[Evaluation of memory in acquired brain injury: a comparison between the Wechsler Memory Scale and the Rivermead Behaviour Memory Test].

PubMed

Guinea-Hidalgo, A; Luna-Lario, P; Tirapu-Ustárroz, J

Learning processes and memory are frequently compromised in acquired brain injury (ABI), while at the same time such involvement is often heterogeneous and a source of deficits in other cognitive capacities and significant functional limitations. A good neuropsychological evaluation of memory is designed to study not only the type, intensity and nature of the problems, but also the way they manifest in daily life. This study examines the correlation between a traditional memory test, the Wechsler Memory Scale-III (WMS-III), and a memory test that is considered to be functional, the Rivermead Behavioural Memory Test (RBMT), in a sample of 60 patients with ABI. All the correlations that were observed were moderate. Greater correlations were found among the verbal memory subtests than among the visual memory tests. An important number of subjects with below-normal scalar scores on the WMS-III correctly performed (either fully or partially) the corresponding test in the RBMT. The joint use of the WMS-III and RBMT in evaluation can provide a more comprehensive analysis of the memory deficits and their rehabilitation. The lower scores obtained in the WMS-III compared to those of the RBMT indicate greater sensitivity of the former. Nevertheless, further testing needs to be carried out in the future to compare the performance in the tests after the patients and those around them have subjectively assessed their functional limitations. This would make it possible to determine which of the two tests offers the best balance between sensitivity and specificity, as well as a higher predictive value.

Test Review: Advanced Clinical Solutions for WAIS-IV and WMS-IV

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Chu, Yiting; Lai, Mark H. C.; Xu, Yining; Zhou, Yuanyuan

2012-01-01

The authors review the "Advanced Clinical Solutions for WAIS-IV and WMS-IV". The "Advanced Clinical Solutions (ACS) for the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale-Fourth Edition" (WAIS-IV; Wechsler, 2008) and the "Wechsler Memory Scale-Fourth Edition" (WMS-IV; Wechsler, 2009) was published by Pearson in 2009. It is a…

Receiver Operating Characteristic Curve Analysis of Wechsler Memory Scale-Revised Scores in Epilepsy Surgery Candidates.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Barr, William B.

1997-01-01

Wechsler Memory Scale-Revised (WMS-R) scores were analyzed for 82 epilepsy surgery candidates and used in combination with receiver operating characteristic curves to classify patients with left (LTL) and right (RTL) temporal lobe seizure onset. Results indicate that WMS-R scores used alone or in combination provide relatively poor discrimination…

Tai Chi Chuan and Baduanjin Increase Grey Matter Volume in Older Adults: A Brain Imaging Study.

PubMed

Tao, Jing; Liu, Jiao; Liu, Weilin; Huang, Jia; Xue, Xiehua; Chen, Xiangli; Wu, Jinsong; Zheng, Guohua; Chen, Bai; Li, Ming; Sun, Sharon; Jorgenson, Kristen; Lang, Courtney; Hu, Kun; Chen, Shanjia; Chen, Lidian; Kong, Jian

2017-01-01

The aim of this study is to investigate and compare how 12-weeks of Tai Chi Chuan and Baduanjin exercise can modulate brain structure and memory function in older adults. Magnetic resonance imaging and memory function measurements (Wechsler Memory Scale-Chinese revised, WMS-CR) were applied at both the beginning and end of the study. Results showed that both Tai Chi Chuan and Baduanjin could significantly increase grey matter volume (GMV) in the insula, medial temporal lobe, and putamen after 12-weeks of exercise. No significant differences were observed in GMV between the Tai Chi Chuan and Baduanjin groups. We also found that compared to healthy controls, Tai Chi Chuan and Baduanjin significantly improved visual reproduction subscores on the WMS-CR. Baduanjin also improved mental control, recognition, touch, and comprehension memory subscores of the WMS-CR compared to the control group. Memory quotient and visual reproduction subscores were both associated with GMV increases in the putamen and hippocampus. Our results demonstrate the potential of Tai Chi Chuan and Baduanjin exercise for the prevention of memory deficits in older adults.

Education-stratified base-rate information on discrepancy scores within and between the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale--Third Edition and the Wechsler Memory Scale--Third Edition.

PubMed

Dori, Galit A; Chelune, Gordon J

2004-06-01

The Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale--Third Edition (WAIS-III; D. Wechsler, 1997a) and the Wechsler Memory Scale--Third Edition (WMS-III; D. Wechsler, 1997b) are 2 of the most frequently used measures in psychology and neuropsychology. To facilitate the diagnostic use of these measures in the clinical decision-making process, this article provides information on education-stratified, directional prevalence rates (i.e., base rates) of discrepancy scores between the major index scores for the WAIS-III, the WMS-III, and between the WAIS-III and WMS-III. To illustrate how such base-rate data can be clinically used, this article reviews the relative risk (i.e., odds ratio) of empirically defined "rare" cognitive deficits in 2 of the clinical samples presented in the WAIS-III--WMS-III Technical Manual (The Psychological Corporation, 1997). ((c) 2004 APA, all rights reserved)

Material-specific retroactive interference effects of the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale-Fourth Edition on the Wechsler Memory Scale-Fourth Edition in a nonclinical sample.

PubMed

Ingram, Nicolette S; Diakoumakos, Jessica V; Sinclair, Erin R; Crowe, Simon F

2016-01-01

This study investigated proactive and retroactive interference effects between the Wechsler Memory Scale-Fourth Edition (WMS-IV) using the flexible approach, and the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale-Fourth Edition (WAIS-IV). One hundred and eighty nonclinical participants were assigned to a four (visual interference, verbal interference, visual and verbal interference, vs. no interference) by two (retroactive vs. proactive) between-subjects design. The administration order of the tests was counterbalanced (i.e., administration of the WAIS-IV prior to the WMS-IV, and the WAIS-IV administered during the delay interval of the WMS-IV). The WAIS-IV produced significant retroactive interference effects on the WMS-IV; however, no proactive interference effect was observed. The retroactive interference effect was dependent on material specificity. The results indicate that material presented within the delay of the WMS-IV can have a significant effect on subsequent delayed recall. Clinicians should carefully consider the effects associated with carry-over effects of these tests when using them in combination.

WAIS-III FSIQ and GAI in ability-memory discrepancy analysis.

PubMed

Glass, Laura A; Bartels, Jared M; Ryan, Joseph J

2009-01-01

The present investigation compares WAIS-III FSIQ-WMS-III with GAI-WMS-III discrepancies in 135 male inpatients with suspected memory impairment. Full Scale IQ and GAI scores were highly correlated, r= .96, with mean values of 92.10 and 93.59, respectively. Additional analyses with the ability composites compared to each WMS-III index (IMI, GMI, and DMI), the GAI consistently produced larger difference scores than did the FSIQ; however, effect sizes were relatively small (ES= .12). Lastly, case-by-case analyses demonstrated concordance rates of 86% for the FSIQ-IMI and GAI-IMI comparisons, 85% for the FSIQ-GMI and GAI-GMI, and 82% for the FSIQ-DMI and GAI-DMI.

Visual reproduction subtest of the Wechsler Memory Scale-Revised: analysis of construct validity.

PubMed

Williams, M A; Rich, M A; Reed, L K; Jackson, W T; LaMarche, J A; Boll, T J

1998-11-01

This study assessed the construct validity of Visual Reproduction (VR) Cards A (Flags) and B (Boxes) from the original Wechsler Memory Scale (WMS) compared to Flags and Boxes from the revised edition of the WMS (WMS-R). Independent raters scored Flags and Boxes using both the original and revised scoring criteria and correlations were obtained with age, education, IQ, and four separate criterion memory measures. Results show that for Flags, there is a tendency for the revised scoring criteria to produce improved construct validity. For Boxes, however, there was a trend in the opposite direction, with the revised scoring criteria demonstrating worse construct validity. Factor analysis suggests that Flags are a more distinct measure of visual memory, whereas Boxes are more complex and significantly associated with conceptual reasoning abilities. Using the revised scoring criteria, Boxes were found to be more strongly related to IQ than Flags. This difference was not found using the original scoring criteria.

Tai Chi Chuan and Baduanjin increase grey matter volume in older adults: a brain imaging study

PubMed Central

Tao, Jing; Liu, Jiao; Liu, Weilin; Huang, Jia; Xue, Xiehua; Chen, Xiangli; Wu, Jinsong; Zheng, Guohua; Chen, Bai; Li, Ming; Sun, Sharon; Jorgenson, Kristen; Lang, Courtney; Hu, Kun; Chen, Shanjia; Chen, Lidian; Kong, Jian

2017-01-01

The aim of this study is to investigate and compare how 12-weeks of Tai Chi Chuan and Baduanjin exercise can modulate brain structure and memory function in older adults. Magnetic Resonance Imaging(MRI) and memory function measurements (Wechsler Memory Scale-Chinese revised, WMS-CR)were applied at both the beginning and end of the study. Results showed that both Tai Chi Chuan and Baduanjin could significantly increase grey matter volume (GMV) in the insula, medial temporal lobe (MTL), and putamen after 12-weeks of exercise. No significant differences were observed in grey matter volume (GMV) between the Tai Chi Chuan and Baduanjin groups. We also found that compared to healthy controls, Tai Chi Chuan and Baduanjin significantly improved visual reproduction subscores on the WMS-CR. Baduanjin also improved mental control, recognition, touch and comprehension memory subscores of the WMS-CR compared to the control group. Memory quotient (MQ)and visual reproduction subscores were both associated with GMV increases in the putamen and hippocampus. Our results demonstrate the potential of Tai Chi Chuan and Baduanjin exercise for the prevention of memory deficits in older adults. PMID:28869478

Cognitive psychopathology in Schizophrenia: Comparing memory performances with Obsessive-compulsive disorder patients and normal subjects on the Wechsler Memory Scale-IV.

PubMed

Cammisuli, Davide Maria; Sportiello, Marco Timpano

2016-06-01

Memory system turns out to be one of the cognitive domains most severely impaired in schizophrenia. Within the theoretical framework of cognitive psychopathology, we compared the performance of schizophrenia patients on the Wechsler Memory Scale-IV with that in matched patients with Obsessive-compulsive disorder and that in healthy control subjects to establish the specific nature of memory deficits in schizophrenia. 30 schizophrenia patients, 30 obsessive-compulsive disorder patients and 40 healthy controls completed the Wechsler Memory Scale-IV. Schizophrenia symptom severity was assessed by the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS). Performances on memory battery including Indexes and subtests scores were compared by a One-Way ANOVA (Scheffé post-hoc test). Spearman Rank correlations were performed between scores on PANSS subscales and symptoms and WMS-IV Indexes and subtests, respectively. Schizophrenia patients showed a memory profile characterized by mild difficulties in auditory memory and visual working memory and poor functioning of visual, immediate and delayed memory. As expected, schizophrenia patients scored lower than healthy controls on all WMS-IV measures. With regard to the WMS-IV Indexes, schizophrenia patients performed worse on Auditory Memory, Visual Memory, Immediate and Delayed Memory than Obsessive-compulsive disorder patients but not on Visual Working Memory. Such a pattern was made even clearer for specific tasks such as immediate and delayed recall and spatial recall and memory for visual details, as revealed by the lowest scores on Logical Memory (immediate and delayed conditions) and Designs (immediate condition) subtests, respectively. Significant negative correlations between Logical Memory I and II were found with PANSS Excitement symptom as well as between DE I and PANSS Tension symptom. Significant positive correlations between LM II and PANSS Blunted affect and Poor rapport symptoms as well as DE I and PANSS Blunted affect and Mannerism and Posturing symptoms, were found too. Memory damage observed in schizophrenia patients was more severe and wider than that of patients with obsessive-compulsive disorder, except for visual working memory. Memory dysfunction, mainly related to episodic memory damage and reduced efficiency of central executive, is intimately connected to the specific psychopathological processes characterizing schizophrenia. Implications for therapeutics and cognitive remediation techniques are discussed.

Effects of Delay Duration on the WMS Logical Memory Performance of Older Adults with Probable Alzheimer's Disease, Probable Vascular Dementia, and Normal Cognition.

PubMed

Montgomery, Valencia; Harris, Katie; Stabler, Anthony; Lu, Lisa H

2017-05-01

To examine how the duration of time delay between Wechsler Memory Scale (WMS) Logical Memory I and Logical Memory II (LM) affected participants' recall performance. There are 46,146 total Logical Memory administrations to participants diagnosed with either Alzheimer's disease (AD), vascular dementia (VaD), or normal cognition in the National Alzheimer's Disease Coordinating Center's Uniform Data Set. Only 50% of the sample was administered the standard 20-35 min of delay as specified by WMS-R and WMS-III. We found a significant effect of delay time duration on proportion of information retained for the VaD group compared to its control group, which remained after adding LMI raw score as a covariate. There was poorer retention of information with longer delay for this group. This association was not as strong for the AD and cognitively normal groups. A 24.5-min delay was most optimal for differentiating AD from VaD participants (47.7% classification accuracy), an 18.5-min delay was most optimal for differentiating AD versus normal participants (51.7% classification accuracy), and a 22.5-min delay was most optimal for differentiating VaD versus normal participants (52.9% classification accuracy). Considering diagnostic implications, our findings suggest that test administration should incorporate precise tracking of delay periods. We recommend a 20-min delay with 18-25-min range. Poor classification accuracy based on LM data alone is a reminder that story memory performance is only one piece of data that contributes to complex clinical decisions. However, strict adherence to the recommended range yields optimal data for diagnostic decisions. © The Author 2017. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.

[Event-related potentials P₃₀₀ with memory function and psychopathology in first-episode paranoid schizophrenia].

PubMed

Liu, Wei-bo; Chen, Qiao-zhen; Yin, Hou-min; Zheng, Lei-lei; Yu, Shao-hua; Chen, Yi-ping; Li, Hui-chun

2011-11-01

To investigate the variability of event-related potentials P(300) and the relationship with memory function/psychopathology in patients with first-episode paranoid schizophrenia. Thirty patients with first-episode paranoid schizophrenia (patient group) and twenty health subjects (control group) were enrolled in the study. The auditory event-related potentials P₃₀₀ at the scalp electrodes Cz, Pz and Wechsler Memory Scale (WMS) were examined in both groups, Positive And Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS) was evaluated in patient group. In comparison with control group, patients had longer latency of P₃₀₀ [(390.6 ± 47.6)ms at Cz and (393.3 ± 50.1)ms at Pz] (P<0.01), lower amplitude of P₃₀₀ [(7.7 ± 3.4) μV at Cz and (8.5 ± 3.9)μV at Pz] (P<0.05-0.01). The memory quotient (88.1 ± 10.0) scores and short-term memory, immediate memory in patient group were damaged significantly (P<0.05-0.01). In patient group, the latency of P300 was correlated positively with PANSS scores and negatively with WMS scores (P<0.05-0.01). First-episode paranoid schizophrenia has memory deficit, which can be evaluated comprehensively by P₃₀₀ and WMS. The longer latency of P₃₀₀ might be associated with the increased severity of first-episode paranoid schizophrenia.

Cognitive stimulation therapy (CST): neuropsychological mechanisms of change.

PubMed

Hall, Louise; Orrell, Martin; Stott, Joshua; Spector, Aimee

2013-03-01

Cognitive stimulation therapy (CST) is an evidence-based psychosocial intervention for people with dementia consisting of 14 group sessions aiming to stimulate various areas of cognition. This study examined the effects of CST on specific cognitive domains and explored the neuropsychological processes underpinning any effects. A total of 34 participants with mild to moderate dementia were included. A one-group pretest-posttest design was used. Participants completed a battery of neuropsychological tests in the week before and after the manualised seven-week CST programme. There were significant improvement pre- to post-CST group on measures of delayed verbal recall (WMS III logical memory subtest - delayed), visual memory (WMS III visual reproduction subtest - delayed), orientation (WMS III information and orientation subscale), and auditory comprehension (Token Test). There were no significant changes on measures of naming (Boston Naming Test-2), attention (Trail Making Test A/Digit Span), executive function (DKEFS verbal fluency/Trail Making Test B), praxis (WMS III visual reproduction - immediate) or on a general cognitive screen (MMSE). Memory, comprehension of syntax, and orientation appear to be the cognitive domains most impacted by CST. One hypothesis is that the language-based nature of CST enhances neural pathways responsible for processing of syntax, possibly also aiding verbal recall. Another is that the reduction in negative self-stereotypes due to the de-stigmatising effect of CST may impact on language and memory, domains that are the primary focus of CST. Further research is required to substantiate these hypotheses.

The Spanish version of Face-Name Associative Memory Exam (S-FNAME) performance is related to amyloid burden in Subjective Cognitive Decline.

PubMed

Sanabria, Angela; Alegret, Montserrat; Rodriguez-Gomez, Octavio; Valero, Sergi; Sotolongo-Grau, Oscar; Monté-Rubio, Gemma; Abdelnour, Carla; Espinosa, Ana; Ortega, Gemma; Perez-Cordon, Alba; Gailhajanet, Anna; Hernandez, Isabel; Rosende-Roca, Maitee; Vargas, Liliana; Mauleon, Ana; Sanchez, Domingo; Martin, Elvira; Rentz, Dorene M; Lomeña, Francisco; Ruiz, Agustin; Tarraga, Lluis; Boada, Merce

2018-02-28

The Face-Name Associative Memory Exam (FNAME) is a paired associative memory test created to detect memory deficits in individuals with preclinical Alzheimer's disease (AD). Worse performance on FNAME in cognitively healthy individuals were found related to higher amyloid beta (Aβ) burden measured with Positron-Emission-Tomography using 11 C-PiB (PiB-PET). We previously reported normative data of a Spanish version of FNAME (S-FNAME) in cognitively healthy Spanish-speaking subjects. The aim of the present study was to determine whether performance on S-FNAME was associated with Aβ burden in subjective cognitive decline (SCD) individuals. 200 SCD subjects received neurological and neuropsychological assessments, including the S-FNAME and the Word List task from the Wechsler-Memory-Scale-III (WMS-III). Moreover, they received an MRI and (18)F-Florbetaben Positron-Emission-Tomography (FBB-PET) to measure Aβ burden. Three cognitive factor composites were derived for the episodic memory measures (face-name [SFN-N], face-occupation [SFN-O] and WMS-III) to determine whether episodic memory performance was related to Aβ deposition. Higher global Aβ deposition was significantly related to worse performance on SFN-N but not with SFN-O or WMS-III Composite. Moreover, worse SFN-N performance was significantly related to higher Aβ deposition in bilateral  Posterior Cingulate Cortex. The S-FNAME may be a promising neuropsychological tool for detecting SCD individuals with preclinical AD.

