Introdução: perda da sensibilidade axial é bem descrita nas polineuropatias axonais comprimento-dependentes (PACD). O padrão da perda de sensibilidade axial nas polineuropatias desmielinizantes adquiridas (PDA) é menos reconhecido na prática clínica e tem sido descrito como um padrão não-comprimentodependente. Nas PDAs, a perda de sensibilidade axial pode, somada às alterações da sensibilidade nos membros, envolver as regiões anteriores do tronco, da face, do couro cabeludo e do períneo. Eventualmente, pode ocorrer apenas no eixo do corpo sem o envolvimento dos membros. O padrão da perda de sensibilidade axial observado ao exame físico neurológico pode auxiliar no diagnóstico diferencial entre as PACDs e as PDAs. Objetivos: analisar as diferentes apresentações clínicas das alterações da sensibilidade axiais nos indivíduos acometidos por neuropatias desmielinizantes adquiridas. Analisar a resposta de curto prazo das alterações da sensibilidade nas porções axiais e suas relações com o gênero, idade, diagnóstico e com a presença ou não e comorbidades. Analisar se a resposta das alterações de sensibilidade axiais acompanham a resposta da força muscular ao tratamento, a fim de agilizar a avaliação clinica, o início do tratamento e o estabelecimento de prognóstico, visto não haver dados prévios na literatura médica a este respeito. Métodos: trata-se de estudo observacional analítico por meio de coorte retrospectiva não-controlada. Foram revisados 460 prontuários médicos de indivíduos com possíveis diagnósticos de PDAs. Dentre os 460, foram selecionados 284 prontuários de indivíduos que preencheram critérios diagnósticos recomendados para polirradiculoneuropatia inflamatória desmielinizante crônica (PIDC) ou para síndrome de Guillain-Barré (SGB) na sua forma de polirradiculoneuropatia inflamatória 5 desmielinizante aguda (PIDA). Registros médicos de indivíduos com comorbidades que poderiam cursar com neuropatias axonais, como a diabetes mellitus, por exemplo, não foram incluídos para avaliação. Deste modo, foram selecionados para a análise estatística 49 indivíduos. Após a revisão, foram analisadas a prevalência e as alterações clínicas da sensibilidade superficial, tátil e dolorosa, e força muscular que ocorreram durante e após o tratamento, a fim de avaliar a influência de dados demográficos, tais como a idade, o gênero, a presença ou não de comorbidades e o diagnóstico dos indivíduos sobre as variáveis clínicas acima descritas. Resultados: alterações da sensibilidade axial ocorreram em 64 (22,5%) dos 284 indivíduos que preencheram os critérios diagnósticos de PIDC e SGB. Destes, 49 (17,25%) foram selecionados por apresentarem alteração da sensibilidade axial, em algum momento da doença, e não preencherem os critérios de não-inclusão. 31 indivíduos (63,26%) eram do gênero masculino e 18 (36,74%) do gênero feminino, com mediana de idade em 45 anos (variando de 11 a 75 anos). Alteração da sensibilidade axial foi observada acometendo a região central do abdome (n=48, 97,9%), couro cabeludo (n=11, 22,4%), porção central da face (n=18, 36,7%), do dorso (n=3, 6,2%), da linha média anterior do tórax (n=2, 4,1%) ou do períneo (n=4, 8,2%). A perda de sensibilidade nos membros acometeu as regiões distais desses, embora o padrão da perda de sensibilidade não tenha ocorrido de forma comprimento-dependente. Após o primeiro curso de tratamento (com imunoglobulina humana ou plasmaférese nos casos de SGB, e corticoide, imunoglobulina humana ou plasmaférese, nos casos de PIDC), 29 (59,18%) dos indivíduos apresentaram melhora da perda da sensibilidade axial e 32 (61,5%) obtiveram melhora na força muscular. Em adição aos critérios clínicos recomendados, atualmente, para o diagnóstico destas doenças, a ausência do padrão comprimento-dependente de acometimento da sensibilidade pode auxiliar no diagnóstico clínico de ambas PDAs avaliadas. Conclusões: perda de sensibilidade axial ocorre em cerca de um a cada 5 indivíduos acometidos de PDAs. A ausência de relação da perda de sensibilidade com o comprimento do nervo acometido pode ser de suporte ao diagnóstico das neuropatias desmielinizantes adquiridas. A resolução das alterações da sensibilidade axial foi observada em 60,8% dos indivíduos após o tratamento. Esta melhora foi mais expressiva em casos de indivíduos com SGB (com 80% de melhora) do que em indivíduos com PIDC (com 33,3% de melhora). Por outro lado, indivíduos com menos de 45 anos de idade e acometidos por SGB apresentaram 6 a pior resposta ao tratamento. Assim, recomenda-se a busca ativa e sistemática por alterações da sensibilidade axial, visto que não são alterações frequentemente relatadas pelos pacientes no contexto do atendimento medico / Background: axial sensory loss (ASL) is well known in length-dependent axonal polyneuropathies (LDAP). The pattern of ASL in acquired demyelinating polyneuropathies (ADP) is less known in clinical practice but it was referred as a nonlength dependent. In ADPs, ASLs may, in addition to the upper and lower limbs, involve the anterior region of the trunk, face, scalp, and perineum. Eventually, it occurs only in the body axis without limbs involvement. The ASLs pattern could help in the differential diagnosis between ADPs and LDAP. Objectives: this study aims to analyze the different clinical presentation of the ASL in ADP patients; to analyze the clinical response in a short time to treatment of ASL and their relation with the gender, age, diagnosis and the presence, or not, of comorbidities; and to analyze the relation between the improvement of the ASL\'s and the improvement of the muscular weakness after treatment, in order to expedite the clinical evaluation, the beginning of the treatment and the evaluation of the prognosis, since there is no previous data in the medical literature in this regard. Methods: it is a observational, analytical and uncontrolled study using a retrospective cohort. Were reviewed 460 medical records with