Effects of two types of numerical problems on the emotions experienced in adults and in 9-year-old children.

It is widely acknowledged that emotions and cognition are closely related, and that negative emotions are detrimental on school achievement, especially on mathematical performance. On the other hand, positive emotions have a positive impact on motivation and cognitive abilities underlying the learning processes. Nevertheless, studies about the effects of experienced emotions on problem solving, a specific type of mathematical activity, are sparse.

The Role of Macrophages in Oral Squamous Cell Carcinoma.

Oral cancer is a common malignancy worldwide, with high disease-related death rates. Oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) accounts for more than 90% of oral tumors, with surgical management remaining the treatment of choice. However, advanced and metastatic OSCC is still incurable.

Anthropometrics at birth and risk of a primary central nervous system tumour: A systematic review and meta-analysis.

Background: The aetiology of primary central nervous system (CNS) tumours remains largely unknown, but their childhood peak points to perinatal parameters as tentative risk factors. In this meta-analysis, we opted to quantitatively synthesise published evidence on the association between birth anthropometrics and risk of primary CNS tumour.

Methods: Eligible studies were identified via systematic literature review; random-effects meta-analyses were conducted for the effect of birth weight and size-for-gestational-age on childhood and adult primary CNS tumours; subgroup, sensitivity, meta-regression and dose-response by birth weight category analyses were also performed.

Incidence, time trends and survival patterns of childhood pilocytic astrocytomas in Southern-Eastern Europe and SEER, US.

Pilocytic astrocytomas (PA) comprise the most common childhood central nervous system (CNS) tumor. Exploiting registry-based data from Southern and Eastern Europe (SEE) and SEER, US, we opted to examine incidence, time trends, survival and tentative outcome disparities of childhood PA by sociodemographic and clinical features. Childhood PA were retrieved from 12 SEE registries (N = 552; 1983-2014) and SEER (N = 2723; 1973-2012).

Age at menopause and duration of reproductive period in association with dementia and cognitive function: A systematic review and meta-analysis.

Introduction: The preponderance of dementia among postmenopausal women compared with same-age men and the female sex hormones neuroprotective properties support a tentative role of their deficiency in the dementia pathogenesis.

Methods: Pairs of independent reviewers screened 12,323 publications derived from a search strategy for MEDLINE to identify articles investigating the association of age at menopause/reproductive period with (i) dementia and (ii) cognitive function; a snowball of eligible articles and reviews was conducted and authors were contacted for additional information. Random-effect models were used for the meta-analysis.

Blood Pressure and All-Cause Mortality by Level of Cognitive Function in the Elderly: Results From a Population-Based Study in Rural Greece.

This study aimed to investigate whether the effect of blood pressure (BP) on mortality differs by levels of cognitive function. The associations of brachial systolic BP, diastolic BP, mean arterial pressure (MAP), and pulse pressure with all-cause mortality were prospectively explored (follow-up 7.0±2.

Comorbidity of Cognitive Impairment and Late-Life Depression Increase Mortality: Results From a Cohort of Community-Dwelling Elderly Individuals in Rural Greece.

Objective: To investigate the association of cognitive impairment (COGI) and depression with all-cause mortality and cardiovascular-specific mortality among community-dwelling elderly individuals in rural Greece.

Methods: Cognition and depressive symptomatology of 676 Velestino town residents aged ≥60 years were assessed using Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) and Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS), respectively. Eight-year all-cause mortality and cardiovascular mortality were explored by multivariate Cox regression models controlling for major confounders.

Association of Age at Menopause and Duration of Reproductive Period With Depression After Menopause: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis.

Importance: Estrogens have neuroprotective and antidepressive effects; however, associations between indices of reduced endogenous estrogens and risk for postmenopausal depression have not been systematically explored.

Objective: To investigate the association of age at menopause and the duration of the reproductive period with the risk for depression among postmenopausal women with naturally occurring menopause.

Data Sources: A search strategy for use of MEDLINE was developed (through January 1, 2015) using the key terms menopause, climacteric, reproductive period, depression, and mood disorders.

Next generation sequencing of SNPs for non-invasive prenatal diagnosis: challenges and feasibility as illustrated by an application to β-thalassaemia.

β-Thalassaemia is one of the most common autosomal recessive single-gene disorder worldwide, with a carrier frequency of 12% in Cyprus. Prenatal tests for at risk pregnancies use invasive methods and development of a non-invasive prenatal diagnostic (NIPD) method is of paramount importance to prevent unnecessary risks inherent to invasive methods. Here, we describe such a method by assessing a modified version of next generation sequencing (NGS) using the Illumina platform, called 'targeted sequencing', based on the detection of paternally inherited fetal alleles in maternal plasma.