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Deep Learning Technology: Sebastian Arnold, Betty van Aken, Paul Grundmann, Felix A. Gers and Alexander Löser. Learning Contextualized Document Representations for Healthcare Answer Retrieval. The Web Conference 2020 (WWW'20)
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If a contracture is less than 30 degrees, it may not interfere with normal functioning. The common treatment is splinting and occupational therapy. Surgery is the last option for most cases as the result may not be satisfactory.
There is no single course of medical treatment or cure for Möbius syndrome. Treatment is supportive and in accordance with symptoms. If they have difficulty nursing, infants may require feeding tubes or special bottles to maintain sufficient nutrition. Physical, occupational, and speech therapy can improve motor skills and coordination and can lead to better control of speaking and eating abilities. Often, frequent lubrication with eye drops is sufficient to combat dry eye that results from impaired blinking. Surgery can correct crossed eyes, protect the cornea via tarsorraphy, and improve limb and jaw deformities. Sometimes called smile surgery by the media, muscle transfers grafted from the thigh to the corners of the mouth can be performed to provide the ability to smile. Although "smile surgery" may provide the ability to smile, the procedure is complex and can take twelve hours for each side of the face. Also, the surgery cannot be considered a "cure" for Möbius syndrome, because it does not improve the ability to form other facial expressions.
Since Usher syndrome is incurable at present, it is helpful to diagnose children well before they develop the characteristic night blindness. Some preliminary studies have suggested as many as 10% of congenitally deaf children may have Usher syndrome. However, a misdiagnosis can have bad consequences.
The simplest approach to diagnosing Usher syndrome is to test for the characteristic chromosomal mutations. An alternative approach is electroretinography, although this is often disfavored for children, since its discomfort can also make the results unreliable. Parental consanguinity is a significant factor in diagnosis. Usher syndrome I may be indicated if the child is profoundly deaf from birth and especially slow in walking.
Thirteen other syndromes may exhibit signs similar to Usher syndrome, including Alport syndrome, Alstrom syndrome, Bardet-Biedl syndrome, Cockayne syndrome, spondyloepiphyseal dysplasia congenita, Flynn-Aird syndrome, Friedreich ataxia, Hurler syndrome (MPS-1), Kearns-Sayre syndrome (CPEO), Norrie syndrome, osteopetrosis (Albers-Schonberg disease), Refsum's disease (phytanic acid storage disease), and Zellweger syndrome (cerebrohepatorenal syndrome).
Adducted thumb syndrome recessive form is a rare disease affecting multiple systems causing malformations of the palate, thumbs, and upper limbs. The name Christian syndrome derives from Joe. C. Christian, the first person to describe the condition. Inheritance is believed to be autosomal recessive, caused by mutation in the CHST14 (carbohydrate sulfotransferase 14) gene.
This syndrome is associated with microcephaly, arthrogryposis and cleft palate and various craniofacial, respiratory, neurological and limb abnormalities, including bone and joint defects of the upper limbs, adducted thumbs, camptodactyly and talipes equinovarus or calcaneovalgus. It is characterized by craniosynostosis, and myopathy in association with congenital generalized hypertrichosis.
Patients with the disease are considered intellectually disabled. Most die in childhood. Patients often suffer from respiratory difficulties such as pneumonia, and from seizures due to dysmyelination in the brain's white matter. It has been hypothesized that the Moro reflex (startle reflex in infants) may be a tool in detecting the congenital clapsed thumb early in infancy. The thumb normally extends as a result of this reflex.
The specific cause of camptodactyly remains unknown, but there are a few deficiencies that lead to the condition. A deficient lumbrical muscle controlling the flexion of the fingers, and abnormalities of the flexor and extensor tendons.
A number of congenital syndromes may also cause camptodactyly:
- Jacobsen syndrome
- Beals Syndrome
- Blau syndrome
- Freeman-Sheldon syndrome
- Cerebrohepatorenal syndrome
- Weaver syndrome
- Christian syndrome 1
- Gordon Syndrome
- Jacobs arthropathy-camptodactyly syndrome
- Lenz microphthalmia syndrome
- Marshall-Smith-Weaver syndrome
- Oculo-dento-digital syndrome
- Tel Hashomer camptodactyly syndrome
- Toriello-Carey syndrome
- Stuve-Wiedemann syndrome
- Loeys-Dietz syndrome
- Fryns syndrome
- Marfan's syndrome
- Carnio-carpo-tarsal dysthropy
After the last primary tooth is lost, usually around the age of twelve, final orthodontic treatment can be initiated. A patient that has not been able to close or swallow well probably will have an open bite, deficient lower-jaw growth, a narrow archform with crowded teeth, and upper anterior flaring of teeth. Orthognathic (jaw) surgery may be indicated. This should be completed in most situations before the smile surgery where the gracilis muscle is grafted to the face.
