Video-based diagnosis support system for pianists with Musician's dystonia.

Background: Musician's dystonia is a task-specific movement disorder that deteriorates fine motor control of skilled movements in musical performance. Although this disorder threatens professional careers, its diagnosis is challenging for clinicians who have no specialized knowledge of musical performance. Objectives: To support diagnostic evaluation, the present study proposes a novel approach using a machine learning-based algorithm to identify the symptomatic movements of Musician's dystonia. Methods: We propose an algorithm that identifies the dystonic movements using the anomaly detection method with an autoencoder trained with the hand kinematics of healthy pianists. A unique feature of the algorithm is that it requires only the video image of the hand, which can be derived by a commercially available camera. We also measured the hand biomechanical functions to assess the contribution of peripheral factors and improve the identification of dystonic symptoms. Results: The proposed algorithm successfully identified Musician's dystonia with an accuracy and specificity of 90% based only on video footages of the hands. In addition, we identified the degradation of biomechanical functions involved in controlling multiple fingers, which is not specific to musical performance. By contrast, there were no dystonia-specific malfunctions of hand biomechanics, including the strength and agility of individual digits. Conclusion: These findings demonstrate the effectiveness of the present technique in aiding in the accurate diagnosis of Musician's dystonia.

Liver Transplantation for Benign Massive Hepatomegaly: Results From a Single Center and Contribution of the Left-to-Right Piggyback Approach.

INTRODUCTION: Polycystic liver disease and giant hepatic hemangioma may present with severe symptom burden and indicate orthotopic liver transplantation. The left-to-right piggyback approach is a useful technique for performing total hepatectomy of enlarged livers. OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study is to analyze the results of liver transplantation in patients with benign massive hepatomegaly. METHODS: This is a single-center retrospective study involving all adult patients who underwent liver transplantation due to benign massive hepatomegaly from January 2002 to June 2023. RESULTS: A total of 22 patients underwent liver transplantation (21 cases of polycystic live disease and 1 case of giant hepatic hemangioma). During the same time, there were 2075 transplants; therefore, benign massive hepatomegaly accounted for 1.06% of cases. Most patients (59.09%) were transplanted using the left-to-right piggyback technique. Seven patients had previous attempted treatment of hepatic cysts. Another patient previously underwent bilateral nephrectomy and living-donor kidney transplantation. Among these patients, in 5 cases there were massive abdominal adhesions with increased bleeding. Four of these 8 patients died in the very early perioperative period. In comparison to patients without previous cysts manipulation, massive adhesions and perioperative death were significantly higher in those cases (62.5 vs 0%, P = .002 and 50% vs 0%, P = .004, respectively). CONCLUSION: Liver transplantation due to polycystic liver disease and giant hemangioma is a rare event. Total hepatectomy is challenging due to the enlarged native liver. The left-to-right piggyback technique is useful, because it avoids vena cava twisting and avulsion of its branches. Massive adhesions due to previous cysts manipulation may lead to increased bleeding, being a risk factor for mortality.

Retransplantation for Late Hepatic Artery Thrombosis: Results from a Single Center.

BACKGROUND: Hepatic artery thrombosis is the most common vascular complication of liver transplantation. When occurring late in the postoperative course, it may have no clinical repercussions, and conservative treatment may be implemented. Some patients, however, will develop severe biliary complications due to ischemic cholangiopathy and require retransplantation. The aim of this study is to report the outcomes of retransplantation in this population. METHODS: This is a single-center retrospective study involving all adult patients who underwent liver retransplantation due to late hepatic artery thrombosis from January/2010 to December/2022. RESULTS: During the study period, 1378 liver transplants were performed in our center; 147 were retransplantations, with 13 cases of late hepatic artery thrombosis (0.94%). All had symptomatic ischemic cholangiopathy. Twelve of them had already presented previous cholangitis, bilomas, or liver abscesses and had undergone biliary stenting or percutaneous drainage. The median time between the first liver transplant and late hepatic artery thrombosis diagnosis and between this diagnosis and retransplantation were 73 and 50 days, respectively. Arterial reconstruction using splenic artery, celiac trunk, or arterial conduit from the aorta was performed in 7 cases, whereas biliary reconstruction was mostly done with choledochojejunostomy (n = 8). There were 4 perioperative deaths, 2 due to primary non-function and 2 due to refractory shock after exceedingly complex retransplants. CONCLUSION: Liver retransplantation due to late hepatic artery thrombosis is a rare condition that should be offered to patients who develop severe biliary complications and recurrent infections. It is nonetheless a challenging procedure associated with significant perioperative mortality.

