Task-Oriented Exercise to Reduce Activities of Daily Living Disability in Vulnerable Older Adults: A Feasibility Study of the 3-Step Workout for Life

The purpose of this feasibility study was to evaluate the 3-Step Workout for Life program, a 10-week exercise program that included moderate-intensity muscle strength training followed by task-oriented training. Fourteen participants completed the program (mean age = 73 years; SD = 6.83). The Box and Block test (Z = -2.24, p = .03) and the 30-s chair stand test (Z = -2.21, p = .03) indicate improved physical functioning of the upper and lower extremities. More importantly, results of the function component from the Late-Life Function and Disability Instrument (Z = -2.04, p = .04) and motor skills scale from the Assessment of Motor and Process Skills (Z = -2.97, p = .003) indicate subjective and objective improvements on performing activities of daily living. Supplementing moderate-intensity muscle strength exercise with task-oriented training components is feasible. Preliminary data support the effectiveness of 3-Step Workout for Life in reducing late-life disability

The Effect of Viewing Distance on Empirical Discriminability and the Confidence–Accuracy Relationship for Eyewitness Identification

The distance from which an eyewitness views a perpetrator is a critical factor for eyewitness identification, but has received little research attention. We presented three mock-crime videos to participants, varying distance to three perpetrators (3, 10, or 20 m). Across two experiments, increased distance reduced empirical discriminability in the form of a mirror effect, such that correct identifications decreased while false identifications increased. Moreover, high confidence identifications were associated with high accuracy at 3 m (Experiment 1 and 2) and 10 m (Experiment 2), but not at 20 m. We conclude that eyewitnesses may be less likely to identify a perpetrator viewed at a distance, and also more likely to falsely identify an innocent suspect. Furthermore, there may be certain boundary conditions associated with distance and the impact it has on the confidence-accuracy relationship. More research is needed to elucidate the effect of estimator variable manipulations on the confidence-accuracy relationship

Bridging the Gap: Addressing the Mental Health Needs of Underrepresented Collegiate Students at Psychology Training Clinics

Mental health treatment utilization on college campuses remains disproportionately low among underrepresented (UR) students (i.e., racial/ethnic minorities, first-generation college students, and students from low-income families). Additionally, UR students report that factors including stigma, long wait times, and costs are barriers to accessing treatment. Given these trends, new methods to bolster the utilization of counseling services among UR college students are needed. Concurrently, there is a call for psychology training programs to increase their efforts in preparing health service psychologists to work with culturally diverse populations including UR students. Psychology training clinics may be an additional resource on campuses that can be useful in meeting both of these needs. We present a program evaluation of 4-year partnership between a counseling psychology department training clinic and an academic division serving UR students at a large Midwestern university. Two quantitative metrics, including service utilization hours by UR students (2,020) and direct service hours accrued by clinical trainees (1,266), highlight the benefits of the partnership. A social justice framework and implications for training programs interested in developing similar partnerships are discussed. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved

Relief of the Dma1-mediated checkpoint requires Dma1 autoubiquitination and dynamic localization

© 2018 Jones, Chen, et al. Chromosome segregation and cell division are coupled to prevent aneuploidy and cell death. In the fission yeast Schizosaccharomyces pombe, the septation initiation network (SIN) promotes cytokinesis, but upon mitotic checkpoint activation, the SIN is actively inhibited to prevent cytokinesis from occurring before chromosomes have safely segregated. SIN inhibition during the mitotic checkpoint is mediated by the E3 ubiquitin ligase Dma1. Dma1 binds to the CK1-phosphorylated SIN scaffold protein Sid4 at the spindle pole body (SPB), and ubiquitinates it. Sid4 ubiquitination antagonizes the SPB localization of the Polo-like kinase Plo1, the major SIN activator, so that SIN signaling is delayed. How this checkpoint is silenced once spindle defects are resolved has not been clear. Here we establish that Dma1 transiently leaves SPBs during anaphase B due to extensive autoubiquitination. The SIN is required for Dma1 to return to SPBs later in anaphase. Blocking Dma1 removal from SPBs by permanently tethering it to Sid4 prevents SIN activation and cytokinesis. Therefore, controlling Dma1’s SPB dynamics in anaphase is an essential step in S. pombe cell division and the silencing of the Dma1-dependent mitotic checkpoint

Evolution of the influenza A virus genome during development of oseltamivir resistance in vitro

