Emotion Regulation in Relation to Cognitive Functioning in the Preclinical Stages of Dementia

Emotion regulation (ER) is essential for effective functioning in daily life. Research suggests that ER improves in older adulthood despite concomitant declines in cognition and the presumed neural substrates of ER. The current understanding of ER in older adulthood, and particularly of the relationship between ER and cognition in older adulthood, is limited. This is likely because the construct of ER is challenging to operationalize and, therefore, difficult to study. The current study investigates ER in relation to cognitive functioning, specifically executive functioning and memory, in individuals with varying degrees of cognitive difficulties (i.e., in the preclinical stages of dementia). The study sample was composed of 179 adults between the ages of 70 and 98 and included Healthy Controls (HCs, 42%), individuals with Subjective Cognitive Decline (SCD, 37%), and individuals with Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI, 21%). Study participants completed a comprehensive neuropsychological battery consisting of a number of objective measures of executive functioning and memory, as well as two self-report measures of ER strategy use, the Emotion Regulation Questionnaire (ERQ; Gross & John, 2003) and the Cognitive Emotion Regulation Questionnaire (CERQ; Garnefski, Kraaij, & Spinhoven, 2001). Parametric and non-parametric techniques were employed to evaluate each of the following in a sample of non-demented older adults with varying degrees of cognitive difficulties: (1) psychometric properties of the ERQ and CERQ; (2) relationships between age and ER strategy use; (3) relationships between ER strategy use and cognition; and (4) relationships between affective behavior in vivo and executive functioning and memory performances. The results of the current study suggest that modified versions of the ERQ and CERQ have adequate psychometric properties for use as self-report measures of ER strategy in older adults with varying degrees of cognitive difficulties. Age (in years) was significantly, but weakly, inversely related to use of adaptive ER strategies. The study revealed some associations between cognition and ER strategy use. Specifically, HC participants endorsed significantly greater adaptive ER strategy use than did SCD participants, and MCI participants endorsed significantly greater maladaptive ER strategy use than did HC and SCD participants. In addition, adaptive ER strategy use was a significant predictor of memory functioning. On the whole, however, there was no strong consistent evidence of a link between cognitive functioning and ER strategy use. Results are discussed in the context of theories of ER in older adulthood. This work has implications for understanding ER across the lifespan and relationships between ER and cognition. It also has clinical implications for working with older adults with mild cognitive difficulties within the context of psychotherapy

Interacting Hierarchical Dynamic Networks

In this work we present IHDNs: an original model of computation for the simulation of interacting, dynamic, multi-scale systems. We show that a novel message passing mechanism that operates across layers of abstraction in hierarchical dynamic networks is effective in expressing the complex dependencies of living systems. Using a conventional computational model of cell evolution in cancerous tumour growth for comparison, we demonstrate the validity of IHDNs in emulating the behaviour of life-like systems, as well as the additional capabilities in enabling Neo4j Cypher patternmatching queries, demonstrated here in the analysis of evolutionary cell heritage

Association between cognitive performance and cortical glucose metabolism in patients with mild Alzheimer's disease

Background: Neuronal and synaptic function in Alzheimer's disease (AD) is measured in vivo by glucose metabolism using positron emission tomography (PET). Objective: We hypothesized that neuronal activation as measured by PET is a more sensitive index of neuronal dysfunction than activity during rest. We investigated if the correlations between dementia severity as measured with the Mini Mental State Examination (MMSE) and glucose metabolism are an artifact of brain atrophy. Method: Glucose metabolism was measured using {[}F-18]fluorodeoxyglucose PET during rest and activation due to audiovisual stimulation in 13 mild to moderate AD patients (MMSE score >= 17). PET data were corrected for brain atrophy. Results: In the rest condition, glucose metabolism was correlated with the MMSE score primarily within the posterior cingulate and parietal lobes. For the activation condition, additional correlations were within the primary and association audiovisual areas. Most local maxima remained significant after correcting for brain atrophy. Conclusion: PET activity measured during audiovisual stimulation was more sensitive to functional alterations in glucose metabolism in AD patients compared to the resting PET. The association between glucose metabolism and MMSE score was not dependent on brain atrophy. Copyright (C) 2005 S. Karger AG, Basel

