At what stage in the drinking process does drinking water affect attention and memory? Effects of mouth rinsing and mouth drying in adults

Drinking water is important for health and there is agreement that drinking water facilitates certain cognitive processes. However, the mechanism underlying the effect of drinking water on cognition is unknown. While attention performance is improved by even a very small drink, memory performance seems to require larger drinks for performance enhancement. This suggests that attention could be affected earlier in the drinking process than memory. We aimed to elucidate further the mechanism involved, by investigating the stage during the drinking process influencing performance on cognitive tasks. To this end, we compared mouth rinsing and mouth drying. Mouth rinsing was expected to result in improved attention performance and would suggest that the mechanism responsible is located in the mouth and occurs early in the drinking process, before swallowing. Eighty-seven adults participated in either a treatment (mouth rinsing or mouth drying) or control (no intervention) condition. They were assessed at baseline and 20 minutes later after intervention on measures of visual attention, short-term memory, subjective thirst and mood. Our results showed that mouth rinsing improved visual attention, but not short-term memory, mood or subjective thirst. Mouth drying did not affect performance. Our results support the hypothesis that different mechanisms underlie the effect of drinking water on different cognitive processes. They suggest that merely sipping water, as opposed to having a large drink, can improve attention

Outcome Measures for Interventions to Reduce Inappropriate Chronic Drugs: A Narrative Review

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/163374/3/jgs16697-sup-0001-Supinfo.pdfhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/163374/2/jgs16697_am.pdfhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/163374/1/jgs16697.pd

Association Between Continued Cannabis Use and Risk of Relapse in First-Episode Psychosis: A Quasi-Experimental Investigation Within an Observational Study

IMPORTANCE: Cannabis use after first-episode psychosis is associated with poor outcomes, but the causal nature of this association is unclear. OBJECTIVE: To examine the precise nature of the association between continued cannabis use after the onset of psychosis and risk of relapse of psychosis. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS: This prospective cohort study followed up for at least 2 years after the onset of psychosis 220 patients who presented to psychiatric services in South London, England, from April 12, 2002, to July 26, 2013, with first-episode psychosis. Longitudinal modeling (fixed-effects analysis, cross-lagged path analysis) was used to examine whether the association between changes in cannabis use and risk of relapse over time is the result of shared vulnerability between psychosis and cannabis use, psychosis increasing the risk of cannabis use (reverse causation), or a causal effect of cannabis use on psychosis relapse. INTERVENTIONS: Exposure to cannabis within the first and second years after onset of psychosis. MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURES: The main outcome measure was relapse of psychosis, defined as subsequent hospitalization for psychosis. Effect of cannabis use status in the first year (Ct1) and second year (Ct2) and pattern of cannabis use continuation in the first year and second year were modeled for risk of relapse in the first year (Rt1) and risk of relapse in the second year (Rt2) after psychosis onset. RESULTS: A total of 220 patients with first-episode psychosis were included in the analysis (mean [SD] age, 28.62 [8.58] years; age range, 18-65 years; 90 women [40.9%] and 130 men [59.1%]). Fixed-effects models that adjusted for time-variant (other illicit drug use, antipsychotic medication adherence) and time-invariant (eg, genetic or premorbid environment) unobserved confounders revealed that there was an increase in the odds of experiencing a relapse of psychosis during periods of cannabis use relative to periods of no use (odds ratio, 1.13; 95% CI, 1.03-1.24). Change in the pattern of continuation significantly increased the risk (odds ratio, 1.07; 95% CI, 1.02-1.13), suggesting a dose-dependent association. Cross-lagged analysis confirmed that this association reflected an effect of cannabis use on subsequent risk of relapse (Ct1→Rt2: β = 0.44, P = .04) rather than an effect of relapse on subsequent cannabis use (Rt1→Ct2: β = -0.29, P = .59). CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE: These results reveal a dose-dependent association between change in cannabis use and relapse of psychosis that is unlikely to be a result of self-medication or genetic and environmental confounding

