Advancing Research and Treatment for Frontotemporal Lobar Degeneration (ARTFL)
FTLDProgressive Supranuclear Palsy (PSP)10 moreFrontotemporal Lobar Degeneration (FTLD) is the neuropathological term for a collection of rare neurodegenerative diseases that correspond to four main overlapping clinical syndromes: frontotemporal dementia (FTD), primary progressive aphasia (PPA), corticobasal degeneration syndrome (CBS) and progressive supranuclear palsy syndrome (PSPS). The goal of this study is to build a FTLD clinical research consortium to support the development of FTLD therapies for new clinical trials. The consortium, referred to as Advancing Research and Treatment for Frontotemporal Lobar Degeneration (ARTFL), will be headquartered at UCSF and will partner with six patient advocacy groups to manage the consortium. Participants will be evaluated at 14 clinical sites throughout North America and a genetics core will genotype all individuals for FTLD associated genes.
Characterisation of Primary Progressives Aphasias
Aphasia Primary ProgressivePrimary progressive aphasias (PPA) represent a challenging group of degenerative language diseases that has led to growing interest in the scientific and medical community. However, a full-blown cognitive/linguistic, anatomic and biologic characterization of the three main variants remains incomplete given that the available data derive from relatively small patient samples. Such a three-fold characterisation will be an major milestone with the prospective of providing the rationale for therapeutic interventions comprising specific rehabilitations protocols and pharmacological trials. The present study addresses theses issues in the three PPA main variants through a cross-sectional and longitudinal investigation exploring 1) cognitive/linguistic features, 2) anatomic/metabolic specifications (MRI-VBM, MRI-fiber tracking, functional connectivity - MRI resting state, PET), and 3) biologic aspects (CSF biomarkers, genetic screening).
Stroke-like Migraine Attacks After Radiation Treatment (SMART) Syndrome Language Intervention
Migraine DisordersAphasiaStroke-like migraine attacks after radiation therapy-also known as SMART syndrome-constitute a rare condition typically characterized by headache, seizures, vision abnormalities, hemiparesis, and aphasia. The condition usually resolves within a few days or weeks of onset with no residual impairments. However, resolution in some cases extends over a period of months rather than weeks and may be incomplete. The purpose of this case report is to provide an in-depth description of the progression of changes in cognitive and language functioning for a person exhibiting SMART syndrome characterized by slow recovery.
Influence of Age on Amyloid Load in Alzheimer's Disease and in Atypical Focal Cortical Alzheimer's...
Alzheimer's DiseasePosterior Cortical Atrophy1 moreThe first objective is to asses influence of age on amyloid load measured by PET imaging using Pittsburgh B compound (PiB) radio-tracer, in Alzheimer's disease(AD). This will allow the determination of brains age-specific deterioration factors by comparing Early onset AD (EOAD), Late onset AD (LOAD)and atypical focal cortical AD (PCA and LPA). The amount of brain lesions in AD patients is estimated by: measuring the rate of cortical brain atrophy, FDG imaging of glucose metabolism reflecting neuronal activity, and for patients who benefited from a lumbar puncture; Cortical-spinal fluid (CSF) amounts of amyloïd and tau proteins are measured.
Clinical Evaluation of Florbetapir in Primary Progressive Aphasia
Primary Progressive AphasiaAlzheimer Disease1 moreThe purpose of this research is to better understand how dementia affects activity in different parts of the brain.
Clinical Feasibility of Speech Phenotyping for Remote Assessment of Neurodegenerative and Psychiatric...
Alzheimer DiseaseMild Cognitive Impairment10 moreThe primary objective of the study is to evaluate the feasibility of eliciting continuous narrative speech in different neurodegenerative and psychiatric indications, using remote, self-administered speech tasks, as measured by the average length of speech elicitation for each speech task during the first week of self-assessment. Secondary objectives include (1) evaluating the reliability of speech tasks in the remote self-administered setting, as measured by the intra- and inter-subject variance; (2) accessing the adherence of speech tasks in this setting, as measured by the subject average fraction of days during the first week, where at least one task response is submitted; (3) evaluating the feasibility of using speech tasks in the setting of a telemedicine videoconference, as measured by the average length of speech elicited in each group; (4) evaluate whether a set of acoustic and linguistic patterns can detect each indication, compare to either a control group or all other indications, as measured by the area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC), sensitivity, specificity and Cohen's kappa of the relevant binary classifier; (5) evaluating how the performance of such algorithms can be impacted by speaker and environment covariates, as measured by the Kendall rank correlation coefficient of the AUC of each classifier and each of age group, gender and speech-to-reverberation modulation energy ratio.
The Inter-rater Reliability of the Turkish Version of Aphasia Rapid Test for Stroke
AphasiaThe Aphasia Rapid Test (ART) is a bedside aphasia screening test developed originally in French. The purpose of this study is to assess the inter-rater reliability of the Turkish version of the ART in stroke patients.
An Assessment of the Prevalence of Spatial Neglect in Stroke Survivors With Aphasia
Spatial NeglectAphasia1 moreThe purpose of this study is to determine if stroke survivors with aphasia have spatial neglect (Phase 1). If they are determined to have the condition Phase 2 will be offered: which is prism adaptation treatment. This is a pilot study that will be performed with 4-5 subjects.
Impact of Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation of the Motor Cortex on Language Functions in Residual...
Residual AphasiaThe present study assesses whether language functions in patients with residual post-stroke aphasia can be improved by transcranial direct current stimulation administered to the primary motor cortex in the language dominant (left) hemisphere.
Electrical Stimulation in Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) Induced Aphasia
AphasiaTBI (Traumatic Brain Injury)1 moreThe aim of this study is to investigate whether a tDCS-accompanied intensive naming therapy leads to a performance improvement in patients with chronic aphasia induced by a moderate TBI