Investigating changes in connected speech in nonfluent/agrammatic primary progressive aphasia following script training.

Script training is a speech-language intervention designed to promote fluent connected speech via repeated rehearsal of functional content. This type of treatment has proven beneficial for individuals with aphasia and apraxia of speech caused by stroke and, more recently, for individuals with primary progressive aphasia (PPA). In the largest study to-date evaluating the efficacy of script training in individuals with nonfluent/agrammatic primary progressive aphasia (nfvPPA; Henry et al.

Dr. Audrey Holland's Crazy Patchwork Quilt: A Thematic Analysis.

Dr. Audrey Holland was a friend to people with aphasia and related disorders, care partners, community advocates, students, clinicians, educators, researchers, and more. Her profound impact extended across these diverse communities within aphasiology and speech-language pathology.

Meta-analysis of soil and dust ingestion studies.

The ingestion of soil and dust by children and adults is a potential source of exposure to environmental contaminants. To advance beyond the simple averaging of estimates used in the U.S.

Expanded Systematic Evidence Map for Hundreds of Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances (PFAS) and Comprehensive PFAS Human Health Dashboard.

Background: Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) encompass a class of chemically and structurally diverse compounds that are extensively used in industry and detected in the environment. The US Environmental Protection Agency (US EPA) 2021 PFAS Strategic Roadmap describes national research plans to address the challenge of PFAS.

Objectives: Systematic Evidence Map (SEM) methods were used to survey and summarize available epidemiological and mammalian bioassay evidence that could inform human health hazard identification for a set of 345 PFAS that were identified by the US EPA's Center for Computational Toxicology and Exposure (CCTE) for toxicity and toxicokinetic assay testing and through interagency discussions on PFAS of interest.

Advancing Methodologies Used in Trace Element-Based Mass Balance Studies to Separately Estimate Soil and Dust Ingestion Rates for Children.

Historically, soil ingestion rate estimates were based on trace element-based mass balance (MB) study results. These were used in assessing exposures and health risks for children residing in Superfund or chemically contaminated communities. However, soil and dust can have considerable differences with respect to their sources, chemical, physical, and toxicological characteristics.

Baseline structural imaging correlates of treatment outcomes in semantic variant primary progressive aphasia.

Semantic variant primary progressive aphasia (svPPA) is a neurodegenerative disorder characterized by a loss of semantic knowledge in the context of anterior temporal lobe atrophy (left > right). Core features of svPPA include anomia and single-word comprehension impairment. Despite growing evidence supporting treatment for anomia in svPPA, there is a paucity of research investigating neural mechanisms supporting treatment-induced gains and generalization to untrained items.

Exposure Prioritization (): A Screening-Level High-Throughput Chemical Prioritization Tool.

To estimate potential chemical risk, tools are needed to prioritize potential exposures for chemicals with minimal data. Consumer product exposures are a key pathway, and variability in consumer use patterns is an important factor. We designed , a flexible dashboard-type screening-level exposure model, to rapidly visualize exposure rankings from consumer product use.

Model-based predictions of soil and dust ingestion rates for U.S. adults using the stochastic human exposure and dose simulation soil and dust model.

Background: Adults can be exposed to chemicals through incidental ingestion of soil and dust, either through hobbies, occupations, or behaviors that increase contact with soil or dust (e.g., cleaning or renovating).

Systematic Evidence Map for Over One Hundred and Fifty Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances (PFAS).

Background: Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) are a large class of synthetic (man-made) chemicals widely used in consumer products and industrial processes. Thousands of distinct PFAS exist in commerce. The 2019 U.

Model based prediction of age-specific soil and dust ingestion rates for children.

Background: Soil and dust ingestion can be a primary route of environmental exposures. Studies have shown that young children are more vulnerable to incidental soil and dust ingestion. However, available data to develop soil and dust ingestion rates for some child-specific age groups are either lacking or uncertain.

Verbal Semantics and the Left Dorsolateral Anterior Temporal Lobe: A Longitudinal Case of Bilateral Temporal Degeneration.

Background: Semantic variant primary progressive aphasia (svPPA), a clinical syndrome characterized by loss of semantic knowledge, is associated with neurodegeneration that starts in the anterior temporal lobe (ATL) and gradually spreads towards posterior temporal and medial frontal areas. At the earliest stages, atrophy may be predominantly lateralized to either the left or right ATL, leading to different clinical profiles with greatest impairment of word comprehension or visual/social semantics, respectively.

Methods & Procedures: We report the in-depth longitudinal investigation of cognitive and neuroanatomical features of JB, an unusual case of ATL neurodegeneration with relative sparing of left lateral ATL regions.

Cholangiolytic Changes in Statin-Induced Liver Injury.

Atorvastatin is a commonly used oral cholesterol-lowering agent. Side effects associated with statin therapy include arthralgia, myalgia, dyspepsia, weakness, and headache. Prospective and retrospective studies of drug-induced liver injury have identified statin-induced hepatotoxicity, with atorvastatin being the most commonly cited.