Mayo's Older Americans Normative Studies (MOANS): Factor Structure of a Core Battery.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Smith, Glenn E.; And Others

1992-01-01

Using the Mayo Older Americans Normative Studies (MOANS) group (526 55-to 97-year-old adults), factor models were examined for the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale-Revised (WAIS-R); the Wechsler Memory Scale (WMS); and a core battery of the WAIS-R, the WMS, and the Rey Auditory-Verbal Learning Test. (SLD)

The influence of IQ stratification on WAIS-III/WMS-III FSIQ-general memory index discrepancy base-rates in the standardization sample.

PubMed

Hawkins, K A; Tulsky, D S

2001-11-01

Since memory performance expectations may be IQ-based, unidirectional base rate data for IQ-Memory Score discrepancies are provided in the WAIS-III/WMS-III Technical Manual. The utility of these data partially rests on the assumption that discrepancy base rates do not vary across ability levels. FSIQ stratified base rate data generated from the standardization sample, however, demonstrate substantial variability across the IQ spectrum. A superiority of memory score over FSIQ is typical at lower IQ levels, whereas the converse is true at higher IQ levels. These data indicate that the use of IQ-memory score unstratified "simple difference" tables could lead to erroneous conclusions for clients with low or high IQ. IQ stratified standardization base rate data are provided as a complement to the "predicted difference" method detailed in the Technical Manual.

[Comparison of the Wechsler Memory Scale-III and the Spain-Complutense Verbal Learning Test in acquired brain injury: construct validity and ecological validity].

PubMed

Luna-Lario, P; Pena, J; Ojeda, N

2017-04-16

To perform an in-depth examination of the construct validity and the ecological validity of the Wechsler Memory Scale-III (WMS-III) and the Spain-Complutense Verbal Learning Test (TAVEC). The sample consists of 106 adults with acquired brain injury who were treated in the Area of Neuropsychology and Neuropsychiatry of the Complejo Hospitalario de Navarra and displayed memory deficit as the main sequela, measured by means of specific memory tests. The construct validity is determined by examining the tasks required in each test over the basic theoretical models, comparing the performance according to the parameters offered by the tests, contrasting the severity indices of each test and analysing their convergence. The external validity is explored through the correlation between the tests and by using regression models. According to the results obtained, both the WMS-III and the TAVEC have construct validity. The TAVEC is more sensitive and captures not only the deficits in mnemonic consolidation, but also in the executive functions involved in memory. The working memory index of the WMS-III is useful for predicting the return to work at two years after the acquired brain injury, but none of the instruments anticipates the disability and dependence at least six months after the injury. We reflect upon the construct validity of the tests and their insufficient capacity to predict functionality when the sequelae become chronic.

Sensitivity and specificity of memory and naming tests for identifying left temporal-lobe epilepsy.

PubMed

Umfleet, Laura Glass; Janecek, Julie K; Quasney, Erin; Sabsevitz, David S; Ryan, Joseph J; Binder, Jeffrey R; Swanson, Sara J

2015-01-01

The sensitivity and specificity of the Selective Reminding Test (SRT) Delayed Recall, Wechsler Memory Scale (WMS) Logical Memory, the Boston Naming Test (BNT), and two nonverbal memory measures for detecting lateralized dysfunction in association with side of seizure focus was examined in a sample of 143 patients with left or right temporal-lobe epilepsy (TLE). Scores on the SRT and BNT were statistically significantly lower in the left TLE group compared with the right TLE group, whereas no group differences emerged on the Logical Memory subtest. No significant group differences were found with nonverbal memory measures. When the SRT and BNT were both entered as predictors in a logistic regression, the BNT, although significant, added minimal value to the model beyond the variance accounted for by the SRT Delayed Recall. Both variables emerged as significant predictors of side of seizure focus when entered into separate regressions. Sensitivity and specificity of the SRT and BNT ranged from 56% to 65%. The WMS Logical Memory and nonverbal memory measures were not significant predictors of the side of seizure focus.

Predicting story goodness performance from cognitive measures following traumatic brain injury.

PubMed

Lê, Karen; Coelho, Carl; Mozeiko, Jennifer; Krueger, Frank; Grafman, Jordan

2012-05-01

This study examined the prediction of performance on measures of the Story Goodness Index (SGI; Lê, Coelho, Mozeiko, & Grafman, 2011) from executive function (EF) and memory measures following traumatic brain injury (TBI). It was hypothesized that EF and memory measures would significantly predict SGI outcomes. One hundred sixty-seven individuals with TBI participated in the study. Story retellings were analyzed using the SGI protocol. Three cognitive measures--Delis-Kaplan Executive Function System (D-KEFS; Delis, Kaplan, & Kramer, 2001) Sorting Test, Wechsler Memory Scale--Third Edition (WMS-III; Wechsler, 1997) Working Memory Primary Index (WMI), and WMS-III Immediate Memory Primary Index (IMI)--were entered into a multiple linear regression model for each discourse measure. Two sets of regression analyses were performed, the first with the Sorting Test as the first predictor and the second with it as the last. The first set of regression analyses identified the Sorting Test and IMI as the only significant predictors of performance on measures of the SGI. The second set identified all measures as significant predictors when evaluating each step of the regression function. The cognitive variables predicted performance on the SGI measures, although there were differences in the amount of explained variance. The results (a) suggest that storytelling ability draws on a number of underlying skills and (b) underscore the importance of using discrete cognitive tasks rather than broad cognitive indices to investigate the cognitive substrates of discourse.

Memory disorders in probable Alzheimer's disease: the role of hippocampal atrophy as shown with MRI.

PubMed Central

Deweer, B; Lehéricy, S; Pillon, B; Baulac, M; Chiras, J; Marsault, C; Agid, Y; Dubois, B

1995-01-01

Magnetic resonance based volumetric measures of hippocampal formation, amygdala (A), caudate nucleus (CN), normalised for total intracranial volume (TIV), were analysed in relation to measures of cognitive deterioration and specific features of memory functions in 18 patients with probable Alzheimer's disease. Neuropsychological examination included the mini mental state examination (MMSE), the Mattis dementia rating scale (DRS), tests of executive functions, assessment of language abilities and praxis, the Wechsler memory scale (WMS), the California verbal learning test (CVLT) and the Grober and Buschke test. The volume of the hippocampal formation (HF/TIV) was correlated with specific memory variables: memory quotient and paired associates of the WMS; intrusions and discriminability at recognition for the Grober and Buschke test. By contrast, except for intrusions, no correlations were found between memory variables and the volume of amygdala (A/TIV). No correlations were found between the volume of caudate nuclei (CN/TIV) and any neuropsychological score. The volume of the hippocampal formation was therefore selectively related to quantitative and qualitative aspects of memory performance in patients with probable Alzheimer's disease. Images PMID:7745409

Portuguese version of Wechsler Memory Scale-3rd edition's utility with demented elderly adults.

PubMed

Gonçalves, Cátia; Pinho, Maria S; Cruz, Vítor; Gens, Helena; Oliveira, Fátima; Pais, Joana; Rente, José; Santana, Isabel; Santos, José M

2017-01-01

The purpose of this study is to analyze the utility of the Portuguese version of the Wechsler Memory Scale-3rd edition (WMS-III) with demented elderly people, namely its capacity to detect and discriminate between subcortical vascular dementia (SVD) and Alzheimer's disease (AD). We assessed early demented patients (SVD = 16; AD = 36) aged 65 or older who were compared to a control group (n = 40). Both clinical groups were adequately matched in terms of disease severity, overall cognitive functioning, depressive symptomatology, and pre-morbid intelligence. Between-group's differences were evaluated using the Quade's rank analysis of covariance. We also computed indexes and subtests optimal cut-off scores, and the corresponding sensitivity, specificity, and positive and negative predictive values, which were able to successfully discriminate between patients and healthy subjects. The SVD patients had a better overall memory performance than AD patients on the majority of the indexes and the delayed condition subtests of the WMS-III. The AD patients only showed a better performance on digit span subtest. Several measures discriminated patients from healthy subjects. This study suggests some recommendations for the diagnostic accuracy of the Portuguese version of WMS-III in dementia and about differential diagnosis between SVD and AD.

A History-based Estimation for LHCb job requirements

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rauschmayr, Nathalie

2015-12-01

The main goal of a Workload Management System (WMS) is to find and allocate resources for the given tasks. The more and better job information the WMS receives, the easier will be to accomplish its task, which directly translates into higher utilization of resources. Traditionally, the information associated with each job, like expected runtime, is defined beforehand by the Production Manager in best case and fixed arbitrary values by default. In the case of LHCb's Workload Management System no mechanisms are provided which automate the estimation of job requirements. As a result, much more CPU time is normally requested than actually needed. Particularly, in the context of multicore jobs this presents a major problem, since single- and multicore jobs shall share the same resources. Consequently, grid sites need to rely on estimations given by the VOs in order to not decrease the utilization of their worker nodes when making multicore job slots available. The main reason for going to multicore jobs is the reduction of the overall memory footprint. Therefore, it also needs to be studied how memory consumption of jobs can be estimated. A detailed workload analysis of past LHCb jobs is presented. It includes a study of job features and their correlation with runtime and memory consumption. Following the features, a supervised learning algorithm is developed based on a history based prediction. The aim is to learn over time how jobs’ runtime and memory evolve influenced due to changes in experiment conditions and software versions. It will be shown that estimation can be notably improved if experiment conditions are taken into account.

Mayo's Older American Normative Studies: Separate Norms for WMS-R Logical Memory Stories.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Smith, Glenn E.; Wong, Jennifer S.; Ivnik, Robert J.; Malec, James F.

1997-01-01

Norms are presented for persons ages 56 to 93 years for each story from the Logical Memory subtests of the revised edition of the Wechsler Memory Scale following the methods used for other Mayo's Older American Normative Studies. Means and standard deviations are presented for 3-year interval age groups from age 61 to 88. (SLD)

Evoked Potentials and Memory/Cognition Tests Validate Brain Atrophy as Measured by 3T MRI (NeuroQuant) in Cognitively Impaired Patients.

PubMed

Braverman, Eric R; Blum, Kenneth; Hussman, Karl L; Han, David; Dushaj, Kristina; Li, Mona; Marin, Gabriela; Badgaiyan, Rajendra D; Smayda, Richard; Gold, Mark S

2015-01-01

To our knowledge, this is the largest study evaluating relationships between 3T Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) and P300 and memory/cognitive tests in the literature. The 3T MRI using NeuroQuant has an increased resolution 15 times that of 1.5T MRI. Utilizing NeuroQuant 3T MRI as a diagnostic tool in primary care, subjects (N=169; 19-90 years) displayed increased areas of anatomical atrophy: 34.62% hippocampal atrophy (N=54), 57.14% central atrophy (N=88), and 44.52% temporal atrophy (N=69). A majority of these patients exhibited overlap in measured areas of atrophy and were cognitively impaired. These results positively correlated with decreased P300 values and WMS-III (WMS-III) scores differentially across various brain loci. Delayed latency (p=0.0740) was marginally associated with temporal atrophy; reduced fractional anisotropy (FA) in frontal lobes correlated with aging, delayed P300 latency, and decreased visual and working memory (p=0.0115). Aging and delayed P300 latency correlated with lower FA. The correlation between working memory and reduced FA in frontal lobes is marginally significant (p=0.0787). In the centrum semiovale (CS), reduced FA correlated with visual memory (p=0.0622). Lower demyelination correlated with higher P300 amplitude (p=0.0002). Compared to males, females have higher demyelination (p=0.0064). Along these lines, the higher the P300 amplitude, the lower the bilateral atrophy (p=0.0165). Hippocampal atrophy correlated with increased auditory memory and gender, especially in males (p=0.0087). In considering temporal lobe atrophy correlations: delayed P300 latency and high temporal atrophy (p=0.0740); high auditory memory and low temporal atrophy (p=0.0417); and high working memory and low temporal atrophy (p=0.0166). Central atrophy correlated with aging and immediate memory (p=0.0294): the higher the immediate memory, the lower the central atrophy. Generally, the validation of brain atrophy by P300 and WMS-III could lead to cost-effective methods utilizable in primary care medicine following further confirmation.

Evoked Potentials and Memory/Cognition Tests Validate Brain Atrophy as Measured by 3T MRI (NeuroQuant) in Cognitively Impaired Patients

PubMed Central

Braverman, Eric R.; Blum, Kenneth; Hussman, Karl L.; Han, David; Dushaj, Kristina; Li, Mona; Marin, Gabriela; Badgaiyan, Rajendra D.; Smayda, Richard; Gold, Mark S.

2015-01-01

To our knowledge, this is the largest study evaluating relationships between 3T Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) and P300 and memory/cognitive tests in the literature. The 3T MRI using NeuroQuant has an increased resolution 15 times that of 1.5T MRI. Utilizing NeuroQuant 3T MRI as a diagnostic tool in primary care, subjects (N=169; 19–90 years) displayed increased areas of anatomical atrophy: 34.62% hippocampal atrophy (N=54), 57.14% central atrophy (N=88), and 44.52% temporal atrophy (N=69). A majority of these patients exhibited overlap in measured areas of atrophy and were cognitively impaired. These results positively correlated with decreased P300 values and WMS-III (WMS-III) scores differentially across various brain loci. Delayed latency (p=0.0740) was marginally associated with temporal atrophy; reduced fractional anisotropy (FA) in frontal lobes correlated with aging, delayed P300 latency, and decreased visual and working memory (p=0.0115). Aging and delayed P300 latency correlated with lower FA. The correlation between working memory and reduced FA in frontal lobes is marginally significant (p=0.0787). In the centrum semiovale (CS), reduced FA correlated with visual memory (p=0.0622). Lower demyelination correlated with higher P300 amplitude (p=0.0002). Compared to males, females have higher demyelination (p=0.0064). Along these lines, the higher the P300 amplitude, the lower the bilateral atrophy (p=0.0165). Hippocampal atrophy correlated with increased auditory memory and gender, especially in males (p=0.0087). In considering temporal lobe atrophy correlations: delayed P300 latency and high temporal atrophy (p=0.0740); high auditory memory and low temporal atrophy (p=0.0417); and high working memory and low temporal atrophy (p=0.0166). Central atrophy correlated with aging and immediate memory (p=0.0294): the higher the immediate memory, the lower the central atrophy. Generally, the validation of brain atrophy by P300 and WMS-III could lead to cost-effective methods utilizable in primary care medicine following further confirmation. PMID:26244349

Association between cytokine levels, verbal memory and hippocampus volume in psychotic disorders and healthy controls.

PubMed

Hoseth, E Z; Westlye, L T; Hope, S; Dieset, I; Aukrust, P; Melle, I; Haukvik, U K; Agartz, I; Ueland, T; Ueland, T; Andreassen, O A

2016-01-01

We investigated whether elevated plasma levels of immune markers were associated with verbal memory and hippocampal subfield volumes in patients with severe mental illnesses and in healthy controls. In total, 230 patients with a broad DSM-IV schizophrenia spectrum illness or bipolar disorder and 236 healthy controls were recruited. Memory was assessed using the Wechsler Memory Scale-Third Edition (WMS-III) Logical Memory immediate and delayed recall, and the California Verbal Learning Test summed recall over learning list (CVLT learning) and delayed free recall. We measured plasma levels of soluble tumor necrosis factor receptor 1 (sTNF-R1), interleukin-1 receptor antagonist, interleukin-6, von Willebrand factor, osteoprotegerin, high-sensitivity C-reactive protein and sCD40 ligand. Hippocampal subfield estimates were obtained using FreeSurfer. We found a moderate negative association between sTNF-R1 and performance on verbal memory learning and recall tests as measured by the WMS-III Logical Memory after controlling for age, sex and diagnosis. We observed no interaction effect of diagnosis and sTNF-R1 on memory scores. We also found a nominally significant positive association between CVLT learning and hippocampal volumes. The findings suggest a role for immune involvement in memory independent of severe mental disorders and may support the 'bigger is better' hypothesis of hippocampal subfield volumes. © 2015 John Wiley & Sons A/S. Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Intracarotid amobarbital procedure: I. Prediction of decreased modality-specific memory scores after temporal lobectomy.

PubMed

Wyllie, E; Naugle, R; Awad, I; Chelune, G; Lüders, H; Dinner, D; Skibinski, C; Ahl, J

1991-01-01

To assess predictive value of the intracarotid amobarbital procedure (IAP) for decreased postoperative modality-specific memory, we studied 37 temporal lobectomy patients with intractable partial epilepsy who were selected for operation independent of preoperative IAP findings. When ipsilateral IAP failure was defined by an absolute method as a retention score less than 67%, the results were not associated with decreased modality-specific memory after operation. When ipsilateral IAP failure was defined by a comparative method as a retention score at least 20% lower after ipsilateral than contralateral injection, the results showed greater differences between groups, but differences still did not achieve statistical significance. Four left-resection patients who failed the ipsilateral IAP had a median postoperative change in the Wechsler Memory Scale-Revised (WMS-R) Verbal Memory Index score of -14%, whereas 16 left-resection patients who passed the ipsilateral IAP had a mean postoperative change in the WMS-R Verbal Memory Index score of -7.5% (p = 0.12). These results suggested that the IAP interpreted comparatively may be a helpful adjunctive test in assessment of relative risk for modality-specific memory dysfunction after temporal lobectomy, but larger series of operated patients are needed to confirm this possibility. In this series, complete amnesia was not noted after ipsilateral injection, even in patients with postoperative modality-specific memory decline.

Profile of cognitive function in adults with duchenne muscular dystrophy.

PubMed

Ueda, Yukihiko; Suwazono, Shugo; Maedo, Sino; Higuchi, Itsuro

2017-03-01

Several studies have examined intellectual functioning of boys with duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD). However, little is known about the remaining cognitive weaknesses in adults with DMD. The purpose of this study was to investigate the profile of cognitive functioning that is characteristics of adults with DMD. Twenty-four subscales from the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale III (WAIS-III), the Clinical Assessment for Attention (CAT), and the Wechsler Memory Scale Revised (WMS-R) were used to assess participants with DMD (N=15; mean age=30.4years). Scores for Picture Completion, Arithmetic, Matrix Reasoning, Symbol Search, Letter-Number Sequencing, and Digit Span of the WAIS-III; all CAT scores, and Logical Memory and Delayed Logical Memory from the WMS-R were significantly deficient in adults with DMD in comparison to the normal population. The ability to sequentially process auditory and visual information remains impaired in adults with DMD. Copyright © 2016 The Japanese Society of Child Neurology. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Everyday memory impairment in patients with temporal lobe epilepsy caused by hippocampal sclerosis.

