What neuropsychological functions best discriminate performance in adults post-stroke?

This study aimed to develop a short version of an instrument to detect cognitive impairment in stroke patients, investigate which cognitive dimensions best discriminate between stroke patients and healthy adults and to graphically analyze the relationships among the neuropsychological variables and groups. This pilot study included 94 adults (49 post-stroke and 45 neurologically healthy) who answered the Brief Neuropsychological Assessment Battery NEUPSILIN for patients with expressive aphasia (NEUPSILIN-Af) to assess orientation, perception, memory, praxis, executive functions, oral language, and academic achievement (written language and arithmetic). The IRT Rasch model for dichotomous data indicated the exclusion of items that could not be used to discriminate performances.

Acquired dysgraphia in adults following right or left-hemisphere stroke.

Objective: This study aimed to assess the strengths and difficulties in word and pseudoword writing in adults with left- and right-hemisphere strokes, and discuss the profiles of acquired dysgraphia in these individuals.

Methods: The profiles of six adults with acquired dysgraphia in left- or right-hemisphere strokes were investigated by comparing their performance on word and pseudoword writing tasks against that of neurologically healthy adults. A case series analysis was performed on the patients whose impairments on the task were indicative of acquired dysgraphia.

Rehabilitation of language in expressive aphasias: a literature review.

Objective: This paper reviews the methodological characteristics of studies on rehabilitation of expressive aphasia, describing the techniques of rehabilitation used.

Methods: The databases Medline, Science Direct and PubMed were searched for relevant articles (January 1999 to December 2011) using the keywords Expressive / Broca / Nonfluent Aphasia, combined with Language or Speech Rehabilitation / Therapy / Intervention.

Results: A total of 56 articles were retrieved describing rehabilitation techniques, including 22 with a focus on lexical processing, 18 on syntax stimulation, seven with the aim of developing speech and nine with multiple foci.

Language brain dominance in patients with refractory temporal lobe epilepsy: a comparative study between functional magnetic resonance imaging and dichotic listening test.

Purpose: To identify brain dominance for language functions with DLT and correlate these results with those obtained from fMRI in patients suffering from intractable temporal lobe epilepsy.

Method: This study reports on 13 patients who underwent pre-surgical epileptic evaluation between April and October 2004 at the Epilepsy Surgery Program, Hospital Sao Lucas, PUCRS. In DLT, dominance was assessed through a consonant-vowel task, whereas in fMRI patients performed a verb generation task.

[Language and learning disorders].

Objective: To aid health professionals, especially pediatricians, in the diagnosis and prevention of language and learning disorders.

Sources Of Data: Review of the relevant literature published in the past 5 years (MEDLINE and textbooks).

Summary Of The Findings: Multiple variables, among them neurological diseases, may be related to the etiology of language and learning disorders.