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Housing pregnant mice (Mus musculus) in small groups facilitates the development of odor-based homing in offspring.

Infant mice (Mus musculus) born to dams housed in isolation throughout pregnancy (IsoPreg) begin differentially approaching homenest bedding over clean bedding on Postnatal Day 6. Offspring of dams housed with 2 other potentially pregnant conspecifics (SocPreg) display such homing behavior on Day 4. Earlier onset of homing reflects facilitated olfactory responsiveness in SocPreg pups, rather than qualitative or quantitative differences in IsoPreg versus SocPreg nest odors, body growth, or motoric capabilities. Exposing pregnant IsoPreg dams to SocPreg bedding also accelerated homing onset in the offspring, though not to the same extent as the full social context. Thus, it appears that the facilitation of homing is mediated through the pregnant dam by a combination of chemical cues and other social stimuli.

Animals↗

Comparing efficacies of neurocognitive treatment and homework assistance programs for children with learning difficulties.

The purpose of the study was to analyze the relative efficacies of two treatments for children with learning difficulties. The first treatment consisted of multiple training components targeting specific cognitive and behavioral factors; the second treatment provided emotional support and supervision of school tasks. The participants were 94 Chilean schoolchildren (6 to 11 years of age). The efficacies were compared on (a) neurocognitive tests, (b) school achievement tests, and (c) behavior in school and at home. The results indicated that both groups improved on most of the outcome measures. The first group showed best results in parents' rating of home behavior, and the second group in reading. The findings also emphasized the importance of emotional support and the inclusion of a parents' group in treatment for children with learning difficulties.

Achievement↗

Effects of post-training lesions in the hippocampus and the parietal cortex on idiothetic information processing in the rat.

Dead reckoning can be defined as the ability to navigate using idiothetic information based on self-movement cues without using allothetic information such as environmental cues. In the present study, we investigated the effects of hippocampal and parietal cortex lesions on homing behavior using dead reckoning in rats. Experimentally naive Wistar rats were trained with a homing task in which rats were required to take a food pellet from a cup in the arena and to return home with the pellet. After training, rats were divided into a control (CONT) group (n = 16), hippocampal lesioned (HIPP) group (n = 16), and parietal cortex lesioned (PARC) group (n = 16), and rats in the lesioned groups underwent surgery. After surgery, Test 1 (with four cups) and Test 2 (with one cup but the outgoing path was diverted by a barrier) were conducted. The HIPP group showed severe impairment in homing, but the performance of the PARC group did not differ from that of the CONT group. HIPP rats either approached wrong doors or ate the pellet in the arena. Circular statistics showed that homing directions of CONT and PARC rats showed concentration towards home, whereas those of HIPP rats did not. Our results exhibiting HIPP rats' failure in homing agree with many previous studies, but the results obtained from PARC rats were different from previous studies. These results indicate that the intact hippocampus is important for dead reckoning, but the role of the parietal cortex in dead reckoning is still not clear.

Animals↗

Homing orientation by olfaction in newts (Taricha rivularis).

Newts displaced after perfusion of the olfactory epithelium with formaldehyde failed to orient toward home, whereas control animals subjected to oral perfusion with formaldehyde oriented as readily as did untreated controls. Newts with surgically extirpated olfactory nerves failed to home unless their nerves had regenerated. These results strongly suggest a critical role for olfaction in homing behavior.

Animals↗

Drug-induced home cage conspecifics' behavior can potentiate behavioral sensitization in mice.

The effect of home cage conspecifics' behavior on locomotor sensitization to amphetamine (AMP) or ethanol (ETOH) were investigated. Female mice were repeatedly treated with saline or AMP (2.0 mg/kg for 13 days--Experiment 1) or saline or ETOH (1.8 g/kg for 21 days--Experiment 2) in home cages where all the animals had the same treatment (homogeneous home cages--HOM-HC) or in home cages where half of the animals were drug-treated and half of them were saline-treated (heterogeneous home cages--HET-HC). Behavioral sensitization was evaluated by the quantification of open-field locomotor activity after AMP or ETOH challenge injection, respectively. In both experiments, behavioral sensitization was potentiated in HOM-HC maintained animals. These results suggest that the behavioral sensitization phenomenon can be modified by home cage conspecifics' behavior.

Amphetamine↗

Self-destructive behaviors in nursing home residents.