PubMed

Rzezak, Patrícia; Lima, Ellen Marise; Gargaro, Ana Carolina; Coimbra, Erica; de Vincentiis, Silvia; Velasco, Tonicarlo Rodrigues; Leite, João Pereira; Busatto, Geraldo F; Valente, Kette D

2017-04-01

Patients with temporal lobe epilepsy caused by hippocampal sclerosis (TLE-HS) have episodic memory impairment. Memory has rarely been evaluated using an ecologic measure, even though performance on these tests is more related to patients' memory complaints. We aimed to measure everyday memory of patients with TLE-HS to age- and gender-matched controls. We evaluated 31 patients with TLE-HS and 34 healthy controls, without epilepsy and psychiatric disorders, using the Rivermead Behavioral Memory Test (RBMT), Visual Reproduction (WMS-III) and Logical Memory (WMS-III). We evaluated the impact of clinical variables such as the age of onset, epilepsy duration, AED use, history of status epilepticus, and seizure frequency on everyday memory. Statistical analyses were performed using MANCOVA with years of education as a confounding factor. Patients showed worse performance than controls on traditional memory tests and in the overall score of RBMT. Patients had more difficulties to recall names, a hidden belonging, to deliver a message, object recognition, to remember a story full of details, a previously presented short route, and in time and space orientation. Clinical epilepsy variables were not associated with RBMT performance. Memory span and working memory were correlated with worse performance on RBMT. Patients with TLE-HS demonstrated deficits in everyday memory functions. A standard neuropsychological battery, designed to assess episodic memory, would not evaluate these impairments. Impairment in recalling names, routes, stories, messages, and space/time disorientation can adversely impact social adaptation, and we must consider these ecologic measures with greater attention in the neuropsychological evaluation of patients with memory complaints. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Unique and shared validity of the "Wechsler logical memory test", the "California verbal learning test", and the "verbal learning and memory test" in patients with epilepsy.

PubMed

Helmstaedter, Christoph; Wietzke, Jennifer; Lutz, Martin T

2009-12-01

This study was set-up to evaluate the construct validity of three verbal memory tests in epilepsy patients. Sixty-one consecutively evaluated patients with temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE) or extra-temporal epilepsy (E-TLE) underwent testing with the verbal learning and memory test (VLMT, the German equivalent of the Rey auditory verbal learning test, RAVLT); the California verbal learning test (CVLT); the logical memory and digit span subtests of the Wechsler memory scale, revised (WMS-R); and testing of intelligence, attention, speech and executive functions. Factor analysis of the memory tests resulted in test-specific rather than test over-spanning factors. Parameters of the CVLT and WMS-R, and to a much lesser degree of the VLMT, were highly correlated with attention, language function and vocabulary. Delayed recall measures of logical memory and the VLMT differentiated TLE from E-TLE. Learning and memory scores off all three tests differentiated mesial temporal sclerosis from other pathologies. A lateralization of the epilepsy was possible only for a subsample of 15 patients with mesial TLE. Although the three tests provide overlapping indicators for a temporal lobe epilepsy or a mesial pathology, they can hardly be taken in exchange. The tests have different demands on semantic processing and memory organization, and they appear differentially sensitive to performance in non-memory domains. The tests capability to lateralize appears to be poor. The findings encourage the further discussion of the dependency of memory outcomes on test selection.

Testing the limits: cautions and concerns regarding the new Wechsler IQ and Memory scales.

PubMed

Loring, David W; Bauer, Russell M

2010-02-23

The Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (WAIS) and the Wechsler Memory Scale (WMS) are 2 of the most common psychological tests used in clinical care and research in neurology. Newly revised versions of both instruments (WAIS-IV and WMS-IV) have recently been published and are increasingly being adopted by the neuropsychology community. There have been significant changes in the structure and content of both scales, leading to the potential for inaccurate patient classification if algorithms developed using their predecessors are employed. There are presently insufficient clinical data in neurologic populations to insure their appropriate application to neuropsychological evaluations. We provide a perspective on these important new neuropsychological instruments, comment on the pressures to adopt these tests in the absence of an appropriate evidence base supporting their incremental validity, and describe the potential negative impact on both patient care and continuing research applications.

Cloud Bursting with GlideinWMS: Means to satisfy ever increasing computing needs for Scientific Workflows

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mhashilkar, Parag; Tiradani, Anthony; Holzman, Burt; Larson, Krista; Sfiligoi, Igor; Rynge, Mats

2014-06-01

Scientific communities have been in the forefront of adopting new technologies and methodologies in the computing. Scientific computing has influenced how science is done today, achieving breakthroughs that were impossible to achieve several decades ago. For the past decade several such communities in the Open Science Grid (OSG) and the European Grid Infrastructure (EGI) have been using GlideinWMS to run complex application workflows to effectively share computational resources over the grid. GlideinWMS is a pilot-based workload management system (WMS) that creates on demand, a dynamically sized overlay HTCondor batch system on grid resources. At present, the computational resources shared over the grid are just adequate to sustain the computing needs. We envision that the complexity of the science driven by "Big Data" will further push the need for computational resources. To fulfill their increasing demands and/or to run specialized workflows, some of the big communities like CMS are investigating the use of cloud computing as Infrastructure-As-A-Service (IAAS) with GlideinWMS as a potential alternative to fill the void. Similarly, communities with no previous access to computing resources can use GlideinWMS to setup up a batch system on the cloud infrastructure. To enable this, the architecture of GlideinWMS has been extended to enable support for interfacing GlideinWMS with different Scientific and commercial cloud providers like HLT, FutureGrid, FermiCloud and Amazon EC2. In this paper, we describe a solution for cloud bursting with GlideinWMS. The paper describes the approach, architectural changes and lessons learned while enabling support for cloud infrastructures in GlideinWMS.

Cloud Bursting with GlideinWMS: Means to satisfy ever increasing computing needs for Scientific Workflows

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Mhashilkar, Parag; Tiradani, Anthony; Holzman, Burt

Scientific communities have been in the forefront of adopting new technologies and methodologies in the computing. Scientific computing has influenced how science is done today, achieving breakthroughs that were impossible to achieve several decades ago. For the past decade several such communities in the Open Science Grid (OSG) and the European Grid Infrastructure (EGI) have been using GlideinWMS to run complex application workflows to effectively share computational resources over the grid. GlideinWMS is a pilot-based workload management system (WMS) that creates on demand, a dynamically sized overlay HTCondor batch system on grid resources. At present, the computational resources shared overmore » the grid are just adequate to sustain the computing needs. We envision that the complexity of the science driven by 'Big Data' will further push the need for computational resources. To fulfill their increasing demands and/or to run specialized workflows, some of the big communities like CMS are investigating the use of cloud computing as Infrastructure-As-A-Service (IAAS) with GlideinWMS as a potential alternative to fill the void. Similarly, communities with no previous access to computing resources can use GlideinWMS to setup up a batch system on the cloud infrastructure. To enable this, the architecture of GlideinWMS has been extended to enable support for interfacing GlideinWMS with different Scientific and commercial cloud providers like HLT, FutureGrid, FermiCloud and Amazon EC2. In this paper, we describe a solution for cloud bursting with GlideinWMS. The paper describes the approach, architectural changes and lessons learned while enabling support for cloud infrastructures in GlideinWMS.« less

glideinWMS - A generic pilot-based Workload Management System

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Sfiligoi, Igor; /Fermilab

The Grid resources are distributed among hundreds of independent Grid sites, requiring a higher level Workload Management System (WMS) to be used efficiently. Pilot jobs have been used for this purpose by many communities, bringing increased reliability, global fair share and just in time resource matching. GlideinWMS is a WMS based on the Condor glidein concept, i.e. a regular Condor pool, with the Condor daemons (startds) being started by pilot jobs, and real jobs being vanilla, standard or MPI universe jobs. The glideinWMS is composed of a set of Glidein Factories, handling the submission of pilot jobs to a setmore » of Grid sites, and a set of VO Frontends, requesting pilot submission based on the status of user jobs. This paper contains the structural overview of glideinWMS as well as a detailed description of the current implementation and the current scalability limits.« less

Binge drinking and declarative memory in university students.

PubMed

Parada, María; Corral, Montserrat; Caamaño-Isorna, Francisco; Mota, Nayara; Crego, Alberto; Holguín, Socorro Rodríguez; Cadaveira, Fernando

2011-08-01

Binge drinking (BD), which is characterized by sporadic consumption of large quantities of alcohol in short periods, is prevalent among university students. Animal studies have shown that BD is associated with damage to the hippocampus, a region of the brain that plays a key role in learning and memory. The temporal cortex undergoes structural and functional changes during adolescence. The aim of the present study was to examine the association between BD and declarative memory in male and female university students. The participants were 122 students (between 18 and 20 years of age): 62 BD (30 women) and 60 non-BD (29 women). The neuropsychological assessment included the Rey Auditory Verbal Learning Test (RAVLT) and Weschler Memory Scale-3rd ed. (WMS-III) Logical Memory subtest, to evaluate verbal declarative memory, and the WMS-III Family Pictures subtest, to measure visual declarative memory. The BD students remembered fewer words in the interference list and displayed greater proactive interference in the RAVLT; they performed worse in the Logical Memory subtest, both on immediate and delayed recall. There were no differences between the groups in performance of the Family Pictures subtest. No significant interactions were observed between BD and sex. Binge drinking is associated with poorer verbal declarative memory, regardless of sex. The findings are consistent with the vulnerability of the adolescent hippocampus to the neurotoxic effects of alcohol. Longitudinal studies will help determine the nature of this relationship, the neurodevelopmental trajectories for each sex, and the repercussions on academic performance. Copyright © 2011 by the Research Society on Alcoholism.

A slice of π: An exploratory neuroimaging study of digit encoding and retrieval in a superior memorist

PubMed Central

Raz, Amir; Packard, Mark G.; Alexander, Gerianne M.; Buhle, Jason T.; Zhu, Hongtu; Yu, Shan; Peterson, Bradley S.

2015-01-01

Subject PI demonstrated superior memory using a variant of a Method of Loci (MOL) technique to recite the first digits of the mathematical constant π to more than 216 decimal places. We report preliminary behavioral, functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), and brain volumetric data from PI. fMRI data collected while PI recited the first 540 digits of π (i.e., during retrieval) revealed increased activity in medial frontal gyrus and dorsolateral prefrontal cortex. Encoding of a novel string of 100 random digits activated motor association areas, midline frontal regions, and visual association areas. Volumetric analyses indicated an increased volume of the right subgenual cingulate, a brain region implicated in emotion, mentalizing, and autonomic arousal. Wechsler Abbreviated Scale of Intelligence (WASI) testing indicated that PI is of average intelligence, and performance on mirror tracing, rotor pursuit, and the Silverman and Eals Location Memory Task revealed normal procedural and implicit memory. PI’s performance on the Wechsler Memory Scale (WMS-III) revealed average general memory abilities (50th percentile), but superior working memory abilities (99th percentile). Surprisingly, PI’s visual memory (WMS-III) for neutral faces and common events was remarkably poor (3rd percentile). PI’s self-report indicates that imagining affective situations and high emotional content is critical for successful recall. We speculate that PI’s reduced memory for neutral/non-emotional faces and common events, and the observed increase in volume of the right subgenual cingulate, may be related to extensive practice with memorizing highly emotional material. PMID:19585350

A slice of pi : an exploratory neuroimaging study of digit encoding and retrieval in a superior memorist.

PubMed

Raz, Amir; Packard, Mark G; Alexander, Gerianne M; Buhle, Jason T; Zhu, Hongtu; Yu, Shan; Peterson, Bradley S

2009-10-01

Subject PI demonstrated superior memory using a variant of a Method of Loci (MOL) technique to recite the first digits of the mathematical constant pi to more than 2(16) decimal places. We report preliminary behavioral, functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), and brain volumetric data from PI. fMRI data collected while PI recited the first 540 digits of pi (i.e., during retrieval) revealed increased activity in medial frontal gyrus and dorsolateral prefrontal cortex. Encoding of a novel string of 100 random digits activated motor association areas, midline frontal regions, and visual association areas. Volumetric analyses indicated an increased volume of the right subgenual cingulate, a brain region implicated in emotion, mentalizing, and autonomic arousal. Wechsler Abbreviated Scale of Intelligence (WASI) testing indicated that PI is of average intelligence, and performance on mirror tracing, rotor pursuit, and the Silverman and Eals Location Memory Task revealed normal procedural and implicit memory. PI's performance on the Wechsler Memory Scale (WMS-III) revealed average general memory abilities (50th percentile), but superior working memory abilities (99th percentile). Surprisingly, PI's visual memory (WMS-III) for neutral faces and common events was remarkably poor (3rd percentile). PI's self-report indicates that imagining affective situations and high emotional content is critical for successful recall. We speculate that PI's reduced memory for neutral/non-emotional faces and common events, and the observed increase in volume of the right subgenual cingulate, may be related to extensive practice with memorizing highly emotional material.

Genetic variation of the RASGRF1 regulatory region affects human hippocampus-dependent memory

PubMed Central

Barman, Adriana; Assmann, Anne; Richter, Sylvia; Soch, Joram; Schütze, Hartmut; Wüstenberg, Torsten; Deibele, Anna; Klein, Marieke; Richter, Anni; Behnisch, Gusalija; Düzel, Emrah; Zenker, Martin; Seidenbecher, Constanze I.; Schott, Björn H.

2014-01-01

The guanine nucleotide exchange factor RASGRF1 is an important regulator of intracellular signaling and neural plasticity in the brain. RASGRF1-deficient mice exhibit a complex phenotype with learning deficits and ocular abnormalities. Also in humans, a genome-wide association study has identified the single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) rs8027411 in the putative transcription regulatory region of RASGRF1 as a risk variant of myopia. Here we aimed to assess whether, in line with the RASGRF1 knockout mouse phenotype, rs8027411 might also be associated with human memory function. We performed computer-based neuropsychological learning experiments in two independent cohorts of young, healthy participants. Tests included the Verbal Learning and Memory Test (VLMT) and the logical memory section of the Wechsler Memory Scale (WMS). Two sub-cohorts additionally participated in functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) studies of hippocampus function. 119 participants performed a novelty encoding task that had previously been shown to engage the hippocampus, and 63 subjects participated in a reward-related memory encoding study. RASGRF1 rs8027411 genotype was indeed associated with memory performance in an allele dosage-dependent manner, with carriers of the T allele (i.e., the myopia risk allele) showing better memory performance in the early encoding phase of the VLMT and in the recall phase of the WMS logical memory section. In fMRI, T allele carriers exhibited increased hippocampal activation during presentation of novel images and during encoding of pictures associated with monetary reward. Taken together, our results provide evidence for a role of the RASGRF1 gene locus in hippocampus-dependent memory and, along with the previous association with myopia, point toward pleitropic effects of RASGRF1 genetic variations on complex neural function in humans. PMID:24808846

Cognitive impairment in neuromyelitis optica spectrum disorders: A comparison of the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale-III and the Wechsler Memory Scale Revised with the Rao Brief Repeatable Neuropsychological Battery.

PubMed

Fujimori, Juichi; Nakashima, Ichiro; Baba, Toru; Meguro, Yuko; Ogawa, Ryo; Fujihara, Kazuo

2017-12-01

Approximately 55% of patients with neuromyelitis optica spectrum disorder (NMOSD) show cognitive impairment as evaluated using the Rao Brief Repeatable Neuropsychological Battery (BRBN), but this frequency appears to be higher than the frequency of specific brain lesions in NMOSD. We studied whether cognitive impairment could be observed in NMOSD patients with no or minor non-specific brain lesions. We evaluated cognitive function in 12 NMOSD and 14 MS patients using the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale-III (WAIS-III), the Wechsler Memory Scale-Revised (WMS-R), and the BRBN. We judged as cognitively impaired patients whose scores were below the average by 2 standard deviations or greater in 2 or more cognitive domains. Cognitive impairment was observed in 5 MS patients (35.7%) and in the only NMOSD patient (8.3%) with symptomatic brain lesions, but not in the other NMOSD patients who had no or minor non-specific brain lesions. Meanwhile, 5 NMOSD (41.7%) and 4 MS (28.6%) patients who had normal cognition according to the WAIS-III and WMS-R were assessed as cognitively impaired by the BRBN (which is not standardized for age). Cognitive function in NMOSD patients with no or mild non-specific brain lesions was preserved according to the WAIS-III and WMS-R.

Education-Stratified Base-Rate Information on Discrepancy Scores Within and Between the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale-Third Edition and the Wechsler Memory Scale-Third Edition

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Dori, Galit A.; Chelune, Gordon J.

