Brain Sciences最新文献

Background: In contrast to most other languages, where the spoken and written words are similar, children that have mastered Spoken Arabic (SA) learn to read a new written form of Arabic usually called Literary Arabic (LA). This phenomenon is called "diglossia".

Methods: Based on a series of studies comparing monolingual Arabic speaking and bilingual children, it has been suggested that Arabic speaking individuals develop metacognitive abilities that are considered bilinguals de facto. Some of the cognitive functions that would seem to benefit from fluency in more than one language are metalinguistic and metacognitive awareness.

Results: This review article summarizes the results of studies on the relationship between bilingualism, diglossia and executive functions (EFs) which involve metacognitive awareness, selective attention, control of inhibition and cognitive flexibility as well as working memory (phonemic manipulation and metalingual performances).

Conclusions: The findings are in line with research results that have shown that bilingualism has a positive effect on the functioning of an individual's attentional system across the lifespan. The neural basis of diglossia in Arabic, as well as the conclusions and implications drawn from the impact of diglossia on EF and on reading in Arabic, are discussed.

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is the most common neurodegenerative disorder and a leading cause of dementia. One major challenge for clinicians is accurately assessing the rate of disease progression (RoP) early in the diagnostic process, which is crucial for patient management and clinical trial stratification. This study evaluated the role of cerebrospinal fluid biomarkers-Aβ42, t-Tau, pTau, Neurogranin (Ng), and Neurofilament light-chain (NF-L)-in predicting RoP at the time of AD diagnosis. We included 56 AD patients and monitored cognitive impairment using MMSE scores at diagnosis and during six-month follow-up visits. RoP scores were calculated based on these assessments. Our correlation analyses revealed significant associations between RoP and pTau, Aβ42/Ng ratio, and NF-L levels. When patients were stratified by median RoP values into low-to-moderate (L-M: <2) and upper-moderate (U-M: >2) groups, those in the U-M group had notably higher CSF NF-L levels compared to the L-M group. Logistic regression analysis further demonstrated that elevated CSF NF-L levels were predictive of a faster RoP. These findings highlight the potential of CSF NF-L as a prognostic biomarker for rapid disease progression in AD. By identifying patients at risk for accelerated cognitive decline, CSF NF-L could significantly enhance early intervention strategies and improve patient management in clinical settings.

Background/objectives: In Belgium, involuntary psychiatric hospitalization is authorized in the presence of certain criteria governed by the law relating to the protection of the mentally ill. The number of involuntary hospitalizations has been increasing continuously in recent years. Since personality disorders are frequent comorbidities in involuntarily hospitalized patients, the aim of this study was to investigate the potential role played by comorbid personality disorders in the decisions about involuntary hospitalization made during urgent forensic assessment.

Methods: A total of 565 individuals were retrospectively recruited from the database of urgent forensic assessment carried out in the Psychiatric Emergency Department. Logistic regression analyses were performed to investigate the risk of involuntary hospitalization associated with comorbid personality disorders in patients referred for urgent forensic assessment.

Results: 66.7% of urgent forensic assessments resulted in involuntary hospitalization. In addition, comorbid personality disorders (especially borderline personality disorder) were associated with a lower risk of involuntary hospitalization in patients referred for urgent forensic assessment.

Conclusions: In this study, we demonstrated that urgent forensic assessments frequently result in involuntary hospitalizations. Furthermore, this study highlighted that comorbid personality disorders (especially borderline personality disorder) appeared to have a major impact on the decision not to involuntarily hospitalize patients referred for urgent forensic assessment. These elements therefore justify the establishment of adequate clinical reflection to avoid the stigmatization related to these frequent comorbidities in patients at risk of involuntary hospitalization.

Background/objectives: Autistic people employ various social strategies to form and maintain interpersonal relationships in their daily environments. These strategies can help autistic people with social interactions (leading to self-perceived efficacy of using social strategies), but can also lead to cognitive fatigue (self-perceived effort of using social strategies). However, previous studies have focused primarily on self-perceived effort, overlooking the self-perceived efficacy of using social strategies, and the balance between self-perceived effort and efficacy. To address this gap, this study examined the impact of autistic people's use of social strategies on their well-being, focusing on self-perceived effort, self-perceived efficacy, and their interaction effect.

Methods: An online survey was conducted among self-reported autistic people in Japan aged 18-65 years, using a modified Compensation Checklist. Data from 104 self-reported autistic participants were analyzed using linear regression.

