A systematic review of the relationship between behavioral and psychological symptoms (BPSD) and caregiver well-being

Background: Behavioural and psychological symptoms in dementia (BPSD) are important predictors of institutionalisation as well as caregiver burden and depression. Previous reviews have tended to group BPSD as one category with little focus on the role of the individual symptoms. This review investigates the role of the individual symptoms of BPSD in relation to the impact on different measures of family caregiver wellbeing. Methods: Systematic review and meta-analysis of articles published in English between 1980 and December 2015 reporting which BPSD affect caregiver wellbeing. Article quality was appraised using the Downs and Black Checklist (1998). Results: 40 medium and high quality quantitative articles met the inclusion criteria, 16 were suitable to be included in a meta-analysis of mean distress scores. Depressive behaviours were the most distressing for caregivers followed by agitation/aggression and apathy. Euphoria was the least distressing. Correlation coefficients between mean total behaviour scores and mean distress scores were pooled for 4 studies. Irritability, aberrant motor behaviour and delusions were the most strongly correlated to distress, disinhibition was the least correlated. Conclusion: The evidence is not conclusive as to whether some BPSD impact caregiver wellbeing more than others. Studies which validly examined BPSD individually were limited, and the included studies used numerous measures of BPSD and numerous measures of caregiver wellbeing. Future research may benefit from a consistent measure of BPSD, examining BPSD individually, and by examining the causal mechanisms by which BPSD impact wellbeing by including caregiver variables so that interventions can be designed to target BPSD more effectively

The influence of pigmentation patterning on bumblebee foraging from flowers of <em>Antirrhinum majus</em>

Patterns of pigmentation overlying the petal vasculature are common in flowering plants and have been postulated to play a role in pollinator attraction. Previous studies report that such venation patterning is significantly more attractive to bee foragers in the field than ivory or white flowers without veins. To dissect the ways in which venation patterning of pigment can influence bumblebee behaviour, we investigated the response of flower-naïve individuals of Bombus terrestris to veined, ivory and red near-isogenic lines of Antirrhinum majus. We find that red venation shifts flower colour slightly, although the ivory background is the dominant colour. Bees were readily able to discriminate between ivory and veined flowers under differential conditioning but showed no innate preference when presented with a free choice of rewarding ivory and veined flowers. In contrast, both ivory and veined flowers were selected significantly more often than were red flowers. We conclude that advantages conferred by venation patterning might stem from bees learning of their use as nectar guides, rather than from any innate preference for striped flowers. © 2013 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg

Neonatal White Matter Maturation Is Associated With Infant Language Development

Background: While neonates have no sophisticated language skills, the neural basis for acquiring this function is assumed to already be present at birth. Receptive language is measurable by 6 months of age and meaningful speech production by 10-18 months of age. Fiber tracts supporting language processing include the corpus callosum (CC), which plays a key role in the hemispheric lateralization of language; the left arcuate fasciculus (AF), which is associated with syntactic processing; and the right AF, which plays a role in prosody and semantics. We examined if neonatal maturation of these fiber tracts is associated with receptive language development at 12 months of age. Methods: Diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI) was performed in 86 infants at 26.6 ± 12.2 days post-birth. Receptive language was assessed via the MacArthur-Bates Communicative Development Inventory at 12 months of age. Tract-based fractional anisotropy (FA) was determined using the NA-MIC atlas-based fiber analysis toolkit. Associations between neonatal regional FA, adjusted for gestational age at birth and age at scan, and language development at 12 months of age were tested using ANOVA models. Results: After multiple comparisons correction, higher neonatal FA was positively associated with receptive language at 12 months of age within the genu (p < 0.001), rostrum (p < 0.001), and tapetum (p < 0.001) of the CC and the left fronto-parietal AF (p = 0.008). No significant clusters were found in the right AF. Conclusion: Microstructural development of the CC and the AF in the newborn is associated with receptive language at 12 months of age, demonstrating that interindividual variation in white matter microstructure is relevant for later language development, and indicating that the neural foundation for language processing is laid well ahead of the majority of language acquisition. This suggests that some origins of impaired language development may lie in the intrauterine and potentially neonatal period of life. Understanding how interindividual differences in neonatal brain maturity relate to the acquisition of function, particularly during early development when the brain is in an unparalleled window of plasticity, is key to identifying opportunities for harnessing neuroplasticity in health and disease

Investigating the assessment practices within an Initial Teacher Education program in an Australian university: Staff perceptions and practices

Effective assessment design and subsequent assessment practices are essential for student success in the higher education sector. A plethora of research on assessment in higher education exists which tends to focus primarily on the student experience. This paper shares results from a 3 phased study that explored staff perceptions related to assessment practices in an undergraduate Initial Teacher Education program within an Australian metropolitan university. First, course learning objectives, activities and assessment items were mapped to identify the presence of constructive alignment. Second, staff were invited to complete a survey and a follow-up interview in relation to understanding of assessment knowledge and skills. Fink’s Taxonomy of Significant Learning (2013) was used to analyse the qualitative data and findings suggest that staff are highly committed to quality assessment practices but often work in silos rather than teams. Additionally, a lack of professional development and learning was available at the school level, particularly for casual staff. Further research about assessment practices in higher education in relation to staff rather than student experience is warranted

