Search results for " fluency"
showing 10 items of 103 documents
Short‐term neuropsychiatric outcomes and quality of life in COVID‐19 survivors
2021
BACKGROUND: The general medical impacts of coronavirus (COVID-19) are increasingly appreciated. However, its impact on neurocognitive, psychiatric health and quality of life (QoL) in survivors after the acute phase is poorly understood. We aimed to evaluate neurocognitive function, psychiatric symptoms, and QoL in COVID-19 survivors shortly after hospital discharge. METHODS: This was a cross-sectional analysis of a prospective study of hospitalised COVID-19 survivors followed-up for 2 months after discharge. A battery of standardised instruments evaluating neurocognitive function, psychiatric morbidity, and QoL (mental and physical components) was administered by telephone. RESULTS: Of the …
Therapeutic Plasmapheresis with Albumin Replacement in Alzheimer’s Disease and Chronic Progressive Multiple Sclerosis: A Review
2020
Background: Reducing the burden of beta-amyloid accumulation and toxic autoimmunity-related proteins, one of the recognized pathophysiological markers of chronic and common neurological disorders such as Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and multiple sclerosis (MS), may be a valid alternative therapy to reduce their accumulation in the brain and thus reduce the progression of these disorders. The objective of this review was to evaluate the efficacy of plasmapheresis (PP) in AD and chronic progressive MS patients (in terms of improving clinical symptoms) and to analyze its safety and protocols. Methods: Articles related to this topic and published without time limitations in the Medline, and C…
Executive functions in kindergarten children at risk for developmental coordination disorder
2018
Executive functioning (EF) is a key cognitive process for development. Little is known about EF in Kindergarten children at risk for developmental coordination disorder (DCD), despite this age being one of the most critical and intensive period of motor and cognitive development. In our investigation we compared EF in kindergarten children at risk for DCD with Typically Developing (TD) children. Participants were 36 Italian children, 18 at risk for DCD (9 boys and 9 girls) who had a mean age of 4.6 years and 18 TD (9 boys and 9 girls) who had a mean age of 4.6. Executive functions were measured by tasks targeting cold executive functioning (working memory, fluency, inhibitory control) and t…
Can Word Puzzles be Tailored to Improve Different Dimensions of Verbal Fluency? A Report of an Intervention Study
2016
Verbal fluency is commonly used as a proxy measure of executive functioning, as it involves cognitive flexibility, working memory, and inhibitory control. Previous research has demonstrated that crosswords can be a useful means of improving verbal fluency, results consistent with the cognitive reserve hypothesis; the form of verbal fluency affected has, however, differed across studies. The present study sought to assess the extent to which it was possible to target phonemic (PVF) and semantic verbal fluency (SVF) separately through word puzzles designed to focus on semantic/thematic and structural clues respectively. Fifty-three university students were randomly assigned to one of three gr…
Gender differences in C-reactive protein and homocysteine modulation of cognitive performance and real-world functioning in bipolar disorder.
2018
Background: Cognitive and psychosocial impairment has been associated with increased levels of C-reactive protein (CRP) and homocysteine in bipolar disorder, but gender differences have seldom been studied. Methods: Two hundred and twenty-four bipolar outpatients were included. Cognitive performance was assessed through the Screen for Cognitive Impairment in Psychiatry (SCIP). Psychosocial functioning was evaluated using the Functioning Assessment Short Test (FAST) and the General Assessment of Functioning (GAF). Homocysteine and CRP levels were determined. Separate analyses were performed by gender. Partial correlations were calculated to test for associations between biomarkers and cognit…
Factors associated with poor functional outcome in bipolar disorder: sociodemographic, clinical, and neurocognitive variables.
2018
Objective: The current investigation aimed at studying the sociodemographic, clinical, and neuropsychological variables related to functional outcome in a sample of euthymic patients with bipolar disorder(BD) presenting moderate-severe levels of functional impairment. Methods: Two-hundred and thirty-nine participants with BD disorders and with Functioning Assessment Short Test(FAST) scores equal or above 18 were administered a clinical and diagnostic interview, and the administration of mood measure scales and a comprehensive neuropsychological battery. Analyses involved preliminary Pearson bivariate correlations to identify sociodemographic and clinical variables associated with the FAST t…
Examining the contribution of motor movement and language dominance to increased left lateralization during sign generation in native signers
2016
Highlights • We tested hemispheric lateralization for language in deaf native signers. • Signers were more strongly left lateralized for overt than covert sign generation. • We found stronger left lateralization for BSL than for English production. • Stronger left lateralization for BSL is not driven by motoric activity alone. • Stronger left lateralization is not driven by language dominance.
Specific executive/attentional deficits in patients with schizophrenia or bipolar disorder who have a positive family history of psychosis
2003
Neurocognitive impairments are well documented in patients with schizophrenia and their healthy first-degree biological relatives. Less is known about neuropsychological performance in bipolar disorders, but some studies indicate that, compared to schizophrenia, bipolar disorder displays a similar profile pattern with less severe deficits. The genetic and environmental contributions to the development of neurocognitive deficits are also unclear. This study explored the effect of a family history (FH) of psychotic disorders in first-degree relatives on a variety of cognitive domains (abstraction and flexibility, verbal fluency, verbal memory, motor activity and visual-motor processing/attent…
Cognitive impairment in schizoaffective disorder: a comparison with non-psychotic bipolar and healthy subjects.
2007
Objective: Only a few studies have examined specifically the neuropsychological performance of schizoaffective patients. Method: The sample consisted of 34 euthymic DSM-IV schizoaffective patients, who were compared with 41 euthymic bipolar patients without history of psychotic symptoms and 35 healthy controls. Euthymia was defined by a score of 6 or less at the Young Mania Rating Scale and a score of 8 or less at the Hamilton Depression Rating Scale for at least 6 months. Patients were compared with several clinical, occupational, and neuropsychological variables such as executive function, attention, verbal and visual memory and the two groups were contrasted with 35 healthy controls on…
Experimental evidence for a motivational origin of cognitive impairment in major depression.
2007
BackgroundDiagnostic criteria and empirical evidence support the existence of cognitive deficits in depression. However, depressed mood, loss of interest and low self-efficacy might influence cognitive performance.MethodGoal-setting instructions were used to promote motivation in depressed patients and control subjects during neuropsychological assessment. The resulting performance was compared with performance using standard instructions. Sixty in-patients with non-psychotic unipolar depression and 60 age- and education-matched healthy control subjects were assessed with standard neuropsychological tests [the Auditory Verbal Learning Test (AVLT), the Digit Symbol Test (DST), the Regensburg…