Developing the Persian version of the homophone meaning generation test.

BACKGROUND: Finding the right word is a necessity in communication, and its evaluation has always been a challenging clinical issue, suggesting the need for valid and reliable measurements. The Homophone Meaning Generation Test (HMGT) can measure the ability to switch between verbal concepts, which is required in word retrieval. The purpose of this study was to adapt and validate the Persian version of the HMGT. METHODS: The first phase involved the adaptation of the HMGT to the Persian language. The second phase concerned the psychometric testing. The word-finding performance was assessed in 90 Persian-speaking healthy individuals (20-50 year old; 45 males and 45 females) through three naming tasks: Semantic Fluency, Phonemic Fluency, and Homophone Meaning Generation Test. The participants had no history of neurological or psychiatric diseases, alcohol abuse, severe depression, or history of speech, language, or learning problems. RESULTS: The internal consistency coefficient was larger than 0.8 for all the items with a total Cronbach's alpha of 0.80. Interrater and intrarater reliability were also excellent. The validity of all items was above 0.77, and the content validity index (0.99) was appropriate. The Persian HMGT had strong convergent validity with semantic and phonemic switching and adequate divergent validity with semantic and phonemic clustering. CONCLUSION: The Persian version of the Homophone Meaning Generation Test is an appropriate, valid, and reliable test to evaluate the ability to switch between verbal concepts in the assessment of word-finding performance.

Effect of signal to noise ratio on the speech perception ability of older adults.

BACKGROUND: Speech perception ability depends on auditory and extra-auditory elements. The signal- to-noise ratio (SNR) is an extra-auditory element that has an effect on the ability to normally follow speech and maintain a conversation. Speech in noise perception difficulty is a common complaint of the elderly. In this study, the importance of SNR magnitude as an extra-auditory effect on speech perception in noise was examined in the elderly. METHODS: The speech perception in noise test (SPIN) was conducted on 25 elderly participants who had bilateral low-mid frequency normal hearing thresholds at three SNRs in the presence of ipsilateral white noise. These participants were selected by available sampling method. Cognitive screening was done using the Persian Mini Mental State Examination (MMSE) test. RESULTS: Independent T- test, ANNOVA and Pearson Correlation Index were used for statistical analysis. There was a significant difference in word discrimination scores at silence and at three SNRs in both ears (p≤0.047). Moreover, there was a significant difference in word discrimination scores for paired SNRs (0 and +5, 0 and +10, and +5 and +10 (p≤0.04)). No significant correlation was found between age and word recognition scores at silence and at three SNRs in both ears (p≥0.386). CONCLUSION: Our results revealed that decreasing the signal level and increasing the competing noise considerably reduced the speech perception ability in normal hearing at low-mid thresholds in the elderly. These results support the critical role of SNRs for speech perception ability in the elderly. Furthermore, our results revealed that normal hearing elderly participants required compensatory strategies to maintain normal speech perception in challenging acoustic situations.

Executive Functions and Public Health: A Narrative Review.

Executive functions (EFs) skills are necessary for regulating the thoughts, emotions, and actions which are associated with many aspects of daily functioning. Executive dysfunction (EDFs) is present in a wide range of mental disorders. New study indicates that EFs may predict health behavior and make it easier to engage in a variety of healthy activities. In this narrative review, EFs and public health are briefly discussed. In general, 133 articles met the inclusion criteria (published 2018-2023) which were reviewed. EFs affect the mental and physical health. Besides individual problems, people with mental problems have heavy costs to society. Mental health cannot be considered separately from general health. Consequently, preventive and therapeutic approaches to mental health should be considered not only at the level of the whole society, but also at the global level.

Modification of cortical electrical activity in stroke survivors with abnormal subjective visual vertical: An eLORETA study.

