Abstract
Background
Loss of cognitive and executive functions is a problem that affects people of all ages. That is why it is important to perform exercises for memory training and prevent early ...cognitive deterioration. The aim of this work was to compare the cognitive performance of the participants after an intervention by using two mnemonic techniques to exercise memory functions (paired-associate learning and method of loci).
Methods
A longitudinal study was conducted with 21 healthy participants aged 18 to 55 years over a 2-month period. To assess the impact of this proposal, the NEUROPSI brief battery cognitive assessment test was applied before and after the intervention. In each session, a previous cognitive training was carried out using the paired-associate learning technique, to later perform a task based on the loci method, all from a smart device-based application. The accuracy response and reaction times were automatically collected in the app.
Results
After the intervention, a statistically significant improvement was obtained in the neuropsychological assessment (NEUROPSI neuropsychological battery) reflected by the Wilcoxon paired signed-rank test (
P
< .05).
Conclusion
The task based on the method of loci also reflected the well-known age-related effects common to memory assessment tasks. Episodic memory training using the method of loci can be successfully implemented using a smart device app. A stage-based methodological design allows to acquire mnemic skills gradually, obtaining a significant cognitive improvement in a short period of time.
We have performed extensive molecular dynamic simulations to analyze the influence of cation and anion natures, and of water concentration, on the structure and dynamics of ...water–1-alkyl-3-methylimidazolium ionic liquid mixtures. The dependence on water concentration of the radial distribution functions, coordination numbers, and hydrogen bonding degree between the different species has been systematically analyzed for different lengths of the cation alkyl chain (alkyl = ethyl, butyl, hexyl, and octyl) and several counterions. These include two halogens of different sizes and positions in Hoffmeister series, Cl– and Br–, and the highly hydrophobic inorganic anion PF6 – throughout its whole solubility regime. The formation of water clusters in the mixture has been verified, and the influences of both anion hydrophobicity and cation chain length on the structure and size of these clusters have been analyzed. The water cluster size is shown to be relatively independent of the cation chain length, but strongly dependent on the hydrophobicity of the anion, which also determines critically the network formation of water and therefore the miscibility of the ionic liquid. The greater influence of the anion relative to the cation one is seen to be reflected in all the analyzed physical properties. Finally, single-particle dynamics in IL–water mixtures is considered, obtaining the self-diffusion coefficients and the velocity autocorrelation functions of water molecules in the mixture, and analyzing the effect of cation, anion, and water concentration on the duration of the ballistic regime and on the time of transition to the diffusive regime. Complex non-Markovian behavior was detected at intermediate times within an interval progressively shorter as water concentration increases.
Cancer and neurodegenerative diseases are two of the leading causes of premature death in modern societies. Their incidence continues to increase, and in the near future, it is believed that cancer ...will kill more than 20 million people per year, and neurodegenerative diseases, due to the aging of the world population, will double their prevalence. The onset and the progression of both diseases are defined by dysregulation of the same molecular signaling pathways. However, whereas in cancer, these alterations lead to cell survival and proliferation, neurodegenerative diseases trigger cell death and apoptosis. The study of the mechanisms underlying these opposite final responses to the same molecular trigger is key to providing a better understanding of the diseases and finding more accurate treatments. Here, we review the ten most common signaling pathways altered in cancer and analyze them in the context of different neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's (AD), Parkinson's (PD), and Huntington's (HD) diseases.
In recent years, the use of virtual reality (VR) as a complementary intervention in treating cognitive impairment has significantly increased. VR applications based on instrumental activities of ...daily living (iADL-VR) could offer a promising approach with greater ecological validity for intervention in groups with cognitive impairments. However, the effectiveness of this approach is still debated.
This systematic review aims to synthesize the effects of iADL-VR interventions to rehabilitate, train, or stimulate cognitive functions in healthy adults and people with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and different types of dementia.
