Improvement of phonemic fluency following leftward prism adaptation

AbstractAnatomo functional studies of prism adaptation (PA) have been shown to modulate a brain frontal-parieto-temporal network, increasing activation of this network in the hemisphere ipsilateral to the side of prism deviation. This effect raises the hypothesis that left prism adaptation, modulating frontal areas of the left hemisphere, could modify subjects’ performance on linguistic tasks that map on those areas. To test this hypothesis, 51 healthy subjects participated in experiments in which leftward or rightward prism adaptation were applied before the execution of a phonemic fluency task, i.e., a task with strict left hemispheric lateralization onto frontal areas. Results showed that leftward PA significantly increased the number of words produced whereas rightward PA did not significantly modulate phonemic fluency. The present findings document modulation of a language ability following prism adaptation. The results could have a huge clinical impact in neurological populations, opening new strategies of intervention for language and executive dysfunctions.

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Boosting Phonological Fluency Following Leftward Prismatic Adaptation: A New Neuromodulation Protocol for Neurological Deficits?

10.21203/rs.3.rs-109260/v1 ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Patrizia Turriziani ◽

Gabriele Chiaramonte ◽

Giuseppa Renata Mangano ◽

Rosario Emanuele Bonaventura ◽

Daniela Smirni ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Language Ability ◽

Hemispheric Lateralization ◽

Neurological Deficits ◽

Spatial Bias ◽

Time Modulation ◽

First Time ◽

Prismatic Adaptation ◽

Executive Dysfunctions ◽

New Strategies ◽

Fluency Task

Abstract Prism adaptation (PA) has been recently shown to modulate a brain frontal-parieto-temporal network, with an increase of excitation of this network in the hemisphere ipsilateral to the side of prismatic deviation. This effect raises the hypothesis that left prismatic adaptation, modulating the excitability of frontal areas of the left hemisphere, could modulate subjects’ performance on linguistic tasks that map on those areas.To test this hypothesis, sixty-one healthy subjects participated in experiments in which leftward, rightward or no-PA were applied before the execution of a phonological fluency task, i.e. a task with strict left hemispheric lateralization and mapping onto frontal areas.Leftward-PA significantly increased the number of words produced compared with the pre-PA (p = .0017), R-PA (p=.00013) and no-PA (p=.0005) sessions. In contrast, rightward-PA did not significantly modulate phonological fluency compared with the pre-PA (p = .92) and no-PA (p = .99) sessions.The effect of leftward PA on phonological fluency correlated with the magnitude of spatial aftereffect, i.e. the spatial bias towards the side of space opposite to prismatic deviation following prisms removal (r = .51; p = .04).The present findings document for the first time modulation of a language ability following prismatic adaptation. The results could have a huge clinical impact in neurological populations, opening new strategies of intervention for language and executive dysfunctions.

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10-Hz tACS Over The Prefrontal Cortex Improves Phonemic Fluency

10.21203/rs.3.rs-1022193/v1 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Ya Sun ◽

Qiaoling Hua ◽

Lihui Huang ◽

Qiang Liu

Keyword(s):

Prefrontal Cortex ◽

Verbal Fluency ◽

Verbal Ability ◽

Language Ability ◽

Important Indicator ◽

Sham Stimulation ◽

Control Frequency ◽

Phonemic Fluency ◽

Transcranial Alternating Current Stimulation ◽

Fluency Task

Abstract Verbal fluency is an important indicator of human verbal ability. Methods to improve fluency is an interesting issue necessitating investigation. To do this, the current study required participants to randomly receive transcranial alternating current stimulation (tACS) at 10 Hz, 40 Hz (control frequency), and sham stimulation over the prefrontal cortex before a phonemic fluency task. It was found that 10-Hz tACS significantly improved phonemic fluency relative to sham stimulation. This result demonstrates the modulatory effect of 10-Hz tACS on language ability.

