Functional neuroimaging research on language recovery in patients with aphasia due to left hemisphere damage has generated some intriguing results. However, it is still not clear what role the right hemisphere plays in supporting language functions in chronic phase for patients with different site and size of lesion when different tasks are used. The present study was aimed at exploring the role of perilesional, ipsilesional and contralesional regions in neural recovery in participants with aphasia with different site and size of lesion using three different language tasks. All patients in the present study were in the chronic stage who had achieved high levels of recovery. Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) was used to characterize cortical activation in eight stroke patients and eight age/gender matched controls during lexical decision, semantic judgment and picture naming. An event related design using jittered interstimulus intervals (ISIs) was employed to present the stimuli. The fMRI scans revealed differences in activation patterns across the three tasks. Normal control participants and participants with aphasia mainly activated the left perisylvian region during the lexical decision task and the semantic judgment task. However, during the picture naming task, all participants activated bilateral posterior regions irrespective of the site or size of lesion. Subsequent regions of interest analysis and laterality index analysis revealed that patients with larger lesions produced greater right hemisphere activation than patients with smaller lesions during the picture naming task. The results of this study demonstrate that recovery is task, lesion site and lesion size specific. Further, the findings of the present study indicate a role for both homologous contralesional cortex and perilesional and ipsilesional regions as efficient mechanisms for supporting language functions in chronic stroke patients. / text

Thesis (M.S.) PLEASE NOTE: Boston University Libraries did not receive an Authorization To Manage form for this thesis or dissertation. It is therefore not openly accessible, though it may be available by request. If you are the author or principal advisor of this work and would like to request open access for it, please contact us at open-help@bu.edu. Thank you. / Recovery from aphasia, loss of language following a cerebrovascular incident (stroke), is a complex process involving both left and right hemispheric regions. In our study, we analyzed the relationships between semantic processing behavioral data, lesion size and location, and functional signal change from functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) data. Our study included 14 persons with aphasia in the chronic stage of recovery (six or more months post stroke) who performed semantic processing tasks of determining whether a written semantic feature matched a picture or whether two written words were related. Region of interest (ROI) analysis revealed that left inferior frontal gyrus pars opercularis and pars triangularis, despite significant damage, were the only regions to correlate with behavioral accuracy. Additionally, bilateral frontal regions including superior frontal gyrus, middle frontal gyrus, and anterior cingulate appear to serve as an assistive network in the case of damage to traditional language regions including inferior frontal gyrus, middle temporal gyrus, supramarginal gyrus, and angular gyrus. Contralesional posterior regions including right middle temporal gyrus, right supramarginal gyrus, and right angular gyrus are engaged in the case of complete damage to left hemisphere language regions. Additionally, right inferior frontal gyrus pars orbitalis is noted to be possibly serving a monitoring function. These results reinforce the importance of the left hemisphere in language processing in aphasia, as well as the nuanced relationships between lesion size, lesion location, and bilateral signal change in aphasia. / 2031-01-01

Language recovery was examined in 108 individuals with aphasia in the chronic phase of recovery who participated in various forms of aphasia treatment over extended periods of time. The Western Aphasia Battery (WAB) was administered at multiple time points and Aphasia Quotient (AQ) scores were used as a measure of language performance over time. As a group, the cohort showed an improvement of +6.52 AQ points, yielding an average rate of change of +4.07 AQ points per year. The rate of change was greatest at earlier times post onset (between three months and two years), and improvement was greatest for individuals with aphasia in the moderate severity range. Age, sex, and fluency did not have a significant effect on recovery. Education level had marginal predictive value in the direction of those with less education showing greater rate of improvement. These results suggest that language recovery continues during the chronic stage for individuals who are involved in some form of rehabilitation activity, especially in individuals with aphasia of moderate severity.

