scholarly journals Degenerative Jargon Aphasia: Unusual Progression of Logopenic/Phonological Progressive Aphasia?

2013 ◽  
Vol 26 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 89-93 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paolo Caffarra ◽  
Simona Gardini ◽  
Stefano Cappa ◽  
Francesca Dieci ◽  
Letizia Concari ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Short Term Memory ◽  
Primary Progressive Aphasia ◽  
Healthy Controls ◽  
Semantic Fluency ◽  
Short Term ◽  
Middle Temporal ◽  
Progressive Aphasia ◽  
Executive Deficits ◽  
Semantic Variant

Primary progressive aphasia (PPA) corresponds to the gradual degeneration of language which can occur as nonfluent/agrammatic PPA, semantic variant PPA or logopenic variant PPA. We describe the clinical evolution of a patient with PPA presenting jargon aphasia as a late feature. At the onset of the disease (ten years ago) the patient showed anomia and executive deficits, followed later on by phonemic paraphasias and neologisms, deficits in verbal short-term memory, naming, verbal and semantic fluency. At recent follow-up the patient developed an unintelligible jargon with both semantic and neologistic errors, as well as with severe deficit of comprehension which precluded any further neuropsychological assessment. Compared to healthy controls, FDG-PET showed a hypometabolism in the left angular and middle temporal gyri, precuneus, caudate, posterior cingulate, middle frontal gyrus, and bilaterally in the superior temporal and inferior frontal gyri. The clinical and neuroimaging profile seems to support the hypothesis that the patient developed a late feature of logopenic variant PPA characterized by jargonaphasia and associated with superior temporal and parietal dysfunction.

Errorless Learning Therapy in Semantic Variant of Primary Progressive Aphasia

2021 ◽  
Vol 79 (1) ◽  
pp. 415-422
Author(s):  
Núria Montagut ◽  
Sergi Borrego-Écija ◽  
Magdalena Castellví ◽  
Immaculada Rico ◽  
Ramón Reñé ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Speech Therapy ◽  
Primary Progressive Aphasia ◽  
Semantic Knowledge ◽  
Errorless Learning ◽  
Short Term ◽  
Progressive Aphasia ◽  
Primary Progressive ◽  
Semantic Variant ◽  
Naming Tasks

Background: The semantic variant of primary progressive aphasia (svPPA) is characterized by a progressive loss of semantic knowledge impairing the ability to name and to recognize the meaning of words. Objective: We aimed to evaluate the immediate and short-term effect of errorless learning speech therapy on the naming and recognition of commonly used words in patients with svPPA. Methods: Eight participants diagnosed with svPPA received 16 sessions of intensive errorless learning speech therapy. Naming and word comprehension tasks were evaluated at baseline, immediately postintervention, and at follow-up after 1, 3, and 6 months. These evaluations were performed using two item sets (a trained list and an untrained list). Results: In the naming tasks, patients showed a significant improvement in trained items immediately after the intervention, but that improvement decayed progressively when therapy ended. No improvements were found either in trained comprehension or in untrained tasks. Conclusion: Errorless learning therapy could improve naming ability in patients with svPPA. This effect may be due to the relative preservation of episodic memory, but the benefit is not maintained over time, presumably because there is no consolidation.

scholarly journals Comparing two facets of emotion perception across multiple neurodegenerative diseases

2020 ◽  
Vol 15 (5) ◽  
pp. 511-522 ◽  
Author(s):  
Casey L Brown ◽  
Alice Y Hua ◽  
Lize De Coster ◽  
Virginia E Sturm ◽  
Joel H Kramer ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Neurodegenerative Diseases ◽  
Progressive Supranuclear Palsy ◽  
Emotion Perception ◽  
Primary Progressive Aphasia ◽  
Tracking Task ◽  
Healthy Controls ◽  
Progressive Aphasia ◽  
Primary Progressive ◽  
Dynamic Tracking ◽  
Semantic Variant

