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This exploratory study seeks the effects of metacognitive awareness of reading strategies on reading comprehension skills of Turkish EFL students. To do so, a total of 82 freshman EFL students have responded to a 30-item questionnaire of Metacognitive Awareness Reading Strategies Inventory (MARSI) developed by Mokhtari and Reichard (2002). The MARSI comprises three dimensions: Global, Problem Solving, and Support. The results have indicated that the students frequently use these dimensions while they are reading texts to varying degrees. In addition, results have indicated that there is an overall significant relation between MARS and students reading skills in terms of achievement. High successful ones prefer utilizing their problem solving strategies (M=3.95) more than the other two (M=3.80 for Global; M=3.56 for SRS). As to the gender, the results have shown no significant difference between male and female EFL students in general. However, they only differ in PSS, which clearly indicates that females have higher mean scores than males in PSS. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Spasticity can cause significant disability in affected patients. We present a retrospective analysis of 137 patients with spasticity of different pathogenesis who have been treated with botulinum toxin type A (BTX) in our movement disorder clinic between 1993 and 2007. Methods: BTX dose per treatment and per treated muscle, global clinical improvement (GCI; 0–3; 0=no effect, 3=marked improvement), side effects, latency of response and duration of response were recalled from our database. Statistical analysis was carried out using SPSS v 14.0 (SPSS, Chicago, IL). Results: The duration of treatment ranged from 2 to 11 years with a mean value of 5±2 years. Summarizing all patients, the mean latency of response was 6.2±3.1 days for Botox® and 6.8±3.8 for Dysport®. The mean duration of response was similar for both products: 11.6±2.9 weeks for Botox® and 11.3±2.7 weeks for Dysport®. Patients reported a clear improvement in spasticity for both preparations, which was reflected in a mean GCI of 2.6±0.4 for Botox® and 2.5±0.3 for Dysport®. There was a significant negative correlation between duration of spasticity and improvement after BTX treatment. Discussion: Our data confirm that BTX is a safe and effective treatment of spasticity of different origin over a long period of time. Furthermore, the data imply that BTX treatment should start early after appearance of spasticity to obtain better treatment response. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Introduction: We present a retrospective analysis of 145 patients with hemifacial spasm (HFS) treated with botulinum toxin type A (BTX; Botox® or Dysport®) in our movement disorder clinic between 1993 and 2007. Methods: BTX dose per treatment and per treated muscle, global clinical improvement (GCI; 0–3; 0=no effect, 3=marked improvement), side effects, latency and duration of response were recalled from our database. Statistical analysis was carried out using SPSS v 14.0 (SPSS, Chicago, IL). Results: The mean dosage of BTX was 22±10 units (ranged from 5 to 50 units) for Botox® and 51±24 units (ranged from 15 to 100U) for Dysport®. Treatment duration ranged from 2 to 11 years with a mean value of 6 years. The mean latency of response was 6.1±3.2 days for Botox® and 5.9±3.4 for Dysport®. The mean duration of response was similar for both products: 12.1±3.1 weeks for Botox® and 12.2±3.7 weeks for Dysport®. The good treatment effect was reflected by GCI values above 2.5. The mean GCI for Botox® was 2.6±0.3 and 2.6±0.4 for Dysport®. None of the patients was a primary or secondary non-responder. Discussion: Our data confirm the long-term safety and effectiveness of BTX treatment in HFS. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]