bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Alter-nation? Factions, Coalitions and Environmental Governance in the Context of Contested Post-apartheid Local State Democratisation
Authors: Thakur Shaheen Sewparsadh , Nel Adrian
Published: December 2023

Many African states have become electoral democracies, but others are still run by electoral authoritarian regimes, and/or exhibit procedural but not more substantive emancipatory extensions of rights and functions. In such contexts, alternation of power, or electoral turnover, has been recognised as a key signifier of successful democratisation. South Africa’s post-apartheid democratic transition was widely lauded as a textbook case, yet declining support for the political incumbent, factionalism, the phenomena of “state-capture” and the decline of state-owned entities has raised questions about the promises and challenges of post-African National Congress (ANC) hegemony. Limited research in South Africa (SA) focuses on the influence of political contest — including alternation, coalition formation and factionalism on municipal Environmental Governance (EG). Accordingly, we provide an analysis of political contest in both single and coalition councils between 2016 and 2021 in the of the Endumeni Local (ELM) and uMzinyathi District (UDM) municipalities in KwaZulu-Natal (KZN), SA, focusing on environmental governance implications. The study was theoretically framed by a broad Political Ecology Approach (PEA). A mixed-method research approach consisting of qualitative and quantitative data collection techniques was utilised. The findings revealed contested politics and instability in both single and coalition councils, regardless of who governs. and this predominantly constrained, but in few instances enabled EG. This complicates narratives of alternation and coalition politics and points to the broader and ongoing need for council policy reform, local council stability, municipal competence and accountability.
The stone artifacts of the National Archaeological Museum of Adria (Rovigo, Italy): a noteworthy example of heterogeneity
Authors: Dilaria Simone , Bonetto Jacopo , Germinario Luigi , Previato Caterina , Girotto Chiara , Mazzoli Claudio
Published: December 2023

This paper reports on the results of the analyses of 56 stone samples from Roman and pre-Roman artifacts from the ancient town ofAtria, currently preserved at the National Archaeological Museum of Adria. The city is located in the eastern Veneto lowlands, close to the Po River delta, and far from the main rock outcrops of the region. The objective of this research is to determine the provenance of the stones used in ancientAtriaand their trade networks. The analytical techniques adopted include polarized-light optical microscopy (PLM), X-ray fluorescence (XRF), and quantitative phase analysis by X-ray powder diffraction (QPA-XRPD). The results reveal a widespread use of imported stones from the central-western territories of Veneto, primarily comprising trachyte from the Euganean Hills and the soft limestone Vicenza Stone from the Berici Hills/eastern Lessini Mounts. Rosso Ammonitico, Maiolica (Biancone) and Scaglia Rossa limestones are also documented. From neighbouring regions, the imported stone types include Aurisina limestone from the Trieste Karst and Istrian Stone. Sandstone was uniquely recognized in G. Popillius’s milestone. Moreover, advanced geochemical and mineralogical analyses performed on the Euganean trachytes allow tracking accurately the quarry sites, revealing an extensive exploitation of the main historical quarries of M. Oliveto, Monselice and M. Merlo, although some provenances from outcrops less systematically exploited were also detected. Notably, the use of rhyolite for manufacturing a pre-Roman gravestone provides new insights regarding the exploitation of Euganean stone resources before the Roman era.
Cryptocurrencies
Authors: McDonald Oonagh
Published: December 2023

The advent of new digital currencies has challenged our notions about money, its function and purpose, and our faith in the financial and banking structures that underpin its legitimacy. Oonagh McDonald charts the spectacular rise of cryptocurrencies over the past decade and considers the opportunities and threats that cryptocurrencies pose to existing fiat currencies. This revised edition includes a new chapter dealing with the high-profile bankruptcies of the recent 'crypto winter'.

The book considers how regulatory bodies have been slow to respond to a technology that is evading existing regulatory frameworks. Urgent and more robust protection is needed from fraudulent initial coin offerings, scams and hacks. Throughout her analysis, McDonald shows that trust is fundamental to the operation of finance and that this will ultimately protect commercial bank money from the threat of new digital currencies. The book offers readers an insightful appraisal of the future of money and the challenges facing regulatory bodies.
Disciplining Health Regulations through the World Trade Organization’s Agreement on the Application of Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures: Science and the Rule of Law
Authors: Prévost Denise
Published: December 2023

