Interpersonal prosodic correlation in frontotemporal dementia.

Communication accommodation describes how individuals adjust their communicative style to that of their conversational partner. We predicted that interpersonal prosodic correlation related to pitch and timing would be decreased in behavioral variant frontotemporal dementia (bvFTD). We predicted that the interpersonal correlation in a timing measure and a pitch measure would be increased in right temporal FTD (rtFTD) due to sparing of the neural substrate for speech timing and pitch modulation but loss of social semantics. We found no significant effects in bvFTD, but conversations including rtFTD demonstrated higher interpersonal correlations in speech rate than healthy controls

The burden of proof: the current state of atrial fibrillation prevention and treatment trials

Atrial fibrillation (AF) is an age-related arrhythmia of enormous socioeconomic significance. In recent years, our understanding of the basic mechanisms that initiate and perpetuate AF has evolved rapidly, catheter ablation of AF has progressed from concept to reality, and recent studies suggest lifestyle modification may help prevent AF recurrence. Emerging developments in genetics, imaging, and informatics also present new opportunities for personalized care. However, considerable challenges remain. These include a paucity of studies examining AF prevention, modest efficacy of existing antiarrhythmic therapies, diverse ablation technologies and practice, and limited evidence to guide management of high-risk patients with multiple comorbidities. Studies examining the long-term effects of AF catheter ablation on morbidity and mortality outcomes are not yet completed. In many ways, further progress in the field is heavily contingent on the feasibility, capacity, and efficiency of clinical trials to incorporate the rapidly evolving knowledge base and to provide substantive evidence for novel AF therapeutic strategies. This review outlines the current state of AF prevention and treatment trials, including the foreseeable challenges, as discussed by a unique forum of clinical trialists, scientists, and regulatory representatives in a session endorsed by the Heart Rhythm Society at the 12th Global CardioVascular Clinical Trialists Forum in Washington, DC, December 3–5, 2015

Alexithymia predicts loss chasing for people at risk for problem gambling

Background and aimsThe aim of this research was to investigate the relationship between alexithymia and loss-chasing behavior in people at risk and not at risk for problem gambling.MethodsAn opportunity sample of 58 (50 males and 8 females) participants completed the Problem Gambling Severity Index and the Toronto Alexithymia Scale (TAS-20). They then completed the Cambridge Gambling Task from which a measure of loss-chasing behavior was derived.ResultsAlexithymia and problem gambling risk were significantly positively correlated. Subgroups of non-alexithymic and at or near caseness for alexithymia by low risk and at risk for problem gambling were identified. The results show a clear difference for loss-chasing behavior for the two alexithymia conditions, but there was no evidence that low and at-risk problem gamblers were more likely to loss chase. The emotion-processing components of the TAS-20 were shown to correlate with loss chasing.Discussion and conclusionThese findings suggest that loss-chasing behavior may be particularly prevalent in a subgroup of problem gamblers those who are high in alexithymia

Manoeuvre planning architecture for the optimisation of spacecraft formation flying reconfiguration manoeuvres

Formation flying of multiple spacecraft collaborating toward the same goal is fast becoming a reality for space mission designers. Often the missions require the spacecraft to perform translational manoeuvres relative to each other to achieve some mission objective. These manoeuvres need to be planned to ensure the safety of the spacecraft in the formation and to optimise fuel management throughout the fleet. In addition to these requirements is it desirable for this manoeuvre planning to occur autonomously within the fleet to reduce operations cost and provide greater planning flexibility for the mission. One such mission that would benefit from this type of manoeuvre planning is the European Space Agency’s DARWIN mission, designed to search for extra-solar Earth-like planets using separated spacecraft interferometry. This thesis presents a Manoeuvre Planning Architecture for the DARWIN mission. The design of the Architecture involves identifying and conceptualising all factors affecting the execution of formation flying manoeuvres at the Sun/Earth libration point L2. A systematic trade-off analysis of these factors is performed and results in a modularised Manoeuvre Planning Architecture for the optimisation of formation flying reconfiguration manoeuvres. The Architecture provides a means for DARWIN to autonomously plan manoeuvres during the reconfiguration mode of the mission. The Architecture consists of a Science Operations Module, a Position Assignment Module, a Trajectory Design Module and a Station-keeping Module that represents a multiple multi-variable optimisation approach to the formation flying manoeuvre planning problem. The manoeuvres are planned to incorporate target selection for maximum science returns, collision avoidance, thruster plume avoidance, manoeuvre duration minimisation and manoeuvre fuel management (including fuel consumption minimisation and formation fuel balancing). With many customisable variables the Architecture can be tuned to give the best performance throughout the mission duration. The implementation of the Architecture highlights the importance of planning formation flying reconfiguration manoeuvres. When compared with a benchmark manoeuvre planning strategy the Architecture demonstrates a performance increase of 27% for manoeuvre scheduling and fuel savings of 40% over a fifty target observation tour. The Architecture designed in this thesis contributes to the field of spacecraft formation flying analysis on various levels. First, the manoeuvre planning is designed at the mission level with considerations for mission operations and station-keeping included in the design. Secondly, the requirements analysis and implementation of Science Operation Module represent a unique insight into the complexity of observation scheduling for exo-planet analysis missions and presents a robust method for autonomously optimising that scheduling. Thirdly, in-depth analyses are performed on DARWIN-based modifications of existing manoeuvre optimisation strategies identifying their strengths and weaknesses and ways to improve them. Finally, though not implemented in this thesis, the design of a Station-keeping Module is provided to add station-keeping optimisation functionality to the Architecture.EThOS - Electronic Theses Online ServiceGBUnited Kingdo

