scholarly journals Awareness of disease in dementia: Development of a multidimensional rating scale

2007 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 74-80 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marcia Dourado ◽  
Valeska Marinho ◽  
Cláudia Soares ◽  
Eliasz Engelhardt ◽  
Jerson Laks

Abstract Objective: To describe the development of the Assessment Scale of Psychosocial Impact of the Diagnosis of Dementia (ASPIDD), a multidimensional scale to evaluate awareness of disease in dementia. Method: The development of this scale was conducted in four steps. In step one, questions were drawn up after a review of the literature. The second step involved the suggestions offered by a neurologist regarding the skills considered important for the scale. The third step involved the re-writing and review of the domains and questions in the scale followed by a semantic evaluation performed by two independent psychiatrists. Step four consisted of the preliminary study aimed at evaluating the applicability of the ASPIDD. Results: In the semantic evaluation only minor changes were proposed. The preliminary sample had 52 patients, comprising 23 CDR 1 (male=9; female=14) and 29 CDR2 (male=13; female=16). Mean age of patients was 69.7±5.51 (CDR1) and 73.6±9.4 (CDR2), and age at onset was 66.4±5.7 years (CDR1) and 68.3±9.3 year (CDR2). Mean schooling was 9.0±4.3 years (CDR1) and 8.8±4.4 years (CDR2). Mean MMSE was 21.0±3.3 (CDR1) and 17.6±3.5 (CDR2). Mean Cornell was 4.8±2.3 (CDR1) and 4.2±1.9 (CDR2). The patient and caregiver dyads were aware of problems, mainly of those related to social, family and affective relations. The higher rates of discrepant responses were found on the awareness of cognitive deficits and changes in ADL. Conclusion: The ASPIDD is a multidimensional instrument to assess awareness of disease among AD patients.

2007 ◽  
Vol 19 (4) ◽  
pp. 733-744 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marcia Dourado ◽  
Valeska Marinho ◽  
Claudia Soares ◽  
Eliasz Engelhardt ◽  
Jerson Laks

Background: Impairment of deficit awareness is a clinically relevant feature of dementia affecting the maintenance of decision capacities, management and safety of patients with risk behaviors, and caregiver burden. This study assessed awareness of disease of patient/caregiver dyads and the relationship between unawareness on various domains and sociodemographic variables among elderly Brazilians with Alzheimer's disease (AD).Methods: The dyads (n = 52), stratified by clinical severity and age groups, responded to the Assessment Scale of Psychosocial Impact of the Diagnosis of Dementia (ASPIDD). Statistical tests were used to compare clinical and sociodemographic variables and to calculate differences in rates of discrepant responses among mild and moderate dyads and between age groups, rates of discrepant responses among the ASPIDD domains, and association between awareness and age/age at onset.Results: Awareness of deficits did not differ significantly among mild patients, whereas moderate patients showed impaired recognition on all domains. Older moderate dyads showed more discrepant responses, as compared to younger dyads at both severity stages. Mild patients could associate the disease with the cognitive deficits and recognized impairments on other domains. There was no significant relation of awareness with age at onset.Conclusion: Mild AD patients could associate the disease process with the presence of cognitive deficits, and also the changes in the emotional response with difficulties in social, family, and affective relations. Moderate AD patients were less aware of the symptoms and did not attribute them to the disease.


2014 ◽  
Vol 13 (7) ◽  
pp. 4675-4682
Author(s):  
Atefeh Danesh Moghadam ◽  
Alireza Alagha

In the advent of information era, not only digital world is going to expand its territories, it is going to penetrate into the traditional notions about the meaning of the words and also valorize new concepts. According to Oxford Dictionary, the word heritage is defined: The history, tradition and qualities that a country or society has had for many years and that are considered an important part of its character. In order to present how emerging patterns, as the consequences of technology development, are going to be considered as the new concept of heritage, we follow four steps. In the first step, we present the convergence of Information, Communication and Technology (ICT) and a concise history of its convergence. In the second step, we argue how convergence has culminated in emerging patterns and also has made changes in digital world. In the third step, the importance of users behaviors and its mining is surveyed. Finally, in the fourth step; we illustrate User Generated Contents (UGC) as the most prominent users behaviors in digital world.


Author(s):  
M.Y. Morozova, V.V. Zotov, M.S. Kovalenko et all

Despite the rapid technological advance, the expansion of prenatal ultrasound diagnosis, as well as the accumulation of experience by both domestic and foreign experts, prenatal recognition of true knots of the umbilical cord causes significant difficulties. Three cases of successful ultrasound diagnosis of true knots of the umbilical cord and brief review of the literature are presented.


2019 ◽  
Vol 33 (4) ◽  
pp. 1-14 ◽  
Author(s):  
William R. Kinney

SYNOPSIS This Commentary is intended to help beginning Ph.D. students identify, evaluate, and communicate essential components of proposed empirical accounting research using a three-step process. The first step is a structured top-down approach of writing answers to three related questions—What, Why, How—that emphasize the central role of conceptual thinking in research design, as well as practical relevance. The second step is a predictive validity assessment that anticipates concerns likely to arise in the scholarly review process, and the third is consideration of the likely outcome and potential problems to be encountered if the proposal is implemented as planned. First-hand accounts of Ph.D. student experiences using the three paragraphs and three-step approach are presented, along with an exercise that beginners can use to help themselves identify, analyze, and anticipate problems to improve chances for research success ex ante.