Abstract Deficits in emotion perception (the ability to infer others’ emotions accurately) can occur as a result of neurodegeneration. It remains unclear how different neurodegenerative diseases affect different forms of emotion perception. The present study compares performance on a dynamic tracking task of emotion perception (where participants track the changing valence of a film character’s emotions) with performance on an emotion category labeling task (where participants label specific emotions portrayed by film characters) across seven diagnostic groups (N = 178) including Alzheimer’s disease (AD), behavioral variant frontotemporal dementia (bvFTD), semantic variant primary progressive aphasia (svPPA), non-fluent variant primary progressive aphasia (nfvPPA), progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP), corticobasal syndrome and healthy controls. Consistent with hypotheses, compared to controls, the bvFTD group was impaired on both tasks. The svPPA group was impaired on the emotion labeling task, whereas the nfvPPA, PSP and AD groups were impaired on the dynamic tracking task. Smaller volumes in bilateral frontal and left insular regions were associated with worse labeling, whereas smaller volumes in bilateral medial frontal, temporal and right insular regions were associated with worse tracking. Findings suggest labeling and tracking facets of emotion perception are differentially affected across neurodegenerative diseases due to their unique neuroanatomical correlates.

The Link Between Verbal Short-Term Memory and Anomia Treatment Gains

2019 ◽  
Vol 28 (3) ◽  
pp. 1039-1052
Author(s):  
Reva M. Zimmerman ◽  
JoAnn P. Silkes ◽  
Diane L. Kendall ◽  
Irene Minkina
Keyword(s):  
Short Term Memory ◽  
Controlled Trial ◽  
Treatment Success ◽  
Linear Regression Models ◽  
Language Performance ◽  
Short Term ◽  
Term Memory ◽  
Treatment Gains ◽  
Post Hoc

Purpose A significant relationship between verbal short-term memory (STM) and language performance in people with aphasia has been found across studies. However, very few studies have examined the predictive value of verbal STM in treatment outcomes. This study aims to determine if verbal STM can be used as a predictor of treatment success. Method Retrospective data from 25 people with aphasia in a larger randomized controlled trial of phonomotor treatment were analyzed. Digit and word spans from immediately pretreatment were run in multiple linear regression models to determine whether they predict magnitude of change from pre- to posttreatment and follow-up naming accuracy. Pretreatment, immediately posttreatment, and 3 months posttreatment digit and word span scores were compared to determine if they changed following a novel treatment approach. Results Verbal STM, as measured by digit and word spans, did not predict magnitude of change in naming accuracy from pre- to posttreatment nor from pretreatment to 3 months posttreatment. Furthermore, digit and word spans did not change from pre- to posttreatment or from pretreatment to 3 months posttreatment in the overall analysis. A post hoc analysis revealed that only the less impaired group showed significant changes in word span scores from pretreatment to 3 months posttreatment. Discussion The results suggest that digit and word spans do not predict treatment gains. In a less severe subsample of participants, digit and word span scores can change following phonomotor treatment; however, the overall results suggest that span scores may not change significantly. The implications of these findings are discussed within the broader purview of theoretical and empirical associations between aphasic language and verbal STM processing.

scholarly journals PTSD, depression and anxiety in Ebola virus disease survivors in Beni town, Democratic Republic of the Congo

2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Célestin Kaputu-Kalala-Malu ◽  
Eric Mafuta Musalu ◽  
Tim Walker ◽  
Olga Ntumba-Tshitenge ◽  
Steve Ahuka-Mundeke
Keyword(s):  
Ebola Virus ◽  
Democratic Republic ◽  
Short Term Memory ◽  
Virus Disease ◽  
Ebola Virus Disease ◽  
Depression And Anxiety ◽  
Short Term ◽  
Republic Of The Congo ◽  
Persistent Headache