The World Trade Organization’s (WTO) Agreement on Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures (SPS Agreement) disciplines WTO Members’ health regulations to prevent their misuse for protectionist purposes. In doing so, its obligations reflect several elements of the rule of law, including legal certainty, non-arbitrariness and non-discrimination, as well as a recognition of the rights of individuals. Through its obligations of non-discrimination, transparency and scientific justification and the scope it leaves for Members to prioritise the protection of health over trade liberalisation, the SPS Agreement can be regarded as entailing a rule-of-law approach. However, cognisant of the limits to the rule of law when transposed to the international level, it is important to avoid an overly “judicialised” approach to the disciplines of the SPS Agreement, and in particular its reliance on scientific justification to prevent arbitrariness in sanitary and phytosanitary regulation. Otherwise, there is a risk of intruding too far into the regulatory autonomy of States, weakening the “compliance pull” of the agreement and thus inadvertently undermining the rule of law in this area. An approach that instead recognises the inherent subjectivity and uncertainty in science and respects Members’ divergent priorities in health regulation would go further in engendering support for the rules-based system of international trade.
Unsteady wake interference of unequal-height tandem cylinders mounted in a turbulent boundary layer
Authors: Ouedraogo Newton F. , Essel Ebenezer E.
Published: December 2023

The unsteady wake interference of unequal-height tandem finite wall-mounted cylinders (FWMCs) fully submerged in a turbulent boundary layer (TBL) was investigated using time-resolved particle image velocimetry. The aspect ratios of the cylinders were fixed at

$h/d = 5.3$

for the upstream cylinder (UC) and

$H/d = 7.0$

for the downstream cylinder (DC) to achieve a height ratio of

$h/H = 0.75$

, where d is the diameter of the cylinders. The Reynolds number based on the cylinder diameter was

$Re = 5540$

and the submergence ratio was

$\delta /H = 1.2$

, where

$\delta $

is the TBL thickness. Three main flow regimes of tandem FWMCs were examined by varying the centre-to-centre spacing (

$s$

) between the cylinders: extended-body (

$s/d = 2$

), reattachment (

$s/d = 4$

) and co-shedding (

$s/d = 6$

) regimes. These test cases denoted as SR2, SR4 and SR6, respectively, were compared with a reference isolated cylinder (SC) with an aspect ratio similar to that of the DC. Spatio-temporal analysis of the flow field showed that the gap region of SR2 is characterized by a strong downwash of alternating low- and high-momentum fluid induced by the approach flow that is deflected from the unsheltered portion of the DC. In contrast, the gap region of SR4 and SR6 exhibited both downwash and upwash flow with a saddle point that moves closer to the mid-height of the UC as the spacing ratio increases. The upwash and downwash shear layers were associated with small-scale vortices with Strouhal numbers larger than that of the Kármán vortex shedding in the spanwise shear layers. The wake structure behind the DC was significantly altered compared with the SC due to sheltering effects, and the spacing ratio had a significant impact on the spatio-temporal evolution of the vortices.
Aesthetic emotional reactions and their verbal expression in a corpus of Japanese travellers’ online reviews
Authors: Díaz-Vera Javier E.
Published: December 2023

Using Conceptual Metaphor Theory, I propose a study of aesthetic emotional expressions in Japanese. With this aim, I have created a medium-sized corpus (c100,000 running words) of travellers’ reviews in Japanese published on TripAdvisor between 2012 and 2022. The corpus consists of 1,100 reviews, grouped into three subsections, corresponding to three of the most visited landmarks in Japan (namely, Mount Fuji, Fushimi Inari-Taisha Shrine, and the Hiroshima Atomic Bomb Dome). The reviews chosen for this research include at least one reference, either literal or figurative, to the users’ aesthetic evaluation of their visit. My list of aesthetic emotions consists of four large categories: emotions of pleasure (e.g., attraction, fluency), emotions of contemplation (e.g., interest, intrigue), emotions of amazement (e.g., awe, wonder), and emotions of respect (e.g., admiration, adoration). For each aesthetic emotion, I have identified a series of source domains, which I analyse in detail in my discussion. As my data shows, many of our aesthetic expressions are rooted in the psychological and behavioural changes triggered by these emotions and, therefore, should be considered embodied. More importantly, through the analysis of the conceptual mappings involved in these linguistic expressions, it can be affirmed that aesthetic reactions are sensitive to cultural influences and, thus, they are not necessarily universal.
The lower bounds of non-real eigenvalues for singular indefinite Sturm–Liouville problems
Authors: Sun Fu
Published: December 2023

The present paper deals with the non-real eigenvalues for singular indefinite Sturm–Liouville problems. The lower bounds on non-real eigenvalues for this singular problem associated with a special separated boundary condition are obtained.
Descriptive Representation and Party Building: Evidence from Municipal Governments in Brazil
Authors: GOYAL TANUSHREE , SELLS CAMERON
Published: December 2023

This article highlights a new way in which descriptive representation enhances democracy through inclusive party building. We theorize that parties retain and promote incumbents based on gendered criteria, disproportionately incentivizing women to recruit party members. However, gendered resource inequalities lower women’s access to the patronage required for recruitment. Women respond by recruiting more women members, as it lowers recruitment costs, is role-congruent, and eases credit claiming. Using rich administrative data on party membership from 2004 to 2020 and a regression discontinuity design in Brazil, we find that, despite resource disparities, women mayors recruit new members at similar rates as men but reduce the gender gap in party membership. As expected, women are more likely to be promoted in constituencies where they most lower the gender gap in party membership. We also find that women’s increased membership improves party resilience. Our findings suggest that descriptive representation strengthens party building by including underrepresented citizens.
Navigating “Race” at Tahiti: Polynesian and European Encounters
Authors: Elliston Deborah
Published: December 2023