Objectives: Balance impairment is among the main complications of stroke. The gravity-based subjective vertical (SV) is considered an important reference for upright posture and navigation affected by stroke. The correlation between injury location and pathological perception of verticality remains controversial. This study aimed to evaluate the cortico-cortical network of vertical perception among patients with the right hemisphere stroke and abnormal visual-vertical perception compared with healthy individuals. Materials and methods: This observational cross-sectional study included 40 patients with the right hemisphere stroke and 35 healthy participants. All patients had abnormal visual-vertical perception. The EEG connectivity analysis was conducted through the exact low-resolution brain electromagnetic tomography analysis (eLORETA). Results: Stroke survivors manifested a power spectral density that reduced within the beta-2 frequency band in the left hemisphere and increased within the beta-3 frequency band in the right hemisphere compared with controls (p < 0.01). The lagged-phase synchronization was increased within alpha-1, beta-2, and beta-3 bands and decreased in stroke survivors compared with controls in the vestibular network involved in visual-vertical perception (p < 0.01). Conclusion: The results of this study demonstrated variations in the function and functional connectivity of cortical areas involved in the visual-vertical perception that are mainly located in the vestibular cortex.

Electroencephalogram, cognitive state, psychological disorders, clinical symptom, and oxidative stress in horticulture farmers exposed to organophosphate pesticides.

The aim of this paper was to study the toxicity of organophosphate (OP) pesticides in exposed farmers for electroencephalography, cognitive state, psychological disorders, clinical symptom, oxidative stress, acetylcholinesterase, and DNA damage. A comparative cross-sectional analysis was carried out in 40 horticulture farmers who were exposed to OPs in comparison to a control group containing 40 healthy subjects with the same age and sex and education level. Lipid peroxidation (LPO), superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase, glutathione peroxidase, DNA damage, total antioxidant capacity (TAC), total thiol molecules, and acetylcholinesterase (AChE) activity were measured in the blood of subjects. Clinical examination and complete blood test were undertaken in order to record any abnormal sign or symptoms. Cognitive function, psychological symptoms, and psychological distress were examined and recorded. Comparing with controls, the farmers showed higher blood levels of SOD and LPO while their TAC decreased. Farmers showed clinical symptoms such as eczema, breathing muscle weakness, nausea, and saliva secretion. Regarding cognitive function, the orientation, registration, attention and calculation, recall, and language were not significantly different in farmers and controls. Among examinations for psychological distress, only labeled somatization was significantly higher in farmers. The present findings indicate that oxidative stress and inhibition of AChE can be seen in chronically OP-exposed people but incidence of neuropsychological disorders seems a complex multivariate phenomenon that might be seen in long-term high-dose exposure situations. Use of supplementary antioxidants would be useful in the treatment of farmers.

Iranians' contribution to world literature on neuroscience.

OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study is to analyse Iranian scientific publications in the neuroscience subfields by librarians and neuroscientists, using Science Citation Index Expanded (SCIE) via Web of Science data over the period, 2002-2008. METHODS: Data were retrieved from the SCIE. Data were collected from the 'subject area' of the database and classified by neuroscience experts into 14 subfields. To identify the citation patterns, we applied the 'impact factor' and the 'number of publication'. Data were also analysed using HISTCITE, Excel 2007 and SPSS. RESULTS: Seven hundred and thirty-four papers have been published by Iranian between 2002 and 2008. Findings showed a growing trend of neuroscience papers in the last 3 years with most papers (264) classified in the neuropharmacology subfield. There were fewer papers in neurohistory, psychopharmacology and artificial intelligence. International contributions of authors were mostly in the neurology subfield, and 'Collaboration Coefficient' for the neuroscience subfields in Iran was 0.686 which is acceptable. Most international collaboration between Iranians and developed countries was from USA. Eighty-seven percent of the published papers were in journals with the impact factor between 0 and 4; 25% of papers were published by the researchers affiliated to Tehran University of Medical Sciences. CONCLUSION: Progress of neuroscience in Iran is mostly seen in the neuropharmacology and the neurology subfields. Other subfields should also be considered as a research priority by health policymakers. As this study was carried out by the collaboration of librarians and neuroscientists, it has been proved valuable for both librarians and policymakers. This study may be encouraging for librarians from other developing countries.

