The curious case of the Cat Rescue: can picture narrative description inform visuospatial processing in aphasia?

Background: Examining discourse production during picture description performance holds great promise for understanding the nature of and the interconnectedness between visuospatial processing and language production in aphasia - a language disorder following acquired brain damage. There is a paucity of studies concurrently investigating the two processes in discourse production tasks, despite their potential clinical utility in aphasia rehabilitation. In the current study, we compared the core lexicon (CoreLex) word production performance of PWA and matched healthy control participants (HCP) along the dimensions of typicality of words (e.

Telepractice-delivered communication training for informal caregivers of people with aphasia: A pilot study.

Purpose: To establish proof of concept of a student-led, telepractice-delivered communication partner training towards enhancing communication between people with aphasia and their informal caregivers in everyday conversations.

Method: Two dyads were recruited, each consisting of a person with aphasia and their caregiver. A pre-training questionnaire was completed by caregivers, followed by a weekly communication training session delivered by graduate student clinicians via telepractice to each dyad over 12 weeks.

The role and use of event-related potentials in aphasia: A scoping review.

Event-related potentials (ERPs) can provide important insights into underlying language processes in both unimpaired and neurologically impaired populations and may be particularly useful in aphasia. This scoping review was conducted to provide a comprehensive summary of how ERPs have been used with people with aphasia (PWA), with the goal of exploring the potential clinical application of ERPs in aphasia assessment and treatment. We identified 117 studies that met inclusionary criteria, reflecting six thematic domains of inquiry that relate to understanding both unimpaired and aphasic language processing and the use of ERPs with PWA.

The role of AT-SLP collaborations in return to academics following mTBI: A scoping review.

Return-to-academics (RTA) for student-athletes with mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI) is crucial, but relatively understudied compared to return-to-play (RTP). The transient and unpredictable nature of symptoms surrounding mTBI often results in underreporting of neurocognitive symptoms, leading to a greater susceptibility for repeated TBIs, as well as posing impediments to the process of RTA. Athletic Trainers (ATs) and Speech-Language Pathologists (SLPs) are in a unique position to help student-athletes achieve a safe, timely, and effective RTA following mTBI.

A Review of the Role of Auditory Evoked Potentials in Mild Traumatic Brain Injury Assessment.

Around 75% to 90% of people who experience a traumatic brain injury (TBI) are classified as having a mild TBI (mTBI). The term mTBI is synonymous with concussion or mild head injury (MHI) and is characterized by symptoms of headache, nausea, dizziness, and blurred vision. Problems in cognitive abilities such as deficits in memory, processing speed, executive functioning, and attention are also considered symptoms of mTBI.

Validity of an eyetracking method for capturing auditory-visual cross-format semantic priming.

Introduction: Semantic priming paradigms are important for understanding lexical-semantic processing and the nature of linguistic deficits accompanying language performance in neurologically impaired individuals such as people with aphasia. Reaction-time-(RT)-based traditional semantic priming tasks entail potential confounds, especially problematic when applied to people with aphasia, who may have concomitant neurocognitive challenges that limit task performance. Some of these confounds include requirements of following complex instructions, making metalinguistic judgments, and using speech or limb-based motor actions to indicate overt responses.

Retaining experienced hospital administrators: a neglected topic in healthcare.

The sharp increase in the present need for healthcare services has been attributed to the expanding population of older adults (those above the age of 65 years) and the increasing number of aging healthcare professionals seeking retirement without enough qualified replacements. In this regard, retaining experienced healthcare professionals, especially hospital administrators, may be the key to managing this growing demand for healthcare services at present and for the future. Veteran hospital administrators have many years of experience and can offer a wide array of skills and competencies to their organization.

Study of cardiac autonomic function in drug-naïve, newly diagnosed epilepsy patients.

Background: Epilepsy is associated with ictal autonomic dysfunction which may extend into the inter-ictal period. Antiepileptic drugs have often been blamed for cardiac autonomic dysfunction in epilepsy patients. In this study we have investigated cardiac autonomic parameters in order to evaluate autonomic functions of drug-naïve epilepsy patients.