2004-01-01

The Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale--Third Edition (WAIS-III; D. Wechsler, 1997a) and the Wechsler Memory Scale--Third Edition (WMS-III; D. Wechsler, 1997b) are 2 of the most frequently used measures in psychology and neuropsychology. To facilitate the diagnostic use of these measures in the clinical decision-making process, this article…

Effectiveness of a Computer-Based Training Program of Attention and Memory in Patients with Acquired Brain Damage

PubMed Central

Fernandez, Elizabeth; Bergado Rosado, Jorge A.; Rodriguez Perez, Daymi; Salazar Santana, Sonia; Torres Aguilar, Maydane; Bringas, Maria Luisa

2017-01-01

Many training programs have been designed using modern software to restore the impaired cognitive functions in patients with acquired brain damage (ABD). The objective of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of a computer-based training program of attention and memory in patients with ABD, using a two-armed parallel group design, where the experimental group (n = 50) received cognitive stimulation using RehaCom software, and the control group (n = 30) received the standard cognitive stimulation (non-computerized) for eight weeks. In order to assess the possible cognitive changes after the treatment, a post-pre experimental design was employed using the following neuropsychological tests: Wechsler Memory Scale (WMS) and Trail Making test A and B. The effectiveness of the training procedure was statistically significant (p < 0.05) when it established the comparison between the performance in these scales, before and after the training period, in each patient and between the two groups. The training group had statistically significant (p < 0.001) changes in focused attention (Trail A), two subtests (digit span and logical memory), and the overall score of WMS. Finally, we discuss the advantages of computerized training rehabilitation and further directions of this line of work. PMID:29301194

Development of alternative versions of the Logical Memory subtest of the WMS-R for use in Brazil

PubMed Central

Bolognani, Silvia Adriana Prado; Miranda, Monica Carolina; Martins, Marjorie; Rzezak, Patricia; Bueno, Orlando Francisco Amodeo; de Camargo, Candida Helena Pires; Pompeia, Sabine

2015-01-01

The logical memory test of the Wechsler Memory Scale is one of the most frequently used standardized tests for assessing verbal memory and consists of two separate short stories each containing 25 idea units. Problems with practice effects arise with re-testing a patient, as these stories may be remembered from previous assessments. Therefore, alternative versions of the test stimuli should be developed to minimize learning effects when repeated testing is required for longitudinal evaluations of patients. Objective To present three alternative stories for each of the original stories frequently used in Brazil (Ana Soares and Roberto Mota) and to show their similarity in terms of content, structure and linguistic characteristics. Methods The alternative stories were developed according to the following criteria: overall structure or thematic content (presentation of the character, conflict, aggravation or complements and resolution); specific structure (sex of the character, location and occupation, details of what happened); formal structure (number of words, characters, verbs and nouns); and readability. Results The alternative stories and scoring criteria are presented in comparison to the original WMS stories (Brazilian version). Conclusion The alternative stories presented here correspond well thematically and structurally to the Brazilian versions of the original stories. PMID:29213955

Substitution of California Verbal Learning Test, second edition for Verbal Paired Associates on the Wechsler Memory Scale, fourth edition.

PubMed

Miller, Justin B; Axelrod, Bradley N; Rapport, Lisa J; Hanks, Robin A; Bashem, Jesse R; Schutte, Christian

2012-01-01

Two common measures used to evaluate verbal learning and memory are the Verbal Paired Associates (VPA) subtest from the Wechsler Memory Scales (WMS) and the second edition of the California Verbal Learning Test (CVLT-II). For the fourth edition of the WMS, scores from the CVLT-II can be substituted for VPA; the present study sought to examine the validity of the substitution. For each substitution, paired-samples t tests were conducted between original VPA scaled scores and scaled scores obtained from the CVLT-II substitution to evaluate comparability. Similar comparisons were made at the index score level. At the index score level, substitution resulted in significantly lower scores for the AMI (p = .03; r = .13) but not for the IMI (p = .29) or DMI (p = .09). For the subtest scores, substituted scaled scores for VPA were not significantly different from original scores for the immediate recall condition (p = .20) but were significantly lower at delayed recall (p = .01). These findings offer partial support for the substitution. For both the immediate and delayed conditions, the substitution produced generally lower subtest scores compared to original VPA subtest scores.

glideinWMS—a generic pilot-based workload management system

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sfiligoi, I.

2008-07-01

The Grid resources are distributed among hundreds of independent Grid sites, requiring a higher level Workload Management System (WMS) to be used efficiently. Pilot jobs have been used for this purpose by many communities, bringing increased reliability, global fair share and just in time resource matching. glideinWMS is a WMS based on the Condor glidein concept, i.e. a regular Condor pool, with the Condor daemons (startds) being started by pilot jobs, and real jobs being vanilla, standard or MPI universe jobs. The glideinWMS is composed of a set of Glidein Factories, handling the submission of pilot jobs to a set of Grid sites, and a set of VO Frontends, requesting pilot submission based on the status of user jobs. This paper contains the structural overview of glideinWMS as well as a detailed description of the current implementation and the current scalability limits.

Atypical age-dependency of executive function and white matter microstructure in children and adolescents with autism spectrum disorders.

PubMed

Martínez, Kenia; Merchán-Naranjo, Jessica; Pina-Camacho, Laura; Alemán-Gómez, Yasser; Boada, Leticia; Fraguas, David; Moreno, Carmen; Arango, Celso; Janssen, Joost; Parellada, Mara

2017-11-01

Executive function (EF) performance is associated with measurements of white matter microstructure (WMS) in typical individuals. Impaired EF is a hallmark symptom of autism spectrum disorders (ASD) but it is unclear how impaired EF relates to variability in WMS. Twenty-one male youth (8-18 years) with ASD and without intellectual disability and twenty-one typical male participants (TP) matched for age, intelligence quotient, handedness, race and parental socioeconomic status were recruited. Five EF domains were assessed and several DTI-based measurements of WMS [fractional anisotropy (FA), mean diffusivity (MD) and radial diffusivity (RD)] were estimated for eighteen white matter tracts. The ASD group had lower scores for attention (F = 8.37, p = 0.006) and response inhibition (F = 13.09, p = 0.001). Age-dependent changes of EF performance and WMS measurements were present in TP but attenuated in the ASD group. The strongest diagnosis-by-age effect was found for forceps minor, left anterior thalamic radiation and left cingulum angular bundle (all p's ≤ 0.002). In these tracts subjects with ASD tended to have equal or increased FA and/or reduced MD and/or RD at younger ages while controls had increased FA and/or reduced MD and/or RD thereafter. Only for TP individuals, increased FA in the left anterior thalamic radiation was associated with better response inhibition, while reduced RD in forceps minor and left cingulum angular bundle was related to better problem solving and working memory performance respectively. These findings provide novel insight into the age-dependency of EF performance and WMS in ASD, which can be instructive to cognitive training programs.

Wechsler Memory Scale-III Faces test performance in patients with mild cognitive impairment and mild Alzheimer's disease.

PubMed

Seelye, Adriana M; Howieson, Diane B; Wild, Katherine V; Moore, Mindy Milar; Kaye, Jeffrey A

2009-08-01

Little is known about the sensitivity of the Wechsler Memory Scale-Third Edition (WMS-III) Faces subtest to memory impairment associated with mild cognitive impairment (MCI). In this study, Faces performance was examined in 24 MCI patients, 46 mild Alzheimer's disease (AD) patients, and 98 elderly controls. We hypothesized that participants with diagnoses of MCI or AD would be impaired relative to controls on Faces. Analyses showed that AD participants performed significantly worse than MCI and intact participants, although there were no significant differences between MCI and intact participants. Data suggest that brain areas specialized for face recognition memory may be less affected by MCI and mild AD than regions specialized for verbal memory.

Evaluation of Memory Impairment in Aging Adult Survivors of Childhood Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia Treated With Cranial Radiotherapy

PubMed Central

2013-01-01

Background Cranial radiotherapy (CRT) is a known risk factor for neurocognitive impairment in survivors of childhood cancer and may increase risk for mild cognitive impairment and dementia in adulthood. Methods We performed a cross-sectional evaluation of survivors of childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) treated with 18 Gy (n = 127) or 24 Gy (n = 138) CRT. Impairment (age-adjusted score >1 standard deviation below expected mean, two-sided exact binomial test) on the Wechsler Memory Scale IV (WMS-IV) was measured. A subset of survivors (n = 85) completed structural and functional neuroimaging. Results Survivors who received 24 Gy, but not 18 Gy, CRT had impairment in immediate (impairment rate = 33.8%, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 25.9% to 42.4%; P < .001) and delayed memory (impairment rate = 30.2%, 95% CI = 22.6% to 38.6%; P < .001). The mean score for long-term narrative memory among survivors who received 24 Gy CRT was equivalent to that for individuals older than 69 years. Impaired immediate memory was associated with smaller right (P = .02) and left (P = .008) temporal lobe volumes, and impaired delayed memory was associated with thinner parietal and frontal cortices. Lower hippocampal volumes and increased functional magnetic resonance imaging activation were observed with memory impairment. Reduced cognitive status (Brief Cognitive Status Exam from the WMS-IV) was identified after 24 Gy (18.5%, 95% CI = 12.4% to 26.1%; P < .001), but not 18 Gy (8.7%, 95% CI = 4.4% to 15.0%; P = .11), CRT, suggesting a dose–response effect. Employment rates were equivalent (63.8% for 24 Gy CRT and 63.0% for 18 Gy CRT). Conclusions Adult survivors who received 24 Gy CRT had reduced cognitive status and memory, with reduced integrity in neuroanatomical regions essential in memory formation, consistent with early onset mild cognitive impairment. PMID:23584394

Different effects of anterior temporal lobectomy and selective amygdalohippocampectomy on verbal memory performance of patients with epilepsy.

PubMed

Boucher, Olivier; Dagenais, Emmanuelle; Bouthillier, Alain; Nguyen, Dang Khoa; Rouleau, Isabelle

2015-11-01

The advantage of selective amygdalohippocampectomy (SAH) over anterior temporal lobectomy (ATL) for the treatment of temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE) remains controversial. Because ATL is more extensive and involves the lateral and medial parts of the temporal lobe, it may be predicted that its impact on memory is more important than SAH, which involves resection of medial temporal structures only. However, several studies do not support this assumption. Possible explanations include task-specific factors such as the extent of semantic and syntactic information to be memorized and failure to control for main confounders. We compared preoperative vs. postoperative memory performance in 13 patients with SAH with 26 patients who underwent ATL matched on side of surgery, IQ, age at seizure onset, and age at surgery. Memory function was assessed using the Logical Memory subtest from the Wechsler Memory Scales - 3rd edition (LM-WMS), the Rey Auditory Verbal Learning Test (RAVLT), the Digit Span subtest from the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale, and the Rey-Osterrieth Complex Figure Test. Repeated measures analyses of variance revealed opposite effects of SAH and ATL on the two verbal learning memory tests. On the immediate recall trial of the LM-WMS, performance deteriorated after ATL in comparison with that after SAH. By contrast, on the delayed recognition trial of the RAVLT, performance deteriorated after SAH compared with that after ATL. However, additional analyses revealed that the latter finding was only observed when surgery was conducted in the right hemisphere. No interaction effects were found on other memory outcomes. The results are congruent with the view that tasks involving rich semantic content and syntactical structure are more sensitive to the effects of lateral temporal cortex resection as compared with mesiotemporal resection. The findings highlight the importance of task selection in the assessment of memory in patients undergoing TLE surgery. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Physical exercise increases involvement of motor networks as a compensatory mechanism during a cognitively challenging task.

PubMed

Ji, Lanxin; Pearlson, Godfrey D; Zhang, Xue; Steffens, David C; Ji, Xiaoqing; Guo, Hua; Wang, Lihong

2018-05-31

Neuroimaging studies suggest that older adults may compensate for declines in cognitive function through neural compensation and reorganization of neural resources. While neural compensation as a key component of cognitive reserve is an important factor that mediates cognitive decline, the field lacks a quantitative measure of neural compensatory ability, and little is known about factors that may modify compensation, such as physical exercise. Twenty-five healthy older adults participated in a 6-week dance training exercise program. Gait speed, cognitive function, and functional magnetic resonance imaging during a challenging memory task were measured before and after the exercise program. In this study, we used a newly proposed data-driven independent component analysis approach to measure neural compensatory ability and tested the effect of physical exercise on neural compensation through a longitudinal study. After the exercise program, participants showed significantly improved memory performance in Logical Memory Test (WMS(LM)) (P < .001) and Rey Auditory Verbal Learning Test (P = .001) and increased gait speed measured by the 6-minute walking test (P = .01). Among all identified neural networks, only the motor cortices and cerebellum showed greater involvement during the memory task after exercise. Importantly, subjects who activated the motor network only after exercise (but not before exercise) showed WMS(LM) increases. We conclude that physical exercise improved gait speed, cognitive function, and compensatory ability through increased involvement of motor-related networks. Copyright © 2018 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Neuropsychological factors related to returning to work in patients with higher brain dysfunction.

PubMed

Kai, Akiko; Hashimoto, Manabu; Okazaki, Tetsuya; Hachisuka, Kenji

2008-12-01

We conducted neuropsychological tests of patients with higher brain dysfunction to examine the characteristics of barriers to employment. We tested 92 patients with higher brain dysfunction (average age of 36.3 +/- 13.8 years old, ranging between 16 and 63 years old, with an average post-injury period of 35.6 +/- 67.8 months) who were hospitalized at the university hospital between February 2002 and June 2007 for further neuropsychological evaluation, conducting the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale-Revised (WAIS-R), Wechsler Memory Scale-Revised (WMS-R), the Rivermead Behavioral Memory Test (RBMT), Frontal Assessment Battery (FAB) and Behavioral Assessment of Dysexecutive Syndrome (BADS). The outcomes after discharge were classified between competitive employment, sheltered employment and non-employment, and the three groups were compared using one-way analysis of variance and the Scheffe test. The WAIS-R subtests were mutually compared based on the standard values of significant differences described in the WAIS-R manual. Verbal performance and full scale Intelligence Quotient (IQ) of WAIS-R were 87.7 +/- 15.6 (mean +/- standard deviation), 78.5 +/- 18.1 and 81.0 +/- 17.2, respectively, and verbal memory, visual memory, general memory, attention/concentration and delayed recall were 74.6 +/- 20.0, 76.6 +/- 21.4, 72.0 +/- 20.4, 89.0 +/- 16.5 and 65.2 +/- 20.8, respectively. The competitive employment group showed significantly higher scores in performance IQ and full IQ on the WAIS-R and verbal memory, visual memory, general memory and delayed recall on the WMS-R and RBMT than the non-employment group. The sheltered employment group showed a significantly higher score in delayed recall than the non-employment group. No difference was observed in the FAB or BADS between the three groups. In the subtests of the WAIS-R, the score for Digit Symbol-Coding was significantly lower than almost all the other subtests. For patients with higher brain dysfunction, IQ (full scale IQ > 53.2) and memory (general memory > 74.1) are important indicators in returning to work under the conditions of competitive employment.

Verbal memory impairment after left insular cortex infarction

PubMed Central

Manes, F.; Springer, J.; Jorge, R.; Robinson, R.

1999-01-01

PET studies have shown an association between changes in blood flow in the insular cortex and verbal memory. This study compared verbal memory profiles between a group of four right handed patients with right insular infarction and a group of six right handed patients with left insular infarction. Patient groups were comparable in age, education, and sex. Patients were administered memory tests about 4-8 weeks poststroke. Patients with left insular lesions showed significantly poorer immediate and delayed verbal memory as measured by story A of the WMS-R logical memory I (t=−2.73, p<0.03) and logical memory II (t=−4.1, p<0.004) subtests as well as the CERAD word list memory (delayed recall) (t=−2.4, p<0.05). These findings indicate that left insular damage is associated with poorer performance on verbal memory tasks. The findings suggest that the insula may be part of a functional network that mediates verbal memory.

 PMID:10486407

Rational Phosphorus Application Facilitates the Sustainability of the Wheat/Maize/Soybean Relay Strip Intercropping System

PubMed Central

Wang, Ke; Liu, Jing; Lu, Junyu; Xu, Kaiwei

2015-01-01

Wheat (Triticum aestivum L.)/maize (Zea mays L.)/soybean (Glycine max L.) relay strip intercropping (W/M/S) system is commonly used by the smallholders in the Southwest of China. However, little known is how to manage phosphorus (P) to enhance P use efficiency of the W/M/S system and to mitigate P leaching that is a major source of pollution. Field experiments were carried out in 2011, 2012, and 2013 to test the impact of five P application rates on yield and P use efficiency of the W/M/S system. The study measured grain yield, shoot P uptake, apparent P recovery efficiency (PRE) and soil P content. A linear-plateau model was used to determine the critical P rate that maximizes gains in the indexes of system productivity. The results show that increase in P application rates aggrandized shoot P uptake and crops yields at threshold rates of 70 and 71.5 kg P ha-1 respectively. With P application rates increasing, the W/M/S system decreased the PRE from 35.9% to 12.3% averaged over the three years. A rational P application rate, 72 kg P ha-1, or an appropriate soil Olsen-P level, 19.1 mg kg-1, drives the W/M/S system to maximize total grain yield while minimizing P surplus, as a result of the PRE up to 28.0%. We conclude that rational P application is an important approach for relay intercropping to produce high yield while mitigating P pollution and the rational P application-based integrated P fertilizer management is vital for sustainable intensification of agriculture in the Southwest of China. PMID:26540207

Manganese exposure: neuropsychological and neurological symptoms and effects in welders.

PubMed

Bowler, Rosemarie M; Gysens, Sabine; Diamond, Emily; Nakagawa, Sanae; Drezgic, Marija; Roels, Harry A

2006-05-01

Manganese exposure reportedly may have an adverse effect on CNS function and mood. Sixty-two welders with clinical histories of exposure to manganese were compared to 46 matched regional controls chosen at random from a telephone directory. The following tests were given: Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (WAIS-III), Wechsler Memory Scale (WMS-III), Boston Naming, WRAT-3, Cancellation H, Trail Making Tests A and B, Auditory Consonant Trigrams, Stroop, Rey-Osterreith, Animal Naming, Controlled Oral Word Association (COWAT), Test of Memory Malingering, Rey 15-item, Fingertapping, Grooved Pegboard, Dynamometer, Visual Attention Test, Lanthony d-15 Color Vision, Vistech Contrast Sensitivity, and Schirmer strips. The controls were administered a shorter battery of tests and the Rey-Osterreith, Animal Naming and some of the subtests of the WAIS-III, WMS-III were not administered. Mood tests, given to both groups, included the Symptom Checklist-40, Symptom Checklist-90-R, Profile of Mood Scale, Beck Depression Inventory II, and Beck Anxiety Inventory. Forty-seven welders and 42 controls were retained for statistical analysis after appropriate exclusions. Results showed a high rate of symptom prevalence and pronounced deficits in motor skills, visuomotor tracking speed and information processing, working memory, verbal skills (COWAT), delayed memory, and visuospatial skills. Neurological examinations compared to neuropsychological test results suggest that neuropsychologists obtain significantly more mood symptoms overall. Odds ratios indicate highly elevated risk for neuropsychological and neurological symptomatology of manganism. Mood disturbances including anxiety, depression, confusion, and impaired vision showed very high odds ratios. Neurological exams and neuropsychological tests exhibit complementarity and differences, though neuropsychological methods may be more sensitive in detecting early signs of manganism. The present study corroborates the findings of our previous study in another group of welders.

Neuropsychological dysfunction, mood disturbance, and emotional status of munitions workers.

