Sentence context prevails over word association in aphasia patients with spared comprehension : evidence from N400 event-related potential

Behavioral and event-related potential (ERP) studies on aphasia patients showed that lexical information is not lost but rather its integration into the working context is hampered. Studies have been conducted on the processing of sentence-level information (meaningful versus meaningless) and of word-level information (related versus unrelated) in aphasia patients, but we are not aware of any study that assesses the relationship between the two. In healthy subjects the processing of a single word in a sentence context has been studied using the N400 ERP. It was shown that, even when there is only a weak expectation of a final word in a sentence, this expectation will dominate word relatedness. In order to study the effect of semantic relatedness between words in sentence processing in aphasia patients, we conducted a crossed design ERP study, crossing the factors of word relatedness and sentence congruity. We tested aphasia patients with mild to minimum comprehension deficit and healthy young and older (age-matched with our patients) controls on a semantic anomaly judgment task when simultaneously recording EEG. Our results show that our aphasia patient's N400 amplitudes in response to the sentences of our crossed-design study were similar to those of our age-matched healthy subjects. However, we detected an increase in the N400 ERP latency in those patients, indicating a delay in the integration of the new word into the working context. Additionally, we observed a positive correlation between comprehension level of those patients and N400 effect in response to meaningful sentences without word relatedness contrasted to meaningless sentences without word relatedness

SEPTICEMIE ET PERITONITE 'SPONTANEE' CHEZ LE CIRRHOTIQUE

During a five year period 36 episodes of septicaemia in 32 patients with hepatic cirrhosis were documented. This represents 20% of the patients hospitalized with a decompensated cirrhosis and 1.1% of the patients with non decompensated cirrhosis. In patients with decompensated cirrhosis, enteric Gramnegative organisms were most frequently isolated (91% of the cases) and ascites was infected in one third of the cases. No primary foci of infection were documented. On the contrary patients with a non decompensated cirrhosis had infection mostly with Gram-positive organisms (82%) and foci of infection (skin, throat) were documented in 38% of the cases. Infection by enteric organisms was associated with higher mortality than infection by non enteric organisms (68% vs 28%). Five patients with inappropriate antibiotic treatment died from septic shock. Spontaneous septicaemia and peritonitis are frequent complications of cirrhosis. There are potentially treatable causes of deterioration in the cirrhotic patient, necessitating prompt recognition and treatment.SCOPUS: ar.jinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishe

Sentence Context Prevails over Word Association in Aphasia Patients with Spared Comprehension: Evidence from N400 Event-Related Potential

Behavioral and event-related potential (ERP) studies on aphasia patients showed that lexical information is not lost but rather its integration into the working context is hampered. Studies have been conducted on the processing of sentence-level information (meaningful versus meaningless) and of word-level information (related versus unrelated) in aphasia patients, but we are not aware of any study that assesses the relationship between the two. In healthy subjects the processing of a single word in a sentence context has been studied using the N400 ERP. It was shown that, even when there is only a weak expectation of a final word in a sentence, this expectation will dominate word relatedness. In order to study the effect of semantic relatedness between words in sentence processing in aphasia patients, we conducted a crossed-design ERP study, crossing the factors of word relatedness and sentence congruity. We tested aphasia patients with mild to minimum comprehension deficit and healthy young and older (age-matched with our patients) controls on a semantic anomaly judgment task when simultaneously recording EEG. Our results show that our aphasia patient's N400 amplitudes in response to the sentences of our crossed-design study were similar to those of our age-matched healthy subjects. However, we detected an increase in the N400 ERP latency in those patients, indicating a delay in the integration of the new word into the working context. Additionally, we observed a positive correlation between comprehension level of those patients and N400 effect in response to meaningful sentences without word relatedness contrasted to meaningless sentences without word relatedness.status: publishe

Language processing in bilingual aphasia: a new insight into the problem

There is increasing evidence that a bilingual person should not be considered as two monolinguals in a single body, a view that has gradually been adopted in the diagnosis and treatment of bilingual aphasia. However, its investigation is complicated due to the large variety in possible language combinations, pre- and postmorbid language proficiencies, and age of second language acquisition. Furthermore, the tests and tasks used to assess linguistic capabilities differ in almost every study, hindering a direct comparison of their outcomes. Behavioral, electrophysiological, and neuroimaging data from healthy population show that the processing of second language domains (semantics, syntax, morphology) depends on factors such as age and method of acquisition, proficiency level and environment in which the second language was acquired. A number of single and multiple case reports that rely on behavioral testing of bilingual aphasics replicate these results. Additionally, they show that the patient's performance depends on the size and location of the lesion, as well as language typology and morphological characteristics. Furthermore, the impairment and recovery patterns and recovery generalization from treated to untreated language depend on the lexical and orthographic distances between the two languages. For healthy bilinguals, language processing is usually studied in comparison to monolinguals. We advocate that a good starting point for identifying patterns specific for bilingual aphasia is to compare patient studies of bilinguals and monolinguals.status: publishe

Emergence of ArmA and RmtB aminoglycoside resistance 16S rRNA methylases in Belgium

SCOPUS: ar.jinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishe

Transmission of multiple resistant Salmonella Concord from internationally adopted children to their adoptive families and social environment: proposition of guidelines.

Since 2004, an increasing number of multidrug-resistant Salmonella serovar Concord infections have been isolated in Belgium among children adopted from Ethiopia. The patients or their family were interviewed and the isolates were subtyped. Between 2004 and 2009, a total of 39 Salmonella Concord infections were isolated from patients. Thirty-four isolates presented a multidrug resistance including resistance to extended-spectrum cephalosporins. Thirty-six cases involved children and 30 of these were adopted from Ethiopia. One case was due to contact with an adopted child and for the other 5 cases no direct epidemiological link with Ethiopia could be found, although four isolates displayed the same patterns observed on the adoptees' isolates, strongly suggesting a phylogenetic relationship with the Ethiopian isolates. Our study confirmed the emergence in Europe of S. Concord isolates resistant to third-generation cephalosporin among Ethiopian adoptees. We have demonstrated that transmission (intra- and extra familial) can happen even if the frequency seems to be low. The presence and the transmission of such a multidrug-resistant Salmonella infection constitute a major concern, since such strains could jeopardize classical antibiotic therapy in patients at risk. This study provides useful information for parents adopting children and for their family practitioner.JOURNAL ARTICLESCOPUS: ar.jinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishe

La Petite presse : journal quotidien... / [rédacteur en chef : Balathier Bragelonne]

24 décembre 18691869/12/24 (A4,N1345)