Genetic links to 13q12.2 and 1p22 have been suggested.
The usual initial investigations include chest X ray, electrocardiogram and echocardiography. Typical findings are those of an enlarged heart with non specific conduction defects. Biochemical investigations include serum creatine kinase (typically increased 10 fold) with lesser elevations of the serum aldolase, aspartate transaminase, alanine transaminase and lactic dehydrogenase. Diagnosis is made by estimating the acid alpha glucosidase activity in either skin biopsy (fibroblasts), muscle biopsy (muscle cells) or in white blood cells. The choice of sample depends on the facilities available at the diagnostic laboratory.
In the late onset form, the findings on investigation are similar to those of the infantile form with the caveat that the creatinine kinases may be normal in some cases. The diagnosis is by estimation of the enzyme activity in a suitable sample.
On May 17, 2013 the Secretary's Discretionary Advisory Committee on Heritable Diseases in Newborns and Children (DACHDNC) approved a recommendation to the Secretary of Health and Human Services to add Pompe to the Recommended Uniform Screening Panel (RUSP). The HHS secretary must first approve the recommendation before the disease is formally added to the panel.
Since Usher syndrome results from the loss of a gene, gene therapy that adds the proper protein back ("gene replacement") may alleviate it, provided the added protein becomes functional. Recent studies of mouse models have shown one form of the disease—that associated with a mutation in myosin VIIa—can be alleviated by replacing the mutant gene using a lentivirus. However, some of the mutated genes associated with Usher syndrome encode very large proteins—most notably, the "USH2A" and "GPR98" proteins, which have roughly 6000 amino-acid residues. Gene replacement therapy for such large proteins may be difficult.
Because vision loss is often an early sign, Batten disease/NCL may be first suspected during an eye exam. An eye doctor can detect a loss of cells within the eye that occurs in the three childhood forms of Batten disease/NCL. However, because such cell loss occurs in other eye diseases, the disorder cannot be diagnosed by this sign alone. Often an eye specialist or other physician who suspects Batten disease/NCL may refer the child to a neurologist, a doctor who specializes in disease of the brain and nervous system. In order to diagnose Batten disease/NCL, the neurologist needs the patient's medical history and information from various laboratory tests.
Diagnostic tests used for Batten disease/NCLs include:
- Skin or tissue sampling. The doctor can examine a small piece of tissue under an electron microscope. The powerful magnification of the microscope helps the doctor spot typical NCL deposits. These deposits are found in many different tissues, including skin, muscle, conjunctiva, rectal and others. Blood can also be used. These deposits take on characteristic shapes, depending on the variant under which they are said to occur: granular osmophilic deposits (GRODs) are generally characteristic of INCL, while curvilinear profiles, fingerprint profiles, and mixed-type inclusions are typically found in LINCL, JNCL, and ANCL, respectively.
- Electroencephalogram or EEG. An EEG uses special patches placed on the scalp to record electrical currents inside the brain. This helps doctors see telltale patterns in the brain's electrical activity that suggest a patient has seizures.
- Electrical studies of the eyes. These tests, which include visual-evoked responses (VER) and electroretinograms (ERG), can detect various eye problems common in childhood Batten disease/NCLs.
- Brain scans. Imaging can help doctors look for changes in the brain's appearance. The most commonly used imaging technique is computed tomography (CT), which uses x-rays and a computer to create a sophisticated picture of the brain's tissues and structures. A CT scan may reveal brain areas that are decaying in NCL patients. A second imaging technique that is increasingly common is magnetic resonance imaging, or MRI. MRI uses a combination of magnetic fields and radio waves, instead of radiation, to create a picture of the brain.
- Enzyme assay. A recent development in diagnosis of Batten disease/NCL is the use of enzyme assays that look for specific missing lysosomal enzymes for infantile and late infantile only. This is a quick and easy diagnostic test.
There are exceptions, but levels of alpha-glucosidase determines the type of GSD II an individual may have. More alpha glucosidase present in the individuals muscles means symptoms occur later in life and progress more slowly. GSD II is broadly divided into two onset forms based on the age symptoms occur.