Translation into Brazilian Portuguese and transcultural adaptation and validation of the treatment specific questionnaire Home Parenteral Nutrition- Quality of Life (HPN-QOL©).

BACKGROUND & AIMS: Home Parenteral Nutrition (HPN) is the main treatment for patients with chronic intestinal failure. It is commonly prescribed for nutritional recovery, survival increase and, whenever possible, improvement of quality of life. As there are no validated instruments in Brazilian Portuguese to be used in these patients, the objective of this study was to carry out the transcultural adaptation and validation of Home Parenteral Nutrition - Quality of life (HPN-QOL©) into Brazilian Portuguese. METHODS: This observational and cross-sectional study was conducted at the multidisciplinary short-bowel syndrome clinic (AMULSIC) of the Hospital das Clínicas of the University of São Paulo Medical School (HC-FMUSP). A five-stage protocol was adopted for the transcultural adaptation: initial translation; synthesis; reverse translation; experts committee and pre-test. The adapted questionnaire was applied to a convenience (representative) sample (n = 16) and Cronbach's Alpha Coefficient, Intraclass Correlation Coefficient (ICC), and Bland-Altman Test were submitted for the analysis of the internal consistency and intraobserver and interobserver reproducibility. RESULTS: The transcultural adaptation was considered excellent (Content Validity Index = 100%). The internal consistency was satisfactory for most of the scales (16/19), and α > 0.70 was 84.21%. ICC values revealed high intraobserver and interobserver reproducibility in most of the scales. No significant difference was observed between intraobservers and interobservers in any of the questions (p > 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: The questionnaire was shown as adapted and valid for use in Brazil. Future trials with a higher sample are yet to be developed to shed light on specific scales that were inconsistent. It's expected that this would contribute for the usual quality of life assessment for individuals treated with HPN in Brazil.

What Does It Take to Play the Piano? Cognito-Motor Functions Underlying Motor Learning in Older Adults.

The acquisition of skills, such as learning to play a musical instrument, involves various phases that make specific demands on the learner. Knowledge of the cognitive and motor contributions during learning phases can be helpful in developing effective and targeted interventions for healthy aging. Eighty-six healthy older participants underwent an extensive cognitive, motoric, and musical test battery. Within one session, one piano-related and one music-independent movement sequence were both learned. We tested the associations between skill performance and cognito-motor abilities with Bayesian mixed models accounting for individual learning rates. Results showed that performance was positively associated with all cognito-motor abilities. Learning a piano-related task was characterized by relatively strong initial associations between performance and abilities. These associations then weakened considerably before increasing exponentially from the second trial onwards, approaching a plateau. Similar performance-ability relationships were detected in the course of learning a music-unrelated motor task. Positive performance-ability associations emphasize the potential of learning new skills to produce positive cognitive and motor transfer effects. Consistent high-performance tasks that demand maximum effort from the participants could be very effective. However, interventions should be sufficiently long so that the transfer potential can be fully exploited.

Gender Differences in Task Specific Dystonia: What Can we Learn from Musician's Dystonia?

BACKGROUND: Musician's Dystonia (MD) is a task specific, focal dystonia which usually occurs only at the instrument. The pathophysiology is not fully understood, but several risk factors like over-practice and genetic predisposition are known. Interestingly, 80% of those affected are men, which stands in contrast to the gender distribution in other focal dystonias, such as cervical dystonia. OBJECTIVES: Our aim was to evaluate the difference in women and men with regard to risk factors leading to MD. METHODS: We investigated known risk factors for MD in a large cohort of 364 MD patients by retrospectively collecting data on practice behavior and family history. RESULTS: In line with previous studies, we found a ratio of ~4:1 men to women. Age at onset of MD was significantly lower in women; however, subsequent analysis revealed that it was a positive family history (FH+) and not gender that was associated with a lower age at onset. Furthermore, we found that those with negative family history had accumulated more practice time until onset of MD. CONCLUSIONS: These results imply that the earlier age at onset in women did not depend on gender but was due to the higher proportion of a positive family history. In contrast, men were less likely to have a positive family history, suggesting that genetic factors may not be the primary reason for the higher prevalence of MD in men. Instead, differences in practice behaviors between men and women may contribute to this gender disparity.

