Dementia, music and biometric gaming: Rising to the Dementia Challenge

In 2012, the U.K. government launched its Dementia Challenge, authorizing additional funding for dementia research and health care. The search for curative medicines is ongoing, but scientific research reveals evidence that music can play a positive role in general health, and in dementia and Alzheimer’s disease in particular. This article considers whether some of the challenges that dementia presents could be addressed through music therapy and proposes that biometric gaming might offer one means of channeling such associated health benefits to sufferers of dementia, even in the final stages of the disease

The construction of saturated 2Rk-p designs

Combinatorial and sequential analyses for optimization of saturated design

Perceived characteristics of the environment associated with active travel: development and testing of a new scale

Background Environmental characteristics may be associated with patterns of physical activity. However, the development of instruments to measure perceived characteristics of the local environment is still at a comparatively early stage, and published instruments are not necessarily suitable for application in all settings. We therefore developed and established the test-retest reliability of a new scale for use in a study of the correlates of active travel and overall physical activity in deprived urban neighbourhoods in Glasgow, Scotland. Methods We developed and piloted a 14-item scale based on seven constructs identified from the literature (aesthetics, green space, access to amenities, convenience of routes, traffic, road safety and personal safety). We administered the scale to all participants in a random postal survey (n = 1322) and readministered the scale to a subset of original respondents (n = 125) six months later. We used principal components analysis and Varimax rotation to identify three principal components (factors) and derived summary scores for subscales based on these factors. We examined the internal consistency of these subscales using Cronbach's alpha and examined the test-retest reliability of the individual items, the subscale summary scores and an overall summary neighbourhood score using a combination of correlation coefficients and Cohen's kappa with and without weighting. Results Public transport and proximity to shops were the items most likely to be rated positively, whereas traffic volume, traffic noise and road safety for cyclists were most likely to be rated negatively. Three principal components – 'safe and pleasant surroundings', 'low traffic' and 'convenience for walking' – together explained 45% of the total variance. The test-retest reliability of individual items was comparable with that of items in other published scales (intraclass correlation coefficients (ICCs) 0.34–0.70; weighted Cohen's kappa 0.24–0.59). The overall summary neighbourhood score had acceptable internal consistency (Cronbach's alpha 0.72) and test-retest reliability (ICC 0.73). Conclusion This new scale contributes to the development of a growing set of tools for investigating the role of perceived environmental characteristics in explaining or mediating patterns of active travel and physical activity

The decay of highly excited open strings

The decay rates of leading edge Regge trajectory states are calculated for very high level number in open bosonic string theories, ignoring tachyon final states. The optical theorem simplifies the analysis while enabling identification of the different mass level decay channels. The main result is that (in four dimensions) the greatest single channel is the emission of a single photon and a state of the next mass level down. A simple asymptotic formula for arbitrarily high level number is given for this process. Also calculated is the total decay rate exactly up to N=100. It shows little variation over this range but appears to decrease for larger N. The formalism is checked in examples and the decay rate of the first excited level calculated for open superstring theories. The calculation may also have implications for high spin meson resonances

Evaluating health effects of transport interventions: methodologic case study

Background: There is little evidence about the effects of environmental interventions on population levels of physical activity. Major transport projects may promote or discourage physical activity in the form of walking and cycling, but researching the health effects of such “natural experiments” in transport policy or infrastructure is challenging. Methods: Case study of attempts in 2004–2005 to evaluate the effects of two major transport projects in Scotland: an urban congestion charging scheme in Edinburgh, and a new urban motorway (freeway) in Glasgow. Results: These interventions are typical of many major transport projects. They are unique to their context. They cannot easily be separated from the other components of the wider policies within which they occur. When, where, and how they are implemented are political decisions over which researchers have no control. Baseline data collection required for longitudinal studies may need to be planned before the intervention is certain to take place. There is no simple way of defining a population or area exposed to the intervention or of defining control groups. Changes in quantitative measures of health-related behavior may be difficult to detect. Conclusions: Major transport projects have clear potential to influence population health, but it is difficult to define the interventions, categorize exposure, or measure outcomes in ways that are likely to be seen as credible in the field of public health intervention research. A final study design is proposed in which multiple methods and spatial levels of analysis are combined in a longitudinal quasi-experimental study

Terrestrial development in the Tasmanian frog, Bryobatrachus nimbus (Anura: Myobatrachinae): larval development and a field staging table

The moss froglet Bryobatrachus nimbus is a recently described terrestrial breeding and direct anuran from southwestern Tasmania. A 17-stage table based on changes in external was developed in order to calculate development rates and larval lifespan. This staging demonstrated that development was not predominantly intracapsular as earlier reported. Instead, larvae hatch from the capsule two to three months after oviposition and continue development in the nest within a homogenous, capsule-derived fluid. This reproductive mode was previoulsy known in Australia only in the Geverinia rosea complex from southwestern Australia. This paper describes the larval life-history of a subalpine population and presents data on clutch size, ovum and capsule diameters and the duration of larval development. Capsule size is almost twice that recorded for any other Australian anuran, while the larval lifespan is the longest known for any terrestrial breeding Australian species. Metamorphosis occurs approximately 12 months after oviposition

Research into fundamental phenomena associated with spacecraft electrochemical devices, calorimetry of nickel-cadmium cells Progress report, 1 Oct. - 31 Dec. 1967

Calorimetry of nickel cadmium cells for spacecraft electrochemical system

Tenascin-C fragments are endogenous inducers of cartilage matrix degradation

Cartilage destruction is a hallmark of osteoarthritis (OA) and is characterized by increased protease activity resulting in the degradation of critical extracellular matrix (ECM) proteins essential for maintaining cartilage integrity. Tenascin-C (TN-C) is an ECM glycoprotein, and its expression is upregulated in OA cartilage. We aimed to investigate the presence of TN-C fragments in arthritic cartilage and establish whether they promote cartilage degradation. Expression of TN-C and its fragments was evaluated in cartilage from subjects undergoing joint replacement surgery for OA and RA compared with normal subjects by western blotting. The localization of TN-C in arthritic cartilage was also established by immunohistochemistry. Recombinant TN-C fragments were then tested to evaluate which regions of TN-C are responsible for cartilage-degrading activity in an ex vivo cartilage explant assay measuring glycosaminoglycan (GAG) release, aggrecanase and matrix metalloproteinase (MMP) activity. We found that specific TN-C fragments are highly upregulated in arthritic cartilage. Recombinant TN-C fragments containing the same regions as those identified from OA cartilage mediate cartilage degradation by the induction of aggrecanase activity. TN-C fragments mapping to the EGF-L and FN type III domains 3-8 of TN-C had the highest levels of aggrecan-degrading ability that was not observed either with full-length TN-C or with other domains of TN-C. TN-C fragments represent a novel mechanism for cartilage degradation in arthritis and may present new therapeutic targets for the inhibition of cartilage degradation

Parametric down-conversion from a wave-equations approach: geometry and absolute brightness

Using the approach of coupled wave equations, we consider spontaneous parametric down-conversion (SPDC) in the narrow-band regime and its relationship to classical nonlinear processes such as sum-frequency generation. We find simple expressions in terms of mode overlap integrals for the absolute pair production rate into single spatial modes, and simple relationships between the efficiencies of the classical and quantum processes. The results, obtained with Green function techniques, are not specific to any geometry or nonlinear crystal. The theory is applied to both degenerate and non-degenerate SPDC. We also find a time-domain expression for the correlation function between filtered signal and idler fields.Comment: 10 pages, no figure