Are dieting-related cognitive impairments a function of iron status?

The aim of the present study was to investigate whether the impairments in cognitive function observed in unsupported dieting are related to compromised Fe status. During a non-clinical intervention, overweight participants (age: 18-45 years, BMI: 25-30 kg/m2) either participated in a commercially available weight-loss regimen (n 14), dieted without support (n 17) or acted as a non-dieting control group (n 14) for a period of 8 weeks. Measurements of cognitive function and blood chemistry were taken at a pre-diet baseline, after 1 week and 8 weeks of dieting. After 1 week, unsupported dieters displayed impaired verbal memory, executive function and slower reaction speeds than the other two groups, this difference disappearing by the end of the study. There were no significant group-related changes in blood chemistry over the course of the study, although there were group-related changes in a number of self-reported food-related cognitions. In conclusion, impaired cognition among unsupported dieters is not due to compromised Fe status and is most likely to result from psychological variables. © 2012 The Authors.

Oculo-visual changes and clinical considerations affecting older patients with dementia

Purpose: Dementia is associated with various alterations of the eye and visual function. Over 60% of cases are attributable to Alzheimer's disease, a significant proportion of the remainder to vascular dementia or dementia with Lewy bodies, while frontotemporal dementia, and Parkinson's disease dementia are less common. This review describes the oculo-visual problems of these five dementias and the pathological changes which may explain these symptoms. It further discusses clinical considerations to help the clinician care for older patients affected by dementia. Recent findings: Visual problems in dementia include loss of visual acuity, defects in colour vision and visual masking tests, changes in pupillary response to mydriatics, defects in fixation and smooth and saccadic eye movements, changes in contrast sensitivity function and visual evoked potentials, and disturbance of complex visual functions such as in reading ability, visuospatial function, and the naming and identification of objects. Pathological changes have also been reported affecting the crystalline lens, retina, optic nerve, and visual cortex. Clinically, issues such as cataract surgery, correcting the refractive error, quality of life, falls, visual impairment and eye care for dementia have been addressed. Summary: Many visual changes occur across dementias, are controversial, often based on limited patient numbers, and no single feature can be regarded as diagnostic of any specific dementia. Nevertheless, visual hallucinations may be more characteristic of dementia with Lewy bodies and Parkinson's disease dementia than Alzheimer's disease or frontotemporal dementia. Differences in saccadic eye movement dysfunction may also help to distinguish Alzheimer's disease from frontotemporal dementia and Parkinson's disease dementia from dementia with Lewy bodies. Eye care professionals need to keep informed of the growing literature in vision/dementia, be attentive to signs and symptoms suggestive of cognitive impairment, and be able to adapt their practice and clinical interventions to best serve patients with dementia.

Transition from community dwelling to retirement village in older adults:cognitive functioning and psychological health outcomes

Supported living and retirement villages are becoming a significant option for older adults with impairments, with independence concerns or for forward planning in older age, but evidence as to psychological benefits for residents is sparse. This study examined the hypothesis that the multi-component advantages of moving into a supported and physically and socially accessible “extra care” independent living environment will impact on psychological and functioning measures. Using an observational longitudinal design, 161 new residents were assessed initially and three months later, in comparison to 33 older adults staying in their original homes. Initial group differences were apparent but some reduced after three months. Residents showed improvement in depression, perceived health, aspects of cognitive function, and reduced functional limitations, while controls showed increased functional limitations (worsening). Ability to recall specific autobiographical memories, known to be related to social-problem solving, depression and functioning in social relationships, predicted change in communication limitations, and cognitive change predicted changes in recreational limitations. Change in anxiety and memory predicted change in depression. Findings suggest that older adults with independent living concerns who move to an independent but supported environment can show significant benefits in psychological outcomes and reduction in perceived impact of health on functional limitations in a short period. Targets for focussed rehabilitation are indicated, but findings also validate development of untargeted general supportive environments.

