Background: Narrative discourse (ND) refers to one’s ability to verbally reproduce a sequence of temporally and logically-linked events. Impairments in ND may occur in subjects with Amnestic Mild Cognitive Impairment (aMCI) and Alzheimer’s Disease (AD), but correlates across this function, neuroimaging and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) AD biomarkers remain understudied.Objectives: We sought to measure correlates among ND, Diffusion Tensor Imaging (DTI) indexes and AD CSF biomarkers in patients within the AD spectrum.Results: Groups differed in narrative production (NProd) and comprehension. aMCI and AD presented poorer inference abilities than controls. AD subjects were more impaired than controls and aMCI regarding WB (p<0.01). ROIs DTI assessment distinguished the three groups. Mean Diffusivity (MD) in the uncinate, bilateral parahippocampal cingulate and left inferior occipitofrontal fasciculi negatively correlated with NProd. Changes in specific tracts correlated with T-tau/Aβ1-42 ratio in CSF.Conclusions: AD and aMCI patients presented more ND impairments than controls. Those findings were associated with changes in ventral language-associated and in the inferior parahippocampal pathways. The latest were correlated with biomarkers’ levels in the CSF.Methods: AD (N=14), aMCI (N=31) and Control (N=39) groups were compared for whole brain (WB) and regions of interest (ROI) DTI parameters, ND and AD CSF biomarkers.

Background: Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) is a highly prevalent neurodevelopmental condition, which may be associated with life-enduring cognitive dysfunction. It has been hypothesized that age-related cognitive decline may overlap with preexisting deficits in older ADHD patients, leading to increased problems to manage everyday-life activities. This phenomenon may mimic neurodegenerative disorders, in particular Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI). This cross-sectional study aims to assess cognitive and behavioral differences between older subjects with ADHD and MCI.Methods: A total of 107 older participants (41 controls; 40 MCI and 26 ADHD; mean age = 67.60 ± 7.50 years; mean schooling = 15.14 ± 2.77 years; 65.4% females) underwent clinical, cognitive, and behavioral assessments by a multidisciplinary team at the Memory Clinic, D'Or Institute for Research and Education, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Mean scores in neuropsychological tasks and behavioral scales were compared across groups.Results: Participants with ADHD showed poorer performances than controls in episodic memory and executive function with large effect-sizes. Performances were comparable between MCI and ADHD for all domains.Discussion: MCI and ADHD in older individuals are dissociated clinical entities with overlapping cognitive profiles. Clinicians ought to be aware of these converging phenotypes to avoid misdiagnosis.

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Situational Awareness (SAW) is a concept widely used in areas that require critical decision making, such as in the field of emergency management. SAW is related to the level of perception and understanding that an individual has about real events occurring in complex scenarios, which must be managed by critical systems. Such critical systems require specialized user interfaces (UI) to give operators a dynamic understanding of what is happening in the environment. A challenging issue in the design of SAW-oriented interfaces is to determine how the human-computer interface process can be constructed for SAW enrichment, considering environments with heterogeneous data sources, limitations in data quality, and ever-changing situations. The problem increases when information is subject to uncertainties, which may compromise the situation analysis process. In addition, humans make decisions based on their own understanding of the event, which allied with experience and knowledge can be valuable assets to be used to process situational information about emergencies for the acquisition of SAW. The objective of this work is to demonstrate how to include a SAI-oriented UI in the process of evaluating emergency situations and to present the development of a UI that promotes the management of situational information of emergencies to promote the acquisition of SAW. The results present a specified routine for employing specialized UIs in SAW as part of a situation assessment process, which supports a strong integration between the human operator and other phases of the process, such as quality assessment, data fusion and information visualization , As well as a prototype interface that meets the process. A case study with a critical scenario of a theft event is also presented to demonstrate the applicability of the proposed approach

Objectives Anosognosia is the inability to recognize one's own symptoms. Although dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB) is the second most common degenerative dementia, there is little evidence of memory deficit awareness in this condition. The objectives of this research were to compare anosognosia between individuals with DLB and dementia due to Alzheimer's disease (AD) and to evaluate whether medial temporal atrophy, a marker of AD pathology, could help to explain different rates of anosognosia in DLB and dementia due to AD. Methods/Design This is a cross‐sectional study that took place at the Memory Clinic of D’Or Institute for Research and Education (IDOR). Twenty individuals with DLB and 20 with dementia due to AD were included in this study. We assessed anosognosia for memory using an index derived from subjective memory complaints (using the Memory Complaint Questionnaire) and from the performance in memory neuropsychological testing (Rey Auditory Verbal Learning Test). Thirty‐one participants also underwent brain Magnetic Resonance Imaging to evaluate hippocampal atrophy with a visual scale (MTA‐score [medial temporal atrophy score]). Results There was no significant difference between groups regarding age, years of education, sex or time of disease. Individuals with DLB had a higher index of anosognosia than dementia due to AD (2.92 and 1.87; p = 0.024), meaning worse awareness of memory deficits. MTA‐score was slightly higher in dementia due to AD than in DLB, albeit without statistical significance. Conclusion Our study was the first to demonstrate that anosognosia for memory is worse in DLB than in dementia due to AD. This finding supports the hypothesis that anosognosia in DLB is a heterogeneous phenomenon.