PubMed

Bowler, R M; Lezak, M; Booty, A; Hartney, C; Mergler, D; Levin, J; Zisman, F

2001-01-01

The objective of this study was to compare the neuropsychological function, emotional status, visual function, and illness prevalence of 265 former munitions plant workers (M age = 56.7 years, M years of education = 12.07; 201 African American, 64 White) exposed to organic solvents for an average of 17.03 years with that of a group of 77 unexposed controls (M age = 51.3 years, M years of education = 13.07; 30 African American, 47 White). Neuropsychological tests were selected from the World Health Organization Neurobehavioral Core Test Battery, Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale-III (WAIS-III), and Wechsler Memory Scale-III (WMS-III) and also included the Brief Symptom Inventory, Profile of Mood States, Beck Anxiety Inventory, and Beck Depression Inventory. Vision tests included the Lanthony d-15 color vision, the Vistech Contrast Sensitivity, and the Snellen. The exposed group showed greater deficits than the controls in verbal learning (WMS-III Logical Memory I Learning Slope and Word Lists I Recall), visuomotor tracking speed (Cancellation H, WAIS-III Digit Symbol-Coding) and psychomotor function (Dynamometer and Grooved Pegboard), and dysfunction in emotional status, illness prevalence, and visual function. African American workers reported higher levels of exposure than Whites. Exposure relations demonstrated increased neuropsychological dysfunction with increased exposure.

[Memory characteristic in boys with attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder comorbid learning disability].

PubMed

Wu, Zhaomin; Wang, Na; Qian, Qiujin; Yang, Li; Qian, Ying; Liu, Lu; Liu, Yuxin; Cheng, Jia; Sun, Li; Cao, Qingjiu; Wang, Yufeng

2014-06-10

To explore the memory characteristic in boys with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) plus learning disability (LD). A total of 97 ADHD boys with comorbid LD (ADHD+LD), 97 ADHD boys without comorbid LD (ADHD-LD) and 97 healthy controls (based on the criteria of DSM-IV) were recruited from the outpatient clinic of Peking University Sixth Hospital from December 2003 to September 2012. Individuals across three groups were matched by ages, intelligence quotient (IQ) and ADHD subtypes. The Wechsler Memory Scale (WMS) was used to access the characteristics of several memory domains. ADHD +LD group performed the worst and control group the best in memory quotient (MQ) (90 ± 15 vs 98 ± 14 & 104 ± 14) and long-term memory domain ((36.0 ± 10.2) vs (42.1 ± 7.8) & (45.6 ± 6.7) score, all P < 0.05) . ADHD+LD group scored significantly lower than the control group in short-term memory ( (53.0 ± 9.2) vs (58.0 ± 9.7) score, P < 0.05) and immediate memory domains ((10.0 ± 3.3) vs (11.3 ± 3.5) score, P < 0.05). However, ADHD+LD group scored slightly but not significantly lower than the ADHD-LD group ((54.9 ± 10.7),(10.8 ± 3.2) score, P > 0.05). In most subscales of WMS, ADHD+LD group scored significantly lower than both ADHD-LD and control group in current information and orientation, mental control (1→100) , mental control (100→1) and associate learning subscales ( (8.8 ± 3.1) vs (10.0 ± 3.0) & (9.9 ± 2.3) score, (8.7 ± 4.1) vs (10.0 ± 3.9) & (11.1 ± 3.6) score, (10.7 ± 3.9) vs (12.9 ± 2.8) & (13.7 ± 2.2) score, (9.8 ± 3.1) vs (10.8 ± 2.6) & (11.1 ± 2.1) score, all P < 0.05) . In mental control (accumulation) subscale, all pairwise comparisons were statistically significant (all P < 0.05) . In subscales of figure memory, visual reproduction and digit span, ADHD+LD scored significantly lower than the control group (all P < 0.05), but not the ADHD-LD group (all P > 0.05). Boys with ADHD comorbid LD show deficits in overall memory function and long-term memory while short-term memory is partially damaged. Impairment in immediate memory is not detected.

Tiled WMS/KML Server V2

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Plesea, Lucian

2012-01-01

This software is a higher-performance implementation of tiled WMS, with integral support for KML and time-varying data. This software is compliant with the Open Geospatial WMS standard, and supports KML natively as a WMS return type, including support for the time attribute. Regionated KML wrappers are generated that match the existing tiled WMS dataset. Ping and JPG formats are supported, and the software is implemented as an Apache 2.0 module that supports a threading execution model that is capable of supporting very high request rates. The module intercepts and responds to WMS requests that match certain patterns and returns the existing tiles. If a KML format that matches an existing pyramid and tile dataset is requested, regionated KML is generated and returned to the requesting application. In addition, KML requests that do not match the existing tile datasets generate a KML response that includes the corresponding JPG WMS request, effectively adding KML support to a backing WMS server.

Recent Space Shuttle crew compartment design improvements

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Goodman, Jerry R.

1986-01-01

Significant design changes to the Space Shuttle waste management system (WMS) and its related personal hygiene support provisions (PHSP) have been made recently to improve overall operational performance and human factors interfaces. The WMS design improvements involve increased urinal flow, individual urinals, and provisions for manually compacting feces and cleanup materials to ensure adequate mission capacity. The basic arrangement and stowage of the PHSP used during waste management operations were extensively changed to better serve habitability concerns and operations needs, and to improve the hygiene of WMS operations. This paper describes these changes and the design, development, and flight test evaluation. In addition, provisions for an eighth crewmember and a new four-tier sleep station are described.

Diagnostic efficiency of demographically corrected Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale-III and Wechsler Memory Scale-III indices in moderate to severe traumatic brain injury and lower education levels.

PubMed

Walker, Alexandra J; Batchelor, Jennifer; Shores, E Arthur; Jones, Mike

2009-11-01

Despite the sensitivity of neuropsychological tests to educational level, improved diagnostic accuracy for demographically corrected scores has yet to be established. Diagnostic efficiency statistics of Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale-III (WAIS-III) and Wechsler Memory Scale-III (WMS-III) indices that were corrected for education, sex, and age (demographically corrected) were compared with age corrected indices in individuals aged 16 to 75 years with moderate to severe traumatic brain injury (TBI) and 12 years or less education. TBI participants (n = 100) were consecutive referrals to an outpatient rehabilitation service and met careful selection criteria. Controls (n = 100) were obtained from the WAIS-III/WMS-III standardization sample. Demographically corrected indices did not provide higher diagnostic efficiency than age corrected indices and this result was supported by reanalysis of the TBI group against a larger and unmatched control group. Processing Speed Index provided comparable diagnostic accuracy to that of combined indices. Demographically corrected indices were associated with higher cut-scores to maximize overall classification, reflecting the upward adjustment of those scores in a lower education sample. This suggests that, in clinical practice, the test results of individuals with limited education may be more accurately interpreted with the application of demographic corrections. Diagnostic efficiency statistics are presented, and future research directions are discussed.

Ppb-level mid-infrared ethane detection based on three measurement schemes using a 3.34-μm continuous-wave interband cascade laser

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Li, Chunguang; Zheng, Chuantao; Dong, Lei

A ppb-level mid-infrared ethane (C 2H 6) sensor was developed using a continuous-wave, thermoelectrically cooled, distributed feedback interband cascade laser emitting at 3.34 μm and a miniature dense patterned multipass gas cell with a 54.6-m optical path length. The performance of the sensor was investigated using two different techniques based on the tunable interband cascade laser: direct absorption spectroscopy (DAS) and second-harmonic wavelength modulation spectroscopy (2f-WMS). Three measurement schemes, DAS, WMS and quasi-simultaneous DAS and WMS, were realized based on the same optical sensor core. A detection limit of ~7.92 ppbv with a precision of ±30 ppbv for the separatemore » DAS scheme with an averaging time of 1 s and a detection limit of ~1.19 ppbv with a precision of about ±4 ppbv for the separate WMS scheme with a 4-s averaging time were achieved. An Allan–Werle variance analysis indicated that the precisions can be further improved to 777 pptv @ 166 s for the separate DAS scheme and 269 pptv @ 108 s for the WMS scheme, respectively. For the quasi-simultaneous DAS and WMS scheme, both the 2f signal and the direct absorption signal were simultaneously extracted using a LabVIEW platform, and four C 2H 6 samples (0, 30, 60 and 90 ppbv with nitrogen as the balance gas) were used as the target gases to assess the sensor performance. A detailed comparison of the three measurement schemes is reported. Here, atmospheric C 2H 6 measurements on the Rice University campus and a field test at a compressed natural gas station in Houston, TX, were conducted to evaluate the performance of the sensor system as a robust and reliable field-deployable sensor system.« less

Ppb-level mid-infrared ethane detection based on three measurement schemes using a 3.34-μm continuous-wave interband cascade laser

DOE PAGES

Li, Chunguang; Zheng, Chuantao; Dong, Lei; ...

2016-06-20

A ppb-level mid-infrared ethane (C 2H 6) sensor was developed using a continuous-wave, thermoelectrically cooled, distributed feedback interband cascade laser emitting at 3.34 μm and a miniature dense patterned multipass gas cell with a 54.6-m optical path length. The performance of the sensor was investigated using two different techniques based on the tunable interband cascade laser: direct absorption spectroscopy (DAS) and second-harmonic wavelength modulation spectroscopy (2f-WMS). Three measurement schemes, DAS, WMS and quasi-simultaneous DAS and WMS, were realized based on the same optical sensor core. A detection limit of ~7.92 ppbv with a precision of ±30 ppbv for the separatemore » DAS scheme with an averaging time of 1 s and a detection limit of ~1.19 ppbv with a precision of about ±4 ppbv for the separate WMS scheme with a 4-s averaging time were achieved. An Allan–Werle variance analysis indicated that the precisions can be further improved to 777 pptv @ 166 s for the separate DAS scheme and 269 pptv @ 108 s for the WMS scheme, respectively. For the quasi-simultaneous DAS and WMS scheme, both the 2f signal and the direct absorption signal were simultaneously extracted using a LabVIEW platform, and four C 2H 6 samples (0, 30, 60 and 90 ppbv with nitrogen as the balance gas) were used as the target gases to assess the sensor performance. A detailed comparison of the three measurement schemes is reported. Here, atmospheric C 2H 6 measurements on the Rice University campus and a field test at a compressed natural gas station in Houston, TX, were conducted to evaluate the performance of the sensor system as a robust and reliable field-deployable sensor system.« less

CometQuest: A Rosetta Adventure

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Leon, Nancy J.; Fisher, Diane K.; Novati, Alexander; Chmielewski, Artur B.; Fitzpatrick, Austin J.; Angrum, Andrea

2012-01-01

This software is a higher-performance implementation of tiled WMS, with integral support for KML and time-varying data. This software is compliant with the Open Geospatial WMS standard, and supports KML natively as a WMS return type, including support for the time attribute. Regionated KML wrappers are generated that match the existing tiled WMS dataset. Ping and JPG formats are supported, and the software is implemented as an Apache 2.0 module that supports a threading execution model that is capable of supporting very high request rates. The module intercepts and responds to WMS requests that match certain patterns and returns the existing tiles. If a KML format that matches an existing pyramid and tile dataset is requested, regionated KML is generated and returned to the requesting application. In addition, KML requests that do not match the existing tile datasets generate a KML response that includes the corresponding JPG WMS request, effectively adding KML support to a backing WMS server.

In vitro and in vivo biotransformation of WMS-1410, a potent GluN2B selective NMDA receptor antagonist.

PubMed

Falck, Evamaria; Begrow, Frank; Verspohl, Eugen J; Wünsch, Bernhard

2014-06-01

Structural modification of the GluN2B selective NMDA receptor antagonist ifenprodil led to the 3-benzazepine WMS-1410 with similar GluN2B affinity but higher receptor selectivity. Herein the in vitro and in vivo biotransformation of WMS-1410 is reported. Incubation of WMS-1410 with rat liver microsomes and different cofactors resulted in four hydroxylated phase I metabolites, two phase II metabolites and five combined phase I/II metabolites. With exception of catechol 4, these metabolites were also identified in the urine of a rat treated with WMS-1410. However the metabolites 7, 8 and 12 clearly show that the catechol metabolite 4 was also formed in vivo. As shown for ifenprodil the phenol of WMS-1410 represents the metabolically most reactive structural element. The biotransformation of WMS-1410 is considerably slower than the biotransformation of ifenprodil indicating a higher metabolic stability. From the viewpoint of metabolic stability the bioisosteric replacement of the phenol of WMS-1410 by a metabolically more stable moiety should be favourable. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

eWaterCycle visualisation. combining the strength of NetCDF and Web Map Service: ncWMS

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hut, R.; van Meersbergen, M.; Drost, N.; Van De Giesen, N.

2016-12-01

As a result of the eWatercycle global hydrological forecast we have created Cesium-ncWMS, a web application based on ncWMS and Cesium. ncWMS is a server side application capable of reading any NetCDF file written using the Climate and Forecasting (CF) conventions, and making the data available as a Web Map Service(WMS). ncWMS automatically determines available variables in a file, and creates maps colored according to map data and a user selected color scale. Cesium is a Javascript 3D virtual Globe library. It uses WebGL for rendering, which makes it very fast, and it is capable of displaying a wide variety of data types such as vectors, 3D models, and 2D maps. The forecast results are automatically uploaded to our web server running ncWMS. In turn, the web application can be used to change the settings for color maps and displayed data. The server uses the settings provided by the web application, together with the data in NetCDF to provide WMS image tiles, time series data and legend graphics to the Cesium-NcWMS web application. The user can simultaneously zoom in to the very high resolution forecast results anywhere on the world, and get time series data for any point on the globe. The Cesium-ncWMS visualisation combines a global overview with local relevant information in any browser. See the visualisation live at forecast.ewatercycle.org

Analysis of calibration-free wavelength-scanned wavelength modulation spectroscopy for practical gas sensing using tunable diode lasers

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sun, K.; Chao, X.; Sur, R.; Goldenstein, C. S.; Jeffries, J. B.; Hanson, R. K.

2013-12-01

A novel strategy has been developed for analysis of wavelength-scanned, wavelength modulation spectroscopy (WMS) with tunable diode lasers (TDLs). The method simulates WMS signals to compare with measurements to determine gas properties (e.g., temperature, pressure and concentration of the absorbing species). Injection-current-tuned TDLs have simultaneous wavelength and intensity variation, which severely complicates the Fourier expansion of the simulated WMS signal into harmonics of the modulation frequency (fm). The new method differs from previous WMS analysis strategies in two significant ways: (1) the measured laser intensity is used to simulate the transmitted laser intensity and (2) digital lock-in and low-pass filter software is used to expand both simulated and measured transmitted laser intensities into harmonics of the modulation frequency, WMS-nfm (n = 1, 2, 3,…), avoiding the need for an analytic model of intensity modulation or Fourier expansion of the simulated WMS harmonics. This analysis scheme is valid at any optical depth, modulation index, and at all values of scanned-laser wavelength. The method is demonstrated and validated with WMS of H2O dilute in air (1 atm, 296 K, near 1392 nm). WMS-nfm harmonics for n = 1 to 6 are extracted and the simulation and measurements are found in good agreement for the entire WMS lineshape. The use of 1f-normalization strategies to realize calibration-free wavelength-scanned WMS is also discussed.

Diode laser detection of greenhouse gases in the near-infrared region by wavelength modulation spectroscopy: pressure dependence of the detection sensitivity.

PubMed

Asakawa, Takashi; Kanno, Nozomu; Tonokura, Kenichi

2010-01-01

We have investigated the pressure dependence of the detection sensitivity of CO(2), N(2)O and CH(4) using wavelength modulation spectroscopy (WMS) with distributed feed-back diode lasers in the near infrared region. The spectral line shapes and the background noise of the second harmonics (2f) detection of the WMS were analyzed theoretically. We determined the optimum pressure conditions in the detection of CO(2), N(2)O and CH(4), by taking into consideration the background noise in the WMS. At the optimum total pressure for the detection of CO(2), N(2)O and CH(4), the limits of detection in the present system were determined.

Gender differences in post-temporal lobectomy verbal memory and relationships between MRI hippocampal volumes and preoperative verbal memory.

PubMed

Trenerry, M R; Jack, C R; Cascino, G D; Sharbrough, F W; Ivnik, R J

1995-01-01

Thirty-three men and 42 women who underwent left, and 26 men and 24 women who underwent right temporal lobectomy (TL) were studied retrospectively to determine if there were sex differences in (1) verbal memory outcome, and (2) relationships between verbal memory and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) hippocampal volumes. All patients were left hemisphere language dominant. The surgical specimen and MRI were consistent only with mesial temporal sclerosis (MTS). Verbal memory was evaluated by Logical Memory percent retention (LMPER) from the Wechsler Memory Scale-Revised (WMS-R). Women experienced a significant improvement while men experienced a significant decline in postoperative LMPER. The difference between right and left hippocampal volumes predicted verbal memory outcome in both men and women. Preoperative LMPER was positively correlated with both the left and right hippocampal volumes in left TL women only. No verbal memory sex differences or correlations between LMPER and MRI data were found in the right TL group. The data support the presence of human neurocognitive sexual dimorphism. Verbal memory abilities supported by the hippocampus are less lateralized in women with left temporal lobe epilepsy and mesial temporal sclerosis. Women appear to have greater verbal memory plasticity following early left mesial temporal lobe insult.

Wavelength modulation spectroscopy coupled with an external-cavity quantum cascade laser operating between 7.5 and 8 µm

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Maity, Abhijit; Pal, Mithun; Maithani, Sanchi; Dutta Banik, Gourab; Pradhan, Manik

2018-04-01

We demonstrate a mid-infrared detection strategy with 1f-normalized 2f-wavelength modulation spectroscopy (WMS-2f/1f) using a continuous wave (CW) external-cavity quantum cascade laser (EC-QCL) operating between 7.5 and 8 µm. The detailed performance of the WMS-2f/1f detection method was evaluated by making rotationally resolved measurements in the (ν 4  +  ν 5) combination band of acetylene (C2H2) at 1311.7600 cm-1. A noise-limited detection limit of three parts per billion (ppb) with an integration time of 110 s was achieved for C2H2 detection. The present high-resolution CW-EC-QCL system coupled with the WMS-2f/1f strategy was further validated with an extended range of C2H2 concentration of 0.1-1000 ppm, which shows excellent promise for real-life practical sensing applications. Finally, we utilized the WMS-2f/1f technique to measure the C2H2 concentration in the exhaled breath of smokers.

