Interplay of Semantic Plausibility and Word Order Canonicity in Sentence Processing of People With Aphasia Using a Verb-Final Language.

Purpose: The Western Aphasia Battery is widely used to assess people with aphasia (PWA). Sequential Commands (SC) is one of the most challenging subtests for PWA. However, test items confound linguistic factors that make sentences difficult for PWA.

Comparison of the genotoxicity of propofol and desflurane using the comet assay in the lymphocytes of patients who underwent lumbar discectomy: A randomized trial.

Objectives: To compare the genotoxic effects of desflurane and propofol using comet assay in patients undergoing elective discectomy surgery.

Methods: This was a randomized controlled study. Patients who underwent elective lumbar discectomy under general anesthesia with propofol or desflurane were included in the study.

Effects of linguistic context and noise type on speech comprehension.

Introduction: Understanding speech in background noise is an effortful endeavor. When acoustic challenges arise, linguistic context may help us fill in perceptual gaps. However, more knowledge is needed regarding how different types of background noise affect our ability to construct meaning from perceptually complex speech input.

Efficacy of Aphasia Group Conversation Treatment via Telepractice on Language and Patient-Reported Outcome Measures.

Purpose: Conversation treatment for people with aphasia (PwA) can lead to significant changes in language impairment and quality of life. The COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in the greater use of telepractice treatment delivery. However, there is little evidence regarding the efficacy of telepractice conversation groups.

Investigation of heavy metal and micro-macro element speciation in biomass ash enriched sewage sludge compost.

The objective of this study was to enrich the nutrient content of compost and to investigate the passivation and solubilization of plant micronutrients (Fe, Al, Cu, Ni, Zn, Na, Mn), macroelements (P, K, Mg, Ca), and heavy metals (Cr, Cd, Pb) during sewage sludge composting with nutrient-rich biomass ash additives. T0: 0%, T1: 3.5%, T2: 7.

Technoeconomic assessment of an FTTH network investment in the Greek telecommunications market.

Recent years have seen an increasing need for higher broadband connections, fueled by novel applications including fifth generation wireless networks (5G). The European Commission is working on achieving specific milestones regarding the development of next generation networks. Many EU countries have opted to adopt a gradual migration path towards the Fiber-to-the-Home (FTTH) technology in view of the high costs of implementation.

The effect of astaxanthin on human sperm parameters after cryopreservation.

Introduction: The aim of the study was to examine the protective efficacy of astaxanthin (ASTA) against the damage that occurs during sperm cryopreservation.

Methods: This experimental study was carried out on waste semen samples of 30 normozoospermic individuals who applied for semen analysis. Semen samples were divided into four equal volumes and 0 μM (control group), 50 μM, 100 μM, and 500 μM ASTA were added to each group.

Sentence Production in a Discourse Context in Latent Aphasia: A Real-Time Study.

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to improve our understanding as to which factors determine online, spoken sentence production abilities of adults with latent aphasia in a discourse context.

Method: Discourse samples of the story of Cinderella elicited from AphasiaBank were analyzed with speech analysis software. Participants comprised people with latent and anomic aphasia as well as neurotypical controls (10 per group).

Demystifying the Complexity of Aphasia Treatment: Application of the Rehabilitation Treatment Specification Systemx.

A considerable body of research supports the use of behavioral communication treatment as the standard of care for aphasia. In spite of robust progress in clinical aphasiology, many questions regarding optimal care remain unanswered. One of the major challenges to progress in the field is the lack of a common framework to adequately describe individual treatments, which, if available, would allow comparisons across studies as well as improved communication among researchers, clinicians, and other stakeholders.

Applying the Rehabilitation Treatment Specification System to Functional Communication Treatment Approaches for Aphasia.

There are many different approaches to the rehabilitation of patients with aphasia, a communication disorder that affects a person's understanding and expression of spoken and written language. One approach called "functional communication interventions" aims to enhance communication success as opposed to solely improving linguistic abilities. This approach encompasses many skills (eg, gesturing) and factors (eg, access to communication supports) that support sending and receiving messages in "real-world" daily activities and environments.

A Randomized Controlled Trial of the Effects of Group Conversation Treatment on Monologic Discourse in Aphasia.

Purpose: Evidence has shown that group conversation treatment may improve communication and reduce social isolation for people with aphasia. However, little is known about the impact of conversation group treatment on measures of discourse. This project explored the impact of conversation treatment on measures of monologic discourse.

