Lexical markers of disordered speech in primary progressive aphasia and 'Parkinson-plus' disorders.

Connected speech samples elicited by a picture description task are widely used in the assessment of aphasias, but it is not clear what their interpretation should focus on. Although such samples are easy to collect, analyses of them tend to be time-consuming, inconsistently conducted and impractical for non-specialist settings. Here, we analysed connected speech samples from patients with the three variants of primary progressive aphasia (semantic, svPPA = 9; logopenic, lvPPA = 9; and non-fluent, nfvPPA = 9), progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP Richardson's syndrome = 10), corticobasal syndrome (CBS = 13) and age-matched healthy controls ( = 24).

Drug prescriptions in elderly hospitalized patients with cognitive impairment in the Italian Dementia Friendly Hospital project.

Objective: The aim of the study was to characterize drug prescription patterns in elderly patients hospitalized in acute wards as a function of cognitive status and staff training.

Methods: We recorded clinical parameters reflecting health status and drug prescriptions at admission, during hospital stay, and at discharge before and after a short staff training on the needs of aged cognitively impaired patients. Participants aged 65 and older had a Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) score ≥16.

Cancer-Related Cognitive Impairments (CRCIs) in Non-Central Nervous System Adult Patients: Outcome Measures and Methodology of Assessment: A Literature Review.

Background: Cancer-related cognitive impairment (CRCI) represents one of the most common and debilitating effects in patients surviving after cancer treatments. Neurocognitive deficits are important causes of disability and burden in cancer survivors. The true magnitude of CRCI is difficult to define due to significant heterogeneity of literature data.

Cross-Linguistic Analysis of Speech Markers: Insights from English, Chinese, and Italian Speakers.

Cross-linguistic studies with healthy individuals are vital, as they can reveal typologically common and different patterns while providing tailored benchmarks for patient studies. Nevertheless, cross-linguistic differences in narrative speech production, particularly among speakers of languages belonging to distinct language families, have been inadequately investigated. Using a picture description task, we analyze cross-linguistic variations in connected speech production across three linguistically diverse groups of cognitively normal participants-English, Chinese (Mandarin and Cantonese), and Italian speakers.

Mortality of alzheimer's disease in Italy from 1980 to 2015.

Objective: To evaluate mortality for Alzheimer's Disease (AD) in Italy over more than three decades (1980-2015) and discuss the possible role of general and specific contributing factors.

Methods: Mortality data were extracted by the Italian National Institute of Statistics: crude mortality rates were computed for sex and age, considering the whole country and its five main geographical sub-areas. Rates were standardized in two ways: directly (annual mortality rates AMRs) and indirectly (standardized mortality rates, SMRs).

Brain and grammar: revealing electrophysiological basic structures with competing statistical models.

Acoustic, lexical, and syntactic information are simultaneously processed in the brain requiring complex strategies to distinguish their electrophysiological activity. Capitalizing on previous works that factor out acoustic information, we could concentrate on the lexical and syntactic contribution to language processing by testing competing statistical models. We exploited electroencephalographic recordings and compared different surprisal models selectively involving lexical information, part of speech, or syntactic structures in various combinations.

Subjective cognitive decline: Memory complaints, cognitive awareness, and metacognition.

Cognitive complaints are common in elderly subjects and are a frequent reason for referral to memory clinics. If the complaints are not associated with objective cognitive impairment, the condition is labelled subjective cognitive decline (SCD). SCD is often considered as a stage antedating objective impairment, and an at-risk condition for subsequent dementia.

Development of a prediction model of conversion to Alzheimer's disease in people with mild cognitive impairment: the statistical analysis plan of the INTERCEPTOR project.

Background: In recent years, significant efforts have been directed towards the research and development of disease-modifying therapies for dementia. These drugs focus on prodromal (mild cognitive impairment, MCI) and/or early stages of Alzheimer's disease (AD). Literature evidence indicates that a considerable proportion of individuals with MCI do not progress to dementia.

Long-lasting improvements in episodic memory among subjects with mild cognitive impairment who received transcranial direct current stimulation combined with cognitive treatment and telerehabilitation: a multicentre, randomized, active-controlled study.

Background: In recent years, an increasing number of studies have examined the potential efficacy of cognitive training procedures in individuals with normal ageing and mild cognitive impairment (MCI).

Objective: The aims of this study were to (i) evaluate the efficacy of the cognitive Virtual Reality Rehabilitation System (VRRS) combined with anodal transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) applied to the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex compared to placebo tDCS stimulation combined with VRRS and (ii) to determine how to prolong the beneficial effects of the treatment. A total of 109 subjects with MCI were assigned to 1 of 5 study groups in a randomized controlled trial design: (a) face-to-face (FTF) VRRS during anodal tDCS followed by cognitive telerehabilitation (TR) (clinic-atDCS-VRRS+Tele@H-VRRS); (b) FTF VRRS during placebo tDCS followed by TR (clinic-ptDCS-VRRS+Tele@H-VRRS); (c) FTF VRRS followed by cognitive TR (clinic-VRRS+Tele@H-VRRS); (d) FTF VRRS followed by at-home unstructured cognitive stimulation (clinic-VRRS+@H-UCS); and (e) FTF cognitive treatment as usual (clinic-TAU).

Sharing brain imaging data in the Open Science era: how and why?

