THE EFFECT OF HEARTMATH TECHNIQUES ON EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE

This study examines the effects of HeartMath techniques on emotional intelligence. The HeartMath techniques implemented are Heart Lock-In®, Neutral® and FreezeFrame®. The dependent measurement is the BarOn Emotional Quotient Inventory, which contains a total EQ scale along with fifteen sub scales. The independent variable is a one day seven hour workshop, titled The Power to Change Performance. The experimental design with control is a pre-test/post-test administered within a six week interval. A 2x2 mixed factorial statistical design yielded statistical significant differences for Total EQ (p = .001), Stress Tolerance (p = .01), Happiness (p .03). Marginal statistical significance was found for Interpersonal Relationship (p .08) and Reality Testing (p = .07). In total, ten of the fifteen sub scales showed an increase in measurement. This data strongly indicates that the practice of HeartMath techniques for six weeks increases emotional intelligence

The Ursinus Weekly, March 16, 1964

Campus Chest set to begin April 6: Shorb and Riley Committee heads • Concert season begun by UC Meistersingers: Group will tour New York state • Noss, theologian & author, will speak here Wednesday • History students will hear Bohl at Wednesday tea • Jeanne Dawson crowned prom queen; Cub and Key taps seven junior men • Three co-eds make US lacrosse team: Great Britain scene of games • Mass meeting of students planned for Wednesday • Group organizes fund campaign; Will defray cost for Ursinus girls on lacrosse team • WSGA approves rule change • Ursinus receives Gulf Oil grant • Psychology Club officers elected • Editorial: Don\u27t walk on that grass; Compulsion won\u27t do it • Journalism grants available • Charles I trial topic of Forum • Letters to the editor • Seek art exchange with Muhlenberg • IRC members hear Barghoorn on Soviet propaganda • Kaffee Klatsch: Determinism, free will • Evening School enrolls 524 • State seeks to annul college charter: Integration irks Mississippians • Agency concert hailed as fine performance • WSGA announces procedure for 1964 election: March 25 petition deadline; Elections will be April 15 • Greek gleanings • Navy offers career program to women • Gwynedd Mercy falls to Ursinus women\u27s 3rd team • Basketball team, coach honored • End of volleyball tourney near • Beaver falls to UC, 61-38 • Kratz caps career • Seals vs. Bock in intramural championship • Netwomen stop Drexel, 5-0https://digitalcommons.ursinus.edu/weekly/1268/thumbnail.jp

Assessing quality of life in Alzheimer's disease: Implications for clinical trials

Introduction Characterization of the quality of life (QOL) in Alzheimer's disease (AD) scale within the context of a clinical trial may inform its applicability in future trials. Methods Using data from 1322 patients enrolled in two phase-III studies (EXPEDITION 1 [NCT00905372] and 2 [NCT00904683]) of intravenous solanezumab in outpatients with mild AD dementia, correlations between patient- and caregiver-assessed QOL and between QOL and clinical outcome measures were examined. Longitudinal effects of solanezumab over 80 weeks were explored, controlling for patient and caregiver baseline characteristics. Results Caregivers rated patients' QOL worse than did patients themselves. Patients' QOL was correlated, albeit modestly, with clinical/health measures. Patients' QOL changed minimally over 80 weeks, although a treatment effect of solanezumab on QOL was detected. Discussion Further investigations are needed to determine the optimal measures with which to quantify and qualify QOL of patients with mild AD

Mild Cognitive Impairment, Incidence, Progression, and Reversion: Findings from a Community-based Cohort of Elderly African Americans

Objective To examine the long-term outcomes of community-based elderly African Americans by following their transitions from normal cognition to mild cognitive impairment (MCI), and to dementia. Methods Participants were from the community-based Indianapolis Dementia Project. A total of 4104 African Americans were enrolled in 1992 or 2001 and followed until 2009 with regularly scheduled evaluation of cognitive assessment. A two-stage sampling was used at each evaluation to select individuals for extensive clinical assessment following the results of stage one cognitive testing. Age and gender specific incidence, progression and reversion rates for MCI were derived using the person-year method in a dynamic cohort and predicted probabilities from weighted multinomial logistic models of transitional probabilities among normal cognition, MCI and dementia. Results Annual overall incidence rate for MCI is 5.6% (95% CI: 4.6–6.6%). Annual progression rate from MCI to dementia is 5.9% (95% CI: 5.3–6.5%) and annual reversion rate from MCI to normal is 18.6% (95% CI: 16.7–20.4%). Both MCI incidence rates and MCI to dementia progression rates increase with age, while reversion rates from MCI to normal decrease with age. Conclusion MCI progression to dementia is much more frequent in the older age groups than in the younger participants where reversion to normal cognition is more common. Future research is needed to determine factors related to the heterogeneous outcomes in MCI individuals