P-MMR and LDN beside MMN as Speech-evoked Neural Markers in Children with Cochlear Implants: A Review.

This review mainly explores less-reported neural markers to speech-evoked contrasts in children with cochlear implants (CI). Databases and electronic journals were searched with keywords of "mismatch responses" AND "positive mismatch response" (p-MMR) AND "late discriminate negativity" (LDN). P-MMR likely is as a measurement of brain immaturity in CI children while the developmental trajectories of LDN remain unexplained in older CI children. In CI children, there is a p-MMR-MMN-LDN sequence to speech stimuli developmentally. Whereas these aforementioned neural responses anticipate developmental changes in CI groups, it is still uncertain about the cutoff age for disappearance of p-MMR and LDN.

Reliability, validity, and diagnostic accuracy of Parkinson's Disease-Cognitive Rating Scale in Iranian patients with idiopathic Parkinson's disease.

PURPOSE: To investigate the reliability and validity of Parkinson's Disease-Cognitive Rating Scale (PD-CRS) in Iranian patients with idiopathic PD. METHODS: One hundred and eighty patients with PD and 60 age-, gender-, and educational level-matched healthy individuals participated in this study. Inter-rater and test-retest reliability of the Persian version of PD-CRS was investigated in 80 patients with PD. To evaluate the construct validity of the PD-CRS, its correlation with the Scales for Outcomes in Parkinson's disease-Cognition (SCOPA-Cog), Mini-Mental State Examination, Montreal Cognitive Assessment, Clock Drawing Test, Unified Parkinson's Disease Rating Scale-Section I, and Quick Dementia Rating System was assessed. To assess the diagnostic accuracy of the PD-CRS, patients with PD were classified as groups with normal cognitive function, mild cognitive impairment (MCI), and dementia using the Clinical Dementia Rating. RESULTS: Test-retest and inter-rater reliability (ICC > 0.90), as well as internal consistency (α = 0.94) of the Persian version of PD-CRS, were excellent. A high positive correlation was found between the PD-CRS and SCOPA-Cog. A cut-off point of ≤79 (sensitivity 98.15% and specificity 98.04%) and ≤62 (sensitivity 100%, and specificity 100%) on the PD-CRS total score was obtained for detecting MCI and dementia in PD patients, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: The results of this study showed that the Persian version of PD-CRS is a reliable and valid measure with high sensitivity and specificity to identify MCI and dementia in patients with PD.Implications for rehabilitationThe PD-CRS has an excellent test-retest and inter-rater reliability and validity in Iranian patients with PD.The PD-CRS has high sensitivity and specificity for discriminating between different levels of cognitive impairment (i.e. no cognitive impairment, mild cognitive impairment, and dementia) in Iranian patients with PD.

Comparison of the analgesic effect of oral sucrose and/or music in preterm neonates: A double-blind randomized clinical trial.

OBJECTIVE: To compare the analgesic effects of sucrose, music, and their combination on venipuncture's pain in preterm neonates. METHODOLOGY: A double-blinded randomized control trial conducted at a Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) affiliated to Tehran University of Medical Sciences (TUMS) in Tehran, Iran. One hundred and twenty preterm neonates were randomly allocated into three experimental (sucrose, music and combination of sucrose and music) and one control groups (n = 30 for each group). Two minutes before the venipuncture, 0.5 ml of oral 24% sucrose was provided for the sucrose and combination groups. The combination group additionally received lullaby music as same as the music group. The control group had headphones without playing music and received sterile water. Blinded assessment of the Premature Infant Pain Profile (PIPP) was performed before and during venipuncture, as well as 30 s and 10 min and 10 min after its completion. RESULTS: The pain scores during venipuncture in the sucrose and combination groups were significantly lower than the control group (p = .003, p < .001, respectively) but not in the music group. Thirty seconds after the end of the venipuncture, the pain score in the three intervention groups was significantly lower than the control group (sucrose, music and, combination group, p < .001, p = .009, p < .001, respectively). Ten min after the venipuncture, there was no significant difference in pain scores among the four groups. CONCLUSION: Music could relief pain 30 s after the venipuncture completion but not during the venipuncture. A more prolonged period of playing music is recommended to evaluate the analgesic effects of music in preterm neonates in future studies.

