Aphasia is an acquired language disorder caused by focal brain damage, which affect all modalities of language. Therefore, segregation of aphasia from speech disorders or modality specific problems such as dysarthria, apraxia of speech or agnosia is the first step of differential diagnosis. Even though cognitive dysfunctions affect language performance, cognitive communication disorder is also a different concept from aphasia which in confined to pure language disorders. The purpose of this study is to introduce various models and methods of evaluation on aphasia and to review of recent issues of aphasia research.

Dysphagia incidence can be up to 90% of patients after CVA disease and most of the patients demonstrate speech problems as well as dysphagia. The term of swallowing includes the entire process of deglutition from the placement of food in the mouth until the food enters to the esophagus through the oral and pharyngeal cavities. Swallowing functions share common anatomic structures and characteristics of physiology with speech in many aspects. Therefore, speech-language pathologists can help people with swallowing disorders. Herein the approaches and rationales for improving speech and swallowing functions in patients with stroke need to be discussed depending on the lesion sites of the brain.
Brain ; Deglutition Disorders ; Deglutition* ; Esophagus ; Humans ; Incidence ; Mouth ; Physiology ; Stroke*

Purpose: This study was performed to explore and describe the overall clinical practice adaptation experiences among nursing students during the COVID-19 pandemic. Methods: This qualitative study applied the grounded theory method by Corbin and Strauss. Data were collected from May to August 2021 through individual in-depth interviews with 14 nursing students from three universities in B metropolitan city. Results: From open coding, 20 sub-categories and 10 categories were identified. Analysis revealed that the core category was the process of “keeping the place of learning while adhering to the restrictions of the era of pandemic” and that it consisted of four phases: confusion, withdrawal, adjustment, and growth. Through this process, participants utilized various action/interactional strategies such as “shifting to positive thinking,” “building a shield to protect oneself,” and “focusing on learning.” The consequences of these strategies were “adapting to the reality of the infectious disease situation” and “strengthening a foothold to grow as a future nurse.” Conclusion An in-depth understanding of nursing students’ experiences of adapting to clinical practice during the COVID-19 pandemic will guide nursing educators to promote effective teaching strategies to better support nursing students in a time of infectious disease crisis.

Purpose: The purpose of the study was to understand the care experiences of the family of living donor liver transplantation (LDLT) patients where the donation had occurred within the family. Methods: Participants were eight family caregivers who cared for recipients and donors of LDLT. Data were collected through individual in-depth interviews from November, 2020 to April, 2021. Data analysis was performed through a cyclical process of data collection and analysis by applying Giorgi’s phenomenological research method. Results: The five main components extracted from the experiences of the family caregivers were: "A double-edged choice to save the family", "The harsh daily life of liver transplantation care", "The yoke of double care on both shoulders", "The power to withstand the adversity of caring", and "The recovery and growth of life pursued by trusting each other". Conclusion The participants tried to do their best in their daily lives, while providing reassurance and care to the LDLT patients in the family; however, they expressed some worry and hardship while doing so. The results of this study provide a deeper understanding of the caring experience of the family caregivers, which may contribute to the development of nursing interventions that will aid these caregivers in providing care to their LDLT family members. Furthermore, the development and application of an integrated management program for LDLT patients in the family is required.

Purpose: This study aimed to explore young adult donors’ experiences of living donor liver transplantation. Methods: A phenomenological research method was used. The participants were two women and six men. Data were collected through individual in-depth interviews from November 25th, 2019 to June 10th, 2020 and analyzed using Colaizzi’s phenomenological method. Results: Five theme clusters extracted from the young adult donors’ experiences were painful decision of a liver donation, the agony of both mind and body that overpowers youth, the bitter and bare face of reality that a young donor encounters, feeling the power of love that fills up the space of the organ removed, and liver donation becoming priming water for maturity. Conclusion The results of this study provide a deeper understanding of the lives of young adult donors who have experienced unexpected difficulties as well as self growth from the donation. It is expected that the results can be of use for developing and applying customized nursing interventions for management before and after liver donation among young adult donors.

