Macarena Martínez-Cuitiño

Semantic Dementia without Surface Dyslexia in Spanish: Unimpaired Reading with Impaired Semantics

Surface dyslexia has been attributed to an overreliance on the sub-lexical route for reading. Typically, surface dyslexic patients commit regularisation errors when reading irregular words. Also, semantic dementia has often been associated with surface dyslexia, leading to some explanations of the reading impairment that stress the role of semantics in irregular word reading. Nevertheless, some patients have been reported with unimpaired ability to read irregular words, even though they show severe comprehension impairment. We present the case of M.B., the first Spanish-speaking semantic dementia patient to be reported who shows unimpaired reading of non-words, regular words, and–most strikingly–irregular loan words. M.B. has severely impaired comprehension of the same words he reads correctly (whether regular or irregular). We argue that M.B.’s pattern of performance shows that irregular words can be correctly read even with impaired semantic knowledge corresponding to those words.

Procesamiento semántico de conceptos concretos y abstractos en Afasia Progresiva Primaria-variante semántica

La Afasia Progresiva Primaria-variante semantica (APP-vs) se caracteriza por la afectacion progresiva del conocimiento conceptual. Algunas investigaciones han reportado la mayor afectacion de los conceptos abstractos en relacion con los concretos, es decir, un efecto de concretud. No obstante, otros investigadores dan cuenta de un efecto de concretud inverso, es decir, un mejor desempeno con conceptos abstractos en relacion con concretos. En esta investigacion se compara el desempeno, por medio en una tarea de juicios de sinonimia, de un grupo de 8 pacientes diagnosticados con APP-vs y un grupo de 20 controles emparejados en edad y nivel educativo. Los resultados dan cuenta de un efecto de concretud, es decir, un mejor desempeno con conceptos concretos tanto con sustantivos como con verbos. Estos hallazgos se alinean con las investigaciones previas en las que se detecta un peor rendimiento de los pacientes con APP-vs con conceptos abstractos. El efecto de concretud encontrado apoyaria la hipotesis de un centro semantico amodal relevante para el procesamiento de conceptos concretos y abstractos. La menor afectacion de los conceptos concretos observada podria explicarse por su mayor riqueza semantica.

INTENSIVE LANGUAGE TRAINING COMBINED WITH TRANSCRANIAL STIMULATION IN PATIENTS WITH LOGOPENIC APHASIA

evaluable subjects. During dosing periods subjects will reside in inpatient observation units to facilitate safety evaluation. Subjects will undergo a screening visit, baseline visit, treatment visits, follow-up visits, and an end of study/early termination visit. Safety and tolerability assessments will occur at every visit. Neurocognitive and motor assessments will be performed at baseline and at periodic interim visits following dosing. Results: The primary endpoints are safety, tolerability, and feasibility of the dosing regimen. Safety will be measured by the incidence of treatmentemergent adverse events. Tolerability will be measured by the number of subjects completing the week-8 follow-up visit and subjects completing the week-24 follow-up visit. Study feasibility will be measured by the number of subjects completing each infusion regimen. Secondary endpoints will assess potential effects on cognition using various established cognitive measures including the Alzheimer’s Disease Assessment Scale-Cognitive Subscale. Exploratory endpoints include assessment of changes in composition and distribution of blood-based biomarkers and MR imaging. Conclusions: Robust preclinical evidence in rodents provides the foundation to test the translatability of these findings in humans. In this Phase 2 study, the safety, tolerability, and feasibility of multiple infusions of GRF6019 in subjects with AD will be assessed. Continued clinical development in AD will be informed by safety and efficacy data emerging from this trial.

LOCAL PSYCHOLINGUISTIC CONSIDERATIONS IN NEUROPSYCHOLOGICAL ASSESSMENT: THE ARGENTINE SPANISH EXPERIENCE

11.89, 11.82) years before AD diagnosis, where the trajectories transitioned from non-significant increase in performance over time to significant moderate declines in performance. The respective second change points were 3.95 (95% CI: 2.91, 4.98) years and 5.68 (95% CI: 4.40, 6.97) years before AD diagnosis, where the trajectories transitioned from moderate decline to accelerated decline. For long delayed recall, the 1-change point model fits the data best, and the only change point was 6.31 (95% CI: 5.62, 7.00) years before AD diagnosis. Conclusions:CVLT measures of verbal episodic memory show changes in trajectories almost 12 years before AD diagnosis, suggesting their potential utility in early detection of individuals at risk for AD.