Three mechanisms of language comprehension are revealed through cluster analysis of individuals with language deficits.

Analysis of linguistic abilities that are concurrently impaired in individuals with language deficits allows identification of a shared underlying mechanism. If any two linguistic abilities are mediated by the same underlying mechanism, then both abilities will be absent if this mechanism is broken. Clustering techniques automatically arrange these abilities according to their co-occurrence and therefore group together abilities mediated by the same mechanism.

Validation and convergent validity of the Boston cognitive assessment (BOCA) in an Italian population: a comparative study with the Montreal cognitive assessment (MoCA) in Alzheimer's disease spectrum.

Background: The Boston Cognitive Assessment (BOCA) is a self-administered online test developed for cognitive screening and longitudinal monitoring of brain health in an aging population. The study aimed to validate BOCA in an Italian population and to investigate the convergent validity with the Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MOCA) in healthy ageing population and patients within the Alzheimer Disease spectrum.

Methods: BOCA was administered to 150 participants, including cognitively healthy controls (HC, n = 50), patients with mild cognitive impairment (MCI, n = 50), and dementia (DEM, n = 50).

A Comparison of Parent Reports, the Mental Synthesis Evaluation Checklist (MSEC) and the Autism Treatment Evaluation Checklist (ATEC), with the Childhood Autism Rating Scale (CARS).

This study compares two parent reports, the Mental Synthesis Evaluation Checklist (MSEC) and the Autism Treatment Evaluation Checklist (ATEC), with the Childhood Autism Rating Scale (CARS). The ATEC consists of four subscales, as follows: (1) expressive language, (2) sociability, (3) sensory awareness, and (4) health. The MSEC is complementary to the ATEC in measuring complex language comprehension.

Dietary Factors Impact Developmental Trajectories in Young Autistic Children.

Purpose: The purpose of this research was to investigate the impact of dietary factors on developmental trajectories in young autistic children.

Methods: A gluten-free and casein-free diets, as well as six types of food (meat and eggs, vegetables, uncooked vegetables, sweets, bread, and "white soft bread that never molds") were investigated observationally for up to three years in 5,553 children 2 to 5 years of age via parent-report measures completed within a mobile application. Children had a parent-reported diagnosis of Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD); 78% were males; the majority of participants resided in the USA.

A Feasibility Study of AlzLife 40 Hz Sensory Therapy in Patients with MCI and Early AD.

Alzheimer's Disease (AD) and Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI) are debilitating diseases that affect millions of individuals and have notoriously limited treatment options. One emerging therapy, non-invasive 40 Hz sensory therapy delivered through light and sound has previously shown promise in improving cognition in Alzheimer Disease (AD) rodent models. Small studies in humans have proven safe and tolerable, however exploration of feasibility and utility is limited.

Combinatorial Language parent-report Scores Differ Significantly Between Typically Developing Children and Those with Autism Spectrum Disorders.

Prefrontal synthesis (PFS) is a component of constructive imagination. It is defined as the process of mentally juxtaposing objects into novel combinations. For example, to comprehend the instruction "put the cat under the dog and above the monkey," it is necessary to use PFS in order to correctly determine the spatial arrangement of the cat, dog, and monkey with relation to one another.

Parent-Reported Assessment Scores Reflect the ASD Severity Level in 2- to 7-Year-Old Children.

We investigated the relationship between parent-reported assessments and autism spectrum disorder (ASD) severity level. Parents evaluated 9573 children with ASD on five subscales-combinatorial receptive language, expressive language, sociability, sensory awareness, and health-using the Autism Treatment Evaluation Checklist (ATEC) and Mental Synthesis Evaluation Checklist (MSEC). The scores in every subscale improved with age, and there were clear differences between the three diagnostic categories.

Boston cognitive assessment (BOCA) - a comprehensive self-administered smartphone- and computer-based at-home test for longitudinal tracking of cognitive performance.

Longitudinal cognitive testing is essential for developing novel preventive interventions for dementia and Alzheimer's disease; however, the few available tools have significant practice effect and depend on an external evaluator. We developed a self-administered 10-min at-home test intended for longitudinal cognitive monitoring, Boston Cognitive Assessment or BOCA. The goal of this project was to validate BOCA.

The Boston cognitive assessment: Psychometric foundations of a self-administered measure of global cognition.

The Boston Cognitive Assessment (BoCA) is a novel, computerized, self-administered assessment of global cognition. This work sought to establish the validity and reliability of the BoCA. Two studies were conducted.

Watching Videos and Television Is Related to a Lower Development of Complex Language Comprehension in Young Children with Autism.

The effect of passive video and television watching duration on 2- to 5-year-old children with autism was investigated in the largest and the longest observational study to date. Parents assessed the development of 3227 children quarterly for three years. Longer video and television watching were associated with better development of expressive language but significantly impeded development of complex language comprehension.

Imagination in Autism: A Chance to Improve Early Language Therapy.

Children with autism often have difficulties in imaginative play, Theory of Mind, and playing out different scenarios in their minds. Research shows that the root of these problems may be the voluntary imagination network that involves the lateral prefrontal cortex and its long frontoposterior connections to the temporal-parietal-occipital area. Previously disconnected visuospatial issues ( and ) and language issues (lack of comprehension of spatial prepositions and complex recursive sentences) may be explained by the same voluntary imagination deficit.