The use of mycophenolate mofetil suspension in pediatric renal allograft recipients

Mycophenolate mofetil (MMF) is widely used to prevent acute rejection in adults after renal, cardiac, and liver transplantation. This study investigated the safety, tolerability, and pharmacokinetics of MMF suspension in pediatric renal allograft recipients. One hundred renal allograft recipients were enrolled into three age groups (33 patients, 3 months to <6 years; 34 patients, 6 to <12 years; 33 patients, 12 to 18 years). Patients received MMF 600 mg/m 2 b.i.d. concomitantly with cyclosporine and corticosteroids with or without antilymphocyte antibody induction. One year after transplantation, patient and graft survival (including death) were 98% and 93%, respectively. Twenty-five patients (25%) experienced a biopsy-proven (Banff grade borderline or higher) or presumptive acute rejection within the first 6 months post-transplantation. Analysis of pharmacokinetic parameters for mycophenolic acid (MPA) and mycophenolic acid glucuronide showed no clinically significant differences among the age groups. The dosing regimen of MMF 600 mg/m 2 b.i.d. achieved the targeted early post-transplantation MPA 12-h area under concentration-time curve (AUC 0–12 ) of 27.2 µg h per ml. Adverse events had similar frequencies among the age groups (with the exception of diarrhea, leukopenia, sepsis, and anemia, which were more frequent in the <6 years age group) and led to withdrawal of MMF in about 10% of patients. Administration of MMF 600 mg/m 2 b.i.d. is effective in prevention of acute rejection, provides predictable pharmacokinetics, and is associated with an acceptable safety profile in pediatric renal transplant recipients.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/42304/1/467-16-12-978_10160978.pd

PESFOR-W: Improving the design and environmental effectiveness of woodlands for water Payments for Ecosystem Services

ABSTRACT: The EU Water Framework Directive aims to ensure restoration of Europe?s water bodies to ?good ecological status? by 2027. Many Member States will struggle to meet this target, with around half of EU river catchments currently reporting below standard water quality. Diffuse pollution from agriculture represents a major pressure, affecting over 90% of river basins. Accumulating evidence shows that recent improvements to agricultural practices are benefiting water quality but in many cases will be insufficient to achieve WFD objectives. There is growing support for land use change to help bridge the gap, with a particular focus on targeted tree planting to intercept and reduce the delivery of diffuse pollutants to water. This form of integrated catchment management offers multiple benefits to society but a significant cost to landowners and managers. New economic instruments, in combination with spatial targeting, need to be developed to ensure cost effective solutions - including tree planting for water benefits - are realised. Payments for Ecosystem Services (PES) are flexible, incentive-based mechanisms that could play an important role in promoting land use change to deliver water quality targets. The PESFOR-W COST Action will consolidate learning from existing woodlands for water PES schemes in Europe and help standardize approaches to evaluating the environmental effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of woodland measures. It will also create a European network through which PES schemes can be facilitated, extended and improved, for example by incorporating other ecosystem services linking with aims of the wider forestscarbon policy nexus

Study of absorption changes in soil skeleton at selected genetic horizons using the laboratory method of abrasive wear - Magura sandstone case study

The paper presents the results of the study of changes in the normal volume of absorption capacity of soil skeletons formed from the Magura sandstone in the Beskid Makowski area, and sampled from different genetic horizons. In the field of hydrology, the key issue in assessing the water storage capacity of the soil cover storage reservoir is the water storage capacity of the skeleton part. In the case of mountain soils, the issue of determining water storage capacity seems to be of importance due to the significant share of skeleton fraction in the soil cover. Moreover, the absorption capacity of the skeleton is related to the fraction volume. Soil test pits were executed in the area of Myślenice Forest District (southern Poland), in the habitat of Carpathian beech species Dentario glandulosae−Fagetum, in a stand of fir and spruce Abieti Piceetum. The scope of field work included sampling of 6 test profiles. In each profile, samples were taken from three identified genetic horizons. Sieve analysis method was used to determine the total content of skeleton and fine earth, and percentage share of each fraction. For each skeleton fractions, normal absorption capacity and bulk density were found. An important, supplementary part of the study was the isolation of fine−grained and coarse sandstone in each sample. After such processing, the collected material was compared with the material remaining after the successive stages of soil skeleton abrasion (weathering) in an aqueous medium, according to methodological assumptions. A device was used to perform this stage of the study. Changes in water storage capacity were mainly considered taking into account the fraction size and the location depth in a soil profile (without specifying the thickness changes). Differences were found between the absorption capacity of skeleton occurring naturally in the soil, and water absorption capacity of skeleton devoid of the outer layer of detritus as a result of the abrasion method. Water storage capacity values were decreasing after each successive step of the experimental run, along with increasing fraction size and the depth of their position in the profile. Preliminary results showed that the changes of absorption capacity are more strongly correlated with size of the fraction than with position in a genetic horizon