Infantile-onset form is usually diagnosed at 4–8 months; muscles appear normal but are limp and weak preventing them from lifting their head or rolling over. As the disease progresses heart muscles thicken and progressively fail. Without treatment death usually occurs due to heart failure and respiratory weakness.
Late or later onset form occurs later than one to two years and progresses more slowly than Infantile-onset form. One of the first symptoms is a progressive decrease in muscle strength starting with the legs and moving to smaller muscles in the trunk and arms, such as the diaphragm and other muscles required for breathing. Respiratory failure is the most common cause of death. Enlargement of the heart muscles and rhythm disturbances are not significant features but do occur in some cases.
The malpositioning seen on radiography may not cause any symptoms at all. If there are related symptoms, however, therapeutic options include chiropractic care, physical therapy and nerve block injections. As a last resort, decompressive laminectomy may be attempted to relieve pain symptoms and remove the abnormally enlarged portions of bone.
The first English-language IQ test, the Stanford–Binet Intelligence Scales, was adapted from a test battery designed for school placement by Alfred Binet in France. Lewis Terman adapted Binet's test and promoted it as a test measuring "general intelligence." Terman's test was the first widely used mental test to report scores in "intelligence quotient" form ("mental age" divided by chronological age, multiplied by 100). Current tests are scored in "deviation IQ" form, with a performance level by a test-taker two standard deviations below the median score for the test-taker's age group defined as IQ 70. Until the most recent revision of diagnostic standards, an IQ of 70 or below was a primary factor for intellectual disability diagnosis, and IQ scores were used to categorize degrees of intellectual disability.
Since current diagnosis of intellectual disability is not based on IQ scores alone, but must also take into consideration a person's adaptive functioning, the diagnosis is not made rigidly. It encompasses intellectual scores, adaptive functioning scores from an adaptive behavior rating scale based on descriptions of known abilities provided by someone familiar with the person, and also the observations of the assessment examiner who is able to find out directly from the person what he or she can understand, communicate, and such like. IQ assessment must be based on a current test. This enables diagnosis to avoid the pitfall of the Flynn effect, which is a consequence of changes in population IQ test performance changing IQ test norms over time.
Adaptive behavior, or adaptive functioning, refers to the skills needed to live independently (or at the minimally acceptable level for age). To assess adaptive behavior, professionals compare the functional abilities of a child to those of other children of similar age. To measure adaptive behavior, professionals use structured interviews, with which they systematically elicit information about persons' functioning in the community from people who know them well. There are many adaptive behavior scales, and accurate assessment of the quality of someone's adaptive behavior requires clinical judgment as well. Certain skills are important to adaptive behavior, such as:
- Daily living skills, such as getting dressed, using the bathroom, and feeding oneself
- Communication skills, such as understanding what is said and being able to answer
- Social skills with peers, family members, spouses, adults, and others
In the United States, sarcoidosis has a prevalence of approximately 10 cases per 100,000 whites and 36 cases per 100,000 blacks. Heerfordt syndrome is present in 4.1–5.6% of those with sarcoidosis.
People with Laron syndrome have strikingly low rates of cancer and diabetes, although they appear to be at increased risk of accidental death due to their stature.
Sinding-Larsen and Johansson syndrome, named after Swedish surgeon Sven Christian Johansson (1880-1959), and Christian Magnus Falsen Sinding-Larsen (1866-1930), a Norwegian physician, is an analogous condition to Osgood–Schlatter disease involving the patellar tendon and the lower margin of the patella bone, instead of the upper margin of the tibia, as is the case in Osgood-Schlatter. This variant was discovered in 1908, during a winter indoor Olympic qualifier event in Scandinavia. Sever's disease is a similar condition affecting the heel.
This condition called Sinding-Larsen and Johansson syndrome was described independently by Sinding-Larsen in 1921 and Johansson in 1922.
In medicine, Infantilism is an obsolete term for various, often unrelated disorders of human development, up to developmental disability, which consist of retention of the physical and/or psychological characteristics of early developmental stages (infant, child) into a relatively advanced age.
Various types of infantilism were recognized, lumped together in the above superficial description. With better understanding of the endocrine system and genetic disorders, various disorders which included the word "infantilism" received other names. For example, Brissaud's infantilism, described by Édouard Brissaud in 1907 is now known as myxedema (a form of hypothyroidism); "intestinal infantilism" of Christian Archibald Herter is called coeliac disease. The Turner syndrome was described as "a syndrome of infantilism" by Henry Turner himself.
