ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: Epilepsia partialis continua (EPC) is a variant of focal motor status epilepticus that can occur as a single or repetitive episode with progressive or nonprogressive characteristics. OBSERVATIONS: The authors describe the feasibility of identifying focal EPC in a 33-year-old woman using video electroencephalography (VEEG), electroencephalography source localization, [18F]fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography, magnetic resonance imaging, and psychiatric and neuropsychological assessments and of treating it with stereo electroencephalography-guided radiofrequency (SEEG-RF) ablation. EPC comprised recurrent myoclonus of the right thigh and iliopsoas with a progressive pain syndrome after left anterior-temporo-mesial resection. Switching between VEEG under regular and epidural block helped to define myoclonus as the presenting ictal symptom with a suspected seizure onset zone in the left parietal paramedian lobule. After the epileptic network was identified, SEEG-RF ablation abolished all seizures. No correlation was found between pain and VEEG/SEEG abnormalities. Rehabilitation began 3 days after the SEEG-RF ablation. By 1 year of follow-up, the patient had no EPC and could walk with assistance in rehabilitation; however, due to the abrupt abolishment of EPC and underlying psychological factors, the patient perceived her pain as overriding, which prevented her from walking. LESSONS: The application of SEEG-RF ablation is an efficient therapeutic option for focal EPC with special concerns regarding concurrent nonepileptic pain. https://thejns.org/doi/10.3171/CASE23611.
ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: Little body of research has focused on the epidemic transmissibility and language interface. AIMS: In this paper, we aim to investigate whether (i) the feature of aspiration found in the phonological inventory of several languages and (ii) the frequency of occurrence of stop consonants are associated with the transmission of COVID-19 among humans. METHODS: The study's protocol was based on a corpus of countries infected by COVID-19 and of which the linguistic repertoire includes a widely spoken language in individuals' everyday communication. We tested whether languages with and without aspiration differ in terms of COVID-19 reproduction number, and whether the frequency of occurrence of stop consonants in several languages correlates with the virus reproduction number. RESULTS: The results demonstrated no significant effect of aspiration on the transmission of the virus, while a positive correlation between the frequency of occurrence and transmissibility was observed only for the consonant /p/; this might suggest that languages that use /p/ more frequently might spread the virus more easily. CONCLUSIONS: The findings of this study can offer a tentative picture of how speaking specific sounds can be associated with COVID-19 transmissibility.