OBJECTIVES: To validate the Harmful Behaviors Scale (HBS) as a measure of direct and indirect self-destructive behaviors in nursing home residents and to determine the prevalence of self-destructive behaviors and their relationship to other variables. DESIGN: A cross-sectional study. SETTING: Eleven nursing homes in the eastern suburbs of Sydney, Australia. PARTICIPANTS: Six hundred ten nursing home residents aged 65 and older. MEASUREMENTS: Instruments used were the HBS, Behavioral Pathology in Alzheimer's Disease Rating Scale (BEHAVE-AD), Functional Assessment Staging Scale (FAST), Even Briefer Assessment Scale for Depression (EBAS-Dep), and the suicide item from the structured Hamilton Depression Rating Scale. Data on diagnoses of dementia, depression, or psychotic disorder; prescription of psychotropic medication; and demographics were obtained from nursing home records. RESULTS: On the HBS, indirect harmful behaviors occurred at least weekly in 61% of subjects, and direct harmful behaviors occurred in 14% of subjects. The HBS total score was significantly positively correlated with the BEHAVE-AD score (Pearson's r=0.679, P <.001) but not with the EBAS-Dep "wish for death" item and total score. HBS scores were significantly higher in residents scoring greater than zero on the Hamilton suicide item (F=1.380, df=3,325, P=.249). Stepwise multiple linear regression indicated that younger age, chart diagnosis of dementia, greater incapacity as measured by FAST, and a higher Hamilton suicide item score predicted a higher HBS total score. CONCLUSIONS: Self-destructive behaviors are common in nursing home residents and are mostly related to dementia. There was little evidence of a relationship between depression and self-destructive behaviors.

Aged↗

Transoceanic migration, spatial dynamics, and population linkages of white sharks.

The large-scale spatial dynamics and population structure of marine top predators are poorly known. We present electronic tag and photographic identification data showing a complex suite of behavioral patterns in white sharks. These include coastal return migrations and the fastest known transoceanic return migration among swimming fauna, which provide direct evidence of a link between widely separated populations in South Africa and Australia. Transoceanic return migration involved a return to the original capture location, dives to depths of 980 meters, and the tolerance of water temperatures as low as 3.4 degrees C. These findings contradict previous ideas that female white sharks do not make transoceanic migrations, and they suggest natal homing behavior.

Animal Identification Systems↗

Geropsychiatric restraint use.

OBJECTIVES: To investigate predictors and reasons for restraint use with geropsychiatric patients. DESIGN: A prospective, correlational study. SETTING: The geriatric unit of an acute-care psychiatric hospital. PARTICIPANTS: Twenty-one staff nurses and 131 patients admitted consecutively over a period of 6 months. MEASUREMENTS: Disruptive behaviors were measured with the Nursing Home Behavior Problem Scale (NHBPS), cognitive function was measured with the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE), mobility was measured with a Functional Mobility Screen (FMS), and reasons for restraint use were obtained with a questionnaire completed by nurses. RESULTS: Patients with a diagnosis of dementia, impaired mobility, or behavioral problems were more likely to be restrained. The most frequent reasons given by staff for restraint use were an unsteady gait and a risk of falling. The incidence of restraint use was 27.1%. CONCLUSIONS: The use of restraint with geropsychiatric patients may be more common than previously reported and requires further investigation.

Accidental Falls↗

Management of verbally disruptive behaviors in nursing home residents.

BACKGROUND: Verbally disruptive behaviors (VDB) are verbal or vocal behaviors that are inappropriate to the circumstances in which they are manifested. These behaviors are a source of concern because they disturb persons around the older person and may be an indicator of distress. METHODS: Three interventions were tried and compared to a control no-intervention phase. The interventions were: (1) Presentation of a videotape of a family member talking to the older person, (2) in vivo social interaction, and (3) use of music. RESULTS: Thirty-two nursing home residents suffering from dementia and manifesting VDB were observed before, during, and after the interventions, and the duration of VDB was recorded. The behaviors decreased by 56% during the social interaction, 46% during the videotape, 31% during the music, and 16% during the no-intervention. CONCLUSIONS: The effects of the interventions were clinically and statistically significant, indicating the importance of providing stimulating activities and a richer environment to cognitively impaired nursing home residents.

Aged↗

Local visual homing by matched-filter descent in image distances.

