Spectral data for simply periodic solutions of the sinh-Gordon equation

This note summarizes results that were obtained by the author in his habilitation thesis concerning the development of a spectral theory for simply periodic, 2-dimensional, complex-valued solutions u of the sinh-Gordon equation. Spectral data for such solutions are defined for periodic Cauchy data on a line (following Hitchin and Bobenko) and the space of spectral data is described by an asymptotic characterization. Using methods of asymptotic estimates, the inverse problem for the spectral data of such Cauchy data is answered. Finally a Jacobi variety for the spectral curve is constructed, and this is used to study the asymptotic behavior of the spectral data corresponding to actual simply periodic solutions of the sinh-Gordon equation on strips of positive height

Spatial navigation deficits — overlooked cognitive marker for preclinical Alzheimer disease?

Detection of incipient Alzheimer disease (AD) pathophysiology is critical to identify preclinical individuals and target potentially disease-modifying therapies towards them. Current neuroimaging and biomarker research is strongly focused in this direction, with the aim of establishing AD fingerprints to identify individuals at high risk of developing this disease. By contrast, cognitive fingerprints for incipient AD are virtually non-existent as diagnostics and outcomes measures are still focused on episodic memory deficits as the gold standard for AD, despite their low sensitivity and specificity for identifying at-risk individuals. This Review highlights a novel feature of cognitive evaluation for incipient AD by focusing on spatial navigation and orientation deficits, which are increasingly shown to be present in at-risk individuals. Importantly, the navigation system in the brain overlaps substantially with the regions affected by AD in both animal models and humans. Notably, spatial navigation has fewer verbal, cultural and educational biases than current cognitive tests and could enable a more uniform, global approach towards cognitive fingerprints of AD and better cognitive treatment outcome measures in future multicentre trials. The current Review appraises the available evidence for spatial navigation and/or orientation deficits in preclinical, prodromal and confirmed AD and identifies research gaps and future research priorities

An audit of the toxicology findings in 555 medico-legal autopsies finds manner of death changed in 5 cases

An audit of toxicological analysis in Coronial autopsies performed at Forensic Science South Australia was conducted on the cases of three pathologists. Toxicological analysis had been performed in 555 (68 %) from a total of 815 autopsies. It was found that the proffered manner of death was changed from the provisional report (provided immediately after the post-mortem examination) in five cases (just under 1 %) as a consequence of the toxicological findings. This is a limited study as it is retrospective, not all cases had toxicological analysis and the findings are constrained by the range of the substances that could be detected. Nonetheless, the audit supports the application of toxicological analysis in medico-legal death investigation and suggests that an inclusive policy should be adopted.Neil E. I. Langlois, John D. Gilbert, Karen J. Heath, Calle Winskog, Chris Kostaki