possible ADPs and selected 284 with the recommended diagnostic criteria for chronic inflammatory demyelinating polyneuropathies (CIDP) or Guillain-Barré syndrome (GBS), in acute inflammatory demyelinating polyneuropathy (AIDP) form. Medical records of patients with comorbidities that could course with neuropathies, like diabetes mellitus, were excluded. Thus, 49 subjects were enrolled for the statistical analysis. We checked the prevalence and the changes that happened with ASL (pain and tactile sensitivity), during and after treatment and then we analyzed the influence of demographic data, such as age at the onset, gender, diagnosis and comorbidities over the clinical variables described above. Results: partial ASL occurred in 64 8 (22,5%) of the 287 subjects who met the diagnostic criteria for CIDP and SGB. Of there, 49 subjects (17,25%) were accepted for the present study because they had ASL and did not fulfilled the non-inclusion criteria. 31 subjects (63,26%) were male and 18 (36,74%) were female with median age of 45 years old (11 - 75 years old). ASLs were found in the periumbilical region of the abdomen (n=48, 97,9%), scalp (n=11, 22,4%), central portion of the face (n=18, 36,7%), dorsum (n=3, 6,2%), anterior portion of the thorax (n=2, 4,1%) and perineum (n=4, 8,2%). The sensory loss in the patients\' limbs were very distal, though non-length-dependent. After the first course of treatment (intravenous human immunoglobulin - IgIV - or plasmapheresis for GBS, and steroids or IgIV for CIDP), 29 (59,18%) subjects showed improvement of ASL after treatment and 32 (61,5%) got a better motor strength. In addition to the clinical criteria recommended for diagnosis of CIDP or GBS, the absence of length dependency also supported the clinical diagnosis of both ADPs. Conclusions: ASLs occur in about one among five patients with ADPs and its non-length-dependent pattern can support their diagnosis. The absence of relationship between the sensory loss and the length of the nerve can be supportive to the diagnosis of ADPs. In 60,8% of the subjects, resolution of ASL were observed after the treatment. This was more expressive in GBS than in CIDP (80% after 33,3%). On the other hand, subjects with GBS younger than 45 years old showed poorer response to treatment. Yet, it is recommended to look for ASL since it is not frequently reported complaints by patients in the context of medical care

Understanding of chronic sequelae development after infection with foodborne pathogens is limited and an increased understanding could assist with the development of more accurate burden of disease estimates. The purpose of this thesis was to determine via systematic review and meta-analysis of the published international literature, the proportion of cases of Salmonella, Campylobacter and E. coli O157 that will develop the chronic sequelae of reactive arthritis, haemolytic uraemic syndrome, irritable bowel syndrome, inflammatory bowel disease or Guillain Barré syndrome. This information can be used to increase our understanding of the relationship between infection and the development of long term health complications while providing a key piece of information for the development of accurate burden of disease estimates. / Canadian Institutes of Health Research Institute of Population and Public Health/Public Health Agency of Canada, Applied Public Health Research Chair (awarded to Jan M. Sargeant)

At the Ottawa Hospital in Ontario, Canada, clinicians use full body immersion virtual reality to treat a variety of health conditions, including: traumatic brain injuries, post- traumatic stress disorder, acquired brain injuries, complex regional pain syndrome, spinal cord injuries, Guillain-Barré syndrome, and lower limb amputations. The system is shared between military and civilian patient populations. Viewed by clinicians and the system’s designers as a value neutral medical technology, clinical virtual reality’s sights, sounds, movements, and smells reveal cultural assumptions about universal patient experiences. In this dissertation I draw from reflexive feminist research methodologies, visual anthropology and sensory ethnography in a hospital to centre the body in current debates about digital accessibility in the 21st Century. 40 in-depth interviews with practitioners and patients, 210 clinical observations, and film and photography ground research participant experiences in day-to-day understandings of virtual reality at the hospital. In this dissertation I address an ongoing absence of the body as a site of analytical attention in anthropological studies of virtual reality. While much literature in the social sciences situates virtual reality as a ‘post-human’ technology, I argue that virtual reality treatments are always experienced, resisted and interpreted through diverse body schemata. Furthermore, virtual reality cannot be decoupled from the sensitivities, socialities and politics of particular bodies in particular places and times. The Ottawa Hospital’s Computer Assisted Rehabilitation Environment (CAREN) system features a digitally enhanced walk-in chamber, treadmills on hydraulic pistons, surround sound audio, advanced graphics and user feedback utilizing force plates and a dynamic infrared motion capture system. The CAREN system utilizes hardware and software reliant on specific assumptions about human bodies. For example, these assumptions are echoed in depictions of race, gender, class, and indigeneity. Patients using virtual reality technologies can experience more than one disability or health condition at a time, further disrupting the idea of universal user experiences. As clinicians and patients confront the limitations of body normativity in the CAREN system’s interface design, they improvise, resist, and experience virtual reality in ways that defy design agendas, ultimately shaping patient treatments and unique paths to healing and health. / Graduate