Morphological characteristics of pine needles and branch in the context of calculating potential interception

Przedmiotem badań jest zbiornik intercepcyjny sosny zwyczajnej, który tworzy jej powierzchnia. Powierzchnia drzewa w największym stopniu różnicuje wysokość intercepcji potencjalnej, czyli maksymalnie możliwej ilości wody jaką drzewo może zatrzymać po pojedynczym deszczu. Do precyzyjnych badań nad intercepcją w warunkach laboratoryjnych określenie tylko współczynnika LAI okazało się niewystarczające. Celem przeprowadzonych badań było określenie powierzchni intercepcyjnej w oparciu o zdigitalizowany obraz igieł i pędów za pomocą programu SigmaScan 5.0 Pro. Zastosowano 2 metody uzyskania obrazów igieł – za pomocą skanera oraz aparatu fotograficznego. Uzyskane wyniki i zaproponowana metodyka pozwoliła na dokładne określenie zbiornika intercepcyjnego pojedynczego drzewa.The object of the research is interception container which is created by the surface of pine. Surface of trees is the greatest extent varies the potential interception altitude - the maximum possible amount of water that a tree can catch after a single rain.For precise ibterception studies in the lablratory conditions only to determinate the LAI coefficient was not enough. The aim of study was to determinate interception surface of tree based on digitized images of needles and branches using SigmaScan 5.0 Pro. Two methods were used to obtain images of needles - using scanner and a camera. The results and proposed methodology of measurement allowed to calculate the interception container of a single tree

Focus and features of prescribing indications spanning multiple chronic conditions in older adults: A narrative review

Background: Inappropriate prescribing is frequent in older adults and associated with adverse outcomes. Prescribing indications aim to optimize prescribing, but little is known about the focus and features of prescribing indications for the most common chronic conditions in older adults. Understanding the conditions, medications, and issues addressed (e.g., patient perspective, drug-disease interaction, adverse drug event) in current prescribing indications may help to identify missing indications and develop standardized measures to improve prescribing quality. Methods: We searched Ovid/MEDLINE and EMBASE for articles published between 2015 and 2020 reporting prescribing indications for older adults. Prescribing indication included 1) prescribing “criteria,” or statements that guide prescribing action, and 2) prescribing “measures,” or prescribing actions observed in a population. We categorized their focus by conditions, medications and issues addressed, as well as level of evidence provided. Results: Among 16 sets of prescribing indications, we identified 748 criteria and 47 measures. The most common addressed medications were antihypertensives, analgesics/antirheumatics, and antiplatelets/anticoagulants. The most frequently addressed issues were drug-disease interaction, adverse drug event, administration, better therapeutic alternative, and (co-)prescription omission (20.8–36.1%). Age/functioning, drug-drug interaction, monitoring, and efficacy/ safety ratio were found in only 9.9–16.5% of indications. Indications rarely focused on the patient perspective or issues with multiple providers. Conclusion: Most prescribing indications for chronic conditions in older patients are criteria rather than measures. Indications accounting for patient perspective and multiple providers are limited. The gaps identified in this review may help improve the development of prescribing measures for older adults and ultimately improve quality of care