The sharing of human neuroimaging data has great potential to accelerate the development of imaging biomarkers in neurological and psychiatric disorders; however, major obstacles remain in terms of how and why to share data in the Open Science context. In this Health Policy by the European Cluster for Imaging Biomarkers, we outline the current main opportunities and challenges based on the results of an online survey disseminated among senior scientists in the field. Although the scientific community fully recognises the importance of data sharing, technical, legal, and motivational aspects often prevent active adoption.

Clinical validity of the Italian adaptation of the Uniform Data Set Neuropsychological Test Battery (I-UDSNB) in Mild Cognitive Impairment and Alzheimer's Disease.

Background: The identification and staging of Alzheimer's Disease (AD) represent a challenge, especially in the prodromal stage of Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI), when cognitive changes can be subtle. Worldwide efforts were dedicated to select and harmonize available neuropsychological instruments. In Italy, the Italian Network of Neuroscience and Neuro-Rehabilitation has promoted the adaptation of the Uniform Data Set Neuropsychological Test Battery (I-UDSNB), collecting normative data from 433 healthy controls (HC).

TACO: A Turkish database for abstract concepts.

The organization of abstract concepts reflects different dimensions, grounded in the brain regions coding for the corresponding experience. Normative measures of linguistic stimuli offer noteworthy insights into the organization of conceptual knowledge, but studies differ in the dimensions and classes of concepts considered. Additionally, most of the available information has been collected in English, without considering possible linguistic and cultural differences.

Heterogeneity and overlap in the continuum of linguistic profile of logopenic and semantic variants of primary progressive aphasia: a Profile Analysis based on Multidimensional Scaling study.

Background: Primary progressive aphasia (PPA) diagnostic criteria underestimate the complex presentation of semantic (sv) and logopenic (lv) variants, in which symptoms partially overlap, and mixed clinical presentation (mixed-PPA) and heterogenous profile (lvPPA +) are frequent. Conceptualization of similarities and differences of these clinical conditions is still scarce.

Methods: Lexical, semantic, phonological, and working memory errors from nine language tasks of sixty-seven PPA were analyzed using Profile Analysis based on Multidimensional Scaling, which allowed us to create a distributed representation of patients' linguistic performance in a shared space.

Insights into attention and memory difficulties in post-COVID syndrome using standardized neuropsychological tests and experimental cognitive tasks.

The COVID-19 pandemic has given rise to post-acute cognitive symptoms, often described as 'brain fog'. To comprehensively grasp the extent of these issues, we conducted a study integrating traditional neuropsychological assessments with experimental cognitive tasks targeting attention control, working memory, and long-term memory, three cognitive domains most commonly associated with 'brain fog'. We enrolled 33 post-COVID patients, all self-reporting cognitive difficulties, and a matched control group (N = 27) for cognitive and psychological assessments.

A digital teleneuropsychology platform for the diagnosis of mild cognitive impairment: from concept to certification as a medical device.

Background: Innovative digital solutions are shaping a new concept of dementia care, opening additional venues for prevention, diagnosis, monitoring and treatment. Hereby, we report the development of a tablet-based teleneuropsychology platform (Tenèpsia®), from concept to certification as Medical Device (MD) Class IIA, as per new MD regulation 745/2017.

Methods: The platform was designed for the remote cognitive evaluation and created thanks to the effort of a collaborative working group including experts from three Italian scientific societies and Biogen Italia S.

European intersocietal recommendations for the biomarker-based diagnosis of neurocognitive disorders.

The recent commercialisation of the first disease-modifying drugs for Alzheimer's disease emphasises the need for consensus recommendations on the rational use of biomarkers to diagnose people with suspected neurocognitive disorders in memory clinics. Most available recommendations and guidelines are either disease-centred or biomarker-centred. A European multidisciplinary taskforce consisting of 22 experts from 11 European scientific societies set out to define the first patient-centred diagnostic workflow that aims to prioritise testing for available biomarkers in individuals attending memory clinics.

The science of micronutrients in clinical practice - Report on the ESPEN symposium.

Background & Aims: The European Society for Clinical Nutrition and Metabolism published its first clinical guidelines for use of micronutrients (MNs) in 2022. A two-day web symposium was organized in November 2022 discussing how to apply the guidelines in clinical practice. The present paper reports the main findings of this symposium.

The neural substrates of transdiagnostic cognitive-linguistic heterogeneity in primary progressive aphasia.

Background: Clinical variants of primary progressive aphasia (PPA) are diagnosed based on characteristic patterns of language deficits, supported by corresponding neural changes on brain imaging. However, there is (i) considerable phenotypic variability within and between each diagnostic category with partially overlapping profiles of language performance between variants and (ii) accompanying non-linguistic cognitive impairments that may be independent of aphasia magnitude and disease severity. The neurobiological basis of this cognitive-linguistic heterogeneity remains unclear.

In person versus remote cognitive rehabilitation in patients with subjective cognitive decline or neurocognitive disorders: what factors drive patient's preference?

Background: To date, there is still a lack of consensus for identifying the ideal candidate for cognitive telerehabilitation (TR). The main goal of the present study is to identify the factors associated to the preference for either TR or in-person cognitive training (CT) programs in older adults at risk of dementia or with early cognitive impairment.

Methods: A sample of 56 participants with subjective cognitive decline or neurocognitive disorders eligible for CT were enrolled at the Dementia Research Center and Neurorehabilitation Unit of IRCCS Mondino Foundation.