Objectives: To evaluate the relationship between Willis-Ekbom Disease/Restless Legs Syndrome and iron deficiency anemia in older people with dementia.

Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted with 70 older people diagnosed with dementia and restless leg syndrome in a Psychogeriatric outpatient clinic in a city in the interior of São Paulo, Brazil. The older people filled in instruments of sociodemographic characterization, measures to evaluate the Restless Legs Syndrome, neuropsychiatric symptoms, sleep quality, sleepiness and cognition. Blood data were also collected levels of creatinine, ferritin, red blood cells, hemoglobin and hematocrit, the latter collected in the patients’ medical records.

Results: The sample consists mostly of older people with mixed dementia (i.e., Alzheimer’s disease + Vascular Dementia), with 39% of female patients and mean age of 77.80 years (9.36). This study identified a frequency of 15.7% of Restless Legs Syndrome. Patients with the syndrome present more frequency of neuropsychiatric symptoms, worse sleep quality, higher index of body mass and lower levels of ferritin (p < .05).

Conclusions: A frequency of 15.7% was identified for restless leg syndrome among patients with dementia. In addition, patients with the syndrome have ferritin deficiency.

Objectives: The increase in suicidal behavior in patients treated with promising new drugs for Alzheimer’s disease is a dilemma that deserves to be understood. The correlations between suicide and neurodegenerative disorders have been debated for decades in the context of ethics, considering that many people with cognitive decline have opted for euthanasia. The academic community is invited to pay greater attention to issues other than ethics that can improve the quality of life of people with dementia.

Methods: We sought to read the review articles on Pubmed on the topic over the last two decades to identify possible factors that are correlating suicide with Alzheimer’s Disease. The data were grouped and presented to demonstrate possible studies that should be carried out to clarify the topic better.

Results: Depression and the presence of the E4 allele of Apolipoprotein E were the main correlation factors between Alzheimer’s disease and suicide.

Conclusions: Targeted studies are needed to understand better the occurrence of depression in Alzheimer’s disease, as well as the role of the E4 allele in mood disorders and suicidal behavior.

The injuries that occurred in earthquakes caused an accumulation in hospitals and the need for health services increased. The most needed human resource in the provision of health services in disasters is nurses. The aim of this study is to determine the scope of nursing services in earthquakes and to identify the service needs in hospitals during the February 6 earthquakes in Turkey. In this study, Delphi technique was used for needs analysis. The managers of health institutions in 11 provinces that experienced the earthquake were interviewed to determine how nursing services are carried out during earthquakes. As a result of this study, it was determined that there were inadequacies in triage, identification of earthquake victims, medical intervention and keeping records, identification of deceased earthquake victims, storage of personal belongings, communication with relatives of earthquake victims, and psychosocial support services in disasters such as earthquakes where many people were seriously injured. It has been observed that there is a need for disaster nurses and forensic nurses to work in these areas and it is thought that these 2 nursing fields should be taken into consideration in the planning of health professional resources in disasters.

Background: Most people living with dementia rely on their family members for the care and support they need. However, unpaid care can lead to multiple negative impacts on the wellbeing and mental health of carers.

Objectives: The Objectives of this study was to evaluate the effects of iSupport-Brasil (an online, psychoeducational program) on perceptions of burden and on the mental health of informal caregivers of people living with dementia.

Methods: A randomized controlled trial was carried out from January 2023 to April 2024 in Brazil. A total of 162 individuals were randomly allocated to an intervention group (IG) (n = 77) or a control group (CG) (n = 85). The IG had free access to the iSupport-Brasil platform for three months. Simultaneously, the CG participants were provided with a link to access the Brazilian Alzheimer’s Association website and a copy of the “Care Guide for Older People”, published by the Brazilian Ministry of Health. Pre- and post-intervention assessments were carried out using measures of burden (a single-item Burden Scale and the Zarit Burden Interview – ZBI), and of anxiety and depressive symptoms (Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale - HADS).

Results: Based on an intention-to-treat analysis, a reduction in anxiety symptoms was observed for the IG (p = 0.02). Based on a per-protocol analysis, significant reductions in burden (p <0.01) and anxiety symptoms (p < 0.01) were found for the IG. No significant effects were found for depressive symptoms, although scores decreased. For the CG, the regression model indicated that, on average, burden and depressive symptoms worsened somewhat, but this result was not statistically significant.

