Dataset Information

Northwestern Anagram Test-Italian (Nat-I) for primary progressive aphasia.

ABSTRACT: OBJECTIVES:To test the ability of the Northwestern Anagram Test-Italian (NAT-I) to distinguish between the non-fluent/agrammatic (nfv-) and phonological/logopenic (lv-) variants of primary progressive aphasia (PPA), and to determine the relationship between NAT-I variables and brain integrity in PPA patients. METHODS:13 nfvPPA and 8 lvPPA patients underwent the 44-item-version of NAT-I and brain MRI. The NAT-I was also administered to six patients with the semantic variant (sv) PPA to sample performance in cases with no grammatical deficits. Performances were recorded and compared between patient groups. Receiver Operating Characteristic curve analysis assessed the ability of NAT-I to discriminate nfvPPA and lvPPA. The correlation between anatomical changes and NAT-I variables were assessed. A shortened (22-item)-version of NAT-I was also tested for classification ability. RESULTS:Participants with NfvPPA performed more poorly than lvPPA patients on canonical and non-canonical sentences. NAT-I non-canonical sentence and total scores achieved the highest diagnostic accuracy in discriminating the two patient groups (area under the curve: .93 and .91, respectively). SvPPA participants showed performances similar to lvPPA. NAT-I variables correlated with the integrity of the left inferior frontal gyrus and the body of the corpus callosum. The NAT-I 22-item-version total and non-canonical sentences scores reached diagnostic accuracy comparable to the full version. CONCLUSIONS:The NAT-I, in particular the measure of non-canonical syntax, is an effective tool for distinguishing nfvPPA and lvPPA patients and correlated with the integrity of crucial brain regions implicated in syntactic processing. The 22-item-brief version of NAT-I is suitable for clinical practice and research.

SUBMITTER: Canu E

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6785992 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Northwestern Anagram Test-Italian (Nat-I) for primary progressive aphasia.

Canu Elisa E Agosta Federica F Imperiale Francesca F Ferraro Pilar M PM Fontana Andrea A Magnani Giuseppe G Mesulam Marek-Marsel MM Thompson Cynthia K CK Weintraub Sandra S Moro Andrea A Cappa Stefano F SF Filippi Massimo M

Cortex; a journal devoted to the study of the nervous system and behavior 20190821

<h4>Objectives</h4>To test the ability of the Northwestern Anagram Test-Italian (NAT-I) to distinguish between the non-fluent/agrammatic (nfv-) and phonological/logopenic (lv-) variants of primary progressive aphasia (PPA), and to determine the relationship between NAT-I variables and brain integrity in PPA patients.<h4>Methods</h4>13 nfvPPA and 8 lvPPA patients underwent the 44-item-version of NAT-I and brain MRI. The NAT-I was also administered to six patients with the semantic variant (sv) PP ...[more]

PMID: 31527011

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Project description:As an example of complex auditory signal processing, the analysis of accented speech is potentially vulnerable in the progressive aphasias. However, the brain basis of accent processing and the effects of neurodegenerative disease on this processing are not well understood. Here we undertook a detailed neuropsychological study of a patient, AA with progressive nonfluent aphasia, in whom agnosia for accents was a prominent clinical feature. We designed a battery to assess AA's ability to process accents in relation to other complex auditory signals. AA's performance was compared with a cohort of 12 healthy age and gender matched control participants and with a second patient, PA, who had semantic dementia with phonagnosia and prosopagnosia but no reported difficulties with accent processing. Relative to healthy controls, the patients showed distinct profiles of accent agnosia. AA showed markedly impaired ability to distinguish change in an individual's accent despite being able to discriminate phonemes and voices (apperceptive accent agnosia); and in addition, a severe deficit of accent identification. In contrast, PA was able to perceive changes in accents, phonemes and voices normally, but showed a relatively mild deficit of accent identification (associative accent agnosia). Both patients showed deficits of voice and environmental sound identification, however PA showed an additional deficit of face identification whereas AA was able to identify (though not name) faces normally. These profiles suggest that AA has conjoint (or interacting) deficits involving both apperceptive and semantic processing of accents, while PA has a primary semantic (associative) deficit affecting accents along with other kinds of auditory objects and extending beyond the auditory modality. Brain MRI revealed left peri-Sylvian atrophy in case AA and relatively focal asymmetric (predominantly right sided) temporal lobe atrophy in case PA. These cases provide further evidence for the fractionation of brain mechanisms for complex sound analysis, and for the stratification of progressive aphasia syndromes according to the signature of nonverbal auditory deficits they produce.

Project description:ObjectiveTo automatically extract and quantify specific disease biomarkers of prosody from the acoustic properties of speech in patients with primary progressive aphasia.MethodsWe analyzed speech samples from 59 progressive aphasic patients (non-fluent/agrammatic = 15, semantic = 21, logopenic = 23; ages 50-85 years) and 31 matched healthy controls (ages 54-89 years). Using a novel, automated speech analysis protocol, we extracted acoustic measurements of prosody, including fundamental frequency and speech and silent pause durations, and compared these between groups. We then examined their relationships with clinical tests, gray matter atrophy, and cerebrospinal fluid analytes.ResultsWe found a narrowed range of fundamental frequency in patients with non-fluent/agrammatic variant aphasia (mean 3.86 ± 1.15 semitones) compared with healthy controls (6.06 ± 1.95 semitones; P < 0.001) and patients with semantic variant aphasia (6.12 ± 1.77 semitones; P = 0.001). Mean pause rate was significantly increased in the non-fluent/agrammatic group (mean 61.4 ± 20.8 pauses per minute) and the logopenic group (58.7 ± 16.4 pauses per minute) compared to controls. In an exploratory analysis, narrowed fundamental frequency range was associated with atrophy in the left inferior frontal cortex. Cerebrospinal level of phosphorylated tau was associated with an acoustic classifier combining fundamental frequency range and pause rate (r = 0.58, P = 0.007). Receiver operating characteristic analysis with this combined classifier distinguished non-fluent/agrammatic speakers from healthy controls (AUC = 0.94) and from semantic variant patients (AUC = 0.86).InterpretationRestricted fundamental frequency range and increased pause rate are characteristic markers of speech in non-fluent/agrammatic primary progressive aphasia. These can be extracted with automated speech analysis and are associated with left inferior frontal atrophy and cerebrospinal phosphorylated tau level.

Dataset Information

Northwestern Anagram Test-Italian (Nat-I) for primary progressive aphasia.

Publications

Northwestern Anagram Test-Italian (Nat-I) for primary progressive aphasia.

Similar Datasets

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