Plasma modification of graphene nanoplatelets surfaces.

Atmospheric plasma processing, which combines the efficacy of chemical processes and the safety of physical processes, has been used to modify the surface characteristics of graphite-based materials. In this work, two distinct plasma source gases, C4F8 and O2, with the addition of a rotary reactor were used. The effectiveness of modifying the basal plane of intercalated graphite nanoplatelets (GnP) was investigated with various analytical techniques and the visual observation of the dispersion of these plasma-treated GnP in solvents was also reported. It is shown that this low-temperature plasma processing technique can be used to successfully modify the GnP surface without significantly changing the intrinsic structure of the GnP, which is desirable in many applications. With the C4F8 plasma treatment, the immersion characteristics in solvents can be tuned and the functional groups present on the surface can be tailored to produce desired bonding environments. This surface chemistry tunability will provide the needed functionalities in creating graphene-containing composite materials.

Practice behaviors as trigger factor for the onset of Musicians' Dystonia.

Musician's Dystonia (MD) is a task-specific movement disorder that results in an involuntary cramping of muscles involved in playing an instrument such as the upper limbs or the embouchure. It is usually painless and occurs in general only at the instrument. The pathophysiology of MD is not completely understood. The present study aimed at assessing differences in practice behaviors between pianists affected by MD and Healthy Controls (HC) in the years preceding the onset of the disease. Thus, we investigated to what extent practice quantity can be considered a trigger of Musicians' Dystonia. The results showed that despite comparable practice behaviors in childhood, MD pianists incremented the amount of daily practice to a greater extent than their healthy colleagues, especially in the second and in the third decade of life. Thus, subsequent logistic regression analysis showed that high amounts of daily practice might significantly increase the risk of developing MD. Furthermore, gender-related differences in practice behaviors across groups were identified, indicating that male pianists from the MD group might not have practiced significantly more than HC male pianists before the onset of the disease. To the authors' knowledge, these are the first empirical evidence of the role of dysfunctional practice behaviors in triggering MD, which has clinical and educational implications.

Embouchure Dystonia as a Network Disease.

While the pathophysiology of embouchure dystonia, a sub-entity of musician's dystonia, is still not fully understood, recent research has shown that it involves alterations of several brain functions and networks. Maladaptive plasticity in sensorimotor integration, sensory perception, and deficient inhibitory mechanisms at cortical, subcortical, and spinal level seem to contribute to its pathophysiology. Furthermore, functional systems of the basal ganglia and the cerebellum are involved, clearly pointing toward a network disorder. We therefore propose a novel network model, based on electrophysiological and recent neuroimaging studies highlighting embouchure dystonia.

Musical Expertise and Executive Functions in Experienced Musicians.

Extensive music practice has been suggested to enhance the development of cognitive abilities over and above musical expertise. Executive functions (EFs) have been particularly investigated, given their generalizability across different domains and their crucial role in almost all aspects of cognition. However, the relationship between musical expertise and EFs is still not completely understood, as several studies have reported conflicting results. The present study aims to investigate the relationship between musical expertise and EFs, determining which facets-if any-of EFs might be particularly relevant to extensive music practice. Thirty-five student pianists completed a set of neuropsychological tasks which assessed EFs (the Trail Making Task, Design Fluency, Numerical Stroop, and the Tower of London). They also performed a short musical excerpt inspired by the piano literature. Musical expertise was assessed by considering three parameters, namely the highest academic degree in music, the lifetime amount of music practice, and the quality of the sample-based musical performance. The results indicate that postgraduate piano students did not show advantages in EFs compared to undergraduate piano students. More extensive lifetime practice in music was solely associated with faster visual reaction times on the Numerical Stroop task. The Trail Making and Design Fluency scores were significant predictors of the quality of the sample-based musical performance. In conclusion, the present data suggests that EFs and the amount of music practice do not seem to be correlated in student pianists. Nevertheless, some facets of EFs and the quality of musical performance may share substantial amounts of variance.

