Specificity in Generalization Effects of Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation Over the Left Inferior Frontal Gyrus in Primary Progressive Aphasia.

Objectives: Generalization (or near-transfer) effects of an intervention to tasks not explicitly trained are the most desirable intervention outcomes. However, they are rarely reported and even more rarely explained. One hypothesis for generalization effects is that the tasks improved share the same brain function/computation with the intervention task.

Treating lexical retrieval using letter fluency and tDCS in primary progressive aphasia: a single-case study.

Background: In early stages, individuals with Primary Progressive Aphasia (PPA) report language symptoms while scoring within norm in formal language tests. Early intervention is important due to the progressive nature of the disease.

Method: We report a single case study of an individual with logopenic variant PPA (lvPPA).

Cognitive and language performance predicts effects of spelling intervention and tDCS in Primary Progressive Aphasia.

Predictors of treatment effects allow individual tailoring of treatment characteristics, thereby saving resources and optimizing outcomes. Electrical stimulation coupled with language intervention has shown promising results in improving language performance in individuals with Primary Progressive Aphasia (PPA). The current study aimed to identify language and cognitive variables associated with response to therapy consisting of language intervention combined with transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS).

Written Verb Naming Improves After tDCS Over the Left IFG in Primary Progressive Aphasia.

Transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS), a non-invasive neuromodulation technique, is an effective adjunct to naming treatments in post-stroke aphasia and primary progressive aphasia (PPA). Enhanced performance in oral and written naming and spelling of nouns with tDCS has been quantified in detail, but it is not known whether it is effective for verb treatment in PPA. We addressed the question of whether performance in naming and spelling of verbs can be augmented with anodal tDCS over the left inferior frontal gyrus (IFG).

Understanding the Role of Systemic Inflammation in Alzheimer's Disease.

Human and animal studies suggest that inflammation occurring outside the central nervous system (systemic inflammation) may play a key role in promoting neurodegeneration, Alzheimer's disease pathology, and cognitive decline in older adults. Systemic inflammation, which is marked by increased blood levels of circulating proinflammatory cytokines and chemokines, may occur as a result of events such as infection, chronic disease, and physical and psychological stress, but may also occur outside the context of these conditions as a result of subclinical processes such as cellular senescence. Proinflammatory cytokines within the body can promote a proinflammatory environment in the central nervous system by crossing the blood-brain barrier, signaling through endothelial cells or circumventricular organs, and by stimulating the vagus nerve, which signals the detection of inflammatory proteins via direct afferent connections to the brain stem.

"The effect of tDCS on functional connectivity in primary progressive aphasia" NeuroImage: Clinical, volume 19 (2018), pages 703-715.

Transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) is an innovative technique recently shown to improve language outcomes even in neurodegenerative conditions such as primary progressive aphasia (PPA), but the underlying brain mechanisms are not known. The present study tested whether the additional language gains with repetitive tDCS (over sham) in PPA are caused by changes in functional connectivity between the stimulated area (the left inferior frontal gyrus (IFG)) and the rest of the language network. We scanned 24 PPA participants (11 female) before and after language intervention (written naming/spelling) with a resting-state fMRI sequence and compared changes before and after three weeks of tDCS or sham coupled with language therapy.

Electrical brain stimulation in different variants of primary progressive aphasia: A randomized clinical trial.

Introduction: Transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) has been recently shown to improve language outcomes in primary progressive aphasia (PPA) but most studies are small and the influence of PPA variant is unknown.

Methods: Thirty-six patients with PPA participated in a randomized, sham-controlled, double-blind, within-subject crossover design for 15 daily sessions of stimulation coupled with written naming/spelling therapy. Outcome measures were letter accuracy of treated and untreated words immediately after and at 2 weeks and 2 months posttreatment.

The effect of tDCS on functional connectivity in primary progressive aphasia.

Transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) is an innovative technique recently shown to improve language outcomes even in neurodegenerative conditions such as primary progressive aphasia (PPA), but the underlying brain mechanisms are not known. The present study tested whether the additional language gains with repetitive tDCS (over sham) in PPA are caused by changes in functional connectivity between the stimulated area (the left inferior frontal gyrus (IFG)) and the rest of the language network. We scanned 24 PPA participants (11 female) before and after language intervention (written naming/spelling) with a resting-state fMRI sequence and compared changes before and after three weeks of tDCS or sham coupled with language therapy.