Anyone in the UK on Vodafone hoping for some LTE soon will be disappointed, as their CEO has confirmed the carrier won't be switching on 4G until around September. This is in part due to the current iPhone 5 being incompatible with their proposed LTE network. Speaking to The Guardian, CEO Vittorio Colao said:
"We are convinced our own 4G will be better performing. We want to be able to launch it when it's really ready. End of the summer means when there is going to be a good commercial window for launching it."
Currently, the iPhone 5 will only operate LTE on the 1800MHz bands in the UK, while Vodafone acquired 800MHz and 2600MHz in the recent spectrum auctions. Had Vodafone launched soon as they were initially expected to, they would have launched without an LTE iPhone. Not a great marketing play. Stepping back to September plays right into the "good commercial window for launching it," as we're naturally expecting a new iPhone in the latter stages of the year.
The Wisconsin Humane Society received dogs from Oklahoma just before the tornado struck. Now, they?re preparing for the possibility of receiving more. Video by tmj4.com
MILWAUKEE - The Wisconsin Humane Society received dogs from Oklahoma just before the tornado struck. Now, they?re preparing for the possibility of receiving more.
?Two days ago we received a transport of animals from that shelter, which now, as it turns out, would have likely been impacted by the disaster,? said Matt Witte with the Wisconsin Humane Society.
This shelter in Milwaukee may get called again. Shelters in disaster areas often ask others to take animals in their care. Those centers need to make room for a spike in strays and pets owners just can?t care for when they?ve lost everything.
On short notice, the Wisconsin Humane Society could send a van to Oklahoma City to transport overflow animals back to Milwaukee.
?We just started our conversation today, but we are very interested in being able to go down to that region to pick up dogs that need help, which is the plea they have put out,? Witte said.
The Humane Society said, if needed, they can accommodate 35-40 dogs from Oklahoma.
Contact: Ole Winther olwi@dtu.dk Technical University of Denmark
DTU Compute has developed a search tool to help doctors home in on the right diagnosis for patients with rare diseases
If you hear the sound of galloping hooves behind you, your immediate reaction is, 'here comes a horse'. But in very rare cases it is actually a zebra approaching. Doctors are trained to think 'horse' or 'common disease' when they meet patients in their practices, and as they rarely or never meet a 'zebra', in the form of a rare disease, it often takes many years to reach the right diagnosis. A new search tool called FindZebra can dramatically reduce this time in many cases.
Ole Winther is Associate Professor at DTU Compute, where he works with algorithms and other mathematical tools that can make the Internet more 'intelligent'. Three years ago, he was set on the path to develop FindZebra which has now become known around the world via various journals, websites and blogs.
Targeted search
There is a wealth of articles on the Internet describing rare diseases and their symptomssome of which are high quality and very thorough, while others are more haphazard and undocumented. Doctors often use the PubMed biomedical article database, which also has a search function. However, searching on individual symptoms is usually not enoughdoctors ideally need to know the name of an article's author or the like in order to get useful results.
If you search on Google you may be fortunate enough to find articles on rare diseases, but Google's (secret) algorithms are optimized based on how many clicks search results receive. Common searches are therefore continually improved, while specialized searches, for example for rare diseases, do not necessarily benefit from Google's ongoing development.
"When I became aware of the problem of finding the right diagnosis using normal Google searches, I thought to myself: 'There must be a better way!'," says Ole Winther.
He put together a small team to develop a search engine with a special focus on rare diseases. Two undergraduates were initially assigned to the project, and they were later joined by two MSc thesis students, Radu Dragusin and Paula Petcu.
The project team gathered material from the 6-8,000 known and documented rare diseases from 10 different Internet sites. All sources have been selected in cooperation with Henrik L. Jrgensen, Consultant at the Clinical Biochemical Department at Bispebjerg Hospital.
FindZebra searches over 31,000 articles in total. This is a limited amount compared to Google's breadth, but they are all potentially relevant to doctors seeking diagnoses for rare diseases.
State of the art
A major element of the work on FindZebra has been to thoroughly test the search engine, and Henrik L. Jrgensen has also been a great help in this area by finding good test cases, i.e rare cases of illness where a diagnosis has been made.
"Rare diseases are defined as occurring in less than 1 in 1500 people, so they are not something doctors normally encounter. When you have a patient for whom all the more common diseases have been ruled out, FindZebra has been of great assistance," says Henrik L. Jrgensen.
"The search engine cannot make a final diagnosis, but a search on symptoms and any genetic information returns 20 possible diagnoses in priority order, giving the doctor input into new alternatives which can be investigated."
During the test phase researchers compared results from Google searches both covering the entire web and limited to relevant materialand searchers in FindZebra, and the result was surprisingly good: In 56 searches, Google found the correct answer in 32 per cent of the cases, while FindZebra produced twice as many useful results.
Overwhelming interest
FindZebra has become known around the world via various journals, websites and blogs, and 30,000 people have already visited findzebra.com, where it has been possible for anyone to perform searches in the new lexicon of rare diseases since mid-March.
Ole Winther is very pleased with the overwhelming interest in the search engine, the more than 500 daily visits to the website, and several invitations to talk about the project at conferences around the world.
The plan for the moment is for FindZebra to continue to be an open and freely available resource. The database will be updated every three months to ensure that all available and relevant material is included at all times.
However, Ole Winther also conceives that the search engine could achieve even greater value by becoming part of a forum for doctors where they enter new data each time they encounter a patient with a rare disease.
"In this way the engine could 'learn' from the many cases and become even more useful. But we will have to wait and see how things develop. Our primary goal is for doctors around the world to become aware of FindZebra," says Ole Winther.