ResumoIntrodução: O material mais empregado para confecção da base de prova é a resina acrílica por oferecer maior rapidez e praticidade, embora tenda a maior distorção. Objetivo: Avaliar técnica de confecção, região e tempo de armazenagem que apresente menor desadaptação da base de prova confeccionada com resina acrílica ativada quimicamente. Material e método: Confeccionaram-se modelos em gesso tipo III simulando maxila edêntula que foram divididos em 3 grupos (n = 10): GC -(grupo controle) resina acrílica termopolimerizável; G1 -técnica da adaptação manual; e G2 -técnica do gotejamento. Para as mensurações utilizou-se silicone por condensação de consistência leve que foi interposto entre base e modelo. Com uma prensa hidráulica aplicou-se pressão de 50 kg levando a base de encontro ao modelo. O molde obtido foi mensurado nas regiões de palato, caninos e molares com paquímetro digital nos seguintes tempos: imediatamente após a polimerização da base, em 24, 48, 72, 96 horas e uma semana. Os resultados foram submetidos à análise estatística. Resultado: O G1 apresentou média de desadaptação de 0,43mm±0,10, enquanto o G2 obteve 0,39 mm ± 0,11. Os menores valores de desadaptação ocorreram no GC; A região do palato apresentou maior desadaptação (0,52 mm ± 0,07) e a região de caninos, as menores (CD = 0,27 mm ± 0,07 e CE = 0,27 ± 0,09); Não houve diferença estatisticamente significante para os tempos de armazenagem. Conclusão: O G2 apresentou menores valores que o G1, sem diferença estatisticamente significante; A região de palato apresentou maior desadaptação, seguida de molares e caninos; As bases continuaram desadaptando ao modelo após a polimerização imediata, sem diferença estatisticamente significante.Descritores: Resinas acrílicas; prótese total; retenção de dentadura; materiais dentários. AbstractIntroduction: The most used material for the preparation of the baseplates is the acrylic resin, but it can present distortions. Objective: To evaluate preparation technique, region and storage time that presents less maladaptation of the base when made with self-cured acrylic resin. Material and method: Models were created in gypsum type III simulating edentulous maxilla, as divided into 3 groups (n = 10): GC (control group) thermopolymerizable acrylic resin; G1 -manual adaptation technique and G2 -drip technique. For the measurements, silicone by condensation of light consistency that was interposed between base and model was used. With a hydraulic press, 50 kg pressure was applied leading the base of the model. The obtained mold was measured in the palate, canine and molar regions with a digital caliper at the following times: immediately after the base polymerization, at 24, 48, 72, 96 hours and one week. The results were submitted to statistical analysis. Result: G1 presented maladaptation of 0.43 mm ± 0.10, while G2 obtained 0.39 mm ± 0.11. The lowest maladaptation occurred in the CG. The palate region presented greater maladaptation (0.52 ± 0.07) and the canine region, the lowest (CD = 0.27 mm ± 0.07 and CE = ...

BackgroundEpisodic memory impairments have been described as initial clinical findings in the Alzheimer’s Disease (AD) spectrum, which could be associated with the presence of early hippocampal dysfunction. However, correlates between performances in neuropsychological tests and hippocampal volumes in AD were inconclusive in the literature. Divergent methods to assess episodic memory have been depicted as a major source of heterogeneity across studies.MethodsWe examined correlates among performances in three different delayed-recall tasks (Rey-Auditory Verbal-Learning Test–RAVLT, Logical Memory and Visual Reproduction subtests from the Wechsler Memory Scale) and fully-automated volumetric measurements of the hippocampus (estimated using Neuroquant®) of 83 older subjects (47 controls, 27 Mild Cognitive Impairment individuals and 9 participants with Dementia due to AD).ResultsInter-method correlations of episodic memory performances were at most moderate. Scores in the RAVLT predicted up to 48% of variance in HOC (Hippocampal Occupancy Score) among subjects in the AD spectrum.DiscussionTests using different stimuli (verbal or visual) and presenting distinct designs (word list, story or figure learning) may assess divergent aspects in episodic memory, with heterogeneous anatomical correlates.ConclusionsDifferent episodic memory tests might not assess the same construct and should not be used interchangeably. Scores in RAVLT may correlate with the presence of neurodegeneration in AD.

The individual's perception and understanding obtainment on events that transform an environment and their real critical contexts, is named Situational Awareness (SA). This process assists emergency management situation, allowing experts on SA acquisition and maintenance process, and provide subsidies for an assertive decision making. Specialized SA User Interfaces (UI) may facilitate the knowledge acquisition, allowing the perception and dynamic comprehension. The UIs design of SA-oriented systems in critical scenarios, as emergency management is a challenging issue, considering the presence of multiple heterogeneous data source, the information about situation that's in constant transformation and quality limitations associated every new inference. Known approaches seek to present specifically solutions to their application domain and are inevitably limited as the described needs in this paper. This paper presents the UI development to promote the visualization and situational information evolution follow-up, information quality aware, driven to a case of study in emergency management, which includes new challenges like the data presentation from human intelligence.