553 research outputs found
Crise suicidaire et maladie dâAlzheimer dĂ©butante : intĂ©rĂȘt dâune analyse neuropsychologique dĂ©taillĂ©e
RĂ©sumĂ©Introduction Le risque de dĂ©velopper une maladie dâAlzheimer augmente avec lâĂąge. Le rĂŽle de celle-ci comme un facteur de risque indĂ©pendant de suicide nâest pas bien compris et demeure complexe et mal Ă©lucidĂ©. Lâobjectif de cet article est dâenvisager une comprĂ©hension neuropsychologique de la crise suicidaire dans le cas dâune maladie dâAlzheimer dĂ©butante. MĂ©thode Une Ă©valuation cognitive globale (Mini-Mental State Examination, Batterie Rapide dâĂvaluation Frontale) complĂ©tĂ©e de lâexploration de lâinhibition cognitive selon ses fonctions dâaccĂšs (tĂąche de lecture en prĂ©sence de distracteurs), de suppression (Trail Making Test), et de freinage (Stroop, Hayling, Go/No-Go) a Ă©tĂ© rĂ©alisĂ©e chez une femme souffrant dâune maladie dâAlzheimer (MMSE Ă 21/30) avant et aprĂšs rĂ©alisation dâune tentative de suicide dans un contexte de dĂ©pression. RĂ©sultats LâĂ©chelle dâHamilton Ă©tait cotĂ©e Ă 24/52, lâĂ©chelle de dĂ©pression de Cornell Ă 21/38. LâintentionnalitĂ© suicidaire Ă©tait modĂ©rĂ©e avec un score Ă 15/25 à lâĂ©chelle dâintentionnalitĂ© suicidaire de Beck. Initialement prĂ©servĂ©es, le dĂ©clin des fonctions exĂ©cutives a coĂŻncidĂ© avec lâĂ©mergence dâune crise suicidaire dans un contexte de dĂ©pression chez une patiente souffrant de maladie dâAlzheimer. Les fonctions de lâinhibition cognitive Ă©taient altĂ©rĂ©es dans ses trois composantes, aprĂšs ajustement des facteurs de confusion. Conclusion Une Ă©valuation dĂ©taillĂ©e des fonctions exĂ©cutives et singuliĂšrement de lâinhibition cognitive dans la population des patients atteints dâune maladie dâAlzheimer permettrait de dĂ©tecter les personnes les plus Ă risque de passage Ă lâacte et de proposer une surveillance plus Ă©troite dans le cadre des soins gĂ©nĂ©raux de leur maladie. AbstractIntroduction The role of Alzheimer\u27s disease as a risk factor for suicide is unclear. The aim of this study was to understand neuropsychological component of the suicidal crisis in Alzheimer\u27s disease. Method Using an extensive neuropsychological battery, different aspects of cognitive inhibition were particularly examined: Access to relevant information (using the Reading with distraction task), suppression of no longer relevant information (Trail Making Test, Rule Shift Cards), and restraint of cognitive resources to relevant information (Stroop test, Hayling Sentence Completion test, Go/No-Go). One female Alzheimer depressed case was assessed before and after a suicide attempt. Results Ten days after the patient\u27s suicide attempt, dementia was still moderate with a MMSE score at 21/30 but with a worsening of executive functions (FAB at 8/18) in the context of depression and suicide. The Hamilton-Depression Rating Scale was at 24 (maximal score at 52), and the Cornell Scale for Depression was at 21 (maximal score at 38). Suicidal intent was moderate with a score of 9 on the Beck Suicide Intent Scale (maximal score at 25). The patient did not present a delirium, psychotic symptoms, or anosognosia. Her episodic memory was altered as shown by her semantic performance on verbal fluency (naming 12 animals in 120 seconds) and on lexical fluency (naming 8 words beginning with the letter P). Initially preserved, executive function declined during a suicidal crisis in a context of depression in Alzheimer\u27s disease case. Neuropsychological testing confirmed a dysexecutive syndrome (FAS at 8/18), with an impairment in her conceptualization capacity (MCST) and a deficit in cognitive inhibition and its access (reading task in the presence of distractors), deletion (TMT) and restraint (Stroop, Go/No-Go, Hayling) functions. Computed tomography has shown no signs of intracranial expansive process. Conclusion Assessing predictors of suicide and means of completion in patients with dementia may help the development of interventions to reduce risk of suicide among the growing population of individuals with dementia. Because of Alzheimer\u27s-related cognitive inhibition impairment, identification and intervention addressing the complex issues of depression, executive dysfunction and dementia may help clinicians to mitigate the risk of suicide in patients with Alzheimer\u27s disease
YouTube, Social Norms and Perceived Salience of Climate Change in the American Mind
