Brain

A standout essay, high grade point average and stellar standardized test scores are sometimes not enough for college admissions.

The ongoing college admission scandal underscores how influential a standardized test score has become. A test administrator is now cooperating with the investigation into other parents who paid to have their children's test scores fixed.

College admissions decisions use standardized test scores as a predictor of how well an applicant will do in college. But what if there were a better way to predict learning - one that did not rely on a single, high-stakes test?

Researchers from the Arizona State University and the University of Denver have devised a way to predict academic performance that is three times more predictive than a single standardized assessment. The research team developed and validated a statistical model that uses readily available test scores to predict future academic performance. The study will be published in Multivariate Behavioral Research.

"Everyone is affected by testing at some point - tests are used to make high-stakes decisions about admissions to schools and sometimes even job placement - and the model we developed captures what is going on in the data and predicts future performance better than existing methods," said Daniel McNeish, assistant professor of psychology at ASU and first author on the paper.

Current ability does not always predict future learning

The stated purpose of many standardized tests is a one-time assessment, not to inform long-term performance. These tests are sometimes used to predict the future performance of anyone who takes the test, but few tests actually do this well, said Denis Dumas, who is an assistant professor at the University of Denver and second author on the paper. The idea that a single test can fail to adequately measure a student's future learning potential is not a new one: The sociologist, historian and civil rights activist W.E.B. DuBois raised it almost a century ago.

"Test scores from a single time point give a good snapshot of what someone knows at the time of testing, but they often are incapable of providing information about the potential to learn," added Dumas. "Test scores are frequently used to indicate how much a person might benefit from future education, like attending college, but this concept is completely different from how much the test taker knows right now."

To develop the model, the research team took inspiration from the work of an Israeli psychologist named Reuven Feuerstein who tested children survivors of the Holocaust for school and grade-level placement. Grade-level assignments based on one test score were often too low, so Feuerstein developed a testing system called dynamic assessment that used several test scores collected over time to measure children's capacity to learn, instead of their current level of knowledge. Dynamic assessment is labor-intensive and is difficult to implement on a large scale. The research team solved that problem by leveraging advances in mathematical models and computing power to create a new method, which they call a dynamic measurement model.

Connecting the dots

The dynamic measurement model uses a series of test scores to predict future learning capacity. The model fits a curve through the test scores over time, which usually looks like a sideways letter "J" and is ofted called a "learning curve." The points on the learning curve represent the amount of current knowledge, and the maximum or ceiling of the curve is the learning potential. Using standardized test scores from kindergarten through eighth grade, the team recently showed the dynamic measurement model could fit the learning curve and predict learning potential.

The research team wanted to know how far out the model could predict learning potential and thus how accurate it actually was. They used three datasets that originated from the Institute of Human Development at the University of California, Berkeley. The datasets include test scores from participants starting when they were 3 years old in the 1920s and 1930s. The participants were studied for decades, until they were in their 50s, 60s, and 70s.

Because most standardized testing happens in school, the research team used the dynamic measurement model to fit the test scores from when the UC Berkeley participants were aged 20 and younger. The team predicted the future learning potential of each participant by having the model finish the curve. Then, they compared the actual test scores at ages 50-70 years to what the model predicted.

"The dynamic measurement model captured three times the variance as other methods, including single time-point test scores. In other words, our model predicted the later scores -- an individual's realized learning potential -- three times better," McNeish said. "Students are tested so frequently now to gauge their progress, but having multiple scores per student can serve a purpose beyond gauging progress. They can be combined into a single learning potential score to improve predictions of where people's skills and abilities are predicted to end up in the future if they maintain the same trajectory."

Harnessing the potential of standardized testing

Using dynamic measurement modeling to predict the future learning potential of students does not require changes in policy or new tests. The test scores needed for the model already exist and are available because of the passage of the No Child Left Behind Act and Every Student Succeeds Act.

"Dynamic measurement modeling does not require a specialized computer to run and does not take much longer than standard statistical models used in this area," McNeish said. "Logistically, all the pieces are there to implement it tomorrow."

The research team is currently working on developing software to disseminate the dynamic measurement model.

New research at Case Western Reserve University found big gaps in services and continued care for children with autism--and their families--as they transition from adolescence to adulthood.

The families need more support, including improved job training, access to services and transportation, according to research from the university's Jack, Joseph and Morton Mandel School of Applied Social Sciences.

Researchers surveyed 174 families from Northeast Ohio to examine the needs and barriers to services for youth with autism--from 16 to 30 years old--and their family caregivers.

Examining the issues
Participants were recruited from 28 public and private agencies and organizations. The survey asked about services--both received and needed--as well as top concerns. Chief among them: limited access to information, reported by 51% of the respondents. Other issues include waiting lists or services not being available (44%), location (39%) and cost (37%).

