La apatía en la demencia frontotemporal y la enfermedad de Alzheimer: estudio clínico y de neuroimagen funcional

La apatía es uno de los síndromes neuropsiquiátricos más frecuentes e invalidantes de las demencias, y puede presentarse en cualquier estadio de la enfermedad. La presencia de la apatía en enfermedades neurodegenerativas se ha relacionado con una mayor morbilidad y un peor pronóstico, y con una mayor carga de estrés para el cuidador. Recientemente, se han propuesto unos criterios clínicos para el diagnóstico de apatía en la enfermedad de Alzheimer (EA) y otros trastornos neuropsiquiátricos. De acuerdo con la clasificación original de Marin, estos criterios se organizan en torno a tres dominios y resaltan la necesidad de una evaluación multidimensional de la apatía. Actualmente, la literatura existente acepta que se pueden distinguir tres subtipos o dimensiones de la apatía, asociados a disfunción de diferentes circuitos neurales: apatía cognitiva, apatía emocional y apatía por disfunción en la autoactivación. En castellano, tan sólo existen dos escalas validadas en demencias que evalúen la apatía desde un punto de vista multidimensional: la Lillés Apathy Rating Scale (LARS) y la Apathy Scale for Institutionalized Patients with Dementia Nursing Home version (APADEM-NH). La escala APADEM-NH está diseñada para evaluar la apatía en pacientes institucionalizados con EA mediante la entrevista a un cuidador profesional, por lo que no es válida para pacientes ambulatorios. La LARS consta de nueve dominios o subescalas (“Productividad diaria”, “Aficiones”, “Tomar la iniciativa”, “Búsqueda de novedades”, “Motivación”, “Respuesta emocional”, “Preocupación”, “Vida social” y “Autoconsciencia”), que pueden combinarse para calcular cuatro dimensiones de la apatía: “Curiosidad intelectual”, “Emoción”, “Iniciativa de acción” y “Autoconsciencia”. La versión en castellano de la LARS ha sido recientemente validada por nuestro grupo en una cohorte de pacientes con demencia, mostrando excelentes propiedades psicométricas..

Diffractive optical devices produced by light-assisted trapping of nanoparticles

© 2015 Optical Society of America.]. One print or electronic copy may be made for personal use only. Systematic reproduction and distribution, duplication of any material in this paper for a fee or for commercial purposes, or modifications of the content of this paper are prohibitedOne and two-dimensional diffractive optical devices have been fabricated by light assisted trapping and patterning of nanoparticles. The method is based on the dielectrophoretic forces appearing in the vicinity of a photovoltaic crystal, such as Fe:LiNbO3, during or after illumination. By illumination with the appropriate light distribution, the nanoparticles are organized along patterns designed at will. One- and two-dimensional diffractive components have been achieved on X- and Z-cut Fe:LiNbO3 crystals, with their polar axes parallel and perpendicular to the crystal surface, respectively. Diffraction gratings with periods down to around a few micrometers have been produced using metal (Al, Ag) nanoparticles with radii in the range of 70-100 nm. Moreover, several 2D devices, such as Fresnel zone plates, have been also produced showing the potential of the method. The diffractive particle patterns remain stable when light is removed. A method to transfer the diffractive patterns to other non-photovoltaic substrates, such as silica glass, has been also reportedThis work was supported by Spanish projects MAT2011- 28379-C03 and MAT2014-57704-C0

A Novel Assessment and Profiling of Multidimensional Apathy in Alzheimer's Disease

