Lesion localization and performance on Theory of Mind tests in stroke survivors: a systematic review

Background: Theory of Mind (ToM) is the ability to attribute mental states to oneself and others. Individuals with a brain lesion following a stroke exhibit a compromised ability to perform ToM tasks. Objective: To analyze studies that evaluated ToM in stroke survivors considering the lesion localization and performance on ToM tests. Methods: The searches were carried out until November 28, 2018, using the following search terms: “social cognition” or “Theory of Mind” and “stroke”. Searches were conducted in the PubMed, PsycInfo, Web of Science and Scopus data bases. The initial search led to the retrieval of 425 articles. After the exclusion of duplicates and the analysis of the titles, abstracts and full texts, 20 articles were selected for the present review. Results: The studies showed that patients with lesion in the right hemisphere present lower performance on ToM tasks compared to those with lesion in the left hemisphere. In addition, patients with lesion in the right hemisphere presented significant impairment in the performance on ToM tasks compared to healthy individuals. Furthermore, the studies that evaluated lesions in specific regions such as temporal lobe, prefrontal cortex, posterior parietal cortex, and temporo-parietal junction, indicated a significant deficit in ToM performance of these patients compared to healthy individuals. Discussion: This review showed that stroke survivors have a poor performance on ToM tasks. The right hemisphere and prefrontal cortex seem to be associated with the deficit of this ability

Clinical and genetic analysis of 29 Brazilian patients with Huntington’s disease-like phenotype

Huntington’s disease (HD) is a neurodegenerative disorder characterized by chorea, behavioral disturbances and dementia, caused by a pathological expansion of the CAG trinucleotide in the HTT gene. Several patients have been recognized with the typical HD phenotype without the expected mutation. The objective of this study was to assess the occurrence of diseases such as Huntington’s disease-like 2 (HDL2), spinocerebellar ataxia (SCA) 1, SCA2, SCA3, SCA7, dentatorubral-pallidoluysian atrophy (DRPLA) and choreaacanthocytosis (ChAc) among 29 Brazilian patients with a HD-like phenotype. In the group analyzed, we found 3 patients with HDL2 and 2 patients with ChAc. The diagnosis was not reached in 79.3% of the patients. HDL2 was the main cause of the HD-like phenotype in the group analyzed, and is attributable to the African ancestry of this population. However, the etiology of the disease remains undetermined in the majority of the HD negative patients with HD-like phenotype. Key words: Huntington’s disease, Huntington’s disease-like, chorea-acanthocytosis, Huntington’s disease-like 2

Validation of the Brazilian version of the Clinical Gait and Balance Scale and comparison with the Berg Balance Scale

Objective To validate the Clinical Gait and Balance Scale (GABS) for a Brazilian population of patients with Parkinson's disease (PD) and to compare it to the Berg Balance Scale (BBS). Methods One hundred and seven PD patients were evaluated by shortened UPDRS motor scale (sUPDRSm), Hoehn and Yahr (HY), Schwab and England scale (SE), Falls Efficacy Scale International (FES-I), Freezing of Gait Questionnaire (FOG-Q), BBS and GABS. Results The internal consistency of the GABS was 0.94, the intra-rater and inter-rater reliability were 0.94 and 0.98 respectively. The area under the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve was 0.72, with a sensitivity of 0.75 and specificity of 0.6, to discriminate patients with a history of falls in the last twelve months, for a cut-off score of 13 points. Conclusions Our study shows that the Brazilian version of the GABS is a reliable and valid instrument to assess gait and balance in PD

Validation of the Brazilian version of the Clinical Gait and Balance Scale and comparison with the Berg Balance Scale

Objective To validate the Clinical Gait and Balance Scale (GABS) for a Brazilian population of patients with Parkinson's disease (PD) and to compare it to the Berg Balance Scale (BBS). Methods One hundred and seven PD patients were evaluated by shortened UPDRS motor scale (sUPDRSm), Hoehn and Yahr (HY), Schwab and England scale (SE), Falls Efficacy Scale International (FES-I), Freezing of Gait Questionnaire (FOG-Q), BBS and GABS. Results The internal consistency of the GABS was 0.94, the intra-rater and inter-rater reliability were 0.94 and 0.98 respectively. The area under the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve was 0.72, with a sensitivity of 0.75 and specificity of 0.6, to discriminate patients with a history of falls in the last twelve months, for a cut-off score of 13 points. Conclusions Our study shows that the Brazilian version of the GABS is a reliable and valid instrument to assess gait and balance in PD

SUNCT syndrome: report of a possible symptomatic case Síndrome SUNCT: relato de caso possivelmente sintomático

SUNCT is one of the rarest and least known primary headache disorders. Although its pathogenesis has been partially understood by functional neuroimaging and reports of secondary cases, there is limited understanding of its cause. We report a case of SUNCT in a 54-years-old man, that could not be strictly classified as secondary SUNCT; however, the time lag of pain onset suggests a new theory in which neuroplasticity could be involved in the origin and duration of the pain in SUNCT syndrome.<br>SUNCT é uma das mais raras e menos conhecidas cefaléias primárias. Embora sua patogênese esteja parcialmente compreendida por neuroimagem funcional e relatos de casos secundários, há insuficiente conhecimento a respeito de sua causa. Nós relatamos um caso de SUNCT em um homem de 54 anos, que não poderia ser estritamente classificado como SUNCT secundário; entretanto, o lapso de tempo para o início da dor sugere uma nova hipótese na qual a neuroplasticidade possa esta envolvida na origem e duração da dor na síndrome SUNCT

Use of the frontal assessment battery in evaluating executive dysfunction in patients with Huntington`s disease

The frontal assessment battery (FAB) is a bedside cognitive scale designed to measure executive functions. Huntington`s disease (HD) is a neurodegenerative disorder characterized by motor, behavioral, and cognitive dysfunction. The aim of this study was to check the validity of the FAB for the evaluation of cognitive impairment in patients with HD. Forty-one patients diagnosed with HD and 53 healthy controls matched by education, sex and age were evaluated with a validated Brazilian version of the UHDRS, the VFT, the SDMT, the SIT, the MMSE, and the FAB. The diagnosis of HD was made by DNA analysis. FAB scores were lower in patients than in the controls (p < 0.001) and had significant correlations with the VFT (r = 0.79; p < 0.05), the SDMT (r = 0.80; p < 0.05), the SIT (r = 0.72; p < 0.05), the MMSE (r = 0.83; p < 0.05), the FCS (r = 0.79; p < 0.05) and the motor section of the UHDRS (r = -0.80; p < 0.05). The FAB differentiated between HD patients in the initial and later stages of the disease. The one-year longitudinal evaluation revealed a global trend toward a worsening in the second score of the FAB. The results demonstrate that the FAB presents good internal consistency and also convergent and discriminative validity; therefore it is a useful scale to assess executive functions and to evaluate cognitive impairment in patients with HD