In this article I analyze stories about the negotiation of European racialization ideologies in the Society Islands (Tahiti and its Islands) in the late eighteenth century. My focus is the disjunctures between European understandings of their encounters at Tahiti, and what Pacific scholars have come to understand of Polynesian understandings of themselves and various foreigners in that early period. In doing so, I draw out the ways sexuality and gender mediated, enabled, and were also constituted through such racialization processes in their cultural and historical specificity. A key point of departure for this analysis is that the embodiment of race is a negotiated social process. The comparative historical case study I offer up here follows current scholarly moves in seeking out the insights to be gained by tracking racialization as a contingent process, as open rather than closed, as variegated rather than singular, and as imperfectly and only tenuously wrought through ideologies that may be profoundly unanticipated from the vantage point of modernist logics of essentialism and foundationalism. The resulting analysis aims to create space for critically revisiting the ways in which racial normativities and racialized embodiment operate, and how they work, and fail to work, to promote naturalized racist hierarchies of privilege and subordination.
Morpho-molecular characterisation of two new and two previously reported species of Acanthogyrus (Acanthogyrus: Quadrigyridae) from freshwater fishes in India
Authors: Rana K. , Kaur H.
Published: December 2023

Of the total 47 species in the subgenus Acanthosentis, 43 have been reported from the freshwater fishes of Asia. Amin et al. (2017) provided a key to the 23 species of the genus Acanthogyrus reported from the Indian subcontinent. The present study reports two new species: Acanthogyrus bispinosa n. sp. and A. garciai n. sp. from Cirrhinus mrigala Hamilton and Labeo calbasu Hamilton, respectively, and two previously described species: A. golvani Gupta and Jain, 1980 and A. hereterospinus Khan and Bilqees, 1990 from L. rohita Hamilton and L. catla Hamilton, respectively. A. bispinosa n. sp. comprises 3 circles of 6 proboscis hooks each. Trunk spines in A. bispinosa n. sp are divided into two groups: anterior and posterior separated by unarmed region, which has not been previously reported in the subgenus. Anterior spines are present in 7–8 and 7–10 circles in females and males, respectively, whereas posterior spines are in 23–28 and 31–38 circles in males and females, respectively. A. garciai n. sp. comprises 3 circles of 6–8 hooks each and a single set of trunk spines is present in A. garciai n. sp., comprising 35–42 and 25–45 circles in males and females, respectively. All four species were also characterised based on the 18S, 28S, and ITS1-5.8S-ITS2 rRNA molecular markers. The Bayesian inference tree generated based on these markers showed distinct identities of all the species, with a significant molecular divergence, ranging from 3.2 to 53.6%.
No time to relax: Age-dependent infectivity of cercariae in marine coastal ecosystems
Authors: Nikolaev Kirill E. , Fedorov Daniil D. , Vinogradova Anna A. , Levakin Ivan A. , Galaktionov Kirill V.
Published: December 2023

Age dynamics of the ability of cercariae of two digenean species, Himasthla elongata (Himasthlidae) and Renicola parvicaudatus (Renicolidae), to infect the second intermediate host (SIH), mussels (Mytilus edulis), was investigated experimentally. This is the first study of this kind made on cercariae transmitted in the intertidal of the northern seas. The larvae of all tested ages (from 0.5 to 6 hr) were equally successful in infecting mussels. This finding disagrees with the literature data on cercariae of several freshwater digeneans, which are practically incapable of infecting the SIH during the first 1–3 hr of life. The presence of a time delay before the attainment of the maximum infectivity (TDMI) may be associated with the need for physiological maturation of cercariae in the very beginning of their life in the environment, the need for their broad dispersion, and the prevention of superinfection of the downstream host. The absence of TDMI in the cercariae examined in our study could be associated with the instability of environmental factors in the marine intertidal (wave impact, tidal currents). These factors promote a broad dispersion of cercariae in the intertidal biotope and prevent superinfection of potential SIHs. Biological and behavioural features may also play a role. We hypothesize that the presence or absence of TDMI does not depend on the taxonomic affiliation of the cercariae but is determined by the transmission conditions.
Sounds in context: Archaeoacoustical studies of instruments from Comalcalco and Jonuta, pre-Hispanic Maya sites
Authors: Zalaquett Francisca , Gallegos Miriam Judith , Armijo Ricardo , Espino Dulce
Published: December 2023