Adaptation in knowledge-based teams: An examination of team composition, leader sensegiving, and cognitive, behavioral, and motivational mechanisms

Organizations are increasingly relying on teams to do the work that has traditionally been done by individuals. At the same time, the environments in which these organizations and teams operate have been becoming progressively more complex and uncertain. These trends raise important questions about the factors that enable teams to adapt. In response to these questions, the current study sought to identify the cognitive, behavioral, and motivational processes and emergent states that promote a team's adaptation to unforeseen changes and novel events, and the team compositional characteristics and leadership processes that enabled these processes and emergent states. Two hundred twenty two undergraduate students from a large Southeastern University composed 74 3-person teams, and participated in a computerized decision-making simulation where each team formed the governing body (i.e., Mayor's cabinet) for two separate simulated cities, and made strategic decisions about city operations. Participants were randomly assigned to one of three roles, distributing expertise and creating mutual interdependence. External team leader sensegiving was manipulated through video recorded communications from an external team leader. Results indicate that team cognitive ability, achievement striving, and psychological collectivism, as well as external team leader sensegiving, were all related to the similarity and quality of team members' strategy-focused mental models (cognitive emergent states), and to the amount of information sharing among members (behavioral process). In turn, teams with more similar and higher quality mental models, and who shared greater levels of information, were found to have a greater ability to react and adapt to environmental changes, and to have greater levels of decision-making effectiveness. Results indicate a pattern of relationships consistent with hypotheses, and have important implications for organizations and knowledge-based teams charged with management responsibilities. Organizations should staff teams with the compositional characteristics that enable the development of similar and high quality mental models, and that promote information sharing among teammates. Similarly, organizations which train and develop leaders to engage in sensegiving behaviors enable team adaptability and promote enhanced decision-making effectiveness when faced with unforeseen changes and novel situations.

Impact of a cognitive-behavioral weight control program on body weight, diet quality, and smoking cessation in weight-concerned female smokers

Many people use smoking as a weight control mechanism and do not want to quit because they fear weight gain. These weight-concerned smokers tend to be female, are significantly less likely to stop smoking, are less likely to join smoking cessation programs, and will relapse more often than smokers who are not weight-concerned. Research suggests that a woman’s confidence in her ability to control her weight after quitting relates positively with her intention to quit smoking. Likewise, success in smoking cessation has been associated with increased self-efficacy for weight control. It has been shown that success in changing one negative health behavior may trigger success in changing another, causing a synergistic effect. Recently research has focused on interventions for weight-concerned smokers who are ready to quit smoking. The present study investigated the effect of a cognitive based weight control program on self-efficacy for weight control and the effect on smoking behavior for a group of female weight concerned smokers. Two hundred and sixteen subjects who wanted to lose weight but who were not ready to quit smoking were recruited to participate in a 12-week, cognitive-behavioral weight control program consisting of twelve one-hour sessions. Subjects were randomly assigned to either (1) the weight-control program (intervention group), or (2) the control group. Results of this study demonstrated that subjects in the intervention group increased self-efficacy for weight control, which was associated with improved healthy eating index scores, weight loss, increased self-efficacy for quitting smoking, a decrease in number of cigarettes smoked and triggered positive movement in stage of change towards smoking cessation compared to the control subjects. For these subjects, positive changes in self-efficacy for one behavior (weight control) appeared to have a positive effect on their readiness to change another health behavior (smoking cessation). Further study of the psychological variables that influence weight-concerned female smokers’ decisions to initiate changes in these behaviors and their ability to maintain those changes are warranted.

Mediational effects in cognitive behavioral treatment for anxiety disorders in children and adolescents

The current study examined whether variables that have been found to influence treatment outcome serve as mediators of a child and adolescent cognitive behavioral treatment (CBT) anxiety program at multiple time points throughout the intervention. The study also examined mediating variables measured at multiple time points during treatment to determine the time lags necessary for changes in the mediator variable to translate into changes on treatment gains. Participants were 168 youth (ages 6 to 16 years; 54% males) and their mothers who presented to the Child Anxiety and Phobia Program (CAPP) at Florida International University (FIU). Overall, results indicate that the mediators at multiple time points influenced youth anxiety in a fluctuating manner, such that a decrease in skills at one given session caused changes in youth anxiety at a later session. This dynamic between the mediator and outcome may be reflective of the process of therapeutic change and suggests that skills gained from session to session took time to exert their effect on youth anxiety. The methodology employed helps to elucidate how variables mediate treatment outcome in youth anxiety disorders.

