1,720,982 research outputs found
The influence of language comprehension proficiency on assessment of global cognitive impairment following Acquired Brain Injury: a comparison between MMSE, MoCA and CASP batteries
No full textLanguage disorders are among the primary obstacles in care and rehabilitation process following acquired brain injuries (ABI). While early cognitive screening is considered critical for sketching a reliable picture of patients' residual abilities and devising efficient therapeutic plans, it has been shown that commonly-used screening tools-which strongly rely on verbal materials-might be inappropriate when used with ABI patients. This study aimed at testing the robustness and validity of the Cognitive Assessment for Stroke Patients (CASP) battery-devised to minimize the use of verbal materials-and two gold-standards in clinical practice-i.e. Mini Mental State Examination (MMSE) and the Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA)-in presence of language comprehension difficulties. Forty-two ABI patients took part in the study. Half of the cohort was classified as aphasic. Participants underwent neuropsychological assessment including MMSE, MoCA and CASP, and completed the Token test to estimate language comprehension proficiency. The influence of linguistic ability on the outcomes of the screening tools was investigated. Regression analyses highlighted that, in aphasic patients, MMSE and MoCA scores proved to be significantly and remarkably determined by patients' proficiency in linguistic comprehension, while the outcome of the CASP battery was not significantly affected by language comprehension impairments
Promoting healthy aging via neurocognitive empowerment: electrophysiological and neuropsychological outcomes of an intensive intervention protocol
No full textBackground: Besides being characterized by increased psycho-physical frailty, physiological aging is also a dynamic process that shows potential for adaptive modifications of neural and cognitive processes [1]. Such opportunities to strengthen cognitive functioning can be fostered via empowerment protocols. In particular, given their crucial role in everyday activities and in successful aging, prefrontal executive functions and their neural substrates may be a critical target for cognitive and neurocognitive interventions based on non-invasive brain stimulation (NIBS) [2].
Materials and Methods: In order to investigate the potential of intensive cognitive and NIBS protocols for empowering cognitive and attention control in healthy elderly people, we designed a longitudinal three-branch study. Thirty-two participants were divided into NIBS, cognitive empowerment, and control groups and underwent pre-intervention, post-intervention, and follow-up neuropsychological/electrophysiological assessment. The intervention period lasted eight weeks, with three sessions per week.
Results: The analyses of neuropsychological and electrophysiological (event-related potentials, ERP) data across the assessment steps highlighted that a specific response to the empowerment interventions, with better performances at tests tapping on executive functions and increased ERP responses to a challenging attention task. Such effects were partly maintained at the follow-up.
Conclusion: Present findings are consistent with evidences on the role of prefrontal cortex in supporting executive control [3]. Structured neurocognitive empowerment protocols may then help to improve cognitive abilities in healthy elderly people as well as their quality of life, as suggested by participants’ reports on subjective increase in everyday functioning.
References:
1. Antonietti A, Balconi M, Catellani P, Marchetti A. Empowering Skills for an Active Ageing and Healthy Living. In: Riva G, Ajmone Marsan P, Grassi C, editors. Active Aging and Healthy Living. Amsterdam: IOS Press; 2014. p. 157–171.
2. Balconi M, Pala F, Crivelli D. Effetto della neuromodulazione corticale (tDCS) nell’healthy ageing. Correlati EEG e comportamentali [The effect of cortical neuromodulation (tDCS) in healthy ageing. EEG and behavioural correlates]. Ric di Psicol. 2016;1:45–62.
