scholarly journals Paving the Way for Speech: Voice-Training-Induced Plasticity in Chronic Aphasia and Apraxia of Speech—Three Single Cases

2014 ◽  
Vol 2014 ◽  
pp. 1-14 ◽  
Author(s):  
Monika Jungblut ◽  
Walter Huber ◽  
Christiane Mais ◽  
Ralph Schnitker

Difficulties with temporal coordination or sequencing of speech movements are frequently reported in aphasia patients with concomitant apraxia of speech (AOS). Our major objective was to investigate the effects of specific rhythmic-melodic voice training on brain activation of those patients. Three patients with severe chronic nonfluent aphasia and AOS were included in this study. Before and after therapy, patients underwent the same fMRI procedure as 30 healthy control subjects in our prestudy, which investigated the neural substrates of sung vowel changes in untrained rhythm sequences. A main finding was that post-minus pretreatment imaging data yielded significant perilesional activations in all patients for example, in the left superior temporal gyrus, whereas the reverse subtraction revealed either no significant activation or right hemisphere activation. Likewise, pre- and posttreatment assessments of patients’ vocal rhythm production, language, and speech motor performance yielded significant improvements for all patients. Our results suggest that changes in brain activation due to the applied training might indicate specific processes of reorganization, for example, improved temporal sequencing of sublexical speech components. In this context, a training that focuses on rhythmic singing with differently demanding complexity levels as concerns motor and cognitive capabilities seems to support paving the way for speech.

2018 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 51-60
Author(s):  
Fitri Wulandari ◽  
Nirwana Puspasari ◽  
Noviyanthy Handayani

Jalan Temanggung Tilung is a 2/2 UD type road (two undirected two-way lanes) with a road width of 5.5 meters, which is a connecting road between two major roads, namely the RTA road. Milono and the path of G. Obos. Over time, the volume of traffic through these roads increases every year, plus roadside activities that also increase cause congestion at several points of the way. To overcome this problem, the local government carried out road widening to increase the capacity and level of road services. The study was conducted to determine the amount of traffic volume, performance, service level of the Temanggung Tilung road section at peak traffic hours before and after road widening. Data retrieval is done by the direct survey to the field to obtain primary data in the form of geometric road data, two-way traffic volume data, and side obstacle data. Performance analysis refers to the 1997 Indonesian Road Capacity Manual (MKJI) for urban roads. From the results of data processing, before increasing the road (Type 2/2 UD), the traffic volume that passes through the path is 842 pcs/hour and after road widening (Type 4/2 UD) the traffic volume for two directions is 973 pcs/hour, with route A equaling 528 pcs/hour and direction B equaling 445 pcs/hour. Based on the analysis of road performance before road enhancement, the capacity = 2551 pcs/hour, saturation degree = 0.331, and the service level of the two-way road are level B. Based on the analysis of the performance of the way after increasing the way, the direction capacity A = 2686 pcs/hour and direction B = 2674 pcs /hour, saturation degree for direction A = 0.196 and direction B = 0.166, service level for road direction A and direction B increase to level A


2020 ◽  
Vol 22 (3) ◽  
pp. 341-361
Author(s):  
Gonzalo Grau-Pérez ◽  
J. Guillermo Milán

In Uruguay, Lacanian ideas arrived in the 1960s, into a context of Kleinian hegemony. Adopting a discursive approach, this study researched the initial reception of these ideas and its effects on clinical practices. We gathered a corpus of discursive data from clinical cases and theoretical-doctrinal articles (from the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s). In order to examine the effects of Lacanian ideas, we analysed the difference in the way of interpreting the clinical material before and after Lacan's reception. The results of this research illuminate some epistemological problems of psychoanalysis, especially the relationship between theory and clinical practice.


Author(s):  
Viktória Tamás ◽  
Gabriella Sebestyén ◽  
Szilvia Anett Nagy ◽  
Péter Zsolt Horváth ◽  
Ákos Mérei ◽  
...  