Researchers also examined the quality of the services provided. They found that often families don't know where to turn for service, or what services exist.

"The number one thing we heard from parents was that they weren't aware of the services available to them," said Karen Ishler, a senior research associate at the Mandel School and co-director of the project. "How do you know what you don't know? Who do they talk to?"

David Biegel, the Henry L. Zucker Professor of Social Work Practice at the Mandel School and one of the project's co-directors. said there were some positives learned from the research, too. More than 60% said they "see eye-to-eye" with their spouse/partner regarding care, and more than 65% of the caregivers reported other positive aspects of care.

"Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) affects the entire family," said Biegel, "Many young people with ASD are at risk for reduced quality of life in adulthood. Additionally, families of adolescents and young adults with ASD face all kinds of stressors--especially during those critical transition years."

Take, for example, finding a job. Children with autism are allowed to stay in public schools until age 22. When they finish, though, employment training and support dries up, according to the study.

"What happens when they age out? It's a growing concern," Ishler said. "We have to look at the service delivery, because we know there are many unmet needs."

A growing concern

In 2018, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported an increase in autism's estimated prevalence in children, based on an analysis of 2014 medical and educational records of 8-year-old children nationally.

In 2004, one in 166 children nationally were diagnosed with autism; in 2018, that ratio was one in 59.

"A lot of these kids diagnosed at 4, 5 and 6 years old are now becoming young adults," Biegel said. "It's putting new pressures on them, and particularly their families, as they age out of school-based services."

One caregiver's response about his or her daughter summed up the problem: "Don't assume that just because she is highly intellectually functioning that she doesn't need support and acceptance socially."

Biegel and Ishler found that 82% of those with autism live with their parents into adulthood. "This confirms what we already know: families shoulder the burden of autism," Biegel said. The study found that 28% family members had elevated anxiety and 35% had elevated symptoms of depression.

"We tend to emphasize the people who aren't doing well," he said. "We knew there were going to be issues. But some families are doing just fine--they've figured out how to navigate the system. However, here is also a significant number of families that have major concerns and needs. Our hope is that these results stimulates discussion and awareness."

The study was funded by the International Center for Autism Research and Education (ICARE) through a Mt. Sinai Foundation catalytic grant.

How quickly you spend your savings in retirement may have as much or more to do with your personality than whether you have a lot of debt or want to leave an inheritance.

A new study published by the American Psychological Association found that people who are more agreeable or more open to new experiences - or those who are more neurotic or negative -- might spend their retirement savings at a faster rate than those who are more extroverted or have a positive attitude.

"Little is known about what personally motivates retirees to withdraw money from their investment portfolios as most studies on portfolio withdrawal rates address technical issues, such as minimizing risk of financial shortfall or making spending adjustments based on perceived life expectancy," said Sarah Asebedo, PhD, of Texas Tech University and lead author on the study. "The purpose of this study was to investigate how personality traits are related to portfolio withdrawal decisions of retirees."

The research was published in the journal Psychology and Aging.

Asebedo and her coauthor, Christopher Browning, PhD, also of Texas Tech, analyzed personality and psychological data from more than 3,600 people in the United States age 50 or older (the average age was 70) in the 2012 and 2014 waves of the Health and Retirement Study. This is a nationally representative survey sponsored by the National Institute on Aging and conducted by the University of Michigan. The data were paired with tax data from the same participants to account for withdrawals from individual retirement accounts. The researchers only used participants who made withdrawals from their retirement accounts and other saving accounts.

Participants were scored on what psychologists call the big five personality traits: Openness to experience (i.e., they are creative, imaginative, adventurous and curious), conscientiousness (i.e., they are organized, thorough, hardworking and cautious), extroversion, agreeableness (i.e., they are sympathetic, caring, warm and helpful) and neuroticism (i.e., they are nervous, worrying, moody and not calm). The researchers also looked at data about the amount of control participants perceived they had over their financial situation and to what extent they felt a variety of positive and negative emotions over the previous 30 days.

"We found that those with greater conscientiousness, extroversion, positive emotions and feelings of control over their finances withdrew from their retirement portfolios at a lower rate than those with greater openness, agreeableness, neuroticism and negative emotions," Asebedo said.

The results remained even after accounting for many of the technical factors that are known to affect portfolio withdrawal decisions, such as the expectation of leaving an inheritance, age, marital status and mortgage debt.

Asebedo believes this may be the first study to look at the role personality traits play in how quickly individuals spend their retirement portfolio and is an important contribution to a field of study that has historically focused on technical rather than human factors.

The findings suggest that financial professionals should take the personality traits of their clients into account when developing retirement strategies instead of focusing entirely on their clients' financial situations, according to Asebedo.