Web GIS in practice IV: publishing your health maps and connecting to remote WMS sources using the Open Source UMN MapServer and DM Solutions MapLab

PubMed Central

Boulos, Maged N Kamel; Honda, Kiyoshi

2006-01-01

Open Source Web GIS software systems have reached a stage of maturity, sophistication, robustness and stability, and usability and user friendliness rivalling that of commercial, proprietary GIS and Web GIS server products. The Open Source Web GIS community is also actively embracing OGC (Open Geospatial Consortium) standards, including WMS (Web Map Service). WMS enables the creation of Web maps that have layers coming from multiple different remote servers/sources. In this article we present one easy to implement Web GIS server solution that is based on the Open Source University of Minnesota (UMN) MapServer. By following the accompanying step-by-step tutorial instructions, interested readers running mainstream Microsoft® Windows machines and with no prior technical experience in Web GIS or Internet map servers will be able to publish their own health maps on the Web and add to those maps additional layers retrieved from remote WMS servers. The 'digital Asia' and 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami experiences in using free Open Source Web GIS software are also briefly described. PMID:16420699

Navigation-assisted trans-inferotemporal cortex selective amygdalohippocampectomy for mesial temporal lobe epilepsy; preserving the temporal stem.

PubMed

Kishima, Haruhiko; Kato, Amami; Oshino, Satoru; Tani, Naoki; Maruo, Tomoyuki; Khoo, Hui Ming; Yanagisawa, Takufumi; Edakawa, Kotaro; Kobayashi, Maki; Tanaka, Masataka; Hosomi, Koichi; Hirata, Masayuki; Yoshimine, Toshiki

2017-03-01

Selective amygdalohippocampectomy (SAH) can be used to obtain satisfactory seizure control in patients with mesial temporal lobe epilepsy (MTLE). Several SAH procedures have been reported to achieve satisfactory outcomes for seizure control, but none yield fully satisfactory outcomes for memory function. We hypothesized that preserving the temporal stem might play an important role. To preserve the temporal stem, we developed a minimally invasive surgical procedure, 'neuronavigation-assisted trans-inferotemporal cortex SAH' (TITC-SAH). TITC-SAH was performed in 23 patients with MTLE (MTLE on the language-non-dominant hemisphere, n = 11). The inferior horn of the lateral ventricle was approached via the inferior or middle temporal gyrus along the inferior temporal sulcus under neuronavigation guidance. The hippocampus was dissected in a subpial manner and resected en bloc together with the parahippocampal gyrus. Seizure control at one year and memory function at 6 months postoperatively were evaluated. One year after TITC-SAH, 20 of the 23 patients were seizure-free (ILAE class 1), 2 were class 2, and 1 was class 3. Verbal memory improved significantly in 13 patients with a diagnosis of hippocampal sclerosis, for whom WMS-R scores were available both pre- and post-operatively. Improvements were seen regardless of whether the SAH was on the language-dominant or non-dominant hemisphere. No major complication was observed. Navigation-assisted TITC-SAH performed for MTLE offers a simple, minimally invasive procedure that appears to yield excellent outcomes in terms of seizure control and preservation of memory function, because this procedure does not damage the temporal stem. TITC-SAH should be one of the feasible surgical procedures for MTLE. SAH: Amygdalohippocampectomy; MTLE: Mesial temporal lobe epilepsy (MTLE); TITC-SAH: Ttrans-inferotemporal cortex SAH; ILAE: International League Against Epilepsy (ILAE); MRI: Magnetic resonance imaging; EEG: Electroencephalography (EEG); FDG-PET: 8 F-fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG)-positron emission tomography; ECoG: Electrocorticography; MEG: Magnetoencephalography; IMZ-SPECT: N-isopropyl-p( 123 I)-iodoamphetamine single photon emission computed tomography; WMS-R: Wechsler Memory Scale-Revised.

Welding process modelling and control

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Romine, Peter L.; Adenwala, Jinen A.

1993-01-01

The research and analysis performed, and software developed, and hardware/software recommendations made during 1992 in development of the PC-based data acquisition system for support of Welding Process Modeling and Control is reported. A need was identified by the Metals Processing Branch of NASA Marshall Space Flight Center, for a mobile data aquisition and analysis system, customized for welding measurement and calibration. Several hardware configurations were evaluated and a PC-based system was chosen. The Welding Measurement System (WMS) is a dedicated instrument, strictly for the use of data aquisition and analysis. Although the WMS supports many of the functions associated with the process control, it is not the intention for this system to be used for welding process control.

Compact TDLAS based optical sensor for ppb-level ethane detection by use of a 3.34 μm room-temperature CW interband cascade laser

DOE PAGES

Li, Chunguang; Dong, Lei; Zheng, Chuantao; ...

2016-03-26

A mid-infrared ethane (C 2H 6) sensor based on a wavelength modulation spectroscopy (WMS) technique was developed using a thermoelectrically cooled (TEC), continuous-wave (CW) interband cascade laser (ICL) emitting at 3.34 μm and a dense multi-pass gas cell (MPGC, 17 × 6.5 × 5.5 cm 3) with a 54.6 m optical path length. A compact optical sensor system with a physical size of 35.5 × 18 × 12.5 cm 3 was designed and constructed. An ICL was employed for targeting a strong C 2H 6 line at 2996.88 cm -1 at <100 Torr gas pressure in the fundamental absorption bandmore » of C 2H 6. The sensor performance, including the minimum detection limit (MDL) and the stability were improved by reducing the effect of laser power drift by means of the 2f/1f-WMS technique. A MDL of ~1.2 parts per billion (ppbv) for 2f-WMS and ~1.0 ppbv for 2f/1f-WMS were achieved, respectively, with a measurement time of 4 s. The MDL was further improved from 299 pptv (@108 s for 2f-WMS) to 239 pptv (@208 s for 2f/1f-WMS), based on an Allan deviation analysis.The rise time (@0 → 100 ppbv) and fall time (@100 → 0 ppbv) were determined to be ~64 s and ~48 s,respectively, at a gas pressure of <100 Torr for the C 2H 6 sensor operation.« less

Compact TDLAS based optical sensor for ppb-level ethane detection by use of a 3.34 μm room-temperature CW interband cascade laser

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Li, Chunguang; Dong, Lei; Zheng, Chuantao

A mid-infrared ethane (C 2H 6) sensor based on a wavelength modulation spectroscopy (WMS) technique was developed using a thermoelectrically cooled (TEC), continuous-wave (CW) interband cascade laser (ICL) emitting at 3.34 μm and a dense multi-pass gas cell (MPGC, 17 × 6.5 × 5.5 cm 3) with a 54.6 m optical path length. A compact optical sensor system with a physical size of 35.5 × 18 × 12.5 cm 3 was designed and constructed. An ICL was employed for targeting a strong C 2H 6 line at 2996.88 cm -1 at <100 Torr gas pressure in the fundamental absorption bandmore » of C 2H 6. The sensor performance, including the minimum detection limit (MDL) and the stability were improved by reducing the effect of laser power drift by means of the 2f/1f-WMS technique. A MDL of ~1.2 parts per billion (ppbv) for 2f-WMS and ~1.0 ppbv for 2f/1f-WMS were achieved, respectively, with a measurement time of 4 s. The MDL was further improved from 299 pptv (@108 s for 2f-WMS) to 239 pptv (@208 s for 2f/1f-WMS), based on an Allan deviation analysis.The rise time (@0 → 100 ppbv) and fall time (@100 → 0 ppbv) were determined to be ~64 s and ~48 s,respectively, at a gas pressure of <100 Torr for the C 2H 6 sensor operation.« less

Synthesis of wrinkled mesoporous silica and its reinforcing effect for dental resin composites.

PubMed

Wang, Ruili; Habib, Eric; Zhu, X X

2017-10-01

The aim of this work is to explore the reinforcing effect of wrinkled mesoporous silica (WMS), which should allow micromechanical resin matrix/filler interlocking in dental resin composites, and to investigate the effect of silica morphology, loading, and compositions on their mechanical properties. WMS (average diameter of 496nm) was prepared through the self-assembly method and characterized by the use of the electron microscopy, dynamic light scattering, and the N 2 adsorption-desorption measurements. The mechanical properties of resin composites containing silanized WMS and nonporous smaller silica were evaluated with a universal mechanical testing machine. Field-emission scanning electron microscopy was used to study the fracture morphology of dental composites. Resin composites including silanized silica particles (average diameter of 507nm) served as the control group. Higher filler loading of silanized WMS substantially improved the mechanical properties of the neat resin matrix, over the composites loaded with regular silanized silica particles similar in size. The impregnation of smaller secondary silica particles with diameters of 90 and 190nm, denoted respectively as Si90 and Si190, increased the filler loading of the bimodal WMS filler (WMS-Si90 or WMS-Si190) to 60wt%, and the corresponding composites exhibited better mechanical properties than the control fillers made with regular silica particles. Among all composites, the optimal WMS-Si190- filled composite (mass ratio WMS:Si190=10:90, total filler loading 60wt%) exhibited the best mechanical performance including flexural strength, flexural modulus, compressive strength and Vickers microhardness. The incorporation of WMS and its mixed bimodal fillers with smaller silica particles led to the design and formulation of dental resin composites with superior mechanical properties. Copyright © 2017 The Academy of Dental Materials. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Waste Management System overview for future spacecraft.

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Ingelfinger, A. L.; Murray, R. W.

1973-01-01

Waste Management Systems (WMS) for post Apollo spacecraft will be significantly more sophisticated and earthlike in user procedures. Some of the features of the advanced WMS will be accommodation of both males and females, automatic operation, either tissue wipe or anal wash, measurement and sampling of urine, feces and vomitus for medical analysis, water recovery, and solids disposal. This paper presents an overview of the major problems of and approaches to waste management for future spacecraft. Some of the processes discussed are liquid/gas separation, the Dry-John, the Hydro-John, automated sampling, vapor compression distillation, vacuum distillation-catalytic oxidation, incineration, and the integration of the above into complete systems.

Improvement in QEPAS system utilizing a second harmonic based wavelength calibration technique

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhang, Qinduan; Chang, Jun; Wang, Fupeng; Wang, Zongliang; Xie, Yulei; Gong, Weihua

2018-05-01

A simple laser wavelength calibration technique, based on second harmonic signal, is demonstrated in this paper to improve the performance of quartz enhanced photoacoustic spectroscopy (QEPAS) gas sensing system, e.g. improving the signal to noise ratio (SNR), detection limit and long-term stability. Constant current, corresponding to the gas absorption line, combining f/2 frequency sinusoidal signal are used to drive the laser (constant driving mode), a software based real-time wavelength calibration technique is developed to eliminate the wavelength drift due to ambient fluctuations. Compared to conventional wavelength modulation spectroscopy (WMS), this method allows lower filtering bandwidth and averaging algorithm applied to QEPAS system, improving SNR and detection limit. In addition, the real-time wavelength calibration technique guarantees the laser output is modulated steadily at gas absorption line. Water vapor is chosen as an objective gas to evaluate its performance compared to constant driving mode and conventional WMS system. The water vapor sensor was designed insensitive to the incoherent external acoustic noise by the numerical averaging technique. As a result, the SNR increases 12.87 times in wavelength calibration technique based system compared to conventional WMS system. The new system achieved a better linear response (R2 = 0 . 9995) in concentration range from 300 to 2000 ppmv, and achieved a minimum detection limit (MDL) of 630 ppbv.

Web Map Services (WMS) Global Mosaic

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Percivall, George; Plesea, Lucian

2003-01-01

The WMS Global Mosaic provides access to imagery of the global landmass using an open standard for web mapping. The seamless image is a mosaic of Landsat 7 scenes; geographically-accurate with 30 and 15 meter resolutions. By using the OpenGIS Web Map Service (WMS) interface, any organization can use the global mosaic as a layer in their geospatial applications. Based on a trade study, an implementation approach was chosen that extends a previously developed WMS hosting a Landsat 5 CONUS mosaic developed by JPL. The WMS Global Mosaic supports the NASA Geospatial Interoperability Office goal of providing an integrated digital representation of the Earth, widely accessible for humanity's critical decisions.

Method for calibration-free scanned-wavelength modulation spectroscopy for gas sensing

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Hanson, Ronald K.; Jeffries, Jay B.; Sun, Kai

A method of calibration-free scanned-wavelength modulation spectroscopy (WMS) absorption sensing is provided by obtaining absorption lineshape measurements of a gas sample on a sensor using 1f-normalized WMS-2f where an injection current to an injection current-tunable diode laser (TDL) is modulated at a frequency f, where a wavelength modulation and an intensity modulation of the TDL are simultaneously generated, extracting using a numerical lock-in program and a low-pass filter appropriate band-width WMS-nf (n=1, 2, . . . ) signals, where the WMS-nf signals are harmonics of the f, determining a physical property of the gas sample according to ratios of themore » WMS-nf signals, determining the zero-absorption background using scanned-wavelength WMS, and determining non-absorption losses using at least two of the harmonics, where a need for a non-absorption baseline measurement is removed from measurements in environments where collision broadening has blended transition linewidths, where calibration free WMS measurements without knowledge of the transition linewidth is enabled.« less

Pegasus Workflow Management System: Helping Applications From Earth and Space

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mehta, G.; Deelman, E.; Vahi, K.; Silva, F.

2010-12-01

Pegasus WMS is a Workflow Management System that can manage large-scale scientific workflows across Grid, local and Cloud resources simultaneously. Pegasus WMS provides a means for representing the workflow of an application in an abstract XML form, agnostic of the resources available to run it and the location of data and executables. It then compiles these workflows into concrete plans by querying catalogs and farming computations across local and distributed computing resources, as well as emerging commercial and community cloud environments in an easy and reliable manner. Pegasus WMS optimizes the execution as well as data movement by leveraging existing Grid and cloud technologies via a flexible pluggable interface and provides advanced features like reusing existing data, automatic cleanup of generated data, and recursive workflows with deferred planning. It also captures all the provenance of the workflow from the planning stage to the execution of the generated data, helping scientists to accurately measure performance metrics of their workflow as well as data reproducibility issues. Pegasus WMS was initially developed as part of the GriPhyN project to support large-scale high-energy physics and astrophysics experiments. Direct funding from the NSF enabled support for a wide variety of applications from diverse domains including earthquake simulation, bacterial RNA studies, helioseismology and ocean modeling. Earthquake Simulation: Pegasus WMS was recently used in a large scale production run in 2009 by the Southern California Earthquake Centre to run 192 million loosely coupled tasks and about 2000 tightly coupled MPI style tasks on National Cyber infrastructure for generating a probabilistic seismic hazard map of the Southern California region. SCEC ran 223 workflows over a period of eight weeks, using on average 4,420 cores, with a peak of 14,540 cores. A total of 192 million files were produced totaling about 165TB out of which 11TB of data was saved. Astrophysics: The Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO) uses Pegasus WMS to search for binary inspiral gravitational waves. A month of LIGO data requires many thousands of jobs, running for days on hundreds of CPUs on the LIGO Data Grid (LDG) and Open Science Grid (OSG). Ocean Temperature Forecast: Researchers at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory are exploring Pegasus WMS to run ocean forecast ensembles of the California coastal region. These models produce a number of daily forecasts for water temperature, salinity, and other measures. Helioseismology: The Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) is NASA's most important solar physics mission of this coming decade. Pegasus WMS is being used to analyze the data from SDO, which will be predominantly used to learn about solar magnetic activity and to probe the internal structure and dynamics of the Sun with helioseismology. Bacterial RNA studies: SIPHT is an application in bacterial genomics, which predicts sRNA (small non-coding RNAs)-encoding genes in bacteria. This project currently provides a web-based interface using Pegasus WMS at the backend to facilitate large-scale execution of the workflows on varied resources and provide better notifications of task/workflow completion.

Web Based Rapid Mapping of Disaster Areas using Satellite Images, Web Processing Service, Web Mapping Service, Frequency Based Change Detection Algorithm and J-iView

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bandibas, J. C.; Takarada, S.

2013-12-01

Timely identification of areas affected by natural disasters is very important for a successful rescue and effective emergency relief efforts. This research focuses on the development of a cost effective and efficient system of identifying areas affected by natural disasters, and the efficient distribution of the information. The developed system is composed of 3 modules which are the Web Processing Service (WPS), Web Map Service (WMS) and the user interface provided by J-iView (fig. 1). WPS is an online system that provides computation, storage and data access services. In this study, the WPS module provides online access of the software implementing the developed frequency based change detection algorithm for the identification of areas affected by natural disasters. It also sends requests to WMS servers to get the remotely sensed data to be used in the computation. WMS is a standard protocol that provides a simple HTTP interface for requesting geo-registered map images from one or more geospatial databases. In this research, the WMS component provides remote access of the satellite images which are used as inputs for land cover change detection. The user interface in this system is provided by J-iView, which is an online mapping system developed at the Geological Survey of Japan (GSJ). The 3 modules are seamlessly integrated into a single package using J-iView, which could rapidly generate a map of disaster areas that is instantaneously viewable online. The developed system was tested using ASTER images covering the areas damaged by the March 11, 2011 tsunami in northeastern Japan. The developed system efficiently generated a map showing areas devastated by the tsunami. Based on the initial results of the study, the developed system proved to be a useful tool for emergency workers to quickly identify areas affected by natural disasters.

Wavelength modulation diode laser absorption spectroscopy for high-pressure gas sensing

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sun, K.; Chao, X.; Sur, R.; Jeffries, J. B.; Hanson, R. K.

2013-03-01

A general model for 1 f-normalized wavelength modulation absorption spectroscopy with nf detection (i.e., WMS- nf) is presented that considers the performance of injection-current-tuned diode lasers and the reflective interference produced by other optical components on the line-of-sight (LOS) transmission intensity. This model explores the optimization of sensitive detection of optical absorption by species with structured spectra at elevated pressures. Predictions have been validated by comparison with measurements of the 1 f-normalized WMS- nf (for n = 2-6) lineshape of the R(11) transition in the 1st overtone band of CO near 2.3 μm at four different pressures ranging from 5 to 20 atm, all at room temperature. The CO mole fractions measured by 1 f-normalized WMS-2 f, 3 f, and 4 f techniques agree with calibrated mixtures within 2.0 %. At conditions where absorption features are significantly broadened and large modulation depths are required, uncertainties in the WMS background signals due to reflective interference in the optical path can produce significant error in gas mole fraction measurements by 1 f-normalized WMS-2 f. However, such potential errors can be greatly reduced by using the higher harmonics, i.e., 1 f-normalized WMS- nf with n > 2. In addition, less interference from pressure-broadened neighboring transitions has been observed for WMS with higher harmonics than for WMS-2 f.