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Strategies for Optimizing the Clinical Impact of Immunotherapeutic Agents Such as Sipuleucel-T in Prostate Cancer

Journal of the National Comprehensive Cancer Network ◽

10.6004/jnccn.2012.0156 ◽

2012 ◽

Vol 10 (12) ◽

pp. 1505-1512 ◽

Cited By ~ 10

Author(s):

Ravi A. Madan ◽

Thomas Schwaab ◽

James L. Gulley

Keyword(s):

Prostate Cancer ◽

Immune Responses ◽

Standard Of Care ◽

Clinical Impact ◽

Castration Resistant Prostate Cancer ◽

Therapeutic Vaccines ◽

Therapeutic Cancer Vaccine ◽

Castration Resistant ◽

New Strategies

Sipuleucel-T is a therapeutic cancer vaccine that has shown improved survival in men with metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer. As a first-in-class agent, it has been met with both fan-fare and controversy. A broad review of immune-based therapies may reveal the delayed clinical impact of sipuleucel-T to be a class effect. As new strategies of immune-based therapy are developed, their effects can be optimized through better understanding of how they affect disease differently from more standard therapeutics. Furthermore, combination therapy with agents that can either work synergistically with immune-activating therapies or deplete immune-regulating cells may result in more vigorous immune responses and improved clinical outcomes. In addition, therapeutic vaccines may be ideal candidates to safely combine with standard-of-care therapies because of their nonoverlapping toxicity profile. The ultimate role of immunotherapy may not be to supplant standard therapies, but rather to work in concert with them to maximize clinical benefit for patients.

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Verbal fluency in Parkinson's disease: results of a 2-min fluency test

Acta Neuropsychiatrica ◽

10.1111/j.0924-2708.2006.00122.x ◽

2006 ◽

Vol 18 (1) ◽

pp. 38-41 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

B. Scholtissen ◽

J. Dijkstra ◽

J. Reithler ◽

A. F. G. Leentjens

Keyword(s):

Parkinson’S Disease ◽

Parkinson's Disease ◽

Executive Functioning ◽

Verbal Fluency ◽

Healthy Controls ◽

Impaired Performance ◽

Phonemic Fluency ◽

Retrieval Strategies ◽

Fluency Task ◽

Fluency Test

Background:Patients suffering from Parkinson's disease (PD) are often reported to have an impaired performance on tests measuring executive functioning, such as fluency tasks.Aim:To investigate whether verbal fluency is impaired in PD patients (n = 25) compared with healthy controls (n = 15) using a 2-min semantic and phonemic verbal fluency test. A 2-min version of the fluency task was used to allow for more switches between clusters to study retrieval strategies more adequately.Results:No differences in performance on both semantic and phonemic fluency tasks between the PD patients and the control persons were found. Moreover, both groups appeared to use the same retrieval strategies.Conclusion:Patients suffering from PD appear to use the same strategies for producing words as healthy controls do. Different pathways may be involved in switching clusters during the fluency task than in other types of switching that may be impaired in PD, such as motor switching and concept-shifting.

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Risk Factors for Selective Cognitive Decline in Dialyzed Patients with End-Stage Renal Disease: Evidence from Verbal Fluency Analysis

Journal of the International Neuropsychological Society ◽

10.1017/s1355617711001445 ◽

2011 ◽

Vol 18 (1) ◽

pp. 162-167 ◽

Cited By ~ 20

Author(s):

Michał Harciarek ◽

John B. Williamson ◽

Bogdan Biedunkiewicz ◽

Monika Lichodziejewska-Niemierko ◽

Alicja Dębska-Ślizień ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Renal Disease ◽

