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PubMed2002

Predictors of cognitive improvement after reality orientation in Alzheimer's disease.

BACKGROUND: there is increasing evidence to support the efficacy of reality orientation in cognitive deficits in patients with Alzheimer's disease. The clinical characteristics of patients who respond to reality orientation are poorly understood; this knowledge could be important, given that the provision of reality orientation therapy is labour-intensive and may provoke emotional distress. AIM: to evaluate retrospectively which demographic and clinical characteristics of Alzheimer's patients predict cognitive outcomes. METHOD: we analysed 38 mild-to-moderately demented outpatients who regularly attended a one-month formal reality orientation programme. The mini mental state examination score changes from baseline-and immediately after-reality orientation were correlated with demographic and pre-treatment clinical characteristics by a linear regression analysis. RESULTS: short-term responsiveness to reality orientation was significantly predicted by a lower level of cognitive functioning (as measured by the mini mental state examination) at baseline and by the absence of euphoria, accounting together for 57.6% of variance. CONCLUSION: a lower mini mental state examination and the absence of euphoric behaviour in patients with mild-to-moderate Alzheimer's disease may predict a good cognitive outcome of reality orientation therapy.

Aged↗
PubMed1992

Redesigning, implementing and integrating Escherichia coli genome software tools with an object-oriented database system.

This paper reports our exploratory work to redesign, implement and integrate a collection of genome software tools with an object-oriented database system. Our software tools deal with genome data from Escherichia coli K-12, a bacterium that has been studied intensively and provides richer data sets than any other living organism. The object-oriented DBMS used for the integration is ONTOS, a commercial object-oriented system from Ontologic Inc. This redesign and implementation task was performed in two steps. First, C programs were converted into C++, and then the C++ version programs were modified and integrated with an object-oriented modeling of the data to form an ONTOS database application. The first step helps us develop a conceptual view for a DBMS-independent object-oriented construct. The second step elucidates what additional DBMS-dependent modification steps are needed to provide persistency to the objects. Examples are included to illustrate steps of the redesign and implementation. Overall, the outcome of this project demonstrates that programs and data can be successfully integrated with an object-oriented database, while providing the objects with persistency and shareability. This paper includes discussions using concrete examples on what advantage the object-oriented database approach provides over the relational database approach.

Base Sequence↗
PubMed2002

Bilateral and unilateral antennal lesions alter orientation abilities of the crayfish, Orconectes rusticus.

Numerous animals use chemical cues within their environments to execute various behaviors. One of these behaviors is orientation to an odor source. Crayfish, in particular, can orient to food sources under a number of different conditions. It has not been determined, however, what kind of search strategy these animals employ to successfully locate a food source. To determine the role of antennae and antennules in this behavior and to investigate different modes of orientation behavior, the orientation patterns of crayfish with complete and partial antennal lesions were examined. Detailed analysis of orientation paths confirmed that crayfish could not locate odor sources with either bilateral or unilateral lesions. This suggests that crayfish are using the spatial information obtained from these appendages to successfully orient. Animals using information from the bilaterally paired appendages in the control group exhibited increased walking speed, increased speed to source and decreased heading angles towards the source compared to these measurements taken from lesioned groups. There was no significant difference in any parameters between animals with unilateral or bilateral lesions. This strongly suggests that these animals are reliant on the spatial comparison of differences between bilaterally paired olfactory appendages for successful orientation.

Animals↗
PubMed1982

Orienting task effects on text recall in adulthood.

