Early parental death and psychosocial risk factors for dementia: A case-control study in Europe

Objectives: To assess the association between early parental death and the risk of dementia in adult life, and to examine the risk factors associated with early parental death in people with and without dementia. Methods / Design: A population-based case-control study of a sample of 65,997 participants from the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe study. Early parental death was operationalized as parental death at the age of ≤ 16 years. Main analyses were conducted using bivariate and multivariate logistic regression analyses. Results: The odds ratio (OR) for dementia in individuals who experienced early parental death (father or mother) at the age of ≤ 16 years was 1.83 (95%CI 1.61-2.09) and 1.54 (95%CI 1.35-1.76) adjusted for age, gender, and education. In the multivariate logistic regression analysis carried out with the whole sample, early parental death increased the risk of dementia (OR = 1.50, 95%CI 1.31-1.72), along with older age (OR = 5.92, 95%CI 4.86-7.17), neuroticism (OR = 2.94,95%CI 2.61-3.31), low education level (OR = 1.84, 95%CI 1.64- 2.05) and low income (OR = 1.49, 95%CI 1.34-1.67). Discussion: Early parental death (< 16 years) was associated with an increased risk of dementia. We discuss the neurobiological markers associated with adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) and dementia as well as interventions to counteract the negative health effects on adults

The Longitudinal Association Between a Discrepancy Measure of Anosognosia in Patients with Dementia, Caregiver Burden and Depression

Anosognòsia; Cuidadors; Estudis longitudinalsAnosognosia; Cuidadores; Estudios longitudinalesAnosognosia; Caregivers; Longitudinal studiesBackground: According to cross-sectional studies, there is an association between anosognosia in people with dementia and caregiver’s burden and depression. Anosognosia in patients may be a cause of caregiver burden and depression. However, variability in caregiver anosognosia ratings may exist as caregivers with burden and depression may have a more pessimistic view of the patients’ health. Objective: To assess the variability of caregiver anosognosia ratings of patients with dementia using a widely used anosognosia scale and its longitudinal relationship with caregiver burden and depression. Methods: A convenience cohort of 221 consecutive dementia outpatient and caregiver dyads was followed up at 12 and 24 months. The main instruments used were the Anosognosia Questionnaire-Dementia (AQ-D), Caregiver Burden Interview, and Geriatric Depression Scale. Linear mixed models were used including time as a factor in every model. Multivariate analyses controlled for caregiver’s socio-demographic and possible confounding factors. Results: Attrition at 12 and 24 months was 24.9% and 42.5% respectively. Patients at baseline were on average 77.8 years of age, 63.3% were women, and 63.3% had < 5 years of education. In the bivariate analyses, caregiver burden, depression, and gender were associated with caregiver ratings of total, cognitive, and personality AQ-D of the patient at different time points. Multivariate analyses revealed burden as the caregiver variable most consistently associated with total, cognitive, and personality caregiver AQ-D ratings of the patient. Conclusion: Some caregiver characteristics, especially burden, are associated with caregiver ratings of AQ-D with regard to the patientPSI 2010-1901

Trapping in irradiated p-on-n silicon sensors at fluences anticipated at the HL-LHC outer tracker

The degradation of signal in silicon sensors is studied under conditions expected at the CERN High-Luminosity LHC. 200 $\mu$m thick n-type silicon sensors are irradiated with protons of different energies to fluences of up to $3 \cdot 10^{15}$ neq/cm$^2$. Pulsed red laser light with a wavelength of 672 nm is used to generate electron-hole pairs in the sensors. The induced signals are used to determine the charge collection efficiencies separately for electrons and holes drifting through the sensor. The effective trapping rates are extracted by comparing the results to simulation. The electric field is simulated using Synopsys device simulation assuming two effective defects. The generation and drift of charge carriers are simulated in an independent simulation based on PixelAV. The effective trapping rates are determined from the measured charge collection efficiencies and the simulated and measured time-resolved current pulses are compared. The effective trapping rates determined for both electrons and holes are about 50% smaller than those obtained using standard extrapolations of studies at low fluences and suggests an improved tracker performance over initial expectations

Combination of searches for heavy spin-1 resonances using 139 fb−1 of proton-proton collision data at s = 13 TeV with the ATLAS detector

A combination of searches for new heavy spin-1 resonances decaying into different pairings of W, Z, or Higgs bosons, as well as directly into leptons or quarks, is presented. The data sample used corresponds to 139 fb−1 of proton-proton collisions at = 13 TeV collected during 2015–2018 with the ATLAS detector at the CERN Large Hadron Collider. Analyses selecting quark pairs (qq, bb, , and tb) or third-generation leptons (τν and ττ) are included in this kind of combination for the first time. A simplified model predicting a spin-1 heavy vector-boson triplet is used. Cross-section limits are set at the 95% confidence level and are compared with predictions for the benchmark model. These limits are also expressed in terms of constraints on couplings of the heavy vector-boson triplet to quarks, leptons, and the Higgs boson. The complementarity of the various analyses increases the sensitivity to new physics, and the resulting constraints are stronger than those from any individual analysis considered. The data exclude a heavy vector-boson triplet with mass below 5.8 TeV in a weakly coupled scenario, below 4.4 TeV in a strongly coupled scenario, and up to 1.5 TeV in the case of production via vector-boson fusion