Components of Empathy in Children: Factor Structure of the Empathy Quotient for Children (EQ-C).

Empathy is multifaceted, involving sharing and understanding the emotional and mental states of others. This study investigated the factor structure of the English-language version of the Empathy Quotient for Children (EQ-C; Auyeung et al., 2009), an empathy measure previously well-validated only as a global scale.

Simulation of solar photocatalytic reactor with immobilized photocatalyst for degradation of pharmaceutical pollutants.

This study focuses on the simulation of a solar photocatalytic reactor with linear parabolic reflectors and continuous fluid flow. The simulation approach was initially validated against experimental data reported by Miranda-Garcia et al. Catal Today 151:107-113 (2010), yielding a high degree of accuracy of approximately 0.

Weak non-linearities of amorphous polymer under creep in the vicinity of the glass transition.

The creep behavior of an amorphous poly(etherimide) polymer is investigated in the vicinity of its glass transition in a weakly non linear regime where the acceleration of the creep response is driven by local configurational rearrangements. From the time shifts of the creep compliance curves under stresses from 1 to 15 MPa and in the temperature range between and , where is the glass transition temperature, we determine a macroscopic acceleration factor. The macroscopic acceleration is shown to vary as temperature with , where is the macroscopic stress and Y is a decreasing function of compliance.

High-resolution awake mouse fMRI at 14 tesla.

High-resolution awake mouse functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) remains challenging despite extensive efforts to address motion-induced artifacts and stress. This study introduces an implantable radio frequency (RF) surface coil design that minimizes image distortion caused by the air/tissue interface of mouse brains while simultaneously serving as a headpost for fixation during scanning. Furthermore, this study provides a thorough acclimation method used to accustom animals to the MRI environment minimizing motion-induced artifacts.

Biomarkers.

Background: The Amyloid-Tau-Neurodegeneration (ATN) biomarker framework for Alzheimer's disease (AD) indicates binary (presence/absence) designations for each type of pathology, without regard for anatomical distribution. Neurodegeneration is designated as positive if atrophy or hypometabolism are found on imaging. However, Clifford Jack et al.

Biomarkers.

Background: New generation PET scanners achieve superior resolution and sensitivity, but the implications on beta amyloid (Aβ) quantitation are not well understood. The Centiloid (CL) scale (Klunk et al., 2015) was introduced to promote consistent Aβ burden quantification across different positron emission tomography (PET) tracers and quantification pipelines, but was not intended to control for hardware or reconstruction changes.

Biomarkers.

Background: The choroid plexus (ChP) plays a vital role in CSF production and waste clearance. While existing imaging studies have established connections between ChP volume changes and age-related neurodegenerative diseases, a comprehensive investigation into the microstructural and vascular changes associated with aging remains insufficient. This study aims to explore ChP changes in normal aging using diffusion and perfusion MRI in the HCP-Aging dataset to enhance our understanding of age-related microstructural and vascular changes in the ChP.

Biomarkers.

Background: Amyloid related imaging abnormalities (ARIA), a group of neuropathological features seen in anti-amyloid immunotherapy patients, arises partly from CAA (Aβ buildup in blood vessels). Squirrel monkeys (SQMs), developing prominent age-related CAA exceeding brain Aβ, offer a unique NHP model for ARIA study. Evaluating edema-related neurobiological defects (ARIA-E) involves preferential use of T-weighted (T-w) and flow-attenuated inversion recovery (FLAIR) MRI while T*-weighted (T*-w) MRI is better suited for investigating iron-related pathology like microbleeds, hemorrhaging, and iron-homing in plaques.

Biomarkers.

Background: Diffusion tensor imaging along perivascular spaces index (DTI-ALPS), which measures diffusivity increases in the perivascular spaces along the medullary veins, is being increasingly utilized as a surrogate marker of glymphatic clearance (Taoka et. al. Jpn J Radio 2017).

Biomarkers.

Background: Alzheimer's Disease (AD) has a long preclinical stage, in which brain metabolic alterations precede the symptoms onset. Therefore, an early and proper diagnosis of AD is essential for prevention and therapeutic evaluation. Current diagnosis and staging procedures rely on neuroimaging techniques, such as positron emission tomography (PET), which require intensity normalization to ensure the correct interpretation of the data.

Biomarkers.

Background: Several studies have investigated the link between sleep disturbances and allostatic load (AL), but the results are varied, and less is known about the associations in clinical samples. The goal of this study is to assess the associations between sleep disturbances and AL among memory clinic participants, and to examine differences according to sex, beta-amyloid status and history of burnout status.

Method: The study was based on 146 memory clinic participants diagnosed with either Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI) or Subjective Cognitive Impairment (SCI) in the Cortisol and Stress in Alzheimer's Disease Study (Co-STAR) (Sweden).

Biomarkers.

Background: Chronic exposition to stressor factors has been postulated as a cause of structural changes in the brain in the context of dementia. One of these changes can be the fiber integrity loss, that can be measured by diffusion tensor imaging (DTI). We obtained DTI whole brain metrics to relate them with allostatic load in subjects of a chilean cohort of cognitive complaint subjects.