Speech production differences in English and Italian speakers with nonfluent variant PPA.

Objective: To understand whether the clinical phenotype of nonfluent/agrammatic primary progressive aphasia (nfvPPA) could present differences depending on the patient's native language.

Methods: In this cross-sectional study, we analyzed connected speech samples in monolingual English (nfvPPA-E) and Italian speakers (nfvPPA-I) who were diagnosed with nfvPPA and matched for age, sex, and Mini-Mental State Examination scores. Patients also received a comprehensive neuropsychological battery.

Can Script Training Improve Narrative and Conversation in Aphasia across Etiology?

Script training is an effective treatment of stable (e.g., stroke-induced) and progressive aphasia of varying severities and subtypes.

Moving Toward Non-transcription based Discourse Analysis in Stable and Progressive Aphasia.

Measurement of communication ability at the discourse level holds promise for predicting how well persons with stable (e.g., stroke-induced), or progressive aphasia navigate everyday communicative interactions.

Successful versus unsuccessful instrumental deliveries-Predictors and obstetric outcomes.

Objective: The purpose of this study was to examine instrumental births in a multi-ethnic population to assess the factors associated with success and failure in instrumental births.

Study Design: This was a large retrospective study of 7954 women that underwent either a successful or an unsuccessful instrumental delivery in a single centre over a 10 year period.

Results: Logistic regression analysis showed that women with a BMI of more than 30, attempted Forceps delivery, having a prolonged second stage, Macrosomia (birth weight more than 4 kg) and a senior obstetrician performing the procedure increase the risk of a failed instrumental delivery.

Semantic and lexical features of words dissimilarly affected by non-fluent, logopenic, and semantic primary progressive aphasia.

Objective: To determine the effect of three psycholinguistic variables-lexical frequency, age of acquisition (AoA), and neighborhood density (ND)-on lexical-semantic processing in individuals with non-fluent (nfvPPA), logopenic (lvPPA), and semantic primary progressive aphasia (svPPA). Identifying the scope and independence of these features can provide valuable information about the organization of words in our mind and brain.

Method: We administered a lexical decision task-with words carefully selected to permit distinguishing lexical frequency, AoA, and orthographic ND effects-to 41 individuals with PPA (13 nfvPPA, 14 lvPPA, 14 svPPA) and 25 controls.

Treatment for Word Retrieval in Semantic and Logopenic Variants of Primary Progressive Aphasia: Immediate and Long-Term Outcomes.

Purpose Recent studies confirm the utility of speech-language intervention in primary progressive aphasia (PPA); however, long-term outcomes, ideal dosage parameters, and relative benefits of intervention across clinical variants warrant additional investigation. The purpose of this study was to determine whether naming treatment affords significant, lasting, and generalized improvement for individuals with semantic and logopenic PPA and whether dosage manipulations significantly affect treatment outcomes. Method Eighteen individuals with PPA (9 semantic and 9 logopenic variant) underwent lexical retrieval treatment designed to leverage spared cognitive-linguistic domains and develop self-cueing strategies to promote naming.

Aprosodia and prosoplegia with right frontal neurodegeneration.

Affective prosody and facial expression are essential components of human communication. Aprosodic syndromes are associated with focal right cerebral lesions that impair the affective-prosodic aspects of language, but are rarely identified because affective prosody is not routinely assessed by clinicians. Inability to produce emotional faces (affective prosoplegia) is a related and important aspect of affective communication has overlapping neuroanatomic substrates with affective prosody.

Neurocognitive basis of repetition deficits in primary progressive aphasia.

Previous studies indicate that repetition is affected in primary progressive aphasia (PPA), particularly in the logopenic variant, due to limited auditory-verbal short-term memory (avSTM). We tested repetition of phrases varied by length (short, long) and meaning (meaningful, non-meaningful) in 58 participants (22 logopenic, 19 nonfluent, and 17 semantic variants) and 21 healthy controls using a modified Bayles repetition test. We evaluated the relation between cortical thickness and repetition performance and whether sub-scores could discriminate PPA variants.

Investigating the utility of teletherapy in individuals with primary progressive aphasia.

Introduction: Primary progressive aphasia (PPA) is a neurodegenerative disorder characterized by progressive deterioration of speech and language. A growing body of research supports the utility of speech and language intervention in individuals with PPA, although access to these services remains limited. One potential means of increasing treatment accessibility is the delivery of treatment via telemedicine.

Primary progressive aphasia and the FTD-MND spectrum disorders: clinical, pathological, and neuroimaging correlates.

Behavioral variant frontotemporal dementia (bvFTD), is commonly considered the cognitive presentation of the frontotemporal dementia-motor neuron disease (FTD-MND) spectrum disorder. We evaluated the prevalence of primary progressive aphasia in a series of pathologically confirmed cases of FTD-MND spectrum. Pathologically confirmed cases of frontotemporal lobar degeneration-motor neuron disease (FTLD-MND) were obtained from the UCSF brain bank.