Review
Behavioral Sciences
Josselin Baumard, Didier Le Gall
Summary: The diagnosis of limb apraxia is challenging due to the diverse definitions and assessment methods. It is suggested to focus on symptoms and propose two complementary definition criteria. Limb apraxia can be categorized into symptomatic and idiopathic types, with limb-kinetic apraxia fulfilling exclusion, specificity, and consistency criteria.
Article
Clinical Neurology
Claudia C. Schmidt, Elisabeth I. S. Achilles, Katharina Bolte, Nina N. Kleineberg, Monika K. Richter, Natalie Schloss, Gereon R. Fink, Peter H. Weiss
Summary: The study investigated the association between subcortical gray matter lesions and apraxic deficits in LH stroke patients, finding that lesions in the caudate nucleus were significantly related to apraxic deficits, while lesions in the globus pallidus were associated with a lower likelihood of apraxia. Other subcortical structures did not show significant differences in lesion load between apraxic and nonapraxic patients.
Article
Behavioral Sciences
Keisuke Morihara, Shoko Ota, Kazuo Kakinuma, Nobuko Kawakami, Yuichi Higashiyama, Shigenori Kanno, Fumiaki Tanaka, Kyoko Suzuki
Summary: This study aimed to investigate the association between Buccofacial apraxia (BFA) and agrammatism in nonfluent/agrammatic variant primary progressive aphasia (nfvPPA) and compare the atrophic regions in PPA patients with and without BFA. Language examination and BFA evaluations were conducted on 74 PPA patients, revealing BFA in 20 nfvPPA patients and 3 unclassified PPA patients. The group with BFA showed worse spontaneous speech and writing, and a higher ratio of agrammatic errors, but no difference in the severity of prosodic and phonetic components of AOS compared to the group without BFA. Voxel-based morphometry (VBM) analysis revealed that the severity of BFA correlated with atrophy in specific regions of the frontal gyrus. BFA has a distinct anatomical basis from AOS in nfvPPA patients and is characterized by more anterior degeneration.
Article
Clinical Neurology
Sophia Caldas Gonzaga da Costa, Flavio e de Rezende-Filho, Julian Leticia de Freitas, Paula Camila Alves de Assis Pereira Matos, Bruno Della-Ripa, Marcondes Cavalcante Franca, Wilson Marques, Mariana Santos, Igor Vasconcelos Barros Cronemberger, Thiago Cardoso Vale, Fernando Kok, Isabel Alonso, Jose Luiz Pedroso, Orlando G. P. Barsottini
Summary: Through genetic investigation, it was found that AOA2 and AOA4 were the most common subtypes of autosomal recessive cerebellar ataxia plus oculomotor apraxia in Brazil. Pathogenic variants in SETX, PNKP, and APTX genes were frequently identified, while mutations in PIK3R5 and XRCC1 were less common.
MOVEMENT DISORDERS
(2022)
Review
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
David Milletti, Filippo Tamburini Randi, Giuseppe Lanzino, Fernando Hakim, Giorgio Palandri
Summary: In 1965, Prof. Salomon Hakim first described a condition characterized by normal pressure hydrocephalus and gait alterations. Various definitions have been used over the years to define this motor disturbance, but a clear and shared definition is still lacking. Gait analysis has provided insights into the gait alterations, but fundamental questions about this condition remain unanswered.
Article
Behavioral Sciences
D. Romano, G. Tosi, V. Gobbetto, P. Pizzagalli, R. Avesani, V. Moro, A. Maravita
Summary: The study found that MB training improved apraxia compared to imitation and rest conditions, and this improvement was correlated with the impact of the mirror box on body representation. MB training shows promising effects in promoting recovery from apraxia.
Article
Clinical Neurology
Sungyang Jo, Jungsu S. Oh, E-Nae Cheong, Hyung Ji Kim, Sunju Lee, Minyoung Oh, Jae Seung Kim, Sun Ju Chung, Chong S. Lee, Miseon Kwon, Dongwha Kang, Jae-Hong Lee
Summary: This study used FDG-PET to reveal distinct glucose hypometabolism patterns in ideomotor and imitation apraxia subtypes in CBS patients. Patients with both ideomotor and imitation apraxia were more likely to exhibit the typical features of CBS and progressive supranuclear palsy compared to those with only one type of apraxia. These findings contribute to our understanding of the brain networks underlying apraxia in relation to the clinical features of CBS.