This investigation examined the effects of orienting task-controlled processing on the text recall of younger (18 to 32 years), middle-aged (39 to 51 years), and older (59 to 76 years) adults. The participants were presented with a 500-word narrative text. Three groups performed orienting tasks (syntactic, stylistic, advice) within an incidental memory paradigm. A fourth group was asked for intentional recall. Analysis indicated a significant age by orienting task interaction. Younger adults recalled more propositions when recall was intentional or when it was preceded by a deep-orienting task than when it was preceded by a shallow-orienting task. Middle-aged and older adults recalled more propositions when recall was intentional than when it was incidental, regardless of the depth of the orienting task. There were no significant differences in intentional recall. In addition, a significant age x orienting task x propositional level interaction indicated that younger adults recalled more of the main ideas of the text following deep processing, whereas the middle-aged and older adults recalled more of these ideas following intentional processing.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2004

Developmental potential of human pronuclear zygotes in relation to their pronuclear orientation.

BACKGROUND: Pronuclear zygote morphology has gained much attention recently due to its possible value in predicting implantation and pregnancy. The present study was performed to assess the developmental potential of zygotes with four different pronuclear orientations. METHODS: This prospective study involved 150 IVF and 190 ICSI patients seeking fertility treatment. Pronuclear zygotes were classified for orientation of the pronuclei in relation to the second polar body placed at the 6 o'clock position. Four types of pronuclear (PN) zygote were recognized, namely PN(1), PN(2), PN(3) and PN(4). The main outcome measures were early cleavage rate, quality of embryos, and implantation and pregnancy rates. RESULTS: The most common types of pronuclei orientations were PN(1) (31.5%) and PN(2) (29.3%), followed by PN(3) (20.5%) and PN(4) (18.5%). A significantly higher proportion of zygotes with PN(1) and PN(4) types of pronuclear orientation underwent early cleavage and developed into grade I embryos compared with other types (P < 0.0001). There was a tendency for higher implantation and pregnancy rates among patients who received embryos developed from PN(1)- and PN(4)-type oocytes, but this was not statistically significant. CONCLUSIONS: Zygotes exhibit four types of pronuclear orientation, and this is independent of the fertilizing spermatozoon or its entry point into the oocytes, whether IVF or ICSI is employed. Early cleavage was associated with PN(1)- and PN(4)-type zygotes, but implantation and pregnancy rates were not associated with pronuclear orientation. Implantation and pregnancy rates tended to be higher for embryos developed from PN(1) and PN(4) pronuclear zygotes. Further studies on a combination of pronuclear orientation and equality of nucleoli may provide a better guide to the implantation potential of embryos.

Cell Nucleus↗
PubMed2004

Oriental fruit moth (Lepidoptera: Tortricidae) phenology and management with methoxyfenozide in North Carolina apples.

The phenology of oriental fruit moth, Grapholita molesta (Busck), on apple (Malus spp.) in North Carolina was studied using pheromone traps and egg sampling in abandoned and commercial orchards in 2000 and 2001, with subsequent development of an oviposition degree-day model and management studies in relation to codling moth, Cydia pomonella (L.), phenology. Oriental fruit moth eggs were found in greater numbers on leaves early and on fruit later in the growing season, on the top versus the bottom of the leaf surface, and on the calyx area versus the side or stem end of the fruit. A degree-day (DD) model to predict oriental fruit moth oviposition was developed based on temperature accumulations from peak moth trap capture of the first (overwintering) generation, by using 7.2 and 32.2 degrees C as the temperature limits. The model predicted four ovipositing generations of oriental fruit moth with the second beginning 507 DD after peak moth catch. Using predictions of the oriental fruit moth and codling moth degree-day oviposition models, an experiment was conducted to determine the level of second generation oriental fruit moth control with methoxyfenozide applied under different scenarios for first generation codling moth. Methoxyfenozide was equally effective in managing codling moth and oriental fruit moth for all treatment timings.

Animals↗
PubMed2003

DNA supercoiling enables the type IIS restriction enzyme BspMI to recognise the relative orientation of two DNA sequences.