A higher withdrawal rate is not necessarily a bad thing nor is a lower withdrawal rate always good, she warned.

"A higher portfolio withdrawal rate is concerning if it places the individual on a path to run out of money too early. However, if the higher portfolio withdrawal rate does not run the risk of running out of money, then it may very well be facilitating a life well-lived," Asebedo said. "Similarly, a lower withdrawal rate is a good thing if it facilitates controlled spending from the portfolio at a level that protects it from early depletion. If the individual is under-spending and forgoing experiences that they would enjoy because of a saving habit they are unable to break, then the low withdrawal rate is a missed opportunity to maximize the life that they have saved for."

Findings from more than 1,000 elderly individuals assessed over six years have revealed no links between statin medication and cognitive decline, such as memory loss, presenting new advice amidst some consumer concerns that statins may have a negative impact on cognitive health.

The collaborative study, led by researchers at the Garvan Institute of Medical Research and the Centre for Healthy Brain Ageing (CHeBA), UNSW Sydney, shows that statin use is even protective against memory decline in some individuals at risk of dementia.

The research is published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology.

"We carried out the most comprehensive analysis of cognition in elderly statin users to date, and found no results to support that cholesterol-lowering statins cause memory impairment," says first author Professor Katherine Samaras, Head of the Clinical Obesity, Nutrition and Adipose Biology lab at the Garvan Institute and endocrinologist at St Vincent's Hospital Sydney.

"Many factors can contribute to the cognitive symptoms that isolated case reports describe. What we've come away with from this study is a reassurance for consumers to feel more confident about their statin prescription."

Tracking cognition over time

Statins are among the most widely prescribed medications, safely administered since the 1990s to treat people with heart disease or high cholesterol to reduce the risk of future heart disease events. However, isolated case reports of cognitive decline in statin users have concerned some consumers. Up to half the individuals prescribed statin therapy do not fill their prescription largely due to this concern, which carries a significant impact on public health, says Professor Samaras.

The authors of the current study assessed changes to the brain in 1,037 elderly individuals, measuring five areas of cognition using 13 different tests and MRI scans of the brain, over six years.

"Controlling for important and potentially contributory factors, such as age, sex and obesity, we found no difference in the rate by which memory and other aspects of cognition changed over time, between statin users and those who had never used the medication. There was also no difference in the change in brain volumes between the two groups," says Professor Samaras.

Protective effects

Further, the researchers found that in individuals with risk factors for dementia, including heart disease or diabetes, statin use slowed down cognitive decline, compared to those with the same risk factors who did not take statin medication.

"Our findings demonstrate how crucial a healthy metabolism is to brain function, and how therapies can modulate this to promote healthy ageing," says Professor Samaras.

The study used data from CHeBA's Sydney Memory and Ageing Study; an observational study of older community-dwelling Australians that commenced in 2005 and researches the effects of ageing on cognition over time.

Senior author Professor Perminder Sachdev, Co-Director of CHeBA, says: "The Sydney Memory and Ageing study is now in its 14th year and has permitted us to ask many important questions in relation to the brain health of the elderly.

"In this study our data reassuringly suggests that the use of statins to lower cholesterol levels is not likely to adversely affect memory function. Since it is an observational study, the findings should not be considered conclusive. However, the evidence is mounting that statins are safe in relation to brain health and this concern should not preclude their use in individuals who are likely to benefit from lower cholesterol levels."

SAN ANTONIO -- Nov. 18, 2019 -- Southwest Research Institute's Technology Today Podcast celebrates one year of giving listeners an inside perspective on world-changing science, engineering, research and technology through informative conversations with SwRI experts. The podcast highlights SwRI advances, discoveries and programs in easy-to-follow discussions with institute technical staff. It encourages the audience to simply, "listen and learn."

"The Technology Today Podcast breaks through the complexities of science, engineering and technology, giving a wide audience the opportunity to understand and explore these topics," said SwRI Communications Executive Director Dr. Tim Martin. "It's really a conversation for everyone."

Since the monthly podcast's launch in November 2018, episodes have spanned deep sea to deep space, showcasing cutting-edge technology and science with global reach. Episode 1 featured Dr. Alan Stern, SwRI space scientist and NASA New Horizons mission principal investigator, discussing the history-making journeys to Pluto and Ultima Thule, renamed Arrokoth. The ancient body, located in the Kuiper Belt, is the farthest object ever explored by humankind. Since then, podcast discussions have delved into a variety of topics, including food science, additive manufacturing, robotics, automated driving and, most recently, a computer algorithm that detects cancer cells.

Technology Today is hosted and produced by Lisa Peña, an SwRI communications senior specialist and a former broadcast journalist. Peña says the podcast's mission is summed up in the introduction of each episode -- "We live with technology, science, engineering and the results of innovative research every day. Now, let's understand it better."

