Background
Spectral Optical Coherence Tomography (OCT) and Visual Evoked Potentials (VEPs) have both emerged as potentially useful biomarkers of cognitive decline in people with multiple sclerosis ...(PwMS). Their combined use may provide additional predictive value for identifying disease impact, progression, and remyelination capacity above-and-beyond what is captured using either approach alone.
Objective
We examined the relationship between OCT/VEP measures and cognitive functioning in 205 PwMS. OCT measures included Retinal Nerve Fiber Layer Volume (RNFLV), Papillo-Macular Bundle Volume (PBMV), and Macular Volume (MV). VEP measures included latency of the P100, and inter-ocular latency. Cognitive performance was evaluated across seven separate domains of performance, and for overall cognition, using the NeuroTrax computerized testing battery.
Results
Both OCT and VEP measures were significantly correlated with cognitive performance across several domains. Linear regression models that controlled for the influence of visual acuity revealed (1) that reduced MV was significantly predictive of poorer visual-spatial functioning, and (2) that delayed VEP latency was significantly predictive of performance in global cognitive functioning and visual-spatial functioning, after controlling for multiple comparisons. Among PwMS with normal visual acuity, PwMS with a combination of both relatively low MV
and
delayed VEP latency tended to have poorer performance in the domains of global, executive, and visual-spatial functioning compared to PwMS with both high MV and normal VEP latency.
Conclusion
Approaches that combine the use of OCT and VEP measures can enhance insight into underlying factors that contribute to variance in cognitive functioning in PwMS.
•Dominant hand manual dexterity was correlated with memory, executive function, processing speed, attention, and motor skills among people with multiple sclerosis (PwMS).•Non-dominant hand manual ...dexterity was correlated with memory, executive function, attention, and motor skills among PwMS.•Manual dexterity deficit was found to predict cognitive dysfunction among PwMS.
Problems with manual dexterity and cognition impact the everyday performance of people with multiple sclerosis (PwMS). Accumulated findings point to the relationship between deficits in manual dexterity and auditory domains of cognition with a lack of evidence on visuospatial and verbal aspects of cognitive functioning. Therefore, this study explores the relationship between manual dexterity and cognition in a cohort of PwMS.
This cross-sectional study collected data from 63 PwMS aged 22 to 55 through a convenient sampling method. Participants were diagnosed with relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis (RRMS). Cognition was measured using a multi-domain computerized cognitive testing, NeuroTrax, and manual dexterity was measured using a 9-hole peg assessment. Spearman correlation was used to identify the correlation among cognition subtests as well as with manual dexterity. Linear regression analysis was also conducted to identify whether manual dexterity predicts cognitive functioning.
A significant negative correlation was found between 9-hole peg scores and global cognitive scores (GCS), r = -0.34, p = 006. The manual dexterity scores were also shown to predict GCS, R2= 0.165, p = 0.001.
Manual dexterity was found to not only predict cognitive dysfunction but was also associated with multiple cognitive domains. Understanding the relationship between manual dexterity and cognition and the inferred progression of deficits can assist clinicians to provide interventions at earlier stages of disease progression to potentially increase daily functioning and quality of life (QoL).
Multiple Sclerosis (MS), a chronic disease of the central nervous system (CNS), affects functional ability and quality of life (QoL). Depression, fatigue, and disability status are among the many ...factors that have been shown to impact QoL in people with MS, but the extent to which MS-related cognitive impairment is related to QoL is understudied in the literature.
The purpose of this study was to determine relevant predictors of QoL from a wide list of symptoms including physical disability, and a multi-dimensional computerized cognitive assessment battery (CAB), depression, fatigue, and demographic variables (including employment status). In addition, the unique predictive power of cognitive impairment on QoL was explored in relation to other common factors of disease impact.
171 people with MS (PwMS) were evaluated with a computerized assessment battery (CAB), EDSS examination, and validated Patient Reported Outcome (PRO) measures (Multiple Sclerosis Impact Scale, MSIS-29; Beck Depression Inventory – Second Edition BDI-2; and the Modified Fatigue Impact Scale, MFIS).
171 PwMS were included Age: 46.02 years ± 9.85, 124 (72.5%) female. Depression and fatigue scores were highly correlated with MSIS-29. EDSS, unemployment, memory, executive functioning, and motor skills were moderately correlated with MSIS-29. Predictors of QoL were EDSS, depression, fatigue, executive functioning, and attention. Attention and executive functioning were predictive of QoL even after controlling for demographic variables, fatigue, depression, and physical disability status.