Sounds produced by humans and their environment are perceived and codified based on people's experiences as members of social groups, resulting in some sounds being used as means of communication. In this article, we present an archaeoacoustic study of diverse types of instruments excavated or collected from Comalcalco and Jonuta, two important pre-Hispanic Maya sites located in the modern state of Tabasco (Mexico). We propose a methodology to analyze organological and acoustic characteristics for each type of instrument, considering their relevant archaeological information, so as to provide some interpretations of how sounds could have been materialized, shared, and used in specific moments of Maya ritual and daily life.
5 The Relationship Between Perceived Cognitive Impairment and Various Psychosocial Factors Following Cancer Treatment
Authors: Davelaar Alexia J , Garbanati James
Published: December 2023

Objective:

From diagnosis to remission, a patient’s journey with cancer can be long and tiresome, riddled with many adjustments and challenges. Because the stressors of the disease continue into remission, the battle is far from over when the cancerous cells are eradicated. The stress placed on cancer patients due to the disease and the treatments to control it causes many patients to experience cognitive impairment, also known as cancer-related cognitive impairment (CRCI). Researchers have long been baffled by CRCI and the mechanisms through which it takes place. Some explanations that have arisen include the cancer treatment, the cancer itself, the psychological distress, or a combination of all three. The objective of this study was to understand the mechanism through which CRCI occurs and what factors, including psychosocial, treatment, and demographic variables, exacerbate or reduce the cognitive symptoms.

Participants and Methods:

Cancer survivors (n=39) with various types of cancer were recruited from support groups to complete an online survey, which was comprised of a series of self-report measures. These measures included perceived cognitive abilities, psychological distress, fatigue, social support, and demographic and treatment questionnaires.

Results:

Cognitive reserve (p < .05) and the presence of chemotherapy (p < .01) were the only variables that predicted perceived cognitive impairment. As expected, it was found that the length of time in remission led to lower levels of perceived cognitive impairment (p < .001). However, psychological distress was not found to be a significant predictor of perceived cognitive impairment as hypothesized. Remarkably, psychological distress was found to be a mediator in the relationship between perceived cognitive impairment and fatigue (p < .001).

Conclusions:

This relationship indicates that how an individual copes with the cognitive impairment following cancer treatments can lead to the development and exacerbation of fatigue. A failure to manage psychological health can lead to the worsening of these secondary symptoms. Further research must examine the link between psychosocial factors as they relate to the subtle effects of CRCI.
20 The Relationship Between Quality of Life, Cognitive Functioning, and Tumor Grade Level in Brain Tumor Patients
Authors: Samples Megan P
Published: December 2023

Objective:

The goal of the current study is to compare QoL between tumor grade levels (i.e., low vs high) as well as the relationship between QoL, cognition, and tumor grade.

Participants and Methods:

Participants were 156 individuals diagnosed with a brain tumor who completed neuropsychological evaluation within an interdisciplinary brain tumor clinic (mean age=51.67; SD=15.0; mean education=13.98; SD=2.6; 59% male). Independent samples T-Test was utilized to review participants’ reported overall quality of life (QoL) on the FACT-Br in relation to tumor grade level (i.e., high vs low). Linear regression analysis was utilized to determine which cognitive variable may be most predictive of QoL.

Results:

Results of the Independent T-test demonstrated that low and high tumor grade level groups did not significantly differ in total or individual sub-domain QoL. With regard to the regression analysis, cognitive variables as measured by TMT B, HVLT delayed recall, and FAS accounted for significant variance in quality of life in both low grade and high grade tumor groups (low tumor grade level effect size R2 =0.21; high tumor grade level effect size R2 = 0.19). However, TMT B emerged as a significant predictor of QoL in only the low grade group, while cognitive performance within these same tasks did not significantly predict QoL for the high tumor grade level group.

Conclusions:

Our findings did not significantly differ in the overall impact tumor grade level (i.e., low vs., high) has on QoL. Notably, cognitive performance on TMT B significantly predicts QoL for the low but not high tumor grade level group.
32 Prediction of Seizure Outcome with Presurgical IAT, MRI, and PET in Patients with Temporal Lobe Epilepsy Undergoing Surgery
Authors: Moncrief Grant G , Aita Stephen L , Lee Jennifer , Jacobson Bryce , Thomas George P , Roth Robert M , Andrew Angeline S , Bujarski Krzysztof A , Thadani Vijay M , Kobylarz Erik J , Guerin Stephen J , Roberts David W , Jobst Barbara C
Published: December 2023

Objective:

Anterior temporal lobectomy is a common surgical approach for medication-resistant temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE). Prior studies have shown inconsistent findings regarding the utility of presurgical intracarotid sodium amobarbital testing (IAT; also known as Wada test) and neuroimaging in predicting postoperative seizure control. In the present study, we evaluated the predictive utility of IAT, as well as structural magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and positron emission tomography (PET), on long-term (3-years) seizure outcome following surgery for TLE.