"The podcast connects the dots for listeners and explains how science and engineering discoveries evolve into the technology that impacts our lives," added Peña. "We are talking to the people developing solutions for a range of challenges. The podcast offers a platform to appreciate the journey of innovation from their perspective."

The Technology Today team will release a special anniversary episode today, revisiting a few of the discussions over the past year and highlighting the "listen and learn" theme of the podcast. The anniversary episode will also introduce two new segments: "Breakthroughs," which explores personal moments of discovery told by the people who lived them and "Ask us Anything," where SwRI experts answer listener and social media questions.

The University of Surrey and King's College London have developed a new machine learning algorithm (AI) that could transform the way we monitor major infrastructure - such as dams and bridges.

In a paper published by the journal Structural Health Monitoring, researchers from Surrey and Kings detail how they created an AI system named SHMnet to analyse and assess the damage of bolt connections used in metallic structures.

Built on the foundations of a modified Alex-Net neural network, the research team set up an impact hammer test under lab conditions and tasked SHMnet with accurately identifying the subtle condition changes of connection bolts on a steel frame under 10 damage scenarios.

The team found that when SHMnet is trained using four repeated datasets, it had a flawless (100 per cent) identification record in their tests.

Dr Ying Wang, the corresponding author of the paper and Assistant Professor at the University of Surrey, said:

"The performance of our neural network suggests that SHMnet could be incredibly useful to structural engineers, governments and other organisations tasked with monitoring the integrity of bridges, towers, dams and other metal structures.

"While there is more to do, such as testing SHMnet under different vibration conditions and obtaining more training data, the real test is for this system to be used in the field where a reliable, accurate and affordable way of monitoring infrastructure is sorely needed."

(Boston)--Vietnam-era women veterans suffer with stress-related mental health conditions, including posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), major depression and generalized anxiety disorder, more than four decades after their service.

Women veterans represent the fastest growing group among the veteran population, and like their male counterparts, have poorer health than civilians. While women veterans were for many years a small percentage in both the U.S. and veteran populations, their rapid increase has warranted more focused attention and research on their health and corresponding healthcare needs.

The study used data (4,219 women veterans) collected in a large-scale epidemiologic investigation of Vietnam-era women veterans known as The Health of Vietnam Era Women's Study, or HealthViEWS. Several decades after their service, women veterans who were active duty at this time completed both a mail survey and a telephone interview.

"Our findings support continued emphasis upon PTSD as an important adverse health outcome for military veterans and highlight the potential long-term effects of military service on these aging women veterans of the Vietnam era. It was also noteworthy that exposure to sexual discrimination and harassment while deployed was a consistent risk-factor for poor long-term health functioning and increased disability," explained corresponding author Brian Smith, PhD, research psychologist in the Women's Health Sciences Division, National Center for PTSD at VA Boston Healthcare System and assistant professor of psychiatry at Boston University School of Medicine.

According to the researchers, while this study was focused on women veterans of the Vietnam era, given that these types of interpersonal exposures continue to plague women deployed in current conflicts, it is important to note that the present findings have implications for contemporary women serving in the military as well.

The researchers hope the results of this study will draw attention to the importance of continuing to study and advance understanding of the long-term health and corresponding health care needs of older women veterans. "Our findings suggest that women veterans' experiences while deployed may have important implications for their health, functioning, and quality of life in the years and decades following their military service, and as such we hope that these findings will help inform the development and refinement of services for women veterans," he added.

Researchers at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC) and Anne Arundel Medical Center have conducted a study that explores how surgical trainees are experiencing a new gestural technology designed to improve communication during laparoscopic surgery. The results of this research has just been presented by Azin Semsar, first author and UMBC PhD student in Human-Centered Computing, at the annual symposium of the American Medical Informatics Association (AMIA).

Surgeons perform laparoscopic surgery by inserting a small camera into the abdomen and watching their instruments' movements through a live video. While referring to the video, surgeons cannot touch the display or a mouse, because their hands need to remain sterile. Instead, they must use verbal descriptions to communicate with others during the surgery. Trainees must pay close attention to verbal instructions, and figure out how to turn those verbal cues into action, without relying on any gestural interactions between the surgeon and the screen.

Researchers sought to develop a more effective way of training surgeons in laparoscopic techniques by using a technology called the Virtual Pointer, developed by Helena Mentis, associate dean for academic programs and learning, and associate professor of information systems at UMBC.

"This technology allows the surgical trainer to point at the live video and draw on it without touching it, so they can instruct the surgical trainee on how to perform the procedures," says Andrea Kleinsmith, assistant professor of information systems at UMBC. Kleinsmith led the effort to measure and understand the technology's impact on the trainee's cognitive load.

