Quantitative Assessment of Syllabic Timing Deficits in Ataxic Dysarthria

Author(s):  
Bipasha Kashyap ◽  
Pubudu N. Pathirana ◽  
Malcolm Horne ◽  
Laura Power ◽  
David Szmulewicz
2014 ◽  
Vol 57 (1) ◽  
pp. 81-89 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fred Cummins ◽  
Anja Lowit ◽  
Frits van Brenk

Purpose Following recent attempts to quantify articulatory impairment in speech, the present study evaluates the usefulness of a novel measure of motor stability to characterize dysarthria. Method The study included 8 speakers with ataxic dysarthria (AD), 16 speakers with hypokinetic dysarthria (HD) as a result of Parkinson's disease, and 24 unimpaired control participants. Each participant performed a series of sentence repetitions under habitual, fast, and slow speaking rate conditions. An algorithm to measure utterance-to-utterance spectro-temporal variation (UUV; Cummins, 2009) was used. Speech rate and intelligibility were also measured. Results UUV scores were significantly correlated with perceptually based intelligibility scores. There were significant differences in UUV between control speakers and the AD but not the HD groups, presumably because of differences in intelligibility in the samples used and not because of differences in pathology. Habitual speaking rate did not correlate with UUV scores. All speaker groups had greater UUV levels in the slow conditions compared with habitual and fast speaking rates. Conclusions UUV results were consistent with those of other variability indices and thus appear to capture motor control issues in a similar way. The results suggest that the UUV could be developed into an easy-to-use clinical tool that could function as a valid and reliable assessment and outcome measure.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
José‐Carlos Delgado‐González ◽  
Carlos‐de‐la Rosa Prieto ◽  
Nuria Vallejo‐Calcerrada ◽  
Diana‐Lucía Tarruela‐Hernández ◽  
Sandra Cebada‐Sánchez ◽  
...  

2019 ◽  
Vol 28 (2S) ◽  
pp. 915-924 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kristie A. Spencer ◽  
Mallory Dawson

Purpose This preliminary study examined whether speech profiles exist for adults with hereditary ataxia based on 2 competing frameworks: a pattern of instability/inflexibility or a pattern of differential subsystem involvement. Method Four dysarthria experts rated the speech samples of 8 adults with dysarthria from hereditary ataxia using visual analog scales and presence/severity rating scales of speech characteristics. Speaking tasks included diadochokinetics, sustained phonation, and a monologue. Results Speech profiles aligned with the instability/inflexibility framework, with the pattern of instability being the most common. Speech profiles did not emerge for the majority of speakers using the differential subsystem framework. Conclusions The findings extend previous research on pure ataxic dysarthria and suggest a possible framework for understanding the speech heterogeneity associated with the ataxias. The predominance of the instability profile is consistent with the notion of impaired feedforward control in speakers with cerebellar disruption.


VASA ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 46 (5) ◽  
pp. 383-388 ◽  
Author(s):  
Henrik Christian Rieß ◽  
Anna Duprée ◽  
Christian-Alexander Behrendt ◽  
Tilo Kölbel ◽  
Eike Sebastian Debus ◽  
...  

Abstract. Background: Perioperative evaluation in peripheral artery disease (PAD) by common vascular diagnostic tools is limited by open wounds, medial calcinosis or an altered collateral supply of the foot. Indocyanine green fluorescent imaging (ICG-FI) has recently been introduced as an alternative tool, but so far a standardized quantitative assessment of tissue perfusion in vascular surgery has not been performed for this purpose. The aim of this feasibility study was to investigate a new software for quantitative assessment of tissue perfusion in patients with PAD using indocyanine green fluorescent imaging (ICG-FI) before and after peripheral bypass grafting. Patients and methods: Indocyanine green fluorescent imaging was performed in seven patients using the SPY Elite system before and after peripheral bypass grafting for PAD (Rutherford III-VI). Visual and quantitative evaluation of tissue perfusion was assessed in an area of low perfusion (ALP) and high perfusion (AHP), each by three independent investigators. Data assessment was performed offline using a specially customized software package (Institute for Laser Technology, University Ulm, GmbH). Slope of fluorescent intensity (SFI) was measured as time-intensity curves. Values were compared to ankle-brachial index (ABI), slope of oscillation (SOO), and time to peak (TTP) obtained from photoplethysmography (PPG). Results: All measurements before and after surgery were successfully performed, showing that ABI, TTP, and SOO increased significantly compared to preoperative values, all being statistically significant (P < 0.05), except for TTP (p = 0.061). Further, SFI increased significantly in both ALP and AHP (P < 0.05) and correlated considerably with ABI, TTP, and SOO (P < 0.05). Conclusions: In addition to ABI and slope of oscillation (SOO), the ICG-FI technique allows visual assessment in combination with quantitative assessment of tissue perfusion in patients with PAD. Ratios related to different perfusion patterns and SFI seem to be useful tools to reduce factors disturbing ICG-FI measurements.


1985 ◽  
Vol 54 (02) ◽  
pp. 533-538 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wilfried Thiel ◽  
Ulrich Delvos ◽  
Gert Müller-Berghaus

SummaryA quantitative determination of soluble fibrin in plasma was carried out by affinity chromatography. For this purpose, desAA-fibrin and fibrinogen immobilized on Sepharose 4B were used at the stationary side whereas batroxobin-induced 125I-desAA-fibrin or thrombin-induced 125I-desAABB-fibrin mixed with plasma containing 131I-fibrinogen represented the fluid phase. The binding characteristics of these mixtures to the immobilized proteins were compared at 20° C and 37° C. Complete binding of both types of fibrin to the immobilized desAA-fibrin was always seen at 20° C as well as at 37° C. However, binding of soluble fibrin was accompanied by substantial binding of fibrinogen that was more pronounced at 20° C. Striking differences depending on the temperature at which the affinity chromatography was carried out, were documented for the fibrinogen-fibrin interaction. At 20° C more than 90% of the applied desAA-fibrin was bound to the immobilized fibrinogen whereas at 37° C only a mean of 17% were retained at the fibrinogen-Sepharose column. An opposite finding with regard to the tested temperature was made with the desAABB-fibrin. Nearly complete binding to insolubilized fibrinogen was found at 37° C (95%) but only 58% of the desAABB-fibrin were bound at 20° C. The binding patterns did not change when the experiments were performed in the presence of calcium ions. The opposite behaviour of the two types of soluble fibrin to immobilized fibrinogen at the different temperatures, together with the substantial binding of fibrinogen in the presence of soluble fibrin to insolubilized fibrin in every setting tested, devaluates affinity chromatography as a tool in the quantitative assessment of soluble fibrin in patients’ plasma.


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