O atraso na retroalimentação auditiva e seus efeitos nas disfluências típicas da gagueira

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES)

Comportamento, fluência verbal e ritmos circadianos em indivíduos com o Transtorno do Espectro do Autismo (TEA) antes e após o uso de melatonina

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES)

Pulsar da Medusa: um experimento de criação cênica e estudo da expressividade do corpo-voz a partir dos fatores do movimento de Rudolf Laban

Pós-graduação em Artes - IA

Annual Report of Nebraska's Reading First

Thi report summarizes the results of the first year of the Reading First Initiative in Nebraska. Results show that teachers and schools have made a real effort to change. Student performance in the earlier grades has shown great promise for the following years, however, growth in fluency and comprehension in grades 2 and 3 were not as impressive and require additional attention. Overall, students make at least a year’s progress in most schools and most demographic groups. Schools can make much better use of the data they were collecting and need further direction in this area The assessment results were triangulated by observations in the classrooms, interviews, and teacher responses to professional development- teachers know how to teach PA and the alphabetic principle but were still struggling with: finding time and effective strategies for fluency training teaching comprehension strategies teaching self monitoring. Growing gaps for SPED, Ethnic minorities, and ELL students suggest an emphasis on the secondary and tertiary levels of intervention in the schools.

Pulsar da Medusa: um experimento de criação cênica e estudo da expressividade do corpo-voz a partir dos fatores do movimento de Rudolf Laban

Pós-graduação em Artes - IA

Public Speaking in Social Phobia: A Pilot Study of Self-Ratings and Observers' Ratings of Social Skills

Objectives: The aim of this pilot study was to investigate whether patients with social anxiety disorder (SAD) differ from controls in the quality of skill-related behaviors displayed during a speech and in overall behavioral adequacy as perceived by observers and by the patients themselves. Design: A total of 18 SAD patients and 18 controls were screened by a diagnostic interview and took part in a 3-minute speech of their own choosing. For each videotaped speech, observers rated the adequacy of the skill-related behaviors and overall performance adequacy. After the experiment, participants were asked to rate their own overall performance adequacy. Results: The results showed that SAD patients exhibited significantly worse voice intonation and fluency of the speech, however no differences were found in global self-ratings. Moreover, the performance evaluations of the SAD group were consistent with the observers, while the controls evaluated their performance lower than the observers. Conclusions: The results are inconsistent with the cognitive model, because patients with SAD did not underestimate their performance. Compared with spontaneous interactions, the clear rules established for such social situations as speeches may result in less cognitive distortion for SAD patients. (C) 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Clin. Psychol. 68:397-402, 2012.

Elderly Individuals with Diabetes: Adding Cognitive Training to Psychoeducational Intervention

The present research examined the effects of a cognitive training program combined with psychoeducational intervention for diabetic elderly patients. Specifically, it aimed at assessing the effects of an eight-session cognitive training and educational program in diabetic elderly individuals and investigating changes in their awareness about specific aspects of diabetes. The final sample consisted of 34 individuals-19 in the experimental group (EG) and 15 in the control group (CG), all residing in the eastern region of the city of Sao Paulo. The protocol included clinical and sociodemographic questions; the Diabetes Attitudes Questionnaire (ATT-19); Diabetes Knowledge Scale (DKN-A); Mini Mental State Examination (MMSE); Verbal Fluency-animal category (VF); Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS); Short Cognitive Performance Test (SKT); and the Rivermead Behavioral Memory Test (RBMT). Results pointed to a significant difference between the two groups for the ATT-19, DKN, and SKT-memory and SKT-total, and a marginally significant difference for the RBMT history in the posttest. As for the remaining cognitive variables, no changes were observed. Retest effects were not observed in the CG. We concluded that cognitive training combined with psychoeducational intervention in diabetic elderly individuals may be effective in producing cognitive gains as well as attitude and knowledge improvement concerning diabetes mellitus (DM).

Normative Data for Healthy Middle-Aged and Elderly Performance on the Addenbrooke Cognitive Examination-Revised

Objective: To provide normative data for healthy middle-aged and elderly Brazilians' performance on the Addenbrooke Cognitive Examination-Revised (ACE-R) and to investigate the effects of age, sex, and schooling on test performance. Background: The ACE-R is a brief cognitive battery that assesses various aspects of cognition. Its 5 subdomains (Attention and Orientation, Memory, Verbal Fluency, Language, and Visuospatial Abilities) are commonly impaired in Alzheimer disease or frontotemporal dementia. Methods: We evaluated 144 cognitively healthy volunteers (50% men, 50% women) aged 50 to 93 years, with 4 to 24 years of schooling. We divided the participants into 4 age groups, each of which was then stratified into 3 groups according to years of education. We assessed all participants with the ACE-R, the Mattis Dementia Rating Scale, and the Cornell Scale for Depression in Dementia. Results: Years of education affected all ACE-R subscores. Age influenced the Verbal Fluency subscore (P < 0.001) and the ACE-R total score (P < 0.05). Sex affected the Attention and Orientation (P = 0.037) and Mini-Mental State Examination subscores (P = 0.048), but not the ACE-R total score (P > 0.05). Conclusions: The performance of healthy middle-aged and elderly individuals on the ACE-R battery is strongly influenced by education and, to a lesser extent, by age. These findings are of special relevance in countries with populations that have marked heterogeneity in educational levels.