Conclusions: The iSupport-Brasil program was effective in reducing perceptions of burden and anxiety symptoms among informal caregivers in Brazil. Therefore, we recommended that informal caregivers of people living with dementia use this program to help them broaden their interpersonal coping strategies and improve their emotional health, in addition to using mainstream long-term care support services.

Cultural heritage preservation and protection are increasingly tethered to an international security agenda constituted across multilateral agencies. UNESCO and other organizations have securitized heritage, engaging in military training and peacekeeping, international law and prosecution, and cultural property protection. Following the events in Iraq and Syria, UN Security Council resolutions have instantiated norms of heritage violence, risk, and threat, while the Global War on Terror also interpolated looting, trafficking, and terror financing into a heritage-protection agenda. We compare these developments with our large-scale public opinion survey of Mosul and Aleppo residents’ experiences of heritage violence and the implications for security and reconstruction. While our results display potential overlaps with UNSC concerns, we suggest that site destruction and broader security concerns are understood differently on the ground, shaped by political and economic factors. We argue for a more humanitarian focus if any relationship between heritage, security, and, indeed, peacebuilding is to be forged.

Resource partitioning is a critical mechanism underlying the coexistence of close relative species that feed on similar resources. Based on foraging data, we built a plant–seedeater interaction network for three sympatric species of Neotropical seedeaters – namely Tropeiro Seedeater Sporophila beltoni, Black-bellied Seedeater Sporophila melanogaster, and Tawny-bellied Seedeater Sporophila hypoxantha, and tested to what extent the three species shared resources. The interaction network was non-nested and modular, forming three modules, each one comprising one seedeater species and their most consumed plants, indicating the existence of resource partitioning. Modules may result from multiple non-exclusive factors, including differences among seedeater species in habitat use, bill sizes, feeding habits, structure of vegetation for nesting, and abiotic factors that influence plant composition. Our results indicate that the effective conservation of these species requires the protection of areas that include the three distinct subsets of plants used by these birds during the breeding season and also indicates which plants may be used for the restoration of grasslands in the region.

Objectives: To evaluate the effectiveness of the sleep monitor device, feedback from sleep report, and regular advice for community-dwelling older people.

Methods: Randomized controlled trial and evaluator blinded. Subjects are over 65-year-old who live in the community or living alone or in older households or requiring support under long-term care insurance in Japan. They are divided into three groups: A) For 6 months, send monthly report and conduct telephone intervention; B) For the first 3 months is same intervention as A, then for the next 3 months. only send monthly report; C) For 6 months, send monthly report. A sleep monitoring device: Active Sleep Analyzer is a non-wearable actigraphy device and was used to evaluate Objectives sleep, such as total sleep time, sleep latency, sleep efficiency, wake after sleep onset, number of awakenings. The primary outcome was the subjective sleep quality from Athens Insomnia Scale (AIS). We mainly conducted three analyses. 1) Basic characteristics at baseline 2) Paired t-tests within groups to examine differences in AIS after the intervention from baseline. 3) Repeated measurements to examine differences in AIS between the three groups depending on time. All significance levels were set at p < 0.05. The study was conducted with the approval of the Osaka University Hospital Ethics ReviewCommittee.

Results: We contacted 349 people to participate and randomized 223 people who attended the first seminar and met the eligibility criteria. We analyzed 212 participants (A72, B70, C70), excluding those with dropouts or significant missing data, with the demographic profile of participants being 36% male, mean age 75 years, mean AIS 6.6. Most participants were interested in sleep and wanted to improve their sleep at baseline. As a result of repeated measurements, a significant decrease in AIS was observed in group A and B. For 3month, A decreased 1.8 ± 0.42, p = 0.0013, B decreased 2.4 ± 0.41, p < 0.0001 and for 6month, A decreased 1.5 ± 0.39, p = 0.0072, B decreased 1.4 ± 0.40, p = 0.0188.

Conclusions: Reports using sleep data and feedback from experts over the phone can improve the sleep of older people. This intervention could allow older people to reconsider not only their sleep but also their lifestyle, potentially improving their health.