Biomarkers.

Background: Recent research by Da et al. (2023) has demonstrated that non-invasive gamma sensory stimulation can reduce brain white matter atrophy and myelin content loss. The impact on the Corpus Callosum (CC), the brain's largest commissural white matter tract essential for hemispheric connectivity, remains unexplored.

Biomarkers.

Background: Post-COVID cognitive dysfunctions, impacting attention, memory, and learning, might be linked to inflammation-induced blood-brain barrier (BBB) impairment. This study explores post-COVID BBB permeability changes using a non-contrast water-exchange based MRI and their associations with blood Alzheimer's biomarkers.

Method: Sixty-seven participants were classified based on COVID (COV) and cognitive (COG) statuses into three groups: COV+/COG- (n=34), COV+/COG+ (n=23), and COV- (n=10) for comparisons (COV+: Laboratory-verified SARS-CoV-2 infection; COV-: No history of SARS-CoV-2 infection and negative SARS-CoV-2 nucleocapsid antibody test.

Biomarkers.

Background: COVID-19 can course with persistent symptoms after infection in a condition called long Covid (NATH, 2020). In this context, cognitive complaints, sleep disorders, headache, smell disorders, in addition to anxiety and depression are common (DELGADO-ALONSO et al, 2022; ISMAEL et al, 2021.).

Biomarkers.

Background: Use of the supratentorial white matter (sWM) as a reference region for amyloid PET, alone or in a composite, can facilitate the detection of subtle changes in amyloid load (Wong et al., 2010; Landau et al., 2015).

Biomarkers.

Background: Fluid biomarkers represent an informative and cost-effective way to detect and monitor Alzheimer's disease (AD). However, as we recently showed, the overall proteome average in CSF exhibits a non-disease related average signal (inter-individual variability), which can reduce the precision of concentration based CSF AD biomarkers. Now, we therefore investigate if several already high performing CSF and plasma AD biomarkers can be improved by normalizing their concentration to a reference protein (e.

Biomarkers.

Background: Chronic exposure to stress, quantified by allostatic load (AL), has been postulated as a cause of structural brain changes in the context of dementia. White matter hyperintensities (WMH), detected in MRI FLAIR, are a common brain abnormality representing small vessel disease or degenerative changes in the brain. Here, we studied differences in tract-specific WMH volume across three risk levels of AL in Chilean subjects with cognitive complaint, to explore links between chronic stress exposure and prodromal steps of dementia.

Biomarkers.

Background: In the face of increasing Mild Cognitive Impairment(MCI) and Dementia rates among aging populations, understanding the factors shaping the non-normal cognitive decline is crucial. Leveraging the Clinical Dementia Rating (CDR) data, this study has a dual focus. (1) It utilizes CDR to aid early MCI diagnosis by investigating factors contributing to transition from Questionable- to Low- AD.

Biomarkers.

Background: The exact mechanism underlying amyloid-related imaging abnormalities (ARIA) is unknown. Several factors explain ARIA risk, including the presence of microbleeds, APOE4 carriership, and very low Aβ42 levels. The cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) proteome reflects ongoing mechanisms and, thereby, provides an accessible fluid to refine risk of ARIA development.

Biomarkers.

Background: Alzheimer's disease (AD) is associated with substantial synaptic loss potentially due to synaptotoxicity of fibrillar tau, but the association between tau deposition and synaptic loss remains unclear. Based on previous observations that pathology spreads preferentially between closely connected regions, we tested in the current multi-PET tracer study the hypothesis that synaptic loss propagates to regions closely connected to epicenters of high tau accumulation.

Method: We assessed 18F-SynVesT-1 PET as a measure of synaptic vesicle glycoprotein 2A (SV2A), and 18F-flortaucipir tau-PET in fourty-five 18F-florbetapir-PET-positive (Aβ+) subjects with MCI or AD dementia, and 23 cognitivly normal (CN) Aβ- controls.

Biomarkers.

Background: As new anti-amyloid immunotherapies emerge for Alzheimer's disease (AD), it is clear that early diagnosis of AD pathology is crucial for treatment success. This can be challenging in atypical presentations of AD and, together with our reliance on CSF or PET scans, can, at times, lead to delayed diagnosis. Here, we further explore the possible role of plasma tau phosphorylated at threonine 217 (P-tau217) for the detection of primary AD or AD co-pathology when frontotemporal dementia spectrum disorders are the main clinical presentation.

Biomarkers.

Background: The detection and monitoring of Alzheimer's disease (AD) biomarkers in plasma are crucial for early diagnosis and prognosis. However, the stability of plasma AD biomarkers can be compromised by the degradation caused by endogenous proteases present in blood. The efficacy of protease inhibitors in mitigating this degradation is yet to be established.

Biomarkers.

Background: With global dementia prevalence estimated to reach 139 million by 2050, early detection of dementia-causing diseases is crucial for promoting preventative interventions. Wearable technologies have the potential to detect early signs; however, they need to be acceptable amongst users. We explored user's perspectives on the acceptability of wearable devices.