Identifying the Speech Production Stages in Early and Late Adulthood by Using Electroencephalography

Structural changes in the brain take place throughout one's life. Changes related to cognitive decline may delay the stages of the speech production process in the aging brain. For example, semantic memory decline and poor inhibition may delay the retrieval of a concept from the mental lexicon. Electroencephalography (EEG) is a valuable method for identifying the timing of speech production stages. So far, studies using EEG mainly focused on a particular speech production stage in a particular group of subjects. Differences between subject groups and between methodologies have complicated identifying time windows of the speech production stages. For the current study, the speech production stages lemma retrieval, lexeme retrieval, phonological encoding, and phonetic encoding were tracked using a 64-channel EEG in 20 younger adults and 20 older adults. Picture-naming tasks were used to identify lemma retrieval, using semantic interference through previously named pictures from the same semantic category, and lexeme retrieval, using words with varying age of acquisition. Non-word reading was used to target phonological encoding (using non-words with a variable number of phonemes) and phonetic encoding (using non-words that differed in spoken syllable frequency). Stimulus-locked and response-locked cluster-based permutation analyses were used to identify the timing of these stages in the full time course of speech production from stimulus presentation until 100 ms before response onset in both subject groups. It was found that the timing of each speech production stage could be identified. Even though older adults showed longer response times for every task, only the timing of the lexeme retrieval stage was later for the older adults compared to the younger adults, while no such delay was found for the timing of the other stages. The results of a second cluster-based permutation analysis indicated that clusters that were observed in the timing of the stages for one group were absent in the other subject group, which was mainly the case in stimulus-locked time windows. A z-score mapping analysis was used to compare the scalp distributions related to the stages between the older and younger adults. No differences between both groups were observed with respect to scalp distributions, suggesting that the same groups of neurons are involved in the four stages, regardless of the adults' age, even though the timing of the individual stages is different in both groups

Assessing quality of experience of IPTV and video on demand services in real-life environments

The ever growing bandwidth in access networks, in combination with IPTV and video on demand (VoD) offerings, opens up unlimited possibilities to the users. The operators can no longer compete solely on the number of channels or content and increasingly make high definition channels and quality of experience (QoE) a service differentiator. Currently, the most reliable way of assessing and measuring QoE is conducting subjective experiments, where human observers evaluate a series of short video sequences, using one of the international standardized subjective quality assessment methodologies. Unfortunately, since these subjective experiments need to be conducted in controlled environments and pose limitations on the sequences and overall experiment duration they cannot be used for real-life QoE assessment of IPTV and VoD services. In this article, we propose a novel subjective quality assessment methodology based on full-length movies. Our methodology enables audiovisual quality assessment in the same environments and under the same conditions users typically watch television. Using our new methodology we conducted subjective experiments and compared the outcome with the results from a subjective test conducted using a standardized method. Our findings indicate significant differences in terms of impairment visibility and tolerance and highlight the importance of real-life QoE assessment

The Odor Specificities of a Subset of Olfactory Receptor Neurons Are Governed by Acj6, a POU-Domain Transcription Factor

AbstractLittle is known about how the odor specificities of olfactory neurons are generated, a process essential to olfactory coding. We have found that neuronal identity relies on the abnormal chemosensory jump 6 (acj6) gene, originally identified by a defect in olfactory behavior. Physiological analysis of individual olfactory neurons shows that in acj6 mutants, a subset of neurons acquires a different odorant response profile. Certain other neurons do not respond to any tested odors in acj6. Molecular analysis of acj6 shows that it encodes a POU-domain transcription factor expressed in olfactory neurons. Our data suggest that the odor response spectrum of an olfactory neuron, and perhaps the choice of receptor genes, is determined through a process requiring the action of Acj6

The Value of Tracking Data on the Behavior of Patients Who Have Undergone Bariatric Surgery:Explorative Study

Background: To maintain the benefits of a bariatric procedure, patients have to change their lifestyle permanently. This happens within a context of coresponsibilities of health care professionals and their social support system. However, most interventions are focused on the patient as an individual. In this explorative pilot study, behavioral, contextual, and experiential data were gathered to obtain insight on coresponsibility. Objective: The aim of this study is to explore the use of trackers by patients who have undergone bariatric surgery in a data-enabled design approach. Methods: Behavioral and contextual data on the households of patients who have undergone bariatric surgery were explored using a smartphone with an interactive user interface (UI), weight scale, activity bracelet, smart socket, accelerometer motion sensor, and event button to find examples of opportunities for future interventions. Results: A total of 6 households were monitored. Approximately 483,000 data points were collected, and the participants engaged in 1483 conversations with the system. Examples were found using different combinations of data types, which provided the obesity team a better understanding of patient behaviors and their support system, such as a referral to a family coach instead of a dietician. Another finding regarding the partners was, for example, that the conversational UI system facilitated discussion about the support structure by asking for awareness. Conclusions: An intelligent system using a combination of quantitative data gathered by data tracking products in the home environment and qualitative data gathered by app-enhanced short conversations, as well as face-to-face interviews, is useful for an improved understanding of coresponsibilities in the households of patients who have undergone bariatric surgery. The examples found in this explorative study so far encourage research in this field.</p

The Value of Tracking Data on the Behavior of Patients Who Have Undergone Bariatric Surgery:Explorative Study