Terms such as "genital infantilism" (infantilism in development of genitals, hypogenitalism), or "sexual infantilism" (lack of sexual development after expected puberty or delayed puberty) may still be seen, and are considered to be synonyms of hypogonadism. "Somatic infantilism" refers to infantilism of overall bodily development. Speech infantilism is a speech disorder.
Similarly to some other medical terms (cretinism, idiotism), "infantilism"/"infantile" may be used pejoratively (synonymous to "immature").
The older classification of NCL divided the condition into four types (CLN1, CLN2, CLN3, and CLN4) based upon age of onset, while newer classifications divide it by the associated gene.
CLN4 (unlike CLN1, CLN2, and CLN3) has not been mapped to a specific gene.
With rest and quadriceps flexibility exercises the condition settles with no secondary disability. Sometimes, if the condition does not settle, calcification appears in the ligament. This condition is comparable to Osgood-Schlatter’s disease and usually recovers spontaneously. If rest fails to provide relief, the abnormal area is removed and the paratenon is stripped.
Diagnosis is confirmed histologically by tissue biopsy. Hematoxylin-eosin stain of biopsy slide will show features of Langerhans Cell e.g. distinct cell margin, pink granular cytoplasm. Presence of Birbeck granules on electron microscopy and immuno-cytochemical features e. g. CD1 positivity are more specific. Initially routine blood tests e.g. full blood count, liver function test, U&Es, bone profile are done to determine disease extent and rule out other causes. Radiology will show osteolytic bone lesions and damage to the lung. The latter may be evident in chest X-rays with micronodular and interstitial infiltrate in the mid and lower zone of lung, with sparing of the Costophrenic angle or honeycomb appearance in older lesions. MRI and CT may show infiltration in sella turcica. Assessment of endocrine function and bonemarrow biopsy are also performed when indicated.
- S-100 protein is expressed in a cytoplasmic pattern
- peanut agglutinin (PNA) is expressed on the cell surface and perinuclearly
- major histocompatibility (MHC) class II is expressed (because histiocytes are macrophages)
- CD1a
- langerin (CD207), a Langerhans Cell–restricted protein that induces the formation of Birbeck granules and is constitutively associated with them, is a highly specific marker.
Administration of GH has no effect on IGF-1 production, therefore treatment is mainly by biosynthetic IGF-1. IGF-1 must be taken before puberty to be effective.
The drug product Increlex (mecasermin), developed by the company Tercica, now Genentech, was approved by the US Food and Drug Administration in August 2005 for replacing IGF-1 in patients who are deficient.
IPLEX (Mecasermin rinfabate) is composed of recombinant human IGF-1 (rhIGF-1) and its binding protein IGFBP-3. It was approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in 2005 for treatment of primary IGF-1 deficiency or GH gene deletion. Side effects from IPLEX are hypoglycemia. IPLEX's manufacturing company, Insmed, after selling its protein production facility, can no longer develop proteins, thus can no longer manufacture IPLEX as of a statement released in July 2009.
In patients that have already been diagnosed with sarcoidosis, Heerfordt syndrome can be inferred from the major symptoms of the syndrome, which include parotitis, fever, and facial nerve palsy. In cases of parotitis, ultrasound-guided biopsy is used to exclude the possibility of lymphoma. There are many possible causes of facial nerve palsy, including Lyme disease, HIV, Melkersson–Rosenthal syndrome, schwannoma, and Bell's palsy. Heerfordt syndrome exhibits spontaneous remission. Treatments for sarcoidosis include corticosteroids and immunosuppressive drugs.
The health care provider will perform a physical exam. Detailed questions will be asked about the symptoms.
If a streptococcus infection is suspected, tests will be done to confirm the infection. These include:
- Throat swab
- Anti-DNAse B blood test
- Antistreptolysin O (ASO) blood test
Further testing may include:
- Blood tests such as ESR, CBC
- MRI or CT scan of the brain
Diagnosis is typically made based on patient history. The physical examination should be normal. The primary diagnosis for JME is a good knowledge of patient history and the neurologist's familiarity with the myoclonic jerks, which are the hallmark of the syndrome. Additionally, an electroencephalogram (EEG), will indicate a pattern of waves and spikes associated with the syndrome. The EEG generally shows a very characteristic pattern with generalized 4–6 Hz polyspike and slow wave discharges. These discharges are often provoked by photic stimulation (blinking lights) and sometimes hyperventilation. Both a magnetic resonance imaging scan (MRI) and computed tomography scan (CT scan) should appear normal in JME patients.