Many proteins can sense the relative orientations of two sequences at distant locations in DNA: some require sites in inverted (head-to-head) orientation, others in repeat (head-to-tail) orientation. Like many restriction enzymes, the BspMI endonuclease binds two copies of its target site before cleaving DNA. Its target is an asymmetric sequence so two sites in repeat orientation differ from sites in inverted orientation. When tested against supercoiled plasmids with two sites 700 bp apart in either repeated or inverted orientations, BspMI had a higher affinity for the plasmid with repeated sites than the plasmid with inverted sites. In contrast, on linear DNA or on supercoiled DNA with sites 1605 bp apart, BspMI interacted equally with repeated or inverted sites. The ability of BspMI to detect the relative orientation of two DNA sequences thus depends on both the topology and the length of the intervening DNA. Supercoiling may restrain the juxtaposition of sites 700 bp apart to a particular alignment across the superhelical axis, but the juxtaposition of sites in linear DNA or far apart in supercoiled DNA may occur without restraint. BspMI can therefore act as a sensor of the conformational dynamics of supercoiled DNA.

Binding Sites↗
PubMed2000

Agency orientation and chronic musculoskeletal pain: effects of a group learning program based on the personal construct theory.

OBJECTIVE: This study evaluated the effects of a group learning program on patients with chronic musculoskeletal pain and high absenteeism and investigates what characterizes those patients who may benefit from such a program. The learning program was based on personal construct theory. The theory included the following: (1) participation in an educational program is related to a favorable outcome across the outcome measures (pain, pain coping, management of daily life, absenteeism, and use of health care), (2) patients with high agency orientation (i.e., inner-directed) cope with their pain and manage daily life in a better manner than do patients with low agency orientation (i.e., outer-directed), and (3) patients with high personal control, measured in terms of agency orientation, in terms of health locus of control, or in both terms, will benefit more from the educational program than will patients with low personal control. DESIGN: The study was a randomized controlled study. PATIENTS: One hundred and sixteen patients with chronic musculoskeletal pain and high absenteeism answered a questionnaire before and after the intervention program. The intervention group (n = 61) consisted of nine subgroups geographically spread through the eastern part of Norway and met for four hours every 2 weeks from February 1997 to October 1997. A total of 12 meetings were held. RESULTS: The intervention group reported a significantly higher score for the variable "management of everyday life" (p <0.005) and for the variable "health care consumption" (p <0.001) than did the control group. Patients with high agency orientation benefited more from the program with regard to pain reduction and improved pain coping than did those patients with low agency orientation (p <0.05). Patients with high agency orientation also reported less absenteeism than did those patients with low agency orientation (p <0.05).

Absenteeism↗
PubMed2001

Orientation and osteoarthritis of the lumbar facet joint.

Several studies have shown an association between sagittal orientation of the facet joint and degenerative spondylolisthesis. There is currently no information available on the association between orientation of the facet joint and osteoarthritis. This study examined the association between orientation and osteoarthritis of the lumbar facet joints. One hundred eleven consecutive patients underwent plain radiography and magnetic resonance imaging. These patients were divided into two groups: No Degenerative Spondylolisthesis Group (98 patients) and Degenerative Spondylolisthesis Group (13 patients). In the No Degenerative Spondylolisthesis Group, segments with higher grades of osteoarthritis showed more sagittal orientation of the facetjoints at the L3-L4 and L4-L5 levels. The facet joint was oriented significantly more sagittally in the Degenerative Spondylolisthesis Group than in the No Degenerative Spondylolisthesis Group at the L4-L5 and L5-S1 levels. The severity of facet joint osteoarthritis was significantly higher in the Degenerative Spondylolisthesis Group than in the No Degenerative Spondylolisthesis Group at the L3-L4, L4-L5, and L5-S1 levels. A significant association was found between sagittal orientation and osteoarthritis of the lumbar facet joints, even in patients without degenerative spondylolisthesis. Facet joint osteoarthritis, rather than spondylolisthesis, is the pathoanatomic feature that is associated with sagittal orientation of the facet joints in patients with degenerative spondylolisthesis.

