Middle Meningeal Artery Embolization for Chronic Subdural Hematoma: An Analysis of 35 Consecutive Patients.

INTRODUCTION: There is sufficient scientific literature that demonstrates favorable outcomes using the minimally invasive technique of middle meningeal artery embolization (MMAE) for the treatment of chronic subdural hematomas (cSDH). The authors evaluate the outcomes of 35 consecutive patients treated with MMAE, both with and without adjuvant surgical drainage (ASD), in an attempt to identify variables that may affect the outcome of patients treated with MMAE for cSDH. METHODS: A multivariate retrospective analysis was performed on patients who received MMAE for cSDH, including age, size of cSDH, ASD, presence of unilateral or bilateral collections, and use of anticoagulants. RESULTS: Twenty patients underwent MMAE with planned ASD, while 15 patients had MMAE only; these groups had an average cSDH size reduction (measured at its greatest width) of 74% and 69% of cSDH, respectively. Of the 15 patients who were initially treated only with MMAE, three (20%) required a rescue craniotomy. Twenty patients (57%) who had initially presented while receiving oral anticoagulants had an average of 71% size reduction with ASD compared to 74% reduction in those without ASD. Patients not using anticoagulants had an 84% and 78% average reduction in size, respectively. Twelve patients presented with bilateral cSDH; patients who received ASD had an average size reduction of 58%; those without ASD had 63%. Patients with unilateral cSDH had 85% and 83% reduction in size, respectively. CONCLUSION: Middle meningeal artery embolization, with or without ASD, can be a useful alternative or adjunct to standard surgical treatment for cSDH. Our study found that only three of 35 patients (9%) treated with this method required any further surgical intervention. No patient who received ASD had a recurrence of their cSDH. Further investigation, including prospective randomized studies, would be useful to better identify which patients can benefit and variables that impact the outcome of patients undergoing MMAE.

Change in somatosensory evoked potentials detect an acute arterial stent occlusion in lower extremity during spinal surgery: Case report.

The authors report a case in which an acute thrombosis of a pre-existing arterial stent occurs in a patient's lower extremity during a lumbar spinal fusion surgery. The event was detected by acute changes in somatosensory evoked potentials (SSEPs) which were being monitored during the procedure. The neurophysiology technologist reported a 10 % increased latency and 50 % loss of amplitude in the left posterior tibial nerve recordings. While still in the operating room, further investigation, including doppler and arteriogram, demonstrated a complete occlusion of one of the two contiguous stents within the superficial femoral artery (SFA). A vascular surgeon was then able to emergently perform trans-arterial thrombectomy and restore flow through the extremity while still in the operating room. The observed events demonstrate the ability of SSEP monitoring to potentially detect arterial occlusion early, allowing for a rapid diagnosis and expedient treatment, in this case immediate, thus avoiding significant limb threatening morbidity.

A perceptual sound space for auditory displays based on sung-vowel synthesis.

When designing displays for the human senses, perceptual spaces are of great importance to give intuitive access to physical attributes. Similar to how perceptual spaces based on hue, saturation, and lightness were constructed for visual color, research has explored perceptual spaces for sounds of a given timbral family based on timbre, brightness, and pitch. To promote an embodied approach to the design of auditory displays, we introduce the Vowel-Type-Pitch (VTP) space, a cylindrical sound space based on human sung vowels, whose timbres can be synthesized by the composition of acoustic formants and can be categorically labeled. Vowels are arranged along the circular dimension, while voice type and pitch of the vowel correspond to the remaining two axes of the cylindrical VTP space. The decoupling and perceptual effectiveness of the three dimensions of the VTP space are tested through a vowel labeling experiment, whose results are visualized as maps on circular slices of the VTP cylinder. We discuss implications for the design of auditory and multi-sensory displays that account for human perceptual capabilities.

Team Performance: Evidence for Validity of a Measure / Desempenho de equipes: evidências de validade de uma medida / Rendimiento de equipos: evidencias de validez de una medida

This study aimed to obtain validity evidences of a teamwork performance scale. Team performance was understood as a meso-level characteristic, resulting of an emerging process. Due to that understanding the proposed instrument should take that aspect into consideration. The empirical data were collected from 276 Ecuadorian teachers organized in 70 educational teams. They answered nine sentences of the scale. Results of exploratory factor analysis showed a unifactorial solution explaining 65.84% of the variance. The measure also has adequate values of reliability (Cronbach Alpha = .93). In addition to these analyses, patterns of variance within and between the groups were verified. The results showed that the variance at the individual level was small when answers of team members were analyzed and was significant when teams were compared. We consider it is important that additional studies be performed in order to identify stability of the factor solution.

