We evaluated the effectiveness and tolerability of brivaracetam (BRV), an adjunctive antiseizure medication, as a treatment for focal epilepsy in adults. In this prospective study, we enrolled 51 participants from 3 sites across Canada. At 6 months, 68% (26/38) of participants were still taking BRV, among whom 35% (8/23) attained seizure freedom and 48% (11/23) saw their seizure frequency reduced by over 50%. We did not measure any significant change in irritability, quality of life, depression, and anxiety while treated with BRV. Our findings suggest BRV is effective in reducing seizure frequency among adults with focal epilepsy.

Parents whose autistic1 child’s needs are not met within mainstream schooling may seek alternative modes of education, such as home or distance education. There is a paucity of research on the delivery of home or distance education programs for autistic students. This study reports on the experiences of parents, students and teachers in the inaugural year of Australia’s first hybrid distance education program (distance education with parent/carers as supervisors) specifically designed for autistic students. Interviews with eight parents, four students and two teachers gathered their perceptions of the program’s benefits, challenges and suggestions for improvements. All parents, students and teachers reported positive overall perceptions of and experiences in the program, and a range of outcomes for students and parents. Flexibility was identified as a key benefit of the program. Challenges identified included a lack of opportunities for students’ social interactions and the effort required of parents to support their child’s participation. Additional longitudinal research is needed to determine the long-term impact of programs of this type and to evaluate strategies for increasing student independence.

Early in the COVID-19 pandemic, the World Health Organization stressed the importance of daily clinical assessments of infected patients, yet current approaches frequently consider cross-sectional timepoints, cumulative summary measures, or time-to-event analyses. Statistical methods are available that make use of the rich information content of longitudinal assessments. We demonstrate the use of a multistate transition model to assess the dynamic nature of COVID-19-associated critical illness using daily evaluations of COVID-19 patients from 9 academic hospitals. We describe the accessibility and utility of methods that consider the clinical trajectory of critically ill COVID-19 patients.

Reliability and performance of ultraviolet light emitting diodes have suffered due to the high dislocation density of the AlN and high Al-content AlxGa1-xN layers when grown on foreign substrates such as sapphire. The development of pseudomorphic layers on low dislocation density AlN substrates is leading to improvements in reliability and performance of devices operating in the ultraviolet-C (UVC) range. One major improvement is the ability to operate devices at much higher current densities and input powers than devices on sapphire substrates. This is due to the better thermal properties and lower dislocation density of devices on AlN substrates. Devices with active area of 0.001 cm2 emitting at ∼265 nm have been measured for their reliability and change in power output over time at input currents of 20 mA (20 A/cm2), 100 mA (100A/cm2) and 150 mA (150 A/cm2). When operating at currents of 20 mA over 3500 hours of consecutive operation has been demonstrated with typical decay of ∼27% over the 3500 hours. Extrapolating the decay with a linear fit gives a L50 (time to 50% of initial power) of ∼5000 hrs. However it is desirable to be able to model the decay to better understand the kinetics and better understand the mechanisms. In order to do this, the lifetime at 20 mA and 100 mA were modeled using an exponential decay function, square root transformation and a log transformation to both be able to fit the experimental data and predict future performance.

Low dislocation density epitaxial layers of AlxGa1-xN can be grown pseudomorphically on c-face AlN substrates prepared from high quality, bulk crystals. Here, we will report on initial characterization results from deep ultraviolet (UV) light emitting diodes (LEDs) which have been fabricated and packaged from these structures. As reported previously, pseudomorphic growth and atomically smooth surfaces can be achieved for a full LED device structure with an emission wavelength between 250 nm and 280 nm.

A benefit of pseudomorphic growth is the ability to run the devices at high input powers and current densities. The high aluminum content AlxGa1-xN (x∼70%) epitaxial layer can be doped n-type to obtain sheet resistances < 200 Ohms/sq/μm due to the low dislocation density. Bulk crystal growth allows for the ability to fabricate substrates of both polar and non-polar orientations. Non-polar substrates are of particular interest for nitride growth because they eliminate electric field due to spontaneous polarization and piezoelectric effects which limit device performance. Initial studies of epitaxial growth on non-polar substrates will also be presented.

Although the prefrontal cortex (PFC) is consistently found to be associated with various working memory processes, the necessity of the PFC for such processes remains unclear. To elucidate PFC contributions to storage and rehearsal/maintenance processes engaged during verbal working memory function, we assessed behavior of patients with lesions to the left or right lateral PFC, and neural activity of healthy young subjects during fMRI scanning, during performance of working memory tasks. We found that PFC lesions did not affect storage processes—which is consistent with the notion that posterior cortical networks can support simple retention of information. We also found that PFC lesions did not affect rehearsal/maintenance processes, which was in contrast to our finding that healthy subjects performing a verbal delayed recognition task showed bilateral PFC activation. These combined imaging and behavioral data suggest that working memory rehearsal/maintenance processes may depend on both hemispheres, which may have implications for recovery of function and development of rehabilitation therapies after frontal injury. (JINS, 2006, 12, 248–260.)