Frailty criteria and cognitive performance are related: data from the fibra study in Ermelino Matarazzo, São Paulo, Brazil

Objectives: To assess the relationship between the CHS frailty criteria (Fried et al., 2001) and cognitive performance. Design: Cross sectional and population-based. Setting: Ermelino Matarazzo, a poor sub district of the city of Sao Paulo, Brazil. Participants: 384 community dwelling older adults, 65 and older. Measurements: Assessment of the CHS frailty criteria, the Brief Cognitive Screening Battery (memorization of 10 black and white pictures, verbal fluency animal category, and the Clock Drawing Test) and the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE). Results: Frail older adults performed significantly lower than non-frail and pre frail elderly in most cognitive variables. Grip strength and age were associated to MMSE performance, age was associated to delayed memory recall, gait speed was associated to verbal fluency and CDT performance, and education was associated to CDT performance. Conclusion: Being frail may be associated with cognitive decline, thus, gerontological assessments and interventions should consider that these forms of vulnerability may occur simultaneously.

Relationship Between Regional Brain Volumes and Cognitive Performance in the Healthy Aging: An MRI Study Using Voxel-Based Morphometry

The presence of cognitive impairment is a frequent complaint among elderly individuals in the general population. This study aimed to investigate the relationship between aging-related regional gray matter (rGM) volume changes and cognitive performance in healthy elderly adults. Morphometric magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) measures were acquired in a community-based sample of 170 cognitively-preserved subjects (66 to 75 years). This sample was drawn from the "Sao Paulo Ageing and Health" study, an epidemiological study aimed at investigating the prevalence and risk factors for Alzheimer's disease in a low income region of the city of Sao Paulo. All subjects underwent cognitive testing using a cross-culturally battery validated by the Research Group on Dementia 10/66 as well as the SKT (applied on the day of MRI scanning). Blood genotyping was performed to determine the frequency of the three apolipoprotein E allele variants (APOE epsilon 2/epsilon 3/epsilon 4) in the sample. Voxelwise linear correlation analyses between rGM volumes and cognitive test scores were performed using voxel-based morphometry, including chronological age as covariate. There were significant direct correlations between worse overall cognitive performance and rGM reductions in the right orbitofrontal cortex and parahippocampal gyrus, and also between verbal fluency scores and bilateral parahippocampal gyral volume (p < 0.05, familywise-error corrected for multiple comparisons using small volume correction). When analyses were repeated adding the presence of the APOE epsilon 4 allele as confounding covariate or excluding a minority of APOE epsilon 2 carriers, all findings retained significance. These results indicate that rGM volumes are relevant biomarkers of cognitive deficits in healthy aging individuals, most notably involving temporolimbic regions and the orbitofrontal cortex.

Determinants of cognitive performance among community dwelling older adults in an impoverished sub-district of Sao Paulo in Brazil

Determinants of cognitive performance in old age have received limited attention in Latin America. We investigated the association of socio-demographic and health-related variables with cognitive performance in a sample of older adults with limited educational experience living in a poor subdistrict of the city of Sao Paulo. This was a cross-sectional population-based study which included a sample of 384 seniors 65 years and older. Cognition was assessed by the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) and the Brief Cognitive Screening Battery (BCSB) (episodic memory test with 10 pictures, verbal fluency (VF), Clock Drawing Test (CDT)). Results indicated that age, sex, schooling, depressive symptoms, and systolic blood pressure (SBP) level had a significant impact on the cognitive performance of the sample. Therefore, pharmacological and psychosocial interventions with a focus on improving mood and controlling hypertension may have beneficial effects on cognition among seniors with similar socio-demographic characteristics. (C) 2011 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

Cognitive Training and Educational Intervention for Individuals with Hypertension: Effects on Cognition

Objectives: To evaluate the possibility of combining cognitive training to an educational intervention composed by eight sessions about hypertension for a better management of the disease among the elderly. Methods: 64 older adults who reported having hypertension, divided into experimental group (EG, n=35) and control group (CG, n=29) participated in the study. Control participants received training after the post-test. The protocol contained socio-demographic and clinical data, Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE), Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS), Rivermead Behavioral Memory Test (RBMT), Verbal Fluency Animal Category (VF) and Short Cognitive Test (SKT). Results: The EG showed better cognitive performance when compared with the CG, at post-test. Conclusion: Cognitive gains may occur after psychoeducational interventions for older adults with hypertension.

