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Past studies have explored formant centering, a corrective behavior of convergence over the duration of an utterance toward the formants of a putative target vowel. In this study, we establish the existence of a similar centering phenomenon for pitch in healthy elderly controls and examine how such corrective behavior is altered in Alzheimer's Disease (AD). We found the pitch centering response in healthy elderly was similar when correcting pitch errors below and above the target (median) pitch. In contrast, patients with AD showed an asymmetry with a larger correction for the pitch errors below the target phonation than above the target phonation. These findings indicate that pitch centering is a robust compensation behavior in human speech. Our findings also explore the potential impacts on pitch centering from neurodegenerative processes impacting speech in AD.

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a neurodegenerative disease involving cognitive impairment and abnormalities in speech and language. Here, we examine how AD affects the fidelity of auditory feedback predictions during speaking. We focus on the phenomenon of speaking-induced suppression (SIS), the auditory cortical responses' suppression during auditory feedback processing. SIS is determined by subtracting the magnitude of auditory cortical responses during speaking from listening to playback of the same speech. Our state feedback control (SFC) model of speech motor control explains SIS as arising from the onset of auditory feedback matching a prediction of that feedback onset during speaking, a prediction that is absent during passive listening to playback of the auditory feedback. Our model hypothesizes that the auditory cortical response to auditory feedback reflects the mismatch with the prediction: small during speaking, large during listening, with the difference being SIS. Normally, during speaking, auditory feedback matches its predictions, then SIS will be large. Any reductions in SIS will indicate inaccuracy in auditory feedback prediction not matching the actual feedback. We investigated SIS in AD patients [n = 20; mean (SD) age, 60.77 (10.04); female (%), 55.00] and healthy controls [n = 12; mean (SD) age, 63.68 (6.07); female (%), 83.33] through magnetoencephalography (MEG)-based functional imaging. We found a significant reduction in SIS at ∼100 ms in AD patients compared with healthy controls (linear mixed effects model, F (1,57.5) = 6.849, p = 0.011). The results suggest that AD patients generate inaccurate auditory feedback predictions, contributing to abnormalities in AD speech.

With more than 6000 attendees between in-person and virtual offerings, the American Epilepsy Society Meeting 2022 in Nashville, felt as busy as in prepandemic times. An ever-growing number of physicians, scientists, and allied health professionals gathered to learn a variety of topics about epilepsy. The program was carefully tailored to meet the needs of professionals with different interests and career stages. This article summarizes the different symposia presented at the meeting. Basic science lectures addressed the primary elements of seizure generation and pathophysiology of epilepsy in different disease states. Scientists congregated to learn about anti-seizure medications, mechanisms of action, and new tools to treat epilepsy including surgery and neurostimulation. Some symposia were also dedicated to discuss epilepsy comorbidities and practical issues regarding epilepsy care. An increasing number of patient advocates discussing their stories were intertwined within scientific activities. Many smaller group sessions targeted more specific topics to encourage member participation, including Special Interest Groups, Investigator, and Skills Workshops. Special lectures included the renown Hoyer and Lombroso, an ILAE/IBE joint session, a spotlight on the impact of Dobbs v. Jackson on reproductive health in epilepsy, and a joint session with the NAEC on coding and reimbursement policies. The hot topics symposium was focused on traumatic brain injury and post-traumatic epilepsy. A balanced collaboration with the industry allowed presentations of the latest pharmaceutical and engineering advances in satellite symposia.

