Assessment of Neurocognitive Functions, Olfaction, Taste, Mental, and Psychosocial Health in COVID-19 in Adults: Recommendations for Harmonization of Research and Implications for Clinical Practice

Assessment; COVID-19; Guidelines; Neuropsychological functions.Avaluació; COVID 19; Directrius; Funcions neuropsicològiques.Evaluación; COVID-19; Pautas; Funciones neuropsicológicasObjective: To propose a set of internationally harmonized procedures and methods for assessing neurocognitive functions, smell, taste, mental, and psychosocial health, and other factors in adults formally diagnosed with COVID-19 (confirmed as SARS-CoV-2 + WHO definition). Methods: We formed an international and cross-disciplinary NeuroCOVID Neuropsychology Taskforce in April 2020. Seven criteria were used to guide the selection of the recommendations' methods and procedures: (i) Relevance to all COVID-19 illness stages and longitudinal study design; (ii) Standard, cross-culturally valid or widely available instruments; (iii) Coverage of both direct and indirect causes of COVID-19-associated neurological and psychiatric symptoms; (iv) Control of factors specifically pertinent to COVID-19 that may affect neuropsychological performance; (v) Flexibility of administration (telehealth, computerized, remote/online, face to face); (vi) Harmonization for facilitating international research; (vii) Ease of translation to clinical practice. Results: The three proposed levels of harmonization include a screening strategy with telehealth option, a medium-size computerized assessment with an online/remote option, and a comprehensive evaluation with flexible administration. The context in which each harmonization level might be used is described. Issues of assessment timelines, guidance for home/remote assessment to support data fidelity and telehealth considerations, cross-cultural adequacy, norms, and impairment definitions are also described. Conclusions: The proposed recommendations provide rationale and methodological guidance for neuropsychological research studies and clinical assessment in adults with COVID-19. We expect that the use of the recommendations will facilitate data harmonization and global research. Research implementing the recommendations will be crucial to determine their acceptability, usability, and validity

Funkcje komunikacyjne u praworęcznej chorej przed i po operacji oponiaka przystrzałkowego okolicy czołowej prawej — opis przypadku

Uszkodzenie prawej półkuli mózgu u osób praworęcznych z lewą półkulą dominującą dla czynności mowy może powodować specyficzne zaburzenia zdolności językowych i komunikacyjnych. Deficyty te, wykazujące tendencję do utrzymywania się i mogące negatywnie wpływać na jakość życia pacjentów, są wciąż stosunkowo rzadko diagnozowane. Celem pracy była ocena stanu funkcji językowych i komunikacyjnych u praworęcznej pacjentki przed i po zabiegu usunięcia oponiaka zlokalizowanego w 1/3 przedniej zatoki strzałkowej górnej w okolicy czołowej prawej. W badaniu neurologicznym u chorej nie stwierdzono istotnych deficytów. Trzy dni przed i 30 dni po operacji zbadano pacjentkę z użyciem Baterii Testów do Badania Funkcji Językowych i Komunikacyjnych Prawej Półkuli Mózgu (RHLB-PL, the Polish version of the Right Hemisphere Language Battery). W pierwszym badaniu odnotowano u niej znaczne zaburzenia w zakresie rozumienia prozodii emocjonalnej oraz porozumiewania się w naturalnych warunkach przy stosunkowo dobrze zachowanych możliwościach w zakresie innych aspektów komunikacji (tj.: rozumienia znaczenia słów, narracji, humoru, metafor). Wyniki RHLB-PL poprawiły się u pacjentki miesiąc po operacji, jednak zdolności wymagane w bezpośrednim komunikowaniu się z drugą osobą pozostały znacznie zaburzone w stosunku do osób zdrowych. Wyniki badania wskazują na konieczność diagnozowania i rehabilitacji chorych bez afazji, u których wskutek uszkodzenia prawej półkuli mózgu dochodzi do specyficznych zaburzeń zdolności językowych i komunikacyjnych

The effectiveness of computer-assisted cognitive rehabilitation in brain-damaged patients