Nesta dissertação propomo-nos a fazer o levantamento toponímico das denominações da zona rural do município de São João Batista do Glória/MG, resgatando sua história social e a memória oral contida na toponímia da localidade. A pesquisa inicial foi realizada através do Mapa Rodoviário Municipal, elaborado em dezembro de 1999, em escala 1:50.000, que apresenta a zona rural do município de maneira bem detalhada, configurada por nove regiões e trinta e uma microrregiões, no qual identificamos 177 topônimos que representam, além das próprias regiões e microrregiões, as denominações da bacia hidrográfica, com seu rio, córregos, ribeirões e cachoeiras, além das serras e outros acidentes físicos e humanos, como as pontes e pousadas. Para completar o levantamento, fizemos pesquisa bibliográfica e de campo, onde procuramos investigar a motivação toponímica a partir da evolução históricosocial e de dados culturais que marcam a toponímia da região desde o século XVIII. Analisamos documentação cartográfica, documentos pessoais e do acervo cartorial. As informações obtidas em entrevistas realizadas com informantes, previamente selecionados, reforçaram a tradição oral como fonte preciosa para o resgate histórico e análise do comportamento lingüístico-toponímico do homem local. O presente trabalho está inserido no ATB Atlas Toponímico do Brasil Diversidade e Variedades Regionais (Dick, 1996) / In this dissertation we indented to do a toponymycal survey of rural area denominations of São João Batista do Glória city, MG, recovering its social history and oral memory contained in the locality toponymy. The initial research was done via municipal road map dated December 1999 using the scale 1:50.000 that shows the county in detail, composed by nine regions and thirty one micro regions, in which we identified 177 toponymies that represent, besides the own regions and micro regions, the denominations of the hydro basin, with its rivers, streams, brooks and waterfalls as well as hills and other physical irregurities and human modifications such as bridges and inns. To end up the survey, we have researched literature and conducted a field research as well in order to investigate the topomycal motivation of the social-historical evolution and of cultural data that mark the region topomyny since the 18th century. We analyzed cartographical documentation, personal documents and ones from cartorial acquis. The obtained information from interview held with speakers previously selected strengthened the oral tradition as precious source for historical recovery and analysis of toponymic-language behaviour of local people. This work is inserted in the ATB Atlas toponímico do Brasil - Diversidade e Variedades Regionais (Dick, 1996) (Brazil toponymic atlas Regional Diversities and Varierities)

Nesta dissertação propomo-nos a fazer o levantamento toponímico das denominações da zona rural do município de São João Batista do Glória/MG, resgatando sua história social e a memória oral contida na toponímia da localidade. A pesquisa inicial foi realizada através do Mapa Rodoviário Municipal, elaborado em dezembro de 1999, em escala 1:50.000, que apresenta a zona rural do município de maneira bem detalhada, configurada por nove regiões e trinta e uma microrregiões, no qual identificamos 177 topônimos que representam, além das próprias regiões e microrregiões, as denominações da bacia hidrográfica, com seu rio, córregos, ribeirões e cachoeiras, além das serras e outros acidentes físicos e humanos, como as pontes e pousadas. Para completar o levantamento, fizemos pesquisa bibliográfica e de campo, onde procuramos investigar a motivação toponímica a partir da evolução históricosocial e de dados culturais que marcam a toponímia da região desde o século XVIII. Analisamos documentação cartográfica, documentos pessoais e do acervo cartorial. As informações obtidas em entrevistas realizadas com informantes, previamente selecionados, reforçaram a tradição oral como fonte preciosa para o resgate histórico e análise do comportamento lingüístico-toponímico do homem local. O presente trabalho está inserido no ATB Atlas Toponímico do Brasil Diversidade e Variedades Regionais (Dick, 1996) / In this dissertation we indented to do a toponymycal survey of rural area denominations of São João Batista do Glória city, MG, recovering its social history and oral memory contained in the locality toponymy. The initial research was done via municipal road map dated December 1999 using the scale 1:50.000 that shows the county in detail, composed by nine regions and thirty one micro regions, in which we identified 177 toponymies that represent, besides the own regions and micro regions, the denominations of the hydro basin, with its rivers, streams, brooks and waterfalls as well as hills and other physical irregurities and human modifications such as bridges and inns. To end up the survey, we have researched literature and conducted a field research as well in order to investigate the topomycal motivation of the social-historical evolution and of cultural data that mark the region topomyny since the 18th century. We analyzed cartographical documentation, personal documents and ones from cartorial acquis. The obtained information from interview held with speakers previously selected strengthened the oral tradition as precious source for historical recovery and analysis of toponymic-language behaviour of local people. This work is inserted in the ATB Atlas toponímico do Brasil - Diversidade e Variedades Regionais (Dick, 1996) (Brazil toponymic atlas Regional Diversities and Varierities)

