Appetite sensations as a marker of overall intake

The aim of this study was to evaluate the clinical utility of appetite sensations to characterize individual overall energy intake. A group of men (n 28) and women (n 23) was recruited to record their ‘desire to eat’, ‘hunger’, ‘fullness’ and ‘prospective food consumption’ (PFC) on visual analogue scales before a standardized meal test, immediately after and every 10 min for a period of 1 h after the meal. The 1 h post-meal area under the curve (1 h AUC) and the satiety quotient (SQ) were calculated for all appetite sensations. In a second visit, all participants were invited to eat three meals in order to measure total energy intake (TEI) and food preferences. Metabolic rate (MR) was also assessed to derive daily relative energy intake (REI) by subtracting this variable from TEI (TEI−MR=REI). The Three-Factor Eating Questionnaire scores were also calculated for all participants. One h AUC for fullness was the appetite sensation most strongly associated with TEI and REI (r−0·42, P≤0·003 and r−0·32, P≤0·05, respectively). SQ for fullness was the only predictor of TEI and REI (r−0·42, P≤0·0003 and r−0·30, P≤0·05, respectively). Restraint, disinhibition and hunger scores were not associated with appetite sensation variables. These results suggest that the fullness dimension seems to be a useful appetite sensation to predict long-term TEI and REI. Thus, assessment of appetite sensation such as fullness in response to a fixed load may be useful to evaluate individual overall energy intake

Long-Term Prognosis for Clinical West Nile Virus Infection

Patients recovering from West Nile virus infection may experience sequelae for months

A virtual reality extended neuropsychological assessment for topographical disorientation: a feasibility study

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Topographical disorientation represents one of the main consequences of brain injury. Up to now several methodological approaches have been used in the assessment of the brain injured patient's navigational abilities showing a moderate correlation with the impairments observed in everyday contexts.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>We propose a combination of standardized neuropsychological tests and a more situated virtual reality-based assessment for the evaluation of spatial orientation in brain injured patients.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>When tested with this virtual reality integrated procedure patients showed performance and execution times congruent with their neuropsychological evaluation. When compared to a control group, patients revealed significantly slower times and greater errors in solving virtual reality based spatial tasks.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>The use of virtual reality, when combined with classical neuropsychological tests, can provide an effective tool for the study of topographical disorientation.</p

Relationship between spatial ability, visuospatial working memory and self-assessed spatial orientation ability: a study in older adults

This paper describes some novel spatial tasks and questionnaires designed to assess spatial and orientation abilities. The new tasks and questionnaires were administered to a sample of 90 older adults (41 males, age range 57–90), along with some other tests of spatial ability (Minnesota Paper Form Board, Mental Rotations Test, and Embedded Figures Test) and tests of visuospatial working memory (Corsi’s Block Test and Visual Pattern Test). The internal reliability of the new tasks and questionnaires was analyzed, as well as their relationship with the spatial and working memory tests. The results showed that the new spatial tasks are reliable, correlate with working memory and spatial ability tests and, compared with the latters, show stronger correlations with the self-report questionnaires referring to orientation abilities. A model was also tested (with reference to Allen et al. in Intelligence 22:327–355, 1996) in which the new tasks were assumed to relate to spatial ability and predict orientation abilities as assessed by the self-report measures

The influence of visual feedback and gender dynamics on performance, perception and communication strategies in CSCW

The effects of gender in human communication and human-computer interaction are well-known, yet little is understood about how it influences performance in the complex, collaborative tasks in computer-mediated settings – referred to as Computer-Supported Collaborative Work (CSCW) – that are increasingly fundamental to the way in which people work. In such tasks, visual feedback about objects and events is particularly valuable because it facilitates joint reference and attention, and enables the monitoring of people’s actions and task progress. As such, software to support CSCW frequently provides shared visual workspace. While numerous studies describe and explain the impact of visual feedback in CSCW, research has not considered whether there are differences in how females and males use it, are aided by it, or are affected by its absence. To address these knowledge gaps, this study explores the effect of gender – and its interactions within pairs – in CSCW, with and without visual feedback. An experimental study is reported in which mixed-gender and same-gender pairs communicate to complete a collaborative navigation task, with one of the participants being under the impression that s/he is interacting with a robot (to avoid gender-related social preconceptions). The study analyses performance, perceptions and communication strategies. As predicted, there was a significant benefit associated with visual feedback in terms of language economy and efficiency. However, it was also found that visual feedback may be disruptive to task performance, because it relaxes the users’ precision criteria and inflates their assumptions of shared perspective. While no actual performance difference was found between males and females in the navigation task, females rated their own performance less positively than did males. In terms of communication strategies, males had a strong tendency to introduce novel vocabulary when communication problems occurred, while females exhibited more conservative behaviour. When visual feedback was removed, females adapted their strategies drastically and effectively, increasing the quality and specificity of the verbal interaction, repeating and re-using vocabulary, while the behaviour of males remained consistent. These results are used to produce design recommendations for CSCW systems that will suit users of both genders and enable effective collaboration

Enhanced text spacing improves reading performance in individuals with macular disease

The search by many investigators for a solution to the reading problems encountered by individuals with no central vision has been long and, to date, not very fruitful. Most textual manipulations, including font size, have led to only modest gains in reading speed. Previous work on spatial integrative properties of peripheral retina suggests that 'visual crowding' may be a major factor contributing to inefficient reading. Crowding refers to the fact that juxtaposed targets viewed eccentrically may be difficult to identify. The purpose of this study was to assess the combined effects of line spacing and word spacing on the ability of individuals with age-related macular degeneration (ARMD) to read short passages of text that were printed with either high (87.5%) or low contrast (17.5%) letters. Low contrast text was used to avoid potential ceiling effects and to mimic a possible reduction in letter contrast with light scatter from media opacities. For both low and high contrast text, the fastest reading speeds we measured were for passages of text with double line and double word spacing. In comparison with standard single spacing, double word/line spacing increased reading speed by approximately 26% with high contrast text (p < 0.001), and by 46% with low contrast text (p < 0.001). In addition, double line/word spacing more than halved the number of reading errors obtained with single spaced text. We compare our results with previous reading studies on ARMD patients, and conclude that crowding is detrimental to reading and that its effects can be reduced with enhanced text spacing. Spacing is particularly important when the contrast of the text is reduced, as may occur with intraocular light scatter or poor viewing conditions. We recommend that macular disease patients should employ double line spacing and double-character word spacing to maximize their reading efficiency. © 2013 Blackmore-Wright et al