159 The Role of Education on the Association between OSA and Cognitive Functions in Middle-age and Older Adults

SLEEP ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 44 (Supplement_2) ◽  
pp. A65-A65
Author(s):  
Ei Hlaing ◽  
Stephanie Clancy Dollinger ◽  
Terry Brown
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
High School ◽  
Cognitive Functions ◽  
Educational Level ◽  
Cognitive Tasks ◽  
Semantic Fluency ◽  
Visuospatial Ability ◽  
Phonemic Fluency ◽  
Resource Substitution ◽  
Psychomotor Vigilance

Abstract Introduction A weak relation between an increase in education and improved health knowledge was observed among those who attended college, but not among those whose highest educational level attainment was high school (Altindag, Cannonier, & Mocan, 2014). Alachantis and colleagues (2005) had applied cognitive reserve theory (Stern, 2002) to help explain why OSA patients with higher intelligence scores perform well on cognitive tasks. The resource substitution theory (RST; Ross & Mirowsky, 2006) posits that higher education compensates for background disadvantages rather than magnifying background advantages. The goals of the current study were to examine the interaction between educational level and obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) on cognitive functions such as verbal fluency, psychomotor vigilance, executive functions, visuospatial ability, and attention span and to determine whether the results would support the RST. Methods One hundred and nine participants (47 ApneaLinkTM -screened controls and 62 untreated OSA patients) participated in the study and completed the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test, WAIS-III digit span and block design, semantic and phonemic fluency tests, and a psychomotor vigilance task. Subjective sleep (PSQI and ESS) and health measures (depression, anxiety, mood disturbance, diabetes, hypertension) were assessed. A hierarchical regression was conducted to test for the additional variance explained by the interaction term even after accounting for the covariates. Results In semantic fluency and visuospatial ability tasks, patients with higher education performed better than patients with high school or less education. This moderation effect of education was not observed for the control group. A significant interaction effect was not observed for vigilance, phonemic fluency, attention span, or executive functions although education was a significant predictor for all cognitive tasks. Conclusion The resource substitution theory was supported as the benefit of education seemed more crucial for OSA patients than for controls, specifically in semantic fluency and visuospatial ability. This benefit of higher education contributing to larger cognitive reserves in patients with OSA helped buffer some cognitive deficits but not for others, but this buffer no longer works when the cognitive demand gets larger. Support (if any) A grant from the Center for Integrative Research on Cognitive Neural Science, Southern Illinois University Carbondale was received.

Russian Education in the Mirror of Demography

2003 ◽  
pp. 4-25 ◽  
Author(s):  
L. Grebnev
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
High School ◽  
High School Graduates ◽  
Educational Institutions ◽  
Level Of Education ◽  
Demographic Indicators ◽  
Federal Districts ◽  
Stage System ◽  
Migration Flows ◽  
Russian Education

The dynamics of several demographic indicators of Russia - child and teenage cohorts in 1970-2000, life expectancy in 1995-2000, migration flows among federal districts in the period between two censuses of 1989 and 2002 - are considered in the article. The author puts forward the hypothesis about the influence of these indicators on the level of education in narrow and broad senses - in educational institutions and the society as a whole. He estimates the perspectives of regional higher educational institutions under conditions of absence of plan distribution of graduates and the double cyclical fall in the number of high school graduates. The agenda for the development of a two-stage system of higher education corresponding with international integration processes is formulated.

scholarly journals Twin-To-Twin Transfusion Syndrome Donor and Recipient and Their Subsequent Cognitive Functioning in Late Childhood as Juvenile Athletes—A Case Study

2021 ◽  
Vol 18 (5) ◽  
pp. 2545
Author(s):  
Ilona Bidzan-Bluma
Keyword(s):  
Cognitive Functioning ◽  
Motor Skills ◽  
Cognitive Functions ◽  
Late Childhood ◽  
Semantic Fluency ◽  
Motor Functioning ◽  
Gross Motor Skills ◽  
History Of