Examining memory performance in body dysmorphic disorder (BDD): A comparison study with obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD).

The aim of this study is comparing directly the BDD and OCD disorders in terms of similarities and differences in memory function for the first time. 19 BDD patients, 15 OCD patients and 26 individuals in a healthy control group were recruited from three hospitals in Tehran. They were administered the following subtests of the Wechsler Memory Scale: logical memory (immediate and delayed), verbal paired association (immediate and delayed), digit span and spatial span as well as the Rey-Osterrieth complex figure test (RCFT). The results showed that BDD and OCD groups had lower performance in comparison to the control group across all measures, except for the immediate memory of the verbal paired associate task, which was similar across the three groups. Both the BDD and OCD groups showed poor performance on the auditory-verbal memory tasks. However, only the BDD group showed poor performance in the visual domain (i.e. spatial span and RCFT). This suggest that memory deficits are similar between BDD and OCD patients in the verbal domain. Furthermore, BDD patients demonstrated poorer visual working memory. The findings of this study reveal that BDD and OCD patients have more similarities than differences regarding neuropsychological features, in other words, the idea of the incorporation of BDD within the obsessive-compulsive and related disorders (OCRDs) spectrum in DSM-5 is supported, at least through the viewpoint of neuropsychology.

Adults with auditory neuropathy: comparison of auditory steady-state response and pure-tone audiometry.

BACKGROUND: The relation between the auditory steady-state response (ASSR) and behavioral audiometric thresholds requires further clarification in the case of adults with auditory neuropathy/auditory dys-synchrony (AN/AD). PURPOSE: The aim of this study was to compare pure-tone audiometric threshold (PTAT) and ASSR in adults with AN/AD. STUDY SAMPLE: Sixteen adult participants (32 ears) with AN/AD, ranging in age from 14 to 34 years. DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS: PTAT and ASSR with high-rate stimulus modulation were measured at four octave frequencies, 500, 1000, 2000, and 4000 Hz, in each ear. The behavioral auditory thresholds were compared with ASSR estimated thresholds at each frequency. Analyses included comparison of group means and coefficients of correlation. RESULTS: The average pure-tone thresholds revealed a moderate hearing loss in the AN/AD patients with a focus on the low frequencies. Low-frequency loss audiograms were observed in almost two-thirds of the participants. The estimated auditory thresholds measured by ASSR at all frequencies were substantially higher than the PTAT measures. There were no significant correlations between the PTAT and ASSR measurements at the 1000, 2000, and 4000 Hz frequencies (p > .05); the correlation between the two measures at 500 Hz (p = .029, r = 0.39) was weak but significant. CONCLUSION: There was no significant correlation between the PTAT and ASSR results at the majority of the frequencies usually tested in adults with AN/AD. Although ASSR is not a suitable method to estimate auditory thresholds in this group of patients, perhaps it can be utilized as an adjunct technique for the differential diagnosis of this disorder.

Effects of motor skill practice on reaction time and learning retention in Parkinson's disease.

