Comparable effects of nicotine in smokers and nonsmokers on a prospective memory task.

In a double-blind placebo-controlled study, we examined the effect of nicotine, a cholinergic agonist, on performance of a prospective memory (ProM) task in young adult volunteers. Volunteers were required to complete an ongoing lexical decision task while maintaining the ProM task (responding with a different button press to items containing particular target letters). Half of the volunteers were smokers, half were nonsmokers. Half of each group received a single dose (1 mg) of nicotine nasal spray before completing the task; the remaining volunteers received a matched inactive placebo spray. Nicotine improved performance on the ProM task when volunteers were able to devote resources to that task. Under a variant procedure, where volunteers completed a concurrent auditory monitoring task, ProM performance was impaired under nicotine. Results are discussed in terms of the resource model of ProM, and the arousal model of drug effects. The data suggest that ProM under the conditions tested here is a resource-needy process, and that nicotine can improve performance by increasing available resources. Increased working memory demands that encourage redirection of resources may impair ProM performance, but the conditions under which these deficits emerge depend upon the subjective allocation of resources across tasks, rather than resource availability per se

Review of \u3ci\u3eCuster on Canvas: Representing Indians, Memory, and Violence in the New West\u3c/i\u3e By Norman K. Denzin

This thematic collection exploring Last Stand paintings by white and First Nations artists has three origins. As Denzin notes, it extends his 2008 collection, Searching for Yellowstone: Race, Gender, Family, and Memory in the Postmodern West, also published by Left Coast Press. Both books gather Denzin’s efforts to involve himself reflexively with the West. Spurred by an engagement with a politics of representation, Denzin locates Custer on Canvas in relation to the “performance turn” and its “new writing practices.” A third origin is personal: Denzin’s effort to engage memories that reach from childhood into contemporary, professional encounters. One in particular that provides narrative direction is a question posed by Denzin’s granddaughter viewing two Last Stand paintings at the Whitney Gallery of Western Art in Cody, Wyoming: why do they represent events differently

Investigating the impact of nicotine on executive functions using a novel virtual reality assessment

Aims Nicotine is known to enhance aspects of cognitive functioning in abstinent smokers but the effects on specific areas of executive functions, and in non-smokers are inconclusive. This may be due in part to the poor sensitivity of tests used to assess executive functions. This study used a new virtual reality assessment of executive functions known as JEF (the Jansari assessment of Executive Functions) to address this issue. Design 2x2 design manipulating group (smokers and never-smokers) and drug (nicotine [4mg for smokers; 2mg for never smokers] vs placebo gum). Setting School of Psychology; University of East LondonParticipants 72 participants (aged 18 to 54). 36 minimally-deprived (2 hr) smokers and 36 never-smokers.Measurements Components of executive function were measured using the virtual reality paradigm JEF, which assesses eight cognitive constructs simultaneously as well as providing an overall performance measure. Results Univariate ANOVAs revealed that nicotine improved overall JEF performance, time-based prospective memory and event-based prospective memory in smokers (p < 0.01) but not in never-smokers. Action-based prospective memory was enhanced in both groups (p < 0.01) and never-smokers out-performed smokers on selective thinking and adaptive thinking (p < 0.01). Conclusions. Overall executive functioning and prospective memory can be enhanced by nicotine gum in abstinent smokers. That smokers were only minimally deprived suggests that JEFis a sensitive measure of executive functioning and that prospective memory is particularly susceptible to disruption by abstinence

The APOE paradox: how do attentional control differences in mid-adulthood reflect risk of late-life cognitive decline

Possession of an APOE e4 allele is an established risk factor for Alzheimer’s disease, while the less commonly studied e2 variant is premised to offer some protection. This research explores the purported deleterious-protective dichotomy of APOE variants on attentional control in mid-adulthood. 66 volunteers, aged 45-55 years, completed three tasks that provided complementary measures of attentional control: prospective memory, sustained attention and inhibition. Performance was compared between e2 carriers, e4 carriers and e3 homozygotes (the population norm). Carriers of the e4 allele showed subtle disadvantages, compared to the e3 group, in accuracy of Stroop task and prospective memory performance. Contrary to expectations, e2 carriers showed performance disadvantages in sustained attention. The finding of detrimental effects in attentional control for both e4 and e2 complicates the current model that proposes opposing effects of these variants on later-life cognition. Future research is needed to understand how cognitive differences develop with increasing age, and the physiological mechanisms that underpin these changes

Exploring psychological well-being in working family carers

No description supplie

Depression in HIV and HCV co-infected patients: a systematic review and meta-analysis