Introduction: Transcranial Direct current stimulation (tDCS) and repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) are neuromodulatory techniques capable of modifying the altered cerebral hyperexcitability in amnestic mild cognitive impairment (aMCI). Cortical excitability can be estimated with motor evoked potentials (MEPs) and synaptic plasticity can be induced with a 5 Hz rTMS paradigm applied to the motor cortex (M1). An increase in MEP amplitude reflects a better capacity for plasticity in M1, and these measures can, in turn, be associated with cognitive performance. Cognitive stimulation (CS) and tDCS in aMCI can modify excitability and improve cognition.

Objectives: Study the effect of the combination of CS and tDCS (real vs. placebo) on cognitive performance and cortical excitability.

Methods: Randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled clinical trial in aMCI. The diagnosis was established through a clinical evaluation by a psychogeriatrician and a neuropsychological assessment. To determine the effect of the interventions, evaluations were conducted at two time points: before (T0) and after administering 9 sessions of CS and 15 sessions of tDCS over three weeks (T1). The evaluations included: MEP amplitude, Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA), and Screening for Cognitive Impairment in Psychiatry (SCIP-S). For data analysis, ARTool in RStudio was used to perform aligned rank transformation for non-parametric analysis of variance in factorial models with fixed and random effects, applying a factorial ANOVA for each response variable.

Results: A total of 18 participants were enrolled (real n = 8 and placebo n = 10). Comparing T0 and T1, differences were found in both groups in MEP amplitude after applying the paradigm (F = 5.479; p = 0.032) as well as in the total MoCA score (F = 4.808; p = 0.043). When comparing the groups, differences were found in the delayed verbal learning domain assessed with SCIP-S (F = 6.038; p = 0.025) and in MEP amplitude (F = 6.165; p = 0.024). No differences were found in any of the evaluations when studying the effect of the GroupxTimeinteraction.

Conclusions: Both groups benefit from cognitive stimulation, and the use of tDCS does not appear to enhance the cognitive effect or the MEPs. It seems that cognitive stimulation alone is capable of modifying cortical excitability and improving cognitive performance.

Given any toric subvariety Y of a smooth toric variety X of codimension k, we construct a length k resolution of ${\mathcal O}_Y$ by line bundles on X. Furthermore, these line bundles can all be chosen to be direct summands of the pushforward of ${\mathcal O}_X$ under the map of toric Frobenius. The resolutions are built from a stratification of a real torus that was introduced by Bondal and plays a role in homological mirror symmetry.

As a corollary, we obtain a virtual analogue of Hilbert’s syzygy theorem for smooth projective toric varieties conjectured by Berkesch, Erman and Smith. Additionally, we prove that the Rouquier dimension of the bounded derived category of coherent sheaves on a toric variety is equal to the dimension of the variety, settling a conjecture of Orlov for these examples. We also prove Bondal’s claim that the pushforward of the structure sheaf under toric Frobenius generates the derived category of a smooth toric variety and formulate a refinement of Uehara’s conjecture that this remains true for arbitrary line bundles.

Porous membranes are thin solid structures that allow the flow to pass through their tiny openings, called pores. Flow inertia may play a significant role in several filtration flows of natural and engineering interest. Here, we develop a predictive macroscopic model to describe solvent and solute flows past thin membranes for non-negligible inertia. We leverage homogenization theory to link the solvent velocity and solute concentration to the jumps of solvent stress and solute flux across the membrane. Within this framework, the membrane acts as a boundary separating two distinct fluid regions. These jump conditions rely on several coefficients, stemming from closure problems at the microscopic pore scale. Two approximations for the advective terms of Navier–Stokes and advection–diffusion equations are introduced to include inertia in the microscopic problem. The approximate inertial terms couple the micro- and macroscopic fields. Here, this coupling is solved numerically using an iterative fixed-point procedure. We compare the resulting models against full-scale simulations, with a good agreement both in terms of averaged values across the membrane and far-field values. Eventually, we develop a strategy based on unsupervised machine learning to improve the computational efficiency of the iterative procedure. The extension of homogenization towards weak-inertia flow configurations as well as the performed data-driven approximation may find application in preliminary analyses as well as optimization procedures towards the design of filtration systems, where inertia effects can be instrumental in broadening the spectrum of permeability and selectivity properties of these filters.