WMS Server 2.0

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Plesea, Lucian; Wood, James F.

2012-01-01

This software is a simple, yet flexible server of raster map products, compliant with the Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) Web Map Service (WMS) 1.1.1 protocol. The server is a full implementation of the OGC WMS 1.1.1 as a fastCGI client and using Geospatial Data Abstraction Library (GDAL) for data access. The server can operate in a proxy mode, where all or part of the WMS requests are done on a back server. The server has explicit support for a colocated tiled WMS, including rapid response of black (no-data) requests. It generates JPEG and PNG images, including 16-bit PNG. The GDAL back-end support allows great flexibility on the data access. The server is a port to a Linux/GDAL platform from the original IRIX/IL platform. It is simpler to configure and use, and depending on the storage format used, it has better performance than other available implementations. The WMS server 2.0 is a high-performance WMS implementation due to the fastCGI architecture. The use of GDAL data back end allows for great flexibility. The configuration is relatively simple, based on a single XML file. It provides scaling and cropping, as well as blending of multiple layers based on layer transparency.

Communicating and visualizing data quality through Web Map Services

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Roberts, Charles; Blower, Jon; Maso, Joan; Diaz, Daniel; Griffiths, Guy; Lewis, Jane

2014-05-01

The sharing and visualization of environmental data through OGC Web Map Services is becoming increasingly common. However, information about the quality of data is rarely presented. (In this presentation we consider mostly data uncertainty as a measure of quality, although we acknowledge that many other quality measures are relevant to the geoscience community.) In the context of the GeoViQua project (http://www.geoviqua.org) we have developed conventions and tools for using WMS to deliver data quality information. The "WMS-Q" convention describes how the WMS specification can be used to publish quality information at the level of datasets, variables and individual pixels (samples). WMS-Q requires no extensions to the WMS 1.3.0 specification, being entirely backward-compatible. (An earlier version of WMS-Q was published as OGC Engineering Report 12-160.) To complement the WMS-Q convention, we have also developed extensions to the OGC Symbology Encoding (SE) specification, enabling uncertain geoscience data to be portrayed using a variety of visualization techniques. These include contours, stippling, blackening, whitening, opacity, bivariate colour maps, confidence interval triangles and glyphs. There may also be more extensive applications of these methods beyond the visual representation of uncertainty. In this presentation we will briefly describe the scope of the WMS-Q and "extended SE" specifications and then demonstrate the innovations using open-source software based upon ncWMS (http://ncwms.sf.net). We apply the tools to a variety of datasets including Earth Observation data from the European Space Agency's Climate Change Initiative. The software allows uncertain raster data to be shared through Web Map Services, giving the user fine control over data visualization.

Comparison between wire mesh sensor and gamma densitometry void measurements in two-phase flows

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sharaf, S.; Da Silva, M.; Hampel, U.; Zippe, C.; Beyer, M.; Azzopardi, B.

2011-10-01

Wire mesh sensors (WMS) are fast imaging instruments that are used for gas-liquid and liquid-liquid two-phase flow measurements and experimental investigations. Experimental tests were conducted at Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf to test both the capacitance and conductance WMS against a gamma densitometer (GD). A small gas-liquid test facility was utilized. This consisted of a vertical round pipe approximately 1 m in length, and 50 mm internal diameter. A 16 × 16 WMS was used with high spatial and temporal resolutions. Air-deionized water was the two-phase mixture. The gas superficial velocity was varied between 0.05 m s-1 and 1.4 m s-1 at two liquid velocities of 0.2 and 0.7 m s-1. The GD consisted of a collimated source and a collimated detector. The GD was placed on a moving platform close to the plane of wires of the sensor, in order to align it accurately using a counter mechanism, with each of the wires of the WMS, and the platform could scan the full section of the pipe. The WMS was operated as a conductivity WMS for a half-plane with eight wires and as a capacitance WMS for the other half. For the cross-sectional void (time and space averaged), along each wire, there was good agreement between WMS and the GD chordal void fraction near the centre of the pipe.

Providing Internet Access to High-Resolution Mars Images

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Plesea, Lucian

2008-01-01

The OnMars server is a computer program that provides Internet access to high-resolution Mars images, maps, and elevation data, all suitable for use in geographical information system (GIS) software for generating images, maps, and computational models of Mars. The OnMars server is an implementation of the Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) Web Map Service (WMS) server. Unlike other Mars Internet map servers that provide Martian data using an Earth coordinate system, the OnMars WMS server supports encoding of data in Mars-specific coordinate systems. The OnMars server offers access to most of the available high-resolution Martian image and elevation data, including an 8-meter-per-pixel uncontrolled mosaic of most of the Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Observer Camera Narrow Angle (MOCNA) image collection, which is not available elsewhere. This server can generate image and map files in the tagged image file format (TIFF), Joint Photographic Experts Group (JPEG), 8- or 16-bit Portable Network Graphics (PNG), or Keyhole Markup Language (KML) format. Image control is provided by use of the OGC Style Layer Descriptor (SLD) protocol. The OnMars server also implements tiled WMS protocol and super-overlay KML for high-performance client application programs.

Differential Memory Test Sensitivity for Diagnosing Amnestic Mild Cognitive Impairment and Predicting Conversion to Alzheimer's Disease

PubMed Central

Rabin, Laura A.; Paré, Nadia; Saykin, Andrew J.; Brown, Michael J.; Wishart, Heather A.; Flashman, Laura A.; Santulli, Robert B.

2011-01-01

Episodic memory is the first and most severely affected cognitive domain in Alzheimer's disease (AD), and it is also the key early marker in prodromal stages including amnestic mild cognitive impairment (MCI). The relative ability of memory tests to discriminate between MCI and normal aging has not been well characterized. We compared the classification value of widely used verbal memory tests in distinguishing healthy older adults (n = 51) from those with MCI (n = 38). Univariate logistic regression indicated that the total learning score from the California Verbal Learning Test-II (CVLT-II) ranked highest in terms of distinguishing MCI from normal aging (sensitivity = 90.2; specificity = 84.2). Inclusion of the delayed recall condition of a story memory task (i.e., WMS-III Logical Memory, Story A) enhanced the overall accuracy of classification (sensitivity = 92.2; specificity = 94.7). Combining Logical Memory recognition and CVLT-II long delay best predicted progression from MCI to AD over a 4-year period (accurate classification = 87.5%). Learning across multiple trials may provide the most sensitive index for initial diagnosis of MCI, but inclusion of additional variables may enhance overall accuracy and may represent the optimal strategy for identifying individuals most likely to progress to dementia. PMID:19353345

Comprehensive neurocognitive assessment of patients with anorexia nervosa.

PubMed

Phillipou, Andrea; Gurvich, Caroline; Castle, David Jonathan; Abel, Larry Allen; Rossell, Susan Lee

2015-12-22

To utilise a comprehensive cognitive battery to gain a better understanding of cognitive performance in anorexia nervosa (AN). Twenty-six individuals with AN and 27 healthy control participants matched for age, gender and premorbid intelligence, participated in the study. A standard cognitive battery, the Measurement and Treatment Research to Improve Cognition in Schizophrenia Consensus Cognitive Battery, was used to investigate performance on seven cognitive domains with the use of 10 different tasks: speed of processing [Brief Assessment Of Cognition In Schizophrenia: Symbol Coding, Category Fluency: Animal Naming (Fluency) and Trail Making Test: Part A], attention/vigilance [Continuous Performance Test - Identical Pairs (CPT-IP)], working memory [Wechsler Memory Scale (WMS(®)-III): Spatial Span, and Letter-Number Span (LNS)], verbal learning [Hopkins Verbal Learning Test - Revised], visual learning [Brief Visuospatial Memory Test - Revised], reasoning and problem solving [Neuropsychological Assessment Battery: Mazes], and social cognition [Mayer-Salovey-Caruso Emotional Intelligence Test: Managing Emotions]. Statistical analyses involved the use of multivariate and univariate analyses of variance. Analyses conducted on the cognitive domain scores revealed no overall significant difference between groups nor any interaction between group and domain score [F(1,45) = 0.73, P = 0.649]. Analyses conducted on each of the specific tasks within the cognitive domains revealed significantly slower reaction times for false alarm responses on the CPT-IP task in AN [F(1,51) = 12.80, P < 0.01, Cohen's d = 0.982] and a trend towards poorer performance in AN on the backward component of the WMS(®)-III Spatial Span task [F(1,51) = 5.88, P = 0.02, Cohen's d = -0.665]. The finding of slower reaction times of false alarm responses is, however, limited due to the small number of false alarm responses for either group. The findings are discussed in terms of poorer capacity to manipulate and process visuospatial material in AN.

Distinguishing Depressive Pseudodementia from Alzheimer Disease: A Comparative Study of Hippocampal Volumetry and Cognitive Tests

PubMed Central

Sahin, Sevki; Okluoglu Önal, Tugba; Cinar, Nilgun; Bozdemir, Meral; Çubuk, Rahmi; Karsidag, Sibel

2017-01-01

Background and Aim Depressive pseudodementia (DPD) is a condition which may develop secondary to depression. The aim of this study was to contribute to the differential diagnosis between Alzheimer disease (AD) and DPD by comparing the neurocognitive tests and hippocampal volume. Materials and Methods Patients who met criteria of AD/DPD were enrolled in the study. All patients were assessed using the Wechsler Memory Scale (WMS), clock-drawing test, Stroop test, Benton Facial Recognition Test (BFRT), Boston Naming Test, Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE), and Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS). Hippocampal volume was measured by importing the coronal T1-weighted magnetic resonance images to the Vitrea 2 workstation. Results A significant difference was found between the AD and DPD groups on the WMS test, clock-drawing test, Stroop test, Boston Naming Test, MMSE, GDS, and left hippocampal volume. A significant correlation between BFRT and bilateral hippocampal volumes was found in the AD group. No correlation was found among parameters in DPD patients. Conclusions Our results suggest that evaluation of facial recognition and left hippocampal volume may provide more reliable evidence for distinguishing DPD from AD. Further investigations combined with functional imaging techniques including more patients are needed. PMID:28868066

KML Super Overlay to WMS Translator

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Plesea, Lucian

2007-01-01

This translator is a server-based application that automatically generates KML super overlay configuration files required by Google Earth for map data access via the Open Geospatial Consortium WMS (Web Map Service) standard. The translator uses a set of URL parameters that mirror the WMS parameters as much as possible, and it also can generate a super overlay subdivision of any given area that is only loaded when needed, enabling very large areas of coverage at very high resolutions. It can make almost any dataset available as a WMS service visible and usable in any KML application, without the need to reformat the data.

Los Alamos Plutonium Facility Waste Management System

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Smith, K.; Montoya, A.; Wieneke, R.

1997-02-01

This paper describes the new computer-based transuranic (TRU) Waste Management System (WMS) being implemented at the Plutonium Facility at Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL). The Waste Management System is a distributed computer processing system stored in a Sybase database and accessed by a graphical user interface (GUI) written in Omnis7. It resides on the local area network at the Plutonium Facility and is accessible by authorized TRU waste originators, count room personnel, radiation protection technicians (RPTs), quality assurance personnel, and waste management personnel for data input and verification. Future goals include bringing outside groups like the LANL Waste Management Facilitymore » on-line to participate in this streamlined system. The WMS is changing the TRU paper trail into a computer trail, saving time and eliminating errors and inconsistencies in the process.« less

Free and Cued Selective Reminding Test is superior to the Wechsler Memory Scale in discriminating mild cognitive impairment from Alzheimer's disease.

PubMed

Lemos, Raquel; Cunha, Catarina; Marôco, João; Afonso, Ana; Simões, Mário R; Santana, Isabel

2015-08-01

The Logical Memory (LM) and the Verbal Paired Associative Learning (VPAL) are subtests from the Wechsler Memory Scale commonly used to characterize the memory deficit of amnestic mild cognitive impairment (aMCI) and Alzheimer's disease (AD). The Free and Cued Selective Reminding Test (FCSRT) was suggested to assess the memory impairment of AD spectrum patients by the International Working Group on AD. In the present study, we compared the properties of the tests and their accuracy in classifying aMCI and AD. A group of aMCI patients (n = 85) and AD patients (n = 43) were included. The reliability and the validity of the three tests were analyzed. AD patients showed a significant pattern of worse impairment on all tests than aMCI. The FCSRT was able to classify more patients as having memory impairment in the aMCI group rather than the WMS subtests. The FCSRT proved to be good in discriminating the two groups in both lower and higher educational levels, whereas the LM was more useful in higher educated patients. Although the instruments had good results, the FCSRT was more accurate in discriminating MCI from AD, and less influenced by the educational level. © 2014 Japan Geriatrics Society.

The influence of shift work on cognitive functions and oxidative stress.

PubMed

Özdemir, Pınar Güzel; Selvi, Yavuz; Özkol, Halil; Aydın, Adem; Tülüce, Yasin; Boysan, Murat; Beşiroğlu, Lütfullah

2013-12-30

Shift work influences health, performance, activity, and social relationships, and it causes impairment in cognitive functions. In this study, we investigated the effects of shift work on participants' cognitive functions in terms of memory, attention, and learning, and we measured the effects on oxidative stress. Additionally, we investigated whether there were significant relationships between cognitive functions and whole blood oxidant/antioxidant status of participants. A total of 90 health care workers participated in the study, of whom 45 subjects were night-shift workers. Neuropsychological tests were administered to the participants to assess cognitive function, and blood samples were taken to detect total antioxidant capacity and total oxidant status at 08:00. Differences in anxiety, depression, and chronotype characteristics between shift work groups were not significant. Shift workers achieved significantly lower scores on verbal memory, attention-concentration, and the digit span forward sub-scales of the Wechsler Memory Scale-Revised (WMS-R), as well as on the immediate memory and total learning sub-scales of the Auditory Verbal Learning Test (AVLT). Oxidative stress parameters were significantly associated with some types of cognitive function, including attention-concentration, recognition, and long-term memory. These findings suggest that night shift work may result in significantly poorer cognitive performance, particularly working memory. © 2013 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

[Predictors of verbal memory decline following temporal lobe surgery].

PubMed

de Vanssay-Maigne, A; Boutin, M; Baudoin-Chial, S

2008-05-01

Verbal memory decline can occur after temporal lobe surgery, especially when the left dominant hemisphere is involved. This potential functional risk must be evaluated before surgery. Among all factors that have been identified by several studies, the side of surgery (left dominant) and high baseline memory performance have been found to be predictive of verbal memory decline. Other factors such as etiology, sex, age at surgery, age at seizure onset, and duration may influence memory decline, but the results are not clear. Our purpose was to identify, in our population of patients and among all risk factors, those that may be predictive of verbal memory decline. Logistic regression was used to examine the effect of each factor on the postoperative verbal memory index (WMS-R) in 101 patients who underwent a right (n=49) or left (n=52) anterior temporal lobe resection. In the group as a whole, 22 % of the patients demonstrated verbal memory decline of more than one standard deviation. The verbal memory decline was significantly related to surgery on the left side and a high level of verbal memory performance. These factors were significant predictors of decline. The other factors (etiology, sex, age at surgery, age at seizure onset, and duration) were not found to be predictive of this decline. Our analysis demonstrates that the patients who are most at risk of undergoing verbal memory deterioration are those who undergo left-sided temporal resection and have good memory scores preoperatively. The contradictions found in the literature about the other factors could be explained by the diversity of the tests and criteria used to assess memory decline.

Pragmatic service development and customisation with the CEDA OGC Web Services framework

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pascoe, Stephen; Stephens, Ag; Lowe, Dominic

2010-05-01

The CEDA OGC Web Services framework (COWS) emphasises rapid service development by providing a lightweight layer of OGC web service logic on top of Pylons, a mature web application framework for the Python language. This approach gives developers a flexible web service development environment without compromising access to the full range of web application tools and patterns: Model-View-Controller paradigm, XML templating, Object-Relational-Mapper integration and authentication/authorization. We have found this approach useful for exploring evolving standards and implementing protocol extensions to meet the requirements of operational deployments. This paper outlines how COWS is being used to implement customised WMS, WCS, WFS and WPS services in a variety of web applications from experimental prototypes to load-balanced cluster deployments serving 10-100 simultaneous users. In particular we will cover 1) The use of Climate Science Modeling Language (CSML) in complex-feature aware WMS, WCS and WFS services, 2) Extending WMS to support applications with features specific to earth system science and 3) A cluster-enabled Web Processing Service (WPS) supporting asynchronous data processing. The COWS WPS underpins all backend services in the UK Climate Projections User Interface where users can extract, plot and further process outputs from a multi-dimensional probabilistic climate model dataset. The COWS WPS supports cluster job execution, result caching, execution time estimation and user management. The COWS WMS and WCS components drive the project-specific NCEO and QESDI portals developed by the British Atmospheric Data Centre. These portals use CSML as a backend description format and implement features such as multiple WMS layer dimensions and climatology axes that are beyond the scope of general purpose GIS tools and yet vital for atmospheric science applications.

Combined effects of marijuana and nicotine on memory performance and hippocampal volume.

PubMed

Filbey, Francesca M; McQueeny, Tim; Kadamangudi, Shrinath; Bice, Collette; Ketcherside, Ariel

2015-10-15

Combined use of marijuana (MJ) and tobacco is highly prevalent in today's population. Individual use of either substance is linked to structural brain changes and altered cognitive function, especially with consistent reports of hippocampal volume deficits and poorer memory performance. However, the combined effects of MJ and tobacco on hippocampal structure and on learning and memory processes remain unknown. In this study, we examined both the individual and combined effects of MJ and tobacco on hippocampal volumes and memory performance in four groups of adults taken from two larger studies: MJ-only users (n=36), nicotine-only (Nic-only, n=19), combined marijuana and nicotine users (MJ+Nic, n=19) and non-using healthy controls (n=16). Total bilateral hippocampal volumes and memory performance (WMS-III logical memory) were compared across groups controlling for total brain size and recent alcohol use. Results found MJ and MJ+Nic groups had smaller total hippocampal volumes compared to Nic-only and controls. No significant difference between groups was found between immediate and delayed story recall. However, the controls showed a trend for larger hippocampal volumes being associated with better memory scores, while MJ+Nic users showed a unique inversion, whereby smaller hippocampal volume was associated with better memory. Overall, results suggest abnormalities in the brain-behavior relationships underlying memory processes with combined use of marijuana and nicotine use. Further research will need to address these complex interactions between MJ and nicotine. Copyright © 2015 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

The relationship between obesity and neurocognitive function in Chinese patients with schizophrenia.