This study examined the effects of computer-assisted cognitive rehabilitation in a group of 16 brain-damaged patients. Therapeutic effectiveness was assessed by improvement on computer tasks, the results of neuropsychological tests and quality of life ratings. Participants suffered from mild to moderate attention and memory problems or aphasia. The procedure involved baseline assessment (pretest), a 15-week course of therapy conducted twice a week (30 hours in total) and posttest. Neuropsychological tests assessing attention, memory and language problems and quality of life ratings were administered twice: in pre- and posttests. Twelve healthy controls were also examined twice (with a 15-week interval) using the same battery of neuropsychological tests. The RehaCom program and the Polish computer therapy program for aphasics called Afa-System were used for rehabilitation. The computer-assisted rehabilitation tasks were selected individually for each patient. The results showed signifi cant improvement on computer-assisted tasks in all braindamaged subjects. However, none or very little improvement was observed on neuropsychological tests and quality of life ratings. The results of the study confi rm the importance of using different types of measures to estimate the effectiveness of computer-assisted neuropsychological rehabilitation as well as the necessity of applying various kinds of therapy to improve cognitive, emotional and social functioning in brain-damaged patients

Is the executive function necessary for inferring mental states of other people? evidence from studies on patients with brain impairment

Theory of mind (ToM) refers to the ability to represent the mental states of others. The Executive Function (EF) refers to higher-level cognitive processes encompassing planning, inhibition, coordination, shifting, and coordination of action sequences. Current studies on ToM and EF suggest that these two cognitive abilities might be functionally or anatomically linked. Although the relation between ToM and EF has been widely investigated, the results remain inconclusive particularly when considering the functional architecture of a mature brain system. The present study aims to seek this lacuna with the use of neuropsychological methodology. The pattern of ToM and EF defi cits within patients with brain injury were investigated. We compared the performance of four patients with a set of tasks examining theory of mind abilities and the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (WCST) assessing EF functioning. Results yielded a dissociation between ToM and EF, suggesting that in an adults’ brain executive functions are not necessary for inferring the mental states of others

Set of neuropsychological tests for the assessment of language disorders after damage to the right cerebral hemisphere: preliminary results

A set of five experimental tests was prepared for the assessment of language disturbances in right hemisphere-damaged (RHD) patients. The Right Hemisphere Language Battery by Bryan (1995) was a basis for these tests. The set comprises the Metaphor Picture Test, the Written Metaphor Test, the Inferential Meaning Test, the Humour Test and the Lexical Semantic Test. Thirty-six RHD, 15 left hemisphere damaged (LHD) without aphasia and 30 control (C) subjects took part in the investigation. All test significantly differed between the RHD and C groups. No significant differences were noted between LHD and control groups, except for the Inferential Meaning Test. The quantitative performance of tests was different in all the groups. Results of the study indicated patients with right frontal damages to make more errors than those with right posterior lesions

Metaphor Processing in Schizophrenia Patients: A Study of Comprehension and Explanation of Metaphors

The study assessed the quantity and quality of errors made by schizophrenia patients in understanding and interpretation of the same metaphors, to evaluate metaphor understanding and explanation depending on the type of presentation material, and to analyze the correlation of illness symptoms with metaphor comprehension and explanation. Two groups of participants were examined: a schizophrenia sample (40 participants) and a control group (39 participants). Metaphor processing was assessed by the subtests of the Polish version of the Right Hemisphere Language Battery (RHLB-PL). The patients were also evaluated with the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS). Schizophrenia patients scored significantly lower in explanation of metaphors, making more incorrect literal and abstract mistakes or providing no answer more frequently. No differences were observed in understanding metaphors; no correlation between symptoms and metaphor processing was obtained. In both groups, picture metaphors were easier to comprehend and written metaphors were easier to comprehend than to explain

Metaphor Comprehension and Interpretation in Cleft Palate Children Aged 6–9

The level of metaphor comprehension and interpretation was investigated in a sample of children with cleft palate (CP), aged 6;0-8;11, and healthy controls matched with age, sex, socioeconomic status, and IQ level. The Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children - Revised (WISC-R) was used to evaluate the children’s cognitive functioning, and the metaphor tests from a modified version of the Right Hemisphere Language Battery - Polish version (RHLB-PL) were used to assess comprehension of figurative language. The CP and control groups differed significantly in Verbal IQ values and in performance in the Vocabulary test, Comprehension test, Picture Metaphor Explanation test, and Written Metaphor Explanation test. In both metaphor explanation tests, children with CP gave fewer responses than controls. The results suggest no differences between children with CP and controls in understanding figurative language, although they point to weaker performance in communicating responses and producing statements in the CP children group