Participants and Methods:

Patients consisted of 107 adults (mean age=38.6, SD=12.2; mean education=13.3 years, SD=2.0; female=47.7%; White=100%) with TLE (mean epilepsy duration =23.0 years, SD=15.7; left TLE surgery=50.5%). We examined whether demographic, clinical (side of resection, resection type [selective vs. non-selective], hemisphere of language dominance, epilepsy duration), and presurgical studies (normal vs. abnormal MRI, normal vs. abnormal PET, correctly lateralizing vs. incorrectly lateralizing IAT) were associated with absolute (cross-sectional) seizure outcome (i.e., freedom vs. recurrence) with a series of chi-squared and t-tests. Additionally, we determined whether presurgical evaluations predicted time to seizure recurrence (longitudinal outcome) over a three-year period with univariate Cox regression models, and we compared survival curves with Mantel-Cox (log rank) tests.

Results:

Demographic and clinical variables (including type [selective vs. whole lobectomy] and side of resection) were not associated with seizure outcome. No associations were found among the presurgical variables. Presurgical MRI was not associated with cross-sectional (OR=1.5, p=.557, 95% CI=0.4-5.7) or longitudinal (HR=1.2, p=.641, 95% CI=0.4-3.9) seizure outcome. Normal PET scan (OR= 4.8, p=.045, 95% CI=1.0-24.3) and IAT incorrectly lateralizing to seizure focus (OR=3.9, p=.018, 95% CI=1.2-12.9) were associated with higher odds of seizure recurrence. Furthermore, normal PET scan (HR=3.6, p=.028, 95% CI =1.0-13.5) and incorrectly lateralized IAT (HR= 2.8, p=.012, 95% CI=1.2-7.0) were presurgical predictors of earlier seizure recurrence within three years of TLE surgery. Log rank tests indicated that survival functions were significantly different between patients with normal vs. abnormal PET and incorrectly vs. correctly lateralizing IAT such that these had seizure relapse five and seven months earlier on average (respectively).

Conclusions:

Presurgical normal PET scan and incorrectly lateralizing IAT were associated with increased risk of post-surgical seizure recurrence and shorter time-to-seizure relapse.
43 Laterality of Hippocampal Volume Differentially Predicts Verbal Versus Nonverbal Memory Performance
Authors: Dishaw Tess , Hewitt Kelsey C , Dickey Adam , Hu Ranliang , Drane Daniel , Block Cady
Published: December 2023

Objective:

Epilepsy is a chronic neurological disease, and surgery is a common treatment option for persons who do not respond to medication. Neuropsychology plays an important role in the epilepsy presurgical workup, characterizing the cognitive functioning of patients with epilepsy as well as assisting in the determination of which hemisphere seizures originate in the brain through testing of different cognitive functions. NeuroQuant is a relatively newer software that analyzes clinical neuroimaging to quantify brain volume. The objective of this study was to determine if changes in left versus right total hippocampal volume predicted changes in verbal versus nonverbal memory performance.

Participants and Methods:

Cognitive performance and NeuroQuant bilateral hippocampal volume were examined in a cross-sectional sample of 37 patients with epilepsy. All patients had undergone a comprehensive presurgical neuropsychological evaluation as well as magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and these results were analyzed using a series of linear regression analyses.

Results:

Total left hippocampal volume was a significant predictor of delayed verbal free recall (RAVLT F(1, 31) = 4.79, p< .036, RA2 = 0.13, and ß=.37, p<.036). Even when controlling for the effects of biological sex, education, and depression, left hippocampal volume remained a significant predictor (ß=.42, p<.025). Total left hippocampal volume did not predict other verbal memory scores. Total right hippocampal volume was a significant predictor of delayed nonverbal figure recall (RCFT F(1, 31)= 6.46, p<.016), RA2 = .17 and ß=.42) p<.016). When controlling for the effects of biological sex, education, and depression, right hippocampal volume remained a significant predictor (ß=.404, p<.026). Total right hippocampal volume did not predict other nonverbal memory scores.

Conclusions:

These findings validate prior research demonstrating the importance of the left hippocampus in verbal memory and right hippocampus in nonverbal memory. Findings also demonstrate the clinical utility of neuropsychological evaluation in determining laterality in the epilepsy presurgical workup process, as well as support NeuroQuants’ inclusion as an additional consideration in that process.
53 Healthcare Quality, Race, and Neuropsychological Functioning in Black/African-American Individuals with HIV
Authors: Henderson-Murphy Jasia-Jemay , Alvarez Karen , Aghvinian Maral , Rivera-Mindt Monica , Van Dyk Kathleen , Cherner Mariana , Arentoft Alyssa
Published: December 2023

Objective:

Rates of HIV are disproportionately high among Black individuals in the United States (CDC, 2020). Black individuals are at increased risk for neurocognitive impairment due to HIV (Marquine et al., 2016) and experience health disparities including increased morbidity and mortality (Asari, 2018; Manly et al., 1998). We sought to examine the relationship between perceived quality of healthcare and neuropsychological functioning among people living with HIV (PLWH) who identify as Black compared to those who are non-Black.

