Impact of aging on the auditory system and related cognitive functions: A narrative review

Age-related hearing loss (ARHL), presbycusis, is a chronic health condition that affects approximately one-third of the world’s population. The peripheral and central hearing alterations associated with age-related hearing loss have a profound impact on perception of verbal and non-verbal auditory stimuli. The high prevalence of hearing loss in the older adults corresponds to the increased frequency of dementia in this population. Therefore, researchers have focused their attention on age-related central effects that occur independent of the peripheral hearing loss as well as central effects of peripheral hearing loss and its association with cognitive decline and dementia. Here we review the current evidence for the age-related changes of the peripheral and central auditory system and the relationship between hearing loss and pathological cognitive decline and dementia. Furthermore, there is a paucity of evidence on the relationship between ARHL and established biomarkers of Alzheimer’s disease, as the most common cause of dementia. Such studies are critical to be able to consider any causal relationship between dementia and ARHL. While this narrative review will examine the pathophysiological alterations in both the peripheral and central auditory system and its clinical implications, the question remains unanswered whether hearing loss causes cognitive impairment or vice versa

An under studied co-relation of diabetes and lung function

The World Health Organization estimates that more than 180 million people worldwide have diabetes, and by 2030 it is expected that this number will have doubled. There is an alarming increase in the incidence and prevalence of diabetes mellitus (DM) in Asian Indians. Epidemiology of Diabetes in India. The prevalence of diabetes is rapidly rising all over the globe at an alarming rate . Over the past 30 years, the status of diabetes has changed from being considered as a mild disorder of the elderly to one of the major causes of morbidity and mortality affecting the youth and middle aged people. Pulmonary function test (PFT) is a complete evaluation of the respiratory system including patient history, physical examinations, and tests of pulmonary function. with insulin-dependent diabetes compared with age-matched control subjects, all lifelong non-smokers. Lung CO transfer capacity is significantly affected by the integrity of lung capillary endothelium and, therefore, the findings of Sandler et al. focused attention on pulmonary vascular changes. The concept of the lung as a target organ for diabetic microangiopathy received continuing attention. Reports of lung function tests in patients with diabetes over the next 15 years have focused largely on pulmonary microangiopathy with relatively few studies of pulmonary mechanical function which leads to a restrictive lung pattern. Diabetes and Lung Function Test : Some studies showed that all the pulmonary parameters, that is, FVC, FEV1, FEF25, FEF50, FEF75, FEF25–75, FEF0.2–1.2, and PEFR were significantly reduced except FEV1/FVC in patients of type 2 DM as compared with the healthy controls. It can be concluded from our narrative review that the Type II or Type I diabetes is definitely having decreased lung functions assessed by spirometry not only because of diabetic complications like pneumonia or other but also due to long term effect of diabetes may be because of micro-angiopathy or decreased elastic recoil capacity of lungs.

Agent architecture for adaptive behaviours in autonomous driving

Evolution has endowed animals with outstanding adaptive behaviours which are grounded in the organization of their sensorimotor system. This paper uses inspiration from these principles of organization in the design of an artificial agent for autonomous driving. After distilling the relevant principles from biology, their functional role in the implementation of an artificial system are explained. The resulting Agent, developed in an EU H2020 Research and Innovation Action, is used to concretely demonstrate the emergence of adaptive behaviour with a significant level of autonomy. Guidelines to adapt the same principled organization of the sensorimotor system to other agents for driving are also obtained. The demonstration of the system abilities is given with example scenarios and open access simulation tools. Prospective developments concerning learning via mental imagery are finally discussed

Efektivitas Sistem Informasi Keuangan Daerah Terhadap Kinerja Pegawai: Dysfunctional Behavior Sebagai Variabel Moderating (Studi Empiris Pada Satuan Kerja Perangkat Daerah Kabupaten Banyumas)

This study examines the relationship of Information Financial Systems to Officer performance:Dysfunctional Behavior as Moderating Variable. This research represents the empirical test which used sensus sampling technics in data collection. Data were collected using a survey of 101 from officer in local govermment of Banyumas Center of Java, Indonesia. Data analysis uses SPSS ver.18. Result of hypothesis examination indicate that from two hypothesis raised are Accepted.. Accepted fist hypothesis: there are positive influence between implementation of Government Information Financial System (SIKD) to Officer performance. Second hypotesis there are positive influence between implementation of Government Information Financial System (SIKD) to Officer performance mediated by dysfunctional behavior

Corrective Feedback, Self-Esteem and Mathematics Learning Outcomes

One of the strategies to respond the formative assessment results is corrective feedback. Through corrective feedback, it can be verified and elaborated the part of each items where an error occurs which must be reviewed and corrected by students based on the signs given. The purpose of this research is to review the effect of corrective feedback on formative evaluation and mathematics self-esteem on student’s mathematics learning outcome on junior high school by controlling the prior mathematics knowledge of students. The samples were 120 seventh grade students in junior high school on first semester chosen by using random sampling. The method in this research is quasi experiment by using the design of treatment by level 2 × 2. Data were analyzed by using analysis of covariance (ANCOVA). After controlling the prior mathematics knowledge of students, in general, direct corrective feedback was more suited to increase mathematics learning outcomes on junior high school student than indirect corrective feedback. There was an interaction effect on providing corrective feedback and self-esteem on the mathematics learning outcomes.  For the student who have high self-esteem, indirect corrective feedback is more suitable to increase mathematics learning outcomes while for the students who have low self-esteem, direct corrective feedback is more suitable to increase mathematics learning outcomes. It is recommended to the mathematics teachers to provide corrective feedback after provision of formative assessment in their class

Disorder-driven electronic localization and phase separation in superconducting Fe1+yTe0.5Se0.5 single crystals

We have investigated the influence of Fe-excess on the electrical transport and magnetism of Fe1+yTe0.5Se0.5 (y=0.04 and 0.09) single crystals. Both compositions exhibit resistively determined superconducting transitions (Tc) with an onset temperature of about 15 K. From the width of the superconducting transition and the magnitude of the lower critical field Hc1, it is inferred that excess of Fe suppresses superconductivity. The linear and non-linear responses of the ac-susceptibility show that the superconducting state for these compositions is inhomogeneous. A possible origin of this phase separation is a magnetic coupling between Fe-excess occupying interstitial sites in the chalcogen planes and those in the Fe-square lattice. The temperature derivative of the resistivity drho/dT in the temperature range Tc < T < Ta with Ta being the temperature of a magnetic anomaly, changes from positive to negative with increasing Fe. A log 1/T divergence of the resistivity above Tc in the sample with higher amount of Fe suggests a disorder driven electronic localization.Comment: 7 page