Alzheimer's disease (AD) is the most common cause of dementia in the adult population. Tools capable of detecting predementia and established diagnoses of dementia are very important for assessing these patients. The Repeatable Battery for the Assessment of Neuropsychological Status (RBANS) is a brief neuropsychological battery that has been successful at detecting cognitive impairment in degenerative and nondegenerative neurological diseases. The objective of this study was to test reliability and sensibility and obtain normative data of a Spanish adaptation of the RBANS. In this study, 50 participants with AD and 336 healthy participants stratified according to the Spanish Census, with different levels of education, were tested with the RBANS (Form A). Descriptive analyses were performed on a pilot sample from the general population, and comparative analyses were performed on data from the two samples. We obtained an overall reliability coefficient (Cronbach's alpha) of .92. RBANS showed strong specificity and moderately low sensitivity. Participants in the AD group performed significantly worse on most subtests than control participants. Implications with regard to the specificity and sensitivity of the Spanish version of the RBANS are discussed.
While stress is a widely utilized concept, no direct methods facilitating its measurement are currently available. In our previous work we proposed stress entropic load (SEL) as a potential new marker of stress response in the human body. However, at that time no method for SEL measurement existed. In this pilot study we devised and then tested methodology for SEL measurement. Healthy male participants were monitored by indirect calorimetry and thermography while resting and subsequently while under prolonged mental effort. The acquired data was then used to calculate the temporal development of SEL for each participant. Our results show that SEL production increased significantly in participants subjected to prolonged mental effort. Furthermore, we observed that the calculated development of SEL over time may be used to accurately determine the time point at which participants started performing stressful tasks.
Introduction
Astronauts will encounter isolated, confined and extreme (ICE) conditions during future missions, and will have to be able to adapt. Until recently, however, few places on Earth could serve as acceptable space analogues (i.e., submarine and polar regions). The coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19)-related lockdowns around the globe provided a good opportunity to obtain more comprehensive datasets on the impact of prolonged isolation on human functioning in a very large sample.
Methods
Seven hundred forty-eight individuals (Belgium 442, Spain 183, Germany 50, Italy 50, US 23; Mean age ± SD: 41 ± 14 years, with an age range of 18–83 years; 66% women) filled out an online survey assessing the impact of the COVID-lockdown on psychological, exercise and general health variables a first time near the beginning of the initial lockdown (hereafter ‘T1’; 24 ± 13 days after the start of the first lockdown; i.e., 3 weeks after the start of the first lockdown) and a second time a couple of weeks thereafter (hereafter ‘T2’; 17 ± 5 days after the first online survey; i.e., 6 weeks after the start of the first lockdown).
Results
From T1 to T2 an improvement of subjective sleep quality was observed (P = 0.003), that was related to an increase in subjective sleep efficiency and a decrease in sleep latency and disturbance (P ≤ 0.013). Weekly sitting time decreased, and the weekly amount of moderate and vigorous physical activity increased from T1 to T2 (P ≤ 0.049). No differences from T1 to T2 were observed in terms of mood, loneliness and state anxiety. A lower amount of sitting time was significantly correlated with improved subjective sleep quality (r = 0.096, P = 0.035) and with an increased amount of moderate (r = −0.126, P = 0.005) and vigorous (r = −0.110, P = 0.015) physical activity.
Conclusion
Compared to 3 weeks into the first COVID-imposed lockdown, 6-weeks after the start of the first COVID-imposed lockdown, physical activity and subjective sleep scores were positively impacted. The present, large sample size study further confirms exercise as a worthwhile countermeasure to psycho-physiological deconditioning during confinement.
RBANS obtained good reliability, sensitivity, and specificity scores and represents a good screening tool in detecting cognitive deficits associated with schizophrenia.
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