The Effectiveness of Verbal-Gestural Treatment on Verb Naming in Acute Inpatient Rehabilitation.

Purpose The purpose of this study was to investigate the effectiveness of verbal-gestural treatment on verb production in patients with acute aphasia. Method Treatment was delivered during inpatient stay to four participants using a single-subject design. Results All patients demonstrated improvements in verbal expression. Some patients' improvements generalized to untrained verbs and nouns. Conclusions This study indicates verbal-gestural treatment can be an effective treatment model for acute aphasia in a hospital environment. Concurrent deficits resulting from stroke may impact the success with verbal-gestural treatment at this acute phase of recovery.

Macronuclear genome sequence of the ciliate Tetrahymena thermophila, a model eukaryote.

The ciliate Tetrahymena thermophila is a model organism for molecular and cellular biology. Like other ciliates, this species has separate germline and soma functions that are embodied by distinct nuclei within a single cell. The germline-like micronucleus (MIC) has its genome held in reserve for sexual reproduction. The soma-like macronucleus (MAC), which possesses a genome processed from that of the MIC, is the center of gene expression and does not directly contribute DNA to sexual progeny. We report here the shotgun sequencing, assembly, and analysis of the MAC genome of T. thermophila, which is approximately 104 Mb in length and composed of approximately 225 chromosomes. Overall, the gene set is robust, with more than 27,000 predicted protein-coding genes, 15,000 of which have strong matches to genes in other organisms. The functional diversity encoded by these genes is substantial and reflects the complexity of processes required for a free-living, predatory, single-celled organism. This is highlighted by the abundance of lineage-specific duplications of genes with predicted roles in sensing and responding to environmental conditions (e.g., kinases), using diverse resources (e.g., proteases and transporters), and generating structural complexity (e.g., kinesins and dyneins). In contrast to the other lineages of alveolates (apicomplexans and dinoflagellates), no compelling evidence could be found for plastid-derived genes in the genome. UGA, the only T. thermophila stop codon, is used in some genes to encode selenocysteine, thus making this organism the first known with the potential to translate all 64 codons in nuclear genes into amino acids. We present genomic evidence supporting the hypothesis that the excision of DNA from the MIC to generate the MAC specifically targets foreign DNA as a form of genome self-defense. The combination of the genome sequence, the functional diversity encoded therein, and the presence of some pathways missing from other model organisms makes T. thermophila an ideal model for functional genomic studies to address biological, biomedical, and biotechnological questions of fundamental importance.

Time-Frequency Analysis of Mu Rhythm Activity during Picture and Video Action Naming Tasks.

This study used whole-head 64 channel electroencephalography to measure changes in sensorimotor activity-as indexed by the mu rhythm-in neurologically-healthy adults, during subvocal confrontation naming tasks. Independent component analyses revealed sensorimotor mu component clusters in the right and left hemispheres. Event related spectral perturbation analyses indicated significantly stronger patterns of mu rhythm activity ( p FDR < 0.05) during the video condition as compared to the picture condition, specifically in the left hemisphere. Mu activity is hypothesized to reflect typical patterns of sensorimotor activation during action verb naming tasks. These results support further investigation into sensorimotor cortical activity during action verb naming in clinical populations.

Development of a short form of the Boston naming test for individuals with aphasia.

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to develop a short form of the Boston Naming Test (BNT; Kaplan, Goodglass, & Weintraub, 2001) for individuals with aphasia and compare it with 2 existing short forms originally analyzed with responses from people with dementia and neurologically healthy adults. METHOD: Development of the new BNT-Aphasia Short Form and analysis of the other 2 forms were completed with archival data from 100 individuals with aphasia. The authors developed the BNT-Aphasia Short Form using items from the original 60-item instrument based on item response theory. Rasch analysis was computed on the short forms developed by Graves, Bezeau, Fogarty, and Blair (2004) and by Mack, Freed, Williams, and Henderson (1992). RESULTS: Analysis of the Graves et al. (2004) short form resulted in the smallest range of item difficulty and the largest floor effect compared with the Mack et al. (1992) short form and the BNT-Aphasia short form. The BNT-Aphasia Short Form showed an increase in information in the middle of the scale relative to both the Graves et al. and the Mack et al. forms. CONCLUSIONS: The new short form demonstrates good psychometric properties when used with individuals with aphasia. However, the Mack et al. form proved to be as psychometrically sound as the BNT-Aphasia Short Form and is also appropriate for individuals with aphasia.