Results: High self-perceived effort in using social strategies was negatively associated with well-being, whereas high self-perceived efficacy was positively associated with well-being. The interaction effect between effort and efficacy was not significant. These results were supported even when loneliness was used as an index of social well-being. Additionally, the number of strategies used by an autistic person was positively associated with well-being.

Conclusions: This study highlights the double-edged effect of autistic people using social strategies, and that using a broader repertoire of social strategies may improve the well-being of autistic people. These findings call for a nuanced approach by researchers and clinicians considering both the positive and negative aspects of using social strategies.

Extremely preterm birth entails an increased risk for multimorbidity and the prevalence of developmental deficits because this risk is negatively correlated to the number of gestation weeks. This work evaluated subcortical volume changes in children born extremely preterm who received Katona neurohabilitation, as well as the effects of subcortical volume and treatment adherence on their three-year-old neurodevelopment outcomes. Fifteen extremely preterm-born participants were treated from two months to two years old and followed up until past three years of age. The participants received Katona neurohabilitation, which provides vestibular and proprioceptive stimulation and promotes movement integration through the early, intensive practice of human-specific elementary movements. Subcortical brain volumes from magnetic resonance images were obtained at the beginning and after treatment. Also, treatment adherence to Katona neurohabilitation and neurodevelopment outcomes were measured. The results showed that absolute subcortical volumes increased after treatment; however, when adjusted by intracranial volume, these volumes decreased. Subcortical function inhibition allows cortical control and increased connectivity, which may explain decreased adjusted volume. Regression analyses showed that after-treatment hippocampal volumes had a discrete predictive value. However, treatment adherence showed a clear effect on mental and psychomotor neurodevelopment. Thus, the effectiveness of Katona neurohabilitation is constrained by treatment adherence.

Background/objectives: In languages with within-word segmentation cues, the removal or replacement of these cues in a text hinders reading and lexical recognition, and adversely affects saccade target selection during reading. However, the outcome of artificially introducing visual word segmentation cues into a language that lacks them is unknown. Tibetan exemplifies a language that does not provide visual cues for word segmentation, relying solely on visual cues for morpheme segmentation. Moreover, previous studies have not examined word segmentation in the Tibetan language. Therefore, this study investigated the effects of artificially incorporated visual word segmentation cues and basic units of information processing in Tibetan reading.

Methods: We used eye-tracking technology and conducted two experiments with Tibetan sentences that artificially incorporated interword spaces and color alternation markings as visual segmentation cues.

Conclusions: The results indicated that interword spaces facilitate reading and lexical recognition and aid in saccade target selection during reading. Color alternation markings facilitate reading and vocabulary recognition but do not affect saccade selection. Words are more likely to be the basic units of information processing and exhibit greater psychological reality than morphemes. These findings shed light on the nature and rules of Tibetan reading and provide fundamental data to improve eye movement control models for reading alphabetic writing systems. Furthermore, our results may offer practical guidance and a scientific basis for improving the efficiency of reading, information processing, and word segmentation in Tibetan reading.

Background/objectives: Crowding is a common visual phenomenon that can significantly impair the recognition of objects in peripheral vision. Two recent behavioral studies have revealed that both exogenous and endogenous attention can alleviate crowding, but exogenous attention seems to be more effective.

Methods: The present study employed the event-related potential (ERP) technique to explore the electrophysiological characteristics of the influence of these two types of attention on crowding. In the experiment, participants were required to judge whether the letter "T" was upright or inverted, which may be preceded by an exogenous cue or an endogenous cue indicating the location of the target letter.

Results: The behavioral results showed that while exogenous cues reduced crowding in all stimulus onset asynchronies (SOAs), endogenous attention took effects only in long SOA. The ERP results indicated that both endogenous and exogenous cues significantly alleviated the inhibition of visual crowding on the N1 component. However, the endogenous cue was effective only under long SOA, while the exogenous cue was effective only under short SOA conditions. In addition, invalid exogenous cues induced a larger P3 wave amplitude than valid ones in the short SOA condition, but endogenous attention did not show such a difference.

Conclusions: These results indicate that both endogenous and exogenous attention can alleviate the effects of visual crowding, but they differ in effect size and temporal dynamics.

Background/objectives: Functional MRI (fMRI) is widely used to assess language lateralization, but its application in patients with brain tumors can be hindered by cognitive impairments, compensatory neuroplasticity, and artifacts due to patient movement or severe aphasia. Gray matter volume (GMV) analysis via voxel-based morphometry (VBM) in language-related brain regions may offer a stable complementary approach. This study investigates the relationship between GMV and fMRI-derived language lateralization in healthy individuals and patients with left-hemisphere brain tumors, aiming to enhance accuracy in complex cases.

