244 research outputs found
The Early Diagnosis of Alzheimer's Disease: A Patient-Centred Conversation with the Care Team
No full textAlzheimer's disease (AD) is a neurodegenerative disorder which accounts for 60-80% of dementia cases, affecting approximately 10 million people in Europe. Neuroimaging techniques and cerebrospinal fluid biomarkers used in combination with cognitive assessment tools open the door to early diagnosis of AD. However, these tools present some challenges that need to be overcome, such as low sensitivity or specificity, high cost, limited availability or invasiveness. Thus, low-cost and non-invasive alternatives, such as plasma biomarkers, have the potential to drive changes in AD screening and diagnosis. In addition to the technical aspects, organisational challenges as well as ethical concerns need to be addressed. In many countries, there is an insufficient number of specialists to recognise, evaluate and diagnose dementia and the waiting times to see a specialist are long. Given that there is currently no cure for AD, it is important to consider the potential psychological impact of an early diagnosis. In addition, counselling before biomarker sampling and during diagnosis disclosure is vital to guarantee that the patients have all the information necessary and their queries are addressed in a sensitive manner. Here, we illustrate (using a clinical vignette) current challenges of diagnosis and discuss some of the benefits and challenges of early diagnosis in AD including the value of biomarkers in combination with clinical evaluation. Lastly, some guidelines for disclosing early diagnosis of AD are provided based on our experiences
Qur’an Translations in the Enlightenment & Sufism in Contemporary Literature. A Conversation with Ziad Elmarsafy
No full textZiad Elmarsafy is Senior Lecturer in the Department of English and Related Literature at the University of York, UK. He works on the modern and contemporary literatures of the Middle East and North Africa, as well as the relationship between literature and religion, philosophy and literary theory. He is the author of The Enlightenment Qur’an. The Politics of Translation and the Construction of Islam (Oneworld, Oxford, 2009) and Sufism in the Contemporary Arabic Novel (Edinburgh University P..
Dosimétrie Alanine/RPE pour le contrôle du procédé d’irradiation par rayons X de faible à moyenne énergie
No full textNowadays, low to medium energy X-ray irradiators are starting to replace irradiators using radioactivesources, mainly in the fields of blood irradiations, Sterile Insect Technique and food irradiations. A dosimeter is placed on the irradiated product to ensure that the desired dose is well delivered. One of the dosimetry systems that is used in radiation processing is the alanine/EPR dosimetry system. Alanine is considered as water equivalent, from a dosimetric point of view for photon energies that are higher than 200 keV. However, it loses its water equivalency for lower photon energies.This thesis presents the use of alanine for the control and validation of irradiation processes performed with low to medium energy X-rays, as well as different methods developed to determine corrective factors to be applied to the response of this dosimeter. These methods are based on experimental measurements, Monte Carlo simulations and analytical calculations.L’irradiation par des rayons X de faible à moyenne énergie devient de plus en plus une technique répandue qui remplace des irradiations réalisées par des sources radioactives pour différentes applications telles que l’irradiation du sang, les traitements Sterile Insect Technology et la décontamination des produits alimentaires. Afin de s’assurer que la bonne dose est délivrée au produit, un dosimètre est placé sur ce dernier. Un type de dosimètres utilisé pour ces applications est le dosimètre à l’alanine, qui est équivalent à l’eau dans le cas des photons d’énergie supérieure à 200 keV. Cette thèse présente l’utilisation de l’alanine pour le control et la validation des process d’irradiations réalisés avec des rayons X de faible à moyenne énergie, ainsi que différentes méthodes développées pour déterminer des facteurs correctifs à appliquer à la réponse de ce dosimètre. Ces méthodes reposent sur des mesures expérimentales, des simulations Monte Carlo et des calculs analytiques
Untersuchung des prädiktiven Wertes der präoperativen Montreal Cognitive Assessment-Testung zur Vorhersage eines postoperativen Delirs
No full textIn der Dissertation wird der Zusammenhang zwischen dem präoperativen kognitiven Status von Patienten und dem Auftreten eines postoperativen Delirs untersucht.
