The impact of university STEM assets: A systematic review of the empirical evidence.

Background: Innovation ecosystems are an important driver of regional economic growth and development. STEM assets connected to universities may play an important role in such ecosystems.

Objective: To systematically review the literature relating to the effect of university STEM assets on regional economies and innovation ecosystems, providing a better understanding of how the impact is generated and constrained, as well as identifying any gaps in knowledge.

Development of Nylon 6 nanofibers modified with Cyanex-272 for cobalt recovery.

With a worldwide ever increasing demand for metals, particularly for the manufacture of electronics and batteries, there is not only a concurrent need to recover these materials from their subsequent waste streams but also a need to make advancements to do this via development of more efficient and eco-friendly processes for metal recovery; solid-phase extraction can be considered a promising alternative to conventional processes. This work studied the production of novel nanofibers modified with Cyanex 272 and their application in the recovery of cobalt present in aqueous solution The nanofibers produced by forcespinning were characterized by SEM, FT-IR and TGA and the extraction of cobalt was evaluated by variation of the pH, solid:liquid (S:L) ratio, extraction time and Cyanex 272 content in the nanofibers. The best extraction efficiency was 99.

Additive effect of cerebral atrophy on cognition in dementia-free elderly with cerebrovascular disease.

Objective: To explore the additive effect of neurodegenerative diseases, measured by atrophy, on neurocognitive function in Asian dementia-free elderly with cerebrovascular disease (CeVD).

Methods: The present study employed a cross-sectional design and was conducted between 2010 and 2015 among community-dwelling elderly participants recruited into the study. Eligible participants were evaluated with an extensive neuropsychological battery and neuroimaging.

Super-cognition in aging: Cognitive profiles and associated lifestyle factors.

Previous research on older adults with superior cognitive abilities (super-cognition) has typically examined cognition using a single domain approach, which may not adequately capture the multidimensional nature of successful cognitive aging. Furthermore, the lifestyle factors associated with super-cognition have not been studied adequately. The current study examined the cognitive profiles and lifestyle factors associated with super-cognition.

The Clinical Utility of the TYM and RBANS in a One-Stop Memory Clinic in Singapore: A Pilot Study.

Background: We aimed to examine the discriminant validity of a brief self-administered cognitive screening test, the Test Your Memory (TYM) and a brief neuropsychological test, the Repeatable Battery for the Assessment of Neuropsychological Status (RBANS), supplemented with executive and language tests (Color Trail Test [CTT] and modified Boston Naming Test [mBNT], respectively), in detecting cognitive impairment (CI) in a one-stop memory clinic in Singapore.

Methods: Ninety patients ≥50 years old with a diagnosis of no cognitive impairment, mild cognitive impairment, and mild Alzheimer disease were recruited from memory clinic. They received the TYM, Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE), Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA), RBANS, CTT, mBNT, and a gold-standard formal neuropsychological test battery.

Mild Cognitive Impairment Reversion and Progression: Rates and Predictors in Community-Living Older Persons in the Singapore Longitudinal Ageing Studies Cohort.

Background: Studies report varying rates and predictors of mild cognitive impairment (MCI) progression and reversion.

Methods: We determined MCI reversion and progression among 473 community-living adults aged ≥55 years in the Singapore Longitudinal Ageing Study with an average of 6 years of follow-up and estimated association with baseline variables.

Results: A total of 208 MCI participants reverted to normal cognition (44.

Dynamic Reorganization of Functional Connectivity Reveals Abnormal Temporal Efficiency in Schizophrenia.

Emerging evidence suggests that schizophrenia is associated with brain dysconnectivity. Nonetheless, the implicit assumption of stationary functional connectivity (FC) adopted in most previous resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) studies raises an open question of schizophrenia-related aberrations in dynamic properties of resting-state FC. This study introduces an empirical method to examine the dynamic functional dysconnectivity in patients with schizophrenia.

Elucidation of shared and specific white matter findings underlying psychopathology clusters in schizophrenia.

Background: Schizophrenia is associated with diverse white matter (WM) brain abnormalities. In this study, we sought to examine the WM microstructural findings which underlie clinical psychopathology clusters in schizophrenia and hypothesized that these symptom clusters are associated with common and unique WM tracts.

Methods: Overall, 76 healthy controls (HC), and 148 patients with schizophrenia (SZ) were recruited and severity of symptomatology in schizophrenia was assessed using the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale.

Disrupted latent inhibition in individuals at ultra high-risk for developing psychosis.