Reliability and Validity of the Embouchure Dystonia Severity Rating Scale.

OBJECTIVE: Embouchure dystonia (ED) is a task-specific movement disorder that leads to loss of fine motor control of the embouchure and tongue muscles in wind musicians. In contrast to musicians' hand dystonia, no validated severity rating for ED exists, posing a major obstacle for structured assessment in scientific and clinical settings. The aim of this study is to validate an ED severity rating scale (EDSRS) allowing for a standardized estimation of symptom severity in ED. METHODS: The EDSRS was set up as a composite score of six items evaluating audio-visual disease symptoms during the performance of three standardized musical tasks (sustained notes, scales, and fourths) separately for each body side. For validation, 17 musicians with ED underwent standardized audiovisual recordings during performance. Anonymized and randomized recordings were assessed by two experts in ED (raters). Statistical analysis included metrics of consistency, reliability, and construct validity with the fluctuation of the fundamental frequency of the acoustic signal (F0) (extracted in an audio analysis of the sustained notes). RESULTS: The EDSRS showed high internal consistency (Cronbach's α = 0.975-0.983, corrected item-total correlations r = 0.90-0.96), interrater reliability (intraclass correlation coefficient [ICC] for agreement/consistency = 0.94/0.96), intrarater reliability over time (ICC per rater = 0.93/0.87) and good precision (standard error of measurement = 2.19/2.65), and correlated significantly with F0 variability (r = 0.55-0.60, p = 0.011-0.023). CONCLUSION: The developed EDSRS is a valid and reliable tool for the assessment of ED severity in the hands of trained expert raters. Its easy applicability makes it suitable not only for routine clinical practice but also for scientific studies.

Relaxation dynamics of deformed polymer nanocomposites as revealed by small-angle scattering and rheology.

The relaxation dynamics of polystyrene (PS)/silica nanocomposites after a large step deformation are studied by a combination of small-angle scattering techniques and rheology. Small-angle X-ray scattering measurements and rheology show clear signatures of nanoparticle aggregation that enhances the mechanical properties of the polymer nanocomposites (PNCs) in the linear viscoelastic regime and during the initial phase of stress relaxation along with accelerated relaxation dynamics. Small-angle neutron scattering experiments under the zero-average-contrast condition reveal, however, smaller structural anisotropy in the PNCs than that in the neat polymer matrix, as well as accelerated anisotropy relaxation. In addition, the degrees of anisotropy reduction and relaxation dynamics acceleration increase with increasing nanoparticle loading. These results are in sharp contrast to the prevailing viewpoint of enhanced molecular deformation as the main mechanism for the mechanical enhancement in PNCs. Furthermore, the observed acceleration of stress relaxation and reduction in structural anisotropy point to two types of nonlinear effects in the relaxation dynamics of PNCs at large deformation.

Septuagenarian Donors and Recipients in Deceased Donor Liver Transplantation: A Brazilian Single Center Experience and Literature Review.

BACKGROUND: The number of elderly patients who have end-stage liver disease and require liver transplantation has dramatically increased. On the other hand, liver grafts from elderly donors have been offered more frequently for transplantation. The present study aims to analyze the results of liver transplants performed with donors and recipients aged ≥70 years. METHODS: We performed a single-center retrospective study of deceased donors liver transplants that involved recipients aged ≥7070 years or recipients who received grafts from donors aged ≥70 years from 2011 to 2021. A literature review on the results of liver transplantation in elderly recipients was also performed. RESULTS: Thirty septuagenarian recipients were included; their overall 1- and 5-years survival was 80% and 76.6%, respectively. The prevalence of recipients aged ≥70 years in our department was 2.65%. Twenty recipients received grafts form septuagenarian donors; their overall 1- and 5-years survival was 75%. The prevalence of donors aged ≥70 years in our department was 1%. In the literature review, 17 articles were analyzed. The 5-years survival of recipients aged ≥70 years ranged from 47.1% to 78.5%. CONCLUSIONS: Septuagenarian recipients and patients who received grafts from elderly brain-dead donors present adequate overall survival after liver transplantation. Optimized donor-recipient matching is paramount for achieving good outcomes. The combination of high-risk donors with septuagenarian recipients should be avoided as well as using grafts of elderly donors that present others risk factors. Thus, the age of the donor or recipient alone cannot be considered an absolute contraindication for liver transplantation.