Instead of relying solely on verbal instructions, through the Virtual Pointer the trainees could better visualize what to do next. Kleinsmith and Mentis sought to test whether this method impacted cognitive load, the amount of mental effort necessary to carry out the task. If the method significantly increased cognitive load, this would not have been a useful training tool during surgical procedures.

Importantly, the Virtual Pointer incorporates both visual and verbal information. The trainer still provides verbal instruction, but they can also give visual cues at the same time. In the long term, researchers predicted that using both visual and verbal information processing would lessen cognitive load on trainees. However, they also predicted that cognitive load would increase initially, due to the effort needed to get accustomed to the new technology.

To determine the cognitive load of the surgical trainees, the researchers measured their physiological responses connected to levels of arousal. "In particular, we are interested in the electrodermal activity, which, [very simply] equates to the amount of sweat on the skin. It has been linked to cognitive load," Kleinsmith explains. They measured that electrodermal activity using wristbands worn by the trainees during training. They found that their cognitive load did not increase with the first use of the Virtual Pointer--instead, it stayed the same.

The Virtual Pointer also had a positive impact on the communication between trainer and trainee. Without the Virtual Pointer System, the trainees stopped the training to process their instructions more frequently. With the system, they were better able to continue performing the training while processing new information.

"We found that, when using the system, not only did their cognitive load not increase, but they were actually able to perform more tasks than in the standard training," Kleinsmith explains.

Testing this tool required a partnership between researchers in two very different fields, with Mentis developing the technology and Kleinsmith measuring the viability of that technology in a real-world training setting. Their findings indicate that there is hope for more efficient training for surgeons through a tool that does not increase mental effort in the training experience. More research is needed on the impact of the Virtual Pointer System on cognitive load in active operating room settings.

Inaccessible valleys and ravines lead from the North East Indian Meghalaya plateau to the wide plains of Bangladesh. In the monsoon months the mountain streams in the forests swell into torrential rivers. In order to cross these rivers, the indigenous Khasi and Jaintia peoples have long built their bridges out of the living aerial roots of the Indian Rubber Tree, Ficus elastica. "Stable bridges like these made of closely intertwined roots can reach more than 50 meters in length and exist for several hundreds of years," says Ferdinand Ludwig, Professor for Green Technologies in Landscape Architecture at TUM.

He analyzed 74 such living bridges together with Thomas Speck, Professor for Botanics at the University of Freiburg. "There has already been a lot of discussion of the Living Root Bridges in the media and in blogs, but there have only been a few scientific investigations up to now", says Ludwig. "Knowledge about the traditional Khasi building techniques has hardly ever been put down in writing in the past," adds Wilfrid Middleton from the TUM Department of Architecture. The researchers conducted interviews with the bridge builders in order to gain a better understanding of the building process. The researchers took several thousand photographs which they then used to create 3D models, providing insight into the complex root structure. The team also mapped the locations of the bridges for the first time.

A bridge that builds itself

"The building process usually begins with a planting: a person planning a bridge plants a Ficus elastica seedling on the bank of a river or the edge of a ravine. At a particular point during the plant's growth it develops aerial roots," says Speck. The aerial roots are then wound onto a framework of bamboo or palm stems and directed horizontally over the river. Once the roots have grown as far as the opposite bank, they are implanted. They develop smaller daughter roots which are directed to the bank as well where they are implanted. Due to constant plant growth and the application of various winding techniques the roots of the Ficus elastica form highly complex structures which create stable, safe bridges. Newly growing roots are integrated in the existing structure again and again.

The properties of the Ficus elastica play an important role: "The roots react to mechanical loads with secondary root growth. In addition, the aerial roots are capable of forming inosculations: Possible injuries result in what are called inosculation and callus formation, a process also familiar from wound healing of trees. Thus for example two roots which are pressed together can grow together and inosculate," says Speck. The bridges are made and maintained by individuals, families or by communities that include several villages which use the bridge. "Living bridges can thus be considered both a man-made technology and a very specific type of plant cultivation," says Speck.

Building for future generations

It takes decades if not centuries to complete a living bridge made of Ficus elastica. Often many generations are involved in the building process. "The bridges are a unique example of future-oriented building. We can learn much from this: today we are faced with environmental problems that will not only affect us, but also subsequent generations. We should approach this topic as the Khasis have," says Ludwig.

Living buildings can cool down cities

"The findings relating to the traditional techniques of the Khasi people can promote the further development of modern architecture," says Ludwig, himself an architect. He integrates plants as living building materials in his plans and structures. In 2007 he founded a new field of research centered on this approach: "Baubotanik".