One of the prominent disturbances in Parkinson's disease (PD) is bradykinesia. We studied performance of hand-to-mouth reach reaction time (RT) in right-handed PD patients and nine age and sex matched healthy control subjects. Participants practiced hand-to-mouth reach skill in response to a visual stimulus, 120 times a day for a period of one week. Using Kinemetrix 3D Motion Analysis system, the effects of motor skill practice and learning retention were investigated. Pretest performance was compared with performances on the second and seventh day of the study, and also performance on fourteenth day with no further practice for one week. There was a significant reduction in the mean RT in the control group after one week of practice. In PD patients the reduction in the mean RT was significant between pretest and first test sessions (P < 0.01). However, the difference was not significant between the first and second session (P = 0.06) and also between the second and third test sessions (P = 1.0). Short-term practice can improve bradykinesia in patients with PD but it is not long-lasting.

Comprehension of Complex Sentences in the Persian-Speaking Patients With Aphasia.

INTRODUCTION: To study sentence comprehension in Persian-speaking Patients with Aphasia considering the factors of complexity. METHODS: In this cross-sectional study, the performance of 6 non-fluent aphasic patients were tested and their performance was compared to 15 matched control group. Comprehension of semantically reversible sentences was assessed using a binary sentence-picture matching task. The stimuli were as follows: clefts; subject clefts and object clefts, also relative clauses; subject relatives and object relatives. All of them were types of movement-derived structures and also simple declarative sentences as the control task. RESULTS: The best performance of aphasic patients were seen in the comprehension of subject clefts, although prior to this result we assumed that simple declarative sentences (in which there is no structural factor of complexity) can be understood easily. They showed the highest difficulty in the comprehension of object relatives. Furthermore, the performance of patients in the comprehension of relative clauses was significantly weaker than understanding the clefts. CONCLUSION: The outcomes of this study suggest that the sentence comprehension deficits of aphasic patients, in contrast to the specific deficit models, may not be related to linguistic disabilities. Moreover, the problems in the comprehension of non-canonical sentences may be related to failure in the allocation of attention. Finally, our results support the claims that neural characterization of the cognitive resources (e.g. working memory) is disrupted in sentence comprehension deficits.

Evaluation of Central Auditory Processing of Azeri-Persian Bilinguals Using Dichotic Listening Tasks in First and Second Languages.

OBJECTIVES: Sometimes there is no hearing impairment, but it is possible to have an auditory disorder. This is known as a central auditory processing disorder (CAPD). Speech dichotic tasks are useful tools to evaluate CAPD, but there is almost no tool to assess this for Azeri people in their native language. The aim of this study was to evaluate central auditory processing of Azeri participants by Azeri dichotic digit test (ADDT). MATERIALS & METHODS: Participants were 52 normal Iranian Azeri students (mean age 23.27± 4.71; 26 females, 26 males) in the Department of Audiology, School of Rehabilitation Sciences, Iran University of Medical Science, Tehran, Iran in 2016. They were chosen by convenient sampling. ADDT was constructed and administered in free recall conditions along with a Persian dichotic digit test (PDDT). After two to four weeks, reliability was performed. RESULTS: The mean of the right ear score of PDDT and ADDT was 98.90% and 99.09%, respectively. ADDT was reliable in almost all scores. There was no significant difference in performance between men and women in any score of both tests (P>0.05). The results showed a significant difference between both ears' scores in PDDT (P<0.02) as well as in ADDT (P=0.00). The right ear advantage was seen in both tests. CONCLUSION: All participants performed significantly better on digits presented in the right ear than the left ear in both tests. Central auditory processing of Azeri participants for Azeri is similar to that for Persian.

Relationship between stuttering severity in children and their mothers speaking rate.

CONTEXT AND OBJECTIVE: Stuttering is a complex disease that influences occupational, social, academic and emotional achievements. The aim of this study was to correlate the stuttering severity index with speaking rates of mothers and children. DESIGN AND SETTING: Cross-sectional study, at the child rehabilitation clinics of Tehran city. METHODS: 35 pairs of mothers and their children who stuttered were studied. There were 29 boys and six girls, of mean age 8.5 years (range: 5.1-12.0). Speech samples from the mother-child pairs were audiotaped for approximately 15 minutes, until a reciprocal verbal interaction had been obtained. This sample was then analyzed in accordance with a stuttering severity index test and speaking rate parameters. RESULTS: The research results outlined a significant relationship between the mothers speaking rate and their childrens stuttering severity. CONCLUSION: The results suggest that the mothers speaking rate should be incorporated in the assessment and treatment of stuttering.

