What did I sign? A study of the impenetrability of legalese in contracts

Legal documents, in the form of terms of service agreements and other private contracts, are now an increasingly prevalent part of everyday life. While legal documents have long been acknowledged to be difficult to understand without training, it remains an open question whether the ever-increasing exposure to contracts might have mitigated this difficulty. Moreover, insofar as this difficulty has persisted, there remains no systematic analysis of which linguistic structures contribute most heavily to the processing difficulty of legal texts, nor whether this difficulty is heightened for those with less language experience. Here, we investigate these issues, and in a well-powered experiment find evidence that (a) both recall and comprehension of legal propositions in a contract are hindered by use of a legal register relative to plain-English translations; (b) certain linguistic structures, such as center-embedding, hinder recall to a greater degree than others, such as passive voice; and (c) language experience influences comprehension of legal propositions. Surprisingly, language experience did not influence recall, nor was there an interaction between legal register and language experience on recall or comprehension. These findings suggest that legal language poses heightened difficulties for those with less language experience--who tend to be of lower socioeconomic status and with diminished access to the justice system--and that eliminating complex features of legalese would benefit those of all reading levels

Serum levels of IL-6 are associated with cognitive impairment in the salus in apulia population-based study

Growing evidence suggests that inflammation contributes to brain aging and neurodegeneration. This study investigates the relationship between global cognitive as well executive function and the inflammatory markers IL-6, CRP, and TNF-α in a population-based study of older adults. A population-based sample, of older people in Southern Italy, was enrolled. We measured serum levels of IL-6, CRP, and TNF-α. We also administered two neuropsychological tests: Mini-Mental State Examination and Frontal Assessment Battery. Rank-based regression models were performed to investigate the relationship between inflammatory markers and cognitive functions, including major demographic and clinical confounders for adjustment. The sample consisted of 1929 subjects aged between 65 and 95 years. Multivariate linear regression analysis revealed that higher serum levels of IL-6 were associated with lower MMSE and FAB scores even after adjustment for demographic data and cardiovascular risk factors. No significant associations were found between cognitive functioning and serum levels of CRP and TNF-α. Our results suggest that higher levels of IL-6 were associated with cognitive impairment in an older adult population of Southern Italy

A European study on alcohol and drug use among young drivers : The TEND by night study design and methodology

Background. Young individuals are the age group with the highest risk of car accidents. One of main explanations relies on the use of psychoactive substances (alcohol, illegal and medicinal drugs), which are known to be major risk factors of road accidents, and whose consumption is almost universally more common among younger drivers. Although the correlation between psychoactive substances use and decrease in driving performance has been established in controlled experimental or laboratory settings, few studies were conducted in naturalistic circumstances. The TEND by Night project has been designed to evaluate the relationship between driving performance and psychoactive substances assumption in young drivers enrolled at typical places of consumption. Methods/Design. The TEND by Night project, endorsed by the European Commission, is a multidisciplinary, multi-centric, cross-sectional study conducted in six European countries (Italy, Belgium/Netherlands, Bulgaria, Spain, Poland and Latvia). The study population consists of 5000 young drivers aged 16-34 years, attending recreational sites during weekend nights. The intervention is based on the portal survey technique and includes several steps at the entrance and exit of selected sites, including the administration of semi-structured questionnaires, breath alcohol test, several drug assumption test, and measurement of the reaction time using a driving simulator. The main outcome is the difference in reaction time between the entrance and exit of the recreation site, and its correlation with psychoactive substances use. As a secondary outcome it will be explored the relationship between reaction time difference and the amount of consumption of each substance. All analyses will be multivariate. Discussion. The project methodology should provide some relevant advantages over traditional survey systems. The main strengths of the study include the large and multicentric sample, the objective measurement of substance assumption (which is typically self-reported), the application of a portal survey technique and the simultaneous evaluation of several psychoactive substances.publishersversionPeer reviewe