By integrating plants in building we can better adapt to the impacts of climate change, he says: "Stone, concrete and asphalt heat up rapidly at high ambient temperatures, so that heat stress is particularly relevant in cities. Plants provide cooling and improve the climate in the city. Baubotanik means no extra space has to be created for plants; instead plants are much more an integral component of structures."

A team of researchers at Carnegie Mellon University found that age plays a critical role in the well-being of people newly diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes, with younger patients more susceptible to psychological distress resulting in worse health outcomes.

"We found we can evaluate a patient's initial stress and predict how they will be doing six months later," said Vicki Helgeson, professor of psychology at CMU's Dietrich College of Humanities and Social Sciences and senior author on the paper. "If you can identify people who are facing diabetes distress earlier, you can intervene and prevent their health from declining."

The results are available in Nov. 15 issue of the Journal of Behavioral Medicine.

Currently about 27 million people in the United States live with Type 2 diabetes. Past research has shown that stress associated with diabetes management leads to poor blood sugar control.

In the study, the team evaluated 207 patients (55% male, 53% white, 47% black, 25-82 years of age), who were diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes within the past two years. They used several surveys to evaluate health, psychological distress and health care, as well as studied the participants' daily dairies to identify stressors. The researchers assessed patients at the start of the study to establish a baseline and then six months later. They examined the results with regard to gender, race/ethnicity, age, education, employment, income, relationship status and use of medication.

They found younger patients (42 years and younger) experienced higher diabetes-related and psychological distress. In addition, patients with higher education and income expressed more stress. Conversely, older patients (older than 64 years) had less psychological stress and greater consistency in self-care, blood sugar control and medication adherence. Patients in long-term relationships also reported less diabetes stress.

"This is a diverse sample with respect to age, education and race, which makes the result even more provocative," Helgeson said. "We do not know in an objective way if patients with a higher income have more stressors, but they perceive they have more stress."

Patients identified diet as the greatest stressor (38%). Other significant stressors include checking blood sugar (8%) and experiencing high or low blood sugar events (7%). Patients who self-reported greater stress also reported greater depressed mood, less adherence to medication and higher anxiety.

"Diabetes care is difficult, because it requires a lifestyle change that you have to do forever," Helgeson said. "Life gets in the way of sticking to a diabetes regimen."

While the study was not designed to explore why patients handle stressors differently, Helgeson believes older adults may live in the present compared to younger adults, whose focus on the future may magnify their stressors. Diabetes is also more common as people age, and older patients may find more support from their peer group. She also suggests older adults may leverage past experiences to employ emotion regulation strategies to mitigate the stress associated with managing the disease.

After a diagnosis, many patients experience stress as they modify their lifestyle to accommodate diet, weight control, medication and exercise routines, which can be time-consuming, complicated and costly. Complications from diabetes include heart disease, stroke, kidney disease and lower limb amputations.

Helgeson notes that the study was not designed to interpret the cause of underlying stressors or identify emotion regulation strategies. In addition, the daily stress measure was not developed to expand on the nature of the stressor. Future studies could evaluate how patients react to stressors to develop effective intervention and regulation strategies for different age, gender, and cultural groups.

Bottom Line: A poll suggests almost half of adults ages 50 to 64 believe they're likely to develop dementia. The survey included 1,019 respondents who were asked what risk they perceived and what potential risk-reducing measures they took. Of the participants, 48.5% said they were at least somewhat likely to develop dementia during their lifetime. Many participants reported strategies to try to maintain or improve memory that aren't evidence based. Only a few participants (5.2%) had discussed potential ways to reduce dementia risk with their physician.

To access the embargoed study: Visit our For The Media website at this link https://media.jamanetwork.com/

Authors: Donovan T. Maust, M.D., M.S., University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, and coauthors.

(doi:10.1001/jamaneurol.2019.3946)

Editor's Note: The article includes conflict of interest and funding/support disclosures. Please see the article for additional information, including other authors, author contributions and affiliations, financial disclosures, funding and support, etc.

Irvine, Calif. - November 14, 2019 - Researchers from the University of California, Irvine developed a breakthrough cell therapy to improve memory and prevent seizures in mice following traumatic brain injury. The study, titled "Transplanted interneurons improve memory precision after traumatic brain injury," was published today in Nature Communications.

Traumatic brain injuries affect 2 million Americans each year and cause cell death and inflammation in the brain. People who experience a head injury often suffer from lifelong memory loss and can develop epilepsy.

In the study, the UCI team transplanted embryonic progenitor cells capable of generating inhibitory interneurons, a specific type of nerve cell that controls the activity of brain circuits, into the brains of mice with traumatic brain injury. They targeted the hippocampus, a brain region responsible for learning and memory.

