@article{SemlerAnderlStraubUttneretal.2018,
  author    = {Semler, Elisa and Anderl-Straub, Sarah and Uttner, Ingo and Diehl-Schmid, Janine and Danek, Adrian and Einsiedler, Beate and Fassbender, Klaus and Fliessbach, Klaus and Huppertz, Hans-J{\"u}rgen and Jahn, Holger and Kornhuber, Johannes and Landwehrmeyer, Bernhard and Lauer, Martin and Muche, Rainer and Prudlo, Johannes and Schneider, Anja and Schroeter, Matthias L. and Ludolph, Albert C. and Otto, Markus},
  title     = {A language-based sum score for the course and therapeutic intervention in primary progressive aphasia},
  series = {Alzheimer's Research \& Therapy},
  volume    = {10},
  journal   = {Alzheimer's Research \& Therapy},
  organization    = {FLTD consortium},
  doi       = {10.1186/s13195-018-0345-3},
  url       = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-236277},
  year      = {2018},
  abstract  = {Background With upcoming therapeutic interventions for patients with primary progressive aphasia (PPA), instruments for the follow-up of patients are needed to describe disease progression and to evaluate potential therapeutic effects. So far, volumetric brain changes have been proposed as clinical endpoints in the literature, but cognitive scores are still lacking. This study followed disease progression predominantly in language-based performance within 1 year and defined a PPA sum score which can be used in therapeutic interventions. Methods We assessed 28 patients with nonfluent variant PPA, 17 with semantic variant PPA, 13 with logopenic variant PPA, and 28 healthy controls in detail for 1 year. The most informative neuropsychological assessments were combined to a sum score, and associations between brain atrophy were investigated followed by a sample size calculation for clinical trials. Results Significant absolute changes up to 20\% in cognitive tests were found after 1 year. Semantic and phonemic word fluency, Boston Naming Test, Digit Span, Token Test, AAT Written language, and Cookie Test were identified as the best markers for disease progression. These tasks provide the basis of a new PPA sum score. Assuming a therapeutic effect of 50\% reduction in cognitive decline for sample size calculations, a number of 56 cases is needed to find a significant treatment effect. Correlations between cognitive decline and atrophy showed a correlation up to r = 0.7 between the sum score and frontal structures, namely the superior and inferior frontal gyrus, as well as with left-sided subcortical structures. Conclusion Our findings support the high performance of the proposed sum score in the follow-up of PPA and recommend it as an outcome measure in intervention studies.},
  language  = {en}
}
@article{KleihGottschaltTeichleinetal.2016,
  author    = {Kleih, Sonja C. and Gottschalt, Lea and Teichlein, Eva and Weilbach, Franz X.},
  title     = {Toward a P300 Based Brain-Computer Interface for Aphasia Rehabilitation after Stroke: Presentation of Theoretical Considerations and a Pilot Feasibility Study},
  series = {Frontiers in Human Neuroscience},
  volume    = {10},
  journal   = {Frontiers in Human Neuroscience},
  number    = {547},
  doi       = {10.3389/fnhum.2016.00547},
  url       = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-147929},
  year      = {2016},
  abstract  = {People with post-stroke motor aphasia know what they would like to say but cannot express it through motor pathways due to disruption of cortical circuits. We present a theoretical background for our hypothesized connection between attention and aphasia rehabilitation and suggest why in this context, Brain-Computer Interface (BCI) use might be beneficial for patients diagnosed with aphasia. Not only could BCI technology provide a communication tool, it might support neuronal plasticity by activating language circuits and thereby boost aphasia recovery. However, stroke may lead to heterogeneous symptoms that might hinder BCI use, which is why the feasibility of this approach needs to be investigated first. In this pilot study, we included five participants diagnosed with post-stroke aphasia. Four participants were initially unable to use the visual P300 speller paradigm. By adjusting the paradigm to their needs, participants could successfully learn to use the speller for communication with accuracies up to 100\%. We describe necessary adjustments to the paradigm and present future steps to investigate further this approach.},
  language  = {en}
}