A systematic search was performed in the Scopus, PubMed, IEEE Xplore, Web of Science, and APA PsycNet databases until September 2022 and repeated in April 2023. The selected studies met the search terms, were peer-reviewed, included an iADL-VR intervention, and were written in English. Descriptive, qualitative studies, reviews, cognitive assessment, non-intervention studies, those unrelated to VR or iADL, those focused on motor aspects, and non-degenerative disorders were excluded. The PEDro scale was used to assess the methodological quality of the controlled studies. To present and synthesize the results, we organized the extracted data into three tables, including PEDro scores, participant characteristics, and study characteristics.
Nineteen studies that met the inclusion and exclusion criteria were included. The total sample reached 590 participants, mostly women (72.67%). Approximately 30% were diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease or dementia, and 20% had mild cognitive impairment. Variables such as authors and year of publication, study design, type of intervention and VR applied, duration of the intervention, main findings, and conclusions were extracted. Regarding demographic characteristics, the sample size, age, sex, years of education, neurological diagnosis, dropouts, and the city and country where the intervention took place were recorded. Almost all studies showed improvements in some or all the outcomes after the intervention, generally greater in the iADL-VR group than in the control group.
iADL-VR interventions could be beneficial in improving the performance of cognitive functions in older adults and people with MCI and different types of dementia. The ecological component of these tasks makes them very suitable for transferring what has been learned to the real world. However, such transfer needs to be confirmed by further studies with larger and more homogeneous samples and longer follow-up periods. This review had no primary funding source and was registered with PROSPERO under registration ID: 375166.
Objetivo: Revisar y contrastar métodos cuantitativos de evaluación de la calidad del espacio público que pueden aportar al cumplimiento de los Objetivos de Desarrollo Sostenible.
Metodología: Se ...seleccionaron siete métodos de evaluación a partir de publicaciones disponibles en las bases de datos Scopus, SpringerLink, ScienceDirect, Latindex, Scielo y Redalyc basados en publicaciones realizadas entre 2000 y 2020; se incluyeron referencias significativas de años anteriores de acuerdo con las citas halladas en dichos documentos. Los métodos se contrastaron según dimensiones de calidad, criterios de ponderación y variables.
Resultados: La evaluación de la calidad del espacio público mediante métodos cuantitativos contribuye al cumplimiento de los Objetivos de Desarrollo Sostenible, porque utiliza metas concretas y medibles; el uso de datos cuantitativos facilita la realización de un diagnóstico técnico de la condición de sus elementos. Las variables se agruparon en dimensiones; la accesibilidad y el confort fueron las que tuvieron mayor relación con los Objetivos de Desarrollo Sostenible. Los métodos consultados son costosos y complejos, necesitan un análisis de actividades y comportamientos de los usuarios. Sin métodos prácticos es difícil visibilizar las necesidades de infraestructura y satisfacer los Objetivos de Desarrollo Sostenible en cuanto a espacio público de buena calidad.
Conclusiones: Los métodos revisados incluyen una evaluación sin desagregación de la calidad de los elementos individuales que constituyen el espacio público; es un desafío diseñar instrumentos de evaluación para todo tipo de espacio público. La práctica tradicional es construir nuevos espacios o remodelar los existentes, sin considerar la financiación para el mantenimiento de todo el sistema en operación.
Financiamiento: Universidad Nacional de Colombia.
Hypothalamic pro-opiomelanocortin (POMC) neurons promote satiety. Cannabinoid receptor 1 (CB1R) is critical for the central regulation of food intake. Here we test whether CB1R-controlled feeding in ...sated mice is paralleled by decreased activity of POMC neurons. We show that chemical promotion of CB1R activity increases feeding, and notably, CB1R activation also promotes neuronal activity of POMC cells. This paradoxical increase in POMC activity was crucial for CB1R-induced feeding, because designer-receptors-exclusively-activated-by-designer-drugs (DREADD)-mediated inhibition of POMC neurons diminishes, whereas DREADD-mediated activation of POMC neurons enhances CB1R-driven feeding. The Pomc gene encodes both the anorexigenic peptide α-melanocyte-stimulating hormone, and the opioid peptide β-endorphin. CB1R activation selectively increases β-endorphin but not α-melanocyte-stimulating hormone release in the hypothalamus, and systemic or hypothalamic administration of the opioid receptor antagonist naloxone blocks acute CB1R-induced feeding. These processes involve mitochondrial adaptations that, when blocked, abolish CB1R-induced cellular responses and feeding. Together, these results uncover a previously unsuspected role of POMC neurons in the promotion of feeding by cannabinoids.
