Mood, Personality, and Behavior Changes During Treatment with Statins: A Case Series.

Psychiatric adverse drug reactions (ADRs) have been reported with statin use, but the literature regarding statin-associated mood/behavioral changes remains limited. We sought to elicit information germane to natural history and characteristics of central nervous system/behavioral changes in apparent connection with statin and/or cholesterol-lowering drug use, and delineate mechanisms that may bear on an association. Participants (and/or proxies) self-referred with behavioral and/or mood changes in apparent association with statins completed a survey eliciting cholesterol-lowering drug history, character and impact of behavioral/mood effect, time-course of onset and recovery in relation to drug use/modification, co-occurrence of recognized statin-associated ADRs, and factors relevant to ADR causality determination. Naranjo presumptive ADR causality criteria were assessed. Participants (n = 12) reported mood/behavior change that commenced following statin initiation and persisted or progressed with continued use. Reported problems included violent ideation, irritability, depression, and suicide. Problems resolved with drug discontinuation and recurred with rechallenge where attempted. Eight met presumptive criteria for "probable" or "definite" causality; others had additional factors not considered in Naranjo criteria that bear on casual likelihood. (1) Simvastatin 80 mg was followed in 5 days by irritability/depression culminating in suicide in a man in his 40s (Naranjo criteria: possible causality). (2) Simvastatin 10 mg was followed within 2 weeks by depression in a woman in her 50s (probable causality). (3) Atorvastatin 20 mg was followed in ~1 month by depression and irritability/aggression in a male in his 50s (probable causality). (4) Atorvastatin 10 mg was followed in several months by aggression/irritability and depression culminating in suicide in a man in his 40s (possible causality). (5) Fenofibrate + rosuvastatin (unknown dose), later combined with atorvastatin were followed in 1 month by aggression/irritability in a male in his 30s (probable causality). (6) Lovastatin (unknown dose and time-course to reaction) was followed by depression, dyscontrol of bipolar disorder, and suicide attempts in a male in his 40s (possible causality). (7) Atorvastatin 20 mg was followed within 2 weeks by cognitive compromise, and nightmares, depression, and anxiety culminating in suicide in a man in his teens (definite causality). (8) Simvastatin 10 mg was followed (time-course not recalled) by depression, aggression/irritability culminating in suicide in a man in his 60s (possible causality). (9) Simvastatin 20 mg then atorvastatin 10 mg were followed (time-course not provided) by irritability/aggression in a man in his 60s (definite causality). (10) Atorvastatin 10 then 20 then 40 mg were followed shortly after the dose increase by violent ideation and anxiety in a man in his 30s (probable causality). (11) Atorvastatin 20 mg and then simvastatin 20 mg were followed in 2 weeks by aggression/irritability in a man in his 50s (definite causality). (12) Lovastatin, rosuvastatin, atorvastatin, and simvastatin at varying doses were followed as quickly as 1 day by aggression, irritability, and violent ideation in a man in his 40s (definite causality). Most had risk factors for statin ADRs, and co-occurrence of other, recognized statin ADRs. ADRs had implications for marriages, careers, and safety of self and others. These observations support the potential for adverse mood and behavioral change in some individuals with statin use, extend the limited literature on such effects, and provide impetus for further investigation into these presumptive ADRs. Potential mechanisms are reviewed, including hypothesized mechanisms related to oxidative stress and bioenergetics

Trustee companies : their role in Australian philanthropy

University of Technology Sydney. Faculty of Business.Trustee companies play an important role in Australia's philanthropic sector as they administer approximately 40% of all charitable trusts and foundations. Today, these companies also manage the largest amount of philanthropic monies about $3.2 billion and annually distribute$180-$200 million to the community in grants. Despite this pivotal position, this thesis is the first research study of this segment of Australian philanthropy and therefore it can only be exploratory. The focus is on only one structural form of philanthropy – organised, institutional, charitable, perpetual, grant-making trusts and foundations. This research asks the question: Should Australian philanthropic foundations be publicly accountable? This is addressed by examining the governance practices of trustee companies in their role as trustees of trusts and foundations. The only legal obligation upon philanthropic entities in Australia is to provide an audited annual report to the Taxation Office. This information is treated as private and confidential. As a consequence, there is almost a complete lack of publicly available information on Australian philanthropy. This situation exists despite foundations receiving favoured legislative status with government policy exempting them from most forms of taxation and also providing significant taxation benefits to their founders. This lack of empirically verifiable information means it is almost impossible to say anything meaningful about Australian philanthropy, from the most straight-forward question (how many philanthropic foundations are there in Australia) to more complex ones, such as how one assesses the impact of this important sector. Three research methodologies were employed for the thesis. Thirty-two trust deeds and probate documents were analysed using a case study method. Prosopography was used to interrogate interviews with seven relevant individuals including chairmen of foundations. Historical document analysis was used to examine government documents relating to the establishment of the Australian Charities and Not-for-Profits Commission, and for submissions to a government inquiry into the administration of charitable trusts administered by trustee companies. The research confirmed the culture of privacy in Australian philanthropy and examined the implication of this for the not-for-profit sector for whom these philanthropic monies are intended. The notion of the need for public accountability was not generally accepted in any of the research material examined. The thesis concludes that the question needs to be asked: Is there a clash of purposes for an ASX- listed company between its legal role of making profits for its shareholders and its role as sole trustee or co-trustee of a perpetual charitable foundation established to benefit the community? The thesis recommends that this question and others, particularly the need for public accountability of philanthropic trusts and foundations, be examined by policy makers

