Effects of a Speed-of-Processing Intervention on Driving Performance: The ACCELERATE Study

Useful Field of View performance, as measured by UFOV, is a valid and reliable predictor of crash involvement among older drivers, and UFOV performance improves with Speed of Processing (SOP) training. The ACCELERATE Study is examining the effects of SOP training on other cognitive functions and on everyday mobility among older adults at risk for impaired mobility. To date, 59 participants have been randomly assigned to SOP training and 59 to an Internet training control group (total n = 118). At baseline and post-test, participants are given extensive cognitive, sensory, health, and mobility assessments, as well as driving assessments in either a driving simulator or an instrumented vehicle. Preliminary results indicate that performance on the UFOV improves significantly more in the SOP training group than in the control group. Furthermore, means on most other cognitive variables are in the direction of greater improvement for SOP trainees than controls, with significant transfer of training on select speeded measures. Preliminary analyses of driving indicate that relative to controls, SOP trainees have improved in the speed with which they are able to detect moving targets originating in the periphery and moving toward central vision, but not in the detection of static targets originating in central view. Thus, some driving tasks appear to benefit from SOP training, while others do not. Results suggest that Speed of Processing training may transfer to other cognitive functions as well as to everyday mobility performance, such as driving

Caregiver-Assisted Coping Skills Training for Lung Cancer: Results of a Randomized Clinical Trial

Lung cancer is one of the most common cancers in the U.S. and is associated with high levels of symptoms including pain, fatigue, shortness of breath, and psychological distress. Caregivers as well as patients are adversely affected. However, previous studies of coping skills training (CST) interventions have not been tested in patients with lung cancer nor systematically included caregivers

Antarctic extreme events

There is increasing evidence that fossil-fuel burning, and consequential global heating of 1.1°C to date, has led to the increased occurrence and severity of extreme environmental events. It is well documented how such events have impacted society outside Antarctica through enhanced levels of rainfall and flooding, heatwaves and wildfires, drought and water/food shortages and episodes of intense cooling. Here, we briefly examine evidence for extreme events in Antarctica and the Southern Ocean across a variety of environments and timescales. We show how vulnerable natural Antarctic systems are to extreme events and highlight how governance and environmental protection of the continent must take them into account. Given future additional heating of at least 0.4°C is now unavoidable (to contain heating to the “Paris Agreement 1.5°C” scenario), and may indeed be higher unless drastic action is successfully taken on reducing greenhouse gas emissions to net zero by mid-Century, we explain it is virtually certain that future Antarctic extreme events will be more pronounced than those observed to date

Sleep Related Cognitions in Individuals with Symptoms of Insomnia and Depression

STUDY OBJECTIVES: Depression has been identified as the most common condition comorbid to insomnia, with findings pointing to the possibility that these disorders may be causally related to each other or may share common mechanisms. Some have suggested that comorbid insomnia and depression may have a different clinical course than either condition alone, and may thus require specific treatment procedures. In this report we examined the clinical characteristics of individuals referred to an academic sleep center who report comorbid symptoms of insomnia and depression and those with symptoms of insomnia outside the context of meaningful depression, and we identified differences between these groups with regard to several cognitive-related variables. METHODS: Logistic regression analyses examined whether past week worry, dysfunctional beliefs about sleep, and insomnia symptom-focused rumination predicted group membership. RESULTS: Individuals with comorbid symptoms of insomnia and depression reported more past-week worry, dysfunctional beliefs about sleep, and insomnia symptom-focused rumination, than those with symptoms of insomnia without significant depression symptoms. When including all three cognitive-related variables in our model, those with comorbid symptoms reported more severe insomnia symptom-focused rumination, even when controlling for insomnia and mental health severity, among other relevant covariates. CONCLUSION: The findings contribute to our understanding of the complex nature of comorbid symptoms of insomnia and depression and the specific symptom burden experienced by those with significant depression symptoms in the presence of insomnia. The findings also highlight the need for increased clinical attention to the sleep-focused rumination reported by these patients. CITATION: Levenson JC, Benca RM, Rumble ME. Sleep related cognitions in individuals with symptoms of insomnia and depression. J Clin Sleep Med 2015;11(8):847–854

Sex Differences in the Relationship Between Depressive Symptoms and Actigraphic Assessments of Sleep and Rest-Activity Rhythms in a Population-Based Sample

ObjectiveDepression is often associated with disruptions in sleep and circadian rhythms. We aimed to confirm these relationships via actigraphic assessment in a large, population-based sample and test whether sex moderates these relationships.MethodsA total of 418 participants (age = 35-85 years, mean [standard deviation] = 57.04 [11.47]) completed questionnaires and 1 week of actigraphy, used to calculate sleep and rest-activity statistics including mesor (mean activity level), amplitude (height of rhythm), and acrophase (time of day that rhythm peaks).ResultsDepressive symptoms, assessed via Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale, were associated with disrupted sleep and rest-activity rhythms. Furthermore, men demonstrated longer sleep onset latency (SOL, B = -13.28, p < .001), longer wake time after sleep onset (B = -6.26, p < .01), lower sleep efficiency (B = 5.91, p < .001), and lower total sleep time (TST, B = 33.16, p < .001) than women. Sex moderated the relationship between depression and SOL, TST, mesor, and amplitude; sex-stratified models revealed that higher depression scores were associated with greater SOL (B = 1.05, p < .001) and less TST (B = -0.87, p < .10) for women with higher depressive symptoms, but lower mesor (B = -1.75, p < .01) and amplitude (B = -1.94, p < .01) for men with higher depressive symptoms.ConclusionsDepressive symptoms were related to disrupted sleep continuity and rest-activity rhythms in this population-based sample; however, these relationships differed by sex. Women with greater depressive symptoms exhibited difficulty with sleep continuity, whereas men with greater depressive symptoms demonstrated disruption throughout the 24-hour rhythm

Longitudinal assessment of post-surgical physical activity in endometrial and ovarian cancer patients.

ObjectivePhysical activity plays a key role in cancer survivorship. The purpose of this investigation was to (a) describe the post-surgical physical activity trajectories of endometrial (n = 65) and ovarian (n = 31) cancer patients and (b) identify clinical and demographic predictors of physical activity over time.Methods96 participants wore an Actiwatch accelerometer for three days at each of three time points (one week, one month and four months) after surgical intervention for their endometrial or ovarian cancer diagnosis. Analyses were conducted using linear mixed effects regression modeling in SAS 9.4.ResultsFor both tumor types, although physical activity levels increased with time after surgery, even at four months patients were performing only a small fraction of the 150 minutes of recommended weekly moderate to vigorous physical activity. At 1 week, subjects were completing on average 14 minutes/week (SD = 4) of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity, compared to 14 minutes/week (SD = 2) of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity at four months post-surgery (p ConclusionsOur findings suggest that physical activity levels are different for those with better self-rated health, but those individuals are still insufficiently active. This study adds new information describing the trajectories and variables that influence physical activity in gynecologic cancer survivors after surgery and highlights the need for health promotion interventions in this population