communication disorders

OBJECTIVE: Some adults with acquired communication disorders are faced with an inability to communicate coherently through verbal speech with their communication partners. Despite the fact that a variety of augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) aided systems is available to assist them in communicating, not all adults accept them. In Cyprus, there is scant research focusing on the factors that are linked to AAC system acceptance and abandonment. METHODS: To address this gap, this research involves exploring the experiences of six speech and language therapists supporting adults with acquired communication disorders, who could benefit from the use of AAC systems...

PURPOSE: Information about existing healthcare resources for the management of seizures in developing countries is lacking. These countries are often poorly equipped to deal with the immense burden of costs, mortality, stigma, seizure-related disability, and comorbidities presented by seizure disorders. This study aimed to contribute to the goals of the International League Against Epilepsy (ILAE) by investigating the resources available for patients with seizure in Namibia. METHODS: Two separate surveys on the diagnostic and treatment practices for epileptic seizures (ES) and psychogenic nonepileptic seizures (PNES) were administered to private healthcare practitioners (HCPs) in Namibia...

OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study was to identify factors that predict parent satisfaction (PS) with their child with autism spectrum disorder (ASD)'s visit to a hospital emergency department (ED) or urgent care (UC) center. METHODS: Parents recruited through a national database whose child (3-21 years; N = 378) with ASD had been treated in an ED/UC center within the previous 3 years completed an anonymous on-line questionnaire. They answered questions about whether they were satisfied overall with the visit and the care provided, their demographics, patient characteristics, their expectations and preparation for the visit, and the ED/UC center experience itself, including their observations of staff interpersonal and communication skills (ICSs) and behaviors, and whether the patient was disruptive (D)...

Choroid plexus hyperplasia leading to communicating hydrocephalus is a rare disorder with only 24 patients reported so far in the literature. Furthermore, genetic information is only available for six of these cases: In one patient the condition was associated with trisomy 9p, in one patient with trisomy 9 mosaicism and in three patients with tetrasomy 9p. Here, we describe four additional patients with choroid plexus hyperplasia leading to various levels of hydrocephalus, and gain of the entire chromosome 9p region: Three with trisomy 9p and one with tetrasomy 9p...

The coexistence of degenerative disorders from the hip joint and the lumbar spine, known as "the hip-spine syndrome", is a common encounter in clinical practice. These degenerative conditions may cause similar symptoms which often entail diagnostic challenges in determining the origin of pain. Low back surgery (LBS) with fusion and/or decompression, and total hip replacement (THR) are both often successful interventions. However, the knowledge is limited about the post-operative patient-reported outcome (PRO) following LBS in the presence of a prior THR...

PURPOSE: Septo-optic dysplasia is a congenital disorder consisting of optic nerve hypoplasia and absent septum pellucidum. While associated anomalies have been described, olfactory sulcus and bulb-tract hypoplasia have been scantily reported and was the focus of this study. METHODS: The picture archival and communications system and radiology information system (PACS-RIS) was searched over 15 years for patients with suspected septo-optic dysplasia (n = 41) and cerebral magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)...

Objectives: Despite the enormous prevalence of autism spectrum disorder (ASD), its global impact has yet to be realized. Millions of families worldwide need effective treatments to help them get through everyday challenges like eating, sleeping, digestion, and social interaction. Qigong Sensory Training (QST) is a nonverbal, parent-delivered intervention recently shown to be effective at reducing these everyday challenges in children with ASD. This study tested the feasibility of a protocol for investigating QST's neural mechanism...

This comparative study is a replication and extension of previous work related to children's drawings of early concepts. In all, 15 children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and 19 children without disability took part in the study, and were video recorded as they drew 10 early emerging concepts such as "eat" and "more." In a second task, the participants were asked to label Picture Communication Symbols conventionally used in augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) systems. Descriptive, correlational, and inferential statistics were used to analyze the data...

Resting-state functional MRI (rsfMRI) is a useful technique for investigating the functional organization of human gray-matter in neuroscience and neuropsychiatry. Nevertheless, most studies have demonstrated the functional connectivity and/or task-related functional activity in the gray-matter. White-matter functional networks have been investigated in healthy subjects. Schizophrenia has been hypothesized to be a brain disorder involving insufficient or ineffective communication associated with white-matter abnormalities...

Background: An analysis of the causes of death in developing countries is needed to improve healthcare delivery. The aim of this study was to conduct a descriptive analysis of the causes of death at the University of Ghana Hospital from 1979 to 2015. Methods: Data were extracted from the electronic database of the University of Ghana Hospital. Diseases were grouped into three broad groups of causes of death as per the Global Burden of Disease cause list, with some diseases of epidemiological importance outlined and analysed by age, gender and time in years...