AbstractNeglect is a severe neuropsychological/neurological deficit that usually develops due to lesions of the posterior inferior parietal area of the right hemisphere and is characterized by a lack of attention to the left side. Our case is a proven right-handed, 30-year-old female patient with a low-grade glioma, which was located in the temporo-opercular region and also in the superior temporal gyrus of the right hemisphere. Upon presurgical planning, the motor, language, and visuospatial functions were mapped. In order to achieve this, the protocol for routine magnetic resonance imaging and navigated transcranial magnetic stimulation has been expanded, accordingly.


2009 ◽  
Vol 25 (1) ◽  
pp. 77-106 ◽  
Author(s):  
Susanne Reiterer ◽  
Ernesto Pereda ◽  
Joydeep Bhattacharya

This article examines the question of whether university-based high-level foreign language and linguistic training can influence brain activation and whether different L2 proficiency groups have different brain activation in terms of lateralization and hemispheric involvement. The traditional and prevailing theory of hemispheric involvement in bilingual language processing states that bilingual and second language processing is always at least in some form connected to the right hemisphere (RH), when compared to monolingual first language processing, the classical left-hemispheric language-processing domain. A widely held specification of this traditional theory claims that especially bilinguals or second language learners in their initial phases and/or bilinguals with poor fluency and less experience rely more on RH areas when processing their L2. We investigated this neurolinguistic hypothesis with differently proficient Austrian learners of English as a second language. Two groups of L2 speakers (all Austrian German native speakers), differing in their L2 (English) language performance, were recorded on electroencephalography (EEG) during the processing of spoken English language. A short comprehension interview followed each task. The `high proficiency group' consisted of English language students who were about to complete their master's degree for English language and linguistics, while the `low proficiency group' was composed of non-language students who had only school level performance and less training in English. The age of onset of L2 learning was kept constant: 9 years for both groups. To look for cooperative network activity in the brain, EEG coherence and synchronization measures were analysed for a high EEG frequency range (gamma band). Results showed the most significant group differences in synchronization patterns within the lower gamma frequency range, with more RH involvement (extensive right-hemisphere networks) for the low proficiency group, especially when processing their L2. The results can be interpreted in favour of RH theories of second language processing since, once again, we found evidence of more RH involvement in (late) second language learners with less experience and less training in the L2. The study shows that second language training (and resulting proficiency) and/or differences in ability or state of linguistic alertness can be made visible by brain imaging using newly developed EEG-synchronization techniques as a measure.


1997 ◽  
Vol 19 (3) ◽  
pp. 291-301 ◽  
Author(s):  
Karla A. Kubitz ◽  
Konstantinos Pothakos

In the present study, participants were randomly assigned to an exercise or a nonexercise group to measure brain activation (spontaneous EEG activity), affect, and cognitive functioning before and after a 15-min treatment period. Exercisers (a) sat quietly for 5 min, (b) exercised for 15 min, (c) recovered for 5 min, and (d) completed a 15-min vigilance task. Nonexercisers did not exercise. There was a significant (a) Condition × Band × Time interaction for EEG activity, (b) Condition × Time interaction for Activation-Deactivation Adjective Checklist (AD ACL) scores, and (c) Condition × Time interaction for reaction times (RTs). Post hoc tests showed (a) no significant group effects at the baseline and 15-min vigilance periods, and (b) significant group effects at the postexercise and 5-min vigilance periods. Exercisers had lower levels of brain activation (i.e., more theta and alpha activity and less beta activity), higher AD ACL scores, and slower RTs than nonexercisers during these periods.


