A Crossed Pure Agraphia by Graphemic Buffer Impairment following Right Orbito-Frontal Glioma Resection.

Pure agraphias are caused by graphemic buffer damage. The graphemic buffer stores graphemic representations that handle the transition from spelling lexicon to writing or oral spellings. The authors report a case of a crossed pure agraphia, following the post-surgical removal of a right frontal low-grade glioma in a right-handed French patient.

[The relationship to the face: from the normal subject to the Alzheimer patient, from the naked face to the masked face, from a humanistic neuropsychology to an embodied ethics].

The relationship to the face weaves close links with identity and otherness. It is not just a means of inter-human knowledge; it is also a major means of self/other communication underpinned by those mentalization networks that open up the attribution of intentions and emotions to others (theory of mind) as well as that particular disposition known as empathy, which enables us to put ourselves in another person’s shoes by feeling and understanding what they are experiencing while remaining ourselves. Neuropsychology attempts to shed light on the brain processes that underlie this encounter with the face and that may be altered by neurodegenerative diseases, and in particular by Alzheimer’s disease.

Alexithymia in Alzheimer's Disease.

Alexithymia is widely recognized as the inability to identify and express emotions. It is a construct which consists of four cognitive traits such as difficulty in identifying feelings, describing feelings to others, externally oriented thinking, and limited imaginative capacity. Several studies have linked alexithymia to cognitive functioning, observing greater alexithymia scores associated with poorer cognitive abilities.

Alzheimer's Disease and Face Masks in Times of COVID-19.

Generalized lockdown caused by COVID-19, necessary yesterday, can no longer be that of tomorrow. It will no longer be possible to cram the humblest into cramped areas, but priority must be given to prevention (certainly with physical barriers, hydro-alcoholic gel, face masks), biological diagnosis, isolation, and also the care of any infected person. COVID-19 has hit the most vulnerable first in terms of biological inequality, such as Alzheimer's disease (AD) patients.

Could Self-Consciousness Be Enhanced in Alzheimer's Disease? An Approach from Emotional Sensorial Stimulation.

Alzheimer's disease (AD) provides a valuable field of research into impairment of self-consciousness (SC), because AD patients have a reduced capacity to understand their mental world, to experience and relive previous personal events, as well as to interpret thoughts, feelings, and beliefs about themselves. Several studies observed that AD patients had an altered SC, but not a complete abolition of it. Emotions are an integral part of the construction of personal identity, therefore of Self.

Impact of a Healing Garden on Self-Consciousness in Patients with Advanced Alzheimer's Disease: An Exploratory Study1.

Background: The environment of patients with Alzheimer's disease and related disorders (ADRD) intensifies the consequences of cognitive impairment and exacerbates behavioral problems if inappropriate or, conversely, mitigate these problems if its design is tailored to the needs of these persons.

Objective: We evaluate the impacts of hospitalization and of a specific healing garden on self-consciousness which represent a central impairment in ADRD. The self-consciousness questionnaire (SCQ), validated for its assessment at mild to moderate phases of the disease, explores the dimensions of personal identity, awareness of cognitive deficiencies, self-assessment of affective state, awareness of body representation, prospective memory, capacity for introspection, and moral judgments.

Procedural Learning Improves Cognition in Multiple Sclerosis.

Background: Multiple sclerosis (MS) is considered a neurodegenerative disease and an inflammatory demyelinating neuropathology in young population. Procedural memory has been poorly investigated in MS.

Objective: We assessed whether the MS group was able to develop a motor-cognitive skill, using a procedural task (PLSC) developed in our laboratory, applying a manual and serial reaction time (RT) paradigm to semantic categorization.

Music and emotion in Alzheimer's disease.

Background: Alzheimer's disease may compromise several musical competences, though no clear data is available in the scientific literature. Furthermore, music is capable of communicating basic emotions, but little is known about the emotional aspect of music in patients with Alzheimer's disease. We present a systematic investigation of music processing in relation to extra-musical skills, in particular emotional skills in patients with Alzheimer's disease.

Positive perception of aging is a key predictor of quality-of-life in aging people.

Objective: We conducted a cross-sectional survey in France in a cohort over 55 years of age to characterize the impact of psychological dimensions on quality-of-life (QoL).

Methods: The predictors of QoL in relation with aging were studied using an adapted quality-of-life model, based on emotional, cognitive and physical symptoms, functional status, and general health perception. Adding psychological dimensions such as self-esteem, psychological distress, perceptions of ageing and coping, was hypothesized to improve the QoL model.

Self-Consciousness Deficits in Alzheimer's Disease and Frontotemporal Dementia.

Self-consciousness (SC) is multifaceted and considered to be the consciousness of one's own mental states. The main aim of this paper is to compare SC in patients with Alzheimer's disease (AD) and behavioral variant frontotemporal dementia (bvFTD). Three groups (control and patient groups) of 23 subjects each were assessed using an SC questionnaire.

Self-Consciousness in Patients with Behavioral Variant Frontotemporal Dementia.

Self-consciousness (SC) is multifaceted and considered to be the consciousness of one's own mental states. The medial prefrontal cortex may play a critical role in SC. The main aim of this paper was to examine SC in patients with behavioral variant frontotemporal dementia, who are characterized more by changes in personal, social, and emotional conduct and loss of insight than by cognitive disturbances.

Designing an operating theatre for awake procedures: A solution to improve multimodality information input.