3. Cabeza R, Dennis NA. Frontal lobes and aging. In: Stuss DT, Knight RT, editors. Principles of Frontal Lobe Function. 2nd edition. New York, NY: Oxford University Press; 2013. p. 628–652
When is a novel psychometric measure needed? A preliminary analysis regarding the Cognitive Assessment for Stroke Patients (CASP) battery compared with MMSE and MoCA
No full textThe need for quick tools to sketch an early but accurate cognitive profile of patients who suffered brain damage or head trauma is of primary importance. Nonetheless, in the Italian context, the most-diffused screening tools are still those originally devised to diagnose dementia. The present pilot study then aimed at investigating the potential and feasibility of a novel screening battery, the Cognitive Assessment for Stroke Patients (CASP), in a sample of Italian patients by comparing it to Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) and Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA) tests. A total of 29 neurology patients took part in the study. Participants underwent a screening procedure including the administration of MMSE, MoCA, and CASP. Data analysis suggested that the scores of the Italian version of the CASP are relatively less affected by the presence of language difficulties—common sequelae of stroke and head traumas—with respect to MMSE and MoCA ones. Furthermore, CASP scores proved to be highly correlated with both MMSE and MoCA scores, showing good clinical potential. Finally, the outcomes of administered tests proved not to be influenced by etiology or gender, and CASP scores showed a diminishing trend related to patients’ age and a positive association with patients’ education
Validazione pilota della Cognitive Assessment for Stroke Patients (CASP): un confronto con MMSE e MoCA
No full textL’introduzione di strumenti di misura in ambito neuropsicologico di rapida somministrazione che permettano di delineare un profilo cognitivo accurato di pazienti in esiti da danno cerebrale è di primaria importanza. Tuttavia, attualmente gli strumenti di screening più diffusi presenti nel quadro testistico si focalizzano prevalentemente nell’ambito della diagnosi di quadri di demenza o di deficit cognitivi generici. Tali strumenti presentano vincoli interpretativi e di somministrazione nel caso della presenza di deficit delle competenze linguistiche comunemente osservabili in pazienti neurologici. Il presente studio pilota mira a indagare il potenziale e l’applicabilità di una nuova batteria di screening cognitivo – la Cognitive Assessment for Stroke Patients, CASP – in un campione di pazienti italiani, comparandolo con le note batterie Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) e Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA). Il campione è composto da 29 pazienti in esiti da ictus o caratterizzati da difficoltà cognitive con differente eziologia. Tutti i partecipanti sono stati sottoposti a uno screening che includeva la somministrazione di MMSE, MoCA e CASP. Le analisi comparative effettuate sui tre strumenti consentono di rilevare una elevata informatività della versione italiana della batteria CASP, la quale consente di fornire dati di screening affidabili. In aggiunta, i punteggi al CASP hanno presentato indici di correlazione elevati sia con i punteggi ottenuti al MMSE sia con quelli ottenuti alla MoCA, mostrando un buon potenziale per applicazioni cliniche valutative anche in termini comparativi. Occorre tuttavia sottolineare che il CASP si rileva particolarmente utile nel caso di pazienti con deficit linguistici rispetto a MMSE e MoCA. Infine, l’analisi sugli effetti della variabile di genere e di eziologia della patologia sui risultati delle batterie non ha evidenziato differenze significative: i punteggi al CASP hanno mostrato un trend negativo in relazione all’età e un’associazione positiva con i dati di scolarità, aprendo interessanti spunti di riflessione sulla sua utilizzabilità della misura anche in condizioni di declino cognitivo non-patologico
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Get PDFThe present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation
counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings
are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that
only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into
account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed
Development of a new approach for neuropsychological and clinical screening in fragile subjects and immigrate patients with chronic disease
No full textMulticulturalism and progressive stabilization of migrants present new challenges for national health systems. In particular, clinical practice may benefit from the analysis of their clinical needs and preferred uses of health services. The project aimed at outlining healthcare needs of stabilized migrants presenting chronic diseases in the context of the Italian health system, as well as potential difficulties experienced by healthcare professionals while answering such needs. Based on a preliminary survey on Italian patients, we have devised a novel approach for the concurrent evaluation of patients’ neuropsychological and clinical condition and of healthcare professionals’ representation of patients’ condition and needs. The section of the screening tool dedicated to patients includes standardized tests for neuropsychological assessment and a semi-structured interview for the collection of social, clinical, and psychological data. The section dedicated to healthcare professionals focuses on their cultural representations concerning their work and the engagement of migrant patients towards health. This new approach, by integrating different sources of information, allows for obtaining a multidimensional assessment of patients’ needs and of risk factors in medical assistance
Variations on the Author
Get PDF“Variations on the Author” discusses two of Eduardo Coutinho’s recent films (Um Dia na Vida, from 2010, and Últimas Conversas, posthumously released in 2015) and their contribution to the general question of documentary authorship. The director’s filmography is characterized by a consistent yet self-effacing form of authorial self-inscription: Coutinho often features as an interviewer that rather than express opinions propels discourses; an interviewer that is good at listening. This mode of self-inscription characterizes him as an author who is not expressive but who is nonetheless markedly present on the screen. In Um Dia na Vida, however, Coutinho is completely absent form the image, while Últimas Conversas, on the contrary, includes a confessional prologue that moves the director from the margins to the center of his films. This article examines the ways in which these works stand out in the filmography of a director who offers new insights into the notion of cinematic authorship
Appropriate Similarity Measures for Author Cocitation Analysis
Get PDFWe provide a number of new insights into the methodological discussion about author cocitation analysis. We first argue that the use of the Pearson correlation for measuring the similarity between authors’ cocitation profiles is not very satisfactory. We then discuss what kind of similarity measures may be used as an alternative to the Pearson correlation. We consider three similarity measures in particular. One is the well-known cosine. The other two similarity measures have not been used before in the bibliometric literature. Finally, we show by means of an example that our findings have a high practical relevance.information science;Pearson correlation;cosine;similarity measure;author cocitation analysis
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