2016 ◽  
Vol 2016 ◽  
pp. 1-6 ◽  
Author(s):  
Salvatore Di Lauro ◽  
Mustafa R. Kadhim ◽  
David G. Charteris ◽  
J. Carlos Pastor

Purpose. To evaluate the current and suitable use of current proliferative vitreoretinopathy (PVR) classifications in clinical publications related to treatment.Methods. A PubMed search was undertaken using the term “proliferative vitreoretinopathy therapy”. Outcome parameters were the reported PVR classification and PVR grades. The way the classifications were used in comparison to the original description was analyzed. Classification errors were also included. It was also noted whether classifications were used for comparison before and after pharmacological or surgical treatment.Results. 138 papers were included. 35 of them (25.4%) presented no classification reference or did not use any one. 103 publications (74.6%) used a standardized classification. The updated Retina Society Classification, the first Retina Society Classification, and the Silicone Study Classification were cited in 56.3%, 33.9%, and 3.8% papers, respectively. Furthermore, 3 authors (2.9%) used modified-customized classifications and 4 (3.8%) classification errors were identified. When the updated Retina Society Classification was used, only 10.4% of authors used a full C grade description. Finally, only 2 authors reported PVR grade before and after treatment.Conclusions. Our findings suggest that current classifications are of limited value in clinical practice due to the inconsistent and limited use and that it may be of benefit to produce a revised classification.


2020 ◽  
Vol 91 (11) ◽  
pp. 668-673
Author(s):  
Karol Taradaj ◽  
Tomasz Ginda ◽  
Piotr Maciejewicz ◽  
Barbara Suchonska ◽  
Miroslaw Wielgos ◽  
...  

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
PierGianLuca Porta Mana ◽  
Claudia Bachmann ◽  
Abigail Morrison

Automated classification methods for disease diagnosis are currently in the limelight, especially for imaging data. Classification does not fully meet a clinician's needs, however: in order to combine the results of multiple tests and decide on a course of treatment, a clinician needs the likelihood of a given health condition rather than binary classification yielded by such methods. We illustrate how likelihoods can be derived step by step from first principles and approximations, and how they can be assessed and selected, using fMRI data from a publicly available data set containing schizophrenic and healthy control subjects, as a working example. We start from the basic assumption of partial exchangeability, and then the notion of sufficient statistics and the "method of translation" (Edgeworth, 1898) combined with conjugate priors. This method can be used to construct a likelihood that can be used to compare different data-reduction algorithms. Despite the simplifications and possibly unrealistic assumptions used to illustrate the method, we obtain classification results comparable to previous, more realistic studies about schizophrenia, whilst yielding likelihoods that can naturally be combined with the results of other diagnostic tests.


Biology ◽  
2022 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 88
Author(s):  
Anna Baran ◽  
Paulina Kiluk ◽  
Julia Nowowiejska ◽  
Tomasz W. Kaminski ◽  
Magdalena Maciaszek ◽  
...  

Galectin-3 (gal-3) is a multifunctional regulator of various biological processes and diseases, which are common comorbidities in psoriasis. Data regarding potential diagnostic role of gal-3 in psoriasis are insufficient. Serum gal-3 levels were evaluated before and after twelve weeks of treatment with acitretin or methotrexate in 31 patients with plaque-type psoriasis and compared to 11 healthy control group. The mean serum galectin-3 level in patients with psoriasis was significantly higher compared to the control group (p < 0.01). In patients with obesity and long-lasting psoriasis (>20 years) positive relations of gal-3 and PASI were noted. In psoriatics with low gal-3 levels, positive correlations between the gal-3 and BMI, glucose level, and with the latter in short-lasting psoriasis (<20 years) were noted. In the long history of psoriasis, gal-3 was negatively correlated with lipids levels. The Gal-3 level might be a multifaceted modulator of the course of psoriasis and predictive factor of cardiometabolic comorbidities’ development, especially in patients with a long history of the disease or obesity. Patients with low serum gal-3 and short history of psoriasis are presumably at greater risk of diabetes. In patients with long-lasting psoriasis and concomitant obesity, gal-3 may exert a protective role against dyslipidemia or perhaps further CMD development.


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