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Cerebral visual disorders include a range of common and rare deficits. They can be divided into effects on low-, intermediate-, and high-level forms of visual processing. Low-level deficits are various forms of homonymous hemifield scotomata, which affect all types of vision within their borders. Intermediate-level deficits refer to impairments of colour or motion perception, which affect either one hemifield or the entire field when lesions are bilateral. High-level deficits are divided into those of the ventral (occipitotemporal) or dorsal (occipitoparietal) stream. Occipitotemporal lesions affect various aspects of object recognition, ranging from general visual agnosia to selective agnosias, such as prosopagnosia or topographagnosia from right or bilateral lesions, and pure alexia from left-sided lesions. Occipitoparietal lesions cause the various components of Bálint syndrome, namely, simultanagnosia, optic ataxia, and ocular motor apraxia. They can also cause other impairments of visuospatial or visuotemporal processing, such as astereopsis and sequence-agnosia. Because of anatomic proximity, certain deficits cluster together to form a number of cerebral visual syndromes. Treatment of these disorders remains challenging, with frequent reliance on strategic substitutions rather than restorative approaches. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Agnosia for objects is often overlooked in neuropsychology, especially with respect to rehabilitation. Prosopagnosia has been studied more extensively, yet there have been few attempts at training it. The lack of training protocols may partially be accounted for by their relatively low incidence and specificity to sensory modality. However, finding effective rehabilitations for such deficits may help to reduce their impact on the social and psychological functioning of individuals.Our aim in this study was to provide clinicians and researchers with useful information with which to conduct new studies on the rehabilitation of object agnosia and prosopagnosia. To accomplish this, we performed a systematic and comprehensive review of the effect of neuropsychological rehabilitation on visual object and prosopagnosia.The Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic reviews and Meta-Analyses guidelines were followed. In addition, the Single-Case Experimental Design (SCED) and the Critical Appraisal Skills Programme (CASP) scales were used to assess the quality of reporting.Seven articles regarding object agnosia, eight articles describing treatments for prosopagnosia, and two articles describing treatments for both deficits were included.In the light of the studies reviewed, treatments based on analysis of parts seem effective for object agnosia, while prosopagnosia appears to benefit most from treatments relying on holistic/configural processing. However, more attempts at rehabilitation of face and object agnosia are needed to clarify the mechanisms of these processes and possible rehabilitations. Moreover, a publication bias could mask a broader attempt to find effective treatments for visual agnosia and leaving out studies that are potentially more informative. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Acute and chronic states of physical pain are inherently linked to our bodily perception. Bodily illusion paradigms have demonstrated that an experimentally induced sense of body disownership can modulate both acute and chronic pain. Insight into the relationship between enduring clinical alterations in body perception and pain is much more limited. The current study examined both pain perception and placebo analgesia in Body Integrity Dysphoria (BID), a clinical model of long-term alterations of bodily disownership: in its most commonly studied variant, people feel like a part of their body does not belong to them, leading to a desire for amputation of a physically healthy limb. Heat stimulations were applied before and after a placebo intervention (sham analgesic cream) to the desired and the undesired leg of 19 patients with BID with a unilateral leg amputation desire. Pain perception was assessed using pain thresholds, and ratings for pain intensity and pain unpleasantness. Results show that pain perception and placebo efficacy were lower for the undesired than for the desired leg, demonstrating a potential link between a clinical disorder of body ownership, pain perception, and placebo analgesia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Maharshi Sushruta has composed a treatise known as Sushruta Samhita around the 6th century BC. Sushruta Samhita lacks Indriya Sthana (a specialized section that deals with prognostic aspects), and prognostic knowledge is documented in the chapters from 28th to 33rd of Sutra Sthana (a specialized section that deals with Ayurvedic basic principles). Panchendriyartha Vipratipatti Adhyaya (PVA) is the 30th chapter of Sushruta Sutra Sthana (SSS) and it consists of 23 verses. Literature is still scarce on Arishtha Lakshanas of SSS and further studies are need of the hour. The aim of the present study is to explore the prognostic potential of the contents of PVA of SSS with the help of contemporary prognostic literature. Pathological conditions of sensory organs and/or sensory pathways with global or specific impairment of sensory functions are described in PVA chapter. Conditions such as auditory and visual hallucinations, auditory and visual perceptual distortions, aphasia, paradoxical heat and cold sensations, somatosensory disorders, disease-specific volatile organic compounds, quantitative and qualitative olfactory and gustatory impairments, Morgellons disease, cortical sensory syndrome, and mirror image agnosia associated with fatal outcome are mentioned in the PVA of SSS. Various new hypotheses generated by the present explorative study may open the doors for further research in to the development of novel Ayurvedic prognostic models or questionnaires. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Gerstmann Syndrome is a rare neurological presentation due to a lesion in the left dominant parietal lobe, manifesting as a tetrad of agraphia, acalculia, finger agnosia and right-left disorientation. We present a case of a 52-year-old man, right hand dominant, who presented to the Emergency Department with acute confusion for one day. He was disorientated to time, place and person. Focused neurological examination revealed atypical signs of acute stroke, comprising agraphia, acalculia, finger agnosia and right-left disorientation. Stroke protocol was activated and he underwent computed tomography brain perfusion, which confirmed a large penumbra area at the left middle cerebral artery territory. Computed tomography angiogram of the carotid arteries showed a long segment thrombosis in the left internal carotid artery. Emergency thrombectomy was abandoned due to impenetrable hard thrombus. He was treated with dual antiplatelet therapy and discharged after three days with partial improvement in terms of following commands, simple calculations and reduced finger agnosia. He was scheduled for outpatient follow up. This case highlights Gerstmann syndrome as an atypical manifestation of acute stroke. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Simultanagnosia is a common symptom of posterior cortical atrophy, and its association with brain structural and functional changes remains unclear. In our study, 18 posterior cortical atrophy patients with simultanagnosia, 29 patients with Alzheimer's disease and 20 cognitively normal controls were recruited and subjected to full neuropsychological evaluation, including simultanagnosia tests, and structural and resting-state functional MRI. The gray matter volume was assessed by voxel-based morphometry, while the intrinsic functional connectivity was evaluated using the reduced gray matter volume regions of interest as the seed. In contrast to the patients with Alzheimer's disease, those with posterior cortical atrophy showed the following: (1) markedly lower simultanagnosia test scores, (2) an altered regional gray matter volume of the left middle occipital gyrus and ventral occipital areas, and (3) lowered intrinsic functional connectivity with the left middle occipital gyrus, left lingual gyrus and right middle occipital gyrus separately. Additionally, the gray matter volume of the left middle occipital gyrus and left inferior occipital gyrus were each correlated with simultanagnosia in posterior cortical atrophy patients. The intrinsic functional connectivity of the left middle occipital gyrus with the right superior occipital gyrus and that of the right middle occipital gyrus with the left superior parietal gyrus were also correlated with simultanagnosia in posterior cortical atrophy patients. In summary, this study indicated that simultanagnosia is associated with gray matter reductions and decreased functional connectivity in the left middle occipital gyrus and the left inferior occipital gyrus in patients with posterior cortical atrophy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

BACKGROUND: Disorders of higher visual processing often impact patients with acquired brain injury. Even with treatment, these vision conditions can cause chronic challenges for patients. Understanding these conditions and their management can help improve functional independence and quality of life. OBJECTIVES: To discuss the various disorders of higher visual processing that result from acquired brain injury. Discussion to include classification, evaluation, and treatment techniques available to clinicians. METHODS: Peer reviewed journal articles were searched, primarily through PubMed. Articles spanning several decades were included in the review for historical context of these conditions, however an emphasis was placed on more recent publications for purposes of a discussion regarding clinical management of these conditions. RESULTS: Peer-reviewed articles and clinical trials from across several disciplines were included to frame a discussion of this varied group of conditions. CONCLUSION: Visual processing disorders have debilitating impacts on both the rehabilitation process as well as functional independence. Varied approaches are utilized in the treatment of these conditions with limited success. Understanding the benefits and limitations of both restorative and compensatory treatments will better help clinicians manage patients with these conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Empirical evidence suggests a phonological loop deficit associated with Down syndrome. A trisomy 21 may be associated with a narrowing of visual attention to fewer than four objects at a time too. In a study with computer tachistoscopy, the hypothesis was confirmed in all 194 persons with trisomy 21. The subitising limit of persons with trisomy 21 thus has a value that lies between the value of neurotypical persons and persons with simultanagnosia. A fitting term would therefore be 'simultandysgnosia'. Consideration of this dysgnosia could prove to be a key to learning disabilities in mathematics in particular and learning disabilities in general. Diagnostic and learning methods should consider this limitation of the attention span not only in verbal but also in visual tasks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There are few data on the range and severity of symptoms of SARS-CoV-2 infection or the impact on life quality in infected, previously healthy, young adults such as Swiss Armed Forces personnel. It is also unclear if an app can be used to remotely monitor symptoms in persons who test positive. Using a smartphone app called ITITP (Illness Tracking in Tested Persons) and weekly pop-up questionnaires, we aimed to evaluate the spectrum, duration, and impact of symptoms reported after a positive SARS-CoV-2 test according to sex, age, location, and comorbidities, and to compare these to responses from persons who tested negative. We followed up 502 participants (57% active participation), including 68 (13.5%) positive tested persons. Hospitalisation was reported by 6% of the positive tested participants. We found that positives reported significantly more symptoms that are typical of COVID-19 compared to negatives. These symptoms with odds ratio (OR > 1) were having difficulty breathing (OR 3.35; 95% CI: 1.16, 9.65; p = 0.03), having a reduced sense of taste (OR 5.45; 95% CI: 1.22, 24.34; p = 0.03) and a reduced sense of smell (OR 18.24; 95% CI: 4.23, 78.69; p

Posterior Cortical Atrophy (PCA) is a rare neuropsychiatric syndrome characterized by the dominancy of visuospatial impairments due to bilateral parieto-occipital divesting with the most common pathological changes presented in typical Alzheimer’s Disease (AD). We reported 3 cases with similar diagnoses and interesting manifestations in this study. Gradual onset and progression of visual deficits without underlying ophthalmologic disease accompanied by intact memory and fluent speech and also the presence of simultagnosia, optic ataxia, oculomotor apraxia, dyscalculia, finger agnosia, and environmental disorientation, and the absence of any history of related diseases; all of them strongly suggesting posterior cortical atrophy.