5SThe Fifth Eriksholm Workshop on "Hearing Impairment and Cognitive Energy" was convened to develop a consensus among interdisciplinary experts about what is known on the topic, gaps in knowledge, the use of terminology, priorities for future research, and implications for practice. The general term cognitive energy was chosen to facilitate the broadest possible discussion of the topic. It goes back to Titchener (1908) who described the effects of attention on perception; he used the term psychic energy for the notion that limited mental resources can be flexibly allocated among perceptual and mental activities. The workshop focused on three main areas: (1) theories, models, concepts, definitions, and frameworks; (2) methods and measures; and (3) knowledge translation. We defined effort as the deliberate allocation of mental resources to overcome obstacles in goal pursuit when carrying out a task, with listening effort applying more specifically when tasks involve listening. We adapted Kahneman's seminal (1973) Capacity Model of Attention to listening and proposed a heuristically useful Framework for Understanding Effortful Listening (FUEL). Our FUEL incorporates the well-known relationship between cognitive demand and the supply of cognitive capacity that is the foundation of cognitive theories of attention. Our FUEL also incorporates a motivation dimension based on complementary theories of motivational intensity, adaptive gain control, and optimal performance, fatigue, and pleasure. Using a three-dimensional illustration, we highlight how listening effort depends not only on hearing difficulties and task demands but also on the listener's motivation to expend mental effort in the challenging situations of everyday life.

To test whether antibodies against beta-amyloid are effective in slowing progression of Alzheimer's disease, we assessed cognitive functions in 30 patients who received a prime and a booster immunization of aggregated Abeta(42) over a 1 year period in a placebo-controlled, randomized trial. Twenty patients generated antibodies against beta-amyloid, as determined by tissue amyloid plaque immunoreactivity assay. Patients who generated such antibodies showed significantly slower rates of decline of cognitive functions and activities of daily living, as indicated by the Mini Mental State Examination, the Disability Assessment for Dementia, and the Visual Paired Associates Test of delayed recall from the Wechsler Memory Scale, as compared to patients without such antibodies. These beneficial clinical effects were also present in two of three patients who had experienced transient episodes of immunization-related aseptic meningoencephalitis. Our results establish that antibodies against beta-amyloid plaques can slow cognitive decline in patients with Alzheimer's disease.

Published investigations (n = 29) in which a dual-task experimental paradigm was employed to measure listening effort during speech understanding in younger and older adults were reviewed. A summary of the main findings reported in the articles is provided with respect to the participants’ age-group and hearing status. Effects of different signal characteristics, such as the test modality, on dual-task outcomes are evaluated, and associations with cognitive abilities and self-report measures of listening effort are described. Then, several procedural issues associated with the use of dual-task experiment paradigms are discussed. Finally, some issues that warrant future research are addressed. The review revealed large variability in the dual-task experimental paradigms that have been used to measure the listening effort expended during speech understanding. The differences in experimental procedures used across studies make it difficult to draw firm conclusions concerning the optimal choice of dual-task paradigm or the sensitivity of specific paradigms to different types of experimental manipulations. In general, the analysis confirmed that dual-task paradigms have been used successfully to measure differences in effort under different experimental conditions, in both younger and older adults. Several research questions that warrant further investigation in order to better understand and characterize the intricacies of dual-task paradigms were identified.

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We present a new solar flux atlas with the aim of understanding wavelength precision and accuracy in solar benchmark data. The atlas covers the wavelength range 405−2300 nm and was observed at the Institut für Astrophysik, Göttingen (IAG), with a Fourier transform spectrograph (FTS). In contrast to other FTS atlases, the entire visible wavelength range was observed simultaneously using only one spectrograph setting. We compare the wavelength solution of the new atlas to the Kitt Peak solar flux atlases and to the HARPS frequency-comb calibrated solar atlas. Comparison reveals systematics in the two Kitt Peak FTS atlases resulting from their wavelength scale construction, and shows consistency between the IAG and the HARPS atlas. We conclude that the IAG atlas is precise and accurate on the order of ±10 m s −1 in the wavelength range 405−1065 nm, while the Kitt Peak atlases show deviations as large as several ten to 100 m s −1 . We determine absolute convective blueshift across the spectrum from the IAG atlas and report slight differences relative to results from the Kitt Peak atlas that we attribute to the differences between wavelength scales. We conclude that benchmark solar data with accurate wavelength solution are crucial to better understand the effect of convection on stellar radial velocity measurements, which is one of the main limitations of Doppler spectroscopy at m s −1 precision.

Aberrant accumulation of lipids in the liver ("fatty liver" or hepatic steatosis) represents a hallmark of the metabolic syndrome and is tightly associated with obesity, type II diabetes, starvation, or glucocorticoid (GC) therapy. While fatty liver has been connected with numerous abnormalities of liver function, the molecular mechanisms of fatty liver development remain largely enigmatic. Here we show that liver-specific disruption of glucocorticoid receptor (GR) action improves the steatotic phenotype in fatty liver mouse models and leads to the induction of transcriptional repressor hairy enhancer of split 1 (Hes1) gene expression. The GR directly interferes with Hes1 promoter activity, triggering the recruitment of histone deacetylase (HDAC) activities to the Hes1 gene. Genetic restoration of hepatic Hes1 levels in steatotic animals normalizes hepatic triglyceride (TG) levels. As glucocorticoid action is increased during starvation, myotonic dystrophy, and Cushing's syndrome, the inhibition of Hes1 through the GR might explain the fatty liver phenotype in these subjects.

The CARMENES radial velocity (RV) survey is observing 324 M dwarfs to search for any orbiting planets. In this paper, we present the survey sample by publishing one CARMENES spectrum for each M dwarf. These spectra cover the wavelength range 520-1710 nm at a resolution of at least R > 80, 000, and we measure its RV, Hα emission, and projected rotation velocity. We present an atlas of high-resolution M-dwarf spectra and compare the spectra to atmospheric models. To quantify the RV precision that can be achieved in low-mass stars over the CARMENES wavelength range, we analyze our empirical information on the RV precision from more than 6500 observations. We compare our high-resolution M-dwarf spectra to atmospheric models where we determine the spectroscopic RV information content, Q, and signal-to-noise ratio. We find that for all M-type dwarfs, the highest RV precision can be reached in the wavelength range 700-900 nm. Observations at longer wavelengths are equally precise only at the very latest spectral types (M8 and M9). We demonstrate that in this spectroscopic range, the large amount of absorption features compensates for the intrinsic faintness of an M7 star. To reach an RV precision of 1 m s −1 in very low mass M dwarfs at longer wavelengths likely requires the use of a 10 m class telescope. For spectral types M6 and earlier, the combination of a red visual and a near-infrared spectrograph is ideal to search for low-mass planets and to distinguish between planets and stellar variability. At a 4 m class telescope, an instrument like CARMENES has the potential to push the RV precision well below the typical jitter level of 3-4 m s −1 .

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