Comparison of cognitive decline between dementia with Lewy bodies and Alzheimer's disease: a cohort study

Objectives: Dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB) accounts for 10%-15% of dementia cases at autopsy and has distinct clinical features associated with earlier institutionalisation and a higher level of carer distress than are seen in Alzheimer's disease (AD). At present, there is on-going debate as to whether DLB is associated with a more rapid cognitive decline than AD. An understanding of the rate of decline of cognitive and non-cognitive symptoms in DLB may help patients and carers to plan for the future. Design: In this cohort study, the authors compared 100 AD and 58 DLB subjects at baseline and at 12-month follow-up on cognitive and neuropsychiatric measures. Setting: Patients were recruited from 40 European centres. Participants: Subjects with mild-moderate dementia. Diagnosis of DLB or AD required agreement between consensus panel clinical diagnosis and visual rating of 123I-FP-CIT (dopamine transporter) single photon emission computed tomography neuroimaging. Outcome measures: The Cambridge Cognitive Examination including Mini-Mental State Examination and Neuropsychiatric Inventory (NPI). Results: The AD and DLB groups did not differ at baseline in terms of age, gender, Clinical Dementia Rating score and use of cholinesterase inhibitors or memantine. NPI and NPI carer distress scores were statistically significantly higher for DLB subjects at baseline and at follow-up, and there were no differences between AD and DLB in cognitive scores at baseline or at follow-up. There was no significant difference in rate of progression of any of the variables analysed. Conclusions: DLB subjects had more neuropsychiatric features at baseline and at follow-up than AD, but the authors did not find any statistically significant difference in rate of progression between the mild-moderate AD and DLB groups on cognitive or neuropsychiatric measures over a 12-month follow-up perio

The Grizzly, September 16, 1996

Reimert Partying Proves Too Much for Two Freshmen • Two Drunk Students Involved in Crash • Ursinus Listed in US News College Rankings • KDK Service Rush • Welcome to Musser • Need Help with Your Job Search? • Opinions: Not Just Another Good Book; Making the Switch from Single-Sex to Co-Ed; Every Vote Counts • Bears Romp Generals • Women\u27s Soccer Falls to Western Maryland • Volleyball Wins Year\u27s First Match • Men\u27s Soccer Falls to 2-3 • Field Hockey Claims First Winhttps://digitalcommons.ursinus.edu/grizzlynews/1384/thumbnail.jp

The Grizzly, October 28, 1996

Alice Parker Conducts College Choir • A Question on Diversity • Security Flash • New Curriculum for Comm. Arts • Opinions: More on the Gun Control Debate; The Debates of Nothingness; How Open Are You? Voting for Dole in \u2796; I\u27m Voting for Dennis Miller • Letters from Ireland • University of Pennsylvania Anthropologist to Speak on Maya and Aztecs • Spotlight: Karl Yergey • Plugging-In to the Benefits of E-mail • Looking for a few Good Dangerous Minds: Education Club Re-activates • Field Hockey Drops One To American • Women\u27s Soccer Nets First Conference Win • Volleyball Loses Two • Men\u27s Soccer Defeats Dickinson 2-0 • Kings Point Trips Up Ursinushttps://digitalcommons.ursinus.edu/grizzlynews/1389/thumbnail.jp

The Grizzly, November 11, 1996

Ursinus Celebrates Unity Day • Professors Nominated • Ursinus Explores Pass-Fail Option • On Election Day, Ursinus Forged the Atlantic • Opinion: What a Friend; Diversity\u27s Downfall Through Apathy; Intellectual Maturity not Just for Breakfast Any More!; The Outsider Survives; On Our Growing Computer Dependency • Letters from Ireland • Adding Variety to Your Exercise Program • Summer Research in Germany: A Cultural and Educational Experience • A Rose by any Other Name...? • Spotlight: Rocco Iacullo • My Favorite Curses • Previewing the Weekend Game • Men\u27s Soccer Ends Season with Loss • Field Hockey Finishes Season at 2-16 • Centennial Conference Football Standingshttps://digitalcommons.ursinus.edu/grizzlynews/1391/thumbnail.jp

The Grizzly, September 30, 1996

Helen Zia Speaks on Views of an Asian American Feminist • New Committee Formed to Reduce Vandalism • The 1996-1997 Freshman Class Officers • Graduate School Presentation to be Held Next Wednesday • Gilicinski addresses The Color of Atoms • Research Funding and Presentations • Opinions: My Kingdom for a Phone; War Cries Have Begun; Mourning Tupac Shakur; It\u27s Not Your Fault; Are There Elections This Year?; The Ruby is Not Dead • The S.U.N. is Rising • Family Day • Test Your Strength • Let\u27s Vacate and do Service! • Conserve, Conserve, Conserve! Using Your Energy to Save Energy • Powerful Voir Dire Presents Thought-Provoking Look at Society • Women\u27s Soccer Has Rough Week • Bears Win Fourth in a Row • Volleyball Finds Winning Ways • Men\u27s Soccer Falls to 3-6 • Field Hockey Nets First Winhttps://digitalcommons.ursinus.edu/grizzlynews/1386/thumbnail.jp

