An ecological measure to screen executive functioning in MS: the Picture Interpretation Test (PIT) 360°.

Executive functions are crucial for performance of everyday activities. In Multiple Sclerosis (MS), executive dysfunctions can be apparent from the early onset of the disease. Technology-based time-efficient and resource-saving tools for early evaluation of executive functions using an ecological approach are needed to assess functional performance in real-life.

Picture Interpretation Test (PIT) 360°: An Innovative Measure of Executive Functions.

The assessment of executive functions poses researchers with several challenges related to both the complexity of the construct of executive functions itself and/or the methodological difficulties related to its evaluation. The main objective of the current study was to evaluate a 360° version of an ecologically valid assessment called the Picture Interpretation Test (PIT). Participants included 19 patients with Parkinson's disease (PD) and 19 healthy controls.

Measuring absolute frequencies beyond the GPS limit via long-haul optical frequency dissemination.

Global Positioning System (GPS) dissemination of frequency standards is ubiquitous at present, providing the most widespread time and frequency reference for the majority of industrial and research applications worldwide. On the other hand, the ultimate limits of the GPS presently curb further advances in high-precision, scientific and industrial applications relying on this dissemination scheme. Here, we demonstrate that these limits can be reliably overcome even in laboratories without a local atomic clock by replacing the GPS with a 642-km-long optical fiber link to a remote primary caesium frequency standard.