Language impairments in Alzheimer´s disease: What changes can be found between mild and moderate stages of the disease?

Objective: To investigate how language deteriorates over the Alzheimer's Disease course.

Methods: A cross-sectional, observational study was carried out. 35 patients diagnosed with dementia due to AD using the NINCDS-ARDRA criteria and undergoing treatment for AD with a therapeutic dose of acetylcholinesterase inhibitors were assessed by the Boston Diagnostic Aphasia Examination (BDAE).

Connected Language Performance in Neurotypical and Persons with Aphasia: Use of the Brazilian-Portuguese Story Retell Procedure.

Introduction: It is important to analyze the micro- and macrostructure of connected language production across languages in neurotypical and impaired speakers such as people with aphasia (PWA). However, the validity, reliability, sensitivity, or specificity of the available Brazilian-Portuguese connected language production batteries remains untested.

Objective: The purpose of this study was to provide a preliminary assessment of the translated Brazilian-Portuguese Story Retell Procedure (SRP-BP) in PWA and neurotypical control participants (NCPs) and investigate whether the SRP can serve as a measure of overall communication impairment in PWA.

Assessment protocol for acquired apraxia of speech.

Purpose: To develop an assessment protocol for speech motor planning with phonologically balanced stimuli for Brazilian Portuguese, including all necessary variables for this diagnosis.

Methods: Three stages were carried out: In the first, word lists were built with the main criterion being syllabic and accentual patterns. From the survey conducted in Stage 1, the words that composed the first version of the protocol lists in Stage 2 were selected, and grouped into two fundamental tasks for diagnosing acquired apraxia of speech (AOS): repetition and Reading Aloud (RA).

Translation and Adaptation of the English Story Retell Procedure to Portuguese: A Preliminary Study.

Introduction: The comprehension and production of connected language are essential for effective communication. However, few assessment and intervention programs requiring connected language have been made available in Brazilian Portuguese. One connected language sampling procedure, the Story Retell Procedure (SRP), has been widely studied in English and primarily for people with aphasia.

Speech and phonological impairment across Alzheimer's disease severity.

Introduction: Phonetic-phonological impairments have been described in dementia due to Alzheimer's disease (AD). However, whether the likely phonological-linguistic changes progress with the evolution of the disease or whether phonetic-motor manifestations occur in all three stages of AD (mild, moderate, and severe) has not yet been clarified. Thus, the aim of this study was to verify whether phonological-linguistic and phonetic-motor speech manifestations occur in the mild, moderate, and severe stages of AD.

Brazilian practice guidelines for stroke rehabilitation: Part II.

The Brazilian Practice Guidelines for Stroke Rehabilitation - Part II, developed by the Scientific Department of Neurological Rehabilitation of the Brazilian Academy of Neurology (Academia Brasileira de Neurologia, in Portuguese), focuses on specific rehabilitation techniques to aid recovery from impairment and disability after stroke. As in Part I, Part II is also based on recently available evidence from randomized controlled trials, systematic reviews, meta-analyses, and other guidelines. Part II covers disorders of communication, dysphagia, postural control and balance, ataxias, spasticity, upper limb rehabilitation, gait, cognition, unilateral spatial neglect, sensory impairments, home rehabilitation, medication adherence, palliative care, cerebrovascular events related to severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection, the future of stroke rehabilitation, and stroke websites to support patients and caregivers.

Formal language assessment in low-educated persons with aphasia: can the lesion effect be distinguished from the education effect?

Background: Language tests are important in the assessment and follow up of people with aphasia (PWA). However, language assessment in the low literacy population is still a challenge.

Objective: To investigate whether a formal evaluation of aphasia is able to distinguish the neurological effect from the effect of low educational level in people with post-stroke aphasia.

Language skills differences between adults without formal education and low formal education.

Background: The influence of education on cognition has been extensively researched, particularly in countries with high levels of illiteracy. However, the impact of low education in all cognitive functions appears to differ. Regarding to language, the effects of education on many linguistic tasks-supported by different processing-remain unclear.

Language impairment in the moderate stage of dementia due to Alzheimer's disease.

Background: During the moderate stage of dementia due to Alzheimer's disease (AD), language disorder is more evident and it impacts on communication. An overview of language impairment could be helpful to find compensatory communication strategies for these patients.

Objective: To identify all language impairments among patients with moderate-stage of AD.

Qualitative and quantitative aspects of the F-A-S fluency test in people with aphasia.

Unlabelled: Verbal fluency tests are widely used in neuropsychological assessment. The quantitative and qualitative analysis of the performance of aphasic individuals on the phonemic verbal fluency (PVF) test can contribute to a better understanding of cognitive changes in this group of patients.

Objective: This study aimed to analyze clustering and switching measures of PVF in people with aphasia and investigate the relationship between the use of these strategies, the quantitative performance on the test, and the performance on executive functions.

Correction to: Brief Montreal-Toulouse Language Assessment Battery: adaptation and content validity.

An amendment to this paper has been published and can be accessed via the original article.

Speech in the foreign accent syndrome: differential diagnosis between organic and functional cases.

Foreign accent syndrome (FAS) is an extremely rare disorder, with 112 cases described until 2019. We compare two cases of the foreign accent syndrome in native speakers of Brazilian Portuguese in its classic form (FAS) and psychiatric variant (FALS). Two cases were analyzed: (1) a right-handed, 69-year-old man, with a prior history of stroke, and (2) a right-handed, 43-year-old woman, diagnosed with schizophrenia.

Brief Montreal-Toulouse Language Assessment Battery: adaptation and content validity.

