Cognitive Assessment

The purpose of this study was to explore the ability of place attachment to predict place-specific and general pro-environment behavioural intentions. The study sample (n ¼ 355) consisted of visitors to a Canadian national park, Point Pelee National Park. The place attachment scale utilized in this study was designed to measure three subdimensions: place identity, place dependence, and place affect. Exploratory factor analysis of data measured by these scales revealed two place attachment subdimensions. Place affect, an individual's emotions and feelings for a place, acted as a more generalized or pervasive phenomenon. Place affect items loaded on both the place identity (an individual's cognitive assessment of a place) and place dependence (an individual's functional assessment of a place). Structural equation modeling confirmed the strength of place attachment's ability to predict place-related pro-environment intentions. It also identified place attachment's prediction of pro-environment behavioural intensions related to everyday life. Place identity mediated the effects of place dependence in predicting proenvironment intentions. Further research which utilizes in-depth and longitudinal case studies is suggested to explore the role of place-specific emotion and feelings, as well as place identity in fostering environmentally-responsible action as these factors are theorized to play an important role in promoting pro-environmental behaviour. Studies of place attachment to everyday settings rather than iconic national parks are also called for.

A review of the author's contributions over the past 50+ years to the development of behavior therapy and cognitive behavior therapy.  Themes include cognitive restructuring of a paranoid delusion, arguing
for agency in deep muscle relaxation and in countercontrol, attribution in the maintenance of behavior change, perceived as contrasted with actual control, integrating humanistic elements into CBT, the complexities of the science-practice dialectic, calling attention to the essential phenomenological nature of CBT, providing insights into therapists’ thinking through a pedagogical innovation in explaining
clinical applications, social constructivism in clinical assessment, innovating with a laboratory-based think-aloud cognitive assessment paradigm, and the ethics and politics of conversion therapy for gay people.

This study aimed to estimate the quartile distribution on the cognitive assessment of normal elderly with low education as measured by the Cambridge Cognitive Examination (CAMCOG). A sample of 292 elderly (> 65 years of age), screened for dementia and depression, were assessed using the CAMCOG. The CAMCOG scores of normal subjects (n = 206) were stratified according to age (65-69, 70-74, 75-79, ≥ 80) and schooling (illiterate, 1-4, and ≥ 5 years of formal education). Mean age was 72.8 (± 3.5) and mean schooling was 3.5 years (± 3). The mean score on the CAMCOG was 71 (± 12.7). The scores at the first quartile for illiterate/1-4 years of schooling were 58/62 (65-69 years), 52/63 (70-74 years), 48/67 (75-79 years) and 46/64 (> 80 years), respectively. There was a significant difference in the CAMCOG quartiles according to education and age. This study provides normative data on the CAMCOG of elderly people with low educational levels which may be clinically useful.

Purpose: To evaluate the long-term quality of life (QOL) of patients who had undergone major neonatal surgery, the psychosocial and cognitive consequences of neonatal surgical stress were assessed when the patients reached school age. Materials and methods: Seventy-two patients who had undergone major neonatal surgery were enrolled in this study. Their primary diseases were anorectal malformation (ARM) in 27 cases, esophageal atresia (EA) in 23, and congenital diaphragmatic hernia (CDH) in 22. Intelligence tests using Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children III (WISC-III) or a developmental test and the Child Behavior Checklist were conducted through questionnaires and interviews with clinical psychologists. Results: Mental retardation (MR) was apparent in 25% of EA, 20% of ARM, and 18% of CDH, significantly higher than the 2% to 3% commonly found in the general population. The clinical range (CR) of the Child Behavior Checklist was seen in 35% of EA, 59% of ARM, and 38% of CDH, which is also significantly higher than the 25% typically seen in the general population. No significant differences in MR and CR were seen among the primary diseases. The most important factors influencing MR and CR remain to be identified. Conclusions: To ensure true quality of life after neonatal surgical stress, pediatric surgeons must consider not only physical assessments but also cognitive, emotional, and psychosocial assessments.

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Educators need accurate assessments of preschool cognitive growth to guide curriculum design, evaluation, and timely modification of their instructional programs. But available tests do not provide content breadth or growth sensitivity over brief intervals. This article details evidence for a multiform, multiscale test criterion-referenced to national standards for alphabet knowledge, vocabulary, listening comprehension and mathematics, developed in field trials with 3433 3-5 1 / 2 -year-old Head Start children. The test enables repeated assessments (20-30 min per time point) over a school year. Each subscale is calibrated to yield scaled scores based on item response theory and Bayesian estimation of ability. Multilevel modeling shows that nearly all score variation is associated with child performance rather than examiner performance and individual growth-curve modeling demonstrates the high sensitivity of scores to child growth, controlled for age, sex, prior schooling, and language and special needs status.

The Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA) and Mini Mental State Examination (MMSE) are brief screening instruments for cognitive disorders. Although these instruments have frequently been used in the detection of dementia, there is currently little knowledge on the validity to detect Korsakoff's syndrome (KS) with both screening instruments. KS is a chronic neuropsychiatric disorder associated with profound declarative amnesia after thiamine deficiency. A representative sample of 30 patients with KS and 30 age-, education-, gender-and premorbid-IQ-matched controls was administered the MoCA and MMSE. The area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC) was calculated in addition to the sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, and negative predictive value for various cut-off points on the MoCA and MMSE. Compared with the MMSE, the MoCA demonstrated consistently superior psychometric properties and discriminant validity-AUC: MoCA (1.00 SE .003) and MMSE (0.92 SE .033). When applying a cut-off value as suggested in the manuals of both instruments, the MMSE (< 24) misdiagnosed 46.7% of the patients, while the MoCA (< 26) diagnosed all patients correctly. As a screening instrument with the most optimal cut-offs, the MoCA (optimal cutoff point 22/23, 98.3% correctly diagnosed) was superior to the MMSE (optimal cutoff point 26/27, 83.3% correctly diagnosed). We conclude that both tests have adequate psychometric properties as a screening instrument for the detection of KS, but the MoCA is superior to the MMSE for this specific patient population.

The cognitive signal processing is one of the important interdisciplinary field came from areas of life sciences, psychology, psychiatry, engineering, mathematics, physics, statistics and many other fields of research. Neurophysiologic tests are utilized to assess and treat brain injury, dementia, neurological conditions, and useful to investigate psychological and psychiatric disorders. This paper presents an ongoing research work on development of EEG interface device based on the principles of cognitive assessments and instrumentation. The method proposed engineering and science of cognitive signal processing in case of brain computer interface based neurophysiologic tests. The future scope of this study is to build a low cost EEG device for various clinical and pre-clinical applications with specific emphasis to measure the effect of cognitive action on human brain.

Background. Trace elements are involved in metabolic processes and oxidation-reduction reactions in the central nervous system and could have a possible effect on cognitive function. The relationship between trace elements measured in individual biological samples and cognitive function in an elderly population had not been investigated extensively. Methods. The participant population is part of a large cohort study of 2000

of this scale in MCI patients both in Brazil and worldwide. Methods: 55 older adults with MCI (Petersen's criteria) were assessed using the COPM. Test-retest was accessed in 27 MCI patients. An occupational therapist made the COPM interview and repeated the test 2 weeks later. The reliability of inter-rater agreement was accessed in the remaining 28 patients, which were interviewed with COPM by two different occupational therapists in the same day . Pearson's correlation test was used in the analysis. Results: Correlation of the problems identified (ex.: climbing stairs, paying bills, etc) in the performance of daily activities in the testretest was 0.74 (p < 0.001) and for inter-rater agreement was 0.72 (p < 0.001). For the problems identified a score was given for the level of performance. In the test-retest the correlation of this score was 0.09 (p ¼ 0.776) and in the inter-rater evaluation it was 0.66 (p < 0.001). A score of satisfaction with the performance is also given through the COPM and in the test-retest the correlation was -0.11 (p ¼ 0.715) and in the inter-rater it was 0.67 (p < 0.001). Conclusions: Results showed that the COPM has generally a good reliability both in the test-retest and in the inter-rater agreement for problems identified. Less consistent results were found to the performance perceived and level of satisfaction with the problems in the test-retest, perhaps because it depends on more subjective parameters and a longer period (2 weeks) has passed between interviews. The COPM can be used to evaluate problems in the performance of daily activities in MCI elderly patients.

Objective: Moxonidine represents a new generation of centrally acting antihypertensive drugs. It binds to I 1 -imidazoline receptors and exerts its antihypertensive activity through a reduction in systemic vascular resistance, while cardiac output remains unchanged or even increases slightly. Moxonidine is prescribed for the treatment of mild to moderate hypertension. Typical doses are 0.4 to 2.0 mg given as one dose in the morning or as divided doses in the morning and evening. Methods: The eects of moxonidine 0.4 mg once daily in combination with moclobemide or lorazepam were investigated in two, double-blind, randomised, placebocontrolled, two-way crossover studies in a total of 48 healthy volunteers. Safety assessments were made in each study and included pre-and post-study measurement of blood pressure, heart rate, ECG, haematology, blood biochemistry, and urinalysis, and recording of adverse events. Results: In the ®rst study, moxonidine alone was found to produce small but statistically signi®cant impairments of vigilance detection speed at 4 h and 6 h. Lowering of subjective alertness was also observed. Repeat dosing with moxonidine produced an impairment of memory scanning performance. These ®ndings were not reproduced in the second study, in which moxonidine alone produced an improvement in immediate word recall at 4 h and 6 h.