Can Democracies Cooperate with China on AI Research? Rebalancing AI Research Networks

China looms large in the global landscape of artificial intelligence (AI) research, development, and policymaking. Its talent, growing technological skill and innovation, and national investment in science and technology have made it a leader in AI.This working paper considers whether and to what extent international collaboration with China on AI can endure. In Part I, it presents the history of China's AI development and extraordinarily successful engagement with international research and development (R&D) and explains how this history has helped China become a global leader in the field. Part II shows how China has become embedded in international AI R&D networks, with China and the United States becoming each other's largest collaborator and China also a major collaborator with each of the other six countries participating in FCAI. Part III then provides an overview of the economic, ethical, and strategic issues that call into question whether such levels of collaboration on AI can continue, as well as the challenges and disadvantages of disconnecting the channels of collaboration. The analysis then looks at how engagement with China on AI R&D might evolve

Non-dipole recollision-gated double ionization and observable effects

Using a three-dimensional semiclassical model, we study double ionization for strongly-driven He fully accounting for magnetic field effects. For linearly and slightly elliptically polarized laser fields, we show that recollisions and the magnetic field combined act as a gate. This gate favors more transverse - with respect to the electric field - initial momenta of the tunneling electron that are opposite to the propagation direction of the laser field. In the absence of non-dipole effects, the transverse initial momentum is symmetric with respect to zero. We find that this asymmetry in the transverse initial momentum gives rise to an asymmetry in a double ionization observable. Finally, we show that this asymmetry in the transverse initial momentum of the tunneling electron accounts for a recently-reported unexpectedly large average sum of the electron momenta parallel to the propagation direction of the laser field.Comment: Amended the focus of the paper and discussion. 9 pages, 7 figure

Should cost effectiveness analyses for NICE always consider future unrelated medical costs?

When developing guidance on the use of new technologies within the NHS, NICE recommends the use of cost effectiveness. Specifically, an intervention is deemed cost effective by NICE if ‘its health benefits are greater than the opportunity costs of programmes displaced to fund the new technology, in the context of a fixed NHS budget. In other words, the general consequences for the wider group of patients in the NHS are considered alongside the effects for those patients who may directly benefit from the technology.’ We argue that the technical guidelines for health technology assessment used by NICE should change given this definition of cost effectiveness. The point at issue is the handling of “unrelated future medical costs”

The hidden burden of adult allergic rhinitis : UK healthcare resource utilisation survey

Funding Funding for this survey was provided by Meda Pharma.Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Apollo Lightcraft Project

This second year of the NASA/USRA-sponsored Advanced Aeronautical Design effort focused on systems integration and analysis of the Apollo Lightcraft. This beam-powered, single-stage-to-orbit vehicle is envisioned as the shuttlecraft of the 21st century. The five person vehicle was inspired largely by the Apollo Command Module, then reconfigured to include a new front seat with dual cockpit controls for the pilot and co-pilot, while still retaining the 3-abreast crew accommodations in the rear seat. The gross liftoff mass is 5550 kg, of which 500 kg is the payload and 300 kg is the LH2 propellant. The round trip cost to orbit is projected to be three orders of magnitude lower than the current space shuttle orbiter. The advanced laser-driven 5-speed combined-cycle engine has shiftpoints at Mach 1, 5, 11 and 25+. The Apollo Lightcraft can climb into low Earth orbit in three minutes, or fly to any spot on the globe in less than 45 minutes. Detailed investigations of the Apollo Lightcraft Project this second year further evolved the propulsion system design, while focusing on the following areas: (1) man/machine interface; (2) flight control systems; (3) power beaming system architecture; (4) re-entry aerodynamics; (5) shroud structural dynamics; and (6) optimal trajectory analysis. The principal new findings are documented. Advanced design efforts for the next academic year (1988/1989) will center on a one meter+ diameter spacecraft: the Lightcraft Technology Demonstrator (LTD). Detailed engineering design and analyses, as well as critical proof-of-concept experiments, will be carried out on this small, near-term machine. As presently conceived, the LTD could be constructed using state of the art components derived from existing liquid chemical rocket engine technology, advanced composite materials, and high power laser optics