End Stage Renal Disease ◽

Semantic Fluency ◽

Temporal Lobes ◽

Phonemic Fluency ◽

Stage Renal Disease ◽

End Stage ◽

Cognitive Problems ◽

Fluency Task ◽

Direct Confirmation

AbstractAlthough dialyzed patients often have cognitive problems, little is known about the nature of these deficits. We hypothesized that, in contrast to semantic fluency relying mainly on temporal lobes, phonemic fluency, preferentially depending on functions of frontal-subcortical systems, would be particularly sensitive to the constellation of physiological pathological processes associated with end-stage renal disease and dialysis. Therefore, we longitudinally compared phonemic and semantic fluency performance between 49 dialyzed patients and 30 controls. Overall, patients performed below controls only on the phonemic fluency task. Furthermore, their performance on this task declined over time, whereas there was no change in semantic fluency. Moreover, this decline was related to the presence of hypertension and higher blood urea nitrogen. We suggest that these findings may be due to a combination of vascular and topic effects that impact more on fronto-subcortical than temporal lobe networks, but this speculation requires direct confirmation. (JINS, 2012,18, 162–167)

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The leukocyte non-coding RNA landscape in critically ill patients with sepsis

eLife ◽

10.7554/elife.58597 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 9 ◽

Author(s):

Brendon P Scicluna ◽

Fabrice Uhel ◽

Lonneke A van Vught ◽

Maryse A Wiewel ◽

Arie J Hoogendijk ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Healthy Subjects ◽

Host Response ◽

In Vivo Model ◽

Human Endotoxemia ◽

Functional Studies ◽

Protein Levels ◽

Non Coding Rna ◽

Blood Leukocyte ◽

Long Non Coding Rna

The extent of non-coding RNA alterations in patients with sepsis and their relationship to clinical characteristics, soluble mediators of the host response to infection, as well as an advocated in vivo model of acute systemic inflammation is unknown. Here we obtained whole blood from 156 patients with sepsis and 82 healthy subjects among whom eight were challenged with lipopolysaccharide in a clinically controlled setting (human endotoxemia). Via next-generation microarray analysis of leukocyte RNA we found that long non-coding RNA and, to a lesser extent, small non-coding RNA were significantly altered in sepsis relative to health. Long non-coding RNA expression, but not small non-coding RNA, was largely recapitulated in human endotoxemia. Integrating RNA profiles and plasma protein levels revealed known as well as previously unobserved pathways, including non-sensory olfactory receptor activity. We provide a benchmark dissection of the blood leukocyte ‘regulome’ that can facilitate prioritization of future functional studies.

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The tale of microencapsulated rifampicin: is it useful for the treatment of periprosthetic joint infection?

International Orthopaedics ◽

10.1007/s00264-021-05290-0 ◽

2022 ◽

Author(s):

Irene Isabel López-Torres ◽

Javier Vaquero-Martín ◽

Ana-Isabel Torres-Suárez ◽

Federico Navarro-García ◽

Ana-Isabel Fraguas-Sánchez ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Joint Infection ◽

Rabbit Model ◽

Clinical Impact ◽

Systemic Absorption ◽

Cement Spacer ◽

Microbiological Analysis ◽

Lower Growth ◽

Release Curve ◽

New Strategies

Abstract Purpose Microencapsulation techniques have allowed the addition of rifampicin to bone cement, but its in vivo efficacy has not been proven. The aim of our study is to determine the superiority of cement containing gentamicin and rifampicin microcapsules in the treatment of PJI versus cement exclusively containing gentamicin. Methods An S. aureus PJI was induced in 15 NZW rabbits. A week after inoculation, the first stage of replacement was carried out, and the animals were divided into two groups: group R received a spacer containing gentamicin and rifampicin microcapsules, and group C received a spacer containing gentamicin. Intra-articular release curve of rifampicin and infection and toxicity markers were monitored for four weeks post-operatively, when microbiological analysis was performed. Results The microbiological cultures showed a significantly lower growth of S. aureus in soft tissue (2.3·104 vs 0; p = 0.01) and bone (5.7·102 vs 0; p = 0.03) in the group with rifampicin microcapsules. No differences were found in systemic toxicity markers. Rifampicin release from the cement spacer showed higher concentrations than the staphylococcal MIC throughout the analysis. Conclusion The in vivo analyses demonstrated the superiority of cement containing gentamicin and rifampicin microcapsules versus the isolated use of gentamicin in the treatment of PJI in the rabbit model without serious side effects due to the systemic absorption of rifampicin. Given the increasing incidence of staphylococci-related PJI, the development of new strategies for intra-articular administration of rifampicin for its treatment has a high clinical impact.