Objective: It is estimated that twin-to-twin transfusion syndrome (TTTS) occurs in 10–15% of monochorionic twin pregnancies. One of the fetuses takes on the role of donor and the other of recipient. The treatment administered involves serial amnioreduction and laser photocoagulation of the communicating blood vessels. After TTTS, children may have deficiencies in psychomotor functioning, in particular in cognitive functions, expressive language, and motor skills. Few scientific reports indicate that twins after TTTS do not demonstrate significant differences in tests which measure intellectual functioning. Methods: The cognitive functioning of twins in the late childhood period was compared using the following tools: an analysis of their medical history, an interview with their parents, and neuropsychological tests allowing the evaluation of their whole profile of cognitive functions. Case Study: Cognitive functioning in the late childhood period was analyzed in a pair of 11-year-old male twins (juvenile athletes), a donor and a recipient, who had developed TTTS syndrome in the prenatal period. Results: Comparison of the cognitive functioning profile of the donor and recipient revealed that children with a history of TTTS develop normally in terms of cognitive and motor functioning in late childhood. A comparative analysis of the donor and recipient was more favorable for the recipient, who had a higher level of general intelligence, visual–motor memory, and semantic fluency. Conclusions: The fact that both the donor and the recipient chose to pursue athletics suggests that gross motor skills are their strongest suit. Playing sports as a method of rehabilitation of cognitive function of children born prematurely after TTTS could contribute to the improvement of cognitive functioning.

scholarly journals Test review of Iranian university entrance exam: English Konkur examination

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ali Khodi ◽  
Sayyed Mohammad Alavi ◽  
Hossein Karami
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
High School ◽  
Standardized Test ◽  
Present Review ◽  
High Stake ◽  
Entrance Exam ◽  
Test Review ◽  
Long Time ◽  
Knowledge Of Language

AbstractThe present paper appraises a standardized test, the entrance exam of Iranian universities, known as “Konkur” that is administered annually as a means of gaining admission to higher education in Iran. This norm-referenced test is administered for students majoring in mathematics, experimental sciences, and humanities whose scores along their weighted GPAs in the last 3 years of high school are used as indicators of students’ rank. Based on the rank achieved, they would find the opportunity to select the highly regarded university for their education. Due to the importance of such a high-stake test which may bring about social and long-time consequences for the participants, the present paper tries to evaluate the test and its psychometrics aspects. It is ostensible that the exam provides a limited  situation for measuring the participants “knowledge of language” rather than their “knowledge about language.” Therefore, the dimensionality and validity of the test are debatable. Thus, the present review tries to characterize Konkur examination and discusses the rooms for untouched aspects for the betterment of its quality.

Raise your hand if you’re spatial

Gesture ◽  
2007 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 73-95 ◽  
Author(s):  
Autumn B. Hostetter ◽  
Martha W. Alibali
Keyword(s):  
Individual Differences ◽  
Cognitive Skills ◽  
Spatial Visualization ◽  
Semantic Fluency ◽  
Spatial Skills ◽  
Verbal Skill ◽  
Spatial Skill ◽  
Phonemic Fluency ◽  
Representational Gestures ◽  
Gesture Production

Individuals differ greatly in how often they gesture when they speak. This study investigated relations between speakers’ verbal and spatial skills and their gesture rates. Two types of verbal skill were measured: semantic fluency, which is thought to index efficiency with lexical access, and phonemic fluency, which is thought to index efficiency with organizing the lexicon in novel ways. Spatial skill was measured with a visualization task. We hypothesized that individuals with low verbal skill but high spatial visualization skill would gesture most often, due to having mental images not closely linked to verbal forms. This hypothesis was supported for phonemic fluency, but not for semantic fluency. We also found that individuals with low phonemic fluency and individuals with high phonemic fluency produced representational gestures at higher rates than individuals with average phonemic fluency. The findings indicate that individual differences in gesture production are associated with individual differences in cognitive skills.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document