Abstract Background Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) is a deadly and feared infectious disease, which can be responsible of debilitating physical and psychological sequelae in survivors including depression and anxiety disorders. Unfortunately, there are scarce data on survivor sequelae in Democratic Republic of the Congo. So this study assessed PTSD, depression and anxiety symptoms among EVD survivors enrolled in the follow-up program of the psychosocial care team of Beni town’s general hospital. Methods A cross-sectional study used consecutive sampling to recruit 144 Ebola virus disease survivors who came for follow up from October 23 to November 13; 2019. Basic socio-demographic data, presence of headache and short-term memory function were assessed. The Post-traumatic Checklist Scale and Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale were used to assess psychological burden among participants. Descriptive statistics were used to summarized data and Pearson’s or likelihood chi-square were used to test association between psychiatric disorders and associated factors. Results The prevalence of PTSD, depression and anxiety was 24.3, 24.3 and 33.3% respectively. Being male (OR = 0.42, 95% CI: 0.16, 0.95, p = 0.049), suffering from persistent headache (OR = 2.62, 95% CI: 1.12, 6.14, p = 0.014), losing a loved one because of EVD (OR: 2.60, 95% CI: 1.11, 6.15, p = 0. 015) and being young − 18-24 years - (OR: 0. 261, 95% CI: 0. 08, 0.82, p = 0,026) were statistically associated with PTSD diagnosis. Having short-term memory impairment and suffering from persistent headache were statistically associated with depression and anxiety diagnoses (OR = 2.44, 95% CI: 1.03, 5.82, p = 0.026); (OR = 2.24, 95% CI: 1.04, 4.85, p = 0.025); (OR = 2.62, 95% CI: 1.12, 6.14, p = 0.014); (OR = 2.31, 95% CI: 1.06, 5.01, p = 0.020). Conclusion The prevalence of PTSD, depression and anxiety is high among EVD survivors. Development of specialized psychiatric services to sustain psychiatric and psychological health amongst survivors in the cultural context of the Eastern part of the DRC should be considered by the teams fighting against EVD in the DRC.

scholarly journals Primary Progressive Aphasia: Toward a Pathophysiological Synthesis

2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Justina Ruksenaite ◽  
Anna Volkmer ◽  
Jessica Jiang ◽  
Jeremy CS Johnson ◽  
Charles R Marshall ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Care Management ◽  
Primary Progressive Aphasia ◽  
Disease Stage ◽  
Major Step ◽  
Progressive Aphasia ◽  
Primary Progressive ◽  
New Findings ◽  
Critical Issues ◽  
Semantic Variant ◽  
Auditory Impairments

Abstract Purpose of Review The term primary progressive aphasia (PPA) refers to a diverse group of dementias that present with prominent and early problems with speech and language. They present considerable challenges to clinicians and researchers. Recent Findings Here, we review critical issues around diagnosis of the three major PPA variants (semantic variant PPA, nonfluent/agrammatic variant PPA, logopenic variant PPA), as well as considering ‘fragmentary’ syndromes. We next consider issues around assessing disease stage, before discussing physiological phenotyping of proteinopathies across the PPA spectrum. We also review evidence for core central auditory impairments in PPA, outline critical challenges associated with treatment, discuss pathophysiological features of each major PPA variant, and conclude with thoughts on key challenges that remain to be addressed. Summary New findings elucidating the pathophysiology of PPA represent a major step forward in our understanding of these diseases, with implications for diagnosis, care, management, and therapies.

scholarly journals Breakdowns in Informativeness of Naturalistic Speech Production in Primary Progressive Aphasia

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 130
Author(s):  
Jeanne Gallée ◽  
Claire Cordella ◽  
Evelina Fedorenko ◽  
Daisy Hochberg ◽  
Alexandra Touroutoglou ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Primary Progressive Aphasia ◽  
Speech Analysis ◽  
Clinical Settings ◽  
Functional Communication ◽  
Or Efficiency ◽  
Progressive Aphasia ◽  
Primary Progressive ◽  
Communication Impairment ◽  
Semantic Variant ◽  
Lower Production

“Functional communication” refers to an individual’s ability to communicate effectively in his or her everyday environment, and thus is a paramount skill to monitor and target therapeutically in people with aphasia. However, traditional controlled-paradigm assessments commonly used in both research and clinical settings often fail to adequately capture this ability. In the current study, facets of functional communication were measured from picture-elicited speech samples from 70 individuals with mild primary progressive aphasia (PPA), including the three variants, and 31 age-matched controls. Building upon methods recently used by Berube et al. (2019), we measured the informativeness of speech by quantifying the content of each patient’s description that was relevant to a picture relative to the total amount of speech they produced. Importantly, form-based errors, such as mispronunciations of words, unusual word choices, or grammatical mistakes are not penalized in this approach. We found that the relative informativeness, or efficiency, of speech was preserved in non-fluent variant PPA patients as compared with controls, whereas the logopenic and semantic variant PPA patients produced significantly less informative output. Furthermore, reduced informativeness in the semantic variant is attributable to a lower production of content units and a propensity for self-referential tangents, whereas for the logopenic variant, a lower production of content units and relatively ”empty” speech and false starts contribute to this reduction. These findings demonstrate that functional communication impairment does not uniformly affect all the PPA variants and highlight the utility of naturalistic speech analysis for measuring the breakdown of functional communication in PPA.

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