EFFECTS OF RESPONSE ELABORATION TRAINING ON SENTENCE PRODUCTION OF PERSONS WITH CHRONIC AGRAMMATIC APHASIA

Purpose: Response Elaboration Training (RET) is a treatment program for increasing the amount of information contained in the speech of individuals with aphasia. This study employed a sentence production task (SPT) to examine whether RET will (1) generalize to a task not worked on in treatment and (2) affect syntactic performance. Methods and Procedures: Three adults with chronic non-fluent Broca’s aphasia received RET in this prospective, repeated case study. The dependent variable was a SPT requiring the participant to put a verb in a sentence. Changes in the syntactic performance of the participant’s sentence productions were classified across three parameters: (1) syntactic structure, (2) grammatical completeness, and (3) semantic appropriateness. Results: Findings of this study indicate that RET improves the syntactic performance of individuals with chronic Broca’s aphasia and generalizes to a task not worked on in treatment. Participant responses to the SPT showed increased complexity in syntactic structures, improved grammaticality, and improved topic relevancy. In addition, qualitative improvements were seen in 5 randomly selected verbs for each participant. These improvements included increased length of sentences and fewer false starts, interjections, and disfluencies. Finally, improvements on the Western Aphasia Battery and two picture description tasks were evinced for two participants

JOINT DECISION-MAKING IN MARRIED COUPLES AFFECTED BY APHASIA

Background: Aphasia is an acquired language disorder, usually due to stroke, that affects the social functioning and the quality of life of the person with aphasia as well as the quality of life of his or her family and caregivers. Traditional aphasia therapy has tended to focus on decontextualized tasks and discrete elements of language functioning. The Life Participation Approach to Aphasia (LPAA) focuses on the collaborative nature of communication and addresses communication within personally relevant contexts. Joint decision-making is one type of social interaction that occurs frequently between married couples and has received considerable attention in the literature. To date, no study has investigated how married couples affected by aphasia collaboratively make decisions. Aim: The present study aims to provide foundational information on joint decision-making by married couples affected by aphasia. Methods and Procedures: Fourteen married couples in which one of the spouses had aphasia volunteered to participate in the study. A variety of assessment measures were administered to the participants with aphasia to characterize their speech and language deficits and all participants were administered a non-verbal reasoning test and a marital quality scale. The primary task of interest in this study involved a joint decision-making activity in which spouses were read two hypothetical ‘survival-type’ scenarios and were given a list of items for each scenario. The spouses were instructed to decide on six items and then rank their selected items in order of importance in terms of their value in helping them survive the scenarios. Participants’ interactions were audio- and video-recorded, and their verbal communication transcribed verbatim. The participants’ communicative interactions were coded for speech functions and analyzed by comparing differences in communication behaviors between the spouses with and without aphasia. Results: Findings showed that participants with and without aphasia utilized a variety of speech functions but that the participants with aphasia made far fewer attempts to persuade their spouse to agree with them and that the spouses without aphasia tended to dominate the interaction, resulting in an imbalance of power in the decision-making process. Despite the differences in communication behaviors, both groups of spouses were supportive of the ideas suggested by their significant other and conflicts were typically resolved quickly. Conclusion: Findings from this study revealed potential discrepancies in the balance of power between the spouses with and without aphasia in decision-making communication. Suggestions are provided for tailoring interventions and guiding future research in joint decision-making in couples affected by aphasia

A new approach for quantifying the effects of response elaboration training

Response Elaboration Training (RET; Kearns, 1985, 1986) is a content-driven treatment for individuals with aphasia. Several studies by Kearns and colleagues indicate RET’s unique “loose training” paradigm increases the amount of verbal information produced by individuals with non-fluent Broca’s aphasia in response to picture stimuli (Gaddie, Kearns, & Yedor, 1991; Kearns, 1985, 1986; Kearns & Scher, 1989; Kearns & Yedor, 1991; Nessler, 2009), and that in some cases, RET effects generalize to other speaking partners, stimuli, and settings (Bennett, Wambaugh, & Nesslar, 2005; Gaddie et al., 1991; Kearns & Yedor, 1991). In most RET research, training effects are quantified by having the participant describe the same pictures used in RET. This provision of pictorial support limits conclusions that can be drawn about the effectiveness of RET and its generalizability. The present study examined the effectiveness and generalizability of RET on speaking performance of individuals with non-fluent Broca’s aphasia with a sentence production task (SPT) that did not provide picture support

Synthesis and characterization of hydroxyapatite-gelatine composite materials for orthopaedic application

The composite materials based on hydroxyapatite (HA) and gelatine (Gel) with addition of silver and zirconium oxide were obtained. The study investigates a combination of low powered ultrasonic irradiation and low concentration of gelatine in the co-precipitation synthesis. These composites have different weight ratios of organic/inorganic components and may be synthesized in two ways: simple mixing and co-precipitation. Both of which were compared. The estimation of porosity, in vivo testing, surface morphology and phase composition as well as the IR-analysis were provided. Hydroxyapatite was the main crystalline phase in obtained composites. While around powdered HA-Gel composite the connective tissue capsule is formed without bone tissue formation, HA-Gel-Ag porous composite implantation leads to formation of new bone tissue and activation of cell proliferation. Addition of silver ions into composite material allows decreasing inflammation on the first stage of implantation and has positive effect on bone tissue formation. Some of the obtained composite materials containing silver or ZrO2 are biocompatible. bio-resorbable and osteoconductive with high level of porosity (75e85%)

