Operative time was 42 +/- 20 minutes (mean +/- standard deviation), and hospital stay was 3 days (median quartiles, 3-4 days) postoperatively. We experienced lateral shift of the bar in 1 patient,

which was treated with remodeling and repositioning of the bar. No other complication occurred during the 18-month follow-up period (mean range, 2-38 months). Thirteen of the 14 patients reported excellent or very good results. Patients returned to full activity within 2 months. Five bars have been removed.

Conclusions: Minimally invasive repair of pectus carinatum leaves the integrity of the chest wall untouched. It is safe with a short operative time and hospital stay and provides good results, even in asymmetric cases.”
“Low levels of intrinsic alertness are associated with lateralized performance in visual tasks, similar to neglect of the left (ipsilesional) AZD9291 mw visual hemi-field. However, it is unclear whether reduced alertness produces a specific lateralization of spatial-attentional processes in terms of the prioritization of right- over left-side stimuli, or whether

it affects more basic functions of visuo-sensory coding, and/or higher function of the top-down control of selection, of stimuli on the left side. To decide between these alternatives, the present study examined the effects of lowered alertness, induced by a 50-min vigilance task, in a partial-report LCZ696 mw paradigm of briefly presented letter displays. With only one (unilateral) stimulus in display, no specific hemi-fleld effects were found under low-alertness conditions, indicating that reduced alertness impairs neither sensory effectiveness nor the top-town control of selection. EPZ 6438 However, with dual, bilateral stimuli, report accuracy was specifically affected for left-side targets (in subjects who showed comparable performance for both sides under normal-alertness conditions).

This pattern can be interpreted in terms of a specific bias in spatial-attentional weighting, where prioritization of stimuli on the right leads to (mild) extinction of targets on the left. Moreover, participants who had a lower general level of alertness also showed a more pronounced re-distribution of weights, evidenced by a more severe imbalance in report accuracy, in a low compared to a normal state of alertness. This suggests that a low general level of intrinsic alertness engenders a specific vulnerability to neglect-like performance with a (mild) left-side extinction. (C) 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.”
“Objective: This retrospective analysis examined whether diffusion-weighted magnetic resonance imaging might be as useful as positron emission tomography with fludeoxyglucose F 18 for (1) discriminating between non-small cell lung cancer and benign pulmonary nodules and (2) predicting aggressiveness of non-small cell lung cancer.