The addition of off-the-shelf cognitive measures to established prodromal criteria has resulted in limited improvement in the prediction of conversion to psychosis. Tests that assess cognitive processes central to schizophrenia might better identify those at highest risk. The latent inhibition paradigm assesses a subject's tendency to ignore irrelevant stimuli, a process integral to healthy perceptual and cognitive function that has been hypothesized to be a key deficit underlying the development of schizophrenia.

Modular-level alterations of structure-function coupling in schizophrenia connectome.

Convergent evidences have revealed that schizophrenia is associated with brain dysconnectivity, which leads to abnormal network organization. However, discrepancies were apparent between the structural connectivity (SC) and functional connectivity (FC) studies, and the relationship between structural and functional deficits in schizophrenia remains largely unknown. In this study, resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging and structural diffusion tensor imaging were performed in 20 patients with schizophrenia and 20 matched healthy volunteers (patients/controls = 19/17 after head motion rejection).

The Diagnostic Utility of the NINDS-CSN Neuropsychological Battery in Memory Clinics.

Aims: To examine the diagnostic utility of the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke and the Canadian Stroke Network (NINDS-CSN) neuropsychological battery in memory clinics comparing controls with patients with no cognitive impairment (NCI), patients with cognitive impairment-no dementia (CIND) at varying severity levels (mild/moderate), and patients with dementia.

Methods: A total of 405 participants with NCI, CIND or dementia were assessed with the NINDS-CSN battery. The discriminatory properties of all three protocols (5, 30 and 60 min) before and after education stratification (none/primary vs.

Depressive symptoms moderate the relationship between sleep quality and cognitive functions among the elderly.

Objective: The co-occurrence of sleep problems, cognitive impairment, and depression among the elderly suggests that these three conditions are likely to be interrelated. Recent findings suggest that depressive symptoms moderate the relationship between sleep problems and cognitive impairment in elderly people but methodological problems have led to inconsistent conclusions. The present study aims to better understand the relationship between sleep quality, depressive symptoms, and cognitive function.

Validation of the Total Cerebrovascular Disease Burden Scale in a Community Sample.

Background: A total cerebrovascular disease (CeVD) burden scale was previously constructed and an inverse association of CeVD burden and cognition was found. However, the generalizability of the CeVD scale has not been examined.

Objective: The objective was to validate the previously constructed total CeVD burden scale by establishing its association with cognitive function and dementia diagnosis in a community sample.

Physical Frailty, Cognitive Impairment, and the Risk of Neurocognitive Disorder in the Singapore Longitudinal Ageing Studies.

Background: The independent and combined effects of physical and cognitive domains of frailty in predicting the development of mild cognitive impairment (MCI) or dementia are not firmly established.

Methods: This study included cross-sectional and longitudinal analyses of physical frailty (Cardiovascular Health Study criteria), cognitive impairment (Mini-Mental State Examination [MMSE]), and neurocognitive disorder (DSM-5 criteria) among 1,575 community-living Chinese older adults from the Singapore Longitudinal Ageing Studies.

Results: At baseline, 2% were frail, 32% were prefrail, and 9% had cognitive impairment (MMSE score < 23).

Metabolic Syndrome and the Risk of Mild Cognitive Impairment and Progression to Dementia: Follow-up of the Singapore Longitudinal Ageing Study Cohort.

Importance: The association of the metabolic syndrome (MetS) and component cardiovascular risk factors with the risk of developing mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and MCI progression to dementia is not well established.

Objective: To investigate the association of the MetS and its component cardiovascular risk factors with the incidence of MCI and its progression to dementia.

Design, Setting, And Participants: Prospective longitudinal study from September 1, 2003, through December 31, 2009, in communities in 5 districts in the South East region of Singapore.

Insomnia and daytime neuropsychological test performance in older adults.

Objectives/background: There is good documentation of the impact of insomnia on daytime cognitive function based on self-reports, but not on neuropsychological test performance. The study investigated the association of difficulty initiating sleep (DIS), difficulty maintaining sleep (DMS), and early morning awakening (EMA) complaints with daytime domain-specific neuropsychological performance in older adults.

Participants/methods: Participants were 859 older adults (mean 71.

Disruption of brain anatomical networks in schizophrenia: A longitudinal, diffusion tensor imaging based study.