Hepatic Venous Outflow Obstruction in Adult Deceased Donor Liver Transplantation: Classic Piggyback Implantation Versus a Modified Technique that Widens the Ostium of the Recipient's Left and Middle Hepatic Veins.

BACKGROUND: The classic piggyback technique uses the union of the 3 hepatic veins to perform the cavo-caval anastomosis. However, due to the lateral localization of the right hepatic vein, the partial clamping of the vena cava in this technique significantly reduces the venous return to the right atrium. To avoid this, we adopted in 2015 a modified piggyback technique, in which we use the common trunk of the middle and left hepatic veins and also perform a lateral incision toward the right in the anterior wall of the vena cava in order to widen the final ostium of the cavo-caval anastomosis. The aim of the study was to analyze the incidence of hepatic venous outflow obstruction between those 2 techniques. METHODS: Retrospective study of liver transplant recipients undergoing venography for suspected hepatic venous outflow obstruction from January 2009 to June 2021. Patients undergoing transplantation with living donors or split grafts and pediatric cases were excluded from the study. RESULTS: From January 2009 to December 2014 and from January 2015 to June 2021, 587 (group 1) and 730 (group 2) deceased-donor liver transplants were performed with the classic and the modified piggyback techniques, respectively. The incidence of cases with suspected hepatic venous outflow obstruction in groups 1 and 2 were 1.87% (n = 11) and 0.95% (n = 7), respectively (P = 0,15). The number of confirmed patients with outflow blockage that required endovascular treatment during venography in groups 1 and 2 were 4 (0.68%) and 5 (0.68%), respectively (P = 0,31). CONCLUSIONS: This modified piggyback technique did not increase the incidence of hepatic venous outflow obstruction at our service.

Incidence of Donor Hepatic Artery Thrombosis in Liver Grafts Recognized During Organ Procurement and Backtable: A Rare but Treacherous Pitfall In Liver Transplantation.

INTRODUCTION: Donor hepatic artery thrombosis (dHAT) identified during liver procurement and backtable is a rare and little-reported event that can make liver transplants unfeasible. METHODS: This is a retrospective study of dHAT identified during liver grafts procurements or backtable procedures. All grafts were recovered from brain-dead donors. The demographic characteristics of the donors and the incidence of dHAT were analyzed. The data were also compared to a cohort of donors without dHAT. RESULTS: There was a total of 486 donors during the study period. The incidence of dHAT was 1.85% (n = 9). The diagnosis of dHAT was made during procurement in 5 cases (55.5%) and during the backtable in 4 (44.4%). Most donors were female (n = 5), with an average BMI of 28.14 ± 6.9 kg/m2, hypertensive (n = 5), and with stroke as cause of brain death (n = 8). The most prevalent site of dHAT was a left hepatic artery originating from the left gastric artery (n = 4). Of the 9 cases reported, 2 livers were used for transplantation, and 7 were discarded. Comparing those cases to a cohort of 260 donors without dHAT, we found a higher incidence of anatomic variations in the hepatic artery (P = .01) and of stroke as cause of brain death (P = .05). CONCLUSION: The occurrence of dHAT before liver procurement is a rare event, however it may become a treacherous pitfall if the diagnosis is late. Grafts with anatomic variations recovered from women with brain death due to stroke and with past history of hypertension seem to be at a higher risk of presenting dHAT.

Vacuum assisted closure for defects of the abdominal wall after intestinal transplantation.

