15,895 research outputs found
The impact of motor symptoms on self-reported anxiety in Parkinson's disease
OBJECTIVE: Anxiety is commonly endorsed in Parkinson's disease (PD) and significantly affects quality of life. The Beck Anxiety Inventory (BAI) is often used but contains items that overlap with common PD motor symptoms (e.g., “hands trembling”). Because of these overlapping items, we hypothesized that PD motor symptoms would significantly affect BAI scores.
METHODS: One hundred non-demented individuals with PD and 74 healthy control participants completed the BAI. PD motor symptoms were assessed by the Unified Parkinson's Disease Rating Scale (UPDRS). Factor analysis of the BAI assessed for a PD motor factor, and further analyses assessed how this factor affected BAI scores.
RESULTS: BAI scores were significantly higher for PD than NC. A five-item PD motor factor correlated with UPDRS observer-rated motor severity and mediated the PD-control difference on BAI total scores. An interaction occurred, whereby removal of the PD motor factor resulted in a significant reduction in BAI scores for PD relative to NC. The correlation between the BAI and UPDRS significantly declined when controlling for the PD motor factor.
CONCLUSIONS: The results indicate that commonly endorsed BAI items may reflect motor symptoms such as tremor instead of, or in addition to, genuine mood symptoms. These findings highlight the importance of considering motor symptoms in the assessment of anxiety in PD and point to the need for selecting anxiety measures that are less subject to contamination by the motor effects of movement disorders.Published versio
Strain and order-parameter coupling in Ni-Mn-Ga Heusler alloys from resonant ultrasound spectroscopy
Resonant ultrasound spectroscopy and magnetic susceptibility experiments have
been used to characterize strain coupling phenomena associated with structural
and magnetic properties of the shape-memory Heusler alloy series
NiMnGa (, 2.5, 5.0, and 7.5). All samples exhibit
a martensitic transformation at temperature and ferromagnetic ordering at
temperature , while the pure end member () also has a premartensitic
transition at , giving four different scenarios: ,
without premartensitic transition, , and .
Fundamental differences in elastic properties i.e., stiffening versus
softening, are explained in terms of coupling of shear strains with three
discrete order parameters relating to magnetic ordering, a soft mode and the
electronic instability responsible for the large strains typical of martensitic
transitions. Linear-quadratic or biquadratic coupling between these order
parameters, either directly or indirectly via the common strains, is then used
to explain the stabilities of the different structures. Acoustic losses are
attributed to critical slowing down at the premartensite transition, to the
mobility of interphases between coexisting phases at the martensitic transition
and to mobility of some aspect of the twin walls under applied stress down to
the lowest temperatures at which measurements were made.Comment: 9 pages, 5 figure
Counselor Formation and Gatekeeping Best Practices
Counselor educators and supervisors contribute to students’ development while determining fitness for the profession. How we intervene can either help students work through internal conflicts that prevent them from embracing professional skills and dispositions or undermine that process. Facilitators will interactively engage participants in the application of a developmental framework that maximizes students’ dissonance in service to their counselor identity development process
Control System for the LEDA 6.7-MeV Proton Beam Halo Experiment
Measurement of high-power proton beam-halo formation is the ongoing
scientific experiment for the Low Energy Demonstration Accelerator (LEDA)
facility. To attain this measurement goal, a 52-magnet beam line containing
several types of beam diagnostic instrumentation is being installed. The
Experimental Physics and Industrial Control System (EPICS) and commercial
software applications are presently being integrated to provide a real-time,
synchronous data acquisition and control system. This system is comprised of
magnet control, vacuum control, motor control, data acquisition, and data
analysis. Unique requirements led to the development and integration of
customized software and hardware. EPICS real-time databases, Interactive Data
Language (IDL) programs, LabVIEW Virtual Instruments (VI), and State Notation
Language (SNL) sequences are hosted on VXI, PC, and UNIX-based platforms which
interact using the EPICS Channel Access (CA) communication protocol.
Acquisition and control hardware technology ranges from DSP-based diagnostic
instrumentation to the PLC-controlled vacuum system. This paper describes the
control system hardware and software design, and implementation.Comment: LINAC2000 Conference, 4 pg
Regional Innovation Systems Within a Federation: Do National Policies Affect all Regions Equally
This paper is an initial result of research being carried out through the Innovation Systems Research Network (ISRN). The ISRN cluster project results should contribute to the development of a theoretical insight on regional innovations systems (RIS) and clusters. The purpose of this discussion is to test the proposition that the Canadian national innovation systems (NIS) are greater than the sum of its component RIS
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