Impact of age and obstacle negotiation on timing measures of gait initiation.

INTRODUCTION: The separate and combined impacts of age and walkway obstruction on reaction time, anticipatory postural adjustment phases of gait initiation and cognitive dual task performance are not well understood. This study aimed to a) examine the impact of age and task complexity on reaction and anticipatory postural adjustment phases separately b) examine the impact of age and walkway obstruction on cognitive task performance while walking. METHOD: Nineteen older adults (mean age± SD: 66.73 ± 3.38 years) and twelve younger adults (mean age± SD: 26.5 ± 4.37 years), participated in this study. The tests were performed in four conditions: a smooth walkway; a smooth walkway with concurrent cognitive task; an obstructed walkway; and an obstructed walkway with a concurrent cognitive task. Reaction and anticipatory postural adjustment phases were measured from the recorded center of pressure trajectory data. RESULTS: Reaction time phase was significantly longer in the older group (P = 0.04), but there was no significant impact of task complexity (P = 0.95). Conversely, there was a significant impact of task complexity on anticipatory postural adjustment phase (P = 0.04), but there was no significant difference between the age groups (P = 0.38). Cognitive task response time was not significantly different between age groups or with walkway obstruction (P = 0.19 and P = 0.90 respectively).There were no significant interactions between age group and task complexity. CONCLUSION: Reaction time phase but not anticipatory postural adjustment phase was longer in healthy older than younger adults. Anticipatory postural adjustment phase but not reaction time phase was slower for more complex gait initiation tasks. Cognitive task performance was similar across age groups and conditions.

A prospective study of psychomotor performance of driving among two kinds of shift work in Iran.

BACKGROUND AND AIM: Driving after a night shift imposes a risk on health care professionals and other road users. The aim of this study was to measure psychomotor performance of driving of night shift nurses compared to day-shift nurses. METHODS: Forty-seven volunteer female nurses working at Sina hospital in Tehran, Iran, with a call in all departments of hospital, participated in this study (23 night shift and 24 day shift nurses) in 2016. The tests included RT for simple reaction time, ATAVT for perceptual speed, LVT for visual orientation and ZBA for time anticipation. Data collection tools were individual characteristics, 11-item circadian type inventory (CTI), Stanford sleepiness scale (SSS), and Swedish occupational fatigue inventory (SOFI-20) questionnaires. Psychomotor driving performance was assessed using validated computerized traffic psychological battery of Vienna Test System (VTS), before and after the shifts. Data analysis was performed using paired-samples t-test and Linear Regression. RESULTS: The mean age of day and night-shift nurses were 31.4±5.6 and 28.7±3.9 years respectively, no significant difference between two groups. Thirty percent of night shift and 16.7% of day shift nurses reported traffic accidents in the past year. The results revealed that, scores based on viewing times in visual orientation test (p=0.005), and median reaction time score in choice reaction time and reactive stress tolerance test (p=0.045), had a significant association with a 12-hour night shift with a 3-hour nap. CONCLUSIONS: Twelve-hour night shift work impairs choice reaction time and visual orientation in nurses, even though they take a 3- hour nap during the shift. These skills are required for safe driving.

A practice-specificity-based model of arousal for achieving peak performance.