Scholars have studied the carceral state extensively. However, little is known about the ‘shadow’ carceral state, coercive institutions lacking even the limited safeguards of the carceral state. Pretrial incarceration is one such institution. It often lasts months and causes large resource losses. Yet it is imposed in rushed hearings, with wide discretion for bail judges. These circumstances facilitate quick, heuristic judgments relying on racial stereotypes of marginalized populations. We merge court records from Miami-Dade with voter records to estimate the effect of this ‘shadow’ institution on turnout. We find that quasi-randomly assigned harsher bail judges depress voting by Black and Hispanic defendants. Consistent with heuristic processing, these racial disparities result only from inexperienced judges. Unlike judge experience, judge race does not matter; minority judges are as likely to impose detention and reduce turnout. The ‘shadow’ carceral state undermines democratic participation, exacerbating racial inequality.

Attempts to develop high yielding varieties in Ghana have mostly relied on the introduction of new clones to broaden the range of planting materials for yield improvement. The objective of this study was to estimate the genetic variation and heritability for bean yield of six recommended cocoa clones using these as males in crosses with five seed garden parents. Twenty-four families obtained from a 5 × 6 North Carolina II (NC II) incomplete factorial mating design together with 19 high yielding single crosses, of which four were standard mixed hybrids, were planted in a randomized complete block design with four replications and evaluated for bean yield over 6 years. To account for the serial correlation among yield data collected from the same plants over years, six models with different covariance structures were tested. The general covariance model emerged appropriate based on Akaike information criterion values with significant (P < 0.01) family × year interaction. Average bean yield was highest in the NC II families followed by the specific crosses then the standard mixed hybrids. Combining ability analysis among the NC II was significant for female, male and female × male interaction along with a narrow-sense heritability of 0.26. Clone CRG 6035 among the males which had good general combining ability could be added to the seed garden parents, while the promising hybrids (NA 33 × SCA 9, SCA 6 × Pound 10, T60/887 × PA 121 and T79/501 × CRG 6035/103) undergo stability tests before release.

We examine whether the ‘privileged coordinates’ of a geometric space encode its ‘amount of structure.’ In doing so, we compare this coordinate approach to comparing amounts of structure to the more familiar auto-morphism approach. We first show that on a natural understanding of the former, it faces one of the same well known problems as the latter. We then capture a precise sense in which the two approaches are closely related to one another, and we conclude by discussing whether they might still prove useful in cases of philosophical interest, despite their shortcomings.

Introduction: Young and older adults with bipolar disorder (BD) commonly present with cognitive deficits. Many also report subjective or perceived cognitive failures.

Objectives: For this study, we identified four distinct clusters of adults with BD on the basis of both BD symptoms (depression and hypo/mania) and perceived cognitive errors (i.e., forgetfulness, distractibility, false triggering). We hypothesized that participants reporting more BD symptoms and cognitive errors would report lower psychological well-being (i.e., self-efficacy, life scheme, life satisfaction).

Methods: From the BADAS (Bipolar Affective Disorder and older Adults) Study, we identified 281 adults with BD (M = 44.27 years of age, range 19–81), recruited via micro-targeted social media advertising (vs. mass marketing to general samples). All clusters significantly differed across all grouping variables except symptoms of hypo/mania due to low frequency.

Results: Across clusters, perceived cognitive failures and BD symptoms increased in lockstep; that is, those reporting more cognitive errors also reported significantly higher symptoms of both depression and hypo/mania. As hypothesized, they also reported significantly lower psychological well-being.

Conclusions: Of note, age did not significantly differ across clusters in contrast to existing research in which cognition is Objectivesly measured. That is, perceived cognitive errors are significantly associated with lower psychological well-being for both young and older adults with BD.

Objectives: The aim of this study was to analyze the impact of maintaining professional activity on cognitive functioning at advanced ages.

Methods: The sample comprised 131 people aged 60 years-old and older (M = 68,15 years) of whom 41 were still working (30 women and 11 men, Mage = 65.24), and 89 retired (74 women and 15 men Mage = 69.48). To assess participants’ cognitive functioning the following instruments were used: Rey-Osterrieth Complex Figure Test, Digit Span Test, Trail Making Test (TMT), Verbal Fluency Test and Boston Naming Test (Short Form). Since age differences among participants of the two groups were found an ANCOVA test was used, and age was included as a covariable.

Results: Statistically significant differences were found between the two groups in the Part A of TMT (F = 7.383, p < 0.05) and the Boston Naming Test (Short Form) (F = 3.495, p < 0.05). Compared with retired participants those who were still active had better scores on both measures.

