Expansion of the SyllabO+ corpus and database: Words, lemmas, and morphology.

Having a detailed description of the psycholinguistic properties of a language is essential for conducting well-controlled language experiments. However, there is a paucity of databases for some languages and regional varieties, including Québec French. The SyllabO+ corpus was created to provide a complete phonological and syllabic analysis of a corpus of spoken Québec French.

Effectiveness of sensorimotor therapy on action naming in post-stroke aphasia: a systematic review.

Purpose: Aphasia, a language disorder caused by brain injury, often results in action naming difficulties. This systematic review reports and analyzes the studies on speech-therapy interventions that use sensorimotor strategies for treating isolated verbs in individuals with chronic aphasia.

Methods: Following PRISMA guidelines, the MEDLINE, CINAHL and PsycInfo databases were searched on January 18, 2024, for articles published in English and French between 1996 and 2024.

The Contribution of the Face-Name Associative Recognition Test to Objectifying the Impairment of Associative Memory in Subjective Cognitive Decline.

Objective: Subjective cognitive decline (SCD) is defined as a self-reported perception of cognitive decline that occurs without clear objective signs of cognitive impairment. There is still uncertainty in the literature about the reliability of SCD as an accurate indicator of the early stages of major neurocognitive disorders. Furthermore, objectifying cognitive impairment in SCD is difficult, mainly due to the insensitivity of the assessment instruments.

Medication Exposure and Mortality in Patients With Schizophrenia.

Importance: The use of antipsychotics, antidepressants, and benzodiazepines may influence the risk of mortality in people with schizophrenia. However, many observational studies have not accounted for immortal time bias (ITB), which occurs when there is a period during which patients in the exposed group are necessarily alive and misclassified as exposed (the period between start of follow-up and initiation of drug). Ignoring ITB may lead to misinterpretation of the association between these drugs and mortality.

Fine-scale genetic structure and rare variant frequencies.

In response to the current challenge in genetic studies to make new associations, we advocate for a shift toward leveraging population fine-scale structure. Our exploration brings to light distinct fine-structure within populations having undergone a founder effect such as the Ashkenazi Jews and the population of the Quebec' province. We leverage the fine-scale population structure to explore its impact on the frequency of rare variants.

Delphi consensus recommendations for the management of chronic insomnia in Canada.

Objective: The lack of current Canadian practice guidelines for the management of insomnia poses a challenge for healthcare providers (HCP) in selecting the appropriate treatment options. This study aimed to establish expert consensus recommendations for the management of chronic insomnia in Canada.

Composition Of The Committee: Sixteen multidisciplinary experts in sleep medicine and insomnia across Canada developed consensus recommendations based on their knowledge of the literature and their practical experience.

Cerebrovascular lesion loads and accelerated brain aging: insights into the cognitive spectrum.

Introduction: White matter hyperintensities (WMHs) and cerebral microbleeds are widespread among aging population and linked with cognitive deficits in mild cognitive impairment (MCI), vascular MCI (V-MCI), and Alzheimer's disease without (AD) or with a vascular component (V-AD). In this study, we aimed to investigate the association between brain age, which reflects global brain health, and cerebrovascular lesion load in the context of pathological aging in diverse forms of clinically-defined neurodegenerative conditions.

Methods: We computed brain-predicted age difference (brain-PAD: predicted brain age minus chronological age) in the Comprehensive Assessment of Neurodegeneration and Dementia cohort of the Canadian Consortium on Neurodegeneration in Aging including 70 cognitively intact elderly (CIE), 173 MCI, 88 V-MCI, 50 AD, and 47 V-AD using T1-weighted magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans.

Assessing the Impact of Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation on Speech Perception in Noise.

Healthy aging is associated with reduced speech perception in noise (SPiN) abilities. The etiology of these difficulties remains elusive, which prevents the development of new strategies to optimize the speech processing network and reduce these difficulties. The objective of this study was to determine if sublexical SPiN performance can be enhanced by applying TMS to three regions involved in processing speech: the left posterior temporal sulcus, the left superior temporal gyrus, and the left ventral premotor cortex.

Normative Data for the Famous People Fluency Test in the Adult French-Quebec Population and Validation Study in Mild Cognitive Impairment and Alzheimer's Disease.