The authors propose a practice-specificity-based model of arousal for achieving peak performance. The study included 37 healthy male physical education students whom they randomly assigned to a high-arousal (n = 19) or low-arousal group (n = 18). To manipulate participants' level of arousal, the authors used motivational techniques. They used heart rate and the Sport Competition Anxiety Test (R. Martens, 1977) to measure the level of arousal that participants achieved. At the determined and given arousal state, the 2 groups performed the task (basketball free throws) for 18 sessions. Both groups performed a retention test at the 2 arousal levels immediately after the last exercise session, in the posttest, and after 10 days. Results showed that both groups learned the task similarly and achieved their peak performance at their experienced arousal level. When tested at an arousal level that differed from the one that they experienced throughout practice sessions, participants' performance had deteriorated significantly. Performance of the task seemed to have integrated with the arousal level of the participants during the task learning. The findings of this study suggest a practice-specificity-based explanation for achieving peak performance.

The ages of suspicion, diagnosis, amplification, and intervention in deaf children.

OBJECTIVES: The present study sought to determine the average ages of suspicion, diagnosis, and amplification of profound hearing loss and intervention in deaf children and to compare at-risk and not-at-risk children based on the studied ages. METHODS: This study was conducted on 86 children under 6 years of age with profound bilateral hearing loss in Newsha Aural Rehabilitation Center in Tehran from July to December 2005. Data were gathered through the completion of a questionnaire by the children's parents, and the children's medical and rehabilitative records were utilized in order to determine the kind and degree of hearing loss. RESULTS: The mean ages of suspicion, diagnosis, amplification, and intervention were 12.6+/-8.9, 15.2+/-9.3, 20.5+/-11.1, and 22.3+/-11.6 months, respectively; there being statistically significant differences between them. 47.7% of the children were in the high-risk group, and statistically there were no significant differences between the at-risk and not-at-risk children in the studied ages. Of all the neonatal diseases investigated, hyperbilirubinemia was the most frequent (40.7%), and there were also four cases of meningitis and six cases of measles. In terms of consanguinity, mating of first cousins was 41.9% and mating of second cousins and farther familial relationships was 14%. After suspecting hearing loss in their children, the parents had visited physicians (57%), audiologists (37.2%), speech therapists (2.3%), or other specialists (3.5%) for the first time. The economic circumstances of the families had a significant bearing on the average ages of suspicion, diagnosis, amplification, and intervention. CONCLUSIONS: Despite the remarkable improvement in the average ages of suspicion, diagnosis, amplification, and intervention in comparison with those reported in a previous study carried out in Iran (2002), there is still noticeable difference between these ages and those suggested by the Joint Committee on Infant Hearing.

Comparing the production of complex sentences in Persian patients with post-stroke aphasia and non-damaged people with normal speaking.

BACKGROUND: Cerebrovascular disease leading to stroke is the most common cause of aphasia. Speakers with agrammatic non-fluent aphasia have difficulties in production of movement-derived sentences such as passive sentences, topicalized constituents, and Wh-questions. To assess the production of complex sentences, some passive, topicalized and focused sentences were designed for patients with non-fluent Persian aphasic. Afterwards, patients' performance in sentence production was tested and compared with healthy non-damaged subjects. METHODS: In this cross sectional study, a task was designed to assess the different types of sentences (active, passive, topicalized and focused) adapted to Persian structures. Seven Persian patients with post-stroke non-fluent agrammatic aphasia (5 men and 2 women) and seven healthy non-damaged subjects participated in this study. The computed tomography (CT) scan or magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) showed that all the patients had a single left hemisphere lesion involved middle cerebral artery (MCA), Broca`s area and in its white matter. In addition, based on Bedside version of Persian Western Aphasia Battery (P-WAB-1), all of them were diagnosed with moderate Broca aphasia. Then, the production task of Persian complex sentences was administered. RESULTS: There was a significant difference between four types of sentences in patients with aphasia [Degree of freedom (df) = 3, P < 0.001]. All the patients showed worse performance than the healthy participants in all the four types of sentence production (P < 0.050). CONCLUSION: In general, it is concluded that topicalized and focused sentences as non-canonical complex sentences in Persian are very difficult to produce for patients with agrammatic non-fluent aphasia. It seems that sentences with A-movement are simpler for the patients than sentences involving A`-movement; since they include shorter movements in compare to topicalized and focused sentences.