21,434 research outputs found
Spatial navigation deficits - overlooked cognitive marker for preclinical Alzheimer disease?
No full textDetection of incipient Alzheimer disease (AD) pathophysiology is critical to identify preclinical individuals and target potentially disease-modifying therapies towards them. Current neuroimaging and biomarker research is strongly focused in this direction, with the aim of establishing AD fingerprints to identify individuals at high risk of developing this disease. By contrast, cognitive fingerprints for incipient AD are virtually non-existent as diagnostics and outcomes measures are still focused on episodic memory deficits as the gold standard for AD, despite their low sensitivity and specificity for identifying at-risk individuals. This Review highlights a novel feature of cognitive evaluation for incipient AD by focusing on spatial navigation and orientation deficits, which are increasingly shown to be present in at-risk individuals. Importantly, the navigation system in the brain overlaps substantially with the regions affected by AD in both animal models and humans. Notably, spatial navigation has fewer verbal, cultural and educational biases than current cognitive tests and could enable a more uniform, global approach towards cognitive fingerprints of AD and better cognitive treatment outcome measures in future multicentre trials. The current Review appraises the available evidence for spatial navigation and/or orientation deficits in preclinical, prodromal and confirmed AD and identifies research gaps and future research priorities
Test-retest reliability of spatial navigation in adults at-risk of Alzheimer’s disease
Get PDFThe Virtual Supermarket Task (VST) and Sea Hero Quest detect high-genetic-risk Alzheimer‘s disease (AD). We aimed to determine their test-retest reliability in a preclinical AD population. Over two time points, separated by an 18-month period, 59 cognitively healthy individuals underwent a neuropsychological and spatial navigation assessment. At baseline, participants were classified as low-genetic-risk of AD or high-genetic-risk of AD. We calculated two-way mixed effects intraclass correlation coefficients (ICC) for task parameters and used repeated measures ANOVAS to determine whether genetic risk or sex contributed to test-retest variability. The egocentric parameter of the VST measure showed the highest test–retest reliability (ICC = .72), followed by the SHQ distance travelled parameter (ICC = .50). Post hoc longitudinal analysis showed that boundary-based navigation predicts worsening episodic memory concerns in high-risk (F = 5.01, P = 0.03), but in not low-risk, AD candidates. The VST and the Sea Hero Quest produced parameters with acceptable test-retest reliability. Further research in larger sample sizes is desirable
Functional connectivity between the entorhinal and posterior cingulate cortices underpins navigation discrepancies in at-risk Alzheimer’s disease
Get PDFNavigation processes that are selectively mediated by functional activity in the entorhinal cortex may be a marker of preclinical Alzheimer's disease (AD). Here, we tested if a short path integration paradigm can detect the strongest genetic-risk phenotype of AD in large sample of apolipoprotein E (APOE)-genotyped individuals. We also examined the associations between APOE-mediated navigation process, subjective cognitive decline, and rest-stating network connectivity. Navigation discrepancies classified 77% the APOE-genotyped cohort into their respective low-risk ε3ε3 and high-risk ε3ε4 categories. When connectivity strength between entorhinal and the posterior cingulate cortices (also a functional correlate of strongest APOE-dependant behavioral characteristics) was considered, this classification accuracy increased to 85%. Our findings present a whole picture of at-genetic-risk AD, including select impairment in path integration, self-report cognitive decline, and altered network activity that is reminiscent of the pathological spread of preclinical AD disease. These findings may have important implications for the early detection of AD
Protecting Animals 36: Author Witi Ihimaera
No full textIn this very special episode of Knowing Animals I am joined by beloved New Zealand author Witi Ihimaera. Witi has written many books featuring nonhuman animals. He offers us a non-colonial lens through which to think about the human/nonhuman relationship
I Think I Am Philip K. Dick
No full textFor years, noted writer Laurence A. Rickels often found himself compared to novelist Philip K. Dickthough in fact Rickels had never read any of the science fiction writers work. When he finally read his first Philip K. Dick novel, while researching for his recent book The Devil Notebooks , it prompted a prolonged immersion in Dicks writing as well as a recognition of Rickelss own long-documented intellectual pursuits. The result of this engagement is I Think I Am: Philip K. Dick , a profound thought experiment that charts the wide relevance of the pulp sci-fi author and paranoid visionary. I Think I Am: Philip K. Dick explores the science fiction authors meditations on psychic reality and psychosis, Christian mysticism, Eastern religion, and modern spiritualism. Covering all of Dicks science fiction, Rickels corrects the lack of scholarly interest in the legendary Californian author and, ultimately, makes a compelling case for the philosophical and psychoanalytic significance of Philip K. Dicks popular and influential science fiction.Intro -- Contents -- Introjection -- Part I -- Endopsychic Allegories -- Schreber Guardian -- Belief System Surveillance -- Part II -- Deeper Problems -- Veil of Tears -- Go West -- Dick Manfred -- Timing -- Glimmung -- Part III -- Spiritualism Analogy -- Imitating the Dead -- Indexical Layer -- Ilse -- Hammers and Things -- Crucifictions -- Over There -- Martyrology -- Can't Live, Can't Live -- Lola -- Umwelt, Mitwelt, and Eigenwelt -- Outer Race -- The German Introject -- Part IV -- Materialism, Idealism, and Cybernetics -- Startling Stories -- A Couple of Years -- Android Empathy -- Homunculus and Robot -- ALL OF YOU ARE DEAD. I AM ALIVE. -- Go with the Flow -- Part V -- Room for Thought -- Caduceus -- Jump -- Still -- A Wake -- Spätwerk -- Let the Dead Be -- Play Bally -- Das Hund -- Notes -- BibliographyFor years, noted writer Laurence A. Rickels often found himself compared to novelist Philip K. Dickthough in fact Rickels had never read any of the science fiction writers work. When he finally read his first Philip K. Dick novel, while researching for his recent book The Devil Notebooks , it prompted a prolonged immersion in Dicks writing as well as a recognition of Rickelss own long-documented intellectual pursuits. The result of this engagement is I Think I Am: Philip K. Dick , a profound thought experiment that charts the wide relevance of the pulp sci-fi author and paranoid visionary. I Think I Am: Philip K. Dick explores the science fiction authors meditations on psychic reality and psychosis, Christian mysticism, Eastern religion, and modern spiritualism. Covering all of Dicks science fiction, Rickels corrects the lack of scholarly interest in the legendary Californian author and, ultimately, makes a compelling case for the philosophical and psychoanalytic significance of Philip K. Dicks popular and influential science fiction.Description based on publisher supplied metadata and other sources.Electronic reproduction. Ann Arbor, Michigan : ProQuest Ebook Central, YYYY. Available via World Wide Web. Access may be limited to ProQuest Ebook Central affiliated libraries
Reply to MP Pase and C Stough
No full textLetter concerning published article:
Stonehouse W, Conlon CA, Podd J, Hill SR, Minihane AM, Haskell C, Kennedy D. DHA supplementation improved both memory and reaction time in healthy young adults: a randomized controlled trial. Am J Clin Nutr 2013;97:1134–43
Liftings for noncomplete probability spaces
No full textThe current state of knowledge concerning liftings for noncomplete probability spaces is discussed. This is a somewhat expanded version of the author's talk given at the 1991 Summer Conference on General Topology and Applications in Honor of Mary Ellen Rudin and Her Work.PT: S; CR: BURKE MR, IN PRESS P AM MATH S BURKE MR, 1991, ISRAEL J MATH, V73, P33 BURKE MR, 1992, ISRAEL J MATH, V79, P289 CARLSON T, THEOREM LIFTING CHRISTENSEN JPR, 1974, TOPOLOGY BOREL STRUC FREMLIN DH, 1989, HDB BOOLEAN ALGEBRAS, P877 INOESCUTULCEA A, 1966, 5TH P BERK S MATH ST, V2 IONESCUTULCEA A, 1967, CONTRIBUTIONS PROB 1, P63 IONESCUTULCEA A, 1969, TOPICS THEORY LIFTIN JECH TJ, 1978, SET THEORY JOHNSON RA, 1980, P AM MATH SOC, V80, P234 JUST W, IN PRESS T AM MATH S KUPKA J, 1983, INDIANA U MATH J, V32, P717 LOSERT V, 1983, LNM, V1080, P95 MAHARAM D, 1958, P AM MATH SOC, V9, P987 SHELAH S, 1983, ISRAEL J MATH, V45, P90 TALAGRAND M, 1982, P AM MATH SOC, V84, P379 VONNEUMANN J, 1931, CRELLES J MATH, V165, P109; NR: 18; TC: 0; J9: ANN N Y ACAD SCI; PG: 4; GA: BZ86BSource type: Electronic(1
The AM Canum Venaticorum binary SDSS J173047.59+554518.5
Get PDFThe AM Canum Venaticorum (AM CVn) binaries are a rare group of hydrogen-deficient, ultrashort period, mass-transferring white dwarf binaries and are possible progenitors of Type Ia supernovae. We present time-resolved spectroscopy of the recently discovered AM CVn binary SDSS J173047.59+554518.5. The average spectrum shows strong double-peaked helium emission lines, as well as a variety of metal lines, including neon; this is the second detection of neon in an AM CVn binary, after the much brighter system GP Com. We detect no calcium in the accretion disc, a puzzling feature that has been noted in many of the longer period AM CVn binaries. We measure an orbital period, from the radial velocities of the emission lines, of 35.2 ± 0.2 min, confirming the ultracompact binary nature of the system. The emission lines seen in SDSS J1730 are very narrow, although double-peaked, implying a low-inclination, face-on accretion disc; using the measured velocities of the line peaks, we estimate i ≤ 11°. This low inclination makes SDSS J1730 an excellent system for the identification of emission lines
Postprandial lipaemia and cardiovascular disease: Impact of age and gender on non-fasting triacylglycerol levels
No full textFreedom of choice or force of circumstance? : Eastern European sex-workers in the Republic of Cyprus ; paper for the conference 'Alltag der Globalisierung. Perspektiven einer transnationalen Anthropologie', January 16-18, 2003, Institute of Cultural Anthropology and European Ethnology, Johann Wolfgang Goethe University, Frankfurt am Main
No full textThis paper focuses on Eastern European migrants who, since the beginning of the 1990s, are entering the Republic Cyprus as “artistes”. This is a visa permit status as well as an euphemism for short-term work permits in the local sex industry. In addition to exploring the migrational experiences of these women and their living and working conditions in the Republic of Cyprus, the paper reconstructs, empirically and analyt ically, the connection between immigration and the local sex industry. Here, several categories of social actors and institutions in Cyprus are actively involved. The rhetoric of government representatives, entrepreneurs and clients in the sex business on the one hand is contrasted with the discourse of local NGO representatives concerned with immigrants’ rights on the other hand. The paper comes to the conclusion that all of these discursive positions ultimately do not do justice to the complex process of decisionmaking that women undergo who migrate into the sex industry. Either, freedom of choice is emphasized – such as by entrepreneurs and the government – or the domination of women – as in the public statements of the NGO. In order to analyze the ambivalent tension between freedom of choice and submission to force by which the women’s decision is characterized, the author employs Michel Foucault’s concept of governmentality, which describes forms of political regulation that use the individual’s freedom of action as an instrument to exercise power
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