Participants and Methods:

151 PLWH in the Los Angeles area (52% Black, age = 49.85 ± 10.54, education = 13.23 ± 2.11; 87% cisgender men, 8% cisgender women, 1% transgender men, 3% transgender women) completed comprehensive neuropsychological (NP) assessments (from which demographically-corrected domain and global T-scores were derived), psychiatric and sociodemographic interviews, and self-report questionnaires, including a measure of perceived healthcare quality (i.e., QUOTE-HIV). Statistical analyses included chi-square, t-test, ANOVA, and stepwise linear regression.

Results:

Only 14% of Black PLWH had private healthcare insurance (versus Medicare/Medicaid) compared to 33% of nonBlack PLWH (x2=11.33, p<.01). Black participants were significantly older than nonBlack participants (p<.01), but did not differ on gender, education, income, CD4 count, or HIV viral load. Younger Black participants (based on a median split for age; n = 23) reported the lowest perceived quality of healthcare (i.e., QUOTE-HIV total performance score), while older Black participants (n = 56) reported the highest perceived care (F = 3.80, p = .01), but the same relationship was not observed in nonBlack participants. In a stepwise multivariate regression model, including demographic and virological factors as well as healthcare quality, only household income and overall perceived healthcare quality (i.e., QUOTE-HIV total performance score) were significantly associated with Global NP T-scores among Black PLWH (R2=.12, F(1, 66)=4.46, p=.02).

Conclusions:

When assessing healthcare quality and healthcare experiences among people living with HIV, race and age are important to consider. Private healthcare coverage may be less accessible to people of color, and in a multivariate model, only income and healthcare quality significantly predicted neuropsychological functioning in Black PLWH. When examining HIV and health outcomes, the complex relationships among quality of healthcare and health disparities, neuropsychological functioning, and structural racism warrant further investigation.
67 Extending Evidence of Validity for Symptom Severity Classification of the PostConcussion Symptom Inventory (PCSI)
Authors: Allen Dean R , Zemek Roger ,   Pediatric Emergency Research Canada (PERC), Gioia Gerard A
Published: December 2023

Objective:

External validation of symptom severity classification levels for the PostConcussion Symptom Inventory (PCSI).

Participants and Methods:

Two distinct samples of parents and children, ages 8-18, participated from a: (1) prospective multicenter cohort study (Predicting Persistent Post-concussive Problems in Pediatrics, 5P) (Zemek et al., 2016), including parents (n=2,852), adolescents (n=1,087; mean age=15.13; 54% male), and children (n=1,271; mean age=10.70; 65% male) and (2) published clinic sample at Children’s National Hospital (CN) including parents (n=1,197; adolescents, n=835; children, n=326) (Gioia et al., 2019). Participants completed the age-specific Post-Concussion Symptom Inventory (PCSI): Mean time postinjury = 8 hours (5P), 6 days (PCSI2), generating a post-pre-injury difference (RAPID) score. The distribution of the RAPID scores for the Total Symptom and 4 subscales (physical, emotional, cognitive, sleep/fatigue) were examined to define 4 symptom severity classification levels (minimal - within the CI for recovered, low <20th %tile, moderate 21-79th %tile, high >80th %tile) for the respective samples. These severity distributions were compared between the two distinct datasets.

Results:

ANOVAs were performed to examine group differences in the mean scores for each of the 4 classification levels. No significant differences were found for all the RAPID score distributions with minimal effect sizes (<.1% variance) for the parents, adolescents and children. PCSI RAPID Total Score ranges for the severity classifications were as follows: Minimal-Parent and adolescent groups 5P<=5, Clinic <=5; Children: 5P<=3, Clinic<=3; Low- Parents 5P 6-15, Clinic 6-13; Adolescents 5P 6-19, Clinic 6-16; Children: 5P 4-7, Clinic: 4-7; Moderate-Parents 5P 16-49, Clinic 14-47; Adolescents 5P 20-56, Clinic 17-51; Children 5P 8-17, Clinic: 818; High- Parents: 5P>=50, Clinic >=48; Adolescents 5P >=57, Clinic >=52; Children 5P >=18, Clinic >=19).

Conclusions:

Our findings reveal a parallel distribution of RAPID scores in the two distinct 5P and Clinic patient populations, yielding nearly identical severity classification level parameters across all five PCSI symptom domains (total score, physical, cognitive, emotional, and sleep/fatigue). The present investigation provides evidence of validity for the use of these severity classification levels across the ED and specialty clinic settings.
95 The Role of Gender in Cognitive Outcomes from Stroke
Authors: Brandt Emma M , Singh Sachinkumar , Bowren Mark , Bhagvathi Amol , Tranel Daniel , Boes Aaron
Published: December 2023

Objective:

Stroke is a prevalent disease and often produces cognitive impairment. Post-stroke cognitive impairment has been associated with challenges returning to interpersonal and occupational activities. Knowing what factors are associated with cognitive impairment post-stroke can be useful for predicting outcomes and guiding rehabilitation strategies. One such factor is gender. Previous research has not led to definitive conclusions as to whether there are gender differences in cognitive outcomes following stroke. This may be because other factors, including age at stroke onset, years of education, premorbid intelligence, and lesion volume, may account for apparent gender differences in cognitive outcomes of stroke. Here, we sought to examine whether there are gender differences in general and specific cognitive functions following stroke, beyond what can be accounted for by age at stroke onset, years of education, premorbid intelligence, and lesion volume.

