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Refereed/Peer-reviewed Background: In an effort to boost aphasia recovery, modern rehabilitation, in addition to speech and language therapy (SALT), is increasingly incorporating noninvasive methods of brain stimulation. The present study is aimed at investigating the effectiveness of two paradigms of neuronavigated repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS): (i) 1 Hz rTMS and (ii) continuous theta burst stimulation (cTBS) each as a standalone treatment for chronic aphasia poststroke. Methods: A single subject experimental design (SSED) trial was carried out in which six people with aphasia (PWA) were recruited, following a single left hemispheric stroke more than six months prior to the study. Three individuals were treated with 1 Hz rTMS, and the remaining three were treated with cTBS. In all cases, TMS was applied over the right pars triangularis (pTr). Language assessment, with standardized and functional measures, and cognitive evaluations were carried out at four time points: twice prior to treatment (baseline), one day immediately posttreatment, and at follow-up two months after treatment was terminated. Quality of life (QoL) was also assessed at baseline and two months posttreatment. In addition, one of the participants with severe global aphasia was followed up again one and two years posttherapy. Results: For all participants, both rTMS paradigms (1 Hz rTMS and cTBS) generated trends towards improvement in several language skills (i.e., verbal receptive language, expressive language, and naming and reading) one day after treatment and/or two months after therapy. Rated QoL remained stable in three individuals, but for the other three, the communication scores of the QoL were reduced, while two of them also showed a decline in the psychological scores. The participant that was treated with cTBS and followed for up to two years showed that the significant improvement she had initially exhibited in comprehension and reading skills two months after TMS (1st follow-up) was sustained for at least up to two years. Conclusion: From the current findings, it is suggested that inhibitory TMS over the right pTr has the potential to drive neuroplastic changes as a standalone treatment that facilitates language recovery in poststroke aphasia.

The present study reports the findings of a 10-consecutive day neuronavigated continuous theta burst stimulation (cTBS) treatment over the right pars triangularis (pTr) for one individual with chronic global aphasia post-stroke. Baseline language and quality of life measures were collected twice prior to treatment, one day post-treatment, and then at two and 12-months follow up. Therapy was tolerated well by A.M. and no side effects were noticed during and after treatment. Results showed a trend towards improvement in expressive language in the short-term (i.e. one day post-treatment), significant improvement in spoken comprehension and moderate improvement in reading performance at follow-up (i.e. two months and one year post-treatment). Quality of life (QoL) did not significantly change as a result of the treatment. Findings from this study indicate that cTBS over the right pTr has the potential to induce recovery of aphasia across various language skills. Further research exploring individualized TMS protocols for aphasia rehabilitation post-stroke is strongly suggested with the goal that TMS can be used as a treatment modality for aphasia post-stroke in the near future. Refereed/Peer-reviewed

The current study investigates the role of the morphophonological realisation of grammatical features as a compensatory mechanism for morphosyntactic deficits in specific language impairment (SLI). The phenomenon examined is past tense formation in Standard Modern Greek (SMG) and Cypriot Greek (CG) as it manifests a distinction in morphophonological salience realisation in the two linguistic varieties via differential use of a stress shift and stressed syllabic augment [é] required for past tense rule formation. Participants were pre-schoolers with typical language development (TD) and children with SLI. Subjects produced real verb (RV) and pseudo-verb stimuli (PV) in sentence completion tasks. Results indicated that morphophonological properties of past tense formation affected SLI but not TD performance. We attribute the results to the difference in the status of the augment in each variety and the effects it has on its realisation at the phonetic interface. Furthermore, verb contractibility appeared to pose particular difficulties in the performance of all groups.

Purpose: This cross-sectional study evaluated the relationship between dysphagia post-total laryngectomy (TL) and quality of life (QoL) of people who reside in Greece. This is the first such report to be undertaken on the topic. Methods: Speech and language therapists typically use patient judgement to identify difficulties with swallowing. The Greek adaptations of the M.D. Anderson Dysphagia Inventory (MDADI) and the Eating Assessment Tool (EAT-10) were completed by members of the Hellenic Association of Laryngectomees (HAL). More than 400 questionnaires were sent, but only 23 were returned (18 males and 5 females). Results: The results revealed that dysphagia has a negative impact on the QoL of people who have undergone TL for treatment of laryngeal cancer. Conclusion: It appears that not only treatment (i.e. TL) of the primary disease, but also secondary problems as a result of the treatment, such as dysphagia, have a significant impact on the QoL of patients and must be taken into consideration when therapeutic decisions for laryngeal cancer are made. The qualitative measures used here provide a starting point to objectively describe QoL as perceived by TL patients. This is particularly pertinent in Greece where access to delivery and quality of health services has been challenging because of recent fiscal constraints.

