More than a piece of cake:Noun classifier processing in primary progressive aphasia

INTRODUCTION: Clinical understanding of primary progressive aphasia (PPA) has been primarily derived from Indo-European languages. Generalizing certain linguistic findings across languages is unfitting due to contrasting linguistic structures. While PPA patients showed noun classes impairments, Chinese languages lack noun classes. Instead, Chinese languages are classifier language, and how PPA patients manipulate classifiers is unknown. METHODS: We included 74 native Chinese speakers (22 controls, 52 PPA). For classifier production task, participants were asked to produce the classifiers of high-frequency items. In a classifier recognition task, participants were asked to choose the correct classifier. RESULTS: Both semantic variant (sv) PPA and logopenic variant (lv) PPA scored significantly lower in classifier production task. In classifier recognition task, lvPPA patients outperformed svPPA patients. The classifier production scores were correlated to cortical volume over left temporal and visual association cortices. DISCUSSION: This study highlights noun classifiers as linguistic markers to discriminate PPA syndromes in Chinese speakers. Highlights: Noun classifier processing varies in the different primary progressive aphasia (PPA) variants. Specifically, semantic variant PPA (svPPA) and logopenic variant PPA (lvPPA) patients showed significantly lower ability in producing specific classifiers. Compared to lvPPA, svPPA patients were less able to choose the accurate classifiers when presented with choices. In svPPA, classifier production score was positively correlated with gray matter volume over bilateral temporal and left visual association cortices in svPPA. Conversely, classifier production performance was correlated with volumetric changes over left ventral temporal and bilateral frontal regions in lvPPA. Comparable performance of mass and count classifier were noted in Chinese PPA patients, suggesting a common cognitive process between mass and count classifiers in Chinese languages.</p

Vietnamese American Perspectives on Engagement in an Aging-Focused Research Registry.

IntroductionWe elicited Vietnamese Americans' perspectives on culturally appropriate recruitment into a new research registry: Collaborative Approach for Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians, and Pacific Islanders (AANHPIs) Research and Education (CARE).MethodsThree focus groups were conducted with 21 Vietnamese Americans. Topics included knowledge about and experiences with research, outreach and recruitment methods for research participation and registry enrollment, and views about research incentives. Focus group transcripts were analyzed thematically.ResultsMean age of participants was 41 years (range 18-73), 57% were male, 86% were non-US born, and 81% had never participated in a research study. Themes that emerged included (1) motivations to participate in research to gain knowledge: for oneself, for family's benefit, and for the Vietnamese American community as a whole; (2) necessity of trustworthy and credible individuals/spokespersons to promote the research initiative; (3) recruitment strategies that are age-specific and culturally appropriate, and (4) importance of monetary incentives.ConclusionFindings from this study will be used to guide recruitment into and engagement with CARE among Vietnamese Americans but are also relevant for other registries aiming to diversify their participants

The Collaborative Approach for Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders Research and Education (CARE): A recruitment registry for Alzheimer's disease and related dementias, aging, and caregiver-related research.

IntroductionClinical research focused on aging, Alzheimer's disease and related dementias (ADRD), and caregiving often does not recruit Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders (AAPIs).MethodsWith funding from the National Institute on Aging, we designed and launched the Collaborative Approach for AAPIs Research and Education (CARE), a research recruitment registry to increase AAPIs' participation in ADRD, aging, and caregiving research. We present the design of this novel recruitment program.ResultsCARE uses community-based participatory research methods that are culturally and linguistically appropriate. Since CARE's launch, it has enrolled &gt;7000 AAPIs in a 1-year period. The majority enrolled in CARE via community organizations and reported never having participated in any kind of research before. CARE also engages researchers by establishing a recruitment referral request protocol.DiscussionCARE provides a promising venue to foster meaningful inclusion of AAPIs who are under-represented in aging and dementia-related research

Prospective outcome of rapid eye movement sleep behaviour disorder: Psychiatric disorders as a potential early marker of Parkinson's disease

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Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders' perspectives on participating in the CARE recruitment research registry for Alzheimer's disease and related dementias, aging, and caregiving research.

