No abstract

No abstract

BackgroundTraumatic brain injury (TBI) causes activation of several neurochemical and physiological cascades, leading to neurological impairment. We aimed to investigate the level of novel chemokine RANTES in plasma, cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) and contused brain tissue in traumatic brain injury patients and to correlate the expression of this chemokine with the severity of head injury and neurological outcome.MethodsThis longitudinal case control study was performed on 70 TBI patients over a period of 30 months. Glasgow coma scale (GCS) and Glasgow outcome score were used to assess the severity of head injury and clinical outcome. Level of RANTES was quantified in plasma (n = 60), CSF (N = 10) and contused brain tissue (n = 5). Alterations in the plasma levels on 1st and 5th day following TBI were assessed. Patients were categorized as severe (GCS < 8) (SHI), moderate and mild Head injury (GCS > 8–14). 15 healthy volunteers were taken as the control group.ResultsThe median plasma RANTES levels were 971.3 (88.40–1931.1); 999.2 (31.2–2054.9); 471.8 (370.9–631.9) for SHI, MHI and healthy control respectively and showed statistically significant variation (p = 0.005). There was no statistical difference in the mean 1st and 5th day RANTES levels for the SHI group. However, admission RANTES levels were significantly higher in patients who died than those who survived (p = 0.04). Also, RANTES levels were significantly higher in plasma as compared to contused brain tissue and CSF (p = 0.0001).ConclusionThis is the first study of its kind which shows that there is significant correlation of admission RANTES levels and early mortality. Another interesting finding was the significant upregulated in the expression of RANTES in plasma, compared to CSF and contused brain tissue following severe TBI.

<p class="abstract"><strong>Background:</strong> Parents of children with hearing impairment who are aware of normal speech-language development play an effective and active role in the early detection, diagnosis, and habilitation of these children. Hence this study was aimed to explore the level of awareness about normal speech and language milestones in parents of children with hearing impairment.</p><p class="abstract"><strong>Methods:</strong> Questionnaire assessing the parents’ awareness of speech-language development in children from birth to 3 years was administered on 80 parents of children (birth to 5 years) with hearing impairment. These included 40 parents of children recently diagnosed with hearing impairment (group 1 HI-R) and 40 parents of children with hearing impairment who were fitted with appropriate hearing devices and enrolled in a speech and language habilitation program (group II HI-T).  </p><p class="abstract"><strong>Results:</strong> Results indicated that the level of awareness was moderate for both the groups for semantic and morphosyntax domains as well as total scores, but was low to moderate for the pragmatic domain. There was no statistically significant difference in the level of awareness between the two groups.</p><p class="abstract"><strong>Conclusions:</strong> Moderate awareness levels indicates that parents of children with hearing impairment need to be made aware about the normal speech and language development so that it can guide them in the habilitation process. This information although important does not appear to have been provided to the parents of children already undergoing habilitation. Thus, there is need of including this as a goal in parental counseling.</p>

No abstract