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Introduction and Aim: Perinatal transmission of human immunodeficiency virus (PHIV) is considered a chronic disease that has highlighted several cognitive deficits. From birth to early adulthood, cognition is known to play a fundamental role. However, although neurocognitive processes associated with PHIV have been extensively described by psychometric testing, data is scarce on neural activity from functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) which provides in vivo physiological information., Subjects and Methods: We studied described impaired cognitive processes using fMRI on a group of PHIV adolescents with good immunovirological indications and healthy matched controls. Psychological status and neurocognitive functions were also assessed., Results: There were no significant differences between HIV+ and HIV- groups, either on neurocognitive testing nor in fMRI activity for phonological fluency tasks. Prolonged duration of cART was positively associated with greater brain activity in left inferior frontal gyrus (LIFG) which could indicate functional compensation., Conclusions: These results suggest that neural activity through fMRI in PHIV adolescents with good daily functioning and good immunovirological control may be similar to their peers.

Aim: To examine the use of extra-hospital emergency systems in the urgent care of stroke patients in our region and their influence on the time required to reach hospital, the time needed to perform an urgent computerised axial tomography (CAT) scan and the delay in receiving attention from the specialist., Patients and Methods: Samples were collected from 232 stroke patients out of the total number admitted to our hospitals. Data about the stroke were collected prospectively, and included the arrival time, the time required to perform the CAT scan and the time the specialist devoted to attending the patient. Data were also gathered about the different extra-hospital transport and emergency systems. A statistical analysis was performed to determine the effect of using the extra-hospital emergency procedures on the different variables., Results: A total of 53.6% of patients arrived within the first three hours. 38.7% went straight to hospital, 25% visited extra-hospital Emergency Services first, and 18.5% made a prior visit to Primary Care. 51.5% found their own way to the hospital and 46.7% arrived by ambulance. Mean time taken to perform an urgent CAT scan: 190.4 minutes; mean time required for specialist attention: 25.65 hours. The only statistically significant relation was the use of extra-hospital emergency systems and health care transport according to the type of stroke: both were more likely to be used in cases of haemorrhagic stroke., Conclusions: In hospitals in the Murcia region, the use of the extra-hospital emergency system and the means of transport utilised do not affect the time stroke patients take to reach hospital or the time needed to perform an urgent CAT scan or the delay in receiving attention from a specialist; the aetiology of the stroke does, however, influence the use of such services.

Emotional facial paresis consists of the absence of facial movements during emotional stimulus, as laughing, with a normal voluntary facial mobility. The anatomic ways responsible for the emotional facial mobility have been already studied. We present a case of emotional facial paresis caused by a striatum-capsular infarct secondary to a spontaneous dissection of the internal carotid artery.