Methods: The MRI data from 22 healthy participants and 28 individuals with left-hemisphere brain tumors were analyzed. Structural T1-weighted and functional images were obtained during three language tasks. Language lateralization was assessed based on activation in predefined regions of interest (ROIs), categorized as typical (left) or atypical (right or bilateral). The GMV in these ROIs was measured using VBM. Linear regressions explored GMV-lateralization associations, and logistic regressions predicted the lateralization based on the GMV.

Results: In the healthy participants, typical left-hemispheric language dominance correlated with higher GMV in the left pars opercularis of the inferior frontal gyrus. The brain tumor participants with atypical lateralization showed increased GMV in six right-hemisphere ROIs. The GMV in the language ROIs predicted the fMRI language lateralization, with AUCs from 80.1% to 94.2% in the healthy participants and 78.3% to 92.6% in the tumor patients.

Conclusions: GMV analysis in language-related ROIs effectively complements fMRI for assessing language dominance, particularly when fMRI is challenging. It correlates with language lateralization in both healthy individuals and brain tumor patients, highlighting its potential in preoperative language mapping. Further research with larger samples is needed to refine its clinical utility.

Violence against women impacts a minimum of 35% of the global female population, encompassing sexual, physical, and psychological forms. Perpetrators of this violence include partners, family members, or strangers. Its ramifications are substantial, evident in the prevalence of chronic pain reported by between 48% and 84% of women who have experienced abuse, with an odds ratio of 2.08. Notably associated diagnoses include pelvic/vaginal pain, fibromyalgia, irritable bowel syndrome/bowel symptoms, abdominal pain, migraine/headache, and back and neck pain. These diagnoses significantly limit a woman's ability to participate in daily activities, such as exercising or working, leading to genuine disability. Despite substantial evidence, the precise cause and etiology of these conditions remain unclear. Adhering to the bio-psycho-social model, it is conceivable that chronic pain in victims of violence cannot be attributed to a single factor alone, but rather to a combination of all three: biological, psychological, and social factors. Uncovering these factors could have significant clinical and legal implications. On one hand, it would be possible to conduct screenings to avoid developing chronic pain. and guide individuals toward the correct treatment. On the other hand, victims could seek compensation for chronic pain resulting from violence. Considering the limited knowledge about the causes of chronic pain and the absence of tools to identify risk factors or a set of tests for evaluating victims of violence, the goal of the research described in this project protocol is to pinpoint the specific contributing factors for chronic pain due to violence victimization. Additionally, it aims to devise a comprehensive protocol for assessing these factors in forensic science.

Background: Headache is a common complaint during childhood and adolescence. It is important to be aware of the characteristics of pediatric headaches in order to make a precise and timely diagnosis. This study investigated the clinical characteristics of pediatric headaches according to the underlying etiology and age group.

Methods: We retrospectively reviewed the medical records of 3374 pediatric patients (2667 with primary headache [PH] and 707 with secondary headache [SH]) who presented with headaches at two centers between January 2012 and November 2023.

Results: The incidence of PH was significantly higher in adolescents (40.1% vs. 22.9%), whereas that of SH was considerably higher in preschoolers (37.5% vs. 16.3%) (p < 0.001). The prevalence of headaches attributed to infection was significantly higher in preschool and school-aged children (90.8% vs. 80.2%, p < 0.001); adolescents exhibited significantly higher frequencies of cranial and cervical vascular disorders (3.7% vs. 1.3%, p = 0.044) and psychiatric disorders (5.6% vs. 0.6%, p < 0.001). Statistically significant differences were observed between preschool/school-aged children and adolescents in terms of headache characteristics and the prevalence of headache-associated symptoms (60.4% vs. 74.1%, p < 0.001 in PH), neurologic abnormalities (10.2% vs. 23.6%, p < 0.001 in PH; 2.4% vs. 11.7%, p < 0.001 in SH), and headache triggers (19.9% vs. 24.2%, p = 0.008 in PH; 2.0% vs. 8.0%, p < 0.001 in SH).

Conclusions: Recognizing the etiology and age-specific differences in the clinical characteristics of headaches is crucial for an accurate and timely diagnosis. Tailoring the diagnostic approach accordingly helps to achieve optimal outcomes in pediatric patients with headaches.