Esta pesquisa procurou descrever e explicar a permanência, a variação e a mudança dos topônimos na região da Estrada Real Os estudos toponímicos, no alcance pluridisciplinar de seu objeto de estudo, constituem um caminho possível para o conhecimento da cosmovisão das diversas comunidades linguísticas, que ocupam ou ocuparam um determinado espaço. Revelam-se de grande importância para o conhecimento de aspectos histórico-culturais de um povo, pois permitem a identificação de fatos linguísticos, de ideologias e crenças presentes no ato denominativo e, posteriormente, na permanência ou não de uma comunidade. O homem tem a necessidade de nomear o ambiente físico e social que o cerca, sendo esta uma condição sine qua non para a garantia de sua sobrevivência. Por meio da Toponímia, ramo da Onomástica que tem por objeto de estudo o exame da origem e do significado dos nomes dos lugares, pode-se analisar a estreita relação que se estabelece entre o homem e o topos que designa o espaço que o circunscreve. Este trabalho centra-se no estudo da motivação toponímica da Estrada Real tendo por base os relatos dos Viajantes Naturalistas dos séculos XVIII e XIX que passaram por estes caminhos. A pesquisa foi realizada através do mapa elaborado pelo Instituto Estrada Real. O presente trabalho está inserido no ATB Atlas Toponímico do Brasil Diversidade e Variedades Regionais (Dick, 1996). Da análise das fichas toponímicas propostas para cada um desses itens, verifica-se que os topônimos de natureza antropocultural são a maioria e que, dentre esses, predomina a taxe dos antropotopônimos. / For the present work, a description and an explanation of the toponimic maintenance, variation and change within this area was attempted of Royal Road. The toponimic studies, in the multidisciplinary reach of its object of study, constituye a possible way for a cosmovision knowledge of the diverse linguistic communities, which occupy or did in the past a certain area. The toponimic studies are of great relevance to the sociohistorical and cultural aspects of a community since they enable the identification of various linguistic facts, ideologies and beliefs which are present in the naming act later in their maintenance within a community. Human beings occupy space and, as they need to locate themselves geographically in the environment, they had to name the physical-social environment around. This process of name giving is a sine qua non condition that assures mans survival. Though Toponymy, a branch of Onomastics that studies the origin and the meaning of the names of places, it is possible to analyze the close relationship developed between men and topos.This work focuses on the study of motivation toponymic Royal Road based on the reports of Travelers Naturalists of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries that have gone through these paths. The survey was conducted across the map prepared by the Instituto Estrada Real. This work is inserted in ATB Atlas Toponymic Brazil Diversity and Variety Regional (Dick, 1996). From the analysis of the toponimic cards proposed one verifies that the toponimy of antropocultural nature are the majority and among them the anthropotoponimy class predominates.

