Physiotherapy case reports on three people with progressive supranuclear palsy.

Introduction: Progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP) is a neurodegenerative brain disease that affects patient's functionality and quality of life. Physiotherapy should be recommended at the time of diagnosis to slow the progression of disability and enhance the quality of life of these patients.

Clinical Presentation: Here, we describe three cases of patients with PSP, outlining their motor and non-motor symptoms and examining their clinical progression with physiotherapy intervention.

At-distance neurocognitive rehabilitation during COVID-19 pandemic: A first glance of patients' perspectives about the process and an online platform.

Despite the use of digital communication technologies in neurocognitive rehabilitation has been widely used in face-to-face interventions, the difficulties of using ICT-based tools to provide rehabilitation services and the unfamiliarity of the neuropsychologists with internet interventions limited the use of these kinds of interventions in their clinical practices. The lockdown and mitigating measures associated with the COVID-19 pandemic, on the other hand, forced the use of at-distance and online interventions as a means to mitigate the impact of those measures on the mental health and rehabilitation processes of people with neurological disorders. Overall, little is known about the perspectives of patients with acquired neurological conditions about rehabilitation services delivered at distance.

Looking for the Brain Inside the Initial Teacher Training and Outreach Books in Portugal.

The fascination with brain research is widespread, and school teachers are no exception. This growing interest, usually noticed by the increased supply of short-term training or books on how to turn the brain more efficient, leads us to think about their basic training and outreach resources available. Little is known about what the official Initial Teacher Training (ITT) offers concerning the brain literature and if it meets scientific standards.

Disentangling Pantomime From Early Sign in a New Sign Language: Window Into Language Evolution Research.

In this study, we aim to disentangle pantomime from early signs in a newly-born sign language: Sao Tome and Principe Sign Language. Our results show that within 2 years of their first contact with one another, a community of 100 participants interacting everyday was able to build a shared language. The growth of linguistic systematicity, which included a decrease in use of pantomime, reduction of the amplitude of signs and an increase in articulation economy, showcases a learning, and social interaction process that constitutes a continuum and not a cut-off system.

The temporal modulation structure of illiterate versus literate adult speech.

The temporal modulation structure of speech plays a key role in neural encoding of the speech signal. Amplitude modulations (AMs, quasi-rhythmic changes in signal energy or intensity) in speech are encoded by neuronal oscillations (rhythmic variations in neural excitability in large cell networks) that oscillate at matching temporal rates. To date, however, all neural studies have investigated adult-directed speech (ADS) as produced and perceived by highly literate adults.

An fMRI paradigm based on Williams inhibition test to study the neural substrates of attention and inhibitory control.

The purpose of this study is to present an fMRI paradigm, based on the Williams inhibition test (WIT), to study attentional and inhibitory control and their neuroanatomical substrates. We present an index of the validity of the proposed paradigm and test whether the experimental task discriminates the behavioral performances of healthy participants from those of individuals with acquired brain injury. Stroop and Simon tests present similarities with WIT, but this latter is more demanding.

Unisensory and multisensory Self-referential stimulation of the lower limb: An exploratory fMRI study on healthy subjects.

Background: The holistic view of the person is the essence of the physiotherapy. Knowledge of approaches that develop the whole person promotes better patient outcomes. Multisensory Self-referential stimulation, more than a unisensory one, seems to produce a holistic experience of the Self ("Core-Self").

Executive functioning of Portuguese preschoolers in the Shape School test: A cross cultural study.

The Shape School is a neuropsychological test of executive functions (EF) for preschool-aged children. The purposes of this study were: (a) to adapt the use of the Shape School for European Portuguese preschool children and (b) to examine the cultural sensitivity of this test comparing the performance of Portuguese sample and U.S.

[Biologicals and Biosimilars: Gaps in the Pharmacovigilance System in Portugal].

Introduction: Biological and biosimilar medicinal products have specific characteristics that call for a closer monitoring of their safety profile. Since the current legal framework stems from both European and national regulations, some gaps in the operational field may be expected. The goal of this paper is to identify these gaps and propose changes to the current information systems and pharmacovigilance regulations.

Biologicals and biosimilars: safety issues in Europe.

Medicinal products of a biological origin are approved by the EMA at a centralized level. However, there is no harmonization about their use in Europe. The current regulation referring to the safety of biological medicinal products and biosimilars in Europe has been identified.

Impaired Pain Modulation in Fibromyalgia Patients in Response to Social Distress Manipulation.

Objectives: Fibromyalgia (FM), a chronic pain condition, is associated with abnormalities in pain modulation. A growing body of evidence has shown that social distress modulates pain sensitivity. The current study aimed to assess the effects of social distress manipulation on pain in FM patients compared with positive (rheumatoid arthritis, RA) and negative (pain-free) controls.

Reliability and Validity of the European Portuguese Version of the Social Touch Questionnaire.

Social touch is essential for physical and emotional well-being. However, different meanings can be attributed to physical contact during social interactions and may generate bonding or avoidant behaviors. This personal and unique experience is not usually taken into account in health and social care services.

Searching for a neurologic injury's Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale-Third Edition profile.

