Spanish Adaptation of the Dimensional Apathy Scale (DAS) in Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis

Aim: To adapt, translate, and utilize the Dimensional Apathy Scale (DAS) in Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) to the Spanish population. Method: We recruited 104 ALS patients (67 of their caregivers) and 49 controls. Participants completed the Spanish-translated DAS, Geriatric Depression Scale- Short form. Patients were also administered the ALS Functional Rating Scale-Revised (ALSFRS-R). Caregivers additionally completed the informant/caregiver-rated Spanish-translated DAS. The DAS was translated to Spanish using a back-translation method. Test-retest and internal consistency reliability were examined. Divergent validity was assessed by comparing the DAS with the depression scale (GDS-15). Principal Component Analysis (PCA) was applied to explore the substructure of the Spanish DAS. Results: The internal consistency reliability of self-rated Spanish DAS was 0.72 and of the informant/caregiver-rated Spanish DAS was 0.84. Correlations between self-rated DAS subscales and GDS-15 were not statistically significant, with a good test-retest reliability. PCA analysis showed a similar substructure to the original DAS. ALS patients had significantly higher Initiation apathy than controls. Additionally, ALS patient informant/caregiver-rated DAS Emotional apathy was significantly higher than the self-rated, with no significant differences observed in the Executive and Initiation subscales. No association was found between DAS and functional impairment using the ALS Functional Rating Scale (ALSFRS-R). Conclusion: The Spanish translation of the DAS is valid and reliable for use in assessing multidimensional apathy in the Spanish population. Availability of the Spanish DAS will allow for future research to explore different apathy subtypes and their impact in ALS and other conditions

Queering the Stats A Review of David Spiegelhalter’s The Art of Statistics: Learning from Data

The goal of this review is to explore The Art of Statistics using a mathematics education perspective and to illuminate the ways that it can be used as a resource in math instruction by students, preservice teachers, and math educators in general. I take the approach that the teaching and learning of mathematics is a part of the complex system comprising of many “interacting agents” (Davis, 2018, p. 77), such as students, teacher, curricula, and technology. The content of the book is a potential resource in the classroom, a potential part of the complex network. Echoing Jorge Louis Borges’ claim that a book is not an isolated entity, but that it contains infinite narratives brought by readers (Borges, 2007), I would like to examine the potential role of the content of this book in the learning ecosystem, including how the elements of this book could be used, and repurposed to fit our pedagogical goals

Pedagogy of Risk: Why and How Should We Teach Risk in High School Math Classes?

Risk is everywhere yet the concept of risk is seldom investigated in high school mathematics. After presenting arguments for teaching risk in the context of high school mathematics, the article describes a case study of teaching risk in two grade 11 classes in Canada- an all-boy independent school (23 boys) and a publicly funded religious school (19 girls and 4 boys). The findings suggest that the students possessed intuitive knowledge that risk of an event should be assessed by both its likelihood and its impact. Following and amending pedagogic model of risk (Levinson, R., Kent, P., Pratt, D., Kapadia, R., & Yogui, C., 2012), the study suggests that pedagogy of risk should include five components: 1) knowledge, beliefs, and values, 2) judgment of impact, 3) judgment of probability, 4) representations, and 5) estimation of risk. These components do not necessarily appear in the instruction or students’ decision making in chronological order,; furthermore, they influence each other. The implication for mathematics education is that a meaningful instruction about risk should go beyond mathematical representations and reasoning and include other components of the pedagogy of risk. The article also illustrates the importance of reasoning about rational numbers (rates, ratios, and fractions) and their critical interpretation in the pedagogy of risk

Convergence and divergence of apathy and depression

Apathy and depression can occur as independent constructs in various diseases, however, they have also been shown to overlap in certain features. It is not always clear as to how these two constructs are practically and theoretically different (divergent) or similar (convergent). Therefore, this article aims to discuss how the relevant literature has attempted to explain the issue of divergence and convergence of these constructs and to clarify this important, albeit complex, relationship between features of apathy and depression. Finally, important considerations are outlined so that apathy and depression can be assessed and researched while taking in to account these divergent and convergent features

Multidimensional apathy: evidence from neurodegenerative disease

Apathy is a demotivation syndrome common in neurodegenerative diseases and is fundamentally multidimensional in nature. Different methodologies have been used to identify and quantify these dimensions, which has resulted in multifarious concepts, ranging in the number and characteristics of apathy subtypes. This has created an ambiguity over the fundamental substructure of apathy. Here we review the multidimensional concepts of apathy and demonstrate that overlapping elements exist, pointing towards commonalities in apathy subtypes. These can be subsumed under a unified Dimensional Apathy Framework: a triadic structure of Initiation, Executive and Emotional apathy. Distinct cognitive processes may underlie these domains, while self-awareness interplays with all subtypes. Evidence from neurodegenerative diseases supports this distinction with differing apathy profiles in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, Parkinson's disease and Alzheimer's disease