Objective: The production of words in verbal fluency tests relies heavily on executive functions and linguistic abilities. New tests such as the famous people fluency test can also be useful in clinical practice and research. This test, in which participants are asked to name so many famous people, has the potential to distinguish healthy individuals from participants with neurological disorders such as mild cognitive impairment or Alzheimer's disease.

The electroretinography to identify biomarkers of idiopathic hypersomnia and narcolepsy type 1.

Hypersomnia spectrum disorders are underdiagnosed and poorly treated due to their heterogeneity and absence of biomarkers. The electroretinography has been proposed as a proxy of central dysfunction and has proved to be valuable to differentiate certain psychiatric disorders. Hypersomnolence is a shared core feature in central hypersomnia and psychiatric disorders.

Long-term effects of benzodiazepine discontinuation among older adults: potential improvements on depressive symptoms.

Objectives: To examine how change in benzodiazepine (BZD) use is linked to changes in depressive symptoms intensity, worry intensity, and sleep quality over 16 months.

Method: Data come from a larger randomised controlled trial (RCT) named the 'Programme d'Aide du Succès au SEvrage (PASSE-60+)' study (NCT02281175). Seventy-three participants age 60 years and older took part in a 4-month discontinuation programme and were assessed four times over 16 months.

Statistics to prioritize rare variants in family-based sequencing studies with disease subtypes.

Family-based sequencing studies are increasingly used to find rare genetic variants of high risk for disease traits with familial clustering. In some studies, families with multiple disease subtypes are collected and the exomes of affected relatives are sequenced for shared rare variants (RVs). Since different families can harbor different causal variants and each family harbors many RVs, tests to detect causal variants can have low power in this study design.

Registered report: Age-preserved semantic memory and the CRUNCH effect manifested as differential semantic control networks: An fMRI study.

Semantic memory representations are generally well maintained in aging, whereas semantic control is thought to be more affected. To explain this phenomenon, this study tested the predictions of the Compensation-Related Utilization of Neural Circuits Hypothesis (CRUNCH), focusing on task demands in aging as a possible framework. The CRUNCH effect would manifest itself in semantic tasks through a compensatory increase in neural activation in semantic control network regions but only up to a certain threshold of task demands.

Mini-SEA: Validity and Normative Data for the French-Quebec Population Aged 50 Years and Above.

Objective: The mini Social cognition & Emotional Assessment (mini-SEA) is a social cognition battery which assesses theory of mind and emotion recognition. Currently, no psychometrically validated measure of social cognition with adapted normative data exists for the middle-aged and elderly French-Quebec population. This project aims to determine the known-group discriminant validity of a cultural and linguistic adaptation of the mini-SEA between cognitively healthy people, those with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) or living with Alzheimer's Disease (AD).

Investigating non-inferiority of internet-delivered versus face-to-face cognitive behavioural therapy for insomnia (CBT-I): a randomised controlled trial (iSleep well).

Background: Insomnia is a highly prevalent disorder associated with numerous adverse health outcomes. Cognitive behavioural therapy for insomnia (CBT-I) is recommended as first-line treatment by clinical guidelines but is accessible to only a minority of patients suffering from insomnia. Internet-delivered CBT-I (iCBT-I) could contribute to the widespread dissemination of this first-line treatment.

Associations between obesity, a composite risk score for probable long COVID, and sleep problems in SARS-CoV-2 vaccinated individuals.

Background: Preliminary data suggests that obesity might hasten the decline in mRNA vaccine-induced immunity against SARS-CoV-2. However, whether this renders individuals with obesity more susceptible to long COVID symptoms post-vaccination remains uncertain. Given sleep's critical role in immunity, exploring the associations between obesity, probable long COVID symptoms, and sleep disturbances is essential.

HSDL2 links nutritional cues to bile acid and cholesterol homeostasis.

In response to energy and nutrient shortage, the liver triggers several catabolic processes to promote survival. Despite recent progress, the precise molecular mechanisms regulating the hepatic adaptation to fasting remain incompletely characterized. Here, we report the identification of hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase-like 2 (HSDL2) as a mitochondrial protein highly induced by fasting.

Duality between predictability and reconstructability in complex systems.

Predicting the evolution of a large system of units using its structure of interaction is a fundamental problem in complex system theory. And so is the problem of reconstructing the structure of interaction from temporal observations. Here, we find an intricate relationship between predictability and reconstructability using an information-theoretical point of view.