The researchers discovered that the transplanted neurons migrated into the injury where they formed new connections with the injured brain cells and thrived long term. Within a month after treatment, the mice showed signs of memory improvement, such as being able to tell the difference between a box where they had an unpleasant experience from one where they did not. They were able to do this just as well as mice that never had a brain injury. The cell transplants also prevented the mice from developing epilepsy, which affected more than half of the mice who were not treated with new interneurons.

"Inhibitory neurons are critically involved in many aspects of memory, and they are extremely vulnerable to dying after a brain injury," said Robert Hunt, PhD, assistant professor of anatomy and neurobiology at UCI School of Medicine who led the study. "While we cannot stop interneurons from dying, it was exciting to find that we can replace them and rebuild their circuits."

This is not the first time Hunt and his team has used interneuron transplantation therapy to restore memory in mice. In 2018, the UCI team used a similar approach, delivered the same way but to newborn mice, to improve memory of mice with a genetic disorder.

Still, this was an exciting advance for the researchers. "The idea to regrow neurons that die off after a brain injury is something that neuroscientists have been trying to do for a long time," Hunt said. "But often, the transplanted cells don't survive, or they aren't able to migrate or develop into functional neurons."

To further test their observations, Hunt and his team silenced the transplanted neurons with a drug, which caused the memory problems to return.

"It was exciting to see the animals' memory problems come back after we silenced the transplanted cells, because it showed that the new neurons really were the reason for the memory improvement," said Bingyao Zhu, a junior specialist and first author of the study.

Currently, there are no treatments for people who experience a head injury. If the results in mice can be replicated in humans, it could have a tremendous impact for patients. The next step is to create interneurons from human stem cells.

"So far, nobody has been able to convincingly create the same types of interneurons from human pluripotent stem cells," Hunt said. "But I think we're close to being able to do this."

Jisu Eom, an undergraduate researcher, also contributed to this study. Funding was provided by the National Institutes of Health.

At the 2016 Rio Olympics, Michael Phelps was caught on camera glaring as he prepared for the men's 200-meter butterfly final. The look, popularly known as Phelps face, became an example of a concept that has long been familiar in sports: the game face.

But could putting on a serious face in preparation for competition actually impact performance? According to a new study published in Stress and Health by experimental psychology researchers at UT, there may be substance to game face.

"Game face may not only improve performance in cognitive tasks, but it could also lead to better recovery from stress," said Matthew Richesin, master's student and lead author of the study, which was co-authored with Associate Professor of Psychology Debora Baldwin, Michael Oliver, a postdoctoral fellow in the UT Graduate School of Medicine, and fellow graduate student Lahai Wicks.

Richesin chose to study the phenomenon after seeing Tennessee Football shirts around UT's campus with the message "Get Your Game Face On." He reviewed psychology studies of the effect of facial manipulation on mood but found little research measuring its impact on performance.

"There's anecdotal evidence of game face having an impact based on its common use among athletes," Richesin said. "But we wanted to see if it would help on physical and mental challenges from a scientific perspective."

Researchers conducted two experiments, each with a distinct focus. For both, one group of participants was shown images of athletes and other public figures demonstrating a game face. They were then instructed to show "a look of intense determination" while performing separate physical and cognitive tasks.

In the first experiment, researchers asked 62 participants to complete a cold-pressor task where they submerged their dominant hands in a container filled with ice water (39-42 degrees Fahrenheit) for up to five minutes. Half of the participants were told to demonstrate a game face, while the participants in the control group were given no specific instruction.

While there was no impact on physical performance, researchers observed that participants who were not specifically told how to behave after inserting their hands also demonstrated similar facial expressions.

"Their reactions were spontaneous," Richesin said. "The facial expressions were the same as those commonly associated with effort, pain, and competition."

In the second experiment, participants were tasked with completing as much of a 100-piece black-and-white mandala puzzle as possible within five minutes. In this case, the game face group performed on average 20 percent better, while also demonstrating better stress recovery compared to the control group.

The researchers' findings support previous facial feedback research suggesting facial manipulations can positively impact mood.

Richesin hopes to conduct future research testing game face applications in other settings.

"If making a game face has the potential to improve performance, we may find this concept can have application outside of the traditional venue of sports," he said.

In a world of novice photographers and videographers, capturing a deluge of content via their smartphones and handheld devices, there is a need for an intelligent, easy-to-use tool for automating the creation of movies and video montages. To date, many quality videos still rely on professional frame-based editing tools to manipulate raw footage and produce a coherent video with a captivating storyline.

A global team of computer scientists, from Tsinghua and Beihang Universities in China, Harvard University in the US and IDC Herzliya in Israel, have developed "Write-A-Video", a new tool that generates videos from themed text. Using words and text editing, the tool automatically determines which scenes or shots are chosen from a repository to illustrate the desired storyline. The tool enables novice users to produce quality video montages in a simple and user-friendly manner that doesn't require professional video production and editing skills.

