1,721,015 research outputs found
Pattern ofbehavioral disturbances in corticobasal degeneration syndrome and progressivesupranuclear palsy
No full textThe FTLD-modified Clinical Dementia Rating scale is a reliable toolfor defining disease severity in Frontotemporal Lobar Degeneration: evidence froma brain SPECT study
No full textEarly stage of behavioral variant frontotemporal dementia: clinical and neuroimaging correlates.
No full textFamilial aggregation in Progressive Supranuclear Palsy and Corticobasal Syndrome.
No full textBackground: Studies on familial aggregation might be of help to evaluate whether the genetic background has a key role in Progressive Supranuclar Palsy (PSP) and Corticobasal Syndrome (CBS). Only a few studies are available. Objective: To evaluate the prevalence of positive family history (FH) in PSP and CBS in a large sample of patients. Methods: Two hundred and thirty patients and 110 controls entered the study. Patients underwent an extensive clinical, neurological and neuropsychological assessment as well as a structural brain imaging study. A clinical follow-up further confirmed the diagnosis. Familial aggregation was carefully recorded by a standardised questionnaire. Results: One hundred and twenty-nine PSP (age at onset = 66.6 +/- 7.3, female = 46.1%) and 101 CBS (age at onset = 62.8 +/- 8.9, female = 41.6%) were consecutively enrolled. Positive FH was found in 31.8% of PSP (n = 41) and in 31.7% of CBS (n = 32). Familial aggregation was lower in the age-matched control group compared to patient group (21.8%, P = 0.05). Patients with PSP had higher positive FH for Parkinsonism (63.4%) when compared to FH for dementia (36.6%). In CBS, FH was equally distributed between Parkinsonism (53.1%) and dementia (46.9%). In addition, FH was not associated with age at disease onset in PSP (FH+ versus FH-, 67.0 +/- 7.3 vs. 66.7 +/- 7.1, P = 0.788) and in CBS (62.6 +/- 7.9 vs. 62.9 +/- 9.5, P= 0.877). Conclusions: These results argue for familial aggregation in PSP and CBS, further underlying the importance of genetic background in these disorders. Further studies on possible genetic modulators or genetic epistasis contributing to PSP and CBS development are warrante
Prefrontal cortex rTMS enhances action naming in Progressive Non-Fluent Aphasia
No full textBackground and purpose: Progressive non-fluent aphasia (PNFA) is a neurodegenerative disorder that is characterized by non-fluent speech with naming impairment and grammatical errors. It has been recently demonstrated that repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) over the dorsolateral pre-frontal cortex (DLPFC) improves action naming in healthy subjects and in subjects with Alzheimer's disease. Purpose: To investigate whether the modulation of DLPFC circuits by rTMS modifies naming performance in patients with PNFA. Methods: Ten patients with a diagnosis of PNFA were enrolled. High-frequency rTMS was applied to the left and right DLPFC and the sham (i.e. placebo) condition during object and action naming. A subgroup of patients with semantic dementia was enrolled as a comparison group. Results: A repeated-measure analysis of variance with stimulus site (sham, left and right rTMS) showed significant effects. Action-naming performances during stimulation of both the left and right DLPFC were better than during placebo stimulation. No facilitating effect of rTMS to the DLPFC on object naming was observed. In patients with a diagnosis of semantic dementia, no effect of stimulation was reported. Conclusions: Our study demonstrated that rTMS improved action naming in subjects with PNFA, possibly due to the modulation of DLPFC pathways and a facilitation effect on lexical retrieval processes. Future studies on the potential of a rehabilitative protocol using rTMS applied to the DLPFC in this orphan disorder are required
Treatment of primary progressive aphasias by transcranial direct current stimulation combined with language training
No full textAbstract
BACKGROUND:
Primary progressive aphasia (PPA) is an untreatable neurodegenerative disorder that disrupts language functions. Previous studies have demonstrated transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) may improve language symptoms in patients with post stroke aphasia or neurodegenerative diseases.
OBJECTIVE:
The present study investigated whether the application of anodal tDCS (AtDCS) to the scalp overlying the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC), which may increase cortical excitability, in combination with individualized speech therapy would improve naming accuracy in the agrammatic variant of PPA (avPPA).
METHODS:
Sixteen avPPA patients were randomly allocated into two subgroups: AtDCS (n = 8) or placebo tDCS (PtDCS). tDCS was applied over the left DLPFC (BA 8/9) 25 minutes per day for two weeks (10 days). Each patient underwent 25 minutes of individualized speech therapy with either AtDCS or PtDCS during each treatment session. Neuropsychological assessment, experimental naming, and linguistic abilities in daily living were assessed at baseline (T0), after two weeks of intervention (T1) and at a 12-week follow-up (T2).
RESULTS:
Significant improvement in experimental naming was observed in both groups at T1 and T2, but this effect was significantly greater in AtDCS than PtDCS patients. Naming correctness, as assessed using the Aachener Aphasie Test, increased selectively in the AtDCS group from T0 to T1, and this effect remained significant at T2. The analysis of daily living language abilities improved selectively in AtDCS group.
CONCLUSION:
Our results support the beneficial effect of targeted language training in combination with brain stimulation in avPPA patients. tDCS should be considered a useful tool for the improvement of language functions in patients with neurodegenerative diseases in future trials
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