Identifying verbal short-term memory and working memory impairments in individuals with latent aphasia

PURPOSE : This study was undertaken to explore whether measures of verbal short-term memory and working memory are sensitive to impairments in people with latent aphasia, who score within normal limits on typical aphasia test batteries. METHOD : Seven individuals with latent aphasia and 24 neurotypical control participants completed 40 tasks from the Temple Assessment of Language and Short-term Memory in Aphasia (TALSA) that assess various aspects of verbal short-term memory, working memory, and language processing. Subtests were identified that differentiated between the two groups of participants. RESULTS : Twenty-one TALSA tasks were identified on which the participants with latent aphasia had significantly different performance than the typical control participants. All of these subtests engaged verbal short-term memory, and some involved working memory as well. Furthermore, the TALSA detected individual differences in linguistic profiles among participants with latent aphasia. CONCLUSIONS : People with latent aphasia may be identified by tests that tap verbal short-term memory and working memory. In addition, the TALSA was found to be sensitive to the heterogeneity of this population. Further development of these measures will improve identification and treatment of this challenging population.The National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disordershttps://pubs.asha.org/journal/ajslphj2022Speech-Language Pathology and Audiolog

Multi-messenger observations of a binary neutron star merger

On 2017 August 17 a binary neutron star coalescence candidate (later designated GW170817) with merger time 12:41:04 UTC was observed through gravitational waves by the Advanced LIGO and Advanced Virgo detectors. The Fermi Gamma-ray Burst Monitor independently detected a gamma-ray burst (GRB 170817A) with a time delay of ~1.7 s with respect to the merger time. From the gravitational-wave signal, the source was initially localized to a sky region of 31 deg2 at a luminosity distance of 40+8-8 Mpc and with component masses consistent with neutron stars. The component masses were later measured to be in the range 0.86 to 2.26 Mo. An extensive observing campaign was launched across the electromagnetic spectrum leading to the discovery of a bright optical transient (SSS17a, now with the IAU identification of AT 2017gfo) in NGC 4993 (at ~40 Mpc) less than 11 hours after the merger by the One- Meter, Two Hemisphere (1M2H) team using the 1 m Swope Telescope. The optical transient was independently detected by multiple teams within an hour. Subsequent observations targeted the object and its environment. Early ultraviolet observations revealed a blue transient that faded within 48 hours. Optical and infrared observations showed a redward evolution over ~10 days. Following early non-detections, X-ray and radio emission were discovered at the transient’s position ~9 and ~16 days, respectively, after the merger. Both the X-ray and radio emission likely arise from a physical process that is distinct from the one that generates the UV/optical/near-infrared emission. No ultra-high-energy gamma-rays and no neutrino candidates consistent with the source were found in follow-up searches. These observations support the hypothesis that GW170817 was produced by the merger of two neutron stars in NGC4993 followed by a short gamma-ray burst (GRB 170817A) and a kilonova/macronova powered by the radioactive decay of r-process nuclei synthesized in the ejecta

A922 Sequential measurement of 1 hour creatinine clearance (1-CRCL) in critically ill patients at risk of acute kidney injury (AKI)

Meeting abstrac

Linguistic Predictors of Anomia Treatment Outcomes

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Washington, 2020Many people with anomia (PWA), or word-finding difficulties, seek treatment to ameliorate their deficits; however, it is unclear why some PWA experience significant acquisition, generalization, and maintenance of the skills they learn in treatment, while others experience very limited effects. The purpose of this retrospective study was to determine the predictive value of specific pre-treatment linguistic skills to acquisition, generalization, and maintenance of anomia treatment skills in 58 PWA who were randomized to one of two intensive anomia interventions: Phonomotor Treatment (PMT, n = 28) or Semantic Feature Analysis (SFA, n = 30). Mixed-effect logistic regressions were used to determine whether participants’ baseline scores on measures of auditory comprehension, input phonological processing, input-output phonological processing, and semantic and phonological impairment levels predicted naming of items representing acquisition and generalization immediately and three months post-treatment. Higher baseline input-output phonological processing was the most robust predictor of greater acquisition, generalization and maintenance for all 58 PWA combined, the PMT group, and the SFA group. Semantic and phonological impairment also generally predicted outcomes in the combined and PMT groups, such that greater baseline impairment related to higher acquisition, generalization, and maintenance. These results suggest that input-output processing – and the skills that underlie it – may be critical for favorable response to anomia treatment in general. Furthermore, PMT may be a superior treatment for people who are more impaired prior to treatment than SFA

The link between verbal short-term memory and anomia treatment gains

PURPOSE : A significant relationship between verbal short-term memory (STM) and language performance in people with aphasia has been found across studies. However, very few studies have examined the predictive value of verbal STM in treatment outcomes. This study aims to determine if verbal STM can be used as a predictor of treatment success. METHOD : Retrospective data from 25 people with aphasia in a larger randomized controlled trial of phonomotor treatment were analyzed. Digit and word spans from immediately pretreatment were run in multiple linear regression models to determine whether they predict magnitude of change from pre- to posttreatment and follow-up naming accuracy. Pretreatment, immediately posttreatment, and 3 months posttreatment digit and word span scores were compared to determine if they changed following a novel treatment approach. RESULTS : Verbal STM, as measured by digit and word spans, did not predict magnitude of change in naming accuracy from pre- to posttreatment nor from pretreatment to 3 months posttreatment. Furthermore, digit and word spans did not change from pre- to posttreatment or from pretreatment to 3 months posttreatment in the overall analysis. A post hoc analysis revealed that only the less impaired group showed significant changes in word span scores from pretreatment to 3 months posttreatment. DISCUSSION : The results suggest that digit and word spans do not predict treatment gains. In a less severe subsample of participants, digit and word span scores can change following phonomotor treatment; however, the overall results suggest that span scores may not change significantly. The implications of these findings are discussed within the broader purview of theoretical and empirical associations between aphasic language and verbal STM processing.VA RD&D Merit Review Grant C6572R, awarded to Diane L. Kendall.https://pubs.asha.org/journal/ajslphj2019Speech-Language Pathology and Audiolog

The influence of phonomotor treatment on word retrieval : insights from naming errors

PURPOSE : An increasing number of anomia treatment studies have coupled traditional word retrieval accuracy outcome measures with more fine-grained analysis of word retrieval errors to allow for more comprehensive measurement of treatment-induced changes in word retrieval. The aim of this study was to examine changes in picture naming errors after phonomotor treatment. METHOD : Twenty-eight individuals with aphasia received 60 hr of phonomotor treatment, an intensive, phoneme-based therapy for anomia. Confrontation naming was assessed pretreatment, immediately posttreatment, and 3 months posttreatment for trained and untrained nouns. Responses were scored for accuracy and coded for error type, and error proportions of each error type (e.g., semantic, phonological, omission) were compared: pre- versus posttreatment and pretreatment versus 3 months posttreatment. RESULTS : The group of treatment participants improved in whole-word naming accuracy on trained items and maintained their improvement. Treatment effects also generalized to untrained nouns at the maintenance testing phase. Additionally, participants demonstrated a decrease in proportions of omission and description errors on trained items immediately posttreatment. CONCLUSIONS : Along with generalized improved whole-word naming accuracy, results of the error analysis suggest that a global (i.e., both lexical–semantic and phonological) change in lexical knowledge underlies the observed changes in confrontation naming accuracy following phonomotor treatment.The Veterans Administration RR&D Merit Review Grant under grant number C6572R.https://pubs.asha.org/journal/jslhrhj2020Speech-Language Pathology and Audiolog