In natural images, the distance measure between two images taken at different locations rises smoothly with increasing distance between the locations. This fact can be exploited for local visual homing where the task is to reach a goal location that is characterized by a snapshot image: descending in the image distance will lead the agent to the goal location. To compute an estimate of the spatial gradient in the distance measure, its value must be sampled at three noncollinear points. An animal or robot would have to insert exploratory movements into its home trajectory to collect these samples. Here we suggest a method based on the matched-filter concept that allows one to estimate the gradient without exploratory movements. Two matched filters--optical flow fields resulting from translatory movements in the horizontal plane--are used to predict two images in perpendicular directions from the current location. We investigate the relation to differential flow methods applied to the local homing problem and show that the matched-filter approach produces reliable homing behavior on image databases. Two alternative methods that only require a single matched filter are suggested. The matched-filter concept is also applied to derive a home-vector equation for a Fourier-based parameter method.

Animals↗

Effects of ablation of the presumed equivalent of the mammalian prefrontal cortex on pigeon homing.

Pigeons (Columba livia) with bilateral ablation of the postero-dorsolateral neostriatum and the overlying corticoid were compared with unoperated control subjects in homing from both familiar and unfamiliar sites. Before the operation all the pigeons were subjected to 8 training flights from a site destined to be the familiar one. Postoperatively, the groups did not differ in orientation from the familiar site. In their releases from unfamiliar sites, however, the operated birds oriented in the training flight direction, whereas the control subjects were oriented homeward. In all the releases the homing performance, including both the homing speed and the number of returned birds, was significantly higher in the control group. Thus, the ablated tissue plays a role in homing behavior possibly through mediation of spatial orientation, of olfactory navigation, or of both.

Animals↗

Multi-method psycho-educational intervention for preschool children with disruptive behavior: preliminary results at post-treatment.

Annual screenings of preschool children at kindergarten registration identified 158 children having high levels of aggressive, hyperactive, impulsive, and inattentive behavior. These "disruptive" children were randomly assigned to four treatment conditions lasting the kindergarten school year: no treatment, parent training only, full-day treatment classroom only, and the combination of parent training with the classroom treatment. Results showed that parent training produced no significant treatment effects, probably owing largely to poor attendance. The classroom treatment produced improvement in multiple domains: parent ratings of adaptive behavior, teacher ratings of attention, aggression, self-control, and social skills, as well as direct observations of externalizing behavior in the classroom. Neither treatment improved academic achievement skills or parent ratings of home behavior problems, nor were effects evident on any lab measures of attention, impulse control, or mother-child interactions. It is concluded that when parent training is offered at school registration to parents of disruptive children identified through a brief school registration screening, it may not be a useful approach to treating the home and community behavioral problems of such children. The kindergarten classroom intervention was far more effective in reducing the perceived behavioral problems and impaired social skills of these children. Even so, most treatment effects were specific to the school environment and did not affect achievement skills. These findings must be viewed as tentative until follow-up evaluations can be done to determine the long-term outcomes of these interventions.

Achievement↗

Psychiatric diagnosis and uncooperative behavior in nursing homes.

The prevalence of psychiatric disorders and behavioral disturbances in nursing homes is high, but the relationship between the two is unknown. We studied 454 new admissions who were diagnosed by research psychiatrists using DSM-III-R criteria and compared patients who nursing staff designated as cooperative or uncooperative by psychiatric diagnosis and use of restraints and neuroleptics. Uncooperative patients (n = 79; 17.4%) had a variety of psychiatric disorders (total, 87.3%) but particularly had dementia syndromes complicated by delusions, depression, or delirium (44.3%). Uncooperative patients were more frequently restrained and prescribed neuroleptics. Determining the origins of behavior disorders in patients with psychiatric disorders in nursing homes may reduce behavior disturbances.

Aged↗

Children's home environments, health, behavior, and intervention efforts: a review using the HOME inventory as a marker measure.

The HOME inventories have been widely used in studies of children's health and development. This measure of the quality of stimulation and support available to a child in the home environment reflects the family's social status as well as other family ecological factors, but there is marked variability of scores within social classes. Information derived from HOME also reflect parental characteristics such as marital status, mental health status, and substance abuse. Subscales from the inventories show theoretically meaningful links to children's health, growth, language, intelligence, social competence, and temperament. Although the scales have been used in many different countries, it is unclear whether they precisely capture differences in environmental quality in all cultures. HOME does, however, seem to be sensitive to genetic variations in children and to environmental manipulations such as parent education programs and early intervention programs.

Child↗

Effective behavioral interventions for decreasing dementia-related challenging behavior in nursing homes.

