Cognitive behavioral group therapy versus psychoeducational intervention in Parkinson's disease

Objective: The aim of the current study was to evaluate whether cognitive behavioral group therapy has a positive impact on psychiatric, and motor and non-motor symptoms in Parkinson’s disease (PD). Methods: We assigned 20 PD patients with a diagnosis of psychiatric disorder to either a 12-week cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) group or a psychoeducational protocol. For the neurological examination, we administered the Unified Parkinson’s Disease Rating Scale and the non-motor symptoms scale. The severity of psychiatric symptoms was assessed by means of the Hamilton Depression Rating Scale, the Hamilton Anxiety Rating Scale, the Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale, and the Clinical Global Impressions. Results: Cognitive behavioral group therapy was effective in treating depression and anxiety symptoms as well as reducing the severity of non-motor symptoms in PD patients; whereas, no changes were observed in PD patients treated with the psychoeducational protocol. Conclusion: CBT offered in a group format should be considered in addition to standard drug therapy in PD patient

Symmetry reductions of a particular set of equations of associativity in twodimensional topological field theory

The WDVV equations of associativity arising in twodimensional topological field theory can be represented, in the simplest nontrivial case, by a single third order equation of the Monge-Ampe`re type. By investigating its Lie point symmetries, we reduce it to various nonlinear ordinary differential equations, and we obtain several new explicit solutions.Comment: 10 pages, Latex, to appear in J. Phys. A: Math. Gen. 200

Relations for zeros of special polynomials associated to the Painleve equations

A method for finding relations for the roots of polynomials is presented. Our approach allows us to get a number of relations for the zeros of the classical polynomials and for the roots of special polynomials associated with rational solutions of the Painleve equations. We apply the method to obtain the relations for the zeros of several polynomials. They are: the Laguerre polynomials, the Yablonskii - Vorob'ev polynomials, the Umemura polynomials, the Ohyama polynomials, the generalized Okamoto polynomials, and the generalized Hermite polynomials. All the relations found can be considered as analogues of generalized Stieltjes relations.Comment: 17 pages, 5 figure

A critical analysis of building sustainability assessment methods for healthcare buildings

The healthcare building project contains different aspects from the most common projects. Designing a healthcare environment is based on a number of criteria related to the satisfaction and well-being of the professional working teams, patients and administrators. Mostly due to various design requirements, these buildings are rarely designed and operated in a sustainable way. Therefore, the sustainable development is a concept whose importance has grown significantly in the last decade in this sector. The worldwide economic crisis reinforces the growing environmental concerns as well as raising awareness among people to a necessary and inevitable shift in the values of their society. To support sustainable building design, several building sustainability assessment (BSA) methods are being developed worldwide. Since healthcare buildings are rather complex systems than other buildings, so specific methods were developed for them. These methods are aimed to support decision-making towards the introduction of the best sustainability practices during the design and operation phases of a healthcare environment. However, the comparison between the results of different methods is difficult, if not impossible, since they address different environmental, societal and economic criteria, and they emphasize different phases of the life cycle. Therefore, the aim of this study was to clarify the differences between the main BSA methods for healthcare buildings by analysing and categorizing them. Furthermore, the benefits of these methods in promoting a more sustainable environment will be analysed, and the current situation of them within the context of standardization of the concept sustainable construction will be discussed.The authors acknowledge the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology and POPH/FSE for the financial support for this study under the Reference SFRH/BD/77959/2011

Searching for a Stochastic Background of Gravitational Waves with LIGO

The Laser Interferometer Gravitational-wave Observatory (LIGO) has performed the fourth science run, S4, with significantly improved interferometer sensitivities with respect to previous runs. Using data acquired during this science run, we place a limit on the amplitude of a stochastic background of gravitational waves. For a frequency independent spectrum, the new limit is $\Omega_{\rm GW} < 6.5 \times 10^{-5}$. This is currently the most sensitive result in the frequency range 51-150 Hz, with a factor of 13 improvement over the previous LIGO result. We discuss complementarity of the new result with other constraints on a stochastic background of gravitational waves, and we investigate implications of the new result for different models of this background.Comment: 37 pages, 16 figure