Sara Cruz

Cognitive Rehabilitation in a Visual Variant of Alzheimer's Disease

Alzheimers disease (AD) is commonly associated with marked memory deficits; however, nonamnestic variants have been consistently described as well. Posterior cortical atrophy (PCA) is a progressive degenerative condition in which posterior regions of the brain are predominantly affected, therefore resulting in a pattern of distinctive and marked visuospatial symptoms, such as apraxia, alexia, and spatial neglect. Despite the growing number of studies on cognitive and neural bases of the visual variant of AD, intervention studies remain relatively sparse. Current pharmacological treatments offer modest efficacy. Also, there is a scarcity of complementary nonpharmacological interventions with only two previous studies of PCA. Here we describe a highly educated 57-year-old patient diagnosed with a visual variant of AD who participated in a cognitive intervention program (comprising reality orientation, cognitive stimulation, and cognitive training exercises). Neuropsychological assessment was performed across moments (baseline, postintervention, follow-up) and consisted mainly of verbal and visual memory. Baseline neuropsychological assessment showed deficits in perceptive and visual-constructive abilities, learning and memory, and temporal orientation. After neuropsychological rehabilitation, we observed small improvements in the patients cognitive functioning, namely in verbal memory, attention, and psychomotor abilities. This study shows evidence of small beneficial effects of cognitive intervention in PCA and is the first report of this approach with a highly educated patient in a moderate stage of the disease. Controlled studies are needed to assess the potential efficacy of cognition-focused approaches in these patients, and, if relevant, to grant their availability as a complementary therapy to pharmacological treatment and visual aids.

The VideoM@T Project - Engaging Students on Learning Tricky Topics in Mathematics Through Creative Skills.

This work is funded by CIEd - Research Centre on Education, projects UID/CED/1661/2013 and UID/CED/1661/2016, Institute of Education, University of Minho, through national funds of FCT/MCTES-PT. The VideoM@t project received funding from the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Culture, through a contest promoted by the School Libraries Network (Portugal).

Infant brain response to affective and discriminative touch: A longitudinal study using fNIRS

ABSTRACT The affective-motivational component of touch has been shown to consistently activate the social- brain network in children, adolescents and adults, including the posterior superior temporal sulcus (pSTS). However, very little is known about the neural mechanisms of affective touch processing during the first year of life. The objective of the present study was to analyze brain response to affective and discriminative touch in a sample of seven-month-old infants (N = 35) who were followed longitudinally at 12 months of age (N = 25). Infants were given affective and discriminative touch to the bare forearm while their brain response was recorded using functional near-spectroscopy (fNIRS). Seven-month-olds presented brain activation for affective and discriminative stimuli in channels placed over the somatosensory region, but no activation was recorded in channels placed in the temporal region for affective touch. At 12 months of age, infants presented a significant increase in hemodynamic activity in channels placed over the temporal region for affective touch, compared to seven-month-olds. Our study presents evidence of a developmental trajectory for distinct aspects of touch brain processing in the first year of life, with the recruitment of the temporal region for the affective component of touch, maturing in the second semester of life.

Contributions of infant vagal regulation at 1 month to subsequent joint attention abilities

Since birth, humans develop an ability to regulate their inner states and behaviors, when facing demanding situations, in order to restore calmness and engage with other persons and the surrounding environment. The present study analyzed whether 1-month infant vagal regulation to auditory stimuli was associated with later joint attention abilities-responding to and initiating joint attention-in interaction with their mothers. Twenty-three infants were assessed and measures of respiratory sinus arrhythmia-RSA (baseline and vagal tone change during auditory stimulation) were used as index of vagal regulation. At 12-months, joint attention behaviors were assessed in a 10-min toy-play mother-infant interaction. Correlational analyses showed that lower baseline RSA and larger increases in vagal tone during auditory stimulation were related to more instances of joint attention behaviors at 12 months, especially responding to joint attention. Results suggest that distinct profiles of autonomic functioning may contribute to joint attention skills.

The JuxtaLearn Process in the learning of Maths’ Tricky Topics: practices, results and teacher’s perceptions

The research leading to these results has received funding from the European Communitys Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/2007-2013) under grant agreement no. 317964 JUXTALEARN.

Cognitive intervention in a variant of Alzheimer's disease: A case report

patients with FTD had a significant increase in total scores of FrSBe, disinhibition and executive dysfunction compared to AD and VaD. Worsening of apathy was to same extent in all subtypes. Conclusions: This study demonstrated specific patterns of impaired empathy and frontal behavior in dementia subtypes. Cognitive empathy declined in VaD while FTD patients demonstrated impairment of both cognitive and emotional empathy. AD patients showed no change in ability to empathise. Apathy, executive dysfunction and disinhibition were common in all three subtypes, however FTD had more severe impairment in executive dysfunction and disinhibition.