Timing of Intervention Affects Brain Electrical Activity in Children Exposed to Severe Psychosocial Neglect

Background: Early psychosocial deprivation has profound effects on brain activity in the young child. Previous reports have shown increased power in slow frequencies of the electroencephalogram (EEG), primarily in the theta band, and decreased power in higher alpha and beta band frequencies in infants and children who have experienced institutional care. Methodology/Principal Findings: We assessed the consequences of removing infants from institutions and placing them into a foster care intervention on brain electrical activity when children were 8 years of age. We found the intervention was successful for increasing high frequency EEG alpha power, with effects being most pronounced for children placed into foster care before 24 months of age. Conclusions/Significance: The dependence on age of placement for the effects observed on high frequency EEG alpha power suggests a sensitive period after which brain activity in the face of severe psychosocial deprivation is less amenable to recover

Coronary Artery Reperfusion

The effects of coronary artery reperfusion 3 hr after coronary occlusion on contractile function and the development of myocardial damage at 24 hr was studied experimentally. In 14 control and 6 reperfused dogs, relationships between epicardial ST segment elevation 15 min after coronary occlusion and myocardial creatine phosphokinase activity (CPK) and histologic appearance 24 hr later were examined. The electrocardiograms were recorded from 10 to 15 sites on the left ventricular epicardium and transmural samples for CPK and histology were obtained from the same sites where epicardial electrocardiograms had been recorded. An inverse relation existed between ST segment elevation (mv) 15 min after occlusion and log CPK activity (IU/ mg of protein) 24 hr later, log CPK = - 0.06ST + 1.26. In dogs subjected to coronary artery reperfusion, there was significantly less CPK depression (log CPK = - 0.01ST + 1.31, [P < 0.01]) than that expected from the control group. In the control group 97% of specimens showing ST segment elevations over 2 mv at 15 min showed abnormal histology 24 hr later. In contrast, in the reperfused group 43% of sites exhibiting elevated ST segment at 15 min showed abnormal histology 24 hr later. In six additional dogs it was shown that the paradoxical movement of the left ventricular wall could be reversed within 1 hr of perfusion. Therefore, by enzymatic and histologic criteria, as well as by functional assessment, coronary artery reperfusion 3 hr after occlusion resulted in salvage of myocardial tissue

Comparing postural stability entropy analyses to differentiate fallers and non-fallers

The health and financial cost of falls has spurred research to differentiate the characteristics of fallers and non-fallers. Postural stability has received much of the attention with recent studies exploring various measures of entropy. This study compared the discriminatory ability of several entropy methods at differentiating two paradigms in the center-of-pressure of elderly individuals: (1) eyes open (EO) vs. eyes closed (EC) and (2) fallers (F) vs. non-fallers (NF). Methods were compared using the area under the curve (AUC) of the receiver-operating characteristic curves developed from logistic regression models. Overall, multiscale entropy (MSE) and composite multiscale entropy (CompMSE) performed the best with AUCs of 0.71 for EO/EC and 0.77 for F/NF. When methods were combined together to maximize the AUC, the entropy classifier had an AUC of for 0.91 the F/NF comparison. These results suggest researchers and clinicians attempting to create clinical tests to identify fallers should consider a combination of every entropy method when creating a classifying test. Additionally, MSE and CompMSE classifiers using polar coordinate data outperformed rectangular coordinate data, encouraging more research into the most appropriate time series for postural stability entropy analysis

Influence of Anthropogenic Subsidies on Movements of Common Ravens

Anthropogenic subsidies can benefit populations of generalist predators such as common ravens (ravens; Corvus corax), which in turn may depress populations of many types of species at lower-trophic levels, including desert tortoises (Gopherus agassizii) or greater sage-grouse (Centrocercus urophasianus). Management of subsidized ravens often has targeted local breeding populations that are presumed to affect species of concern and ignored “urban” populations of ravens. However, little is known about how ravens move, especially in response to the presence of anthropogenic subsidies. Therefore, subsidized ravens from distant populations that are not managed may influence local prey. To better understand this issue, we deployed global positioning system – global system for mobile communications transmitters to track movements of 19 ravens from September to December 2020 relative to 2 land cover types that provide subsidies: developed areas and cultivated crops. On average, ravens moved 41.5 km (±30.5) per day, although daily movement distances ranged from 0.13–206.1 km. Raven movement among cover types during the non-breeding season varied widely, with 100% of individuals each using land cover types that provide subsidy and other types at least once in the season. On 100% of days ravens used areas that did not provide subsidy, on 86.7% of days they used developed areas, and on 20.5% of days they used cultivated crops. Although on some days a raven would stay exclusively in areas that did not provide subsidy, there were no days in which a single raven ever stayed exclusively in developed or cultivated crops. Ravens moved shorter distances on days when they used subsidies more frequently. Further, time spent in developed areas and cultivated crops increased when ravens roosted closer to them, although this effect was greater for developed areas than for cultivated crops. Individual ravens were not associated exclusively with either of the subsidy-providing landscapes we considered, but instead all birds used both subsidized and other landscapes. Our research suggests that management of ravens during the non-breeding season and possibly during the breeding season, intended to reduce risk of predation on desert tortoises, will be most effective if conducted on a broad scale because of distances the birds travel and the lack of separation between putative “urban” and “natural” populations of ravens