Conclusions: Work-related activity in old age has a positive influence on cognitive functioning and can contribute to older people’s cognitive reserve and to maintaining better attention, naming or word retrieval performance. Thus, in order to maintain good cognitive functioning, when older adults retire, they may need to substitute work with stimulating and challenging activities.

Objectives: In recent years, there has been an increase in suicide rates in Brazil. From 2015 to 2019 we had a 34% increase in self-inflicted deaths. Are there some subgroups at greater risk of suicide, such as the old people with Alzheimer’s disease?

Methods: The data were obtained by consulting the systems of the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE) of the Brazilian Ministry of Health (DataSUS). Population data were measured and compared in the years 2010 and 2022, using the last two censuses.

Results: Between 2010 and 2022, the number of registered deaths of patients with Alzheimer’s increased by 21.93%. Similarly, there was a 100.37% increase in suicides among the elderly population in the same period, compared to a 37.78% increase in the general population.

Conclusions: It is not possible to conclude that the increase in suicide among the elderly is directly linked to Alzheimer’s disease. However, further studies are needed to determine if there is a correlation.

Objectives: Several studies have shown that acetylcholinesterase inhibitors (AChEIs) decrease delta or theta activity, increase alpha activity on Electroencephalography (EEG) in Alzheimer’s disease (AD) patients. The effects of memantine on EEG in AD patients are not as well understood as those of AChEIs. The present study investigated the electrocortical effects of 3 months memantine medication in AD patients.

Methods: EEG was recorded in 28 patients with AD (mean age 83.3 ± 4.6 years, 19 females) before and 3 months after the onset of memantine medication. Source localization was applied to the EEG using exact low-resolution brain electromagnetic tomography (eLORETA) in 8 frequency bands (delta, theta, alpha-1, alpha-2, beta-1, beta- 2, beta-3, gamma). Differences in source strengths from before to after memantine treatment were compared per frequency band using t-statistics (corrected for multiple testing over frequency bands and voxels).

Results: Theta activity significantly decreased in bilateral anterior cingulate gyrus, bilateral posterior cingulate gyrus, right parahippocampal gyrus, right insula, right fusiform gyrus, bilateral precuneus, right uncus and right temporal gyrus. Alpha-1 and alpha-2 activity decreased in the anterior cingulate gyrus. Beta-1 activity significantly decreased in the anterior and posterior cingulate gyrus. There were no areas of increased EEG activity in any frequency bands.

Conclusions: We found that memantine reduced theta activity similarly to AChEIs. This finding may be related to the cognitive improvements of memantine. Whereas the decrease of beta-1, alpha-1 and alpha-2 activity in the anterior cingulate gyrus was different from AChEIs. Further studies are required to elucidate these differences.

Research in behavioral decision-making has produced many models of decision under risk. To improve our understanding of choice under risk, it is essential to perform rigorous model comparisons over large sets of decision settings to find which models are most useful. Recently, such large-scale comparisons have produced conflicting conclusions: A variant of cumulative prospect theory (CPT) was the best model in a study by He, Analytis, and Bhatia (2022), whereas variants of the model BEAST were the best in two choice prediction competitions. This study delves into these contradictions to identify and explore the underlying reasons. We replicate and extend the analysis by He et al., this time incorporating BEAST, which was previously excluded because it cannot be analytically estimated. Our results show that while CPT excels in systematically hand-crafted tasks, BEAST—originally designed for broader decision-making contexts—matches or even surpasses CPT’s performance when choice tasks are randomly selected, and predictions are made for new, unknown decision makers. This success of BEAST, very different from classical decision models—as it does not assume, for example, subjective transformations of outcomes and probabilities—puts into question previous conclusions concerning the underlying psychological mechanisms of choice under risk. Our results challenge the field to expand beyond established evaluating techniques and highlight the importance of an inclusive approach toward nonanalytic models, like BEAST, to achieve more objective insights into decision-making behavior.

This project employs a geoarchaeological approach to explore human occupation of the highland wetlands (bofedales) and salt flats of the Dry Puna of northern Chile (>2500m above sea level) during the Holocene. Differences in the archaeological record of each ecosystem are tentatively suggested to relate to settlement patterns and the history of the landscape.