Distinguishing between impairments of working memory and inhibitory control in cases of early dementia

Dementia (most notably, Alzheimer’s Disease) is often associated with impairments of both working memory and inhibitory control. However, it is unclear whether these are functionally distinct impairments. We addressed the issue of whether working memory and inhibitory control can be dissociated, using data from a sample of patients who were recruited in a longitudinal study (Crawford et al. 2013, 2015). The first case revealed a preserved working memory capacity together with poor inhibitory control in the anti-saccade task. A longitudinal follow-up revealed that the defective inhibitory control emerged 12-months before the dementia was evident on the mini-mental state examination assessment. A second case revealed a poor working memory together with a well-preserved level of inhibitory control. The dissociation of working memory and inhibitory control was confirmed statistically in 7 additional cases. These findings yield converging evidence that working memory and inhibitory control are distinct cognitive operations and challenges the Kimberg and Farah (2000) cognitive model of working memory

Local Innovation or Government Initiative? Curriculum Specialisation in New Zealand’s Education Quasi–Market

Specialist schools and schools offering specialisation in a particular curriculum area are an increasingly common feature of education systems around the world today. In many countries, such specialisation is largely driven by government policy. In England, for instance, successive governments have, as a matter of policy, offered substantial funding to schools that have been prepared to specialise in the areas of Technology, Foreign Languages, the Arts and Sport. In New Zealand, no such impetus has existed, and yet both diversification and specialisation have occurred in some schools. The authors draw upon research carried out in several New Zealand schools in suggesting reasons why such developments have occurred

Divergent evolutionary processes associated with colonization of offshore islands

Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Microscopic simulation of membrane molecule diffusion on corralled membrane surfaces

The current understanding of how receptors diffuse and cluster in the plasma membrane is limited. Data from single-particle tracking and laser tweezer experiments have suggested that membrane molecule diffusion is affected by the presence of barriers dividing the membrane into corrals. Here, we have developed a stochastic spatial model to simulate the effect of corrals on the diffusion of molecules in the plasma membrane. The results of this simulation confirm that a fence barrier (the ratio of the transition probability for diffusion across a boundary to that within a corral) on the order of 103–104 recreates the experimentally measured difference in diffusivity between artificial and natural plasma membranes. An expression for the macroscopic diffusivity of receptors on corralled membranes is derived to analyze the effects of the corral parameters on diffusion rate. We also examine whether the lattice model is an appropriate description of the plasma membrane and look at three different sets of boundary conditions that describe diffusion over the barriers and whether diffusion events on the plasma membrane may occur with a physically relevant length scale. Finally, we show that to observe anomalous (two-timescale) diffusion, one needs high temporal (microsecond) resolution along with sufficiently long (more than milliseconds) trajectories

Developing diversity through specialisation in secondary education: comparing approaches in New Zealand and England

The paper compares approaches to curriculum specialisation in secondary education in New Zealand and England. In both countries there have been movements towards increased specialisation, though these have been quite different in form and scope. In both countries specialisation cannot be divorced from broader education policies designed to increase devolution and choice and the paper discusses these contexts before analysing the different approaches to specialisation and attempting an explanation. The authors of the paper draw on findings from research undertaken in New Zealand schools. The paper identifies three dimensions that have played a part in influencing curriculum specialisation in both countries. These are opportunity, source of impetus and support. It is argued that while local initiative is possible in New Zealand, central planning and guidance is inadequate. In England while central planning is strong and support is available, it is far from clear that real specialisation is encouraged by existing curriculum and assessment frameworks. In these circumstances in both countries it seems likely that vertical, rather than horizontal, diversity will continue to hold sway

Building brand reputation through third party endorsement : Fair Trade in British Chocolate

This article looks at the evolution of the British chocolate industry from the 1860s to the 1960s, a period during which it was dominated by Quaker businesses: Cadbury, Rowntree, and their predecessor, Fry. It provides evidence of early forms of fair trade by these Quaker businesses, showing that, before the fair trade movement took off in the 1970s, they contributed to social change and to improvement in living standards and long-term sustainable economic growth in developing countries. This article argues that when the mechanisms for enforcing food standards were weak and certification bodies did not exist, the Religious Society of Friends acted as an indirect independent endorser, reinforcing the imagery and reputation of the Quaker-owned brands and associating them both with purity and quality and with honest and fair trading

The predictive role of symptoms in COVID-19 diagnostic models : A longitudinal insight

Acknowledgements 2019nCoV-302 Study Group Members: The NVX-CoV2373-2019nCoV-302 clinical trial was a collective group effort across multiple institutions and locations. Below is a list of sites and staff that significantly contributed to the implementation and conduct of the NVX-CoV2373-2019nCoV-302 clinical trial.Peer reviewe

Diffuse alveolar hemorrhage after hematopoietic cell transplantation- response to treatments and risk factors for mortality

Diffuse alveolar hemorrhage (DAH) is a life-threatening complication of hematopoietic cellular therapy (HCT). This study aimed to evaluate the effect of DAH treatments on outcomes using data from consecutive HCT patients clinically diagnosed with DAH from 3 institutions between January 2018-August 2022. Endpoints included sustained complete response (sCR) defined as bleeding cessation without recurrent bleeding, and non-relapse mortality (NRM). Forty children developed DAH at a median of 56.5 days post-HCT (range 1-760). Thirty-five (88%) had at least one concurrent endothelial disorder, including transplant-associated thrombotic microangiopathy (n=30), sinusoidal obstructive syndrome (n=19), or acute graft versus host disease (n=10). Fifty percent had a concurrent pulmonary infection at the time of DAH. Common treatments included steroids (n=17, 25% sCR), inhaled tranexamic acid (INH TXA,n=26, 48% sCR), and inhaled recombinant activated factor VII (INH fVIIa, n=10, 73% sCR). NRM was 56% 100 days after first pulmonary bleed and 70% at 1 year. Steroid treatment was associated with increased risk of NRM (HR 2.25 95% CI 1.07-4.71, p=0.03), while treatment with INH TXA (HR 0.43, 95% CI 0.19- 0.96, p=0.04) and INH fVIIa (HR 0.22, 95% CI 0.07-0.62, p=0.005) were associated with decreased risk of NRM. Prospective studies are warranted to validate these findings