Background: To maintain the benefits of a bariatric procedure, patients have to change their lifestyle permanently. This happens within a context of coresponsibilities of health care professionals and their social support system. However, most interventions are focused on the patient as an individual. In this explorative pilot study, behavioral, contextual, and experiential data were gathered to obtain insight on coresponsibility. Objective: The aim of this study is to explore the use of trackers by patients who have undergone bariatric surgery in a data-enabled design approach. Methods: Behavioral and contextual data on the households of patients who have undergone bariatric surgery were explored using a smartphone with an interactive user interface (UI), weight scale, activity bracelet, smart socket, accelerometer motion sensor, and event button to find examples of opportunities for future interventions. Results: A total of 6 households were monitored. Approximately 483,000 data points were collected, and the participants engaged in 1483 conversations with the system. Examples were found using different combinations of data types, which provided the obesity team a better understanding of patient behaviors and their support system, such as a referral to a family coach instead of a dietician. Another finding regarding the partners was, for example, that the conversational UI system facilitated discussion about the support structure by asking for awareness. Conclusions: An intelligent system using a combination of quantitative data gathered by data tracking products in the home environment and qualitative data gathered by app-enhanced short conversations, as well as face-to-face interviews, is useful for an improved understanding of coresponsibilities in the households of patients who have undergone bariatric surgery. The examples found in this explorative study so far encourage research in this field.</p

Depression in Mild Cognitive Impairment is associated with Progression to Alzheimer's Disease:A Longitudinal Study

Background: Behavioral and psychological signs and symptoms of dementia (BPSD) belong to the core symptoms of dementia and are also common in mild cognitive impairment (MCI).Objective: This study would like to contribute to the understanding of the prognostic role of BPSD in MCI for the progression to dementia due to Alzheimer's disease (AD).Methods: Data were generated through an ongoing prospective longitudinal study on BPSD. Assessment was performed by means of the Middelheim Frontality Score, Behave-AD, Cohen-Mansfield Agitation Inventory, Cornell Scale for Depression in Dementia (CSDD), and Geriatric Depression Scale 30-questions (GDS-30). Cox proportional hazard models were used to test the hypothesis that certain BPSD in MCI are predictors of developing AD.Results: The study population consisted of 183 MCI patients at baseline. At follow-up, 74 patients were stable and 109 patients progressed to AD. The presence of significant depressive symptoms in MCI as measured by the CSDD (HR: 2.06; 95% CI: 1.23-3.44; p = 0.011) and the GDS-30 (HR: 1.77; 95% CI: 1.10-2.85; p = 0.025) were associated with progression to AD. The severity of depressive symptoms as measured by the GDS-30 was a predictor for progression too (HR: 1.06; 95% CI: 1.01-1.11; p = 0.020). Furthermore, the severity of agitated behavior, especially verbal agitation and the presence of purposeless activity, was also associated with progression, whereas diurnal rhythm disturbances were associated with no progression to AD.Conclusion: Depressive symptoms in MCI appear to be predictors for progression to AD.</p

The polaroid image as photo-object

This article is part of a larger project on the cultural history of Polaroid photography and draws on research done at the Polaroid Corporate archive at Harvard and at the Polaroid company itself. It identifies two cultural practices engendered by Polaroid photography, which, at the point of its extinction, has briefly flared into visibility again. It argues that these practices are mistaken as novel but are in fact rediscoveries of practices that stretch back as many as five decades. The first section identifies Polaroid image-making as a photographic equivalent of what Tom Gunning calls the ‘cinema of attractions’. That is, the emphasis in its use is on the display of photographic technologies rather than the resultant image. Equally, the common practice, in both fine art and vernacular circles, of making composite pictures with Polaroid prints, draws attention from image content and redirects it to the photo as object

Impact of Experimental Human Pneumococcal Carriage on Nasopharyngeal Bacterial Densities in Healthy Adults

Colonization of the nasopharynx by Streptococcus pneumoniae is a necessary precursor to pneumococcal diseases that result in morbidity and mortality worldwide. The nasopharynx is also host to other bacterial species, including the common pathogens Staphylococcus aureus, Haemophilus influenzae, and Moraxella catarrhalis. To better understand how these bacteria change in relation to pneumococcal colonization, we used species-specific quantitative PCR to examine bacterial densities in 52 subjects 7 days before, and 2, 7, and 14 days after controlled inoculation of healthy human adults with S. pneumoniae serotype 6B. Overall, 33 (63%) of subjects carried S. pneumoniae post-inoculation. The baseline presence and density of S. aureus, H. influenzae, and M. catarrhalis were not statistically associated with likelihood of successful pneumococcal colonization at this study’s sample size, although a lower rate of pneumococcal colonization in the presence of S. aureus (7/14) was seen compared to that in the presence of H. influenzae (12/16). Among subjects colonized with pneumococci, the number also carrying either H. influenzae or S. aureus fell during the study and at 14 days post-inoculation, the proportion carrying S. aureus was significantly lower among those who were colonized with S. pneumoniae (p = 0.008) compared to non-colonized subjects. These data on bacterial associations are the first to be reported surrounding experimental human pneumococcal colonization and show that co-colonizing effects are likely subtle rather than absolute

Careful Curation of Care Content:A Case Study of a Technology-Supported Atrial Fibrillation Outpatient Clinic

Medical care received outside the doctor’s office and the hospital is gaining traction. Lifestyle programs for transmural and remote care are increasingly facilitated by hospitals as part of rehabilitation, by general practitioners as preventative measures, and by various private (health) organizations through consumer apps. What is often overlooked is the time and energy spent on creating the content (i.e., health information and education) in these programs so that it is effective, appealing, relatable, and personalized. In this article, we discuss the elaborate content creation process of lifestyle content for an outpatient clinic for atrial fibrillation patients. We describe the close collaboration between clinicians, design researchers, data designers, and a copywriter, and reflect on how to streamline and formalize the clinical content creation process. Additionally, we highlight opportunities for further content personalization by making it dynamic, more versatile in terms of delivery and expanding the system further into the home context