Universal and Language-Specific Connected Speech Characteristics of Bilingual Speakers With Alzheimer's Disease: Insights From Case Studies of Structurally Distinct Languages.

Purpose: Connected speech analysis has been effectively utilized for the diagnosis and disease monitoring of individuals with Alzheimer's disease (AD). Existing research has been conducted mostly in monolingual English speakers with a noticeable lack of evidence from bilinguals and non-English speakers, particularly in non-European languages. Using a case study approach, we characterized connected speech profiles of two Bengali-English bilingual speakers with AD to determine the universal features of language impairments in both languages, identify language-specific differences between the languages, and explore language impairment characteristics of the participants with AD in relation to their bilingual language experience.

Ethical issues in clinical neuropsychology: International diversity perspectives.

Objective: Much of the information about the ethical practice of clinical neuropsychology has focused on North America. Additionally, of the scholarly publications on the intersection of ethical issues and cultural diversity practices in neuropsychology, most have focused on North America. The extent to which practitioners in other parts of the world are aware of, and find useful, such information is largely unknown.

Importance of Task Selection for Connected Speech Analysis in Patients with Alzheimer's Disease from an Ethnically Diverse Sample.

Features of linguistic impairment in Alzheimer's disease (AD) are primarily derived from English-speaking patients. Little is known regarding such deficits in linguistically diverse speakers with AD. We aimed to detail linguistic profiles (speech rate, dysfluencies, syntactic, lexical, morphological, semantics) from two connected speech tasks-Frog Story and picture description-in Bengali-speaking AD patients.

Examination of the validity of the 'Papadum test': An alternative to the clock drawing test for people with low levels of education.

: The clock drawing test (CDT) is a widely used cognitive screening test. However, CDT performance is affected by education. This study examined an alternative, the Papadum test, designed for people with low levels of education/literacy.

Connected Speech Characteristics of Bengali Speakers With Alzheimer's Disease: Evidence for Language-Specific Diagnostic Markers.

Speech and language characteristics of connected speech provide a valuable tool for identifying, diagnosing and monitoring progression in Alzheimer's Disease (AD). Our knowledge of linguistic features of connected speech in AD is primarily derived from English speakers; very little is known regarding patterns of linguistic deficits in speakers of other languages, such as Bengali. Bengali is a highly inflected pro-drop language from the Indo-Aryan language family.

Bilingualism and Its Implications for Neuropsychological Evaluation.

Objective: In the background of a large population of bilinguals globally, the study aimed to develop standards of neuropsychological testing in the context of bilingualism. Because bilingualism is known to affect cognitive processes, bilinguals and monolinguals were compared on their performance on cognitive tests, to investigate the possibility of the need for separate normative data for the two groups.

Method: A comprehensive neuropsychological test battery, standardized across five Indian languages: the Indian Council of Medical Research-Neuro Cognitive Tool Box (ICMR-NCTB) was administered to 530 participants (267 monolingual and 263 bilinguals matched for age and education).

Validation of Indian Council of Medical Research Neurocognitive Tool Box in Diagnosis of Mild Cognitive Impairment in India: Lessons from a Harmonization Process in a Linguistically Diverse Society.

Background/aims: In a linguistically diverse country such as India, challenges remain with regard to diagnosis of early cognitive decline among the elderly, with no prior attempts made to simultaneously validate a comprehensive battery of tests across domains in multiple languages. This study aimed to determine the utility of the Indian Council of Medical Research-Neurocognitive Tool Box (ICMR-NCTB) in the diagnosis of mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and its vascular subtype (VaMCI) in 5 Indian languages.

Methods: Literate subjects from 5 centers across the country were recruited using a uniform process, and all subjects were classified based on clinical evaluations and a gold standard test protocol into normal cognition, MCI, and VaMCI.

A Screening Tool to Detect Stroke Aphasia: Adaptation of Frenchay Aphasia Screening Test (FAST) to the Indian Context.

Background: Aphasia is a common consequence of stroke. To optimize recovery, it becomes critical as there are early identification and treatment of language deficits. The rising burden of stroke aphasia and lack of screening tools in the Indian context necessitates the need for a screening tool.

IKBKE activity enhances AR levels in advanced prostate cancer via modulation of the Hippo pathway.