Background: Isolated intestinal transplantation (IT) is indicated in cases of intestinal failure (IF) in the absence of severe liver dysfunction. Short bowel syndrome (SBS) is the most frequent IF etiology, and due to the absence or considerable reduction of intestinal loops in the abdominal cavity in these patients, there is atrophy and muscle retraction of the abdominal wall, leading to loss of the abdominal domain and elasticity and preventing the primary closure of the abdominal wall. This study aimed to describe a technique for the closure of the abdominal wall after IT without using prostheses. Methods: Four patients underwent IT with the impossibility of primary closure of the abdominal wall. We describe a novel technique, associating a series of vacuum-assisted closure dressings, components separation, and relaxation incisions. Results: All patients presented a successful closure of the abdominal wall with the described technique, with no complications related to the abdominal wall. Conclusion: The technique proved to be safe, effective, and reproducible as an option for abdominal wall closure after IT. Employing this technique in a greater number of cases is necessary to confirm these results.

Effect of aspirin on cholesterol crystallization: A potential mechanism for plaque stabilization.

Background and aims: Cholesterol crystals (CCs) have been found to be critical in the evolution and progression of atherosclerotic plaque leading up to rupture. This includes triggering inflammation and mechanically traumatizing the plaque and surrounding tissues. Thus, inhibition of crystal formation and degrading the crystals could be an important therapeutic approach in the prevention of cardiovascular events. Because of its physico-chemical properties we examined the effect of aspirin (ASA) on cholesterol crystallization. Methods: A first experiment tested three amounts of cholesterol (1, 2, 3 g) with a wide range of ASA (0-60 mg) on cholesterol crystallization and volume expansion. A second experiment tested the effect of CCs with and without ASA in perforation of fibrous membrane during crystallization. A third experiment evaluated the effect of ASA on melting CCs in human atherosclerotic plaques. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) was used to evaluate crystal morphology. Results: Aspirin significantly inhibited cholesterol crystallization and volume expansion in a dose related fashion and even at physiologic levels (0.3 mg/ml). Moreover, ASA prevented perforation of fibrous membranes. By SEM, crystals in human atherosclerotic plaques were found melted with ASA. Conclusions: Cholesterol volume expansion during crystallization was significantly inhibited and CCs were dissolved in the presence of ASA. Fibrous membranes were not perforated with ASA because of both these effects.

Characteristics of adult patients with chronic intestinal failure due to short bowel syndrome: An international multicenter survey.

BACKGROUND AND AIMS: The case-mix of patients with intestinal failure due to short bowel syndrome (SBS-IF) can differ among centres and may also be affected by the timeframe of data collection. Therefore, the ESPEN international multicenter cross-sectional survey was analyzed to compare the characteristics of SBS-IF cohorts collected within the same timeframe in different countries. METHODS: The study included 1880 adult SBS-IF patients collected in 2015 by 65 centres from 22 countries. The demographic, nutritional, SBS type (end jejunostomy, SBS-J; jejuno-colic anastomosis, SBS-JC; jejunoileal anastomosis with an intact colon and ileocecal valve, SBS-JIC), underlying disease and intravenous supplementation (IVS) characteristics were analyzed. IVS was classified as fluid and electrolyte alone (FE) or parenteral nutrition admixture (PN). The mean daily IVS volume, calculated on a weekly basis, was categorized as <1, 1-2, 2-3 and >3 L/day. RESULTS: In the entire group: 60.7% were females and SBS-J comprised 60% of cases, while mesenteric ischaemia (MI) and Crohn' disease (CD) were the main underlying diseases. IVS dependency was longer than 3 years in around 50% of cases; IVS was infused ≥5 days/week in 75% and FE in 10% of cases. Within the SBS-IF cohort: CD was twice and thrice more frequent in SBS-J than SBS-JC and SBS-JIC, respectively, while MI was more frequent in SBS-JC and SBS-JIC. Within countries: SBS-J represented 75% or more of patients in UK and Denmark and 50-60% in the other countries, except Poland where SBS-JC prevailed. CD was the main underlying disease in UK, USA, Denmark and The Netherlands, while MI prevailed in France, Italy and Poland. CONCLUSIONS: SBS-IF type is primarily determined by the underlying disease, with significant variation between countries. These novel data will be useful for planning and managing both clinical activity and research studies on SBS.