This study aimed to investigate the presence of a Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale-Third Edition (WAIS-III) cognitive profile in a Portuguese neurologic injured sample. The Portuguese WAIS-III was administered to 81 mixed neurologic patients and 81 healthy matched controls selected from the Portuguese standardization sample. Although the mixed neurologic injury group performed significantly lower than the healthy controls for the majority of the WAIS-III scores (i.

Hand tactile discrimination, social touch and frailty criteria in elderly people: A cross sectional observational study.

Frailty is a common syndrome among elderly and sensory decline may exacerbate functional decline. The hand function, the manual dexterity, the performance of the daily living skills and the social interactions are determined, in a large degree, by sensory integrity. However, hand tactile sensory deterioration has been little explored in frailty.

Interpreting WAIS-III performance after primary brain tumor surgery.

The literature lacks information on the performance of patients with brain tumors on the Wechsler Intelligence Scales. This study aimed to explore the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale-Third Edition (WAIS-III) performance profile of 23 consecutive patients with brain tumors and 23 matched controls selected from the Portuguese WAIS-III standardization sample, using the technical manual steps recommended for score interpretation. The control group was demographically matched to the tumor group regarding gender, age, education, profession, and geographic region.

Action verbal fluency in Parkinson's patients.

We compared the performance of 31 non-demented Parkinson's disease (PD) patients to 61 healthy controls in an action verbal fluency task. Semantic and phonemic fluencies, cognitive impairment and behavioural dysfunction were also assessed. The mean disease duration of PD was 9.

Study of behavioural and neural bases of visuo-spatial working memory with an fMRI paradigm based on an n-back task.

The goal of this study was to propose a new functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) paradigm using a language-free adaptation of a 2-back working memory task to avoid cultural and educational bias. We additionally provide an index of the validity of the proposed paradigm and test whether the experimental task discriminates the behavioural performances of healthy participants from those of individuals with working memory deficits. Ten healthy participants and nine patients presenting working memory (WM) deficits due to acquired brain injury (ABI) performed the developed task.

Brain Activity during Lower-Limb Movement with Manual Facilitation: An fMRI Study.

Brain activity knowledge of healthy subjects is an important reference in the context of motor control and reeducation. While the normal brain behavior for upper-limb motor control has been widely explored, the same is not true for lower-limb control. Also the effects that different stimuli can evoke on movement and respective brain activity are important in the context of motor potentialization and reeducation.

Feeling Hurt: Pain Sensitivity is Correlated With and Modulated by Social Distress.

Objectives: Social distress, resulting from loss or threat to social relationships, shares similar psychological and neuronal processes with physical pain. Recent evidence demonstrated that social distress may have an impact on pain. The current study aimed to further assess the relationship between these 2 phenomena.

Cognitive output of a neuropsychological stimulation program in an elderly day care center with low educated participants: An observational study.

Objective: In the present paper we present an observational study of the implementation of a Neuropsychological Stimulation Program at an Elderly Day Care Center in low-educated participants with very similar backgrounds concerning social economic status.

Methods: The implemented program tackled several dimensions, including daily orientation sessions, cognitive stimulation sessions twice a week, followed by movement sessions, and structured sessions conducted every two weeks. Cognitive Evaluation was performed before and after implementation of the program.

Understanding task- and expertise-specific motor acquisition and motor memory formation and consolidation.

This study aimed to assess how the capacity to acquire, form and consolidate motor memories might vary across different tasks and different groups (with and without motor expertise). 20 athletes and 21 non-athletes were tested on five motor tasks: a motor sequence task, a reaction time task, two visuo-manual tasks, and a balance task. Performance was measured before training (T0), immediately after training (T1), and 24 hours after training (T2), to assess motor acquisition and motor memory formation and consolidation.

[Virtual reality and rehabilitation: why or why not? A systematic literature review].

Regardless of the health domain involved, the process of rehabilitation remains a challenge for professionals, patients and their families. In an attempt to overcome the limitations of traditional interventions, the technology of Virtual Reality (VR) has been increasingly applied to rehabilitation and begins to provide important tools which, however, generate debate and divergent positions. In order to examine VR's contributions to the field of rehabilitation in terms of its advantages and limitations, this study presents a systematic review of scientific literature in this area and provides a hierarchical model describing and systematizing the nature of the studies reviewed and their main subjects.

[Empathy in the doctor-patient relationship as viewed by first-year medical students: data on validity and sensibility to change of the Jefferson Measure in Portugal].

Background And Aims: Empathy is a key feature of the doctor-patient relationship. Several studies have shown a link between empathic relationships and clinical outcomes. However, reports of a decline in empathy over the course of undergraduate medical education and medical practice have raised concern among medical educators.

Revisiting 'The influence of literacy in paraphasias of aphasic speakers'.

Literature suggests that illiterate subjects are unaware of the phonological structure of language. This fact may influence the characteristics of aphasic speech, namely the structure of paraphasias. A battery of tests was developed for this study to be used with aphasic subjects (literate and illiterate), in order to explore this topic in more detail.

Task-specific contribution of the human striatum to perceptual-motor skill learning.

Acquisition of new perceptual-motor skills depends on multiple brain areas, including the striatum. However, the specific contribution of each structure to this type of learning is still poorly understood. Focusing on the striatum, we proposed (a) to replicate the finding of impaired rotary pursuit (RP) and preserved mirror tracing (MT) in Huntington's disease (HD); and (b) to further explore this putative learning dissociation with other human models of striatal dysfunction (i.