Laryngeal dystonia is a debilitating disorder of voicing in which the laryngeal muscles are intermittently in spasm resulting in involuntary interruptions during speech. The central pathophysiology of laryngeal dystonia, underlying computational impairments in vocal motor control, remains poorly understood. Although prior imaging studies have found aberrant activity in the CNS during phonation in patients with laryngeal dystonia, it is not known at what timepoints during phonation these abnormalities emerge and what function may be impaired. To investigate this question, we recruited 22 adductor laryngeal dystonia patients (15 female, age range = 28.83-72.46 years) and 18 controls (eight female, age range = 27.40-71.34 years). We leveraged the fine temporal resolution of magnetoencephalography to monitor neural activity around glottal movement onset, subsequent voice onset and after the onset of pitch feedback perturbations. We examined event-related beta-band (12-30 Hz) and high-gamma-band (65-150 Hz) neural oscillations. Prior to glottal movement onset, we observed abnormal frontoparietal motor preparatory activity. After glottal movement onset, we observed abnormal activity in the somatosensory cortex persisting through voice onset. Prior to voice onset and continuing after, we also observed abnormal activity in the auditory cortex and the cerebellum. After pitch feedback perturbation onset, we observed no differences between controls and patients in their behavioural responses to the perturbation. But in patients, we did find abnormal activity in brain regions thought to be involved in the auditory feedback control of vocal pitch (premotor, motor, somatosensory and auditory cortices). Our study results confirm the abnormal processing of somatosensory feedback that has been seen in other studies. However, there were several remarkable findings in our study. First, patients have impaired vocal motor activity even before glottal movement onset, suggesting abnormal movement preparation. These results are significant because (i) they occur before movement onset, abnormalities in patients cannot be ascribed to deficits in vocal performance and (ii) they show that neural abnormalities in laryngeal dystonia are more than just abnormal responses to sensory feedback during phonation as has been hypothesized in some previous studies. Second, abnormal auditory cortical activity in patients begins even before voice onset, suggesting abnormalities in setting up auditory predictions before the arrival of auditory feedback at voice onset. Generally, activation abnormalities identified in key brain regions within the speech motor network around various phonation events not only provide temporal specificity to neuroimaging phenotypes in laryngeal dystonia but also may serve as potential therapeutic targets for neuromodulation.

BackgroundAdequate sleep is important for proper neurodevelopment and positive health outcomes. Sleep disturbances are more prevalent in children with genetically determined neurodevelopmental syndromes compared with typically developing counterparts. We characterize sleep behavior in Rett (RTT), Angelman (AS), and Prader-Willi (PWS) syndromes to identify effective approaches for treating sleep problems in these populations. We compared sleep-related symptoms across individuals with these different syndromes with each other, and with typically developing controls.MethodsChildren were recruited from the Rare Diseases Clinical Research Network consortium registries; unaffected siblings were enrolled as related controls. For each participant, a parent completed multiple sleep questionnaires including Pediatric Sleep Questionnaire (Sleep-Disordered Breathing), Children's Sleep Habits Questionnaire (CSHQ), and Pediatric Daytime Sleepiness Scale.ResultsSleep data were analyzed from 714 participants, aged two to 18 years. Young children with AS had more reported sleep problems than children with RTT or PWS. Older children with RTT had more reported daytime sleepiness than those with AS or PWS. Finally, all individuals with RTT had more evidence of sleep-disordered breathing when compared with individuals with PWS. Notably, typically developing siblings were also reported to have sleep problems, except for sleep-related breathing disturbances, which were associated with each of the genetic syndromes.ConclusionsIndividuals with RTT, AS, and PWS frequently experience sleep problems, including sleep-disordered breathing. Screening for sleep problems in individuals with these and other neurogenetic disorders should be included in clinical assessment and managements. These data may also be useful in developing treatment strategies and in clinical trials.

Control of speech formants is important for the production of distinguishable speech sounds and is achieved with both feedback and learned feedforward control. However, it is unclear whether the learning of feedforward control involves the mechanisms of feedback control. Speakers have been shown to compensate for unpredictable transient mid-utterance perturbations of pitch and loudness feedback, demonstrating online feedback control of these speech features. To determine whether similar feedback control mechanisms exist in the production of formants, responses to unpredictable vowel formant feedback perturbations were examined. Results showed similar within-trial compensatory responses to formant perturbations that were presented at utterance onset and mid-utterance. The relationship between online feedback compensation to unpredictable formant perturbations and sensorimotor adaptation to consistent formant perturbations was further examined. Within-trial online compensation responses were not correlated with across-trial sensorimotor adaptation. A detailed analysis of within-trial time course dynamics across trials during sensorimotor adaptation revealed that across-trial sensorimotor adaptation responses did not result from an incorporation of within-trial compensation response. These findings suggest that online feedback compensation and sensorimotor adaptation are governed by distinct neural mechanisms. These findings have important implications for models of speech motor control in terms of how feedback and feedforward control mechanisms are implemented.