PARKINSONISM & RELATED DISORDERS
(2021)
Article
Health Care Sciences & Services
Laura Sanchez-Bermejo, Pedro Jesus Milla-Ortega, Jose Manuel Perez-Marmol
Summary: This study examined the relationship between upper limb apraxia (ULA) and self-efficacy in post-stroke patients. The findings revealed that imitative movements and daily life performance associated with ULA are related to general self-efficacy and self-efficacy for managing symptoms among these patients.
Article
Clinical Neurology
Xuan Wu, Nan Dong, Zhensheng Liu, Tieyu Tang, Meirong Liu
Summary: Ataxia with oculomotor apraxia type 1 (AOA1) is a rare genetic disorder characterized by childhood-onset progressive cerebellar ataxia. This study reports the first genetically confirmed patient of AOA1 in a Chinese family and identifies a novel APTX gene mutation.
FRONTIERS IN NEUROLOGY
(2022)
Article
Clinical Neurology
Steven C. Cramer, Lode G. Richards, Julie Bernhardt, Pamela Duncan
Summary: Cognition is a fundamental aspect of human existence and brain function. Stroke often leads to cognitive deficits, which can significantly impact poststroke functional recovery. Recent advancements in understanding cognitive functions in healthy individuals hold promise for improving our understanding and treatment of poststroke cognitive impairments. This article provides five reviews on commonly observed cognitive syndromes after stroke, including neglect, aphasia, apraxia, loss of executive function, and memory disorders. These reviews discuss key questions and gaps in knowledge, emphasizing the need for improved measurement tools, insights into the pathophysiology of symptom onset and recovery mechanisms, and validated biomarkers. Overall, these state-of-the-art summaries facilitate progress towards better understanding and management of poststroke cognitive impairments.
Article
Biology
Chris Code
Summary: This paper discusses how symptoms in speech and language processing following brain damage can contribute to discussions of early language evolution. It suggests that the recovery of non-fluent aphasia syndrome post-stroke may provide insights into human language evolution history, and argues that the observed recovery reflects processes in human speech and language development.
PHILOSOPHICAL TRANSACTIONS OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY B-BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES
(2021)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Israel Martinez-Nicolas, Francisco Martinez-Sanchez, Olga Ivanova, Juan J. G. Meilan
Summary: Age-related cognitive impairment has become more common, leading to an interest in developing screening tools for mild cognitive impairment and Alzheimer's disease. Speech analysis can identify speech production pathologies such as dementia by exploiting the behavioral consequences of cognitive deficits. Combining impairments in multiple speech production tasks has been found to improve the accuracy of screening through speech analysis, making it a promising tool for dementia screening.
SCIENTIFIC REPORTS
(2023)
Review
Anatomy & Morphology
Emiliano Bruner, Alexandra Battaglia-Mayer, Roberto Caminiti
Summary: Traditional and new disciplines suggest that the parietal lobe underwent considerable expansion during human evolution. Various studies have shown increased globularity of the braincase and bulging of the parietal region in modern humans compared to other human species. The parietal cortex is believed to play a significant role in human-specific behaviors related to visuospatial capacity, technological integration, self-awareness, numerosity, mathematical reasoning, and language.
BRAIN STRUCTURE & FUNCTION
(2023)
Article
Clinical Neurology
Adolfo M. Garcia, Ariane E. Welch, Maria Luisa Mandelli, Maya L. Henry, Sladjana Lukic, Maria Jose Torres Prioris, Jessica Deleon, Buddhika M. Ratnasiri, Diego L. Lorca-Puls, Bruce L. Miller, William Seeley, Adam P. Vogel, Maria Luisa Gorno-Tempini
Summary: This study utilized automated speech timing analyses in a cohort of autopsy-proven cases to investigate motor speech function in individuals with nfvPPA. The results indicated that automated analysis can capture specific markers of nfvPPA and potentially discriminate between patients with different tauopathies. The objectivity and scalability of this approach could support standard speech assessments.
Article
Clinical Neurology
Adolfo M. Garcia, Ariane E. Welch, Maria Luisa Mandelli, Maya L. Henry, Sladjana Lukic, Maria Jose Torres Prioris, Jessica Deleon, Buddhika M. Ratnasiri, Diego L. Lorca-Puls, Bruce L. Miller, William Seeley, Adam P. Vogel, Maria Luisa Gorno-Tempini
Summary: Automated speech timing analyses can identify specific markers of nfvPPA and potentially differentiate between patients with different tauopathies. This approach, thanks to its objectivity and scalability, could be a valuable support for standard speech assessments.