In this work we study mechanisms of solvent-mediated ion interactions with charged surfaces in ionic liquids by molecular dynamics simulations, in an attempt to reveal the main trends that determine ...ion-electrode interactions in ionic liquids. We compare the interfacial behaviour of Li
+
and K
+
at a charged graphene sheet in a room temperature ionic liquid, 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium tetrafluoroborate, and its mixtures with lithium and potassium tetrafluoroborate salts. Our results show that there are dense interfacial solvation structures in these electrolytes that lead to the formation of high free energy barriers for these alkali metal cations between the bulk and direct contact with the negatively charged surface. We show that the stronger solvation of Li
+
in the ionic liquid leads to the formation of significantly higher interfacial free energy barriers for Li
+
than for K
+
. The high free energy barriers observed in our simulations can explain the generally high interfacial resistance in electrochemical storage devices that use ionic liquid-based electrolytes. Overcoming these barriers is the rate-limiting step in the interfacial transport of alkali metal ions and, hence, appears to be a major drawback for a generalised application of ionic liquids in electrochemistry. Some plausible strategies for future theoretical and experimental work for tuning them are suggested.
We study mechanisms of solvent-mediated ion interactions with charged surfaces in ionic liquids by molecular dynamics simulations, in an attempt to reveal the main trends that determine ion-electrode interactions in ionic liquids.
We performed molecular dynamics simulations of mixtures of 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium tetrafluoroborate with lithium tetrafluoroborate and potassium tetrafluoroborate between two charged and ...uncharged graphene walls, in order to analyze the structure of the well-known formation of layers that takes place on liquids under confinement. For this purpose, we studied the molecular density profiles, free energy profiles for bringing lithium and potassium cations from the bulk mixture to the graphene wall and the orientational distributions of imidazolium rings within the first adsorbed layer as a function of salt concentration and electrode potential. The charge densities in the electrodes were chosen to be zero and ±1 e nm
−2
, and the salt molar percentages were %
salt
= 0, 10 and 25. We found that the layered structure extends up to 1-2 nm, where the bulk behaviour is recovered. In addition, whereas for the neutral surface the layers are composed of both ionic species, increasing the electrode potential, the structure changes to alternating cationic and anionic layers leading to an overcompensation of the charge of the previous layer. We also calculated the distribution of angles of imidazolium rings near neutral and charged graphene walls, finding a limited influence of the added salt. In addition, the average tilt of the imidazolium ring within the first layer goes from 36° with respect to a normal vector to the uncharged graphene wall to 62° in the presence of charged walls. The free energy profiles revealed that lithium and potassium ions are adsorbed on the negative surface only for the highest amount of salt, since the free energy barriers for approaching this electrode are considerably higher than
k
B
T
.
Ionic liquids mixed with lithium or potassium salts are layered near charged and uncharged graphene.
Pavements are geotechnical problems; consequently, a geotechnical framework is useful to describe their constitutive elements. The design of asphalt pavements for streets and roads evolved from ...empiric to mechanistic-empiric (M-E) procedures throughout the 20th century. The mechanistic-empiric method, based on layered elastic theory, became a common practice with the publication of separate procedures by Shell Oil, Asphalt Institute, and French LCPC, among others. Since its origin, the M-E procedure can consider incremental pavement design but, only until the beginning of the 21st century, the computational power became available to practicing engineers. American MEPDG represents the state-of-the-art M-E incremental design procedure with significant advantages and drawbacks, the latter mainly related to the extensive calibration activities required to assure a proper analysis and design according to subgrade, climate, and materials at a particular location and for an intended level of reliability. Perpetual pavements are a subset of M-E designed pavements with a proven history of success for the particular conditions where they are warranted. No design method, either the most straightforward empirical approach or the most elaborated incremental mechanistic one, is appropriate without proper knowledge about the fundamental design factors and calibration of the performance models for each distress mode upon consideration.
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