Purpose: The purpose of the study was to understand the lived experience of illness among older females with cancer in South Korea. Methods: Data were collected from May to December of 2019 through individual in-depth interviews with eight older females with cancer who have undergone thorough cancer diagnosis and treatments. Transcribed data were analyzed using the hermeneutic phenomenological method developed by van Manen. Results: Six essential themes emerged: old body physically devastated through the fight against cancer; tug of war for symbiosis between cancer and the old body; home that does not provide comfort anymore; twilight years with no regrets even with cancer; womanhood to keep for a lifetime even in old age; and putting pieces together of the relationships around oneself. Conclusion Based on the participants’ illness experience, efforts need to be made to develop and implement effective strategies to improve nurses’ understanding of the life experiences of illness among older females with cancer in the Korean socio-cultural context, and to provide patient and family-centered nursing interventions that reflect patients’ age and gender characteristics.

Optic aphasia is a rare syndrome in which patients are unable to name visually presented objects but have no difficulty in naming those objects on tactile or verbal presentation. We report a 79-year-old man who exhibited anomic aphasia after a left posterior cerebral artery territory infarction. His naming ability was intact on tactile and verbal semantic presentation. The results of the systematic assessment of visual processing of objects and letters indicated that he had optic aphasia with mixed features of visual associative agnosia. Interestingly, although he had difficulty reading Hanja (an ideogram), he could point to Hanja letters on verbal description of their meaning, suggesting that the processes of recognizing objects and Hanja share a common mechanism.
Aged ; Agnosia ; Anomia ; Aphasia* ; Dyslexia ; Humans ; Infarction ; Posterior Cerebral Artery ; Semantics

Oro-pharyngeal dysphagia is a common symptom in patients with Parkinson's disease (PD) and related disorders, even in their early stage of diseases. Dysphagia in these patients has been underdiagnosed, probably due to poor the self-awareness of the conditions and the underuse of validated tools and objective instruments for assessment. The early detection and intervention of dysphagia are closely related to improving the quality of life and decreasing the mortality rate in these patients. The purpose of this paper is to give an overview of the characteristics of dysphagia, including the epidemiology, pathophysiology, and clinical symptomatology, in patients with PD compared with other parkinsonian disorders and movement disorders. The management of dysphagia and future research directions related to these disorders are also discussed.
Deglutition Disorders ; Dystonia ; Epidemiology ; Humans ; Mortality ; Movement Disorders ; Parkinson Disease ; Parkinsonian Disorders ; Quality of Life

Apraxia of speech (AOS) is a disorder in programming the speech musculature to produce the correct sounds of words in the proper sequence. Pure AOS without other speech-language deficit is very rare. We report a patient with AOS without aphasia developed after the left insular infarction. For the case of impaired speech production, AOS should be recognized as a differential diagnosis. Correct diagnosis and early institution of speech therapy may have important implications in the prognosis of AOS.
Aphasia ; Apraxias* ; Diagnosis ; Diagnosis, Differential ; Humans ; Infarction* ; Prognosis ; Speech Therapy

BACKGROUND: The purposes of this study were (1) to investigate the abilities of word definition in patients with Alzheimer's disease (AD) according to the severity, and (2) to examine the error patterns in patients with Alzheimer's disease. METHODS: Eight individuals with MCI (CDR=0.5) and 16 patients with AD (eight for probable AD mild group of CDR=1 and eight for probable AD moderate group of CDR=2) participated in the study. Eight normal age-, gender-, and education-matched elderly adults served as a control group for the MCI and AD groups. As stimuli for the word definition, eleven semantic categories were used, and two concrete words were selected from each category, resulting in a total of 22 items. Prior to the task, four definition categories were provided: 1) functional, 2) relational, 3) perceptual, and 4) categorical. Statistical analyses were performed using Kruskal-Wallis test, and Bonferroni analyses were used as a post-hoc comparison for any significant results. RESULTS: There were significant differences in word definition scores among four groups. The probable AD moderate group showed the lower definition score than the probable AD mild group. And the probable AD moderate group showed the lower definition score than MCI group. Each group defined words in different ways. While the control group employed four definition different categories equally, the probable AD moderate group used a functional definition category mainly. However, relational and categorical definition categories were rarely observed in the probable AD moderate group. The analysis of error pattern showed that inadequate definition was frequently observed in all groups. CONCLUSIONS: The results from this study suggest that word definition task could be a sensitive indicator of the impairment of semantic knowledge in patients with AD.
Adult ; Aged ; Alzheimer Disease* ; Humans ; Mild Cognitive Impairment ; Semantics