This online experiment explored how contextual information embedded in new media channels such as YouTube may serve as normative social cues to users. Specifically, we examined whether the number of views listed under a YouTube video about climate change would elicit inferences regarding how âothersâ feel about the climate issue and, consequently, might influence perceptions of issue salience. Participants in this experiment were exposed to a YouTube video about climate change using two experimental conditions, one providing a small number of views under the video and the second listing a large number of views. Results suggest that the ânumber of viewsâ cue did, indeed, influence participant perceptions of the importance assigned by other Americans to the issue of climate change. Further, compared to low self-monitoring participants, high self-monitoring participants registered an increase in their own judgment of issue importance
Vector Competence of Ixodes scapularis and Ixodes ricinus (Acari: Ixodidae) for Three Genospecies of Borrelia burgdorferi
The vector competence of 2 tick species, Ixodes ricinus (L.) and Ixodes scapularis Say, was determined and compared for 3 genospecies of Borrelia burgdorferi. The 3 genospecies of B. burgdorferi used in the following experiments were Borrelia burgdorferi sensu stricto (B-31 and B-31.D1 clone), Borrelia afzelii (strain Pgau.C3), and Borrelia garinii (strain VS286 and VSBP). Spirochetes from all 5 strains were inoculated intradermally into outbred mice; larval ticks of both species were subsequently fed on those mice and replete larvae were assayed for infection by culture in BSK-H media every 7 d for 4 wk. Infection frequencies in I. scapularis exposed to the 5 strains were as follows: B-31 (90%), B-31.D1 (83%), Pgau.C3 (87%), VS286 (10%), and VSBP (5%). The comparable infection frequencies for /. ricinus were B-31 (3%), B-31.D1 (3%), Pgau.C3 (90%), VS286 (5%), and VSBP (3%). Resultant nymphal /. scapularis successfully transmitted B-31, B-31.D1, Pgau.C3, and VS286 to outbred mice. /. ricinus nymphs transmitted Pgau.C3 and VS286. Both species failed to transmit strain VSB
Superconducting pairing and density-wave instabilities in quasi-one-dimensional conductors
Using a renormalization group approach, we determine the phase diagram of an
extended quasi-one-dimensional electron gas model that includes interchain
hopping, nesting deviations and both intrachain and interchain repulsive
interactions. d-wave superconductivity, which dominates over the
spin-density-wave (SDW) phase at large nesting deviations, becomes unstable to
the benefit of a triplet -wave phase for a weak repulsive interchain
backscattering term , despite the persistence of dominant SDW
correlations in the normal state. Antiferromagnetism becomes unstable against
the formation of a charge-density-wave state when exceeds some
critical value. While these features persist when both Umklapp processes and
interchain forward scattering () are taken into account, the effect
of alone is found to frustrate nearest-neighbor interchain - and
-wave pairing and instead favor next-nearest-neighbor interchain singlet or
triplet pairing. We argue that the close proximity of SDW and
charge-density-wave phases, singlet d-wave and triplet -wave superconducting
phases in the theoretical phase diagram provides a possible explanation for
recent puzzling experimental findings in the Bechgaard salts, including the
coexistence of SDW and charge-density-wave phases and the possibility of a
triplet pairing in the superconducting phase.Comment: 19 pages, 13 figure
Magnetic-field-induced superconductivity in layered organic molecular crystals with localized magnetic moments
The synthetic organic compound lambda-(BETS)2FeCl4 undergoes successive
transitions from an antiferromagnetic insulator to a metal and then to a
superconductor as a magnetic field is increased. We use a Hubbard-Kondo model
to clarify the role of the Fe(3+) magnetic ions in these phase transitions. In
the high-field regime, the magnetic field acting on the electron spins is
compensated by the exchange field He due to the magnetic ions. This suggests
that the field-induced superconducting state is the same as the zero-field
superconducting state which occurs under pressure or when the Fe(3+) ions are