The Characteristics of the Reduction of Interference Effect during Dual-Task Cognitive-Motor Training Compared to a Single Task Cognitive and Motor Training in Elderly: A Randomized Controlled Trial

Many studies have indicated a weakening in several areas of cognitive functioning associated with the normal ageing process. One of the methods supporting cognitive functions in older adults is dual-task training which is based on performing cognitive and motor exercises at the same time. The study aimed at examining the characteristics of dual-task training compared to single-task training in participants over 65 years of age. Sixty-five subjects took part in the study. They were randomly assigned to three groups: dual-task cognitive-motor training (CM), single-task cognitive training (CT), and single-task motor training (MT). The training program in all groups encompassed 4 weeks and consisted of three, 30-min meetings a week. Specialized software was designed for the study. The main indicators, such as orientation and planning time and the number of errors, were monitored during the whole training in all groups. The obtained results have shown that the dual-task training was associated with a significantly greater number of movement errors, but not with a longer task planning time compared to the single-task condition training. There was a decrease in the time needed to plan a path in the mazes by subjects training in the CM, CT, and MT groups. The results indicate that after each type of training, the number of errors and the time needed to plan the path decrease, despite the increasing difficulty of the tasks. The length of planning time was strongly correlated with the number of errors made by individuals in the CM group (r = 0.74, p = 0.04), compared to the ST group—for which the said correlation was not significant (r = 0.7, p = 0.06). The dual-task cognitive-motor training is more cognitively demanding compared to the single-task cognitive and motor training. It manifests in a greater number of errors, but it does not extend the orientation and planning time

NEUROPSYCHOLOGICAL EVALUATION OF NARRATIVE DISCOURSE PATTERNS IN INDIVIDUALS WITH EARLY STAGE VASCULAR DEMENTIA VS. PATIENTS WITH EARLY STAGE ALZHEIMER’S DISEASE

Individuals in the early stages of dementia may demonstrate language difficulties. The aim of the study was an evaluation of the differences in narrative discourse abilities across two types of dementia, i.e., Vascular Dementia (VaD) and Alzheimer’s Disease (AD) in comparison to the young and old elderly. The AD and VaD groups displayed a lower performance than the age-matched YE on tasks involving reasoning. The VaD partici- pants outperformed patients with AD in verbal memory and narrative discourse. Discourse macrostructure analyses showed that the VaD reproduced more propositions than did the AD participants, but that these were comparable to YE and OE. There were more conjunctions in narratives reproduced by the VaD participants as compared to other groups, although this tendency was only present in the story but not in fairy tale reproductions themselves. Individ- uals in the AD group had more difficulties than YE and OE individuals in figuring out the moral of fairy tales. Clinical and control groups reproduced the microstructure and superstructure of texts comparatively well. Discourse recall correlated with performance on verbal memory, attention/working memory, and reasoning. Differences in narrative discourse abilities were found. Alzheimer’s Disease (AD) patients scored lower in verbal memory than did Vascular Dementia (VaD) patients. Both groups however obtained lower results than the young and old elderly

Right Cerebral Hemisphere Language and Communication Functions in Females and Males with Autism Spectrum Disorders and Normal Intelligence

The purpose of the study was to compare the functioning of adolescents with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) and typically developing adolescents matched for age and IQ, in terms of right hemisphere language communication. Sex differences in that area were also analyzed. Seventy-nine individuals with normal intelligence with ASD, fluent in their native spoken language and aged 10-20 years (41 females), and 79 typically developing individuals (control group, 39 females) were tested. The Polish adaptation of the Right Hemisphere Language Battery (RHLB-PL) was used for participants aged 13-20 years, while children aged 10-12 years were tested using an experimental version of the RHLBPL for young children designed by E. Łojek. Individuals with ASD scored lower in the Humor Test and Discourse Analysis, and made more remarks in the Comments Test about the tasks than the control group. The two groups scored differently in two measures of verbal intellectual skills in the Wechsler Scale: Arithmetic and Comprehension. Individuals with ASD scored lower than controls on both of those measures. No sex differences were found for any of the measured variables