ABSTRACT
Objective To explore neglect dyslexia in unilateral spatial neglect patients,the error type and whether there exists word length and semantic effect.Methods Ten left spatial neglect patients were investigated by Chinese characters reading material.Results Unilateral spatial patients showed neglect dyslexia (202 neglect errors,94.0％ of the total 215 errors) when reading.The most common errors were omissions (148 errors,73.3％ of the total 202 neglect errors),followed by substitutions and additions.The error rate of two words was 9.9％ ± 8.4％,while the rate of three words was 18.8％ ± 16.2％.Performance was worse with the increase of word length (T =-55,P ＜ 0.05).The error rate of words was 8.3％ ± 7.5％,while the rate of non-words was 18.9％ ± 16.6％,and the rate of non-words was worse than that of words (T =-55,P ＜ 0.05).Conclusions Our study has shown that omissions are the most common error type of neglect dyslexia in Chinese unilateral spatial neglect patients,and the impairment include word length effect.The patients with unilateral spatial neglect show preserved semantic processing in the neglect side.
ABSTRACT
• To compare growth parameters (weight, height, occipitofrontal circumference (OFC) and body mass index (BMI) of very low birth weight (VLBW) children with that of age and sex matched children of normal birth weight. • To compare neurological, cognitive, educational and behavioural outcome of VLBW children with "that of control group. Design A descriptive comparative study. Setting Sri Jayawardenepura General Hospital (SJGH), Nugegoda. Method VLBW babies (<1500g), born at SJGH from 1990 January to 1995 December were compared with age and sex matched children of birthweights >2500g. These children were 6-11 years old at time of study (September-December 2001). Of 161 survivors, 92 were assessed. Their weights, heights, OFC and BMI were noted. Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children-Revised (WISC-R) and Draw-aman test were used to assess cognitive functions. Educational status was assessed using age appropriate reading, writing, arithmetic tests and grade 5 scholarship marks. Behavioural status was assessed using a check list. Results Of the VLBW children, 63 (68.5%) were preterm babies who were small for gestational age (SGA); 51 (55.4%) were born to mothers with pregnancy induced hypertension (PIH); 46 (50%) had respiratory distress; 33 (35.9%) needed mechanical ventilation; 35 (38%) had neurological disabilities. Growth parameters such as weight (P= 0.000), height (P= 0.0034), OFC (P= 0.031) and BMI (P= 0.001) were significantly lower in index group compared to control group. Cognitive function, arithmetic abilities and behaviour were not significantly different in the 2 groups. However, there was a statistically significant difference in their reading and writing abilities and scholarship marks. Conclusions The VLBW children consisted mainly of preterm babies who were SGA. PIH was the leading predisposing factor. Their catch up growth was not satisfactory and they had significant reading and writing difficulties. 38% had disabilities on neurological assessment.
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Se investigó un caso con alexia pura sin agrafia, secundaria a un infarto cerebral occipital. Se presentó, clínicamente, con una amaurosis bilateral de 2 h de duración, seguida de una marcada dificultad para la lectura, la cual era interpretada por el paciente como un déficit para la visión cercana y por los oftalmólogos y optometristas como una presbiopía. Se constató la ausencia de la onda P-300 en el estudio del componente endógeno de los potenciales relacionados con eventos (PRE) con tareas de discriminación fonética y su registro normal con tareas de discriminación gráfica. Así se confirmó el diagnóstico cliniconeurofisiológico de alexia pura sin agrafia mediante este método no invasivo, que estudia el proceso cognitivo cerebral.
A case of pure alexia without agraphia after en occipital cerebral infarction was presented. It clinically manifested with a bilateral amaurosis of 2 hours, followed by a marked difficulty for reading, which was interpreted by the patient as a visual deficit and by the ophthalmologists and optometrists as a presbyopia. The absence of the P-300 wave was proved in the study of the endogenous component of the event-related potentials (ERP) by using phonetic discrimination tasks and their normal record with graphic discrimination tasks. Thus, the cliniconeurophysiological diagnosis of pure alexia without agraphia was confirmed by this non-invasive method that studies the cerebral cognitive process.