Aged↗
PubMed1995

Treatment orientation and associated characteristics of North American academic psychiatrists.

We present data showing the degree to which a "biological-psychotherapeutic" division persists in American psychiatry, and how psychiatrists' treatment orientation is associated with personal and professional characteristics. Almost two thirds of academic psychiatrists who responded to our survey (N = 435) could be classified as either biological (27%) or psychotherapeutic (37%) in orientation, according to the proportion of their caseload to which they provided psychotherapy (< or = 25% vs. > 75%). There appears to have been an increase over the last 35 years in the proportion of psychiatrists who can be classified as biologically oriented and a decrease in the proportion who can be classified as psychotherapeutically oriented, as well as the emergence of a large class of intermediate or "eclectic" practitioners (36%). Several personal and professional attributes were distributed differentially according to treatment orientation. Psychotherapeutically oriented respondents more frequently reported personal histories of psychiatric disorders than did biologically oriented respondents (64% vs. 39%) as well as greater satisfaction with clinical work (81% vs. 53% "very satisfied"). Differences were also found in age, gender, history of personal psychotherapy, family history of psychiatric disorder, history of marijuana use, degrees of involvement in research, teaching and clinical care of patients, and overall work satisfaction, as well as other characteristics.

Adult↗
PubMed1997

The facet orientation circle. A new parameter for facet joint angulation in the lower lumbar spine.

STUDY DESIGN: A descriptive quantitative evaluation was done of the transverse orientation of the lower lumbar facet joints as measured by computed tomography scanning. OBJECTIVES: To evaluate a new parameter for facet joint angulation in the transverse plane (the "facet orientation circle") and to obtain reference values for this new parameter. SUMMARY OF BACKGROUND DATA: In other studies, both in vitro and in vivo, the angulation of the facet joints has been measured in degrees relative to the frontal or sagittal plane. These methods have some limitations. The parameter used in the present study has not been described in the literature. METHODS: Lower lumbar facet joint orientation was measured in 212 vertebral levels of 123 consecutive patients using the facet orientation circle parameter. Patients with degenerative or developmental abnormalities of the lumbar spine were excluded, as were those with technically inadequate computed tomography studies. RESULTS: Mean facet orientation circle diameters (+/-SD) were: L3-L4, 43.7 +/- 10.5 mm; L4-L5, 63.8 +/- 26.4 mm; and L5-S1, 82.3 +/- 23.5 mm. Differences between right and left sides were: L3-L4, 6.3 +/- 7.1 mm; L4-L5, 13.9 +/- 25.3 mm; and L5-S1, 17.9 +/- 16.2 mm, intra-observer variability was 2.3%. CONCLUSIONS: Measurement of facet joint angulation using the facet orientation circle is possible and reproducible. The morphometric data presented may be useful as a reference for biomechanical and clinical research of facet joint orientation and asymmetry.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2005

Analysis of the sagittal balance of the spine and pelvis using shape and orientation parameters.

OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study is to introduce a method to analyze and characterize the global sagittal balance of the human trunk using indexes derived from the shape and orientation of the pelvis and cervical, thoracic, and lumbar spine. METHODS: Standing lateral x-rays of a cohort of 160 asymptomatic young adult volunteers were obtained. On each radiograph, a simplified model of the spine and pelvis was created using a dedicated computer software, and the following shape and orientation variables were calculated at each anatomic level: pelvic incidence, pelvic tilt, sacral slope, cervical curvature and tilt, thoracic curvature and tilt, and lumbar curvature and tilt. RESULTS: Significant linear correlations were found between each single adjacent shape parameter as well as between each single adjacent orientation parameter at all anatomic levels. Significant correlations were also found between some shape and orientation parameters at the same anatomic level as well as between adjacent anatomic areas. In general, the linear correlations were stronger between shape and orientation variables at the pelvic, lumbar, and cervical areas and weaker at the thoracic level and between the thoracic and lumbar areas. CONCLUSIONS: These results confirm that the pelvis and spine in the sagittal plane can be considered as a linear chain linking the head to the pelvis where the shape and orientation of each anatomic segment are closely related and influence the adjacent segment to maintain a stable posture with a minimum of energy expenditure. Changes in shape or orientation at one level will have a direct influence on the adjacent segment. Knowledge of these normal relationships is of prime importance for the comprehension of sagittal balance in normal and pathologic conditions of the spine and pelvis.