A hallmark feature of speech motor control is its ability to learn to anticipate and compensate for persistent feedback alterations, a process referred to as sensorimotor adaptation. Because this process involves adjusting articulation to counter the perceived effects of altering acoustic feedback, there are a number of factors that affect it, including the complex relationship between acoustics and articulation and non-uniformities of speech perception. As a consequence, sensorimotor adaptation is hypothesised to vary as a function of the direction of the applied auditory feedback alteration in vowel formant space. This hypothesis was tested in two experiments where auditory feedback was altered in real time, shifting the frequency values of the first and second formants (F1 and F2) of participants' speech. Shifts were designed on a subject-by-subject basis and sensorimotor adaptation was quantified with respect to the direction of applied shift, normalised for individual speakers. Adaptation was indeed found to depend on the direction of the applied shift in vowel formant space, independent of shift magnitude. These findings have implications for models of sensorimotor adaptation of speech.

Research has shown that sleep is beneficial for the long-term retention of memories. According to theories of memory consolidation, memories are gradually reorganized, becoming supported by widespread, distributed cortical networks, particularly during postencoding periods of sleep. However, the effects of sleep on the organization of memories in the hippocampus itself remains less clear. In a 3-d study, participants encoded separate lists of word-image pairs differing in their opportunity for sleep-dependent consolidation. Pairs were initially studied either before or after an overnight sleep period, and were then restudied in a functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) scan session. We used multivariate pattern similarity analyses to examine fine-grained effects of consolidation on memory representations in the hippocampus. We provide evidence for a dissociation along the long axis of the hippocampus that emerges with consolidation, such that representational patterns for object-word memories initially formed prior to sleep become differentiated in anterior hippocampus and more similar, or overlapping, in posterior hippocampus. Differentiation in anterior hippocampal representations correlated with subsequent behavioral performance. Furthermore, representational overlap in posterior hippocampus correlated with the duration of intervening slow wave sleep. Together, these results demonstrate that sleep-dependent consolidation promotes the reorganization of memory traces along the long axis of the hippocampus.

Reality monitoring is defined as the ability to distinguish internally self-generated information from externally-derived information. The medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) is a key brain region subserving reality monitoring and has been shown to be activated specifically during the retrieval of self-generated information. However, it is unclear if mPFC is activated during the encoding of self-generated information into memory. If so, it is important to understand whether successful retrieval of self-generated information critically depends on enhanced neural activity within mPFC during initial encoding of this self-generated information. We used magnetoencephalographic imaging (MEGI) to determine the timing and location of cortical activity during a reality-monitoring task involving self generated contextual source memory encoding and retrieval. We found both during encoding and retrieval of self-generated information, when compared to externally-derived information, mPFC showed significant task induced oscillatory power modulation in the beta-band. During initial encoding of self-generated information, greater mPFC beta-band power reductions occurred within a time window of -700 ms to -500 ms prior to vocalization. This increased activity in mPFC was not observed during encoding of externally-derived information. Additionally, increased mPFC activity during encoding of self-generated information predicted subsequent retrieval accuracy of this self-generated information. Beta-band activity in mPFC was also observed during the initial retrieval of self-generated information within a time window of 300 to 500 ms following stimulus onset and correlated with accurate retrieval performance of self-generated information. Together, these results further highlight the importance of mPFC in mediating the initial generation and awareness of participants' internal thoughts.

Cerebellar degeneration (CD) has deleterious effects on speech motor behavior. Recently, a dissociation between feedback and feedforward control of speaking was observed in CD: Whereas CD patients exhibited reduced adaptation across trials to consistent formant feedback alterations, they showed enhanced within-trial compensation for unpredictable formant feedback perturbations. In this study, it was found that CD patients exhibit abnormally increased within-trial vocal compensation responses to unpredictable pitch feedback perturbations. Taken together with recent findings, the results indicate that CD is associated with a general hypersensitivity to auditory feedback during speaking.