Influenza A virus (IAV) is a major cause of morbidity and mortality throughout the world. Current antiviral therapies include oseltamivir, a neuraminidase inhibitor that prevents the release of nascent viral particles from infected cells. However, the IAV genome can evolve rapidly, and oseltamivir resistance mutations have been detected in numerous clinical samples. Using an in vitro evolution platform and whole-genome population sequencing, we investigated the population genomics of IAV during the development of oseltamivir resistance. Strain A/Brisbane/59/2007 (H1N1) was grown in Madin-Darby canine kidney cells with or without escalating concentrations of oseltamivir over serial passages. Following drug treatment, the H274Y resistance mutation fixed reproducibly within the population. The presence of the H274Y mutation in the viral population, at either a low or a high frequency, led to measurable changes in the neuraminidase inhibition assay. Surprisingly, fixation of the resistance mutation was not accompanied by alterations of viral population diversity or differentiation, and oseltamivir did not alter the selective environment. While the neighboring K248E mutation was also a target of positive selection prior to H274Y fixation, H274Y was the primary beneficial mutation in the population. In addition, once evolved, the H274Y mutation persisted after the withdrawal of the drug, even when not fixed in viral populations. We conclude that only selection of H274Y is required for oseltamivir resistance and that H274Y is not deleterious in the absence of the drug. These collective results could offer an explanation for the recent reproducible rise in oseltamivir resistance in seasonal H1N1 IAV strains in humans

Electronic gaming machine characteristics: it's the little things that count

A range of gamblers, from low-frequency social gamblers through to problem gamblers in treatment, participated in focus groups discussing the characteristics of Electronic Gaming Machines (EGMs) that they found attractive. Analyses of the resulting transcripts resulted in two groups of EGM characteristics being identified as important, one group associated with winning and one with betting. Overall, free spin features were identified in all groups as the most attractive characteristic of EGMS. Beyond that it was smaller win-related characteristics, and low-denomination machines with multiple playable lines that were associated with increased duration and intensity of gambling behaviour. The important characteristics were consistent across different levels of gamblers, with the key behavioural difference being a self-reported ‘expertise’, and ‘strategic’ approach to gambling amongst higher-frequency gamblers and problem gamblers in treatment. The key characteristics all occur frequently and result in more wins and extended gambling sessions. The patterns identified resonated with established behavioural principles, and with models describing the development of problem gambling and addictions more generally

The Iso2k Database: A global compilation of paleo-δ18O and δ2H records to aid understanding of Common Era climate

Reconstructions of global hydroclimate during the Common Era (CE; the past ~ 2000 years) are important for providing context for current and future global environmental change. Stable isotope ratios in water are quantitative indicators of hydroclimate on regional to global scales, and these signals are encoded in a wide range of natural geologic archives. Here we present the Iso2k database, a global compilation of previously published datasets from a variety of natural archives that record the stable oxygen (δ18O) or hydrogen (δ2H) isotopic composition of environmental waters, which reflect hydroclimate changes over the CE. The Iso2k database contains 756 isotope records from the terrestrial and marine realms, including: glacier and ground ice (205); speleothems (68); corals, sclerosponges, and mollusks (145); wood (81); lake sediments and other terrestrial sediments (e.g., loess) (158); and marine sediments (99). Individual datasets have temporal resolutions ranging from sub-annual to centennial, and include chronological data where available. A fundamental feature of the database is its comprehensive metadata, which will assist both experts and non-experts in the interpretation of each record and in data synthesis. Key metadata fields have standardized vocabularies to facilitate comparisons across diverse archives and with climate model simulated fields. This is the first global-scale collection of water isotope proxy records from multiple types of geological and biological archives. It is suitable for evaluating hydroclimate processes through time and space using large-scale synthesis, model-data intercomparison and (paleo)data assimilation. The Iso2k database is available for download at: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.11553162 (McKay and Konecky, 2020)

Diagnosis Across the Spectrum of Progressive Supranuclear Palsy and Corticobasal Syndrome