Adult↗
PubMed2006

Future orientation and suicide ideation and attempts in depressed adults ages 50 and over.

OBJECTIVE: The objective of this study was to test the hypothesis that future orientation is associated with lower levels of suicide ideation and lower likelihood of suicide attempt in a sample of patients in treatment for major depression. METHODS: Two hundred two participants (116 female, 57%) ages 50-88 years were recruited from inpatient and outpatient settings. All were diagnosed with major depression using a structured diagnostic interview. Suicide ideation was assessed with the Scale for Suicide Ideation (both current and worst point ratings), and a measure of future orientation was created to assess future expectancies. The authors predicted that greater future orientation would be associated with less current and worst point suicide ideation, and would distinguish current and lifetime suicide attempters from nonattempters. Hypotheses were tested using multivariate logistic regression and linear regression analyses that accounted for age, gender, hopelessness, and depression. RESULTS: As hypothesized, higher future orientation scores were associated with lower current suicidal ideation, less intense suicidal ideation at its worst point, and lower probability of a history of attempted suicide after accounting for covariates. Future orientation was not associated with current attempt status. CONCLUSIONS: Future orientation holds promise as a cognitive variable associated with decreased suicide risk; a better understanding of its putative protective role is needed. Treatments designed to enhance future orientation might decrease suicide risk.

Aged↗
PubMed2004

Orientation tuning and synchronization in the hypercolumn model.

The orientation selectivity in the firing rate of neurons is one of the most well-known properties of neurons in the primary visual cortex. To understand the dynamical mechanism of the orientation tuning, we introduce a biologically plausible network for a hypercolumn and investigate dynamical responses of its columnar activities. Numerical simulations show that the spike activities between excitatory cells in the same column exhibit strong synchronization and sharp orientation selectivity. The tuning curves for the synchronized activities also show orientation selectivity similar to those for the firing rate. The comparison between the two tuning curves for the firing rate and the synchronized activities suggests that the orientation selectivity is strongly correlated with the synchronized activities. We find from the analysis of columnar activities that the orientation selectivity depends strongly upon the inhibitory coupling strength and the synchronization upon the excitatory coupling strength. In particular, we find that at appropriate coupling parameters both sharp orientation selectivity and maximal synchronization can be achieved. This suggests the importance of the balance between the excitatory coupling and the inhibitory coupling in the primary visual cortex for visual information processing.

Action Potentials↗
PubMed2004

A model-based method for the computation of fingerprints' orientation field.

As a global feature of fingerprints, the orientation field is very important for automatic fingerprint recognition. Many algorithms have been proposed for orientation field estimation, but their results are unsatisfactory, especially for poor quality fingerprint images. In this paper, a model-based method for the computation of orientation field is proposed. First a combination model is established for the representation of the orientation field by conidering its smoothness except for several singular points, in which a polynomial model is used to describe the orientation field globally and a point-charge model is taken to improve the accuracy locally at each singular point. When the coarse field is computed by using the gradient-based algorithm, a further result can be gained by using the model for a weighted approximation. Due to the global approximation, this model-based orientation field estimation algorithm has a robust performance on different fingerprint images. A further experiment shows that the performance of a whole fingerprint recognition system can be improved by applying this algorithm instead of previous orientation estimation methods.

Algorithms↗
PubMed2005

Compensation of magnetic disturbances improves inertial and magnetic sensing of human body segment orientation.

