Clock drawing performance in cognitively normal elderly

The Clock Drawing Test (CDT) is a common neuropsychological measure sensitive to cognitive changes and functional skills (e.g., driving test performance) among older adults. However, normative data have not been adequately developed. We report the distribution of CDT scores using three common scoring systems [Mendez, M. F., Ala, T., & Underwood, K. L. (1992). Development of scoring criteria for the Clock Drawing Task in Alzheimer's Disease. Journal of the American Geriatrics Society, 40, 1095-1099; Cahn, D. A., Salmon, D. P., Monsch, A. U., Butters, N., Wiederholt, W. C., & Corey-Bloom, J. (1996). Screening for dementia of the Alzheimer type in the community: The utility of the Clock Drawing Test. Archives of Clinical Neuropsychology, 11(6), 529-539], among 207 cognitively normal elderly. The systems were well correlated, took little time to use, and had high inter-rater reliability. We found statistically significant differences in CDT scores based on age and WRAT-3 Reading score, a marker of education quality. We present means, standard deviations, and t- and z-scores based on these subgroups. We found that "normal" CDT performance includes a wider distribution of scores than previously reported. Our results may serve as useful comparisons for clinicians wishing to know whether their patients perform in the general range of cognitively normal elderly. © 2007 National Academy of Neuropsychology

Low energy and dynamical properties of a single hole in the t-Jz model

We review in details a recently proposed technique to extract information about dynamical correlation functions of many-body hamiltonians with a few Lanczos iterations and without the limitation of finite size. We apply this technique to understand the low energy properties and the dynamical spectral weight of a simple model describing the motion of a single hole in a quantum antiferromagnet: the $t-J_z$ model in two spatial dimension and for a double chain lattice. The simplicity of the model allows us a well controlled numerical solution, especially for the two chain case. Contrary to previous approximations we have found that the single hole ground state in the infinite system is continuously connected with the Nagaoka fully polarized state for $J_z \to 0$. Analogously we have obtained an accurate determination of the dynamical spectral weight relevant for photoemission experiments. For $J_z=0$ an argument is given that the spectral weight vanishes at the Nagaoka energy faster than any power law, as supported also by a clear numerical evidence. It is also shown that spin charge decoupling is an exact property for a single hole in the Bethe lattice but does not apply to the more realistic lattices where the hole can describe closed loop paths.Comment: RevTex 3.0, 40 pages + 16 Figures in one file self-extracting, to appear in Phys. Rev

Itinerant Ferromagnetism in the Periodic Anderson Model

We introduce a novel mechanism for itinerant ferromagnetism, based on a simple two-band model. The model includes an uncorrelated and dispersive band hybridized with a second band which is narrow and correlated. The simplest Hamiltonian containing these ingredients is the Periodic Anderson Model (PAM). Using quantum Monte Carlo and analytical methods, we show that the PAM and an extension of it contain the new mechanism and exhibit a non-saturated ferromagnetic ground state in the intermediate valence regime. We propose that the mechanism, which does not assume an intra atomic Hund's coupling, is present in both the iron group and in some f electron compounds like Ce(Rh_{1-x} Ru_x)_3 B_2, La_x Ce_{1-x} Rh_3 B_2 and the uranium monochalcogenides US, USe, and UTe

Statistical Theory of Spin Relaxation and Diffusion in Solids

A comprehensive theoretical description is given for the spin relaxation and diffusion in solids. The formulation is made in a general statistical-mechanical way. The method of the nonequilibrium statistical operator (NSO) developed by D. N. Zubarev is employed to analyze a relaxation dynamics of a spin subsystem. Perturbation of this subsystem in solids may produce a nonequilibrium state which is then relaxed to an equilibrium state due to the interaction between the particles or with a thermal bath (lattice). The generalized kinetic equations were derived previously for a system weakly coupled to a thermal bath to elucidate the nature of transport and relaxation processes. In this paper, these results are used to describe the relaxation and diffusion of nuclear spins in solids. The aim is to formulate a successive and coherent microscopic description of the nuclear magnetic relaxation and diffusion in solids. The nuclear spin-lattice relaxation is considered and the Gorter relation is derived. As an example, a theory of spin diffusion of the nuclear magnetic moment in dilute alloys (like Cu-Mn) is developed. It is shown that due to the dipolar interaction between host nuclear spins and impurity spins, a nonuniform distribution in the host nuclear spin system will occur and consequently the macroscopic relaxation time will be strongly determined by the spin diffusion. The explicit expressions for the relaxation time in certain physically relevant cases are given.Comment: 41 pages, 119 Refs. Corrected typos, added reference