Die Daten wurden im Rahmen der PROPDESC-Studie von Juli 2018 bis Oktober 2019 durch ein Studienteam der Klinik für Anästhesiologie und Operative Intensivmedizin am Universitätsklinikum Bonn erhoben. Dafür wurden Daten von über 800 Patienten, die mindestens 60 Jahre alt waren und sich einer elektiven Operation unterzogen, ausgewertet. Der präoperative kognitive Status wurde mittels MoCA-Test, der in den 1990er Jahren von Ziad Nasreddine zur Erkennung kognitiver Einschränkungen entwickelt worden ist, erfasst.
Patienten, die präoperativ kognitiv eingeschränkt waren, hatten ein höheres Risiko, postoperativ ein Delir zu entwickeln
Orientalism: Legacies of a Performance
No full textBooks, as Catullus reminds us, have fates of their own. Our concern is with the fate of one book, Edward Said’s Orientalism. To many, this seminal work is an enduring touchstone, a founding text of the field of postcolonial studies and a book that continues to influence debates in literary and cultural studies, Middle Eastern studies, anthropology, art history, history and politics. To others, however, Orientalism has serious failings, not least in blaming the wrong people - namely, Orientalists - for the crimes of European imperialism. Thirty-five years after its first edition, popular and academic reactions to Orientalism continue to run the gamut from enthusiasm to apoplexy. Yet few assessments of this work ask the ‘so what?’ question, addressing the book’s contemporary relevance without lionizing or demonizing its author. This is our aim in Debating Orientalism. Bridging the gap between intellectual history and political engagement, the contributors to this volume interrogate Orientalism’s legacy with a view to moving the debate about this text beyond the Manichean limitations within which it has all too often been imprisoned. Too much ink has been spilled on what Orientalism got right or wrong - especially in its historical and political registers - and too little on taking stock of its impact and building on that to appraise its significance to current debates in multiple fields. This book seeks to consider Orientalism’s implications with a little less feeling, though no less commitment to understanding the value and political effects of engaged scholarship.</p
MoCA 7.1: Multicenter Validation of the First Italian Version of Montreal Cognitive Assessment
No full textBACKGROUND: The early detection of neurocognitive disorders, especially when mild, is a key issue of health care systems including the Italian Dementia National Plan. The Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE), i.e., the reference screening tool for dementia in Italian Memory Clinics, has low sensitivity in detecting mild cognitive impairment (MCI) or mild dementia. OBJECTIVE: Availability of a 10-minute screening test sensitive to MCI and mild dementia, such as the Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA), is relevant in the field. This study presents initial validity and reliability data for the Italian version of MoCA 7.1 that is being collected as part of a large ongoing longitudinal study to evaluate the rate of incident MCI and dementia in older adults. METHODS: MoCA 7.1 and MMSE were administered to cognitive impaired patients (n = 469; 214 with MCI, 255 with dementia; mean age: 75.5; 52% females,) and healthy older adults (n = 123, mean age: 69.7, 64 % females). RESULTS: Test-retest (0.945, p < 0.001) and inter-rater (0.999, p < 0.001) reliability of MoCA 7.1, assessed on randomly selected participants with normal cognition, MCI, dementia, were significant. MoCA 7.1 showed adequate sensitivity (95.3%) and specificity (84.5%) in detecting MCI compared to MMSE (sensitivity: 53.8%; specificity: 87.5%). The Area Under the Curve of MoCA 7.1 was significantly greater than that of MMSE (0.963 versus 0.742). MoCA 7.1 showed similar results in detecting both MCI and dementia. CONCLUSION: MoCA 7.1 is a reliable and useful tool that can aid in the diagnosis of MCI and dementia in the Italian population
Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MOCA)
No full textThe MoCA© is a cognitive screening test designed to assist Health Professionals in detection of mild cognitive impairment. For more information, contact: [email protected]
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