Juvenile myoclonic epilepsy: The impact of clinical variables and psychiatric disorders on executive profile assessed with a comprehensive neuropsychological battery

Executive dysfunction is reported in juvenile myoclonic epilepsy (JME). However, batteries employed in previous studies included no more than three tests of executive function. In this study, we aimed to assess executive and attentional functions in JME using a comprehensive battery of eight tests (encompassing fifteen subtests). We also evaluated neuropsychological profiles using a clinical criterion of severity and correlated these findings with epilepsy clinical variables and the presence of psychiatric disorders. We prospectively evaluated 42 patients with JME and a matched control group with Digit Span tests (forward and backward), Stroop Color-Word Test, Trail Making Test, Wisconsin Card-Sorting Test, Matching Familiar Figures Test and Word Fluency Test. We estimated IQ with the Matrix Reasoning and Vocabulary subtests of the Wechsler Abbreviated Intelligence Scale. The patients with JME showed specific deficits in working memory, inhibitory control, concept formation, goal maintenance, mental flexibility, and verbal fluency. We observed attentional deficits in processes such as alertness and attention span and those requiring sustained and divided attention. We found that 83.33% of the patients had moderate or severe executive dysfunction. In addition, attentional and executive impairment was correlated with higher frequency of seizures and the presence of psychiatric disorders. Furthermore, executive dysfunction correlated with a longer duration of epilepsy. Our findings indicate the need for comprehensive neuropsychological batteries in patients with JME, in order to provide a more extensive evaluation of attentional and executive functions and to show that some relevant deficits have been overlooked. (C) 2012 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

The effect of overweight/obesity on cognitive function in euthymic individuals with bipolar disorder

Background. - Persistent impairment in cognitive function has been described in euthymic individuals with bipolar disorder. Collective work indicates that obesity is associated with reduced cognitive function in otherwise healthy individuals. This sub-group post-hoc analysis preliminarily explores and examines the association between overweight/obesity and cognitive function in euthymic individuals with bipolar disorder. Methods. - Euthymic adults with DSM-IV-TR-defined bipolar I or II disorder were enrolled. Subjects included in this post-hoc analysis (n = 67) were divided into two groups (normal weight, body mass index [BMI] of 18.5-24.9 kg/m(2); overweight/obese, BMI >= 25.0 kg/m(2)). Demographic and clinical information were obtained at screening. At baseline, study participants completed a comprehensive cognitive battery to assess premorbid IQ, verbal learning and memory, attention and psychomotor processing speed, executive function, general intellectual abilities, recollection and habit memory, as well as self-perceptions of cognitive failures. Results. - BMI was negatively correlated with attention and psychomotor processing speed as measured by the Digit Symbol Substitution Test (P < 0.01). Overweight and obese bipolar individuals had a significantly lower score on the Verbal Fluency Test when compared to normal weight subjects (P < 0.05). For all other measures of cognitive function, non-significant trends suggesting a negative association with BMI were observed, with the exception of measures of executive function (i.e. Trail Making Test B) and recollection memory (i.e. process-dissociation task). Conclusion. - Notwithstanding the post-hoc methodology and relatively small sample size, the results of this study suggest a possible negative effect of overweight/obesity on cognitive function in euthymic individuals with bipolar disorder. Taken together, these data provide the impetus for more rigorous evaluation of the mediational role of overweight/obesity (and other medical co-morbidity) on cognitive function in psychiatric populations. (C) 2011 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.

Acoustic analyses of diadochokinesis in fluent and stuttering children

OBJECTIVES: The purpose of the study was to acoustically compare the performance of children who do and do not stutter on diadochokinesis tasks in terms of syllable duration, syllable periods, and peak intensity. METHODS: In this case-control study, acoustical analyses were performed on 26 children who stutter and 20 aged-matched normally fluent children (both groups stratified into preschoolers and school-aged children) during a diadochokinesis task: the repetition of articulatory segments through a task testing the ability to alternate movements. Speech fluency was assessed using the Fluency Profile and the Stuttering Severity Instrument. RESULTS: The children who stutter and those who do not did not significantly differ in terms of the acoustic patterns they produced in the diadochokinesis tasks. Significant differences were demonstrated between age groups independent of speech fluency. Overall, the preschoolers performed poorer. These results indicate that the observed differences are related to speech-motor age development and not to stuttering itself. CONCLUSIONS: Acoustic studies demonstrate that speech segment durations are most variable, both within and between subjects, during childhood and then gradually decrease to adult levels by the age of eleven to thirteen years. One possible explanation for the results of the present study is that children who stutter presented higher coefficients of variation to exploit the motor equivalence to achieve accurate sound production (i.e., the absence of speech disruptions).