BACKGROUND: Apathy is a complex multidimensional syndrome frequently reported in Alzheimer's disease (AD) and is associated with impaired awareness. Here we present a psychometrically robust method to profile apathy in AD.  OBJECTIVES: To determine the validity and reliability of a multidimensional apathy measure, the Dimensional Apathy Scale (DAS), and explore the apathy subtype profile and its associations in AD.  METHODS: 102 people with AD and 55 healthy controls were recruited. Participants completed the DAS, the Apathy Evaluation Scale (AES), Geriatric Depression Short form (GDS-15), and Lawton Instrumental Activities of Daily Living (LIADL). Psychometric properties of the DAS were determined. AD-Control comparison was performed to explore group differences on the DAS. Latent Class Analysis (LCA) was used to explore the profile of apathy in AD.  RESULTS: The DAS had a good to excellent Cronbach's standardized alpha (self-rated = 0.85, informant/carer-rated = 0.93) and good convergent and divergent validity against standard apathy (AES) and depression (GDS-15) measures. Group comparison showed people with AD were significantly higher for all apathy subtypes than controls (p < 0.001), and lacking in awareness over all apathy subtype deficits. LCA showed three distinct AD subgroups, with 42.2% in the Executive-Initiation apathy, 28.4% in the Global apathy, and 29.4% in the Minimal apathy group.  CONCLUSIONS: The DAS is a psychometrically robust method of assessing multidimensional apathy in AD. The apathy profiles in AD are heterogeneous, with additional specific impairments relating to awareness dependent on apathy subtype

Plasmonic enhancement in the fluorescence of organic and biological molecules by photovoltaic tweezing assembly

This is the peer reviewed version of the following article: Advanced Materials Technologies 2.8 (2017): 1700024, which has been published in final form at http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/admt.201700024. This article may be used for non-commercial purposes in accordance with Wiley Terms and Conditions for Self-ArchivingThe potential of photovoltaic tweezers to produce plasmonic platforms for fluorescence enhancement of organic or biological molecules is demonstrated. 1D and 2D patterns of silver nanoparticles have been produced on the surface of LiNbO3:Fe substrates using this photovoltaic tool, which allows depositing in parallel a large number of particles in accordance with imposed 1D and 2D light profiles. The nanoparticle patterns reveal a variety of plasmonic features whose resonances cover a broad spectral range and are able to produce efficient fluorescence enhancement. First a remarkable average enhancement factor of ten has been measured for Disperse Red 1 organic molecules deposited on the patterns. Clear enhancements have been also obtained from fluorescein labeled biological molecules (DNA and asynthetic peptide). Finally, the possibility of using the photo-electrically generated metallic patterns with other substrates is also demonstrated by enhancement experiments for which the nanoparticle pattern has been transferred to a non-photovoltaic substrateThis work was supported by the funding of the Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad of Spain under the project MAT2014-57704-C3. M. A. Díaz also acknowledges Spanish Government (MINECO) and the European Community (FEDER) through Grant MAT2015-66586-

How predictive are temporal lobe changes of underlying TDP-43 pathology in the ALS-FTD continuum?

Detection of underling proteinopathies is becoming increasingly important across neurodegenerative conditions due to upcoming disease intervention trials. In this review, we explored how temporal lobe changes in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and frontotemporal dementia (FTD) can potentially predict underlying TDP-43 pathology subtypes in FTD. To date, emphasis has been given to frontal lobe changes in the study of the cognitive and behavioural impairments in both syndromes but an increasing number of pathological, imaging and neuropsychological studies suggest how temporal lobe changes could critically affect the cognition and behaviour of these conditions. In this current article, we reviewed pathological, imaging as well as clinical/neuropsychological findings of temporal involvement in the ALS-FTD continuum, how they relate to temporal lobe changes and the underlying TDP-43 pathology in FTD. Findings across studies show that TDP-43 pathology occurs and coincides in many structures in ALS and FTD, but especially in the temporal lobes. In particular, anterior and medial temporal lobes atrophy is consistently found in ALS and FTD. In addition, memory and language impairment as well as emotional and Theory of Mind (ToM) processing deficits that are characteristics of the two diseases are highly correlated to temporal lobe dysfunction. We conclude by showing that temporal lobe changes due to TDP-43 type B might be particular predictive of TDP-43 type B pathology in behavioural variant FTD (bvFTD), which clearly needs to be investigated further in the future