What did I sign? A study of the impenetrability of legalese in contracts

Legal documents, in the form of terms of service agreements and other private contracts, are now an increasingly prevalent part of everyday life. While legal documents have long been acknowledged to be difficult to understand without training, it remains an open question whether the ever-increasing exposure to contracts might have mitigated this difficulty. Moreover, insofar as this difficulty has persisted, there remains no systematic analysis of which linguistic structures contribute most heavily to the processing difficulty of legal texts, nor whether this difficulty is heightened for those with less language experience. Here, we investigate these issues, and in a well-powered experiment find evidence that (a) both recall and comprehension of legal propositions in a contract are hindered by use of a legal register relative to plain-English translations; (b) certain linguistic structures, such as center-embedding, hinder recall to a greater degree than others, such as passive voice; and (c) language experience influences comprehension of legal propositions. Surprisingly, language experience did not influence recall, nor was there an interaction between legal register and language experience on recall or comprehension. These findings suggest that legal language poses heightened difficulties for those with less language experience--who tend to be of lower socioeconomic status and with diminished access to the justice system--and that eliminating complex features of legalese would benefit those of all reading levels

Arginine- and lysine-rich peptides: synthesis, characterization and antimicrobial activity

In recent years, the multi-drug resistance of bacteria and fungi strains has become a worldwide problem. The incidence of fungal and bacterial infections is experiencing a serious growth and the microorganisms have developed several new mechanisms of antibiotic resistance. Antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) constitute one of the well-known barrier defense systems of plants. They have been isolated from roots, seeds, flowers, stems and leaves of a wide variety of species and have activities towards phytopathogens, as well as against human pathogens. AMPs are often cationic peptides able to interact with the membrane through penetration or dissolving the biofilms. In this paper, we report the synthesis of several arginine and lysine-rich peptides and their evaluation as antimicrobial agents

ALZT-OP1: an experimental combination regimen for the treatment of Alzheimer’s disease

Introduction: For Alzheimer’s disease (AD) treatment, US FDA granted accelerated approval for aducanumab due to its amyloid-β (Aβ)-lowering effects, notwithstanding the reported poor correlation between amyloid plaque reduction and clinical change for this drug. The diversification of drug targets appears to be the future of the AD field and from this perspective, drugs modulating microglia dysfunction and combination treatment regimens offer some promise. Areas covered: The aim of the present article was to provide a comprehensive review of ALZT-OP1 (cromolyn sodium plus ibuprofen), an experimental combination treatment regimen for AD, discussing their mechanisms of action targeting Aβ and neuroinflammation, examining the role of microglia in AD and offering our own insights on the role of present and alternative approaches directed toward neuroinflammation. Expert opinion: Enrolling high-risk participants with elevated brain amyloid could help to slow cognitive decline in secondary prevention trials during AD preclinical stages. Long-term follow-up indicated that non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs use begun when the brain was still normal may benefit these patients, suggesting that the timing of therapy could be crucial. However, previous clinical failures and the present incomplete understanding of the Aβ pathophysiological role in AD put this novel experimental combination regimen at substantial risk of failure

Depressive and Biopsychosocial Frailty Phenotypes: Impact on Late-life Cognitive Disorders

: In older age, frailty is a detrimental transitional status of the aging process featuring an increased susceptibility to stressors defined by a clinical reduction of homoeostatic reserves. Multidimensional frailty phenotypes have been associated with all-cause dementia, mild cognitive impairment (MCI), Alzheimer's disease (AD), AD neuropathology, vascular dementia, and non-AD dementias. In the present article, we reviewed current evidence on the existing links among depressive and biopsychosocial frailty phenotypes and late-life cognitive disorders, also examining common pathways and mechanisms underlying these links. The depressive frailty phenotype suggested by the construct of late-life depression (LLD) plus physical frailty is poorly operationalized. The biopsychosocial frailty phenotype, with its coexistent biological/physical and psychosocial dimensions, defines a biological aging status and includes motivational, emotional, and socioeconomic domains. Shared biological pathways/substrates among depressive and biopsychosocial frailty phenotypes and late-life cognitive disorders are hypothesized to be inflammatory and cardiometabolic processes, together with multimorbidity, loneliness, mitochondrial dysfunction, dopaminergic neurotransmission, specific personality traits, lack of subjective/objective social support, and neuroendocrine dysregulation. The cognitive frailty phenotype, combining frailty and cognitive impairment, may be a risk factor for LLD and vice versa, and a construct of depressive frailty linking physical frailty and LLD may be a good dementia predictor. Frailty assessment may enable clinicians to better target the pharmacological and psychological treatment of LLD. Given the epidemiological links of biopsychosocial frailty with dementia and MCI, multidomain interventions might contribute to delay the onset of late-life cognitive disorders and other adverse health-related outcomes, such as institutionalization, more frequent hospitalization, disability, and mortality