Florbetapir positron emission tomography and cerebrospinal fluid biomarkers

BACKGROUND: We evaluated the relationship between florbetapir-F18 positron emission tomography (FBP PET) and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) biomarkers. METHODS: Alzheimer's Disease Neuroimaging Initiative-Grand Opportunity and Alzheimer's Disease Neuroimaging Initiative 2 (GO/2) healthy control (HC), mild cognitive impairment (MCI), and Alzheimer's disease (AD) dementia subjects with clinical measures and CSF collected ±90 days of FBP PET data were analyzed using correlation and logistic regression. RESULTS: In HC and MCI subjects, FBP PET anterior and posterior cingulate and composite standard uptake value ratios correlated with CSF amyloid beta (Aβ1-42) and tau/Aβ1-42 ratios. Using logistic regression, Aβ1-42, total tau (t-tau), phosphorylated tau181P (p-tau), and FBP PET composite each differentiated HC versus AD. Aβ1-42 and t-tau distinguished MCI versus AD, without additional contribution by FBP PET. Total tau and p-tau added discriminative power to FBP PET when classifying HC versus AD. CONCLUSION: Based on cross-sectional diagnostic groups, both amyloid and tau measures distinguish healthy from demented subjects. Longitudinal analyses are needed

Dementia incidence declined in African-Americans but not in Yoruba

INTRODUCTION: To compare dementia incidence of African-American and Yoruba cohorts aged ≥70 years enrolled in 1992 and 2001. METHODS: African-Americans residing in Indianapolis and Yoruba in Ibadan, Nigeria without dementia were enrolled in 1992 and 2001 and evaluated every 2-3 years until 2009. The cohorts consist of 1440 African-Americans, 1774 Yoruba in 1992 and 1835 African-Americans and 1895 Yoruba in the 2001 cohorts aged ≥70 years. RESULTS: In African-Americans, dementia and Alzheimer's disease (AD) incidence rates were significantly lower in 2001 than 1992 for all age groups except the oldest group. The overall standardized annual dementia incidence rates were 3.6% (95% confidence interval [CI], 3.2%-4.1%) in the 1992 cohort and 1.4% (95% CI, 1.2%-1.7%) in the 2001 cohort. There was no significant difference in dementia or AD incidence between the Yoruba cohorts. DISCUSSION: Future research is needed to explore the reasons for the differential changes in incidence rates in these two populations

Longitudinal Association between Selenium Levels and Hypertension in a Rural Elderly Chinese Cohort

Objectives Results from previous studies have been inconsistent on the association between selenium and hypertension, and very few studies on this subject have focused on the elderly population. The purpose of this study is to examine the relationship between selenium level and hypertension in a rural elderly Chinese cohort. Design A longitudinal study was implemented and data were analyzed using logistic regression models and Cox proportional hazards regression model adjusting for potential confounders. The associations between selenium level and prevalent hypertension at baseline and between selenium and incident hypertension were examined. Setting Community-based setting in four rural areas in China. Subjects A total of 2000 elderly aged 65 years and over (mean 71.9±5.6 years) participated in this study. Measurements Nail selenium levels were measured in all subjects at baseline. Blood pressure measures and self-reported hypertension history were collected at baseline, 2.5 years and 7 years later. Hypertension was defined as systolic blood pressure 140 mmHg or higher, diastolic blood pressure 90 mmHg or higher, or reported use of anti-hypertensive medication. Results The rate of baseline hypertension was 63.50% in this cohort and the mean nail selenium level is 0.413±0.183µg/g. Multi-covariate adjusted cross-sectional analyses indicated that higher selenium level was associated with higher blood pressure measures at baseline and higher rates of hypertension. For the 635 participants with normal blood pressure at baseline, 360 had developed hypertension during follow-up. The incidence rate for hypertension was 45.83%, 52.27%, 62.50%, 70.48%, and 62.79% from the first selenium quintile to the fifth quintile respectively. Comparing to the lowest quintile group, the hazard ratios were 1.41 (95%CI: 1.03 to1.94), 1.93 (95%CI: 1.40 to 2.67), 2.35 (95%CI: 1.69 to 3.26) and 1.94 (95%CI: 1.36 to 22.77) for the second selenium quintile to the fifth quintile respectively. Conclusions Our findings suggest that high selenium may play a harmful role in the development of hypertension. Future studies are needed to confirm our findings and to elucidate a plausible biological mechanism

Alzheimer’s disease progression by geographical region in a clinical trial setting