IMPORTANCE: Patients with atypical parkinsonian syndromes (APS), including progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP), corticobasal syndrome (CBS) and multiple system atrophy (MSA), may be difficult to distinguish in early stages and are often misdiagnosed as Parkinson’s disease (PD). The diagnostic criteria for PSP have been updated to encompass a range of clinical subtypes, but have not been prospectively studied. OBJECTIVE: To define the distinguishing features of PSP and CBS, and to assess their usefulness in facilitating early diagnosis and separation from PD. DESIGN, SETTING, PARTICIPANTS: Cohort study which recruited APS and PD patients from movement disorder clinics across the UK from September 2015 to December 2018, and will follow up patients over 5 years. APS patients were stratified into PSP-Richardson syndrome, PSP-subcortical (including PSP-parkinsonism and PSP-progressive gait freezing cases), PSP-cortical (including PSP-frontal and PSP/CBS overlap cases), MSA-parkinsonism, MSA-cerebellar, CBS-Alzheimer’s and CBS-non-Alzheimer’s groups. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Baseline group comparisons were conducted using: 1) Clinical trajectory; 2) Cognitive screening scales; 3) Serum neurofilament light chain (NF-L); 4) TRIM11, ApoE and MAPT genotypes; 5) Volumetric MRI. RESULTS: 222 APS cases (101 PSP, 55 MSA, 40 CBS and 26 indeterminate) were recruited (58% male; mean age at recruitment, 68.3 years). Age-matched controls (n=76) and PD cases (n=1967) were also included. Concordance between the ante-mortem clinical diagnosis and pathological diagnosis was achieved in 12/13 (92%) of PSP and CBS cases coming to post-mortem. Applying the MDS PSP diagnostic criteria almost doubled the number of patients diagnosed with PSP. 49/101 (49%) of reclassified PSP patients did not have classical PSP-Richardson syndrome. PSP-subcortical patients had a longer diagnostic latency and a more benign clinical trajectory than PSP-Richardson syndrome and PSP-cortical (p<0.05). PSP-subcortical was distinguished from PSP-cortical and PSP-Richardson syndrome by cortical volumetric MRI measures (AUC 0.84-0.89), cognitive profile (AUC 0.80-0.83), serum NF-L (AUC 0.75-0.83) and TRIM11 rs564309 genotype. Midbrain atrophy was a common feature of all PSP subtypes. 8/17 (47%) of CBS patients with CSF analysis were identified as having CBS-Alzheimer’s. CBS-Alzheimer’s patients had a longer diagnostic latency, relatively benign clinical trajectory, greater cognitive impairment and higher APOE-ε4 allele frequency than CBS-non-Alzheimer’s (p<0.05, AUC 0.80-0.87). Serum NF-L levels distinguished PD from PSP and CBS (p<0.05, AUC 0.80). CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE: Clinical, therapeutic and epidemiological studies focusing on PSP-Richardson syndrome are likely to miss a large number of patients with underlying PSP-tau pathology. CSF analysis defines a distinct CBS-Alzheimer’s subgroup. PSP and CBS subtypes have distinct characteristics that may enhance their early diagnosis

The Gravity Collective: A Search for the Electromagnetic Counterpart to the Neutron Star-Black Hole Merger GW190814

We present optical follow-up imaging obtained with the Katzman Automatic Imaging Telescope, Las Cumbres Observatory Global Telescope Network, Nickel Telescope, Swope Telescope, and Thacher Telescope of the LIGO/Virgo gravitational wave (GW) signal from the neutron star-black hole (NSBH) merger GW190814. We searched the GW190814 localization region (19 deg$^{2}$ for the 90th percentile best localization), covering a total of 51 deg$^{2}$ and 94.6% of the two-dimensional localization region. Analyzing the properties of 189 transients that we consider as candidate counterparts to the NSBH merger, including their localizations, discovery times from merger, optical spectra, likely host-galaxy redshifts, and photometric evolution, we conclude that none of these objects are likely to be associated with GW190814. Based on this finding, we consider the likely optical properties of an electromagnetic counterpart to GW190814, including possible kilonovae and short gamma-ray burst afterglows. Using the joint limits from our follow-up imaging, we conclude that a counterpart with an $r$-band decline rate of 0.68 mag day$^{-1}$, similar to the kilonova AT 2017gfo, could peak at an absolute magnitude of at most $-17.8$ mag (50% confidence). Our data are not constraining for ''red'' kilonovae and rule out ''blue'' kilonovae with $M>0.5 M_{\odot}$ (30% confidence). We strongly rule out all known types of short gamma-ray burst afterglows with viewing angles $<$17$^{\circ}$ assuming an initial jet opening angle of $\sim$$5.2^{\circ}$ and explosion energies and circumburst densities similar to afterglows explored in the literature. Finally, we explore the possibility that GW190814 merged in the disk of an active galactic nucleus, of which we find four in the localization region, but we do not find any candidate counterparts among these sources.Comment: 86 pages, 9 figure