Objective: Many neurosurgical procedures are now performed with the patient aware in order to allow interactions between the patient and healthcare professionals. These procedures include awake brain surgery and spinal cord stimulation (SCS), lead placement for treatment of refractory chronic back and leg pain. Neurosurgical procedures under local anaesthesia require optimal intraoperative cooperation of the patient and all personnel involved in surgery.

Procedural learning of semantic categorization in Parkinson's disease.

This paper studies the procedural learning of semantic categorization in 29 patients with non-demented Parkinson's disease (PD). We investigated whether the PD group was able to develop semantic skill, using a cognitive procedural task developed in our laboratory, applying a manual and serial reaction time paradigm to semantic categorization. The PD group showed similar scores to those of the control group on semantic categorization.

Apathy in Parkinson's disease: an electrophysiological study.

In Parkinson's disease (PD), apathy (or loss of motivation) is frequent. Nevertheless, the contribution of attentional disorders to its genesis is still not clearly known. We want to determine the relation existing between apathy and attentional disorders by using P300a (or novelty P3) as a marker of the attentional process.

Familiar music as an enhancer of self-consciousness in patients with Alzheimer's disease.

The main objective of this paper is to examine the impact of familiar music on self-consciousness (SC) in patients with Alzheimer's disease (AD). For this purpose, two AD groups of 20 patients matched by age, educational level, gender, illness duration, and cognitive state were assessed using an SC questionnaire before and after music intervention. The SC questionnaire measured several aspects: personal identity, anosognosia, affective state, body representation, prospective memory, introspection and moral judgments.

[Proceeding memory in Alzheimer's disease].

Procedural learning can acquire or develop skills through performance and repetition of a task unconsciously or unintentionally. Procedural skills are considered as the cornerstone in the neuropsychological rehabilitation to promote the autonomy of patients with brain damage, as those with Alzheimer's disease. This review presents data about procedural skills in Alzheimer's disease.

Lexical priming in Alzheimer's disease and aphasia.

Lexical priming was examined in patients with Alzheimer's disease and in aphasic patients. Control participants were divided into young and elderly [cf. Arroyo-Anlló et al.

Intraoperative monitoring of an aspect of executive functions: administration of the Stroop test in 9 adult patients during awake surgery for resection of frontal glioma.

Background: Awake brain surgery allows extensive intraoperative monitoring of not only motor and sensory functions and language but also executive functions.

Objective: To administer the Stroop test intraoperatively to avoid dramatic side effects such as akinetic mutism and to monitor executive functions in an attempt to optimize the benefit/risk balance of surgery.

Methods: A series of 9 adult patients with frontal glioma were operated on for gross tumor resection under local anesthesia.

The validation of a French-language version of the Aging Perceptions Questionnaire (APQ) and its extension to a population aged 55 and over.

Background: Several studies have shown the influence of the perceptions of aging on the cognitive functioning and the mental and physical health of older people. These relationships have not to date been studied in France where validated instruments are lacking. The primary objective of this study was to validate a French-language version of the Aging Perceptions Questionnaire (APQ) in the French general population aged 65 and over.

Improvement of semantic categorization through procedural learning in Alzheimer's disease.

This paper studies the procedural learning of semantic categorization in 20 patients with mild Alzheimer's disease (AD). We investigated if the AD group was able to develop semantic skill using a cognitive procedural task, developed in our laboratory, by applying a manual and serial reaction time paradigm to semantic categorization. The AD group had markedly lower scores than the normal group on semantic categorization and had longer reaction times than the control subjects.

The relationship between insight and uncertainty in obsessive-compulsive disorder.

Background: The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between the levels of insight and checking-related uncertainty in patients with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD).

Sampling And Methods: Twenty OCD patients with checking compulsions and without current comorbidity were recruited. We used an experimental paradigm that gave subjects the opportunity to check during a decision-making task, thereby allowing for the calculation of a response time index (RTI) as the 'uncertainty cost' during decision-making.

Effects of automatic/controlled access processes on semantic memory in Alzheimer's disease.

This study examines the impact of automatic/controlled access processes on the semantic network in 30 patients with Alzheimer's disease (AD). The AD group was compared with a control group using a battery of neuropsychological tests, a variation of Hodges's semantic testing battery, designed to assess semantic knowledge. The AD group had markedly lower scores than the normal group on each semantic test, but with a different degree of deterioration depending on the nature of the processes (controlled/automatic) in accessing the semantic network.

Adjustments of conflict monitoring in Parkinson's disease.

Objective: In Stroop-like tasks, the detection of conflict triggers adjustments of cognitive control to reduce conflict in subsequent trials. The present study tested the hypothesis of an impaired modulation of conflict monitoring in Parkinson's disease (PD).

Method: 18 PD patients and 18 healthy control (HC) participants performed a Stroop-like task in 2 conditions differing in terms of incongruent/congruent stimuli ratio.

Evidence of molecular links between PKR and mTOR signalling pathways in Abeta neurotoxicity: role of p53, Redd1 and TSC2.

The control of translation is disturbed in Alzheimer's disease (AD). This study analysed the crosslink between the up regulation of double-stranded RNA-dependent-protein kinase (PKR) and the down regulation of mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) signalling pathways via p53, the protein Regulated in the Development and DNA damage response 1 (Redd1) and the tuberous sclerosis complex (TSC2) factors in two beta-amyloid peptide (Abeta) neurotoxicity models. In SH-SY5Y cells, Abeta42 induced an increase of P(T451)-PKR and of the ratio p66/(p66+p53) in nuclei and a physical interaction between these proteins.