Novel Prefrontal Synthesis Intervention Improves Language in Children with Autism.

Prefrontal synthesis (PFS) is defined as the ability to juxtapose mental visuospatial objects at will. Paralysis of PFS may be responsible for the lack of comprehension of spatial prepositions, semantically-reversible sentences, and recursive sentences observed in 30 to 40% of individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). In this report we present data from a three-year-long clinical trial of 6454 ASD children age 2 to 12 years, which were administered a PFS-targeting intervention.

Novel linguistic evaluation of prefrontal synthesis (LEPS) test measures prefrontal synthesis acquisition in neurotypical children and predicts high-functioning versus low-functioning class assignment in individuals with autism.

In order to grasp the difference between "the cat on the mat" and "the mat on the cat," understanding the words and the grammar is not enough. Rather it is essential to visualize the cat and the mat together to appreciate their relations. This type of imagination, which involves juxtaposition of mental objects is conducted by the prefrontal cortex and is therefore called Prefrontal Synthesis (PFS).

Longitudinal Epidemiological Study of Autism Subgroups Using Autism Treatment Evaluation Checklist (ATEC) Score.

Here we report the results of the subgroup analyses of an observational cohort of children whose parents completed the Autism Treatment Evaluation Checklist (ATEC) over the period of several years. A linear mixed effects model was used to evaluate longitudinal changes in ATEC scores within different patient subgroups. All groups decreased their mean ATEC score over time indicating improvement of symptoms, however there were significant differences between the groups.

Development of the Mental Synthesis Evaluation Checklist (MSEC): A Parent-Report Tool for Mental Synthesis Ability Assessment in Children with Language Delay.

Mental synthesis is the conscious purposeful process of synthesizing novel mental images from objects stored in memory. Mental synthesis ability is essential for understanding complex syntax, spatial prepositions, and verb tenses. In typical children, the timeline of mental synthesis acquisition is highly correlated with an increasing vocabulary.

Autism Treatment Evaluation Checklist (ATEC) Norms: A "Growth Chart" for ATEC Score Changes as a Function of Age.

Most early-intervention Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) clinical trials are limited by the availability of psychometric technicians who assess each child's abilities before and after therapeutic intervention. If parents could administer regular psychometric evaluations of their children, then the cost of clinical trials will be reduced, enabling longer clinical trials with the larger number of participants. The Autism Treatment Evaluation Checklist (ATEC) was designed nearly two decades ago to provide such a tool, but the norms on the longitudinal changes in ATEC in the "treatment as usual" population were lacking.

Pendelluft in chronic obstructive lung disease measured with lung sounds.

Objective. The phenomenon of pendelluft was described over five decades ago. In patients with regional variations in resistance and elastance, gas moves at the beginning of inspiration out of some alveoli into others.

Crackle Pitch Rises Progressively during Inspiration in Pneumonia, CHF, and IPF Patients.

Objective. It is generally accepted that crackles are due to sudden opening of airways and that larger airways produce crackles of lower pitch than smaller airways do. As larger airways are likely to open earlier in inspiration than smaller airways and the reverse is likely to be true in expiration, we studied crackle pitch as a function of crackle timing in inspiration and expiration.

Crackle pitch and rate do not vary significantly during a single automated-auscultation session in patients with pneumonia, congestive heart failure, or interstitial pulmonary fibrosis.

Objective: To determine the variability of crackle pitch and crackle rate during a single automated-auscultation session with a computerized 16-channel lung-sound analyzer.

Methods: Forty-nine patients with pneumonia, 52 with congestive heart failure (CHF), and 18 with interstitial pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) performed breathing maneuvers in the following sequence: normal breathing, deep breathing, cough several times; deep breathing, vital-capacity maneuver, and deep breathing. From the auscultation recordings we measured the crackle pitch and crackle rate.

Mechanism of inspiratory and expiratory crackles.

Objective: Although crackles are frequently heard on auscultation of the chest of patients with common cardiopulmonary disorders, the mechanism of production of these sounds is inadequately understood. The goal of this research was to gain insights into the mechanism of crackle generation by systematic examination of the relationship between inspiratory and expiratory crackle characteristics.

Methods: Patients with a significant number of both inspiratory and expiratory crackles were examined using a multichannel lung sound analyzer.

Transmission of crackles in patients with interstitial pulmonary fibrosis, congestive heart failure, and pneumonia.

Objective: Patients with interstitial pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) often have diffusely abnormal findings on chest radiographs, making it difficult to detect evidence of superimposed congestive heart failure (CHF) or pneumonia. The goal of this study was to determine whether the crackles of IPF differed in their transmission and frequency from crackles of CHF and pneumonia in the hope of improving diagnosis and monitoring of these patients.

Methods: A multichannel lung sound analyzer was used to collect 20-s samples of sound from 25 patients with pneumonia, 17 patients with CHF, and 19 patients with IPF.

Automated lung sound analysis in patients with pneumonia.

Objective: To determine whether objectively detected lung sounds were significantly different in patients with pneumonia than those in asymptomatic subjects, and to quantify the pneumonia findings for teaching purposes.

Methods: At a community teaching hospital we used a multi-channel lung sound analyzer to examine a learning sample of 50 patients diagnosed with pneumonia and 50 control subjects. Automated quantification and characterization of the lung sounds commonly recognized to be associated with pneumonia were used to generate an "acoustic pneumonia score.