Brain executive laterality and hemisity

Split-brain syndrome after subarachnoid haemorrhage

We present the case of a patient with extensive ischaemia of the corpus callosum (CC) including all its anatomical subdivisions, caused by a ruptured aneurysm of the anterior cerebral artery (ACA). This resulted in subarachnoid haemorrhage (SAH) and subsequently in cerebral vasospasm. The aneurysm was coiled, the vasospasm treated with repetitive intra-arterial spasmolysis and the patient then received intensive neurorehabilitative care. The case is an example of ischaemic infarction, which happens rarely in the CC after SAH, and even more rarely affects the CC along its entire length. The case is further remarkable for the resulting nearly complete and isolated split-brain syndrome: CC disconnection syndromes are only exceptionally seen after vascular callosal damage because they are most often overshadowed by symptoms resulting from coaffected adjacent brain areas.

Relationship between Hemispheric Preference Score and Academic Performance among Preclinical Medical Students Studying Medicine and Dentistry

Background

Understanding the style of learning and thinking (SOLAT) of the students is necessary to keep students actively involved in learning, which could influence the academic performance of the students.

Aim

The objective of this study was to compare the right and left hemisphere preferences for processing information with academic performance of medical students in both theory and practical exams.

Materials and Methods

The hemispheric preference score for learning and thinking style among first year MBBS (95) and BDS (42) students was determined by SOLAT tool prepared by Dr. V. Venkataraman (1994). A comparison of the hemispheric score between high achievers and low achievers in theory and practical exams was performed by using the unpaired Student's t-test and Mann-Whitney U-test.

Results

The mean hemispheric scores for the right hemisphere, left hemisphere, and whole brain were 26.51, 14.5, and 6.76, respectively. High achievers in theory exam and practical exam received a higher left-hemispheric score and whole-brain score than low achievers; the difference in the mean value of hemispheric score was statistically not significant.

Conclusion

There was no statistically significant relationship between academic achievement and hemispheric preference scores.