INTRODUCTION: To facilitate enrollment and meet local registration requirements, sponsors have increasingly implemented multi-national Alzheimer's disease (AD) studies. Geographic regions vary on many dimensions that may affect disease progression or its measurement. To aid researchers designing and implementing Phase 3 AD trials, we assessed disease progression across geographic regions using placebo data from four large, multi-national clinical trials of investigational compounds developed to target AD pathophysiology. METHODS: Four similarly-designed 76 to 80 week, randomized, double-blind placebo-controlled trials with nearly identical entry criteria enrolled patients aged ≥55 years with mild or moderate NINCDS/ADRDA probable AD. Descriptive analyses were performed for observed mean score and observed mean change in score from baseline at each scheduled visit. Data included in the analyses were pooled from the intent-to-treat placebo-assigned overall (mild and moderate) AD dementia populations from all four studies. Disease progression was assessed as change from baseline for each of 5 scales - the AD Assessment Scale-cognitive subscale (ADAS-cog11), the AD Cooperative Study- Activities of Daily Living Scale (ADCS-ADL), Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE), the Clinical Dementia Rating scored by the sum of boxes method (CDR-SB), and the Neuropsychiatric Inventory (NPI). RESULTS: Regions were heterogeneous at baseline. At baseline, disease severity as measured by ADAS-cog11, ADCS-ADL, and CDR-SB was numerically worse for Eastern Europe/Russia compared with other regions. Of all regional populations, Eastern Europe/Russia showed the greatest cognitive and functional decline from baseline; Japan, Asia and/or S. America/Mexico showed the least cognitive and functional decline. CONCLUSIONS: These data suggest that in multi-national clinical trials, AD progression or its measurement may differ across geographic regions; this may be in part due to heterogeneity across populations at baseline. The observed differences in AD progression between outcome measures across geographic regions may generalize to 'real-world' clinic populations, where heterogeneity is the norm

APOE ε4 and the risk for Alzheimer disease and cognitive decline in African Americans and Yoruba

Background There is little information on the association of the APOEe4 allele and AD risk in African populations. In previous analyses from the Indianapolis-Ibadan dementia project, we have reported that APOE ε4 increased the risk for Alzheimer’s disease (AD) in African Americans but not in Yoruba. This study represents a replication of this earlier work using enriched cohorts and extending the analysis to include cognitive decline. Methods In this longitudinal study of two community dwelling cohorts of elderly Yoruba and African Americans, APOE genotyping was conducted from blood samples taken on or before 2001 (1,871 African Americans & 2,200 Yoruba). Mean follow up time was 8.5 years for African Americans and 8.8 years for Yoruba. The effects of heterozygosity or homozygosity of ε4 and of the possession of e4 on time to incident AD and on cognitive decline were determined using Cox’s proportional hazards regression and mixed effects models. Results After adjusting for covariates, one or two copies of the APOE ε4 allele were significant risk factors for incident AD (p < 0.0001) and cognitive decline in the African-American population (p < 0001). In the Yoruba, only homozygosity for APOE ε4 was a significant risk factor for AD (p = 0.0002) but not for cognitive decline (p = 0.2346), however, possession of an e4 allele was significant for both incident AD (p = 0.0489) and cognitive decline (p = 0.0425). Conclusions In this large longitudinal comparative study, APOE ε4 had a significant, but weaker, effect on incident AD and on cognitive decline in Yoruba than in African Americans. The reasons for these differences remain unclear

Lasmiditan mechanism of action – review of a selective 5-HT1F agonist

Migraine is a leading cause of disability worldwide, but it is still underdiagnosed and undertreated. Research on the pathophysiology of this neurological disease led to the discovery that calcitonin gene-related peptide (CGRP) is a key neuropeptide involved in pain signaling during a migraine attack. CGRP-mediated neuronal sensitization and glutamate-based second- and third-order neuronal signaling may be an important component involved in migraine pain. The activation of several serotonergic receptor subtypes can block the release of CGRP, other neuropeptides, and neurotransmitters, and can relieve the symptoms of migraine. Triptans were the first therapeutics developed for the treatment of migraine, working through serotonin 5-HT1B/1D receptors. The discovery that the serotonin 1F (5-HT1F) receptor was expressed in the human trigeminal ganglion suggested that this receptor subtype may have a role in the treatment of migraine. The 5-HT1F receptor is found on terminals and cell bodies of trigeminal ganglion neurons and can modulate the release of CGRP from these nerves. Unlike 5-HT1B receptors, the activation of 5-HT1F receptors does not cause vasoconstriction. The potency of different serotonergic agonists towards 5-HT1F was correlated in an animal model of migraine (dural plasma protein extravasation model) leading to the development of lasmiditan. Lasmiditan is a newly approved acute treatment for migraine in the United States and is a lipophilic, highly selective 5-HT1F agonist that can cross the blood-brain barrier and act at peripheral nervous system (PNS) and central nervous system (CNS) sites. Lasmiditan activation of CNS-located 5-HT1F receptors (e.g., in the trigeminal nucleus caudalis) could potentially block the release of CGRP and the neurotransmitter glutamate, thus preventing and possibly reversing the development of central sensitization. Activation of 5-HT1F receptors in the thalamus can block secondary central sensitization of this region, which is associated with progression of migraine and extracephalic cutaneous allodynia. The 5-HT1F receptors are also elements of descending pain modulation, presenting another site where lasmiditan may alleviate migraine. There is emerging evidence that mitochondrial dysfunction might be implicated in the pathophysiology of migraine, and that 5-HT1F receptors can promote mitochondrial biogenesis. While the exact mechanism is unknown, evidence suggests that lasmiditan can alleviate migraine through 5-HT1F agonist activity that leads to inhibition of neuropeptide and neurotransmitter release and inhibition of PNS trigeminovascular and CNS pain signaling pathways