Human Synaptic Plasticity Gene Expression Profile and Dendritic Spine Density Changes in HIV-Infected Human CNS Cells: Role in HIV-Associated Neurocognitive Disorders (HAND)

HIV-associated neurocognitive disorders (HAND) is characterized by development of cognitive, behavioral and motor abnormalities, and occur in approximately 50% of HIV infected individuals. Our current understanding of HAND emanates mainly from HIV-1 subtype B (clade B), which is prevalent in USA and Western countries. However very little information is available on neuropathogenesis of HIV-1 subtype C (clade C) that exists in Sub-Saharan Africa and Asia. Therefore, studies to identify specific neuropathogenic mechanisms associated with HAND are worth pursuing to dissect the mechanisms underlying this modulation and to prevent HAND particularly in clade B infection. In this study, we have investigated 84 key human synaptic plasticity genes differential expression profile in clade B and clade C infected primary human astrocytes by using RT2 Profile PCR Array human Synaptic Plasticity kit. Among these, 31 and 21 synaptic genes were significantly (≥3 fold) down-regulated and 5 genes were significantly (≥3 fold) up-regulated in clade B and clade C infected cells, respectively compared to the uninfected control astrocytes. In flow-cytometry analysis, down-regulation of postsynaptic density and dendrite spine morphology regulatory proteins (ARC, NMDAR1 and GRM1) was confirmed in both clade B and C infected primary human astrocytes and SK-N-MC neuroblastoma cells. Further, spine density and dendrite morphology changes by confocal microscopic analysis indicates significantly decreased spine density, loss of spines and decreased dendrite diameter, total dendrite and spine area in clade B infected SK-N-MC neuroblastoma cells compared to uninfected and clade C infected cells. We have also observed that, in clade B infected astrocytes, induction of apoptosis was significantly higher than in the clade C infected astrocytes. In conclusion, this study suggests that down-regulation of synaptic plasticity genes, decreased dendritic spine density and induction of apoptosis in astrocytes may contribute to the severe neuropathogenesis in clade B infection.

Increased cognitive demands boost the spatial interference effect in bimanual pointing

Open Access This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://crea tivecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made.

Increased cognitive demands boost the spatial interference effect in bimanual pointing

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Pyrrolidine Dithiocarbamate Prevents Neuroinflammation and Cognitive Dysfunction after Endotoxemia in Rats.

Systemic inflammation, for example as a result of infection, often contributes to long-term complications. Neuroinflammation and cognitive decline are key hallmarks of several neurological conditions, including advance age. The contribution of systemic inflammation to the central nervous system (CNS) remains not fully understood. Using a model of peripheral endotoxemia with lipopolysaccharide (LPS) we investigated the role of nuclear factor-κB (NF-κB) activity in mediating long-term neuroinflammation and cognitive dysfunction in aged rats. Herein we describe the anti-inflammatory effects of pyrrolidine dithiocarbamate (PDTC), a selective NF-κB inhibitor, in modulating systemic cytokines including tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α and interleukin-1β (IL-1β) and CNS markers after LPS exposure in aged rats. In the hippocampus, PDTC not only reduced neuroinflammation by modulating canonical NF-κB activity but also affected IL-1β expression in astrocytes. Parallel effects were observed on behavior and postsynaptic density-95 (PSD95), a marker of synaptic function. Taken together these changes improved acute and long-term cognitive function in aged rats after LPS exposure.

Effects of retirement on cognitive function: A gender and international perspecive