O objetivo deste estudo foi desenvolver e verificar evidências de validade de uma medida que permita aferir o desempenho de equipes de trabalho. O desempenho foi entendido como atributo do nível meso, portanto, relativo às equipes, que surge mediante um processo de emersão e, desse modo, a medida deve considerar essa especificidade. Para a realização empírica da pesquisa contou-se com respostas de 276 professores equatorianos organizados em 70 equipes pedagógicas, que responderam a nove afirmativas presentes no instrumento. Os resultados de análise fatorial exploratória mostraram a solução unifatorial como a mais satisfatória, a qual captura 65,84% da variância do fenômeno e possui valores adequados de confiabilidade (alpha de Cronbach de 0,93). Análises de padrões de variância dentro e entre grupos revelaram que a medida permite capturar um fenômeno do nível meso. Recomenda-se a realização de outras pesquisas que verifiquem a estabilidade desta solução.

El objetivo de este estudio fue desarrollar y verificar evidencias de validez de una medida que permita la medición del rendimiento de equipos de trabajo. El rendimiento fue entendido como un atributo del nivel meso, o sea, relativo a los equipos, que surge mediante un proceso de emersión, y de ese modo la medida propuesta debería llevar en consideración ese aspecto. Para la realización empírica de la investigación se contó con las respuestas dadas por 276 profesores ecuatorianos organizados en 70 equipos pedagógicos, que respondieron a nueve afirmativas contenidas en el instrumento. Los resultados del análisis factorial exploratorio mostraron la solución unifactorial como la más satisfactoria que capturó 65,84% de la varianza del fenómeno y posee valores adecuados de confiabilidad (alpha de Cronbach de 0,93). Análisis de patrones de varianza dentro y entre grupos revelaron que la medida permite capturar un fenómeno del nivel meso. Por fin, se recomienda la realización de otras investigaciones que verifiquen la estabilidad de esta solución.

Team performance: evidence for validity of a measure / Desempenho de equipes: evidências de validade de uma medida / Rendimiento de equipos: evidencias de validez de una medida

This study aimed to obtain validity evidences of a teamwork performance scale. Team performance was understood as a meso-level characteristic, resulting of an emerging process. Due to that understanding the proposed instrument should take that aspect into consideration. The empirical data were collected from 276 Ecuadorian teachers organized in 70 educational teams. They answered nine sentences of the scale. Results of exploratory factor analysis showed a unifactorial solution explaining 65.84% of the variance. The measure also has adequate values of reliability (Cronbach Alpha = .93). In addition to these analyses, patterns of variance within and between the groups were verified. The results showed that the variance at the individual level was small when answers of team members were analyzed and was significant when teams were compared. We consider it is important that additional studies be performed in order to identify stability of the factor solution.

O objetivo deste estudo foi desenvolver e verificar evidências de validade de uma medida que permita aferir o desempenho de equipes de trabalho. O desempenho foi entendido como atributo do nível meso, portanto, relativo às equipes, que surge mediante um processo de emersão e, desse modo, a medida deve considerar essa especificidade. Para a realização empírica da pesquisa contou-se com respostas de 276 professores equatorianos organizados em 70 equipes pedagógicas, que responderam a nove afirmativas presentes no instrumento. Os resultados de análise fatorial exploratória mostraram a solução unifatorial como a mais satisfatória, a qual captura 65,84% da variância do fenômeno e possui valores adequados de confiabilidade (alpha de Cronbach de 0,93). Análises de padrões de variância dentro e entre grupos revelaram que a medida permite capturar um fenômeno do nível meso. Recomenda-se a realização de outras pesquisas que verifiquem a estabilidade desta solução.

El objetivo de este estudio fue desarrollar y verificar evidencias de validez de una medida que permita la medición del rendimiento de equipos de trabajo. El rendimiento fue entendido como un atributo del nivel meso, o sea, relativo a los equipos, que surge mediante un proceso de emersión, y de ese modo la medida propuesta debería llevar en consideración ese aspecto. Para la realización empírica de la investigación se contó con las respuestas dadas por 276 profesores ecuatorianos organizados en 70 equipos pedagógicos, que respondieron a nueve afirmativas contenidas en el instrumento. Los resultados del análisis factorial exploratorio mostraron la solución unifactorial como la más satisfactoria que capturó 65,84% de la varianza del fenómeno y posee valores adecuados de confiabilidad (alpha de Cronbach de 0,93). Análisis de patrones de varianza dentro y entre grupos revelaron que la medida permite capturar un fenómeno del nivel meso. Por fin, se recomienda la realización de otras investigaciones que verifiquen la estabilidad de esta solución.