Visual word form processing deficits driven by severity of reading impairments in children with developmental dyslexia.

The visual word form area (VWFA) in the left ventral occipito-temporal (vOT) cortex is key to fluent reading in children and adults. Diminished VWFA activation during print processing tasks is a common finding in subjects with severe reading problems. Here, we report fMRI data from a multicentre study with 140 children in primary school (7.9-12.2 years; 55 children with dyslexia, 73 typical readers, 12 intermediate readers). All performed a semantic task on visually presented words and a matched control task on symbol strings. With this large group of children, including the entire spectrum from severely impaired to highly fluent readers, we aimed to clarify the association of reading fluency and left vOT activation during visual word processing. The results of this study confirm reduced word-sensitive activation within the left vOT in children with dyslexia. Interestingly, the association of reading skills and left vOT activation was especially strong and spatially extended in children with dyslexia. Thus, deficits in basic visual word form processing increase with the severity of reading disability but seem only weakly associated with fluency within the typical reading range suggesting a linear dependence of reading scores with VFWA activation only in the poorest readers.

The use of the LARS system in the treatment of AC joint instability - Long-term results after a mean of 7.4 years.

BACKGROUND: The acromioclavicular (AC) joint is of great importance for shoulder stability and one of the most frequently injured regions of the shoulder. HYPOTHESIS: AC joint reconstruction with the ligament augmentation & reconstruction system (LARS™) leads to a good-to-excellent outcome at long-term follow-up. PATIENTS AND METHODS: This study was performed as a retrospective single-centre data analysis of a level-I trauma centre. All patients treated operatively for an acute AC dislocation with the LARS™ between 2003 and 2013 were included. RESULTS: The study group consisted of three female (6%) and 44 male patients (94%) with an average age of 37 years and a minimum follow-up of two years. The overall mean clinical outcomes at latest follow-up were: Constant 93, DASH 2.64, ASES 96, SST 97, UCLA 34 and VAS 0.4-representing a good-to-excellent outcome in all patients. Overall, 45 patients (96%) reported to be very satisfied with the achieved result at latest follow-up. In five patients, (11%) complications occurred during the follow-up period, requiring surgical revision in four of the five patients (80%). CONCLUSION: AC joint reconstruction with the LARS™ achieves good-to-excellent clinical and functional outcomes at long-term follow-up with a surgical revision rate of 8.5%. LEVEL OF EVIDENCE: Retrospective follow-up study, case series, level IV.

Refixation after lateral meniscus tear followed by complete luxation in an 11-year-old.

Isolated meniscus tears with consecutive complete luxation of the meniscus are an exceptional injury especially in children. We report a case of an 11-year-old girl with a complete luxation of the lateral meniscus, injured by a jump from low height. Following clinical examination and magnetic resonance imaging, a surgical refixation of the entire lateral meniscus was performed. Short-time clinical and radiological follow-up was conducted.

Rupture of the extensor pollicis longus tendon after wrist trauma.

In the period of 1976 to 1997 our clinic treated 33 patients after Colles fracture with ruptured extensor pollicis longus tendon. The occurrence of functional loss was observed after the trauma in 3 to 9 weeks. In 30 cases the surgical treatment of extensor indicis proprius tendon, in 2 cases a direct suture of the ruptured tendon was performed as a primary repair and in one patient a palmaris longus interposition was utilised.

Serum lipids, lipoproteins and apolipoproteins in children with and without familial history of premature coronary heart disease.

A positive family history of premature cardiovascular disease is recognized as an independent predictor of risk for cardiovascular death in first degree relatives. It is of great interest whether the progeny of families with manifest coronary heart disease can be discriminated from children with a negative family history. Therefore, we examined serum lipids, lipo- and apolipoproteins in 338 offspring whose fathers and/or mothers had been affected with a myocardial infarction before the age of 55, in comparison with 448 age- and sex-matched, healthy controls. Statistical analyses revealed marked differences between the two groups: In both age groups only high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C), as a single parameter, and the ratios of total cholesterol (TC)/HDL-C, as well as low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C)/HDL-C, showed a significant difference between the risk and nonrisk groups. Whereas the ratio of apolipoprotein A1 (ApoAI) to apolipoprotein B is the strongest discrimination in children less than or equal to 20 years, the ratio of HDL-C/ApoAI takes this position in the older ones. Apolipoproteins seem to be of considerable importance as risk indicators between offspring who might be at higher risk for later cardiovascular diseases, even in childhood and younger adolescence.