and facial expression recognition. There were two sessions for both groups: the immediate testing phase and the delayed retesting phase, separated by 24 hours. Our results suggest that the timing of learning and sleep plays an important role in the stabilizing process of memory representation to resist against forgetting.]
Clinical Neuroscience
[Background – Dizziness is one of the most frequent complaints when a patient is searching for medical care and resolution. This can be a problematic presentation in the emergency department, both from a diagnostic and a management standpoint. Purpose – The aim of our study is to clarify what happens to patients after leaving the emergency department. Methods – 879 patients were examined at the Semmelweis University Emergency Department with vertigo and dizziness. We sent a questionnaire to these patients and we had 308 completed papers back (110 male, 198 female patients, mean age 61.8 ± 12.31 SD), which we further analyzed. Results – Based on the emergency department diagnosis we had the following results: central vestibular lesion (n = 71), dizziness or giddiness (n = 64) and BPPV (n = 51) were among the most frequent diagnosis. Clarification of the final post-examination diagnosis took several days (28.8%), and weeks (24.2%). It was also noticed that 24.02% of this population never received a proper diagnosis. Among the population only 80 patients (25.8%) got proper diagnosis of their complaints, which was supported by qualitative statistical analysis (Cohen Kappa test) result (κ = 0.560). Discussion – The correlation between our emergency department diagnosis and final diagnosis given to patients is low, a phenomenon that is also observable in other countries. Therefore, patient follow-up is an important issue, including the importance of neurotology and possibly neurological examination. Conclusion – Emergency diagnosis of vertigo is a great challenge, but despite of difficulties the targeted and quick case history and exact examination can evaluate the central or peripheral cause of the balance disorder. Therefore, to prevent declination of the quality of life the importance of further investigation is high.]
Clinical Neuroscience
Previous studies using generic and disease specific instruments showed that both migraine and medication overuse headache are associated with lower health-related quality of life (HRQoL). The aim of our study was to assess HRQoL differences in migraineurs and in patients with MOH and to examine how headache characteristics such as years with headache, aura symptoms, triptan use, headache pain severity and headache frequency are related to HRQoL. In this cross-sectional study 334 participants were examined (248 were recruited from a tertiary headache centre and 86 via advertisements). The Comprehensive Headache-related Quality of life Questionnaire (CHQQ) was used to measure the participants’ HRQoL. Data showed normal distribution, therefore beside Chi-squared test parametric tests (e.g. independent samples t-test) were used with a two-tailed p<0.05 threshold. Linear regression models were used to determine the independent effects of sex, age, recruitment method, headache type (migraine vs. MOH) and headache characteristics (presence of aura symptoms, years with headache, headache pain severity, headache frequency and triptan use) separately for each domain and for the total score of CHQQ. Significance threshold was adopted to p0.0125 (0.05/4) to correct for multiple testing and avoid Type I error. Independent samples t-tests showed that patients with MOH had significantly lower scores on all CHQQ domains than migraineurs, except on the social subscale. Results of a series of regression analyses showed that triptan use was inversely related to all the domains of HRQoL after correction for multiple testing (p<0.0125). In addition, headache pain severity was associated with lower physical (p=0.001) and total scores (p=0.002) on CHQQ subscales. Based on the results, different headache characteristics (but not the headache type, namely migraine or MOH) were associated with lower levels of HRQoL in patients with headache. Determining which factors play significant role in the deterioration of HRQoL is important to adequately manage different patient populations and to guide public health policies regarding health service utilization and health-care costs.
Clinical Neuroscience
[Despite the decrease in transplant-related mortality, patients who receive hematopoietic stem- cell transplants often suffer from short-and long-term morbidities, poorer quality of life, and psychosocial functioning deficits. Several studies have compared the quality of life and affective symptoms of patients after under- going autologous and allogeneic hematopoi- etic stem-cell transplants. Some studies have reported similar or greater quality of life im- pairments in allogeneic hematopoietic stem- cell recipients, but the findings have been inconsistent. Our purpose was to examine the influence of the type of hematopoietic stem-cell transplantation on the quality of life and affective symptoms of patients.]
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Clinical Neuroscience
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Clinical Neuroscience
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Clinical Neuroscience
Is there any difference in mortality rates of atrial fibrillation detected before or after ischemic stroke?4.
Clinical Neuroscience
Factors influencing the level of stigma in Parkinson’s disease in western Turkey5.
Clinical Neuroscience
[The effects of demographic and clinical factors on the severity of poststroke aphasia]1.
2.
Clinical Oncology
[Pancreatic cancer: ESMO Clinical Practice Guideline for diagnosis, treatment and follow-up]3.
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