The aim of this study was to carry out a systematic review and meta-analysis of the differences in the prevalence of depression and presence of depressive symptoms between HIV/HCV co-infection, HIV mono-infection, and hepatitis C virus (HCV) mono-infection. A systematic electronic search of bibliographic databases was performed to locate articles published from the earliest available online until December 2014. Outcomes of depression were based on clinical interviews and validated self-reported measures of depression/depressive symptoms. Of the 188 records initially screened, 29 articles were included in the descriptive systematic review and six were included in the meta-analysis. The meta-analytic results indicated that, as measured by self-reported measures of depression, HIV/HCV co-infected patients were significantly more likely to report depressive symptoms than either HIV (SMD = .24, 95% CI: .03-.46, p = .02) or HCV mono-infected (SMD = .55, 95% CI: .17-.94, p = .005) patients. The variability of the results of the reviewed studies, largely dependent on the samples' characteristics and the methods of assessment of depression, suggests that a clear interpretation of how depression outcomes are affected by the presence of HIV/HCV co-infection is still needed. Failing to diagnose depression or to early screen depressive symptoms may have a significant impact on patients' overall functioning and compromise treatments' outcomes

The role of the Chaplain in the strategic facilitation of multi-faith sacred space to alleviate the suffering associated with death and dying

The aim of the research was to observe and scrutinise how chaplains go about facilitating a sacred space when requested, in the last days and hours of death. It sought to identify the context in which chaplains are compelled to facilitate religious and spiritual rituals and what perspectives participants have of chaplains when creating a sacred space within non-orthodox, clinical spaces. It also sought to understand the added value of chaplaincy in relation to high quatlity patient care and who was best placed to faciliate a sacred space at the point of death and dying. The research used a cross sectional design study with purposive sampling and carried out ten one to one interviews with hospital staff, who had experienced chaplaincy. They were selected from different areas of the hospital. Additionally, the research used the participant observations of the researcher who is a chaplin. Using a thematic annalysis process to identify emerging themes, the research was able to achieve an indepth understanding of the contributions made by chaplains to patient and family experience, at the point of death and dying. The research concluded that death is perceived as a significant rite of passage which requires marking; subject to a variety of expectations and that those best placed to deliver this service are chaplains, perceived as practioners in this field. The research indicated that chaplains care and are compassionate, courageous, competent and committed to providing high quality patient and family experience. Recommending that there should be greater collaboration between clinicians and chaplaincy because chaplains use their experience and knowledge when they are alongside patients and family, normalising death and contribute to a good death

The elusive nature of APOE ε4 in mid-adulthood: understanding the cognitive profile

Objectives: The apolipoprotein E (APOE) ε4 allele is an established risk factor for dementia, yet this genetic variant is associated with a mixed cognitive profile across the lifespan. This study undertakes both a systematic and meta-analytic review of research investigating APOE-related differences in cognition in mid-adulthood, when detrimental effects of the allele may first be detectable. Methods: Thirty-six papers investigating the behavioral effects of APOE ε4 in mid-adulthood (defined as a mean sample age between 35 and 60 years) were reviewed. In addition, the effect of carrying an ε4 allele on individual cognitive domains was assessed in separate meta-analyses. Results: The average effect size of APOE ε4 status was non-significant across cognitive domains. Further consideration of genotype effects indicates preclinical effects of APOE ε4 may be observable in memory and executive functioning. Conclusions: The cognitive profile of APOE ε4 carriers at mid-age remains elusive. Although there is support for comparable performance by ε4 and non-e4 carriers in the 5th decade, studies administering sensitive cognitive paradigms indicate a more nuanced profile of cognitive differences. Methodological issues in this field preclude strong conclusions, which future research must address, as well as considering the influence of further vulnerability factors on genotype effects

Bidirectional relation between affective symptoms and cognitive function from middle to late adulthood: a population-based birth cohort study

Objectives: There is an association between affective symptoms and cognition. However, the direction of this association remains unclear. This study aimed to test bidirectional relationships between affective symptoms and cognition from middle to late adulthood.Method: Data were available from the MRC National Survey of Health and Development (NSHD), a prospective birth cohort of 5362 people born in 1946. Affective symptoms and cognition were measured at ages 53, 60-64, and 69. Latent scores of affective symptoms were derived and cross-lagged models were fitted for affective symptoms with verbal memory and processing speed. Results: Results revealed an inverse cross-sectional association between affective symptoms and verbal memory (β=-0.18, SE=0.04, p<.001) and processing speed (β=-0.13, SE=0.06, p=.05) at age 53, but not at ages 60-64 or 69. Affective symptoms at age 53 predicted lower verbal memory at age 60-64 (β=-0.58, SE=0.27, p=.03), and affective symptoms at age 60-64 predicted lower verbal memory (β=-0.64, SE=0.29, p=.03) and processing speed (β=-1.27, SE=0.41, p=.002) at age 69. Verbal memory and processing speed did not predict subsequent affective symptoms.Conclusion: Affective symptoms predict poorer verbal memory and processing speed over a period of 16 years, but not vice versa

Dr. Nigel Rusted Diaries 1926

Newfoundland doctor Nigel Rusted (1907-2012) kept hand-written daily diaries from 1925 until his death