Background: Noninvasive brain stimulation techniques such as repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) are used to facilitate the recovery of language in stroke patients with aphasia. Although rTMS is a promising therapeutic method, further investigations are needed to expand the knowledge base about the use of the technique in stroke-induced aphasia. Aims: To evaluate the quality of conduct of systematic reviews of randomized controlled trials (RCTs) of interventions on the application of rTMS for aphasia rehabilitation post-stroke using the AMSTAR 2 (A Measurement Tool to Assess Systematic Reviews) instrument. Methods & Procedures: A search was performed of databases specific to systematic reviews. Four systematic reviews met the inclusion criteria. All aspects regarding the conduct of each individual systematic review was critically appraised using the AMSTAR 2 instrument. Outcomes & Results: The overall confidence ratings based on weaknesses in critical domains identified by the AMSTAR 2 was low for one systematic review and critically low for the remaining three. Conclusions: The quality of conduct of published systematic reviews of RCTs on the application of rTMS for aphasia rehabilitation post-stroke is low. The evidence for the effectiveness of rTMS on language recovery post-stroke remains inconclusive. The findings underscore the need for methodologically rigor trials on the applicability of TMS as an intervention approach for aphasia. Published guidelines to provide reliable and replicable results are urgently needed. Refereed/Peer-reviewed

The present study reports the findings of a 10-day neuronavigated continuous theta burst stimulation (cTBS) over the right pars triangularis for two individuals with chronic aphasia after a single left hemispheric stroke. Baseline language and quality of life measures were collected prior to the treatment study, post-treatment and at 3-month follow up. Therapy was tolerated well by both participants and no side effects were noticed during and after treatment. Results from one individual showed potential for positive change in performance in comprehension and expressive language both post-treatment and at the follow-up stage. Also, a trend towards improvement post-treatment was noticed in discourse and sentence productivity, and grammatical accuracy. In the follow up stage, grammatical accuracy showed a trend towards improvement; discourse productivity decreased and; sentence productivity skills showed mixed results. Results from the other participant showed potential for positive change in comprehension post-treatment, that was maintained at the follow-up stage. However, a decline in expressive language post-treatment and at follow-up, stronger post-treatment, was noticed. Regarding quality of life measurements, participant one appeared to have improved as his performance increased in the overall, physical and communication domains, but decreased slightly in the psychosocial domain. The second participant improved in the physical and communication domains and declined overall and in the psychosocial domains. Findings from this study indicate that cTBS over the right pars triangularis may have the potential to improve various language skills in patients suffering from chronic aphasia post-stroke. However, the potential benefits of this fast, non-invasive brain stimulation protocol on improvement of language abilities post-stroke need further exploration. Refereed/Peer-reviewed

Recent and specific data on the prevalence and/or incidence of oropharyngeal dysphagia in the general population are scarce. This study focuses on obtaining this data by means of a literature review and telephone survey. A literature review was performed to obtain data on the prevalence of dysphagia in the general population. Secondly, a quasi-random telephone survey using the functional health status questionnaire EAT-10 was conducted with the aim of establishing prevalence data on oropharyngeal dysphagia in the Netherlands. The literature review revealed six articles which met the inclusion criteria. The prevalence data on oropharyngeal dysphagia in the general population varied between 2.3 and 16 %. For the telephone survey, a total of 6,700 individuals were contacted by telephone, of which, 2,600 (39 %) participated in the study. Of the 2,600 participants, as many as 315 (12.1 %) were identified as having swallowing abnormalities and showed increased risk of oropharyngeal dysphagia with age. Prevalence data on oropharyngeal dysphagia in the Dutch general population were as high as 12.1 %. This data are in line with the retrieved prevalence data from the literature.

At present, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the European Medicines Agency (EMA) have approved drugs for Relapsing Remitting Multiple Sclerosis (RRMS) and Secondary Progressive MS (SPMS). In this paper, modern therapeutic strategies for MS are reviewed. A comprehensive research in MEDLINE, PUBMED, and SCIENCEDIRECT databases using two Boolean phrases {i.e. 1. [(Multiple Sclerosis) and (Disease Modifying Therapies)] and 2. [(Multiple Sclerosis) and (Neuroprotective Therapies)]} yielded more than 1,5000 articles in total. Therefore, for the purposes of this paper, articles written within the last decade were considered for review.