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Purpose: The purpose of this study was to assess cortical hemodynamic response patterns in 3- to 7-year-old children listening to two speech modes: normally vocalized and whispered speech. Understanding whispered speech requires processing of the relatively weak, noisy signal, as well as the cognitive ability to understand the speaker's reason for whispering. Method: Near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) was used to assess changes in cortical oxygenated hemoglobin from 16 typically developing children. Results: A profound difference in oxygenated hemoglobin levels between the speech modes was found over left ventral sensorimotor cortex. In particular, over areas that represent speech articulatory body parts and motion, such as the larynx, lips, and jaw, oxygenated hemoglobin was higher for whisper than for normal speech. The weaker stimulus, in terms of sound energy, thus induced the more profound hemodynamic response. This, moreover, occurred over areas involved in speech articulation, even though the children did not overtly articulate speech during measurements. Conclusion: Because whisper is a special form of communication not often used in daily life, we suggest that the hemodynamic response difference over left ventral sensorimotor cortex resulted from inner (covert) practice or imagination of the different articulatory actions necessary to produce whisper as opposed to normal speech.

This letter discusses the case of a 50-year-old man with obstructive hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HOCM) who underwent a septal myectomy (the Morrow procedure). During the procedure, a coronary artery fistula was detected using transesophageal echocardiography (TEE) during terminal warm blood cardioplegia infusion. The TEE allowed for the intraoperative detection of the fistula, which was later confirmed to have closed spontaneously after the surgery. The authors emphasize the importance of TEE in detecting and assessing coronary artery fistulas during the Morrow procedure. [Extracted from the article]

B Correction: JA Clin Rep 9, 23 (2023) b B https://doi.org/10.1186/s40981-023-00617-9 b Following publication of the original article [[1]], the author reported that there are citations to Figs. Reference 1 Katori N, Yamakawa K, Kida K. The incidence of hypotension during general anesthesia: a single-center study at a university hospital. The paragraph should read: From We also calculated the percentage of events that continued for more than or equal to 10 min at each hypotensive threshold using the data presented in Fig. [Extracted from the article]

Background: Scented face masks are commonly used during the induction phase of anesthesia. The present study investigated whether the use of a scented mask improved mask acceptance before the slow induction of anesthesia in pediatric patients., Methods: This prospective, randomized controlled trial enrolled patients aged 2-10 years who were scheduled to undergo surgery under general anesthesia. Patients were randomly assigned to either of regular unscented (control group) or scented (experimental group) face masks before anesthesia induction with a parent. The primary outcome was the mask acceptance score, rated on a validated 4-point from 1 point (not afraid; easily accepts the mask) to 4 points (afraid of a mask; crying or struggling). The secondary outcome was heart rate assessed by pulse oximetry in the pediatric ward before transfer to the operating room (OR), at the entrance to the OR, at the patient notification of mask fitting by the anesthesiologist, and after mask fitting., Results: Seventy-seven patients were accessed for eligibility, with 67 enrolled in the study: 33 in the experimental group and 34 in the control group. Mask acceptance was significantly greater among patients aged 2-3 years in the experimental than in the control group ( p  < 0.05)., Conclusion: The use of a scented mask can improve mask acceptance before anesthesia induction with a parental presence in pediatric patients aged 2-3 years. Clinical Trial Registration : https://upload.umin.ac.jp/cgi-open-bin/ctr&#95;e/ctr&#95;view.cgi?recptno=R000040819., Competing Interests: The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2023 Abukawa, Takano, Hobo, Hosaka, Kimura, Suga, Katori and Tsubokawa.)