Accurate integration of sensory inputs and motor commands is essential to achieve successful behavioral goals. A robust model of sensorimotor integration is the pitch perturbation response, in which speakers respond rapidly to shifts of the pitch in their auditory feedback. In a previous study, we demonstrated abnormal sensorimotor integration in patients with Alzheimer's disease (AD) with an abnormally enhanced behavioral response to pitch perturbation. Here we examine the neural correlates of the abnormal pitch perturbation response in AD patients, using magnetoencephalographic imaging. The participants phonated the vowel /α/ while a real-time signal processor briefly perturbed the pitch (100 cents, 400 ms) of their auditory feedback. We examined the high-gamma band (65-150 Hz) responses during this task. AD patients showed significantly reduced left prefrontal activity during the early phase of perturbation and increased right middle temporal activity during the later phase of perturbation, compared to controls. Activity in these brain regions significantly correlated with the behavioral response. These results demonstrate that impaired prefrontal modulation of speech-motor-control network and additional recruitment of right temporal regions are significant mediators of aberrant sensorimotor integration in patients with AD. The abnormal neural integration mechanisms signify the contribution of cortical network dysfunction to cognitive and behavioral deficits in AD.

Treatment for Angelman syndrome (AS) is currently limited to symptomatic interventions. A mouse model of AS has reduced calcium/calmodulin-dependent kinase II activity due to excessive phosphorylation of specific threonine residues, leading to diminished long-term potentiation. In a rat model of Parkinson disease, levodopa reduced phosphorylation of various proteins, including calcium/calmodulin-dependent kinase II. Further studies demonstrated that AS mice treated with levodopa performed better on rotarod testing than untreated AS mice. We conducted a multi-center double-blind randomized placebo-controlled 1-year trial of levodopa / carbidopa with either 10 or 15 mg/kg/day of levodopa in children with AS. The outcome of this intervention was assessed using either the Bayley Scales of Infant Development or the Mullen Scales of Early Learning, as well as the Vineland Adaptive Behavior Scales, and the Aberrant Behavior Checklist. Of the 78 participants enrolled, 67 participants received study medication (33 on levodopa, 34 on placebo), and 55 participants (29 on levodopa, 26 on placebo) completed the 1-year study. There were no clinically or statistically significant changes in any of the outcome measures over a 1-year period comparing the levodopa and placebo groups. The number of adverse events reported, including the more serious adverse events, was similar in both groups, but none were related to treatment with levodopa. Our data demonstrate that levodopa is well-tolerated by children with AS. However, in the doses used in this study, it failed to improve their neurodevelopment or behavioral outcome.

Speech and motor deficits are highly prevalent (>70%) in individuals with the 600 kb BP4-BP5 16p11.2 deletion; however, the mechanisms that drive these deficits are unclear, limiting our ability to target interventions and advance treatment. This study examined fundamental aspects of speech motor control in participants with the 16p11.2 deletion. To assess capacity for control of voice, we examined how accurately and quickly subjects changed the pitch of their voice within a trial to correct for a transient perturbation of the pitch of their auditory feedback. When compared to controls, 16p11.2 deletion carriers show an over-exaggerated pitch compensation response to unpredictable mid-vocalization pitch perturbations. We also examined sensorimotor adaptation of speech by assessing how subjects learned to adapt their sustained productions of formants (speech spectral peak frequencies important for vowel identity), in response to consistent changes in their auditory feedback during vowel production. Deletion carriers show reduced sensorimotor adaptation to sustained vowel identity changes in auditory feedback. These results together suggest that 16p11.2 deletion carriers have fundamental impairments in the basic mechanisms of speech motor control and these impairments may partially explain the deficits in speech and language in these individuals.