Communication within cells relies on a few protein nodes called hubs, which organize vast interactomes with many partners. Frequently, hub proteins are intrinsically disordered conferring multi-specificity and dynamic communication. Conversely, folded hub proteins may organize networks using disordered partners. In this work, the structure of the RST domain, a unique folded hub, is solved by nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy and small-angle X-ray scattering, and its complex with a region of the transcription factor DREB2A is provided through data-driven HADDOCK modeling and mutagenesis analysis...

Retroviruses comprise an ancient and varied group of viruses with the unique ability to integrate DNA from an RNA transcript into the genome, a subset of which are able to integrate in humans. The timing of these integrations during human history has dictated whether these viruses have remained exogenous and given rise to various human diseases or have become inseparable from the host genome (endogenous retroviruses). Given the ability of retroviruses to integrate into the host and subsequently co-opt host cellular process for viral propagation, retroviruses have been shown to be closely associated with several cellular processes including exosome formation...

Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) is a group of neurodevelopmental disorders commonly characterised by verbal and non-verbal communication deficits, impaired social interaction and repetitive, stereotypic behaviours. The aetiology of ASD is most likely a combination of genetic and environmental factors. Epidemiological evidence suggests that prenatal vitamin D deficiency is associated with an increased incidence of ASD. The overall aim of this study was to investigate prenatal vitamin D deficiency on ASD-related behavioural phenotypes in multiple inbred strains of mice...

Congenital hypothyroidism (CH) is the most common cause of preventable cognitive disability worldwide. Generally, it is produced by an alteration in the embryogenesis of the thyroid gland or by an alteration in the synthesis of thyroid hormones, which determine that affected patients have low or absent thyroid hormone concentrations. The importance of this fact is that brain development during the first three years of life is highly dependent on thyroid hormones. Prior to the implementation of national neonatal screening programs around the world, 8 to 27% of children with CH had an IQ lower than 70...

The relationship between autism, criminality and psychopathy has gained increased attention in recent years, although research has focused on autism spectrum disorders, and not autistic traits. We measured autistic traits (with the Autism Spectrum Quotient) in a sample of 101 inmates from a high-security prison and compared them to a control group, using a logistic regression model that included age, education, psychopathology, psychopathy and attention deficit-hyperactivity disorder as covariates. Prisoners had more autistic traits (OR 1...

The mucopolysaccharidosis (MPS) constitute a heterogeneous group of rare genetic disorders caused by enzymatic deficiencies that lead to the accumulation of glycosaminoglycans (GAGs). Several types of MPS are described, historically numbered from I to IX. Clinical observations strongly suggest the presence of chronic pain in patients with all types of MPS. There are few data in the literature on the evaluation and management of pain in these patients, a fact which can compromise the quality of life even more...

A growing evidence base confirms sociocultural theory's predictions regarding the influence of direct exposure to family factors (e.g., parental commentary) in promoting disordered eating behavior as mediated by negative body image. Nevertheless, this model has not been specifically applied to investigating indirect or vicarious exposure to family communications (e.g., negative body talk) in estimating mindful eating behavior via positive body image intervening variables. Therefore, to address this gap the present study provided a preliminary evaluation of the indirect effects of overhearing family fat talk through both body appreciation and functional body appreciation in predicting mindful eating among undergraduate females...

The coexistence of degenerative disorders from the hip joint and the lumbar spine, known as "the hip-spine syndrome", is a common encounter in clinical practice. These degenerative conditions may cause similar symptoms which often entail diagnostic challenges in determining the origin of pain. Low back surgery (LBS) with fusion and/or decompression, and total hip replacement (THR) are both often successful interventions. However, the knowledge is limited about the post-operative patient-reported outcome (PRO) following LBS in the presence of a prior THR...

The ketogenic diet (KD) is a high-fat, adequate-protein, and low-carbohydrate diet that has been used successfully in the treatment of refractory epilepsies for almost 100 years. There has been accumulating evidence to show that the KD may provide a therapeutic benefit in autism spectrum disorders, albeit by a yet-unknown mechanism. We report a case of a 6-year-old patient with high-functioning autism and subclinical epileptic discharges who responded poorly to several behavioural and psychopharmacological treatments...

Network theory, as a theoretical and methodological framework, is energizing many research fields, among which clinical psychology and psychiatry. Fundamental to the network theory of psychopathology is the role of specific symptoms and their interactions. Current statistical tools, however, fail to fully capture this constitutional property. We propose community detection tools as a means to evaluate the complex network structure of psychopathology, free from its original boundaries of distinct disorders. Unique to this approach is that symptoms can belong to multiple communities...