A connectome of the adult drosophila central brain

The neural circuits responsible for behavior remain largely unknown. Previous efforts have reconstructed the complete circuits of small animals, with hundreds of neurons, and selected circuits for larger animals. Here we (the FlyEM project at Janelia and collaborators at Google) summarize new methods and present the complete circuitry of a large fraction of the brain of a much more complex animal, the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster. Improved methods include new procedures to prepare, image, align, segment, find synapses, and proofread such large data sets; new methods that define cell types based on connectivity in addition to morphology; and new methods to simplify access to a large and evolving data set. From the resulting data we derive a better definition of computational compartments and their connections; an exhaustive atlas of cell examples and types, many of them novel; detailed circuits for most of the central brain; and exploration of the statistics and structure of different brain compartments, and the brain as a whole. We make the data public, with a web site and resources specifically designed to make it easy to explore, for all levels of expertise from the expert to the merely curious. The public availability of these data, and the simplified means to access it, dramatically reduces the effort needed to answer typical circuit questions, such as the identity of upstream and downstream neural partners, the circuitry of brain regions, and to link the neurons defined by our analysis with genetic reagents that can be used to study their functions. Note: In the next few weeks, we will release a series of papers with more involved discussions. One paper will detail the hemibrain reconstruction with more extensive analysis and interpretation made possible by this dense connectome. Another paper will explore the central complex, a brain region involved in navigation, motor control, and sleep. A final paper will present insights from the mushroom body, a center of multimodal associative learning in the fly brain

A connectome and analysis of the adult Drosophila central brain

The neural circuits responsible for animal behavior remain largely unknown. We summarize new methods and present the circuitry of a large fraction of the brain of the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster. Improved methods include new procedures to prepare, image, align, segment, find synapses in, and proofread such large data sets. We define cell types, refine computational compartments, and provide an exhaustive atlas of cell examples and types, many of them novel. We provide detailed circuits consisting of neurons and their chemical synapses for most of the central brain. We make the data public and simplify access, reducing the effort needed to answer circuit questions, and provide procedures linking the neurons defined by our analysis with genetic reagents. Biologically, we examine distributions of connection strengths, neural motifs on different scales, electrical consequences of compartmentalization, and evidence that maximizing packing density is an important criterion in the evolution of the fly’s brain

The Soft X-ray Imager (SXI) on the SMILE Mission

The Soft X-ray Imager (SXI) is part of the scientific payload of the Solar wind Magnetosphere Ionosphere Link Explorer (SMILE) mission. SMILE is a joint science mission between the European Space Agency (ESA) and the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) and is due for launch in 2025. SXI is a compact X-ray telescope with a wide field-of-view (FOV) capable of encompassing large portions of Earth’s magnetosphere from the vantage point of the SMILE orbit. SXI is sensitive to the soft X-rays produced by the Solar Wind Charge eXchange (SWCX) process produced when heavy ions of solar wind origin interact with neutral particles in Earth’s exosphere. SWCX provides a mechanism for boundary detection within the magnetosphere, such as the position of Earth’s magnetopause, because the solar wind heavy ions have a very low density in regions of closed magnetic field lines. The sensitivity of the SXI is such that it can potentially track movements of the magnetopause on timescales of a few minutes and the orbit of SMILE will enable such movements to be tracked for segments lasting many hours. SXI is led by the University of Leicester in the United Kingdom (UK) with collaborating organisations on hardware, software and science support within the UK, Europe, China and the United States

A connectome and analysis of the adult Drosophila central brain

The neural circuits responsible for animal behavior remain largely unknown. We summarize new methods and present the circuitry of a large fraction of the brain of the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster. Improved methods include new procedures to prepare, image, align, segment, find synapses in, and proofread such large data sets. We define cell types, refine computational compartments, and provide an exhaustive atlas of cell examples and types, many of them novel. We provide detailed circuits consisting of neurons and their chemical synapses for most of the central brain. We make the data public and simplify access, reducing the effort needed to answer circuit questions, and provide procedures linking the neurons defined by our analysis with genetic reagents. Biologically, we examine distributions of connection strengths, neural motifs on different scales, electrical consequences of compartmentalization, and evidence that maximizing packing density is an important criterion in the evolution of the fly's brain