Self-agency is the experience of being the agent of one's own thoughts and motor actions. The intact experience of self-agency is necessary for successful interactions with the outside world (i.e., reality monitoring) and for responding to sensory feedback of our motor actions (e.g., speech feedback control). Reality monitoring is the ability to distinguish internally self-generated information from outside reality (externally-derived information). In the present study, we examined the relationship of self-agency between lower-level speech feedback monitoring (i.e., monitoring what we hear ourselves say) and a higher-level cognitive reality monitoring task. In particular, we examined whether speech feedback monitoring and reality monitoring were driven by the capacity to experience self-agency-the ability to make reliable predictions about the outcomes of self-generated actions. During the reality monitoring task, subjects made judgments as to whether information was previously self-generated (self-agency judgments) or externally derived (external-agency judgments). During speech feedback monitoring, we assessed self-agency by altering environmental auditory feedback so that subjects listened to a perturbed version of their own speech. When subjects heard minimal perturbations in their auditory feedback while speaking, they made corrective responses, indicating that they judged the perturbations as errors in their speech output. We found that self-agency judgments in the reality-monitoring task were higher in people who had smaller corrective responses (p = 0.05) and smaller inter-trial variability (p = 0.03) during minimal pitch perturbations of their auditory feedback. These results provide support for a unitary process for the experience of self-agency governing low-level speech control and higher level reality monitoring.

Speakers respond automatically and rapidly to compensate for brief perturbations of pitch in their auditory feedback. The specific adjustments in vocal output require integration of brain regions involved in speech-motor-control in order to detect the sensory-feedback error and implement the motor correction. Cortical regions involved in the pitch reflex phenomenon are highly vulnerable targets of network disruption in Alzheimer's disease (AD). We examined the pitch reflex in AD patients (n = 19) compared to an age-matched control group (n = 16). We measured the degree of behavioral compensation (peak compensation) and the extent of the adaptive response (pitch-response persistence). Healthy-controls reached a peak compensation of 18.7 ± 0.8 cents, and demonstrated a sustained compensation at 8.9 ± 0.69 cents. AD patients, in contrast, demonstrated a significantly elevated peak compensation (22.4 ± 1.2 cents, p < 0.05), and a reduced sustained response (pitch-response persistence, 4.5 ± 0.88 cents, p < 0.001). The degree of increased peak compensation predicted executive dysfunction, while the degree of impaired pitch-response persistence predicted memory dysfunction, in AD patients. The current study demonstrates pitch reflex as a sensitive behavioral index of impaired prefrontal modulation of sensorimotor integration, and compromised plasticity mechanisms of memory, in AD.

ObjectiveTo identify a genetic cause for migrating partial seizures in infancy (MPSI).MethodsWe characterized a consanguineous pedigree with MPSI and obtained DNA from affected and unaffected family members. We analyzed single nucleotide polymorphism 500K data to identify regions with evidence of linkage. We performed whole exome sequencing and analyzed homozygous variants in regions of linkage to identify a candidate gene and performed functional studies of the candidate gene SLC25A22.ResultsIn a consanguineous pedigree with 2 individuals with MPSI, we identified 2 regions of linkage, chromosome 4p16.1-p16.3 and chromosome 11p15.4-pter. Using whole exome sequencing, we identified 8 novel homozygous variants in genes in these regions. Only 1 variant, SLC25A22 c.G328C, results in a change of a highly conserved amino acid (p.G110R) and was not present in control samples. SLC25A22 encodes a glutamate transporter with strong expression in the developing brain. We show that the specific G110R mutation, located in a transmembrane domain of the protein, disrupts mitochondrial glutamate transport.InterpretationWe have shown that MPSI can be inherited and have identified a novel homozygous mutation in SLC25A22 in the affected individuals. Our data strongly suggest that SLC25A22 is responsible for MPSI, a severe condition with few known etiologies. We have demonstrated that a combination of linkage analysis and whole exome sequencing can be used for disease gene discovery. Finally, as SLC25A22 had been implicated in the distinct syndrome of neonatal epilepsy with suppression bursts on electroencephalogram, we have expanded the phenotypic spectrum associated with SLC25A22.