This paper describes a complementary Kalman filter design to estimate orientation of human body segments by fusing gyroscope, accelerometer, and magnetometer signals from miniature sensors. Ferromagnetic materials or other magnetic fields near the sensor module disturb the local earth magnetic field and, therefore, the orientation estimation, which impedes many (ambulatory) applications. In the filter, the gyroscope bias error, orientation error, and magnetic disturbance error are estimated. The filter was tested under quasi-static and dynamic conditions with ferromagnetic materials close to the sensor module. The quasi-static experiments implied static positions and rotations around the three axes. In the dynamic experiments, three-dimensional rotations were performed near a metal tool case. The orientation estimated by the filter was compared with the orientation obtained with an optical reference system Vicon. Results show accurate and drift-free orientation estimates. The compensation results in a significant difference (p < 0.01) between the orientation estimates with compensation of magnetic disturbances in comparison to no compensation or only gyroscopes. The average static error was 1.4 degrees (standard deviation 0.4) in the magnetically disturbed experiments. The dynamic error was 2.6 degrees root means square.

Acceleration↗
PubMed2002

Metal strip reflectivity and NSPUDT orientations in langanite, langasite, and gallium phosphate.

New materials of the trigonal 32 class have received much attention recently, due to their quartz-like temperature behavior and the promise of higher electromechanical coupling coefficients. The magnitude and phase of the reflection coefficient of the metal strips that form the SAW transducers and reflector structures is a critical parameter that allows proper device designs and optimal material surface orientation. This paper describes an investigation of the magnitude and phase of the SAW metal strip reflectivity in some new materials and along new orientations. The materials are langanite, langasite, and gallium phosphate. The results are presented as contour plots of the magnitude and phase of the reflection coefficient. In addition, the phase velocity, temperature coefficient of delay, electromechanical coupling coefficient, and power flow angle are given, thus allowing proper orientation selection for SAW device designs. The results presented highlight the reflection coefficient calculations in the selection of natural single-phase unidirectional transducer orientations (NSPUDT) for these new materials. As a result of the present work, reflection coefficient magnitudes five times larger than those of the well-known quartz NSPUDT orientation (Euler angles: 0 degrees 132.75 degrees 25 degrees) can be obtained with the new materials, for orientations where the optimum NSPUDT reflection coefficient phase criterion is met. The new materials discussed here provide an opportunity to design shorter- and higher-bandwidth devices due to: the increased electromechanical coupling coefficient; the higher reflection coefficient; and the lower phase velocities; while maintaining the excellent temperature insensitivity characteristic of quartz. The orientation regions suggested in this paper for the new materials are thus very promising for low-loss, high-performance consumer and communications SAW designs, such as NSPUDT filters, resonator-based filters, and other devices that can benefit from a high metal strip reflectivity.

Journal Article↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Mother-child mutually responsive orientation and conscience development: from toddler to early school age.

We examined whether positive implications of mother-child mutually responsive orientation, demonstrated earlier at toddler and preschool age, extend longitudinally into early school age. The focus of the present study was on the long-term consequences of mutually responsive orientation for the development of conscience. Mutually responsive orientation encompassed shared cooperation and shared positive affect between mother and child. It was measured as a composite of those qualities observed in dyadic naturalistic interactions and reported by mothers, at toddler and preschool age. Children's conscience was assessed at early school age (N = 83) using multiple measures, including observations of moral behavior, alone and in the peer context, and moral cognition. Mother-child mutually responsive orientation at toddler and preschool ages predicted children's future conscience, even after controlling for the developmental continuity of conscience. Model-fitting analyses revealed that mutually responsive orientation at toddler age had a direct effect on future conscience, not mediated by such orientation at preschool age. The findings extend those of earlier work that revealed the importance of mother-child mutually responsive orientation for socialization, and they confirm the value of the relationship approach to social development, including long-term outcomes.

Age Factors↗