Resistance to androgen receptor (AR) targeting therapeutics in prostate cancer (PC) is a significant clinical problem. Mechanisms by which this is accomplished include AR amplification and expression of AR splice variants, demonstrating that AR remains a key therapeutic target in advanced disease. For the first time we show that IKBKE drives AR signalling in advanced PC.

Standardising Dementia Diagnosis Across Linguistic and Educational Diversity: Study Design of the Indian Council of Medical Research-Neurocognitive Tool Box (ICMR-NCTB).

Objectives: While the burden of dementia is increasing in low- and middle-income countries, there is a low rate of diagnosis and paucity of research in these regions. A major challenge to study dementia is the limited availability of standardised diagnostic tools for use in populations with linguistic and educational diversity. The objectives of the study were to develop a standardised and comprehensive neurocognitive test battery to diagnose dementia and mild cognitive impairment (MCI) due to varied etiologies, across different languages and educational levels in India, to facilitate research efforts in diverse settings.

False Recognition in Behavioral Variant Frontotemporal Dementia and Alzheimer's Disease-Disinhibition or Amnesia?

Episodic memory recall processes in Alzheimer's disease (AD) and behavioral variant frontotemporal dementia (bvFTD) can be similarly impaired, whereas recognition performance is more variable. A potential reason for this variability could be false-positive errors made on recognition trials and whether these errors are due to amnesia per se or a general over-endorsement of recognition items regardless of memory. The current study addressed this issue by analysing recognition performance on the Rey Auditory Verbal Learning Test (RAVLT) in 39 bvFTD, 77 AD and 61 control participants from two centers (India, Australia), as well as disinhibition assessed using the Hayling test.

Family history of frontotemporal lobar degeneration in Asia--an international multi-center research.

Background: Previous studies in western countries have shown that about 30%-50% of patients with frontotemporal lobar degeneration (FTLD) have a positive family history, whereas the few epidemiological studies on FTLD done in Asia reported much lower frequencies. It is not clear the reason why the frequencies of FTLD with positive family history were lower in Asia. Furthermore, these findings were not from studies focused on family history.

Using the revised diagnostic criteria for frontotemporal dementia in India: evidence of an advanced and florid disease.

Background: The International Consortium (FTDC) that revised the diagnostic criteria for behavioural variant frontotemporal dementia (bvFTD) did not have an Asian representation. Whether the revised criteria are equally useful in the early detection of Asian bvFTD patients therefore remains largely unexplored. Earlier studies have indicated differences in clinical manifestations in Indian and other Asian bvFTD patients when compared to western groups.

Environmental dependency behaviours in frontotemporal dementia: have we been underrating them?

Environmental dependency (ED) behaviours, such as imitation behaviour (IB) and incidental utilization behaviour (UB), are considered pathognomonic of a frontal lesion and can play a unique role in diagnosing behavioural variant frontotemporal dementia (bvFTD). However, with only few focused observations of ED behaviour reported in earlier studies, their roles in the diagnosis of bvFTD have so far remained supportive. In this observational study, conducted in the cognitive clinic of a tertiary-care hospital, we explored the hypotheses that a focused and systematic search could uncover more ED behaviours in patients with bvFTD, and that the presence of ED behaviours such as incidental UB and IB should allow us to cleanly differentiate bvFTD from AD.

Utilisation behaviour in frontotemporal dementia.

Objective: To study the occurrence of utilisation behaviour (UB) in patients with frontotemporal dementia (FTD).

Materials And Methods: Twenty patients who fulfilled all core Consensus statement criteria for FTD were examined by a neurologist experienced in dementia and by a clinical neuropsychologist. All patients had imaging evidence of predominantly frontal or frontotemporal involvement.

Identification of neuroanatomical substrates of set-shifting ability: evidence from patients with focal brain lesions.

This work concerns the investigation of executive functions in patients with focal brain lesion. In order to identify the underlying substrates for executive functions, 54 patients with focal cortical (n=30), subcortical (n=13) and cerebellar damage (n=10) (M=9; F=1) in the age range of 24-65 years with a minimum of Class V education have been investigated. The patients were admitted to the Department of Neuromedicine of Bangur Institute of Neurology, Calcutta.

Dementia in india--a critical appraisal.

Dementia is a clinical syndrome characterised by acquired loss of cognitive and emotional abilities that interfere with activities of daily living. It is a disease of the older adults. The overall prevalence of dementia in developed countries has been reported to be between 5% and 10% after 60 or 65 years and older.