Search

Background: Altered sensory processing in migraine has been demonstrated by several studies in unimodal, and especially visual, tasks. While there is some limited evidence hinting at potential alterations in multisensory processing among migraine sufferers, this aspect remains relatively unexplored. This study investigated the interictal cognitive performance of migraine patients without aura compared to matched controls, focusing on associative learning, recall, and transfer abilities through the Sound-Face Test, an audiovisual test based on the principles of the Rutgers Acquired Equivalence Test. Materials and Methods: The performance of 42 volunteering migraine patients was compared to the data of 42 matched controls, selected from a database of healthy volunteers who had taken the test earlier. The study aimed to compare the groups' performance in learning, recall, and the ability to transfer learned associations. Results: Migraine patients demonstrated significantly superior associative learning as compared to controls, requiring fewer trials, and making fewer errors during the acquisition phase. However, no significant differences were observed in retrieval error ratios, generalization error ratios, or reaction times between migraine patients and controls in later stages of the test. Conclusion: The results of our study support those of previous investigations, which concluded that multisensory processing exhibits a unique pattern in migraine. The specific finding that associative audiovisual pair learning is more effective in adult migraine patients than in matched controls is unexpected. If the phenomenon is not an artifact, it may be assumed to be a combined result of the hypersensitivity present in migraine and the sensory threshold-lowering effect of multisensory integration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: The Rutgers Acquired Equivalence Test is a visually guided equivalence learning paradigm that involves rule acquisition and generalization. Earlier we found impaired performance in this paradigm among adult migraine patients without aura. The aim of the study was to investigate if similar impairments can be found already in the pediatric form of the disease and to compare the performance of the pediatric study population with that of an adult study population. We hypothesized that the deficits observed in adults would be observable already in the pediatric population. Methods: Twenty-seven children and adolescents newly diagnosed with migraine without aura and 27 age- and sex-matched healthy controls were tested with the Rutgers Acquired Equivalence Test. Their performance data were compared to each other and those of an earlier adult study population involving 22 patients and 22 age- and sex-matched healthy controls. Four parameters characterizing performance in the two main phases of the paradigm were calculated for each of the four groups. Performance parameters were compared with Mann-Whitney U test. Results: In contrast to the decreased performance of the adult patients in the Rutgers Acquired Equivalence Test, no significant difference was found between pediatric patients and controls in any phase of the paradigm. Conclusion: Children living with migraine without aura do not exhibit the same cognitive deficits in the Rutgers Acquired Equivalence Test as their adult counterparts. It can be hypothesized that the deficit of equivalence learning is not an inherent feature of the migrainous cognitive profile, rather the result of the interference of the disease with normal development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: The compromise effect is a well-known phenomenon in the world of marketing, but it is rarely examined in medical settings. In dental setting, the patient often has to make treatment-related decisions with price as the only available and comprehensible information to help informed choice. Aim: We sought to determine if the compromise effect plays a role in dental treatment choices, and if yes, how the effect is modified by factors such as perceived quality, professional jargon in the explanations, or the importance of keeping one's own teeth intact. Method: 676 volunteers participated in this questionnaire-based study. The questionnaires were filled in anonymously. Altogether 8 versions of the same questionnaire were generated, in which the following information was given in varying combinations: the names of five different dental treatments from cheap to expensive, their possible prices, and additional information about the treatment. Statistical analysis: The significance of the relationship between the relative frequency of responses and the available additional information was determined by chi-square test and Fisher's exact test. Results: The respondents did not approach dental treatment-related decisions on a heuristic basis by default, most probably because of their preconceptions and previous experiences in connection with dental treatments. Esthetics turned out to be of utmost importance and expectable lifespan was also information that significantly influenced the choices. Conclusion: Extra information can and does influence informed dental treatment choice on the patient side, provided it is offered in a clear, proper, and intelligible form, which points out the importance of professional communication. Orv Hetil. 2019; 160(38): 1503-1509.

Cardiovascular disease is recognized as the leading cause of death and disability in the world. The majority of these deaths can be attributed to atherosclerotic disease and thromboembolic events leading to ischemic heart disease and stroke. The role of inflammation is well recognized in the pathogenesis of atherosclerosis and atherothrombosis. Increasing number of studies support the hypothesis that periodontal disease, specifically periodontitis, is a potential risk factor for atherosclerosis and thus cardiovascular disease. Chronic infections of periodontal pockets act as reservoirs for pathogenic microorganisms, their toxins and degradation products, raising the overall systemic inflammatory burden. Entering the circulation and atherosclerotic lesions themselves, they lead to further local and systemic inflammatory response, in all contributing to atherosclerosis progression, potentially increasing cardiovascular risk. Along these lines, good oral health in general and the periodontal treatment in more severe cases may play a role in cardiovascular risk reduction, primary and secondary prevention. The present review summarizes the possible pathophysiological mechanisms linking periodontal and cardiovascular pathology, lists clinical evidence between periodontitis and specific forms of cardiovascular disease and looks forward at the potential role of periodontal treatment in cardiovascular disease prevention and treatment. Orv Hetil. 2019; 160(11): 419-425.

The aim of this comprehensive article is to provide guidelines for the daily treatment of patients with epidermolysis bullosa, thus contributing to the attainment of their higher quality of life through the improvement of their oral health. Moreover, it is our intention to facilitate the cooperation among Hungarian general practitioners, dermatologists and dentists. Relying on recent research findings of the international literature, we intend to help general practitioners or dermatologists treating epidermolysis bullosa patients on a daily basis by identifying symptoms that require consulting an oral professional on the one hand, and to present the most important prevention strategies and further treatments advised for dentists on the other. Focusing on various aspects of dental treatment, we specify how a dentist can treat the patient without causing additional wounds or pain, and what kinds of therapy are justified by this approach. Orv Hetil. 2017; 158(40): 1577-1583.

Unlabelled: The main differences between the geniculate and the ascending tectal/extrageniculate visual systems are the presence of multisensory units and the absence of the strict retinotopical organization in the tectal system., Aim: To investigate the coding of the visual and multisensory information in the tectal system, and to clarify the direction of visual information flow between the extrastriate cortex along the anterior ectosylvian sulcus and the lateral medialis-suprageniculate nucleus of the posterior thalamus., Method: Extracellular single-cell recordings were carried out in anesthetized, immobilized cats to visual and multisensory stimulation., Result: The thalamo-cortical route seems to have a dominant role in the bidirectional information flow between the LM-Sg and the AES cortex. The panoramic neurons in the AES cortex and the LM-Sg may code in their discharge rate the site of the spatial visual and multisensory information and exhibited multisensory cross-modal integration., Conclusion: Our results demonstrate the existence of a distributed population code of spatial multisensory information in the tectal visual system.

Despite extensive analysis of the motor functions of the basal ganglia and the fact that multisensory information processing appears critical for the execution of their behavioral action, little is known concerning the sensory functions of the caudate nucleus (CN) and the substantia nigra (SN). In the present study, we set out to describe the sensory modality distribution and to determine the proportions of multisensory units within the CN and the SN. The separate single sensory modality tests demonstrated that a majority of the neurons responded to only one modality, so that they seemed to be unimodal. In contrast with these findings, a large proportion of these neurons exhibited significant multisensory cross-modal interactions. Thus, these neurons should also be classified as multisensory. Our results suggest that a surprisingly high proportion of sensory neurons in the basal ganglia are multisensory, and demonstrate that an analysis without a consideration of multisensory cross-modal interactions may strongly underrepresent the number of multisensory units. We conclude that a majority of the sensory neurons in the CN and SN process multisensory information and only a minority of these units are clearly unimodal.