VOCABULARY LEARNING STRATEGIES (VLS) OF HIGH-ACHIEVING INDONESIAN EFL UNDERGRADUATE STUDENTS : A descriptive study carried out at one state university in Bandung

Tujuanutamadaripenelitianiniadalahuntuk: 1). menyelidikistrategi-strategipembelajarkosa kata(VLS) yang seringdigunakanolehmahasiswa EFL Indonesia berprestasi di salahsatuuniversitasnegeridan 2). mengetahuialasanuntukpreferensi VLS mereka. Subyek yang dipilihdengansengajaadalah 55 siswa yang mengambiljurusanbahasaInggrisdanpendidikanbahasaInggris di departemenpendidikanbahasaInggrisdi salahsatuuniversitasnegeri di Bandung. Sebuahkuesioner 27-item, dengan alpha Cronbach (0,792) dan yang diadaptasidari (1997) taksonomi Schmitt untuk(VLSQ)bersamadenganpertanyaanterbukadigunakansebagaiinstrumenpenelitianutama. Hasilpenelitianmenunjukkanbahwarespondenadalahmenengahpenggunastrategistrategipembelajarankosakata (rata-rata = 2,8634). Selainitu, strategiyang paling seringdigunakanadalahstrategi Determinationdan Memory. Kata Kunci: Strategistrategipembelajarankosa kata The main purposes of this research are to: 1). investigate frequently used vocabulary learning strategies (VLS) by high-achieving Indonesian EFL undergraduate students at one state university and 2). find out the reasons for their preference of VLS. The purposively selected subjects were 55 students who majored in English language and English education at the department of English education of one state university in Bandung. A 27-item questionnaire, with Cronbach’s alpha (.792) and which was adapted from Schmitt’s (1997) taxonomy for VLSQ along with open questions was used as the main research instrument. The findings showed that the respondents were medium vocabulary learning strategies users (mean = 2.8634). In addition, Determination and Memory strategies were the most frequently used VLS. Key word: Vocabulary Learning Strategies (VLS

Visibility Constrained Generative Model for Depth-based 3D Facial Pose Tracking

In this paper, we propose a generative framework that unifies depth-based 3D facial pose tracking and face model adaptation on-the-fly, in the unconstrained scenarios with heavy occlusions and arbitrary facial expression variations. Specifically, we introduce a statistical 3D morphable model that flexibly describes the distribution of points on the surface of the face model, with an efficient switchable online adaptation that gradually captures the identity of the tracked subject and rapidly constructs a suitable face model when the subject changes. Moreover, unlike prior art that employed ICP-based facial pose estimation, to improve robustness to occlusions, we propose a ray visibility constraint that regularizes the pose based on the face model's visibility with respect to the input point cloud. Ablation studies and experimental results on Biwi and ICT-3DHP datasets demonstrate that the proposed framework is effective and outperforms completing state-of-the-art depth-based methods

A Miniature Robot for Isolating and Tracking Neurons in Extracellular Cortical Recordings

This paper presents a miniature robot device and control algorithm that can autonomously position electrodes in cortical tissue for isolation and tracking of extracellular signals of individual neurons. Autonomous electrode positioning can significantly enhance the efficiency and quality of acute electrophysiolgical experiments aimed at basic understanding of the nervous system. Future miniaturized systems of this sort could also overcome some of the inherent difficulties in estabilishing long-lasting neural interfaces that are needed for practical realization of neural prostheses. The paper describes the robot's design and summarizes the overall structure of the control system that governs the electrode positioning process. We present a new sequential clustering algorithm that is key to improving our system's performance, and which may have other applications in robotics. Experimental results in macaque cortex demonstrate the validity of our approach

Execution and power in El jefe máximo, by Ignacio Solares

This article discusses the Ignacio Solares novel from the theory of microphysics of power and vision of the tortured body, the body and the body away victimized. It is found that the Solares novel is a work in which different genres and voices are articulated to show the perverse mechanisms of authoritarian power in Mexico from 1927 to 1944.En este artículo se analiza la novela El jefe máximo, de Ignacio Solares, a partir de la teoría de la microfísica del poder y de la mirada sobre el cuerpo torturado, sobre el cadáver y sobre la distancia del cuerpo victimado. Se encuentra que la novela de Solares es un trabajo en el que se articulan distintos géneros y voces para mostrar los mecanismos perversos del poder autoritario en el México de los años 1927 a 1944