Advanced Trauma Life Support (ATLS) in Hungary; The First 10 Years.

Advanced Trauma Life Support (ATLS) programs are recognized as the standard educational trauma program worldwide. Data suggest that ATLS has a positive impact on the value of trauma care. The ATLS Hungary program has been started in 2005, celebrating its 10-year anniversary this year. In the present brief communication a brief overview is provided on the program.Student evaluation and statistical data about the participants were collected throughout the 10-year history of the Hungarian program.Student evaluation shows a high level of satisfaction amongst the participating doctors. Most participants are working in higher level centers. The Hungarian program shows good quality according to the participants. Establishing at least one new center is crucial to be able to provide the course for every professional interested in it or required to take it.

Does obstetric brachial plexus injury influence speech dominance?

OBJECTIVE: Right-handedness and left-sided language lateralization is an unresolved mystery with unknown cause/effect relations. Most studies suggest that the language lateralization is related to a fundamental brain asymmetry: right-handedness may be secondary. We analyzed the possibility of an opposite cause/effect relation: whether asymmetric hand usage (as a cause) can influence language lateralization (as a consequence). METHODS: We determined language lateralization by functional magnetic resonance imaging in 15 subjects whose upper limb (UL) had been injured at birth because of unilateral damage of the brachial plexus. These subjects were able to use only one (the noninjured) UL perfectly. RESULTS: We found correlation between the severity of right-sided UL injuries and hand usage dysfunction and the degree of left-to-right shift of language lateralization. There was, however, not a complete switch of language lateralization. INTERPRETATION: Right-sided UL injury can induce a left-to-right shift in language lateralization, suggesting that hand usage can influence language lateralization. These findings may contradict the broadly accepted theory that right-handedness is a secondary phenomenon caused by left-sided hemispheric language lateralization. However, the cause/effect problem between asymmetric hand usage and language lateralization is not resolved in this study. Our findings may support the theory that gestures had a crucial role in human language evolution and is a part of the language system even today.