Towards More Inclusive Mathematics: Opening up the Standards for Mathematical Practice

The authors use the concept of expanding the curriculum to demonstrate how the Common Core Standards for Mathematical Practice can include a space for kindness within the mathematics classroom. The authors examine current mathematics practice standards and reflect on how personal tenets create a space for teaching mathematical practices framed in kindness

Ectopic Pregnancy as Contraceptive Failure in Patient with Epilepsy

Epilepsy is a common neurologic condition which includes many women’s health issues. Menstrual disorders, reproductive endocrinological disturbances, ovulatory dysfunction and infertility appear to be relatively frequent in women with epilepsy. Clinical decision making which contraceptive regimen is optimal for an individual woman with epilepsy is one of the most challenging tasks when taking care of women with epilepsy. A higher incidence of breakthrough bleeding and contraceptive failure was determined among women using antiepileptic drugs. There is the increased risk for contraceptive failure with the use of P450 3A4 enzyme-inducing antiepileptic drugs (AEDs) such as phenobarbital, carbamazepine, phenytoin, felbamate, topiramate and oxcarbazepine. Therefore, it is recommended to use noninducing AEDs, or for those who use inducing AEDs, the use of oral hormonal contraceptive pills which contained equal or more than 50 mg of estrogen, or intrauterine devices. The aim of the article is to present woman with epilepsy who was used combined low dose oral contraceptive pills containing 20 mg of ethinyl estradiol which in interaction with carbamazepine resulted with ectopic tubar pregnancy

Coxsackie B3 Virus-induced Acute Hemorrhagic Edema of Infancy

Acute hemorrhagic edema of infancy (AHEI) is a cutaneous leukocytoclastic small vessel vasculitis of unknown incidence. It affects mostly infants aged 4 to 24 months. The distinctive features of AHEI include a generally healthy-appearing child with low-grade or absent fever and rarely painful targetoid purpuric edematous lesions. The disease usually resolves spontaneously within 3 weeks without late sequelae. The main differential diagnosis of AHEI is Henoch-Schönlein purpura (HSP). Initially, purpura fulminans should also be ruled out. We report the case of a 5-year-old girl with low fever and rapidly progressive skin lesions who had been admitted to the pediatric clinic. The child presented with palpable annular targetoid and purpuric plaques of different size predominantly affecting the face and extremities. In addition, there was a painful, hemorrhagic edema on the dorsum of her hands and feet. Based on the course of the disease and the typical clinical presentation, i.e., extensive characteristic skin lesions in a young child in a good general health condition, a diagnosis of AHEI was established. A virus serology test showed increased titers of enterovirus and coxsackievirus. Isolation of virus from feces confirmed an infection with coxsackie B3 virus. To our knowledge, this is the first report linking coxsackie B3 virus infection to AHE

Beyond faith and reason:the genesis of psychical research and the search for the paranormal domain (1850-1914)

The late-Victorian period was characterised by rapid social, cultural, and intellectual changes, with all domains open to challenge from numerous and diverse directions. This thesis focusses on a short period in ‘the Age of Enlightenment’, from the mid-nineteenth century to 1914, during which many groups and individuals wanted to try to answer the ultimate questions about the nature of the universe and humanity’s place within it. For them, the well-established fields of science, religion, and philosophy each proved to be inadequate individual tools with which to attempt to answer these questions. Consequently, many members of the cultural and intellectual elite turned to the paranormal domain, within which they saw the potential to answer some of their fundamental questions. Psychical research was a nascent intellectual field that investigated strange phenomena which existed at the borders of orthodox thinking, sitting precariously between the acceptable and the unacceptable. This thesis investigates the cultural, evidential, and sometimes personal motivations of the early paranormal researchers, all of which were members of the Society for Psychical Research, and some of the first theories developed by them. The thesis thus establishes the significance of paranormal research during this period. It discusses, in an intentionally eclectic way not done before, several of the key thinkers of the time. It posits a typology to help understanding of the period. This ‘paranormal domain’ represents a combination of an intellectual mindset, an investigative methodology, and a spiritual perspective, particular to the early psychical researchers of the SPR