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Performance of Brazilian children on phonemic and semantic verbal fluency tasks

Dementia & Neuropsychologia ◽

10.1590/s1980-57642011dn05020004 ◽

2011 ◽

Vol 5 (2) ◽

pp. 78-84 ◽

Cited By ~ 7

Author(s):

Helenice Charchat-Fichman ◽

Rosinda Martins Oliveira ◽

Andreza Morais da Silva

Keyword(s):

Verbal Fluency ◽

Age Groups ◽

International Studies ◽

Semantic Fluency ◽

Phonemic Fluency ◽

Significant Difference ◽

Positive Correlations ◽

Effect Of Age ◽

Fluency Task ◽

Brazilian Children

Abstract The most used verbal fluency paradigms are semantic and letter fluency tasks. Studies suggest that these paradigms access semantic memory and executive function and are sensitive to frontal lobe disturbances. There are few studies in Brazilian samples on these paradigms. Objective: The present study investigated performance, and the effects of age, on verbal fluency tasks in Brazilian children. The results were compared with those of other studies, and the consistency of the scoring criteria data is presented. Methods: A sample of 119 children (7 to 10 years old) was submitted to the three phonemic fluency (F, A, M) tasks and three semantic fluency (animals, clothes, fruits) tasks. The results of thirty subjects were scored by two independent examiners. Results: A significant positive correlation was found between the scores calculated by the two independent examiners. Significant positive correlations were found between performance on the semantic fluency task and the phonemic fluency task. The effect of age was significant for both tasks, and a significant difference was found between the 7- and 9-year-old subjects and between the 7- and 10-year-old subjects. The 8-year-old group did not differ to any of the other age groups. Conclusion: The pattern of results was similar to that observed in previous Brazilian and international studies.

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Edad, escolarización y tareas de Fluencia Verbal para el screening de pacientes con Enfermedad de Alzheimer

Anales de Psicología ◽

10.6018/analesps.31.3.168941 ◽

2015 ◽

Vol 31 (3) ◽

pp. 773 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Adriana Goñi-Sarriés ◽

José J. López-Goñi ◽

David Granados-Rodríguez ◽

Angela González-Jiménez

Keyword(s):

Clinical Practice ◽

Healthy Subjects ◽

Demographic Variables ◽

Screening Tests ◽

Discriminatory Ability ◽

Parallel Task ◽

Combined Use ◽

Phonemic Fluency ◽

Time Variables ◽

The One

<p>Introduction. The Verbal (VF), Semantic (SF) and Phonemic Fluency (PF) tests are commonly used in clinical practice. Having different alternative tests, that could also allow for the effect of demographic variables, would improve their use as screening tests, making it possible to differentiate patients with or without Alzheimer´s disease (AD). Aims. (1) to compare the discriminatory ability of the SF tasks “things in a house” and “food” versus the task “animals” among patients with the AD (n=50) and healthy subjects (n=50). (2) to compare the use of the phonemes such as “P”, “M” and “R” as an alternative and/or parallel task to the phonemes “F”, “A” and “S”. (3) to asses the combined use of both tasks with the demographic variables for the screening of AD patients and the healthy ones. Results. Both semantic and phonemic categories indicate similar results, high correlation, support the criteria validity and allow for their use in a parallel way. Among all the different roles assessed, the most successful in screening correctly 91% of the evaluated subjects is the one that includes tasks such as “things in a house”, the phonemes “A” and “S” and the age and schooling time variables. Conclusion. The parallel use of VF and PF, plus the demographic variables improve the discriminatory ability of the VF tests.</p>

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