Background: As the global population is ageing, studying cognitive impairments including dementia, one of the leading causes of disability in old age worldwide, is of fundamental importance to public health. As a major transition in older age, a focus on the complex impacts of the duration, timing, and voluntariness of retirement on health is important for policy changes in the future. Longer retirement periods, as well as leaving the workforce early, have been associated with poorer health, including reduced cognitive functioning. These associations are hypothesized to differ based on gender, as well as on pre-retirement educational and occupational experiences, and on post-retirement social factors and health conditions. Methods: A cross-sectional study is conducted to determine the relationship between duration and timing of retirement and cognitive function, using data from the five sites of International Mobility in Aging Study (IMIAS). Cognitive function is assessed using the Leganes Cognitive Test (LCT) scores in 2012. Data are analyzed using multiple linear regressions. Analyses are also done by site/region separately (Canada, Latin America, and Albania). Robustness checks are done with an analysis of cognitive change from 2012 to 2014, the effect of voluntariness of retirement on cognitive function. An instrumental variable (IV) approach is also applied to the cross-sectional and longitudinal analyses as a robustness check to address the potential endogeneity of the retirement variable. Results: Descriptive statistics highlight differences between men and women, as well as between sites. In linear regression analysis, there was no relationship between timing or duration of retirement and cognitive function in 2012, when adjusting for site/region. There was no association between retirement characteristics and cognitive function in site/region/stratified analyses. In IV analysis, longer retirement and on time or late retirement was associated with lower cognitive function among men. In IV analysis, there is no relationship between retirement characteristics and cognitive function among women. Conclusions: While results of the thesis suggest a negative effect of retirement on cognitive function, especially among men, the relationship remains uncertain. A lack of power results in the inability to draw conclusions for site/region-specific analysis and site-adjusted analysis in both linear and IV regressions.

Computer-based tools for assessing micro-longitudinal patterns of cognitive function in older adults

Patterns of cognitive change over micro-longitudinal timescales (i.e., ranging from hours to days) are associated with a wide range of age-related health and functional outcomes. However, practical issues with conducting high-frequency assessments make investigations of micro-longitudinal cognition costly and burdensome to run. One way of addressing this is to develop cognitive assessments that can be performed by older adults, in their own homes, without a researcher being present. Here, we address the question of whether reliable and valid cognitive data can be collected over micro-longitudinal timescales using unsupervised cognitive tests.In study 1, 48 older adults completed two touchscreen cognitive tests, on three occasions, in controlled conditions, alongside a battery of standard tests of cognitive functions. In study 2, 40 older adults completed the same two computerized tasks on multiple occasions, over three separate week-long periods, in their own homes, without a researcher present. Here, the tasks were incorporated into a wider touchscreen system (Novel Assessment of Nutrition and Ageing (NANA)) developed to assess multiple domains of health and behavior. Standard tests of cognitive function were also administered prior to participants using the NANA system.Performance on the two “NANA” cognitive tasks showed convergent validity with, and similar levels of reliability to, the standard cognitive battery in both studies. Completion and accuracy rates were also very high. These results show that reliable and valid cognitive data can be collected from older adults using unsupervised computerized tests, thus affording new opportunities for the investigation of cognitive function.

Multicomponent cognitive-behavioral therapy for intermittent explosive disorder by videoconferencing: a case study

Cognitive-behavioral Therapy (CBT) for the treatment of Intermittent Explosive Disorder (IED) has proved to be effective, with moderate to large effect sizes both in individual and group interventions. Videoconferencing has been used effectively to treat different mental disorders but its use for IED patients is as yet unknown. The aim of this study is to provide preliminary evidence of the possibility of treating IED by videoconference. We present a case-study experiment of a Spanish male, aged 33 years, living and working in China. After the intervention, the patient's aggressive episodes decreased dramatically, as well as his negative affect. In contrast, he showed an important increment in positive emotions and self-esteem. There were also positive changes in some personality dimensions and facets measured by NEO-PI-R, specifically in neuroticism, extraversion, and agreeableness. The benefits were maintained at 3-, 8- and 18-month follow-ups. These preliminary results reveal that CBT by videoconference oriented to increasing emotion regulation skills was effective when implemented in a case study of a person suffering from IED.

Time perception in mild cognitive impairment: Interval length and subjective passage of time

Objectives: Patients with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) may have difficulties in time perception, which in turn might contribute to some of their symptoms, especially memory deficits. The aim of this study was to evaluate perception of interval length and subjective passage of time in MCI patients as compared to healthy controls. Methods: Fifty-five MCI patients and 57 healthy controls underwent an experimental protocol for time perception on interval length, a questionnaire for the subjective passage of time and a neuropsychological evaluation. Results: MCI patients presented no changes in the perception of interval length. However, for MCI patients, time seemed to pass more slowly than it did for controls. This experience was significantly correlated with memory deficits but not with performance in executive tests, nor with complaints of depression or anxiety. Conclusions: Memory deficits do not affect the perception of interval length, but are associated with alterations in the subjective passage of time.

Reasoning on the Risks of Dynamic Manufacturing Networks through Cognitive Mapping

Part 17: Risk Analysis