It is often possible to reverse hypoxemia and fully recruit the lung in early acute respiratory distress syndrome. Due to transient side effects, the required maneuver still awaits further evaluation before routine clinical application.

Vector autoregressive (VAR) modelling is one of the most popular approaches in multivariate time series analysis. The parameters interpretation is simple, and provide an intuitive identification of relationships and Granger causality among time series. However, the VAR modelling requires stationarity conditions which could not be valid in many practical applications. Locally stationary or time dependent modelling seem attractive generalizations, and several univariate approaches have already been proposed. In this paper we propose an estimation procedure for time-varying vector autoregressive processes, based on wavelet expansions of autoregressive coefficients. The asymptotic properties of the estimator are derived and illustrated by computer intensive simulations. We also present an application to brain connectivity identification using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) datasets.

Serpentine fibula polycystic kidney syndrome (SFPKS; MIM600330) is a rare skeletal dysplasia that has polycystic kidneys and dysmorphic facies as additional defining phenotypic components. The nosological classification of this disease has been debated as the condition shares features common to other skeletal dysplasias such as Melnick Needles syndrome (MNS; MIM309350) and Hajdu-Cheney Syndrome (HCS; MIM102500). Here, two previously reported cases of SFPKS are presented with emphasis on their phenotypic evolution. With the recent discovery that HCS is caused by mutations in NOTCH2, DNA from the both cases was examined and both were found to have truncating mutations in exon 34 of NOTCH2. The phenotypic evolution of SFPKS and this molecular analysis strongly suggest that SFPKS is part of the phenotypic spectrum of HCS and should no longer be classified as a distinct disease entity.

Deep brain stimulation (DBS) is a relatively novel treatment in advanced Parkinson's disease (PD). Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) is a useful technique for examining the effects of DBS both within the basal ganglia and its cortical connectivity. There are technical difficulties in imaging patients with PD, and the DBS itself can generate image artifacts. We describe aspects related to optimizing the fMRI acquisition parameters in patients with DBS and the results of sensorimotor activation tasks performed by four PD patients during hand, foot, and tongue movements, both before and after DBS implant. Provided that all safety conditions are followed, it is possible to perform fMRI in patients with PD and DBS. The standard DBS surgical procedure has to be slightly modified in order to reduce image artifacts. The event-related design provided increased power to detect sensorimotor cortex and basal ganglia activation.