Investigating the Role of the Accumulation of Depressive Symptoms for the Risk of Dementia

editorial reviewe

Adapted Langa-Weir probable dementia classification outperforms other algorithms in 26 European countries without clinical dementia assessments.

editorial reviewe

A social archaeology of colonial war in Ethiopia

[EN] The archaeology of twentieth-century warfare, with its focus on Western armies and military issues, has often neglected indigenous experiences of war and social aspects, particularly the role of women in reproducing culture through material practices in situations of great distress. In this article, we propose a postcolonial examination of imperialistic war in Ethiopia. We study the cave of Zeret, the refuge of a large guerrilla group that was massacred by the Italian colonial army in 1939. Using the material evidence available, life underground is described, as well as the military events that led to the destruction of the place and the killing of most of its inhabitants. We argue that archaeology can be a way of revealing, with material facts, the brutality of fascism and colonialism. Finally, drawing upon Spivak and Derrida, we ask: What are the ethical problems of representing the voice of the subaltern? What is the role of materiality in evoking her presence?[ES] La arqueología de la guerra en el siglo XX, al centrarse en ejércitos occidentales y cuestiones militares, ha dejado de lado experiencias indígenas de la guerra y las cuestiones sociales, particularmente el papel de las mujeres en reproducir la cultura a través de prácticas materiales en situaciones de gran estrés. En este artículo, proponemos un estudio poscolonial de la guerra imperialista en Etiopía. Estudiamos la cueva de Zeret, el refugio de un gran grupo guerrillero que fue masacrado por el ejército colonial italiano en 1939. Usando las pruebas materiales, describimos la vida bajo tierra, así como los hechos militares que llevaron a la destrucción del lugar y al asesinato de la mayor parte de sus habitantes. Defendemos que la arqueología puede ser una forma de revelar, con hechos materiales, la brutalidad del fascismo y el colonialismo. Finalmente, basándonos en Spivak y Derrida, nos preguntamos: ¿Cuáles son los problemas éticas de representar la voz del subalterno? ¿Cuál es el papel de la materialidad en evocar su presencia?Peer reviewe

Dark-adapted versus bleached state in fluorescence lifetime imaging ophthalmoscopy

Purpose: The (early) detection of diseases based on metabolic changes in the retina is the goal of the novel autofluorescence lifetime ophthalmoscopy (FLIO) technique. These metabolic changes can be detected as alterations in the fundus autofluorescence (FAF) lifetimes. The influences of the photopigment bleaching and photobleaching on the FAF lifetimes are unknown. Thus, we performed a volunteer study to investigate these influences. Methods: In 21 healthy volunteers (23.6±3.8 years) time-resolved FAF was measured with a FLIO device (30° of fundus, excitation at 473nm, detection in two spectral channels: 500-560nm (ch1) and 560-720nm (ch2), time-correlated single photon counting method). All subjects had a crystalline lens. The pupil was dilated with 0.5% Tropicamid. After volunteers adapted to the dark using a custom-made lightproof eyewear over a period of 30 min, the first FLIO measurement was recorded (dark-adapted state). Subsequently, one eye was bleached for 1 min using a luminance of 3200cd/m2, followed by a FLIO measurement (bleached state). The fluorescence lifetimes were estimated from the FAF decays, based on three exponential functions, using the software FLIMX (www.flimx.de). Average values from the central region, and the inner and outer rings of the ETDRS grid were utilized to compare both bleaching states using analysis of variance, Friedman, and post hoc tests. Results : Only ch2 yielded significant changes (p<0.05) for the fluorescence lifetime τ2 from all ETDRS regions (+19-28ps), for the fluorescence lifetime τ1 (+6ps) and the mean fluorescence lifetime (+6ps) in the central area that were less than 10% in magnitude. Additionally, the acquisition time in the bleached state was significantly reduced by approximately 20% on average, compared to the dark-adapted state. The fluorescence lifetime differences caused by bleaching were much smaller than pathological states known from literature. Conclusions: We conclude that bleaching is not relevant for current clinical FLIO applications because of the small magnitude of the elicited fluorescence lifetime changes. Thus, it is advisable to instruct patients to wait in a bright room before FLIO measurements. If the expected changes in the fluorescence lifetime in a specific experimental paradigm are small, FLIO users should follow a strict acquisition protocol in terms of the photopigment bleaching state of the patients to obtain the most reliable results

Machine learning in the social and health sciences

The uptake of machine learning (ML) approaches in the social and health sciences has been rather slow, and research using ML for social and health research questions remains fragmented. This may be due to the separate development of research in the computational/data versus social and health sciences as well as a lack of accessible overviews and adequate training in ML techniques for non data science researchers. This paper provides a meta-mapping of research questions in the social and health sciences to appropriate ML approaches, by incorporating the necessary requirements to statistical analysis in these disciplines. We map the established classification into description, prediction, and causal inference to common research goals, such as estimating prevalence of adverse health or social outcomes, predicting the risk of an event, and identifying risk factors or causes of adverse outcomes. This meta-mapping aims at overcoming disciplinary barriers and starting a fluid dialogue between researchers from the social and health sciences and methodologically trained researchers. Such mapping may also help to fully exploit the benefits of ML while considering domain-specific aspects relevant to the social and health sciences, and hopefully contribute to the acceleration of the uptake of ML applications to advance both basic and applied social and health sciences research

Gut microbiome is not associated with mild cognitive impairment in Parkinson's disease

Gut microbiome differences between people with Parkinson's disease (PD) and control subjects without Parkinsonism are widely reported, but potential alterations related to PD with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) have yet to be comprehensively explored. We compared gut microbial features of PD with MCI (n = 58) to cognitively unimpaired PD (n = 60) and control subjects (n = 90) with normal cognition. Our results did not support a specific microbiome signature related to MCI in PD