The Polyvalent Nature of Proverbs in Akan Language: A Case of Ahwia Nsensanso in the Kwabere East District of Ashanti Region, Ghana

The research looked at The Polyvalent Nature of Proverb A case of Ahwia Nsensanso in the Kwabere East District of Ashanti Region Ghana The purpose of the study was to use Ahwia Nsensanso as a case study to examine how the proverb is polyvalent in nature A qualitative approach was employed to assess and describe the related views concerning proverb use The study also adopted the traditional library research approach through the use of books articles journals and publications in as much as they contribute to the worth of the study It was informed by the Speech Act theory in linguistics and the philosophy of language The main findings of the study indicate that proverbs are of varied educational and socio cultural significance that enriches the culture and verbal esthetics of a society A remarkable observation was that when people speak their words do not have meaning in and of themselves Those speeches are very much affected by the situation the speaker and the listener This emphasizes that words alone do not have simple fixed meaning A conclusion drawn from the study is that as a conversational genre proverbs among the people of Ahwia Nsensanso Township are dynamic and self- renewing and this could apply to other areas of the Akan societ

First-Pass Meconium Samples from Healthy Term Vaginally-Delivered Neonates : An Analysis of the Microbiota

Acknowledgments The authors would like to thank the parents who consented to provide samples with limited notice at an emotional and stressful time. This work was supported entirely from personal donations to the neonatal endowments fund at Aberdeen Maternity Hospital and we thank families for their continued generosity, year-on-year. The Rowett Institute of Nutrition and Health receives funding from the Scottish Government (SG-RESAS). Funding: This work was funded from NHS Grampian Neonatal Endowments. The Rowett Institute receives funding from the Rural and Environmental Science and Analytical Services programme of the Scottish Government. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Behavioural and psychological symptoms in dementia and the challenges for family carers: systematic review

Background: Tailored psychosocial interventions can help families to manage behavioural and psychological symptoms in dementia (BPSD), but carer responses to their relative's behaviours contribute to the success of support programmes. Aims: To understand why some family carers have difficulty in dealing with BPSD, in order to improve the quality of personalised care that is offered. Method: A systematic review and meta-ethnographic synthesis was conducted of high-quality quantitative and qualitative studies between 1980 and 2012. Results: We identified 25 high-quality studies and two main reasons for behaviours being reported as challenging by family carers: changes in communication and relationships, resulting in ‘feeling bereft’; and perceptions of transgressions against social norms associated with ‘misunderstandings about behaviour’ in the relative with dementia. The underlying belief that their relative had lost, or would inevitably lose, their identity to dementia was a fundamental reason why family carers experienced behaviour as challenging. Conclusions: Family carers' perceptions of BPSD as challenging are associated with a sense of a declining relationship, transgressions against social norms and underlying beliefs that people with dementia inevitably lose their ‘personhood’. Interventions for the management of challenging behaviour in family settings should acknowledge unmet psychological need in family carers

Resolving taxonomic problems through cuticular analysis in Early Cretaceous bennettitalean leaves from Patagonia

The genus Ptilophyllum Morris is one of the most common bennettitalean leaf genera found in the Cretaceous megafloras from Western Gondwana, particularly Patagonia and Antarctica. Among several specimens, the similarity in the morphology of their leaves make them hard to distinguish from each other, which usually leads to misinterpretations. Therefore, the study of the epidermal features in this taxon is essential, especially because the occurrence of papillae, its size, forms, and distributions are relevant for the differentiation of species. Based on these considerations, the erection of a new Ptilophyllum species here indicated that the papillae are a key character to resolve taxonomic conflict between some of the Cretaceous taxa from Western Gondwana. Ptilophyllum eminelidarum sp. nov. Carrizo, Lafuente Diaz et Del Fueyo, was recovered from the Springhill Formation at the Río Correntoso and Estancia El Salitral localities, Santa Cruz province, Argentina. Epidermal foliar features are fully described with the aid of light and electron (SEM and TEM) microscopy. This new bennettitalean species is characterized by pinnate leaves with an epidermis bearing two distinct, uniformly distributed, papillae morphologies: the compound papillae are situated on the vein cells, and the small simple papillae are located between veins. The cuticular membrane ultrastructure consists of three layers corresponding to the cuticle proper (A2) with fibrillar aspect and the cuticular layers B1 and B2 with homogeneous-granular and fibrillar-granular aspect, respectively. This combination of features are unique to this species, differentiating it from other coetanean species of the genus from Western Gondwana. This finding complements and reinforces previous knowledge regarding the megaflora of the Springhill Formation and underscores the important role of the Bennettitales within the plant associations during the Cretaceous of Patagonia.Fil: Carrizo, Martin Alejandro. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Parque Centenario. Museo Argentino de Ciencias Naturales "Bernardino Rivadavia"; ArgentinaFil: Lafuente Diaz, Maiten Amalia. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Parque Centenario. Museo Argentino de Ciencias Naturales "Bernardino Rivadavia"; ArgentinaFil: del Fueyo, Georgina Marisa. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Parque Centenario. Museo Argentino de Ciencias Naturales "Bernardino Rivadavia"; Argentin