Seeking and sharing: why the pulmonaryn fibrosis community engages the web 2.0 environment

Background Pulmonary fibrosis (PF) is a rare, progressive disease that affects patients and their loved ones on many levels. We sought to better understand the needs and interests of PF patients and their loved ones (collectively “reader-participants”) by systematically analyzing their engagement with the World Wide Web (the current version referred to as Web 2.0). Methods Data were collected from three PF-focused, interactive websites hosted by physician-investigators with expertise in PF. All data generated by reader-participants for approximately 10 months were downloaded and then analyzed using qualitative content analysis methods. Results PF experts posted 38 blog entries and reader-participants posted 40 forum entries. Blogs received 363 responses, and forum entries received 108 responses from reader-participants. Reader-participants primarily used the three websites to seek information from or offer a contribution to the PF community. Information was sought about PF symptoms, diagnosis, prognosis, treatments, research, pathophysiology, and disease origin; reader-participants also made requests for new posts and pleas for research and sought clarification on existing content. Contributions included personal narratives about experiences with PF, descriptions of activities or behaviors found to be helpful with PF symptoms, resources or information about PF, and supportive comments to other PF sufferers. Conclusions PF patients and their loved ones engage the Web 2.0 environment at these PF-focused sites to satisfy their needs to better understand PF and its impacts and to support others facing similar challenges. Clinicians may find it beneficial to encourage PF patients’ involvement in internet forums that foster dynamic, bi-directional information sharing

National identity predicts public health support during a global pandemic

Changing collective behaviour and supporting non-pharmaceutical interventions is an important component in mitigating virus transmission during a pandemic. In a large international collaboration (Study 1, N = 49,968 across 67 countries), we investigated self-reported factors associated with public health behaviours (e.g., spatial distancing and stricter hygiene) and endorsed public policy interventions (e.g., closing bars and restaurants) during the early stage of the COVID-19 pandemic (April-May 2020). Respondents who reported identifying more strongly with their nation consistently reported greater engagement in public health behaviours and support for public health policies. Results were similar for representative and non-representative national samples. Study 2 (N = 42 countries) conceptually replicated the central finding using aggregate indices of national identity (obtained using the World Values Survey) and a measure of actual behaviour change during the pandemic (obtained from Google mobility reports). Higher levels of national identification prior to the pandemic predicted lower mobility during the early stage of the pandemic (r = −0.40). We discuss the potential implications of links between national identity, leadership, and public health for managing COVID-19 and future pandemics.publishedVersio

Predicting attitudinal and behavioral responses to COVID-19 pandemic using machine learning

At the beginning of 2020, COVID-19 became a global problem. Despite all the efforts to emphasize the relevance of preventive measures, not everyone adhered to them. Thus, learning more about the characteristics determining attitudinal and behavioral responses to the pandemic is crucial to improving future interventions. In this study, we applied machine learning on the multinational data collected by the International Collaboration on the Social and Moral Psychology of COVID-19 (N = 51,404) to test the predictive efficacy of constructs from social, moral, cognitive, and personality psychology, as well as socio-demographic factors, in the attitudinal and behavioral responses to the pandemic. The results point to several valuable insights. Internalized moral identity provided the most consistent predictive contribution—individuals perceiving moral traits as central to their self-concept reported higher adherence to preventive measures. Similar results were found for morality as cooperation, symbolized moral identity, self-control, open-mindedness, and collective narcissism, while the inverse relationship was evident for the endorsement of conspiracy theories. However, we also found a non-neglible variability in the explained variance and predictive contributions with respect to macro-level factors such as the pandemic stage or cultural region. Overall, the results underscore the importance of morality-related and contextual factors in understanding adherence to public health recommendations during the pandemic.Peer reviewe

National identity predicts public health support during a global pandemic (vol 13, 517, 2022) : National identity predicts public health support during a global pandemic (Nature Communications, (2022), 13, 1, (517), 10.1038/s41467-021-27668-9)

Publisher Copyright: © The Author(s) 2022.In this article the author name ‘Agustin Ibanez’ was incorrectly written as ‘Augustin Ibanez’. The original article has been corrected.Peer reviewe

National identity predicts public health support during a global pandemic.

Changing collective behaviour and supporting non-pharmaceutical interventions is an important component in mitigating virus transmission during a pandemic. In a large international collaboration (Study 1, N = 49,968 across 67 countries), we investigated self-reported factors associated with public health behaviours (e.g., spatial distancing and stricter hygiene) and endorsed public policy interventions (e.g., closing bars and restaurants) during the early stage of the COVID-19 pandemic (April-May 2020). Respondents who reported identifying more strongly with their nation consistently reported greater engagement in public health behaviours and support for public health policies. Results were similar for representative and non-representative national samples. Study 2 (N = 42 countries) conceptually replicated the central finding using aggregate indices of national identity (obtained using the World Values Survey) and a measure of actual behaviour change during the pandemic (obtained from Google mobility reports). Higher levels of national identification prior to the pandemic predicted lower mobility during the early stage of the pandemic (r = -0.40). We discuss the potential implications of links between national identity, leadership, and public health for managing COVID-19 and future pandemics