Despite convergent neuroimaging evidence indicating a wide range of brain abnormalities in schizophrenia, our understanding of alterations in the topological architecture of brain anatomical networks and how they are modulated over time, is still rudimentary. Here, we employed graph theoretical analysis of longitudinal diffusion tensor imaging data (DTI) over a 5-year period to investigate brain network topology in schizophrenia and its relationship with clinical manifestations of the illness. Using deterministic tractography, weighted brain anatomical networks were constructed from 31 patients experiencing schizophrenia and 28 age- and gender-matched healthy control subjects.

The Minimum Clinically Important Difference in the Repeatable Battery for the Assessment of Neuropsychological Status.

Objective: There is no established minimum clinically important difference (MCID) for the Repeatable Battery for the Assessment of Neuropsychological Status (RBANS) index and total scale scores. This study aimed to estimate the MCID for the RBANS index scores and total scale score.

Method: Participants included 1,856 ethnic Chinese, older adults.

Reduced Hemispheric Asymmetry of Brain Anatomical Networks Is Linked to Schizophrenia: A Connectome Study.

Despite convergent evidence indicating a variety of regional abnormalities of hemispheric asymmetry in schizophrenia, patterns of wider neural network asymmetry remain to be determined. In this study, we investigated alterations in hemispheric white matter topology in schizophrenia and their association with clinical manifestations of the illness. Weighted hemispheric brain anatomical networks were constructed for each of 116 right-handed patients with schizophrenia and 66 matched healthy participants.

Association of Magnetic Resonance Imaging Markers of Cerebrovascular Disease Burden and Cognition.

Background And Purpose: The present study sought to examine the association between the burden of cerebrovascular disease (CeVD) as assessed by multimodal magnetic resonance imaging and neurocognitive function.

Methods: Cognitively impaired patients and controls were tested on an extensive neuropsychological battery and underwent multimodal brain magnetic resonance imaging. CeVD markers determined from magnetic resonance imaging included the presence of multiple lacunes, multiple cerebral microbleeds, and moderate or severe white matter hyperintensities as markers for small-vessel disease and cortical stroke and intracranial stenosis as markers for large-vessel disease.

The Equivalence and Difference between the English and Chinese Language Versions of the Repeatable Battery for the Assessment of Neuropsychological Status.

Objective: Chinese is the most commonly spoken language in the world. The availability of Chinese translations of assessment scales is useful for research in multi-ethnic and multinational studies. This study aimed to establish whether each of the Chinese translations (Mandarin, Hokkien, Teochew, and Cantonese) of the Repeatable Battery for the Assessment of Neuropsychological Status (RBANS) achieved measurement equivalence to the English version.

Progressive gender differences of structural brain networks in healthy adults: a longitudinal, diffusion tensor imaging study.

Sexual dimorphism in the brain maturation during childhood and adolescence has been repeatedly documented, which may underlie the differences in behaviors and cognitive performance. However, our understanding of how gender modulates the development of structural connectome in healthy adults is still not entirely clear. Here we utilized graph theoretical analysis of longitudinal diffusion tensor imaging data over a five-year period to investigate the progressive gender differences of brain network topology.

Montreal Cognitive Assessment for screening mild cognitive impairment: variations in test performance and scores by education in Singapore.

Background: The Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA) was developed as a screening instrument for mild cognitive impairment (MCI). We evaluated the MoCA's test performance by educational groups among older Singaporean Chinese adults.

Method: The MoCA and Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) were evaluated in two independent studies (clinic-based sample and community-based sample) of MCI and normal cognition (NC) controls, using receiver operating characteristic curve analyses: area under the curve (AUC), sensitivity (Sn), and specificity (Sp).

Normative data for the repeatable battery for the assessment of neuropsychological status in elderly Chinese.

Asia will experience a surge in dementia prevalence within the next 20-40 years, but there is a dearth of well-normed neuropsychological tests that could assist with dementia diagnosis. Here, we report normative data for the Repeatable Battery for the Assessment of Neuropsychological Status (RBANS) in Elderly ethnic Chinese Singaporeans aged 55-91 years of age. A total of 1,165 male and female community-dwelling, cognitively normal elderly Chinese persons in Singapore, with varying levels of education and range of languages, were tested with the RBANS version A.

The continuous performance test, identical pairs: norms, reliability and performance in healthy controls and patients with schizophrenia in Singapore.

Aim: To provide normative values for the healthy ethnic Chinese Singaporean population and a large sample of patients with schizophrenia for the Continuous Performance Task-Identical Pairs (CPT-IP). Participants Data were collected on 1011 healthy ethnic Chinese and 654 patients diagnosed with schizophrenia, all between 21 and 55 years of age.

Methods: Data were stratified by age and gender.