This paper provides a selective review of behavioral intervention research aimed at successfully decreasing dementia-related challenging behaviors in nursing homes. The authors include separate discussions of behavioral excesses (disruptive vocalization, wandering, physical and verbal aggression) and deficits (excess dependency, therapeutic activities, social interaction/communication). Descriptions of interventions used to address each behavior problem are followed by methodological evaluations of the research. Discussions are augmented by inclusion of the authors' ongoing intervention research. The paper concludes with a description of a comprehensive program for teaching behavior management skills to nurse aides and a motivational system for maintaining the performance of these skills over the long term.

Aged↗

Developmental changes in the mother-child interactions of hyperactive boys: effects of two dose levels of Ritalin.

The mother-child interactions of 60 hyperactive children subdivided equally into five age levels (years 5, 6, 7, 8 and 9) were studied during free play and task periods in a double-blind drug-placebo evaluation of two dose levels of Ritalin (0.3 and 0.7 mg/kg bid.) on these interactions. No effects for age or drug condition were found during free play. In contrast, age effects were significant in the task period with the children increasing their compliance and sustained attention with age. In response, mothers decreased their direction and control while increasing their passive observation of the children. Several drug effects were found during the task period, indicating that only the high dose of Ritalin produced improvements in child compliance. However, both doses resulted in decreases in mothers' controlling reactions to the child's compliance and off-task behavior as well as in ratings of home behavior problems. Drug effects were essentially the same across all five age levels. The interaction patterns of hyperactive children are similar to those found in younger normal children in previous research, apparently reflecting a chronic lag in this pattern in hyperactive children that may be improved with stimulant medication.

Adult↗

Development and Validation of Machine Learning Models for Predicting Early Cognitive Decline Using Home Sensor-Derived Behavioral Data: Sensors in-Home for Elder Wellbeing (SINEW) Cohort Study.

BACKGROUND: As the global population continues to age, the prevalence of geriatric conditions, including dementia and frailty, is also increasing. Early identification of individuals at an elevated risk of these conditions, such as those presenting with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) or prefrailty, can provide a critical window for prompt intervention aimed at preventing or reversing disease progression. To promote such early identification, there is a burgeoning interest in the use of digital sensor technology and predictive modeling. OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to use a continuous, home-based monitoring sensor system for older adults to distinguish those exhibiting normal aging from those with MCI, early dementia, prefrailty, or frailty, and to predict their transition from normal aging to one of these conditions. METHODS: This longitudinal cohort study will recruit 200 community-dwelling adults aged &#x2265;65 years with normal cognition or MCI at baseline. A multi-sensor system will be installed in participants' homes, including passive infrared motion sensors, door contact sensors, bed sensors, medication box sensors, wearable activity bands, and Bluetooth proximity beacons. These devices will continuously capture spatiotemporal activity patterns, mobility indicators, sleep behaviors, and medication-taking routines. Annual assessments will include standardized cognitive tests (eg, Montreal Cognitive Assessment, Mini-Mental State Examination, Rey Auditory-Verbal Learning Test, digit span, Color Trails Test, semantic fluency, Stroop), frailty measures (modified Fried phenotype, gait speed, grip strength), mental health scales, sleep quality, and psychosocial indicators. Sensor-derived features-such as gait variability, activity regularity, sleep fragmentation, and medication adherence patterns-will be integrated with clinical data to develop supervised machine learning models. Planned approaches include logistic regression, random forests, gradient boosting, and deep learning. Model performance will be evaluated using cross-validation and independent test sets. Primary metrics will include area under the receiver operating characteristic curve, sensitivity, specificity, precision, recall, and F1-score. Models will be benchmarked against gold-standard clinical diagnoses and validated using temporal subsets of the dataset. RESULTS: Enrollment for this study started in November 2019 and will continue until March 2030. As of June 2025, we have enrolled 138 participants. Full data analysis has yet to begin. CONCLUSIONS: We aim to develop a reliable and effective sensor system for in-home use that will facilitate the early detection of cognitive and physical decline. In so doing, it will add to our current understanding of digital biomarkers. It is common for older adults to seek clinical intervention only when their cognitive impairment has already reached an advanced stage. The implementation of readily deployable sensor systems within community settings presents us with opportunities for prompt intervention, which holds the potential for delaying or reversing disease progression and allowing for a greater number of functional and meaningful years.

Humans↗