咨询与心语疏通应用于输精管结扎受术者的临床观察

目的：探讨术前咨询与心语疏通对输精管结扎术后心身康复的影响。方法：观察组和对照组入站时采用焦虑自评量表（SAS）及视觉模拟量尺（VAS）评估焦虑和恐惧情绪,观察组在评估结束后开始咨询和心语疏通。记录两组对象术中配合情况,术后1h进行VAS及满意度评估,术后1个月随访时进行SAS、适应性、满意度及避孕节育知识评估。结果：观察组SAS、VAS、满意度、适应性及避孕节育知识均优于对照组,差异有统计学意义（P〈0.01）,对照组12例（11%）随访时SAS＂外显＂。结论：咨询与心语疏通可降低应激水平,改善认知评价,提升受术者满意度和积极应对术后不良反应的能力,有助于术后康复。     

Effect of task-irrelevant high-speed verbal stimulation on a visual/verbal word-discrimination task: An event-related potential study

Objectives

We investigated whether incomprehensible high-speed auditory speech stimulation was processed and interacted with visual-word discrimination processing. We hypothesised that an interaction might indicate the capacity of working memory (WM) to perform the temporal processing of auditory verbal information.

Methods

We recorded P300 for a visual-word discrimination Oddball paradigm in 14 healthy subjects. Auditory speech and reversed speech stimulation were presented at various speeds as task-irrelevant stimuli during the P300 tasks.

Results

The P300 latency was prolonged under forward high-speed speech stimuli (×2.5 and ×3.5) compared with the standard speed and white noise, but there was no effect of reversed speech stimuli on the P300 latency during the word-discrimination paradigm.

Conclusions

We considered that high-speed speech stimulation was processed without conscious comprehension and competed with verbal processing during the visual-word-discrimination task, possibly by interfering with the use of WM.

Significance

The present study shows the capacity of the brain to process high-speed verbal stimulation and the interaction with a visual-verbal task.     

Top-down and bottom-up processes in speech comprehension

Speech comprehension includes both bottom-up and top-down processes, and imaging studies have isolated a frontal-temporal network of brain areas active during speech perception. However, the precise role of the various areas in this network during normal speech comprehension is not yet fully understood. In the present fMRI study, the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) of spoken sentences was varied in 144 steps, and speech intelligibility was measured independently in order to study in detail its effect on the activation of brain areas involved in speech perception. Relative to noise alone, intelligible speech in noise evoked spatially extended activation in left frontal, bilateral temporal, and medial occipital brain regions. Increasing SNR led to a sigmoid-shaped increase of activation in all areas of the frontal-temporal network. The onset of the activation with respect to SNR was similar in temporal and frontal regions, but frontal activation was found to be smaller than temporal activation at the highest SNRs. Finally, only Broca's area (BA44) showed activation to unintelligible speech presented at low SNRs. These findings demonstrate distinct roles of frontal and temporal areas in speech comprehension in that temporal regions subserve bottom-up processing of speech, whereas frontal areas are more involved in top-down supplementary mechanisms.     

Prosodic clues to syntactic processing--a PET and ERP study

Syntactic processing of spoken speech often involves prosodic clues processing. In the present PET and ERP study, subjects listened to phrases in which different prosodic segmentation dramatically changed the meaning of the phrase. In the contrast of segmented vs. non-segmented phrases, PET data revealed activation in the right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex and in the right cerebellum. These brain structures, therefore, might be part of the syntactic analysis network involved in prosodic segmentation and pitch processing. ERP results revealed frontal negativity that was sensitive to the position of the segmenting pause, possibly reflecting prosody-based semantic prediction. The present results are discussed in the context of their relation to brain networks of emotions, prosody, and syntax perception.     

Hyperlexia in Spanish-speaking children: report of 2 cases from Colombia, South America

Hyperlexia is a condition rarely reported in Spanish-speaking children, characterized by the ability to recognize written words without formal training. We present two unrelated autistic children with hyperlexia from Colombia (South America) who were followed for 8 years with formal neuropsychological evaluations of language, motor skills, visual perception, attention and behavior. Both children taught themselves to read before 5 years of age but showed minimal comprehension; both displayed obsessional reading and difficulties in social skills and attention. Brain CT scans were normal. Hyperlexia has been associated with hyperactivation of the left superior temporal cortex; we conclude that the orthographic route is a probable mechanism for the development of hyperlexia.     

Cerebellar rTMS for motor control in progressive supranuclear palsy

BackgroundStimulatory cerebellar TMS is a promising tool to improve motor control in neurodegenerative disorders.Objective/hypothesis: Our goal was to use 10Hz cerebellar rTMS to augment cerebellar-brain inhibition (CBI) for improved postural stability and speech in patients with progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP).MethodsWe performed CBI assessments with neuronavigation before and after high frequency cerebellar rTMS or sham TMS in two patients with PSP, using a double cone coil for the conditioning pulse and a figure-of-eight coil for the test pulse and treatments. We collected posturography data and speech samples before and after treatment.ResultsAfter treatment, CBI increased by 50% in subject 1 and by 32% in subject 2, and postural stability and speech improved. The protocol was well tolerated, but the sham was not consistently believable.ConclusionCerebellar rTMS may improve postural stability and speech in PSP, but cooled coils with vibrotactile sham capability are needed for larger future studies.     

Role of inter-trial phase coherence in atypical auditory evoked potentials to speech and nonspeech stimuli in children with autism

Objective

This autism study investigated how inter-trial phase coherence (ITPC) drives abnormalities in auditory evoked potential (AEP) responses for speech and nonspeech stimuli.

Effects of noise and age on the infant brainstem response to speech

Objective

Background noise makes hearing speech difficult for people of all ages. This difficulty can be exacerbated by co-occurring developmental deficits that often emerge in childhood. Sentence-type speech-in-noise (SIN) tests are available clinically but cannot be administered to very young individuals. Our objective was to examine the use of an electrophysiological test of SIN, suitable for infants, to track developmental trajectories.

言语训练结合头皮针灸治疗卒中失语症患者的疗效分析

目的 探讨分析言语训练结合头皮针灸在卒中失语症患者中改善言语功能、认知功能和日常生活 活动能力的临床疗效。