Esta pesquisa procurou descrever e explicar a permanência, a variação e a mudança dos topônimos na região da Estrada Real Os estudos toponímicos, no alcance pluridisciplinar de seu objeto de estudo, constituem um caminho possível para o conhecimento da cosmovisão das diversas comunidades linguísticas, que ocupam ou ocuparam um determinado espaço. Revelam-se de grande importância para o conhecimento de aspectos histórico-culturais de um povo, pois permitem a identificação de fatos linguísticos, de ideologias e crenças presentes no ato denominativo e, posteriormente, na permanência ou não de uma comunidade. O homem tem a necessidade de nomear o ambiente físico e social que o cerca, sendo esta uma condição sine qua non para a garantia de sua sobrevivência. Por meio da Toponímia, ramo da Onomástica que tem por objeto de estudo o exame da origem e do significado dos nomes dos lugares, pode-se analisar a estreita relação que se estabelece entre o homem e o topos que designa o espaço que o circunscreve. Este trabalho centra-se no estudo da motivação toponímica da Estrada Real tendo por base os relatos dos Viajantes Naturalistas dos séculos XVIII e XIX que passaram por estes caminhos. A pesquisa foi realizada através do mapa elaborado pelo Instituto Estrada Real. O presente trabalho está inserido no ATB Atlas Toponímico do Brasil Diversidade e Variedades Regionais (Dick, 1996). Da análise das fichas toponímicas propostas para cada um desses itens, verifica-se que os topônimos de natureza antropocultural são a maioria e que, dentre esses, predomina a taxe dos antropotopônimos. / For the present work, a description and an explanation of the toponimic maintenance, variation and change within this area was attempted of Royal Road. The toponimic studies, in the multidisciplinary reach of its object of study, constituye a possible way for a cosmovision knowledge of the diverse linguistic communities, which occupy or did in the past a certain area. The toponimic studies are of great relevance to the sociohistorical and cultural aspects of a community since they enable the identification of various linguistic facts, ideologies and beliefs which are present in the naming act later in their maintenance within a community. Human beings occupy space and, as they need to locate themselves geographically in the environment, they had to name the physical-social environment around. This process of name giving is a sine qua non condition that assures mans survival. Though Toponymy, a branch of Onomastics that studies the origin and the meaning of the names of places, it is possible to analyze the close relationship developed between men and topos.This work focuses on the study of motivation toponymic Royal Road based on the reports of Travelers Naturalists of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries that have gone through these paths. The survey was conducted across the map prepared by the Instituto Estrada Real. This work is inserted in ATB Atlas Toponymic Brazil Diversity and Variety Regional (Dick, 1996). From the analysis of the toponimic cards proposed one verifies that the toponimy of antropocultural nature are the majority and among them the anthropotoponimy class predominates.

Though the current understanding of language processing is incomplete, it has been established that the left hemisphere is dominant for language in the majority of the population. Damage to language centers of the brain and to white matter tracts connecting these language centers results in a language deficit known as aphasia. Neuroplasticity in the brain can often compensate for these language deficits by strengthening neuronal connections between the right and left hemisphere, or by enhancing the neuronal connectivity of undamaged areas in the left hemisphere. Thus the brain can compensate for damaged language centers by using alternative cortical areas. These compensatory language areas may be homologous areas of the right hemisphere, or other undamaged portions of the left hemisphere. Various imaging techniques have been used to demonstrate this phenomenon. The current neuroimaging technique known as quantitative electroencephalographic brain imaging allows investigators to evaluate the functional anatomical location of language processing. When this mapping is overlaid on a magnetic resonance image, investigators are able to locate areas in the brain of the participant that are electrically activated during elicited speech tasks. This method was used in a single case study to examine the brain of an individual with a unique traumatic brain injury in which the anterior portion of the individual's left temporal lobe was surgically removed and considerable recovery of language subsequently occurred. The stimulus for the quantitative electroencephalography included identifying syntactically incorrect sentences. Imaging results from the participant with traumatic brain injury were compared to imaging results obtained from an age-matched control. Differences in quantitative electroencephalography between the two participants included a delayed P1-N1-P2 response and an absent P600 in the participant with traumatic brain injury. Behavioral results include an increased number of incorrect responses from the participant with traumatic brain injury as compared to the control participant. These results imply an interesting cortical distribution of language processing that could be further assessed by functional magnetic resonance imaging.