Effects of animacy and sentence type on silent reading comprehension in aphasia: An eye-tracking study.

The present study examined how healthy aging and aphasia influence the capacity for readers to generate structural predictions during online reading, and how animacy cues influence this process. Non-brain-damaged younger (n =24) and older (n =12) adults (Experiment 1) and individuals with aphasia (IWA; n =11; Experiment 2) read subject relative and object relative sentences in an eye-tracking experiment. Half of the sentences included animate sentential subjects, and the other half included inanimate sentential subjects.

Perceptual span in individuals with aphasia.

Background: Perceptual span refers to the field of effective vision during reading comprehension. It is determined by many factors, including reading proficiency. No studies have investigated the perceptual span in people with reading comprehension impairments due to aphasia.

What Drives Task Performance During Animal Fluency in People With Alzheimer's Disease?

Background: Animal fluency is a widely used task to assess people with Alzheimer's disease (AD) and other neurological disorders. The mechanisms that drive performance in this task are argued to rely on language and executive functions. However, there is little information regarding what specific aspects of these cognitive processes drive performance on this task.

The effect of preoperative anxiety level on mean platelet volume and propofol consumption.

Background: The mean platelet volume (MPV) is an important indicator of platelet function with large platelets showing higher enzymatic and metabolic activity than other platelets. There can be a relationship between increased platelet activity and anxiety and depression. Our primary hypothesis was that patients with high anxiety scores would have higher MPV, and the secondary hypothesis was that propofol induction time and total propofol consumption within the first 30 min of surgery would be higher in patients with higher anxiety scores.

Efficacy of Group Conversation Intervention in Individuals with Severe Profiles of Aphasia.

An estimated 390,000 to 520,000 individuals with severe aphasia (IWSA) currently live in the United States. IWSA experience profound social isolation, which is associated with a wide range of negative health outcomes, including mortality. Treatments for severe aphasia frequently focus on compensatory communication approaches or a discrete communication act rather than on participation-based treatment.

Temporal and Episodic Analyses of the Story of Cinderella in Latent Aphasia.

Purpose The purpose of this study was to improve our understanding of the language characteristics of people with latent aphasia using measures that examined temporal (i.e., real-time) and episodic organization of discourse production.

Two to Tango or the More the Merrier? A Randomized Controlled Trial of the Effects of Group Size in Aphasia Conversation Treatment on Standardized Tests.

Purpose Group conversation treatment has the potential to improve communication and reduce social isolation for people with aphasia. This project examined how 2 conflicting hypotheses-treatment dosage and group dynamics-affect treatment outcomes. Method Forty-eight participants with chronic aphasia were randomly assigned to either a dyad, a large group, or a delayed control group.

Effects of Lexical Variables on Silent Reading Comprehension in Individuals With Aphasia: Evidence From Eye Tracking.

Purpose: Previous eye-tracking research has suggested that individuals with aphasia (IWA) do not assign syntactic structure on their first pass through a sentence during silent reading comprehension. The purpose of the present study was to investigate the time course with which lexical variables affect silent reading comprehension in IWA. Three lexical variables were investigated: word frequency, word class, and word length.

Corpus-Based Transitivity Biases in Individuals with Aphasia.

Background: This study investigated whether individuals with aphasia (IWA) retain verb biases in expressive language. Verb biases refer to the likelihood that a given verb will occur in different sentence structures. We focused on the likelihood of verbs occurring in transitive and intransitive structures.

Cross-Linguistic Differences in a Picture-Description Task Between Korean- and English-Speaking Individuals With Aphasia.

Purpose: The purpose of the study was to examine cross-linguistic differences in a picture-description task between Korean- and English-speaking individuals with Broca's and anomic aphasia to determine whether a variation exists in the use of verbs and nouns across the language and aphasia groups.

Method: Forty-eight individuals (male = 29; female = 19) participated in the study (n = 28 for aphasic group and n = 20 healthy controls). Data for English speakers were obtained from the Aphasia Bank Project.

For reliable urine cultures in the detection of complicated urinary tract infection, do we use urine specimens obtained with urethral catheter or a nephrostomy tube?

Objective: The aim of this study was to compare the results of urine cultures obtained either from urethral, and percutaneous nephrostomy (PCN) catheters.

Materials And Methods: This study included 328 consecutive patients that underwent PCN at our institution with complicated urinary tract infections (UTIs) between July 2010 and April 2015. Results of urine cultures obtained from the urethral and nephrostomy catheters were compared.