Seasonal and Monthly Variations of Central Serous Chorioretinopathy and the Association with Choroidal Thickness in Chinese Population

Purpose: To study seasonal and monthly variation in Central Serous Chorioretinopathy (CSC) and its possible association with choroidal thickness among Chinese population.

Peripheral Facial Paresis and COVID-19 Case Report

Among the neurological complications that occurred during Corona Virus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) infection, peripheral facial paresis is one of the conditions that can occur both during and after the Severe Acute Respiratory Tract Syndrome Corona Virus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection period. We present the case of a young man, aged 29 years, who presented the appearance of a peripheral facial paresis on the 14th day after the onset of symptoms, isolation and PCR detection of SARS-CoV-2 infection. The patient was evaluated clinically, neurologically, underwent laboratory tests, EKG, chest Radiography, Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI)/Magnetic resonance Angiography (MRA) and received corticotherapy, gastric antisecretory medication, antiviral medication, vitamin B group, neurotrophic medication and facial gymnastics, with good evolution and complete remission of clinical symptoms after 21 days. It is particularly important to carefully evaluate patients during the isolation period, symptomatic/asymptomatic for COVID-19 infection, as a possible complication could be peripheral facial paresis, which is why, we should evaluate, detect and treat early to reduce any persistent long-term neurological effects. Future studies are needed to identify and correlate peripheral facial paresis with SARS-CoV-2 infection as well as to detect the causes of neurological complications during or after COVID-19 infection.

Encephalopathy Associated with Ifosfamide Use in the Treatment of Patient with Diffuse Large B Cell Lymphoma

Ifosfamide-Related Encephalopathy (IRE) is a unique neurotoxic side effect of ifosfamide that can occur during or after its administration. The exact underlying mechanism responsible for the development of IRE is not yet known; however, mitochondrial toxicity from one or more ifosfamide metabolites has been proposed. Most cases of IRE are mild and resolve spontaneously with discontinuation of ifosfamide in addition to supportive care, but some patients progress to severe encephalopathy with the risk of seizure, coma, and even death. Electroencephalogram (EEG) abnormalities with or without apparent clinical neurotoxicity symptoms develop in a high percentage of patients treated with ifosfamide, with diffuse slowing being the most common finding; in addition, generalized periodic discharges, triphasic waves, periods of suppression, and patterns consistent with nonconvulsive status epilepticus have also been reported.

Delayed Diagnosis of Childhood Brain Tumors in Kenyatta National Hospital

Background: Brain tumors are the second commonest tumors after leukemia and the most common solid tumors in children. Childhood brain tumors are the most common cause of cancer-related deaths in children. Delayed diagnosis is associated with increased morbidity and mortality. Currently, there are no specific studies on this subject in Kenya.

Increased Volumes of Subcortical Regions in Patients with Alcohol Dependence

Objectives: This study aimed to compare the volumes of subcortical regions of Individuals with Alcohol Dependence (IADs) with Health Controls (HCs), and investigate the relationship between the volumes and clinical traits in the IADs.

The Primary Pitfalls on the Road to Understanding Consciousness

Consciousness and the human mind have been pondered for centuries [1,2]. Today the most fundamental, likely outlines of the explanation of consciousness are known, and from this landscape we are well-positioned to fill in the basket of specific theories that will include the correct one. However, many errors in thinking and assumptions have accumulated, and even gained fashion, that obscure our progress. It is time to eliminate these, which we do herein by enumerating the complementary true assertions. Following that we mention four principles for choosing direction for further work. We conclude with a framework for further progress.

Two Cases of Encephalitis with Brainstem Involvement and Microglial Activation in SARS-CoV-2 Infection

Corona Virus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) primary involves the respiratory system. However, as many other viral pandemics, the current severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) is also characterized by nervous system involvement, mainly in elderly patients with comorbidity. The involvement of the nervous system is manifested by a variety of clinical symptoms, and results in morphology: encephalopathy, polyneuritis, brainstem encephalitis, etc. We present two PCR proven cases of patients who died after infection with the SARS-CoV-2 virus. The analysis of the inflammatory findings mainly manifested by perivenous lymphocytic infiltrates, also showed increase number of activated microglial cells. The blood supply of most venous vessels with different size and a pronounced “sludge” phenomenon made us a special impression, as in some sections these changes were demonstrated by a presence of thrombosis. Inflammatory manifestations were also observed in the brainstem near to the stem nuclei. We emphasize on the pathomorphological changes found in the brainstem, where inflammatory manifestations were also observed near to the stem nuclei.

Independent Components Analysis “Artifact Correction” Distorts EEG Phase in Artifact Free Segments

EEG artifact is defined as any electrical potential that is not produced by the brain, e.g., eye movement or head movement or muscle, 50 Hz-60 Hz line noise, etc. The most commonly used method of artifact elimination from an EEG recording is to delete the parts of the EEG recording that contain artifact and thereby leave the artifact free parts of the recording unchanged. Recently, Independent Components Analysis (ICA) has been used to decompose the original EEG into a set of components and then subjectively identify components that statistically load on one or more Independent Components (ICs) and using a smaller set of ICs then replace the original EEG recording with a different time series referred to as the ICA replacement or ICA-R. The purpose of this study is to mathematically and empirically test the distortion of the artifact free parts of the EEG when using ICA-R to replace the entire EEG digital record. The results of Joint-Time-Frequency-Analysis (JTFA) and the FFT spectral analyses demonstrated that ICA-Replacement of the original EEG produced phase distortions at each and every time point of the recording between all channel pairs. In contrast, the standard method of deleting the segments of an EEG recording that contain artifact did not distort the artifact free segments of the EEG recording. Conclusions are that ICA Replacement (ICA-R) is a severe distortion of the phase differences and time differences of the electrophysiology of the human scalp recorded Electroencephalogram (EEG) and invalidates all subsequent analyses that rely upon the imaginary part of the crossspectrum including scalp coherence, phase and network analyses that are dependent on the physics of electrical and magnetic fields.