The experience of children with parents diagnosed with young onset dementia: A systematic literature review

Background: Young onset dementia (YOD) may develop rapidly, and affect those who have dependent children. Currently, there remains a lack of understanding of the impact on children living with a parent with YOD. Aim: The aim of this systematic literature review is to explore published literature in order to understand the impact on children living with a parent with YOD. Methods: A systematic search of the following databases: Medline; PsychINFO; CINAHL and Scopus for literature published from 1/1/2013 to 31/12/2018. Results: Three major themes were identified, firstly coping encompassed two sub-themes of avoiding the situation and being empowered. Secondly, change encompassed two sub-themes of change of personality and change of family role, and lastly loss. Conclusion: There remains a need to raise awareness and develop support services for children of parents with YOD. Community nurses are the best place healthcare professionals to identify and support the needs of both the person with YOD and their children

Entorno de desarrollo y testing para una aplicacion Flutter en un sistema embebido basado en Yocto project

Este trabajo pretende recoger los aspectos de diseño e implementación tenidos en cuenta para la creación de un entorno de desarrollo, bajo unos requisitos tecnológicos y empresariales específicos. Explicaría cómo debe ser usado por los desarrolladores, teniendo en cuenta el ciclo de vida de desarrollo del software (SDLC, por sus siglas en inglés). Además, se presenta el desarrollo software de una aplicación de meteorología, escrita en Flutter en un dispositivo embebido Raspberry Pi, que serviría de ejemplo de los procesos descritos. Los requisitos tecnológicos marcados, representan una situación ficticia que podría darse en una nueva empresa de rápido crecimiento o start up dedicada al ámbito del IoT o sistemas embebidos. Los requisitos son los siguientes: pequeña empresa en rápido crecimiento, equipo multidisciplinar, un entorno fexible y dinámico accesible para adaptarse rápidamente a cambios de hardware y a las decisiones empresariales y estratégicas de operaciones. Además se quiere basar el proyecto en tecnologías que permitan esta rápida adaptación, que sean herramientas de uso universal, en la medida de lo posible, y de código abierto. Abstract: This document aims to talk about the design and implementation aspects in the creation of an development environment with some technological and business requirements. It explains how it should be used by developers in their journy, taking in consideration the software development life cyle(SDLC). Also, It shows the development of an metherological application for an embedded device. In this case, a Raspberry Pi. It is used as example for the process showed previously. The technological requirements are the following: A start up in the field of IoT or embeded devices that wants a development environment. It has to be for a fastgrowing and multidisciplinary team. It must be fexible enough for adapting to the business and strategical choices. It should be universal and open source code based, as much as it could be possible

Lewy Body Dementias: A Coin with Two Sides?

Lewy body dementias (LBDs) consist of dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB) and Parkinson’s disease dementia (PDD), which are clinically similar syndromes that share neuropathological findings with widespread cortical Lewy body deposition, often with a variable degree of concomitant Alzheimer pathology. The objective of this article is to provide an overview of the neuropathological and clinical features, current diagnostic criteria, biomarkers, and management of LBD. Literature research was performed using the PubMed database, and the most pertinent articles were read and are discussed in this paper. The diagnostic criteria for DLB have recently been updated, with the addition of indicative and supportive biomarker information. The time interval of dementia onset relative to parkinsonism remains the major distinction between DLB and PDD, underpinning controversy about whether they are the same illness in a different spectrum of the disease or two separate neurodegenerative disorders. The treatment for LBD is only symptomatic, but the expected progression and prognosis differ between the two entities. Diagnosis in prodromal stages should be of the utmost importance, because implementing early treatment might change the course of the illness if disease-modifying therapies are developed in the future. Thus, the identification of novel biomarkers constitutes an area of active research, with a special focus on α-synuclein markers