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- Action verbal fluency in parkinson’s patientsPublication . Rodrigues, Inês Tello; Ferreira, Joaquim J.; Coelho, Miguel; Rosa, Mario M.; Castro-Caldas, AlexandreWe compared the performance of 31 non-demented Parkinson’s disease (PD) patients to 61 healthy controls in an action verbal fluency task. Semantic and phonemic fluencies, cognitive impairment and behavioural dysfunction were also assessed. The mean disease duration of PD was 9.8 years (standard deviation (SD) = 6.13). There were no age (U = 899.5, p = 0.616), gender(chi-square = 0.00, p = 1.00) or literacy (U = 956, p = 0.96) differences between the two groups. A significant difference was observed between the two groups in the action verbal fluency task (U = 406.5, p < 0.01) that was not found in the other fluency tasks. The education level was the only biographical variable that influenced the action (verb) fluency outcomes, irrespective of disease duration. Our findings suggest a correlation between the disease mechanisms in PD and a specific verb deficit, support the validity of the action (verb) fluency as an executive function measure and suggest that this task provides unique information not captured with traditional executive function tasks.
- Recuperação da linguagem após AVC : o caso particualr dos estereotipos verbais e da visual word from areaPublication . Rodrigues, Inês Tello Rato Milheiras; Caldas, Alexandre Lemos CastroWithin the last decade, the use of fMRI and neuromodulation systems in patients with aphasia has substantially advanced the understanding of the mechanisms underlying functional language reorganization in response to a brain lesion. Neuroplasticity research yields numerous outcomes for the differential contribution of perilesional and contralesional brain areas to language recovery in aphasia. Research to the date, refer that the potential for functional reorganization critically depends on preserved left regions and connections that offer the anatomical substrate supporting language recovery. If language functioning is unable to return to the left hemisphere because of the extent or specific local of damage, language functioning remains in the right hemisphere but retains dysfunctional elements. This thesis aims to explore brain plasticity mechanisms that sustain language recovery, in the particular case of aphasia patients with recurring utterances and also in patients with severe alexia. The nature of these deficits was explored across different modalities and techniques, namely, fMRI and rTMS. Our results emphasized that the right hemisphere activity reflects an increased, but ultimately ineffective search and selection process, in patients with chronic aphasia. Essentially, in accordance with previous investigations, our data highlight the less capability of the right hemisphere as an alternative when damage severity prevents the ultimate return of language processes to the left hemisphere.
- Communication of mechanically ventilated patients in intensive care unitsPublication . Martinho, Carina Isabel Ferreira; Rodrigues, Inês Tello Rato MilheirasObjective: The aim of this study was to translate and culturally and linguistically adapt the Ease of Communication Scale and to assess the level of communication difficulties for patients undergoing mechanical ventilation with orotracheal intubation, relating these difficulties to clinical and sociodemographic variables. Methods: This study had three stages: (1) cultural and linguistic adaptation of the Ease of Communication Scale; (2) preliminary assessment of its psychometric properties; and (3) observational, descriptive-correlational and cross-sectional study, conducted from March to August 2015, based on the Ease of Communication Scale - after extubation answers and clinical and sociodemographic variables of 31 adult patients who were extubated, clinically stable and admitted to five Portuguese intensive care units. Results: Expert analysis showed high agreement on content (100%) and relevance (75%). The pretest scores showed a high acceptability regarding the completion of the instrument and its usefulness. The Ease of Communication Scale showed excellent internal consistency (0.951 Cronbach's alpha). The factor analysis explained approximately 81% of the total variance with two scale components. On average, the patients considered the communication experiences during intubation to be "quite hard" (2.99). No significant correlation was observed between the communication difficulties reported and the studied sociodemographic and clinical variables, except for the clinical variable "number of hours after extubation" (p < 0.05). Conclusion: This study translated and adapted the first assessment instrument of communication difficulties for mechanically ventilated patients in intensive care units into European Portuguese. The preliminary scale validation suggested high reliability. Patients undergoing mechanical ventilation reported that communication during intubation was "quite hard", and these communication difficulties apparently existed regardless of the presence of other clinical and/or sociodemographic variables.