Minerals ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (3) ◽  
pp. 235
Author(s):  
Nicolò Maria Ippolito ◽  
Ionela Birloaga ◽  
Francesco Ferella ◽  
Marcello Centofanti ◽  
Francesco Vegliò

The present paper is focused on the extraction of gold from high-grade e-waste, i.e., spent electronic connectors and plates, by leaching and electrowinning. These connectors are usually made up of an alloy covered by a layer of gold; sometimes, in some of them, a plastic part is also present. The applied leaching system consisted of an acid solution of diluted sulfuric acid (0.2 mol/L) with thiourea (20 g/L) as a reagent and ferric sulfate (21.8 g/L) as an oxidant. This system was applied on three different high-grade e-waste, namely: (1) Connectors with the partial gold-plated surface (Au concentration—1139 mg/kg); (2) different types of connectors with some of which with completely gold-plated surface (Au concentration—590 mg/kg); and (3) connectors and plates with the completely gold-plated surface (Au concentration—7900 mg/kg). Gold dissolution yields of 52, 94, and 49% were achieved from the first, second, and third samples, respectively. About 95% of Au recovery was achieved after 1.5 h of electrowinning at a current efficiency of only 4.06% and current consumption of 3.02 kWh/kg of Au from the leach solution of the third sample.


2015 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 42-50 ◽  
Author(s):  
Antonella De Carolis ◽  
Virginia Cipollini ◽  
Valentina Corigliano ◽  
Anna Comparelli ◽  
Micaela Sepe-Monti ◽  
...  

Aims: To investigate, in a group of subjects at an early stage of cognitive impairment, the relationship between anosognosia and both cognitive and behavioral symptoms by exploring the various domains of insight. Methods: One hundred and eight subjects affected by cognitive impairment were consecutively enrolled. The level of awareness was evaluated by means of the Clinical Insight Rating Scale (CIRS). Psychiatric symptoms were evaluated using the Italian version of the Neuropsychiatric Inventory (NPI), whereas memory (memory index, MI) and executive (executive index, EI) functions were explored using a battery of neuropsychological tests and qualified by means of a single composite cognitive index score for each function. Results: A significant positive correlation between the total NPI score and global anosognosia score was found. Furthermore, both the MI and EI scores were lower in subjects with anosognosia than in those without anosognosia (p < 0.001 and p < 0.007, respectively). When the single domains of the CIRS were considered, anosognosia of reason of visit correlated with the EI score (r = -0.327, p = 0.01) and night-time behavioral disturbances (r = 0.225; p = 0.021); anosognosia of cognitive deficit correlated with depression (r = -0.193; p = 0.049) and the MI score (r = -0.201; p = 0.040); anosognosia of functional deficit correlated with the MI score (r = -0.257; p = 0.008), delusions (r = 0.232; p = 0.015) and aberrant motor behavior (r = 0.289; p = 0.003); anosognosia of disease progression correlated with the MI score (r = -0.236; p = 0.015), agitation (r = 0.247; p = 0.011), aberrant motor behavior (r = 0.351; p = 0.001) and night-time behavioral disturbances (r = 0.216; p = 0.027). Conclusions: Our study suggests that, in the early stage of cognitive impairment, anosognosia is associated with both cognitive deficits and behavioral disorders according to the specific functional anatomy of the symptoms.


2014 ◽  
Vol 783-786 ◽  
pp. 2537-2540 ◽  
Author(s):  
Satoshi Sunada ◽  
Norio Nunomura ◽  
Sayaka Hirata ◽  
Naoki Nagase

Since Fe-Cu-C sintered steels are easily rusted, they are coated with rust preventive oils. High viscosity of those rust preventive oils decrease workability, and low viscosity deteriorates rust preventive performance. Therefore, it is necessary to develop new rust preventive oils with contradictory properties of low viscosity and superior rust prevention. However, precise methodology to evaluate rust prevention ability has not been established. In this study, we developed new technique to quantitatively evaluate rust prevention ability by measuring the open circuit potential through thin corrosive solution on Fe-Cu-C sintered steels coated with a rust preventive oils. As a result, the ability for rust prevention can be measured quantitatively, and it decreases slowly over time, with repeating destruction and restoration. Furthermore, it was found that the deteriorating processes of rust prevention ability for rust prevention oils are composed of three characteristics steps respectively. That is, in the first step the great open circuit potential changes from 0V to-0.3V with repetition were observed where the excellent rust prevention ability was kept, in the second step it decreases slowly from-0.1V to-0.4V with oscillation of the small potential changes where the gradual decrease of rust prevention ability was recognized and in the third step it decreases monotonously in the lower potential than-0.4V where the rust was observed because of the remarkable deteriorating of the rust prevention ability.


2014 ◽  
Vol 20 (5) ◽  
pp. 461-467 ◽  
Author(s):  
Aaron M. Koenig ◽  
Rishi K. Bhalla ◽  
Meryl A. Butters

AbstractThis brief report provides an introduction to the topic of cognitive functioning in late-life depression (LLD). In addition to providing a review of the literature, we present a framework for understanding the heterogeneity of cognitive outcomes in this highly prevalent disorder. In addition, we discuss the relationship between LLD and dementia, and highlight the importance of regularly assessing cognitive functioning in older adults who present with depressive symptoms. If cognitive deficits are discovered during a neuropsychological assessment, we recommend referral to a geriatric psychiatrist or cognitive neurologist, for evaluation and treatment of the patient’s symptoms. (JINS, 2014, 20, 1–7)


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