Combined anodal transcranial direct current stimulation and behavioural naming treatment improves language performance in patients with post-stroke aphasia.

PRIMARY OBJECTIVE: During the last decade, studies using anodal transcranial Direct Current Stimulation (atDCS) have yielded promising results in patients with aphasia. The main aim of the present pilot study was to assess the effects of combined atDCS over the left posterior perisylvian region and behavioral naming training on the behavioral outcomes of language comprehension and production of patients with post-stroke aphasia. RESEARCH DESIGN: A 2 × 2 quasi-experimental design was conducted, optimal to compare changes after treatment in experimental versus control group. METHODS AND PROCEDURES: Ten patients with post-stroke aphasia were enrolled in this study: half received atDCS on the left posterior perisylvian region while they underwent a 2-week behavioral naming training. The other half received sham stimulation. The outcomes were measured using the abbreviated form of the Boston Diagnostic Aphasia Examination and analyzed using ANOVAs. MAIN OUTCOMES AND RESULTS: Both groups improved their performance in Oral comprehension, Narrative writing and Language Competence Index, but only those that received anodal tDCS presented better results in the Naming category after the treatment. CONCLUSIONS: AtDCS on the left posterior perisylvian area seems to be a promising tool for boosting the outcomes of behavioral naming therapy in patients with post-stroke aphasia.

Cognitive reserve, neurocognitive performance, and high-order resting-state networks in cognitively unimpaired aging.

Cognitive Reserve (CR) is considered a protective factor during the aging process. However, although CR is a multifactorial construct, it has been operationalized in a unitary way (years of formal education or IQ). In the present study, a validated measure to categorize CR holistically (Cognitive Reserve Index Questionnaire) was used to evaluate the resting-state functional connectivity in 77 cognitively unimpaired participants aged 50 years and over with high and low CR, and matched brain global atrophy levels. The connectivity of networks linked to attentional (Dorsal Attention Network -DAN-) and executive (Frontal-Parietal Control Network -FPCN-) processes were evaluated by the combination of Independent Component Analysis and seed-based approaches, since these networks have been proposed as candidates to underlie the protective effect of CR in the aging context. Participants with high CR showed an increase of the connectivity in the FPCN and a decrease in the DAN with respect to the low CR group, correlating with neuropsychological scores and supporting that high CR is related to a better neurocognitive preservation during aging.