Assessing Responsiveness to RET by Individuals with Chronic Non-fluent Aphasia: A Clinical Perspective

Response elaboration training (RET) is a “loose training” program designed to increase the length and information content of verbal responses of patients with aphasia (Kearns, 1985). Patients have responded robustly to RET regardless of severity level or type of aphasia (Wambaugh, Wright, and Nessler, 2012). One difficulty faced by clinicians seeking to use RET is participants in research studies have usually been treated at a frequency and for a duration that far exceeds standard clinical practice. In order to examine RET from a “clinical perspective,” the researchers carried out a selective meta-analysis of RET focusing on a “window of treatment” that would be commensurate with standard clinical practice

Time to Get in the Game: Opportunities for More Involvement in Sport-Related Concussion Management

Many college athletes who have a sport-related concussion experience changes in cognitive-communication abilities. Unfortunately, nearly half of all sport-related concussions go unreported. Information on why collegiate athletes report or conceal their symptoms is important for improving reporting rates and increasing athletes’ access to services for cognitive-communication impairments. This study examined whether changes in cognitive-communication abilities affected college athlete’s intentions to report a sport-related concussion. Findings showed that approximately two-thirds of the college student-athletes who participated in the research were unlikely to report that they had a sport-related head injury. The study found that participants’ concerns for cognitive-communication deficits differentiated student-athletes who were more likely to report an injury from those who were less likely. This study has important clinical implications for increasing awareness and knowledge about the sequelae of sport-related concussion and the valuable role that rehabilitation specialists, such as speech-language pathologists (SLPs), can play in concussion management and prevention

Combined roles for breeding synchrony, habitat and scale as predictors of extrapair paternity

publishedVersio

Diffusive behavior for randomly kicked Newtonian particles in a spatially periodic medium

We prove a central limit theorem for the momentum distribution of a particle undergoing an unbiased spatially periodic random forcing at exponentially distributed times without friction. The start is a linear Boltzmann equation for the phase space density, where the average energy of the particle grows linearly in time. Rescaling time, the momentum converges to a Brownian motion, and the position is its time-integral showing superdiffusive scaling with time $t^{3/2}$. The analysis has two parts: (1) to show that the particle spends most of its time at high energy, where the spatial environment is practically invisible; (2) to treat the low energy incursions where the motion is dominated by the deterministic force, with potential drift but where symmetry arguments cancel the ballistic behavior.Comment: 55 pages. Some typos corrected from previous versio

Дослідження кислот гідроксикоричних трави чистецю зібольда

In the article the results of study of qualitative composition and quantitative content of hydroxycinnamic acids in the herb of Stachys sieboldii Miq. are presented. By the method  of HPLC it was established the presence of chlorogenic, rosemarinic, caffeic and p-coumaric acids. Quantitative content of hydroxycinnamic acids was determined by the method of spectrophotometry.В статье приведены результаты определения качественного состава и количественного содержания кислот гидроксикоричных в траве чистеца Зибольда. С помощью метода ВЭЖХ установлено наличие кислот хлорогеновой, розмариновой, кофейной и п-кумаровой. Методом спектрофотометрии определено количественное содержание кислот гидроксикоричных в пересчете на кислоту хлорогеновую – (5,98±0,001) %.У статті наведено результати визначення якісного складу та кількісного вмісту кислот гідроксикоричних у траві чистецю Зібольда. За допомогою методу ВЕРХ встановлено наявність кислот хлорогенової, розмаринової, кофейної і п-кумарової. Методом спектрофотометрії визначено кількісний вміст кислот гідроксикоричних у перерахунку на кислоту хлорогенову – (5,98±0,001

The spirit of sport: the case for criminalisation of doping in the UK

This article examines public perceptions of doping in sport, critically evaluates the effectiveness of current anti-doping sanctions and proposes the criminalisation of doping in sport in the UK as part of a growing global movement towards such criminalisation at national level. Criminalising doping is advanced on two main grounds: as a stigmatic deterrent and as a form of retributive punishment enforced through the criminal justice system. The ‘spirit of sport’ defined by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) as being based on the values of ethics, health and fair-play is identified as being undermined by the ineffectiveness of existing anti-doping policy in the current climate of doping revelations, and is assessed as relevant to public perceptions and the future of sport as a whole. The harm-reductionist approach permitting the use of certain performance enhancing drugs (PEDs) is considered as an alternative to anti-doping, taking into account athlete psychology, the problems encountered in containing doping in sport through anti-doping measures and the effect of these difficulties on the ‘spirit of sport’. This approach is dismissed in favour of criminalising doping in sport based on the offence of fraud. It will be argued that the criminalisation of doping could act as a greater deterrent than existing sanctions imposed by International Federations, and, when used in conjunction with those sanctions, will raise the overall ‘price’ of doping. The revelations of corruption within the existing system of self-governance within sport have contributed to a disbelieving public and it will be argued that the criminalisation of doping in sport could assist in satisfying the public that justice is being done and in turn achieve greater belief in the truth of athletic performances