Read the Feed: High-Emotion Simulation of Preterm Feeding to Enhance Graduate-Level Training.

Purpose: Therapeutic bottle feeding is a critical skill for speech-language pathologists (SLPs) managing the increasing and medically complex neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) and early intervention caseloads. Thus, we explored the role of a high-emotion preterm simulator, known as "Paul," to increase knowledge, skills, and confidence related to infant feeding management for speech-language pathology graduate students.

Method: A randomized controlled study compared learning outcomes of 27 participants following either a 1-hr lecture or 1-hr training with a preterm simulator.

A Know-Brainer: The Power of Cadaver-Based Instruction to Teach Clinical Neuroanatomy.

Purpose: Learning experiences that incorporate cadaver prosection or dissection of the brain have shown to enhance the acquisition and retention of neuroanatomy and improve standardized examination scores when included within medical curriculum. However, the role of cadaver-based instruction within allied health fields, and particularly in the field of communication sciences and disorders (CSD), remains limited and less understood.

Method: The effectiveness of a cadaver-based lab compared to lecture to teach neuroanatomy within an undergraduate/postbaccalaureate clinical neuroscience course for CSD majors was explored within a crossover design.

Voluntary Cough Testing as a Clinical Indicator of Airway Protection in Cervical Spinal Cord Injury.

Objective: Voluntary cough testing (VCT) may be useful for determining aspiration risk in neurogenic dysphagia; however, has yet to be investigated in traumatic cervical spinal cord injury (tCSCI). The study explored if VCT may elucidate swallowing safety and kinematics related to airway protection in tCSCI survivors.

Methods: Ten inpatients, 13-73 days post-tCSCI (7 incomplete injuries), completed VCT and a modified barium swallowing study that was analyzed via the Penetration Aspiration Scale (PAS) and norm-referenced measures of swallowing events related to airway protection.

Videofluoroscopic Profiles of Swallowing and Airway Protection Post-traumatic Cervical Spinal Cord Injury.

Videofluoroscopic analyses of swallowing in survivors of traumatic cervical spinal cord injury (tCSCI) have been largely limited to case reports/series and qualitative observations. To elucidate the disrupted physiology specifically underlying dysphagia post-tCSCI, this prospective observational study analyzed videofluoroscopic swallow studies (recorded at 30 frames per second) across 20 tCSCI survivors. Norm-referenced measures of swallow timing or displacement, and calibrated area measures of laryngeal vestibule closure (LVC) were explored in relation to the severity of aspiration or pharyngeal residue.

A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis of Iowa Oral Performance Instrument Measures in Persons with Parkinson's Disease Compared to Healthy Adults.

Measures of tongue strength and endurance using the Iowa Oral Performance Instrument (IOPI) may have diagnostic utility during clinical swallowing evaluations for persons with Parkinson's disease (PwPD). Thus, the objective was to systematically analyze the existing literature comparing IOPI values of tongue strength and endurance between age- and sex-match pairs of PwPD and healthy adults as well as across disease stages. A systematic review of 12 databases and Google Scholar identified five peer-reviewed articles published in English (1990-2019) that compared tongue strength and/or endurance between PwPD and controls.

Extended fMRI-Guided Anodal and Cathodal Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation Targeting Perilesional Areas in Post-Stroke Aphasia: A Pilot Randomized Clinical Trial.

Transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) may enhance speech and language treatment (SLT) for stroke survivors with aphasia; however, to date, there is no standard protocol for the application of tDCS in post-stroke aphasia. We explored the safety and efficacy of fMRI-guided tDCS on functional language and cortical activity when delivered to the lesioned left hemisphere concurrently with SLT across an extended, six-week treatment period. Twelve persons with chronic, nonfluent aphasia following a single left-hemisphere stroke participated in the three-arm (anodal vs.

Functionally navigated transcranial magnetic stimulation to evoke lingual pressure in stroke survivors with dysphagia and healthy adults: a proof of concept trial.

: Post-stroke dysphagia is characterized by reduced corticolingual excitability and lingual pressure; however, it remains unknown if transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) directly facilitates lingual pressure generation.: To explore optimal procedures for single pulse TMS using neuronavigation to evoke lingual pressure in intact and disrupted neural networks.: Using co-registered functional magnetic resonance imaging, stimulation sites were determined for five healthy adults (age = 67) and four stroke survivors with dysphagia and reduced tongue strength (age = 66).

Lingual Pressure Dysfunction Contributes to Reduced Swallowing-Related Quality of Life in Parkinson's Disease.

Purpose Dysphagia in Parkinson's disease (PD) is a major cause of depression and reduced quality of life (QOL). PD-related dysphagia often involves lingual dysfunction and weak pressure generation. The relation of disordered lingual pressure generation to swallowing-related QOL in persons with PD remains unknown.

Effects of an Intensive Exercise-Based Swallowing Program for Persons With Parkinson's Disease and Complex Medical History: A Single-Case Experiment.

Purpose Dysphagia treatments to address the deterioration of oropharyngeal and respiratory functions in Parkinson's disease (PD) are few and rarely researched in persons with complex medical histories. This research note explored the effects of an intensive exercise-based swallowing program (ISP) that incorporated lingual and respiratory exercises for persons with PD and complex medical history. Method A single-case experiment was conducted across a 4-week ISP of lingual training and expiratory muscle strengthening for 2 participants (67-year-old man and 61-year-old woman).

Lingual Pressure as a Clinical Indicator of Swallowing Function in Parkinson's Disease.

Purpose: Swallowing impairment, or dysphagia, is a known contributor to reduced quality of life, pneumonia, and mortality in Parkinson's disease (PD). However, the contribution of tongue dysfunction, specifically inadequate pressure generation, to dysphagia in PD remains unclear. Our purpose was to determine whether lingual pressures in PD are (a) reduced, (b) reflect medication state, or are (c) consistent with self-reported diet and swallowing function.

The Influence of Oropalatal Dimensions on the Measurement of Tongue Strength.

Tongue strength is routinely evaluated in clinical swallowing evaluations since lingual weakness is an established contributor to dysphagia. Tongue strength may be clinically quantified by the maximum isometric tongue pressure (MIP) generated by the tongue against the palate; however, wide ranges in normal performance remain to be fully explained. Although orthodontic theory has long suggested a relation between lingual function and oral cavity dimensions, little attention has been given to the potential influence of oral and palatal structure(s) on healthy variance in MIP generation.

Validity, reliability and sensitivity of the NORLA-6: Naming and oral reading for language in aphasia 6-point scale.

Purpose: Evaluation of the Naming and Oral Reading for Language in Aphasia 6-point scale (NORLA-6), a scoring system of oral reading and naming performance in aphasia.

Method: Data were drawn from 91 participants with non-fluent aphasia secondary to left-hemisphere stroke across four treatment studies. To assess validity, Spearman's correlations were calculated between the NORLA-6 and the Gray Oral Reading Test-Fourth Edition (GORT-4) Accuracy score, GORT-4 Rate score and the Boston Naming Test (BNT).

Serine-7 of the RNA polymerase II CTD is specifically required for snRNA gene expression.

RNA polymerase II (Pol II) transcribes genes that encode proteins and noncoding small nuclear RNAs (snRNAs). The carboxyl-terminal repeat domain (CTD) of the largest subunit of mammalian RNA Pol II, comprising tandem repeats of the heptapeptide consensus Tyr1-Ser2-Pro3-Thr4-Ser5-Pro6-Ser7, is required for expression of both gene types. We show that mutation of serine-7 to alanine causes a specific defect in snRNA gene expression.