IntroductionThis study elicited Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders' (AAPI) perspectives about recruitment strategies/messaging for participation in an aging, Alzheimer's disease and related dementias (ADRD), and caregiving research recruitment registry.MethodsUsing a mixed methods design, CARE (Collaborative Approach for AAPI Research and Education) conducted 14 focus groups (N&nbsp;=&nbsp;123) with AAPI cultural groups (Asian Indian, Chinese, Filipino, Japanese, Korean, Samoan, Vietnamese) in different languages. Descriptive statistics and thematic qualitative analyses were conducted.ResultsMean age of participants was 54 years (median: 61; range 18-80), 66% were female, and 81% were foreign-born. Themes of consideration for recruitment emerged: (1) culturally/linguistically appropriate outreach in culturally specific spaces, (2) motivations for research participation, and (3) approaches to outreach and recruitment methods. Within each of these themes, there were ethnic differences in specific strategies/approaches reflected as subthemes.DiscussionRecruitment and messaging strategies should be tailored uniquely for each targeted AAPI group, with a thorough understanding of the cultural/linguistic factors that facilitate research participation to increase AAPI participation in ADRD, aging, and caregiver-related research. 

Reduced striatal dopamine transmission in REM sleep behavior disorder comorbid with depression

© 2015 American Academy of Neurology. Objective: To investigate dopamine transmission in patients with comorbid REM sleep behavior disorder (RBD) and major depressive disorder (MDD). Methods: This is a case-control study including 11 medicated patients with comorbid RBD and MDD (mean age 47.5 6 8.2), 8 medicated patients with MDD only (mean age 47.9 6 8.4), and 10 healthy participants (mean age 46.5 6 10.6 years). They underwent clinical assessment, video-polysomnography, olfactory tests, and neuroimaging studies (18F-DOPA, 11C-raclopride, and 18F-FDG PET neuroimaging). Results: Compared with the 2 control groups, patients with comorbid RBD and MDD had significantly lower 18F-DOPA uptake at 60 minutes in the putamen and caudate after controlling for age and sex effect (p 18F-FDG-PET. The 18F-DOPA uptake in putamens had significant inverse correlation with severity of RBD symptoms (p <0.01) and REM-related tonic muscle activity (p <0.01). The comorbid RBD and MDD group had more impairment in olfactory function. Conclusion: Patients with comorbid RBD and MDD had presynaptic dopamine dysfunction and impaired olfactory function. There is a distinct possibility that the development of RBD symptoms among patients with MDD may represent an early phase of a-synucleinopathy neurodegeneration instead of a merely antidepressant-induced condition.Link_to_subscribed_fulltex

Does rapid eye movement sleep behavior disorder exist in psychiatric populations? A clinical and polysomnographic case-control study

Objectives: Rapid eye movement (REM) sleep behavior disorder (RBD) has been increasingly reported in patients with psychiatric disorders (pRBD). Although a close association with the usage of psychotropics has been postulated, it remains elusive whether psychotropics are the only causative factor of RBD symptoms in psychiatric populations. Moreover, there is limited literature documenting and quantifying the clinical and polysomnographic features in this population. Methods: A case-control study comparing the clinical and polysomnographic features of 31 pRBD patients with: (1) Age-, sex-, and psychiatric diagnoses-matched controls; and (2) Typical idiopathic RBD (tRBD) patients. Results: Despite being prescribed with similar psychotropics, pRBD patients had more dream-enacting behaviors (p<. 0.01), sleep-related injuries (p<. 0.01), and nightmares (p<. 0.01) than the psychiatric controls. pRBD patients were younger with more females, but they had comparable sleep-related injuries to tRBD. Both tRBD and pRBD had more REM-related muscle activity than controls (p<. 0.01) and the effect remained significant after adjusting for age, gender, and use of antidepressants. Conclusions: Our study suggests that pRBD had comparable clinical features and consequences to those of tRBD. The occurrence of RBD symptoms in these patients may be related to a constellation of factors, including individual predisposition, depressive illness, antidepressants, and other clinical factors. Given the association of RBD and neurodegeneration in tRBD, further prospective follow-up of these patients is warranted. © 2012 Elsevier B.V.Link_to_subscribed_fulltex