International Journal of Neurology and Neurosurgery

 Objective: To find out the sensitivity of the common points in history and physical examination in cases ofdegenerative cervical spine disease at King Abdul Aziz University Hospital (KAUH), Jeddah. Design: Retrospective study from January 2005 to December 2010. Results: A total of 120 cases were reviewed. 63 (52.5%) were females and 57 (47.5%) were males. The mean age was 55.2 +/- 12.8 years. The most common degenerative cervical spine changes were found at C 5-6 levels. The sensitivities for pain radiation was 60%, for history of numbness was 65%, for history of motor weakness was 70%, for finding of motor weakness was 70%, and finding abnormal sensation was 82.5% and for finding abnormal reflexes was 20%. Conclusion: The sensitivity of the pointed neurological history and physical examination is variable with no significantly reliable point in the history. Finding out abnormal sensation can be helpful in reaching the diagnosis of degenerative cervical spine disease in presence of neck pain. Further diagnostic test(s) is required to confirm the diagnosis prior to initiating the treatment.  

 Background: Ambulation is the main problem in the stroke patient due to inadequacy of motor and sensory deficit, which has profound effect on their walking ability and leads to difficulty in performing the dual task cognitive performance simultaneously. Dual task Cognitive performance along with the conventional physiotherapy treatment may cause profound effect on various gait parameters in stroke.Objective: To find out the effects of dual task cognitive training in patients with sub-acute ischemic stroke. Method: A sample of 40 patients with sub- acute stroke will be recruiting on the basis of inclusion and exclusion criteria. Following baseline intervention, the participants will be randomly allocated into experimental (Dual task cognitive training and conventional physiotherapy treatment) and control group (conventional physiotherapy treatment). Both groups will receive 45 minutes sessions per weeks, 2 or 3 times a day. The primary outcome measure will be DGI (Dynamic Gait Index). Secondary outcome include Gait parameters (Cadence, Step length, Stride length, Gait velocity). Statistical Analysis: Data will be screened for normality by using and summarized as descriptive statistics. If data will be normally distributed, Data will be analyzed using independent t -Test and paired t -Test for between group analysis and within group analysis. Conclusion & Implications: This study provides evidence to help clinicians make decision about to include in rehabilitation to improve the dual task cognitive performance. 

 The assessment of nutrition at birth has been made using various systems. A simple, practical, clinically applicable scoring system CAN Score (Clinical Assessment of Nutritional Score) was developed by Metcoff. It was developed to differentiate malnutrition from appropriately nourished babies, irrespective of birth weight. It is based on nine ‘superficial’ readily detectable signs of malnutrition in the newborn baby. Anthropometric parameters like length, weight, and head circumference have also been used to assess the occurrence of fetal malnutrition. In the present study with sample of 60 neonates, a simple brief clinical assessment of Nutritional Status (CAN SCORE) revealed 7 neonates were fetally malnourished. Most of the new born of weight <2.5kg were fetally malnourished. In this study CAN SCORE detected 11.6 % of the full term neonates as fetally malnourished CAN Score is a simple technique. It does not require the use of any sophisticated equipments for assessment of foetal malnutrition. It is easy to carry out as the score contains the examination for nine clinical signs viz. hair, cheeks, neck, arms, chest, skin of abdominal wall (or abdomen), back, buttocks and legs. The score assess nutritional status of the foetus at birth. Features of fetal malnutrition are sought for in each baby using nine ‘superficial’ readily detectable signs. The advantage of CAN SCORE is that it is a simple, clinical index for identifying fetal malnutrition and thus it may have the potential to predict neonatal morbidity associated with fetal malnutrition without the aid of any sophisticated equipments. 

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