The team is set to present their work at ACM SIGGRAPH Asia, held Nov. 17 to 20 in Brisbane, Australia. SIGGRAPH Asia, now in its 12th year, attracts the most respected technical and creative people from around the world in computer graphics, animation, interactivity, gaming, and emerging technologies.

While existing video editing tools still demand knowledge in video processing and editing, the researchers' new method allows novices to create videos that tell stories more naturally. Write-A-Video, say the researchers, allows users to create a video montage by simply editing the text that accompanies the video. For example, adding or deleting text, and moving sentences around convert to video-editing operations, such as finding corresponding shots, cutting and rearranging shots, and creating a final video montage result.

"Write-A-Video uses current advances in automatic video understanding and a unique user interface to allow more natural and simpler video creation," says Professor Ariel Shamir, Dean of the Efi Arazi School of Computer Science at IDC Herzliya. "With our tool, the user provides input mostly in the form of editing of text. The tool automatically searches for semantically matching candidate shots from a video repository, and then uses an optimization method to assemble the video montage by cutting and reordering the shots automatically."

"Write-A-Video also allows users to explore visual styles for each scene using cinematographic idioms generating, for example, faster or slower paced movies, less or more content movements, etc." explains Dr. Miao Wang from Beihang University.

When selecting candidate shots from the video repository, the method also considers the aesthetic appeal of the shots, choosing those that are ideally lit, that are well focused and are not blurry or unstable. "At any point, the user can render the movie and preview the video montage result with an accompanying voice-over narration." says Professor Shi-Min Hu from Tsinghua University.

The team's research shows that intelligent digital tools combining the abilities of humans and algorithms together can assist users in the creative process. "Our work demonstrates the potential of automatic visual-semantic matching in idiom-based computational editing, offering an intelligent way to make video creation more accessible to non-professionals," says Shamir.

For the study, the approach was tested on various pieces of themed text and video repositories, with quantitative evaluation and user studies. Users without any video editing experience could produce satisfactory videos using the Write-A-Video tool, sometimes even faster than professionals utilizing frame-based editing software. At SIGGRAPH Asia, the team will demonstrate the Write-A-Video application and showcase a variety of examples of text-to-video productions.

Short-term increases in sugar consumption could increase the risk of inflammatory bowel disease and have a significant impact on our health, a new study out of the University of Alberta suggests.

In a study published in Scientific Reports, U of A researchers found that mice had an increased susceptibility to chemically induced colitis and more severe symptoms after only two days of a high-sugar diet compared with those eating a balanced diet.

Karen Madsen, who specializes in diet and its effects on inflammatory bowel disease, said the results echo what many patients with colitis have been saying for a long time: small changes in their diet can make their symptoms flare up.

"It's been previously shown that the type of diet that you are on can change your susceptibility to disease," said Madsen, who led the new study.

"We wanted to know how long it takes before a change in diet translates into an impact on health. In the case of sugar and colitis, it only took two days, which was really surprising to us. We didn't think it would happen so quickly."

What could drive such a significant change in such a short time? It turns out it's all about gut bacteria and the impact food has on them.

Fibre-rich foods act as fuel for the "good" bacteria that live in the gut and produce short-chain fatty acids, which are critical for an efficient immune response. Eating high-sugar diets and decreasing intake of fibre feeds "bad" microbes, such as E. coli, that are associated with inflammation and a defective immune response.

Madsen's study showed that the mice on the high-sugar diet had greater intestinal tissue damage and a defective immune response. These problems were alleviated when their diet was supplemented with short-chain fatty acids normally produced by good bacteria.

"Surprisingly, our study shows that short-term sugar consumption can really have a detrimental impact, and so this idea that it's OK to eat well all week and indulge in junk food on the weekend is flawed," Madsen explained.

Followup studies could pave the way to possibly using short-chain fatty acids as dietary supplements, she noted.

"Changing someone's diet is one of the hardest things to do, even if you tell them that it will fix their health problems," she said.

"People want to eat what they want to eat, so short-chain fatty acids could possibly be used as supplements to help protect people against the detrimental effects of sugar on inflammatory bowel disease."

Madsen and her colleagues also showed that just two days on the high-sugar diet and the absence of short-chain fatty acids caused an increase in gut permeability, opening interesting avenues of research on how diet may affect the bacteria in our gastrointestinal tract and brain health.

"There is an increasing amount of evidence that suggests there's a link between the bacteria present in our gut and neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's and Parkinson's," explained Madsen.

"Because our study showed that gut permeability increased quite dramatically in the mice on the high-sugar diet--which means that bacterial products are free to move from the gut, where they normally stay, to the rest of the body--it raises the possibility that this phenomenon might be driving these diseases, but this needs to be looked into."