Participants and Methods:

Participants were 237 individuals in the chronic epoch (> 3 months) following ischemic stroke. Using multivariate linear regression, we examined gender as a predictor of overall cognitive functioning and specific cognitive functions, while controlling for age at stroke onset, years of education, premorbid intelligence, and lesion volume. To quantify overall cognitive functioning, we used a measure of general cognitive ability (g) and Full Scale IQ score from the WAIS. To quantify specific cognitive functions, we used scores from 16 individual neuropsychological tests.

Results:

After controlling for demographic and lesion factors, men and women did not show any significant differences in overall cognitive functioning following stroke as measured by g (ß = -0.01, 95% CI: -0.14 - 0.12, p = .887) or Full Scale IQ (ß = -0.01, 95% CI: -2.93 - 2.27, p = .801). There were some significant gender differences on specific cognitive tests after controlling for demographic and lesion factors. Specifically, women performed better than men on the Rey Auditory Verbal Learning Test (ps < .001) and men performed better than women on the WAIS Information subtest (ß = -.65, 95% CI: -0.97 - -0.33, p < .001).

Conclusions:

Our findings suggest that although men and women have similar overall cognitive functioning after stroke, they show some differences in specific cognitive functions even after accounting for demographic and lesion factors. Namely, women demonstrated better performance on a test of learning while men demonstrated better performance on a test of verbal knowledge/comprehension. This information is important for clinicians as they assess cognitive outcomes in patients post-stroke and plan rehabilitation strategies.
97 Distinct Clinical and Neuroanatomic Factors Associated with Function-based versus Patient-Reported Outcome Measures After Stroke
Authors: DiCarlo Julie A , Jaywant Abhishek , Erler Kimberly , Gochyyev Perman , Ranford Jessica , Cramer Steven C , Lin David J
Published: December 2023

Objective:

Patient-reported outcome measures provide valuable insights into health status after neurologic disease, but their relationships with function-based outcome measures remain incompletely understood. Here we evaluate the relationship between these two classes of measure using dimensionality-reduction techniques in patients after acute stroke and examine their associated patterns of neuroanatomical injury.

Participants and Methods:

Fifty-four adults with upper extremity motor deficits were serially assessed at four time points after stroke with functional outcome measures (Upper Extremity Fugl-Meyer, Barthel Index, modified Rankin Scale, Box and Blocks, 9- Hole Peg, Grip Strength) as well as patient-reported measures (PROMIS-Global Physical, Mental, and Social Health, Patient Health Questionnaire-9) of health status. At each timepoint after stroke, exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis were performed to identify and confirm the underlying factorial structure of the entire battery of outcome measures. Multivariate linear regression analysis was used to determine the amount of variance explained by clinical and demographic characteristics on extracted factors. Voxel-Based Lesion Symptom Mapping was used to examine the relationship between factors and patterns of neuroanatomical injury.

Results:

In the battery of stroke outcome measures, two factors were identified and retained, accounting for >78% of the overall variance across outcomes at every timepoint. Function-based measures loaded onto Factor 1 separately from patient-reported measures which loaded onto Factor 2. Results were consistent at each serial timepoint after stroke. Pre-stroke disability (p=0.03) and amount of damage to the corticospinal tract (p=0.001), explained significant variance in performance on Factor 1 (function-based outcomes), whereas education (p=0.01) and socioeconomic status (p=0.04) explained significant variance in performance on Factor 2 (PROMs). While function-based measures were related to injury to subcortical brain regions known to be important for motor function, patient-reported measures were related to injury to cortical brain regions including the insula and inferior parietal lobe, known to be important for affective processing and social cognition.

Conclusions:

Two distinct factors representing function-based and patient-reported measures of health status were extracted from the study battery of stroke outcome measures scored across the first year post-stroke. Each factor was associated with injury to brain regions concordant with the content of the represented assessments. These findings emphasize the distinct behavioral elements and neuroanatomical underpinnings of function-based and patient-reported outcome measures after stroke and have potential implications for precision rehabilitation.
2 Intentionality of Self-Generated Thought: Contributions of Mind Wandering to Creativity
Authors: Orwig William , Schacter Daniel L
Published: December 2023

Objective:

Studies suggest that internally oriented cognitive processes are central to creativity. Here, we distinguish between intentional and unintentional forms of mind wandering and explore their component contributions to creativity. Furthermore, we describe resting-state connectivity profiles associated with these trait-level measures of mind wandering. Bearing in mind the role of the DMN in internally directed cognitive processes, we hypothesize that, in general, mind wandering will be associated with increased connectivity of voxels in the medial prefrontal and posterior cingulate cortices, key nodes in the DMN. We further hypothesize that intentional and unintentional mind wandering will be associated with distinct patterns of connectivity across DMN core regions.