Findings indicate the need for comprehensive and quantified evaluation of all factors associated with disease burden, which will ultimately serve to improve the QoL in PwMS through more targeted and patient-centered care.
•Benign MS (BMS) is a subgroup of MS where PwMS experience minimal physical disability.•There has always been debate about whether BMS really exists.•In a group of 141 PwBMS, 38% of persons were ...found to have cognitive impairment.•Fatigue (78%) and depression (55%) were also common findings.•This data questions the further use of the term ‘benign MS’.
Multiple Sclerosis (MS) is a chronic inflammatory and degenerative disease of the central nervous system (CNS). The severity of disability in people with MS (PwMS) is generally measured with the Expanded Disability Status Scale (EDSS). A variant of MS known as ‘benign MS’ (BMS) has been defined as an EDSS score of 3 or lower, combined with a disease duration of 10 years or longer; however, there is disagreement in the field about whether BMS really exists. Given that the EDSS does not capture cognitive issues, communication dysfunction, fatigue, depression, or anxiety properly, its ability to accurately represent disability in all PwMS, including BMS, remains questionable.
In this study, 141 persons with BMS (PwBMS) were included, consisting of 115 females (82%) and 26 males (18%) with a mean age of 50.8 (±8.68). A computerized test battery (NeuroTrax®) was used to assess cognition, covering seven cognitive domains (memory, executive function, visual-spatial processing, verbal function, attention, information processing, and motor skills). Fatigue was measured using the Fatigue Severity Scale (FSS). The Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) was used to assess symptoms of depression. Cognitive impairment was defined for this study as when someone has a score lower than 85 in at least two subdomains of the cognitive test battery. Rates of impairment were compared to 158 persons with non-benign MS (PwNBMS; with a disease duration of 10 years and longer and an EDSS score higher than 3) and 487 PwMS with a disease duration of fewer than 10 years.
Cognitive impairment was found in 38% of PwBMS and in 66% of PwNBMS (p<0.001). In PwBMS, the lowest rate of impairment was found in the verbal function domain (18%) and the highest rate of impairment in the domain of information processing (32%). Fatigue and depression were found in 78% and 55% of all PwBMS, with no difference in these rates between PwBMS and PwNBMS (p = 0.787 and p = 0.316 resp.)
Cognitive impairment, fatigue and depression are common among people with an EDSS-based definition of benign MS. These aspects should be incorporated into a new and better definition of truly benign MS
Excessive noise exposure is a serious global urban health problem, adversely affecting millions of people. One often cited source of urban noise is mass transit, particularly subway systems. As a ...first step in determining risk within this context, we recently conducted an environmental survey of noise levels of the New York City transit system. Over 90 noise measurements were made using a sound level meter. Average and maximum noise levels were measured on subway platforms, and maximum levels were measured inside subway cars and at several bus stops for comparison purposes. The average noise level measured on the subway platforms was 86 +/- 4 dBA (decibel-A weighting). Maximum levels of 106, 112, and 89 dBA were measured on subway platforms, inside subway cars, and at bus stops, respectively. These results indicate that noise levels in subway and bus stop environments have the potential to exceed recommended exposure guidelines from the World Health Organization (WHO) and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), given sufficient exposure duration. Risk reduction strategies following the standard hierarchy of control measures should be applied, where feasible, to reduce subway noise exposure.
To date, little research has been conducted on the relationship between fatigue and expressive language among Multiple Sclerosis patients (MS). This study was a response to this knowledge gap. A ...nonrandom, matched- subject, mixed-factor design model was used with a purposive sample of 17 individuals with MS (five had primary-progressive (PP) MS, and 12 had relapsing-remitting (RR) MS). The research design was subjected to pretesting to ensure validity. Participants were assessed on a range of language tasks after undergoing one bout of cardiovascular exercise (NuStep T5 Recumbent Cross Trainer) and asked to provide a subjective fatigue score. The expressive language tests included confrontation naming, assessment of expressive-language skills, verbal fluency, and assessment of a picture description. The tasks were replicated after a fatigue-equivalent rest period. Statistical analyses involved the testing of assumptions for one-way MANOVA/MANCOVA. Gender and subtypes of MS were subject to chi distribution. Analysis of the intervention and control groups for differences in gender, ethnicity and years of education revealed no significant difference. The mean number of years with a MS diagnosis was 12.82 with a median EDSS score of 5.50. The Intervention Fatigue Group had a significantly higher confrontation naming errors score in comparison to the Control Fatigue Group, the Control Rest Group and the Intervention Rest Group. Analysis of verbal fluency revealed that the Intervention Fatigue Group generated significantly fewer words when given a letter of the alphabet or asked to generate words within an abstract category compared to the Control Fatigue Group, the Control Rest Group and the Intervention Rest Group. Analysis of narrative production skills revealed the Intervention Fatigue Group and the Intervention Rest Group illustrated a similar reduced performance compared to the Control Fatigue Group and Control Rest Group. For tasks concerning confrontation naming, the Intervention Fatigue Group took significantly longer time to verbally name colors and objects compared to the Control Fatigue Group and the Control Rest Group; however, the Intervention Fatigue Group was not statistically different from the Rest Group. The Intervention Fatigue Group had a significantly higher fatigue change score in comparison to the Intervention Rest Group and the Control Rest Group. However, the Intervention Fatigue Group did not significantly differ from the Control Fatigue Group. Overall, the results indicate that when working with language skills in persons with MS, clinicians should account for the presence of fatigue on performance measures and consider testing skills in conditions.