Late-Onset Depression but not Early-Onset Depression may Increase the Risk of All-Cause Mortality in Older Age: 8-Year Follow-Up of the Salus in Apulia Study

Objectives: Individuals with late-life depression (LLD) may have shorter survival, but there is a lack of findings in population-based settings about health-related outcomes of LLD and its subtypes: early-onset depression (EOD) and late-onset depression (LOD). We aimed to evaluate the risk of all-cause mortality of individuals with LLD and its subtypes in an older population-based cohort. Moreover, we investigated whether inflammatory, cognitive, genetic features and multimorbidity could modify the effect of this association. Design: Longitudinal population-based study with 8-year follow-up. Setting and Participants: We analyzed data on a sample of 1479 participants, all aged >65 years, in the Salus in Apulia Study. Methods: LLD was diagnosed through DSM-IV-TR criteria and LOD and EOD according to the age of onset. Multimorbidity status was defined as the copresence of 2 or more chronic diseases. Results: The overall prevalence of LLD in this older sample from Southern Italy was 10.2%, subdivided into 3.4% EOD and 6.8% LOD. In multivariable Cox models adjusted for age, gender, education, global cognition, apolipoprotein E ε4 allele, physical frailty, interleukin-6, and multimorbidity, LLD showed a greater risk of all-cause mortality. LOD differed from EOD regarding gender, education, cognitive dysfunctions, and diabetes mellitus. There was a significantly increased risk of all-cause mortality for participants with LOD (hazard ratio:1.99; 95% CI 1.33–2.97) in the time of observation between enrollment date and death date (7.31 ± 2.17 months). Conclusions and Implication: In older age, individuals with LOD but not with EOD had a significantly decreased survival, probably related to increased inflammation, multimorbidity, and cognitive impairments

Oral frailty indicators to target major adverse health-related outcomes in older age: a systematic review

A well-preserved oral function is key to accomplishing essential daily tasks. However, in geriatric medicine and gerodontology, as age-related physiological decline disrupts several biological systems pathways, achieving this objective may pose a challenge. We aimed to make a systematic review of the existing literature on the relationships between poor oral health indicators contributing to the oral frailty phenotype, defined as an age-related gradual loss of oral function together with a decline in cognitive and physical functions, and a cluster of major adverse health-related outcomes in older age, including mortality, physical frailty, functional disability, quality of life, hospitalization, and falls. Six different electronic databases were consulted by two independent researchers, who found 68 eligible studies published from database inception to September 10, 2022. The risk of bias was evaluated using the National Institutes of Health Quality Assessment Toolkits for Observational Cohort and Cross-Sectional Studies. The study is registered on PROSPERO (CRD42021241075). Eleven different indicators of oral health were found to be related to adverse outcomes, which we grouped into four different categories: oral health status deterioration; decline in oral motor skills; chewing, swallowing, and saliva disorders; and oral pain. Oral health status deterioration, mostly number of teeth, was most frequently associated with all six adverse health-related outcomes, followed by chewing, swallowing, and saliva disorders associated with mortality, physical frailty, functional disability, hospitalization, and falls, then decline in oral motor skills associated with mortality, physical frailty, functional disability, hospitalization, and quality of life, and finally oral pain was associated only with physical frailty. The present findings could help to assess the contribution of each oral health indicator to the development of major adverse health-related outcomes in older age. These have important implications for prevention, given the potential reversibility of all these factors