Participants and Methods:

We used a sample of 155 healthy adults from the mind-brain-body dataset, all of whom completed resting-state fMRI scans and trait-level measures of mind wandering. We analyzed intentional and unintentional mind wandering tendencies using self-report measures. Next, we explored the relationship between mind wandering tendencies and creativity, as measured by a divergent thinking task. Additionally, we describe patterns of resting-state network connectivity associated with mind wandering, using graph theory (weighted degree) functional connectivity analysis.

Results:

At the behavioral level, results showed a significant positive association between creativity and both intentional and unintentional mind wandering. Neuroimaging analysis revealed higher weighted degree connectivity associated with both forms of mind wandering, implicating core regions of the default network and the left temporal pole. We observed topological connectivity differences within the default network: intentional mind wandering was associated with degree connectivity in posterior regions, whereas unintentional mind wandering showed greater involvement of prefrontal areas.

Conclusions:

In this study, we highlight patterns of resting-state network connectivity associated with intentional and unintentional mind wandering, and provide novel evidence of a link between mind wandering and creativity. These findings represent a promising step towards understanding the neurocognitive mechanisms that underlie productive mind wandering and demonstrate its relevance for the study of creative thinking.
Symposium 04: Innovative Ways of Applying Digital Technology in Neuropsychology - A Sneak Peak into the Future
Authors: Madore Michelle , Quiroz Yakeel
Published: December 2023

Summary Abstract:

The explosion of digital technology in the past decade has led to unprecedented possibilities towards improving cognitive assessment and understanding brain health. Digital technology encompasses using a multitude of devices, such as laptops, smartphones, etc, to collect health-related data. The settings can be varied to include in-clinic, remote/virtual, or a combination of hybrid models for data collection. Data can be collected at a single time point or over a continued period of time. Furthermore, the unique combination of devices used, settings, and methods of collecting digital data can become even more exclusive against the backdrop of the 'purpose’ for conducting the digital study. This symposium, consisting of four abstracts, brings together the unique combination of digital studies with exclusive devices, methodologies, settings, and purposes. The topics range from how smartphone-based assessments can be applied to understand the interaction between day-to-day variability in sleep and cognition, to the use of computerized testing to investigate the associations between cognitive performance and markers of brain pathology (e.g. amyloid and tau status), to understanding cognition from an open-source smartphone application to passively and continuously capture sensor data including global positioning system trajectories, to the development and validation of an online simulated money management credit card task, and to determining the effects of cognitive rehabilitation via digital technology on cognition, neuropsychiatric symptoms, and memory strategies.
24 Classification of Alzheimer Disease and Mild Cognitive Impartment Patient's Activities of Daily Living
Authors: Munoz Isabel D.C. , Gutierrez Veronica , Razani Jill
Published: December 2023

Objective:

Research has shown significant deficits in cognitive domains and a decline in activities of daily living (ADL) in patients with Alzheimer disease (AD). Patients with Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI) also experience struggles with ADL; moreover, research documents that many MCI patients' symptoms gradually worsen such that their diagnosis eventually converts to AD. Different cognitive domains (i.e., memory, executive function, attention etc.) impact ADL performance. Commonly used instruments for assessing ADL are subjective measures filled by primary caregivers. Subjective measures are not able to assess actual ADL performance. Thus, performance-based tests, such as the Direct Assessment of Functional Status (DAFS), tests of ADLs are more informative. The purpose of this study is to analyze classification accuracy rates for AD and MCI patients with use of five ADL subscales and overall performance a performance-based ADL test.

Participants and Methods:

As part of a larger study, 61 patients diagnosed with AD and 54 age- and education matched patients diagnosed with MCI were administered the DAFS. All patients were administered the Direct Assessment of Functional Status test. This test assesses orientation to time, communication skills, knowledge of transportation rules, financial abilities, and ability to shop for groceries, as well as basic daily skills such as grooming and eating skills. For the purpose of this study, grooming and eating abilities were not used in the analysis.

Results:

Discriminant functional analysis was performed to assess the classification accuracy rates for AD and MCI patients using their ability to perform various types of ADL tasks on the DAFS. The analysis revealed total DAFS scores and all five subscales significantly classified AD and MCI patients performance (all p values < .01). While performance across the DAFS subscale scores accurately classified MCI at rates ranging from 67% - 90%, the rates of accurate classification was much lower for AD patients (29.5% - 62.3%). Of the subscales, the DAFS Shopping task best discriminated and classified the performance of AD at 62% and MCI at 67%.

Conclusions:

These results indicates that a performance-based ADL test can aid in classification of AD and MCI. The fact that the DAFS shopping subscale which requires learning and memory abilities had the best accuracy rates, is consistent with profound memory deficits found in AD patients. This study further highlights the importance of using observational-based measures to assess ADL in MCI and AD patients.