•Sediment chemistry effects from the Ixtoc-1 were found at 2.4–2.8 cm depth.•Indications the benthic community has not yet recovered from the Ixtoc-1 spill.•The Ixtoc-1 benthic community will likely ...recover in 97 more years.•The Deepwater Horizon oil spill will likely recover in 50 years.
The Deepwater Horizon (DWH) accident occurred on 20 April 2010 in the Northern Gulf of Mexico and resulted in a deep-sea plume of petroleum hydrocarbons and a marine oiled snow sedimentation and flocculent accumulation (MOSSFA) event. It is hypothesized that recovery will occur when the contaminated sediment is buried below the biologically active zone of 10 cm. Recovery rate can be inferred from the similar Ixtoc-1 blowout and sub-surface oil release that occurred in the Bay of Campeche, Mexico in 1979 – 1980. In 2015, sediment chemistry effects from the Ixtoc-1 were found at 2.4– 2.8 cm sediment depth at stations within 81 and 273 km away. Trends of total polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon concentration, macrofauna family-level diversity, and the nematode to copepod ratio with sediment depth supports the interpretation that the benthic community has not yet recovered from the Ixtoc-1 spill. Based on a sedimentation rate of 0.072 cm/year, the Ixtoc-1 benthic community will recover in 103 more years beyond 2015. Recovery around the DWH will occur in 50 years based on an average sedimentation rate of 0.2 cm/year. These rates demonstrate that benthic recovery in the deep sea is very slow.
At a large, diverse, hispanic-serving, master's-granting university, the Alma Project was created to support the rich connections of life experiences of science, technology, engineering, and ...mathematics (STEM) students that come from racially diverse backgrounds through reflective journaling. Utilizing frameworks in ethnic studies and social psychology, the Alma Project aims to make learning STEM inclusive by affirming the intersectional identities and cultural wealth that students bring into STEM classrooms. Approximately once per month students who participate in the Alma Project spend 5-10 min at the beginning of class responding to questions designed to affirm their values and purpose for studying STEM in college. Students then spend time in class sharing their responses with their peers, to the extent that they feel comfortable, including common struggles and successes in navigating through college and STEM spaces. For this study, we analyze 180 reflective journaling essays of students enrolled in General Physics I, an algebra-based introductory physics course primarily for life science majors. Students were enrolled in a required lab, a self-selected community-based learning program (Supplemental Instruction), or in a small number of instances, both. Using the community cultural wealth framework to anchor our analysis, we identified 11 cultural capitals that students often expressed within these physics spaces. Students in both populations frequently expressed aspirational, attainment, and navigational capital, while expressions of other cultural capitals, such as social capital, differ in the two populations. Our findings suggest that students bring rich and diverse perspectives into physics classrooms when asked to reflect about their lived experiences. Moreover, our study provides evidence that reflective journaling can be used as an asset-based teaching tool. By using reflective journaling in physics spaces, recognizing students' assets has the potential for physics educators to leverage students' lived experiences, goals, and values to make physics learning more meaningful and engaging.
Copper nanoparticles (Cu-NPs) with sizes lower than 31 nm were prepared by wet chemical reduction using copper sulfate solution, hydrazine, and mixture of allylamine (AAm) and polyallylamine (PAAm) ...as stabilizing agents. The use of AAm/PAAm mixture leads to the formation of Cu and CuO nanoparticles. The resulting nanostructures were characterized by XRD, TGA, and TEM. The average particle diameters were determined by the Debye-Scherrer equation. Analysis by TGA, TEM, GS-MS, and 1HNMR reveals that synthesized NPs with AAm presented a coating with similar characteristics to NPs with PAAm, suggesting that AAm underwent polymerization during the synthesis. The synthesis of NPs using AAm could be a good alternative to reduce production costs.
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