1,721,396 research outputs found
Amplitude values of motor evoked potentials: statistical properties and neurophysiological implications
No full textAbilità progettuali e nuove tecnologie nella formazione professionale: realizzazione di una stazione meteorologica da parte dei ragazzi nell'ambito di una sperimentazione didattica
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The Symbol Digit Modalities Test - Oral version: Italian normative data
No full textIn neuropsychological practice, the availability of effective and reliable tests is crucial. The Symbol Digit Modalities Test (SDMT) is widely used because it is easy to administer, reliable and also evaluates information processing speed. We set out to obtain normative data (currently unavailable for the Italian population) for the oral version of this test. Both age and education influenced performance on the SDMT; therefore, correction scores were obtained on the basis of these factors. The cut-off for normality was 34.2. The availability of Italian normative data for the SDMT will allow wider application of this test in clinical practice
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Full text linkThe 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
Parallel processing of sensory inputs: an evoked potentials study in Parkinsonian patients implanted with thalamic stimulators
No full textIn two drug-resistant Parkinsonian subjects, who underwent thalamic chronic stimulation for extrapyramidal symptoms relief, median nerve somatosensory evoked potentials (SEPs) were recorded before and at different times following the thalamic lead implant. In both subjects, a transient obliteration of post-rolandic SEPs components was detected; pre-rolandic waves' amplitude was preserved or showed a tendency to increase after the beginning of chronic stimulation. Parietal waves' amplitude totally recovered pre-surgical values after 1 month. Latency of both pre- and post-central components remained stable. The 'dissociate behaviour' of the examined waves following the thalamic implant reinforces the hypothesis that short-latency sensory inputs are processed by separate and independent routes which are functionally segregated at subcortical level
Patterns of language improvement in adults with non-chronic non-fluent aphasia after specific therapies
No full textBackground: Methods for functional and linguistic analysis of discourse have been used for describing recovery from aphasia and examining relationships between patterns of recovery and specific therapeutic programmes. This approach, however, has mainly concerned therapeutic programmes for chronic aphasic symptoms (e.g., therapy for chronic agrammatism in non-fluent aphasic subjects). Aims: The first aim of this study was to examine whether functional and linguistic analyses of discourse are suitable to describe aspects of language improvement in subjects recovering from non-fluent aphasia in the first months post-onset. A second objective was to assess the effectiveness of two therapy programmes for chronic aphasia in increasing informativeness and/or morpho-syntactic organisation of connected speech. This was made by examining in-depth the correspondence between each of the two therapy programmes and the results from functional and linguistic analysis of discourse at pre- and post-therapy evaluation. Methods & Procedures: Three subjects with non-fluent aphasia (12, 18, and 22 weeks post-onset, respectively), whose speech was characterised by reduced information content and poor morpho-syntactic organisation, received two consecutive therapy programmes, each consisting of 35 one-hour sessions in seven weeks. The first programme consisted of stimulus-response exercises for producing well-formed sentences (HELPSS, Helm-Estabrooks, Fitzpatrick, & Barresi, 1981). This was followed by a functional treatment programme in PACE format (Carlomagno, Losanno, Emanuelli, & Razzano, 1991) intended to increase informativeness of communicative (verbal and non-verbal) behaviour. At the three assessments (before and after HELPSS and after modified PACE) the three participants were asked to describe two cartoon stories and two single pictures. These connected speech samples underwent functional analysis (CIUs, Nicholas & Brookshire, 1993; Main Concept Analysis, Nicholas & Brookshire, 1995) and linguistic analysis (Marini, Caltagirone, Carlomagno, & Nocentini, 2005a; Marini, Boewe, Caltagirone, & Carlomagno, 2005b) in order to examine the pattern of language recovery. The three participants also received functional evaluation with the EFCP (Wirz, Skinner, & Dean, 1990) for assessing changes in language performance in communicative interaction. At the beginning and end of the therapy period, further evaluation was performed by means of standardised aphasia tests (AAT, Italian version, Luzzatti, Willems, & DeBleser, 1991; CADL, Italian version, Pizzamiglio et al., 1984). Outcomes & Results: Following the therapy programmes, a few changes were observed on standard aphasia tests. However, the informativeness of the speech samples by the three subjects increased. This corresponded to better rating of their language in the EFCP interview. In two subjects, the linguistic analysis of connected speech samples failed to show consistent syntactic organisation at the post-therapy evaluation and differences between effects of the two programmes were marginal. In the third, the pattern of recovery did not correspond closely to that predicted by the type of treatment, i.e., better syntactic organisation of speech output became evident only after the second therapy programme. Conclusions: It is suggested that discourse analysis methods are useful for studying functional and linguistic aspects of recovery in subjects with non-fluent aphasia in the early post-onset period. Furthermore, in this period, specific therapy for chronic agrammatic symptoms may not reduce them. Nonetheless, this therapeutic approach plays a role in improving language informativeness particularly when combined with a functional approach
Major and minor depression in Parkinson's disease: a neuropsychological investigation
No full textPrevious studies have failed to distinguish the differential contribution of major and minor depression to cognitive impairment in patients with idiopathic Parkinson's disease (PD). This study was aimed at investigating the relationships among major depression (MD), minor depression (MiD) and neuropsychological deficits in PD. Eighty-three patients suffering from PD participated in the study. MD and MiD were diagnosed by means of a structured interview (SCID-I) based on the DSM-IV criteria, and severity of depression was evaluated by the Beck Depression Inventory. For the neuropsychological assessment, we used standardized scales that measure verbal and visual episodic memory, working memory, executive functions, abstract reasoning and visual-spatial and language abilities. MD patients performed worse than PD patients without depression on two long-term verbal episodic memory tasks, on an abstract reasoning task and on three measures of executive functioning. The MiD patients' performances on the same tests fell between those of the other two groups of PD patients but did not show significant differences. Our results indicate that MD in PD is associated with a qualitatively specific neuropsychological profile that may be related to an alteration of prefrontal and limbic cortical areas. Moreover, the same data suggest that in these patients MiD and MD may represent a gradual continuum associated with increasing cognitive deficits
Outcome of carotid artery occlusion is predicted by cerebrovascular reactivity
No full textBACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to investigate the
possibility of obtaining prognostic indications in patients with internal carotid
occlusion on the basis of intracranial hemodynamic status, presence of previous
symptoms of cerebrovascular failure, and baseline characteristics.
METHODS: Cerebral hemodynamics were studied with transcranial Doppler
ultrasonography. Cerebrovascular reactivity to apnea was calculated by means of
the breath-holding index (BHI) in the middle cerebral arteries. Sixty-five
patients with internal carotid artery occlusion were followed-up prospectively
(median, 24 months), 23 patients were asymptomatic and 42 symptomatic (20 with
transient ischemic attack and 22 with stroke).
RESULTS: During the follow-up period, 11 symptomatic patients and 1 asymptomatic
patient had another ischemic event ipsilateral to carotid occlusion. Among
factors considered, only lower BHI values in the middle cerebral arteries
ipsilateral to carotid occlusion and older age were significantly associated with
the risk of developing symptoms (P=0.002 and P=0.003, respectively; Cox
regression multivariate analysis). Based on our data, a cut point of the BHI
value for distinguishing between pathological and normal cerebrovascular
reactivity was determined to be 0.69. All patients except one, who developed TIA
or stroke during the follow-up period, had BHI values ipsilateral to carotid
occlusion of <0.69.
CONCLUSIONS: These data suggest that impaired cerebrovascular reactivity is
predictive for cerebral ischemic events in patients with carotid occlusion
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