Developmental Considerations for Assessment and Treatment of Impulsivity in Older Adults

Impulsivity is an important factor in many clinical disorders, especially alcohol and substance use disorders. Most of the research on impulsivity in this domain has focused on adolescence and young adulthood, as this developmental period is characterized by onset of and escalation in alcohol and substance use, likely driven in part by brain development patterns. Although many individuals eventually “mature out” of these behaviors in middle adulthood, a critical subset of people do not. The role of impulsivity in middle-to-older adulthood, when certain individuals transition from normative to disordered substance use, has not been carefully examined. The goal of this paper is to review the literature on measuring and modifying impulsivity from adolescence through older adulthood, with a special focus on middle-to-older adulthood. We propose that impulsivity research should include data on middle-to-older adulthood as an important time of transition to disordered use. We consider how impulsivity might have unique meaning at different stages of the adult lifespan and suggest modifications for assessing and treating impulsivity in older adults

Mindful Living in Older Age: a Pilot Study of a Brief, Community-Based, Positive Aging Intervention

Although mindfulness-based interventions have been successfully used with older adults, there have been few interventions that, (a) are created specifically for older adults, (b) are delivered in the community, and (c) aim to promote ‘successful aging’ (rather than just treating dysfunction/disorder). To this end, the current study piloted a brief ‘positive aging’ intervention, comprising two 150 minute sessions, with six female older adults living in the community. Data were gathered through focus groups that were interwoven throughout the intervention. Using thematic analysis, four main themes were identified: (a) aging as a mixed blessing; (b) understanding mindfulness; (c) the challenges of mindfulness; and (d) the benefits of mindfulness. Overall, the intervention was successful in introducing participants to mindfulness and potentially forming the basis of a longer term practice. However, the study also highlighted important points on the challenges of practising mindfulness, in relation to which the paper makes recommendations pertaining to the teaching of mindfulness with older adults

Development of a Novel c-MET-Based CTC Detection Platform.

UNLABELLED: Amplification of the MET oncogene is associated with poor prognosis, metastatic dissemination, and drug resistance in many malignancies. We developed a method to capture and characterize circulating tumor cells (CTC) expressing c-MET using a ferromagnetic antibody. Immunofluorescence was used to characterize cells for c-MET, DAPI, and pan-CK, excluding CD45(+) leukocytes. The assay was validated using appropriate cell line controls spiked into peripheral blood collected from healthy volunteers (HV). In addition, peripheral blood was analyzed from patients with metastatic gastric, pancreatic, colorectal, bladder, renal, or prostate cancers. CTCs captured by c-MET were enumerated, and DNA FISH for MET amplification was performed. The approach was highly sensitive (80%) for MET-amplified cells, sensitive (40%-80%) for c-MET-overexpressed cells, and specific (100%) for both c-MET-negative cells and in 20 HVs. Of 52 patients with metastatic carcinomas tested, c-MET CTCs were captured in replicate samples from 3 patients [gastric, colorectal, and renal cell carcinoma (RCC)] with 6% prevalence. CTC FISH demonstrated that MET amplification in both gastric and colorectal cancer patients and trisomy 7 with gain of MET gene copies in the RCC patient. The c-MET CTC assay is a rapid, noninvasive, sensitive, and specific method for detecting MET-amplified tumor cells. CTCs with MET amplification can be detected in patients with gastric, colorectal, and renal cancers. IMPLICATIONS: This study developed a novel c-MET CTC assay for detecting c-MET CTCs in patients with MET amplification and warrants further investigation to determine its clinical applicability. Mol Cancer Res; 14(6); 539-47. ©2016 AACR

Development of a robotic and computer vision method to assess foam quality in sparkling wines

Quality assessment of food products and beverages might be performed by the human senses of smell, taste, sound and touch. Likewise, sparkling wines and carbonated beverages are fundamentally assessed by sensory evaluation. Computer vision is an emerging technique that has been applied in the food industry to objectively assist quality and process control. However, publications describing the application of this novel technology to carbonated beverages are scarce, as the methodology requires tailored techniques to address the presence of carbonation and foamability. Here we present a robotic pourer (FIZZeyeRobot), which normalizes the variability of foam and bubble development during pouring into a vessel. It is coupled with video capture to assess several parameters of foam quality, including foamability (the ability of the foam to form) drainability (the ability of the foam to resist drainage) and bubble count and allometry. The foam parameters investigated were analyzed in combination to the wines scores, chemical parameters obtained from laboratory analysis and manual measurements for validation purposes. Results showed that higher quality scores from trained panelists were positively correlated with foam stability and negatively correlated with the velocity of foam dissipation and the height of the collar. Significant correlations were observed between the wine quality measurements of total protein, titratable acidity, pH and foam expansion. The percentage of the wine in the foam was found to promote the formation of smaller bubbles and to reduce foamability, while drainability was negatively correlated to foam stability and positively correlated with the duration of the collar. Finally, wines were grouped according to their foam and bubble characteristics, quality scores and chemical parameters. The technique developed in this study objectively assessed foam characteristics of sparkling wines using image analysis whilst maintaining a cost-effective, fast, repeatable and reliable robotic method. Relationships between wine composition, bubble and foam parameters obtained automatically, might assist in unraveling factors contributing to wine quality and directions for further research