replaced by non-magnetic Ga(3+) ions. We show how He can be extracted from the
observed splitting of the Shubnikov-de Haas frequencies. Furthermore, we use
this method of extracting He to predict the field range for field-induced
superconductivity in other materials.Comment: 5 page
Planck pre-launch status: HFI beam expectations from the optical optimisation of the focal plane
Planck is a European Space Agency (ESA) satellite, launched in May 2009, which will map the cosmic microwave background anisotropies in intensity and polarisation with unprecedented detail and sensitivity. It will also provide full-sky maps of astrophysical foregrounds. An accurate knowledge of the telescope beam patterns is an essential element for a correct analysis of the acquired astrophysical data. We present a detailed description of the optical design of the High Frequency Instrument (HFI) together with some of the optical performances measured during the calibration campaigns. We report on the evolution of the knowledge of the pre-launch HFI beam patterns when coupled to ideal telescope elements, and on their significance for the HFI data analysis procedure
Environmental Impacts and Their Association With Performance and Excretion Traits in Growing Pigs
The selection of pigs for improved production traits has been, for a long time, the major driver of pig breeding. More recently, because of the increasing concern with the environment, new selection criteria have been explored, such as nitrogen (N) excretion. However, many studies indicate that life cycle assessment (LCA) provides much better indicators of environmental impacts than excretion. Therefore, the objective of this study was to investigate, using a modeling approach, the relationships between production traits and LCA impacts of individual growing pigs calculated at the farm gate for 1 kg of body weight gain. Performances of pigs were simulated for 2-phase (2P) and precision feeding (PR), using the InraPorc population model (on 1,000 pigs). Nitrogen excretion was positively correlated with feed conversion ratio (FCR; r = +0.96), climate change (CC; r = +0.96), acidification potential (AC; r = +0.97), eutrophication potential (EU; r = +0.97), and land occupation (LO; r = +0.96), whatever the feeding program. However, FCR appeared to be a better indicator of LCA impacts, with very high and positive correlations (r > +0.99) with CC, AC, EU, and LO for both feeding programs. The CC, AC, and EU impacts of pig production for PR feeding were 1.3, 10, and 7.5% lower than for 2P, respectively, but the correlations within each outcome were very similar among feeding programs. It was concluded that the use of FCR as a selection criterion in pig breeding seems to be a promising approach to associate improved performance and low environmental impact of pig fattening
The changing information environment for nanotechnology: online audiences and content
The shift toward online communication in all realms, from print newspapers to broadcast television, has implications for how the general public consumes information about nanotechnology. The goal of this study is threefold: to investigate who is using online sources for information and news about science and nanotechnology, to examine what the general public is searching for online with regards to nanotechnology, and to analyze what they find in online content of nanotechnology. Using survey data, we find those who report the Internet as their primary source of science and technology news are diverse in age, more knowledgeable about science and nanotechnology, highly educated, male, and more diverse racially than users of other media. In a comparison of demographic data on actual visits by online users to general news and science Web sites, science sites attracted more male, non-white users from the Western region of the United States than news sites did. News sites, on the other hand, attracted those with a slightly higher level of education. Our analysis of published estimates of keyword searches on nanotechnology reveals people are turning to the Internet to search for keyword searches related to the future, health, and applications of nanotechnology. A content analysis of online content reveals health content dominates overall. Comparisons of content in different types of sitesâblogs, government, and general sitesâare conducted
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