Discourse Production in Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS)

Cognitive deficits and word retrieval deficits have been identified in individuals with Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). Few studies to date have focused on word retrieval deficits and language efficiency within discourse production. The current study investigated discourse production in 15 ALS and 12 age-matched controls. The two discourse elicitation tasks were a picture description and Topic Directed Interview (TDI). A significant interaction of group by task is reported. Significant group effects for types of instances of word finding problems within each task are also reported. Results suggest that ALS have reduced language efficiency in discourse suggestive of semantic access difficulties

A multimodal neurolinguistic treatment approach for conduction aphasia: A single case study.

Conduction aphasia is characterized by significant changes to language output including phonetically complex paraphasias, severely impaired repetition, and difficulty comprehending specific lexical information in isolation despite relatively good comprehension of the ‘gist’ of the message (Baldo, Klostermann, & Dronkers, 2008; Goodglass, 1992; Joanette, Keller, & Lecours, 1980; Kohn, 1984). Nickels, Howard, and Best (1997) proposed that individuals with conduction aphasia experience difficulty processing auditory-verbal information secondary to disruption in articulatory loop processes. Baldo et al. (2008), using sentence level stimuli, further suggested that persons with conduction aphasia rely more on the semantic processes versus articulatory loop processes when interpreting messages. Such deficits in conduction aphasia are not exclusive to language output channels (Baldo et al., 2008; Caramazza, Basili, & Koller, 1981; Shallice & Warrington, 1977; Warrington & Shallice, 1969). In the current study, we combined the work of Nickels et al. (1997) and Baldo et al. (2008) to develop a novel multimodal, combined semantic and a phonological approach for treatment for an individual with chronic conduction aphasia. The goal of this treatment was to improve auditory comprehension (e.g., word and sentence level) and increase propositional spoken language (e.g., single word and discourse level). We hypothesized that priming the semantic network would facilitate access to the phonological representation of trained words and as a result, improved auditory comprehension and lexical retrieval

Le concept de PES pour une gestion durable des eaux et des sols: application au developpement de l'elevage et au controle environnemental dans le Nord Vietnam

Gestion integree des eaux et des sols: ressources, amenagements et risques en milieux ruraux et urbains, Editions AUF et IRD, Hanoi, Actes des Premieres Journees Scientifiques Inter- Reseaux de l'AUF, Hanoi, 6-9 novembre 2007Paper presented at Conference, Integrated Management of Waters and Soils: resources, infrastructures and risks in rural and urban areas, Hanoi, Vietnam, 6-9 November 2007In Northern Vietnam, the urgent environmental problems are soil erosion under annual crop on sloping lands leading to a drastic soil fertility decrease, inducing the risk to unfertilize the flatlands and to fill up the water reservoirs in the downstream part by sediment accumulation. Then a lack of disposable income for the purchase of inorganic fertilizers has resulted in farmers in Northern Vietnam resorting to the utilization of raw animal and human waste in order to fertilizer their cropping systems. This project is dealing at the District level in the Northward of Hoa Binh Province with the PES use (agro-ecological concept of Payment for Environmental Services) based on a new market opportunity for the farmers of Northern Vietnam to mobilise the integrated cattle husbandry enhancement and water management between uplands and lowlands. The purpose is to create a sustainable loop between fodder cropping on sloping lands, the cattle development under stables, the animal and human waste management, leading to human health and water quality protections, to the erosion sediment control for both a sustainable upland and lowland use. The proposed project offers a novel approach in that a holistic approach is introduced to achieve income generation from livestock manure management in mountainous environment of Southeast Asia in establishing a process of comprehensive assessment, of mutual learning between farmers from upper part and down part of the watershed through a hydrological modelling platform, and by the development of new agricultural technologies as biogas digester and vermicompost unit