• RNS is a feasible and safe option for children as young as six years with refractory epilepsy. • RNS can be an effective treatment option for seizure control in refractory pediatric epilepsy. • RNS can be used in conjunction with other epilepsy surgery modalities. Responsive neurostimulation (RNS) is a relatively recent addition to the epilepsy surgery armory, gaining FDA approval in 2013 for use in adults with intractable focal epilepsy. Data for the use of RNS system in patients less than 18 years of age is limited. We aim to determine the safety and feasibility of RNS in children with refractory epilepsy. A retrospective chart review was conducted for all patients who underwent RNS implantation at an urban tertiary children's hospital. Demographics of the patients were obtained, including age at the time of implant, MRI findings, seizure onset zone identification, and RNS targets. Out of a fourteen patient cohort, one patient had a post-operative complication of infection at surgical site requiring explantation. Thirteen out of 14 patients had immediate post-operative head imaging that was negative for hemorrhage, infarction, or skull fracture; one patient did not undergo head imaging. No patients reported a worsening clinical seizure frequency at a 6-month follow up visit. In the subset of patients who were implanted with RNS and did not undergo concurrent resections, there was a statistically significant reduction in the average number of long episodes at the most recent visit when compared to the 1-month post-operative visit (p = 0.0268). RNS is a feasible and safe option for children as young as six years with refractory epilepsy when appropriate seizure focus identification has been performed with stereo CT and stereo EEG evaluations, and can be used in conjunction with other surgical epilepsy treatment modalities. Two canister RNS placement is achievable for patients with a broad epileptogenic network or multifocal seizure onset zones. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Traditional acne management with topical therapy, systemic antibiotics, hormonal agents, or oral isotretinoin requires compliance and may produce significant side effects. However, alternative treatments with lasers had failed to demonstrate durable clearance. To assess the tolerability and therapeutic outcomes of a novel 1726 nm laser treatment of moderate-to-severe acne across skin types. A prospective, open-label, single-arm, Investigational Device Exemption-approved, institutional review board-approved study of 104 subjects with moderate-to-severe facial acne and Fitzpatrick Skin Types ranging from II-to-VI was conducted. Subjects received 3 laser treatments at 3 (-1/+2)-week intervals. Following final treatment, ≥50% reduction in active acne inflammatory lesions was 32.6% at 4-weeks follow-up, increasing further to 79.8% and 87.3% at 12 and 26-weeks, respectively. The percentage of subjects clear or almost clear increased from 0% at baseline to 9%, 36.0%, and 41.8% at 4-, 12-, and 26-weeks follow-up. No serious adverse events were observed related to device or protocol; treatments were well tolerated, requiring no anesthetic. Therapeutic outcomes and discomfort were similar across all skin types. Lack of control group. The study findings demonstrate the novel 1726 nm laser is well tolerated with durable progressive posttreatment improvement to at least 26 weeks for moderate-to-severe acne across skin types. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study tests binary and ternary n-pentanol, ethanol, and petrol blends to increase spark-ignition (SI) engine performance and minimize CO and HC emissions. To improve brake thermal efficiency (BTE) and reduce emissions, adding ethanol into gasoline is one of the practices used in Automobiles. But the literature reported some performance limitations and problems with adding a high ethanol concentration to gasoline as phase separation problem occurs in fuel tank due to the hygroscopic nature of ethanol, a higher ethanol concentration may corrode some parts of the fuel supply system. Ethanol has a lower calorific value than gasoline, so a higher ethanol concentration in blends beyond a specific limit reduces BTE. N-pentanol as a fuel additive in gasoline can better solve these problems due to its high caloric value compared to ethanol. Also, when n-pentanol is mixed with gasoline and exposed to moisture, it does not separate in stages as in the ethanol case. Accordingly, this research aims to evaluate n-pentanol's viability as a fuel additive in petrol and ethanol-gasoline blends at different compression ratios. The experiments were carried out on a single-cylinder, four-stroke spark-ignition engine running at a constant speed. Different blends of n-pentanol with gasoline and ethanol were tested, and results were compared against gasoline and E10 (the optimal blend of ethanol-gasoline, 10/90 v/v %). Various parameters were examined, including BTE, brake-specific fuel consumption (BSFC), and different exhaust pollutants. The effects of compression ratio values on these parameters were also recorded. The 1.5 vol% pentanol with E10 (E10P1.5) mix has the best overall characteristics, including low BSFC, high BTE, and low CO and HC emissions compared to petrol and E10 fuels. E10P1.5 shows a maximum enhancement in BTE, low BSFC, CO reduction, and HC reduction by 23.79%, 19.80%, 37.79%, and 19.46%, respectively, over gasoline. Compared to E10, the improvement is 3.64% for BTE, 4.59% for BSFC, 8.88% for CO emission reduction, and 4.13% for HC emission reduction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]