Background: Evaluating patients in the acute phase of brain damage allows for the early detection of cognitive and linguistic impairments and the implementation of more effective interventions. However, few cross-cultural instruments are available for the bedside assessment of language abilities. The aim of this study was to develop a brief assessment instrument and evaluate its content validity.

Influence of age and schooling in written discourse of healthy adults.

Background: Discourse production is a very complex cognitive task that requires the integration of several linguistic cognitive skills. Socio-demographic factors such as schooling can impact on cognitive tasks. This study investigated the impact of age and schooling in some macrolinguistic and microlinguistic aspects in the written discourse of healthy adults.

Speech Intelligibility in Dysarthrias: Influence of Utterance Length.

Aim: To analyze the effect of utterance length on the intelligibility of words produced by dysarthric speakers.

Methods: A total of 10 adult speakers with dysarthria (5 men and 5 women; mean age 58.8 years, SD 14.

Analysis of population recognition of pictures from the sentence production program for aphasia.

Purpose: To analyze the recognition of the pictures and contexts familiarity from the Sentence Production Program for Aphasia (SPPA) to acquire data determining its potential use in Portuguese and/or need for adaption.

Methods: The stimuli for English speakers were first translated, back-translated and adjusted without changing the syntactic structures of the phrases. The material was then tested in 39 highly literate individuals.

Evaluation of macrolinguistic aspects of the oral discourse in patients with Alzheimer's disease.

Introduction: Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a degenerative syndrome that impairs cognitive functioning, including speech and language. Discourse can be used to analyze language processing, which is organized into microlinguistic and macrolinguistic dimensions.

Objectives: To identify the occurrence of changes in the macrolinguistic dimension of oral discourse in AD patients.

Formal language assessment in low-educated healthy subjects.

Unlabelled: Although many studies have shown the influence of education on cognition, the impact of low education on the various cognitive functions appears to differ. The hypothesis of the present study is that, with regards to language, the use of parameters derived from populations with 5-8 years of education leads to false-positive results.

Objective: to determine the influence of low education on the language tasks assessed by the MTL-Brazil Battery.

Pneumo-phono-articulatory coordination assessment in dysarthria cases: a cross-sectional study.

Background: Pneumo-phono-articulatory coordination is often impaired in dysarthric patients. Because all speech is produced upon exhalation, adequate respiratory support and coordination are essential for communication. Nevertheless, studies investigating respiratory parameters for speech are scarce.

The influence of education on performance of adults on the Clock Drawing Test.

Unlabelled: The Clock Drawing Test (CDT) is an important instrument for screening individuals suspected of having cognitive impairment.

Objective: To determine the influence of education on the performance of healthy adults on the CDT.

Methods: A total of 121 drawings by healthy adults without neurological complaints or impairments were analysed.

Limb apraxia in aphasic patients.

Limb apraxia is usually associated with left cerebral hemisphere damage, with numerous case studies involving aphasic patients. The aim of this study was to verify the occurrence of limb apraxia in aphasic patients and analyze its nature. This study involved 44 healthy volunteers and 28 aphasic patients matched for age and education.

Phonemic verbal fluency task in adults with high-level literacy.

Objective:: To establish normative parameters for the F-A-S form of the phonemic verbal fluency test, in a population of Brazilian Portuguese speaking adults with high-level literacy.

Methods:: The sample comprised 40 male and female volunteers aged 19 to 59 years, and at least 8 years of formal education. Volunteers were first submitted to the Mini-Mental State Examination and the Clock Drawing cognitive screening tests, then to the F-A-S Verbal Phonemic Fluency Test; in this test, examinees were given 60 seconds to generate as many words as possible beginning with each of the three test letters.

The influence of age, gender and education on the performance of healthy individuals on a battery for assessing limb apraxia.

Introduction: Apraxia is defined as a disorder of learned skilled movements, in the absence of elementary motor or sensory deficits and general cognitive impairment, such as inattention to commands, object-recognition deficits or poor oral comprehension. Limb apraxia has long been a challenge for clinical assessment and understanding and covers a wide spectrum of disorders, all involving motor cognition and the inability to perform previously learned actions. Demographic variables such as gender, age, and education can influence the performance of individuals on different neuropsychological tests.

Sensorimotor speech disorders in Parkinson's disease: Programming and execution deficits.

Introduction: Dysfunction in the basal ganglia circuits is a determining factor in the physiopathology of the classic signs of Parkinson's disease (PD) and hypokinetic dysarthria is commonly related to PD. Regarding speech disorders associated with PD, the latest four-level framework of speech complicates the traditional view of dysarthria as a motor execution disorder. Based on findings that dysfunctions in basal ganglia can cause speech disorders, and on the premise that the speech deficits seen in PD are not related to an execution motor disorder alone but also to a disorder at the motor programming level, the main objective of this study was to investigate the presence of sensorimotor disorders of programming (besides the execution disorders previously described) in PD patients.

Montreal-Toulouse Language Assessment Battery: evidence of criterion validity from patients with aphasia.

Background: The Montreal-Toulouse Language Assessment Battery - Brazilian version (MTL-BR) provides a general description of language processing and related components in adults with brain injury.

Objective: The present study aimed at verifying the criterion-related validity of the Montreal-Toulouse Language Assessment Battery - Brazilian version (MTL-BR) by assessing its ability to discriminate between individuals with unilateral brain damage with and without aphasia.

Methods: The investigation was carried out in a Brazilian community-based sample of 104 adults, divided into four groups: 26 participants with left hemisphere damage (LHD) with aphasia, 25 participants with right hemisphere damage (RHD), 28 with LHD non-aphasic, and 25 healthy adults.