PubMed

Guo, Xiaofeng; Zhang, Zhanchou; Wei, Qinling; Lv, Hailong; Wu, Renrong; Zhao, Jingping

2013-04-09

Studies have reported that up to 60% of individuals with schizophrenia are overweight or obese. This study explored the relationship between obesity and cognitive performance in Chinese patients with schizophrenia. Outpatients with schizophrenia aged 18-50 years were recruited from 10 study sites across China. Demographic and clinical information was collected. A neuropsychological battery including tests of attention, processing speed, learning/memory, and executive functioning was used to assess cognitive function, and these 4 individual domains were transformed into a neurocognitive composite z score. In addition, height and weight were measured to calculate body mass index (BMI). Patients were categorized into 4 groups (underweight, normal weight, overweight and obese) based on BMI cutoff values for Asian populations recommended by the World Health Organization. A total number of 896 patients were enrolled into the study. Fifty-four percent of participants were overweight or obese. A higher BMI was significantly associated with lower scores on the Wechsler Memory Scale-Revised (WMS-R) Visual Reproduction subscale, the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale-Revised (WAIS-R) Digit Symbol subscale, and the composite z score (p's ≤ 0.024). Obese patients with schizophrenia had significantly lower scores than normal weight patients on the Trail Making Test B, the WMS-R Visual Reproduction subscale, the WAIS Digit Symbol subscale, and the composite z score (p's ≤ 0.004). Our study suggests that, in addition to its well established risk for various cardiometabolic conditions, obesity is also associated with decreased cognitive function in Chinese patients with schizophrenia. Future studies should explore if weight loss and management can improve cognitive function in obese patients who suffer from schizophrenia.

The relationship between obesity and neurocognitive function in Chinese patients with schizophrenia

PubMed Central

2013-01-01

Background Studies have reported that up to 60% of individuals with schizophrenia are overweight or obese. This study explored the relationship between obesity and cognitive performance in Chinese patients with schizophrenia. Methods Outpatients with schizophrenia aged 18–50 years were recruited from 10 study sites across China. Demographic and clinical information was collected. A neuropsychological battery including tests of attention, processing speed, learning/memory, and executive functioning was used to assess cognitive function, and these 4 individual domains were transformed into a neurocognitive composite z score. In addition, height and weight were measured to calculate body mass index (BMI). Patients were categorized into 4 groups (underweight, normal weight, overweight and obese) based on BMI cutoff values for Asian populations recommended by the World Health Organization. Results A total number of 896 patients were enrolled into the study. Fifty-four percent of participants were overweight or obese. A higher BMI was significantly associated with lower scores on the Wechsler Memory Scale-Revised (WMS-R) Visual Reproduction subscale, the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale-Revised (WAIS-R) Digit Symbol subscale, and the composite z score (p’s ≤ 0.024). Obese patients with schizophrenia had significantly lower scores than normal weight patients on the Trail Making Test B, the WMS-R Visual Reproduction subscale, the WAIS Digit Symbol subscale, and the composite z score (p’s ≤ 0.004). Conclusions Our study suggests that, in addition to its well established risk for various cardiometabolic conditions, obesity is also associated with decreased cognitive function in Chinese patients with schizophrenia. Future studies should explore if weight loss and management can improve cognitive function in obese patients who suffer from schizophrenia. PMID:23570390

A phase I study of low-pressure hyperbaric oxygen therapy for blast-induced post-concussion syndrome and post-traumatic stress disorder.

PubMed

Harch, Paul G; Andrews, Susan R; Fogarty, Edward F; Amen, Daniel; Pezzullo, John C; Lucarini, Juliette; Aubrey, Claire; Taylor, Derek V; Staab, Paul K; Van Meter, Keith W

2012-01-01

This is a preliminary report on the safety and efficacy of 1.5 ATA hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBOT) in military subjects with chronic blast-induced mild to moderate traumatic brain injury (TBI)/post-concussion syndrome (PCS) and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Sixteen military subjects received 40 1.5 ATA/60 min HBOT sessions in 30 days. Symptoms, physical and neurological exams, SPECT brain imaging, and neuropsychological and psychological testing were completed before and within 1 week after treatment. Subjects experienced reversible middle ear barotrauma (5), transient deterioration in symptoms (4), and reversible bronchospasm (1); one subject withdrew. Post-treatment testing demonstrated significant improvement in: symptoms, neurological exam, full-scale IQ (+14.8 points; p<0.001), WMS IV Delayed Memory (p=0.026), WMS-IV Working Memory (p=0.003), Stroop Test (p<0.001), TOVA Impulsivity (p=0.041), TOVA Variability (p=0.045), Grooved Pegboard (p=0.028), PCS symptoms (Rivermead PCSQ: p=0.0002), PTSD symptoms (PCL-M: p<0.001), depression (PHQ-9: p<0.001), anxiety (GAD-7: p=0.007), quality of life (MPQoL: p=0.003), and self-report of percent of normal (p<0.001), SPECT coefficient of variation in all white matter and some gray matter ROIs after the first HBOT, and in half of white matter ROIs after 40 HBOT sessions, and SPECT statistical parametric mapping analysis (diffuse improvements in regional cerebral blood flow after 1 and 40 HBOT sessions). Forty 1.5 ATA HBOT sessions in 1 month was safe in a military cohort with chronic blast-induced PCS and PTSD. Significant improvements occurred in symptoms, abnormal physical exam findings, cognitive testing, and quality-of-life measurements, with concomitant significant improvements in SPECT.

High-flow bypass with radial artery graft followed by internal carotid artery ligation for large or giant aneurysms of cavernous or cervical portion: clinical results and cognitive performance.

PubMed

Ono, Hideaki; Inoue, Tomohiro; Tanishima, Takeo; Tamura, Akira; Saito, Isamu; Saito, Nobuhito

2018-04-01

High-flow bypass followed by ligation of the internal carotid artery (ICA) is an effective treatment, but the impact of abrupt occlusion of the ICA is unpredictable, especially on postoperative cognitive function. The present study evaluated the clinical results as well as cognitive performances after high-flow bypass using radial artery graft (RAG) with supportive superficial temporal artery (STA)-middle cerebral artery (MCA) bypass, followed by ICA ligation. Ten consecutive patients underwent high-flow bypass surgery for large or giant ICA aneurysms of cavernous or cervical portion. Demographics, clinical information, magnetic resonance (MR) imaging, computed tomography, digital subtraction angiography (DSA), intraoperative somatosensory evoked potentials, neuropsychological examinations including the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale-Third Edition and the Wechsler Memory Scale-Revised (WMS-R), and follow-up data were analyzed. The aneurysm was located on the cavernous segment in eight cases and cervical segment in two cases, and mean aneurysm size was 27.9 mm. Postoperative DSA demonstrated robust bypass flow from the external carotid artery to MCA via the RAG, and no anterograde flow into the aneurysm. No patient showed new symptoms after the operation. Follow-up clinical study and MR imaging were performed in nine patients and showed no additional ischemic lesion compared with preoperative imaging. Seven patients completed neuropsychological examinations before and after surgery. All postoperative scores except WMS-R composite memory score slightly improved. High-flow bypass followed by ICA ligation can achieve good clinical outcomes. Successful high-flow bypass using RAG with supportive STA-MCA bypass and ICA ligation does not adversely affect postoperative cognitive function.

In situ H2O and temperature detection close to burning biomass pellets using calibration-free wavelength modulation spectroscopy

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Qu, Zhechao; Schmidt, Florian M.

2015-04-01

The design and application of an H2O/temperature sensor based on scanned calibration-free wavelength modulation spectroscopy (CF-WMS) and a single tunable diode laser at 1.4 µm is presented. The sensor probes two H2O absorption peaks in a single scan and simultaneously retrieves H2O concentration and temperature by least-squares fitting simulated 1f-normalized 2f-WMS spectra to measured 2f/ 1f-WMS signals, with temperature, concentration and nonlinear modulation amplitude as fitting parameters. Given a minimum detectable absorbance of 1.7 × 10-5 cm-1 Hz-1/2, the system is applicable down to an H2O concentration of 0.1 % at 1,000 K and 20 cm path length (200 ppm·m). The temperature in a water-seeded laboratory-scale reactor (670-1220 K at 4 % H2O) was determined within an accuracy of 1 % by comparison with the reactor thermocouple. The CF-WMS sensor was applied to real time in situ measurements of H2O concentration and temperature time histories (0.25-s time resolution) in the hot gases 2-11 mm above biomass pellets during atmospheric combustion in the reactor. Temperatures between 1,200 and 1,600 K and H2O concentrations up to 40 % were detected above the biofuels.

Models based on "out-of Kilter" algorithm

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Adler, M. J.; Drobot, R.

2012-04-01

In case of many water users along the river stretches, it is very important, in case of low flows and droughty periods to develop an optimization model for water allocation, to cover all needs under certain predefined constraints, depending of the Contingency Plan for drought management. Such a program was developed during the implementation of the WATMAN Project, in Romania (WATMAN Project, 2005-2006, USTDA) for Arges-Dambovita-Ialomita Basins water transfers. This good practice was proposed for WATER CoRe Project- Good Practice Handbook for Drought Management, (InterregIVC, 2011), to be applied for the European Regions. Two types of simulation-optimization models based on an improved version of out-of-kilter algorithm as optimization technique have been developed and used in Romania: • models for founding of the short-term operation of a WMS, • models generically named SIMOPT that aim to the analysis of long-term WMS operation and have as the main results the statistical WMS functional parameters. A real WMS is modeled by an arcs-nodes network so the real WMS operation problem becomes a problem of flows in networks. The nodes and oriented arcs as well as their characteristics such as lower and upper limits and associated costs are the direct analog of the physical and operational WMS characteristics. Arcs represent both physical and conventional elements of WMS such as river branches, channels or pipes, water user demands or other water management requirements, trenches of water reservoirs volumes, water levels in channels or rivers, nodes are junctions of at least two arcs and stand for locations of lakes or water reservoirs and/or confluences of river branches, water withdrawal or wastewater discharge points, etc. Quantitative features of water resources, water users and water reservoirs or other water works are expressed as constraints of non-violating the lower and upper limits assigned on arcs. Options of WMS functioning i.e. water retention/discharge in/from the reservoirs or diversion of water from one part of WMS to the other in order to meet water demands as well as the water user economic benefit or loss related to the degree of water demand, are the defining elements of the objective function and are conventionally expressed by the means of costs attached to the arcs. The problem of optimizing the WMS operation is formulated like a flow in networks problem as following: to find the flow that minimize the cost in the whole network while meeting the constraints of continuity in nodes and the constraints of non-exceeding lower and upper flow limits on arcs. Conversion of WMS in the arcs-nodes network and the adequate choice of costs and limits on arcs are steps of a unitary process and depend on the goal of the respective model.

Choke or thrive? The relation between salivary cortisol and math performance depends on individual differences in working memory and math-anxiety.

PubMed

Mattarella-Micke, Andrew; Mateo, Jill; Kozak, Megan N; Foster, Katherine; Beilock, Sian L

2011-08-01

In the current study, we explored how a person's physiological arousal relates to their performance in a challenging math situation as a function of individual differences in working memory (WM) capacity and math-anxiety. Participants completed demanding math problems before and after which salivary cortisol, an index of arousal, was measured. The performance of lower WM individuals did not depend on cortisol concentration or math-anxiety. For higher WM individuals high in math-anxiety, the higher their concentration of salivary cortisol following the math task, the worse their performance. In contrast, for higher WM individuals lower in math-anxiety, the higher their salivary cortisol concentrations, the better their performance. For individuals who have the capacity to perform at a high-level (higher WMs), whether physiological arousal will lead an individual to choke or thrive depends on math-anxiety. 2011 APA, all rights reserved

Increasing the power for detecting impairment in older adults with the Faces subtest from Wechsler Memory Scale-III: an empirical trial.

PubMed

Levy, Boaz

2006-10-01

Empirical studies have questioned the validity of the Faces subtest from the WMS-III for detecting impairment in visual memory, particularly among the elderly. A recent examination of the test norms revealed a significant age related floor effect already emerging on Faces I (immediate recall), implying excessive difficulty in the acquisition phase among unimpaired older adults. The current study compared the concurrent validity of the Faces subtest with an alternative measure between 16 Alzheimer's patients and 16 controls. The alternative measure was designed to facilitate acquisition by reducing the sequence of item presentation. Other changes aimed at increasing the retrieval challenge, decreasing error due to guessing and standardizing the administration. Analyses converged to indicate that the alternative measure provided a considerably greater differentiation than the Faces subtest between Alzheimer's patients and controls. Steps for revising the Faces subtest are discussed.

Parsimonious estimation of the Wechsler Memory Scale, Fourth Edition demographically adjusted index scores: immediate and delayed memory.

PubMed

Miller, Justin B; Axelrod, Bradley N; Schutte, Christian

2012-01-01

The recent release of the Wechsler Memory Scale Fourth Edition contains many improvements from a theoretical and administration perspective, including demographic corrections using the Advanced Clinical Solutions. Although the administration time has been reduced from previous versions, a shortened version may be desirable in certain situations given practical time limitations in clinical practice. The current study evaluated two- and three-subtest estimations of demographically corrected Immediate and Delayed Memory index scores using both simple arithmetic prorating and regression models. All estimated values were significantly associated with observed index scores. Use of Lin's Concordance Correlation Coefficient as a measure of agreement showed a high degree of precision and virtually zero bias in the models, although the regression models showed a stronger association than prorated models. Regression-based models proved to be more accurate than prorated estimates with less dispersion around observed values, particularly when using three subtest regression models. Overall, the present research shows strong support for estimating demographically corrected index scores on the WMS-IV in clinical practice with an adequate performance using arithmetically prorated models and a stronger performance using regression models to predict index scores.

Differential association of left and right hippocampal volumes with verbal episodic and spatial memory in older adults.

PubMed

Ezzati, Ali; Katz, Mindy J; Zammit, Andrea R; Lipton, Michael L; Zimmerman, Molly E; Sliwinski, Martin J; Lipton, Richard B

2016-12-01

The hippocampus plays a critical role in verbal and spatial memory, thus any pathological damage to this formation may lead to cognitive impairment. It is suggested that right and left hippocampi are affected differentially in healthy or pathologic aging. The purpose of this study was to test the hypothesis that verbal episodic memory performance is associated with left hippocampal volume (HV) while spatial memory is associated with right HV. 115 non-demented adults over age 70 were drawn from the Einstein Aging Study. Verbal memory was measured using the free recall score from the Free and Cued Selective Reminding Test - immediate recall (FCSRT-IR), logical memory immediate and delayed subtests (LM-I and LM-II) from the Wechsler Memory Scale-Revised (WMS-R). Spatial Memory was measured using a computerized dot memory paradigm that has been validated for use in older adults. All participants underwent 3T MRI with subsequent automatized measurement of the volume of each hippocampus. The sample had a mean age of 78.7 years (SD=5.0); 57% were women, and 52% were white. Participants had a mean of 14.3 years (SD=3.5) of education. In regression models, two tests of verbal memory (FCSRT-IR free recall and LM-II) were positively associated with left HV, but not with right HV. Performance on the spatial memory task was associated with right HV, but not left HV. Our findings support the hypothesis that the left hippocampus plays a critical role in episodic verbal memory, while right hippocampus might be more important for spatial memory processing among non-demented older adults. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Extent of resection in temporal lobectomy for epilepsy. II. Memory changes and neurologic complications.

PubMed

Katz, A; Awad, I A; Kong, A K; Chelune, G J; Naugle, R I; Wyllie, E; Beauchamp, G; Lüders, H

1989-01-01

We present correlations of extent of temporal lobectomy for intractable epilepsy with postoperative memory changes (20 cases) and abnormalities of visual field and neurologic examination (45 cases). Postoperative magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in the coronal plane was used to quantify anteroposterior extent of resection of various quadrants of the temporal lobe, using a 20-compartment model of that structure. The Wechsler Memory Scale-Revised (WMS-R) was administered preoperatively and postoperatively. Postoperative decrease in percentage of retention of verbal material correlated with extent of medial resection of left temporal lobe, whereas decrease in percentage of retention of visual material correlated with extent of medial resection of right temporal lobe. These correlations approached but did not reach statistical significance. Extent of resection correlated significantly with the presence of visual field defect on perimetry testing but not with severity, denseness, or congruity of the defect. There was no correlation between postoperative dysphasia and extent of resection in any quadrant. Assessment of extent of resection after temporal lobectomy allows a rational interpretation of postoperative neurologic deficits in light of functional anatomy of the temporal lobe.

Understanding the unique biogeochemistry of the Mediterranean Sea: Insights from a coupled phosphorus and nitrogen model

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Powley, Helen R.; Krom, Michael D.; Van Cappellen, Philippe

2017-06-01

The Mediterranean Sea (MS) is an oligotrophic basin whose offshore water column exhibits low dissolved inorganic phosphorus (P) and nitrogen (N) concentrations, unusually high nitrate (NO3) to phosphate (PO4) ratios, and distinct biogeochemical differences between the Western Mediterranean Sea (WMS) and Eastern Mediterranean Sea (EMS). A new mass balance model of P and N cycling in the WMS is coupled to a pre-existing EMS model to understand these biogeochemical features. Estimated land-derived inputs of reactive P and N to the WMS and EMS are similar per unit surface area, but marine inputs are 4 to 5 times greater for the WMS, which helps explain the approximately 3 times higher primary productivity of the WMS. The lateral inputs of marine sourced inorganic and organic P support significant fractions of new production in the WMS and EMS, similar to subtropical gyres. The mass balance calculations imply that the MS is net heterotrophic: dissolved organic P and N entering the WMS and EMS, primarily via the Straits of Gibraltar and Sicily, are mineralized to PO4 and NO3 and subsequently exported out of the basin by the prevailing anti-estuarine circulation. The high deepwater (DW) molar NO3:PO4 ratios reflect the high reactive N:P ratio of inputs to the WMS and EMS, combined with low denitrification rates. The lower DW NO3:PO4 ratio of the WMS (21) compared to the EMS (28) reflects lower reactive N:P ratios of inputs to the WMS, including the relatively low N:P ratio of Atlantic surface water flowing into the WMS.