###
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AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
Contact: Ole Winther olwi@dtu.dk Technical University of Denmark
DTU Compute has developed a search tool to help doctors home in on the right diagnosis for patients with rare diseases
If you hear the sound of galloping hooves behind you, your immediate reaction is, 'here comes a horse'. But in very rare cases it is actually a zebra approaching. Doctors are trained to think 'horse' or 'common disease' when they meet patients in their practices, and as they rarely or never meet a 'zebra', in the form of a rare disease, it often takes many years to reach the right diagnosis. A new search tool called FindZebra can dramatically reduce this time in many cases.
Ole Winther is Associate Professor at DTU Compute, where he works with algorithms and other mathematical tools that can make the Internet more 'intelligent'. Three years ago, he was set on the path to develop FindZebra which has now become known around the world via various journals, websites and blogs.
Targeted search
There is a wealth of articles on the Internet describing rare diseases and their symptomssome of which are high quality and very thorough, while others are more haphazard and undocumented. Doctors often use the PubMed biomedical article database, which also has a search function. However, searching on individual symptoms is usually not enoughdoctors ideally need to know the name of an article's author or the like in order to get useful results.
If you search on Google you may be fortunate enough to find articles on rare diseases, but Google's (secret) algorithms are optimized based on how many clicks search results receive. Common searches are therefore continually improved, while specialized searches, for example for rare diseases, do not necessarily benefit from Google's ongoing development.
"When I became aware of the problem of finding the right diagnosis using normal Google searches, I thought to myself: 'There must be a better way!'," says Ole Winther.
He put together a small team to develop a search engine with a special focus on rare diseases. Two undergraduates were initially assigned to the project, and they were later joined by two MSc thesis students, Radu Dragusin and Paula Petcu.
The project team gathered material from the 6-8,000 known and documented rare diseases from 10 different Internet sites. All sources have been selected in cooperation with Henrik L. Jrgensen, Consultant at the Clinical Biochemical Department at Bispebjerg Hospital.
FindZebra searches over 31,000 articles in total. This is a limited amount compared to Google's breadth, but they are all potentially relevant to doctors seeking diagnoses for rare diseases.
State of the art
A major element of the work on FindZebra has been to thoroughly test the search engine, and Henrik L. Jrgensen has also been a great help in this area by finding good test cases, i.e rare cases of illness where a diagnosis has been made.
"Rare diseases are defined as occurring in less than 1 in 1500 people, so they are not something doctors normally encounter. When you have a patient for whom all the more common diseases have been ruled out, FindZebra has been of great assistance," says Henrik L. Jrgensen.
"The search engine cannot make a final diagnosis, but a search on symptoms and any genetic information returns 20 possible diagnoses in priority order, giving the doctor input into new alternatives which can be investigated."
During the test phase researchers compared results from Google searches both covering the entire web and limited to relevant materialand searchers in FindZebra, and the result was surprisingly good: In 56 searches, Google found the correct answer in 32 per cent of the cases, while FindZebra produced twice as many useful results.
Overwhelming interest
FindZebra has become known around the world via various journals, websites and blogs, and 30,000 people have already visited findzebra.com, where it has been possible for anyone to perform searches in the new lexicon of rare diseases since mid-March.
Ole Winther is very pleased with the overwhelming interest in the search engine, the more than 500 daily visits to the website, and several invitations to talk about the project at conferences around the world.
The plan for the moment is for FindZebra to continue to be an open and freely available resource. The database will be updated every three months to ensure that all available and relevant material is included at all times.
However, Ole Winther also conceives that the search engine could achieve even greater value by becoming part of a forum for doctors where they enter new data each time they encounter a patient with a rare disease.
"In this way the engine could 'learn' from the many cases and become even more useful. But we will have to wait and see how things develop. Our primary goal is for doctors around the world to become aware of FindZebra," says Ole Winther.
###
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?
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
In April NASA's Landsat Data Continuity Mission took a huge panorama. From 438 miles above the Earth, the satellite shot a 6,000-mile-long, 120-mile-wide strip of planet from Russia to South Africa. It is aptly named ?The Long Swath.? Oh and it's 19.06 gigapixels.
New York Knicks guard Raymond Felton, right, shoots under Indiana Pacers forward Paul George during the third quarter of Game 6 of the Eastern Conference semifinal NBA basketball playoff series in Indianapolis, Saturday, May 18, 2013. (AP Photo/Michael Conroy)
New York Knicks guard Raymond Felton, right, shoots under Indiana Pacers forward Paul George during the third quarter of Game 6 of the Eastern Conference semifinal NBA basketball playoff series in Indianapolis, Saturday, May 18, 2013. (AP Photo/Michael Conroy)
Indiana Pacers center Roy Hibbert, left, dunks over New York Knicks guard James White during the third quarter of Game 6 of the Eastern Conference semifinal NBA basketball playoff series in Indianapolis, Saturday, May 18, 2013. (AP Photo/Michael Conroy)
Indiana Pacers center Roy Hibbert (55) is fouled by New York Knicks center Tyson Chandler, right, as he shoots in front of Knicks guard Pablo Prigioni during the third quarter of Game 6 of the Eastern Conference semifinal NBA basketball playoff series in Indianapolis, Saturday, May 18, 2013. (AP Photo/Michael Conroy)
New York Knicks' Tyson Chandler (6) reacts after being called for a foul by referee Ken Mauer, left, during the first half of Game 6 of an Eastern Conference semifinal NBA basketball playoff series against the Indiana Pacers, Saturday, May 18, 2013, in Indianapolis. (AP Photo/Darron Cummings)
New York Knicks' Carmelo Anthony (7) shoots against Indiana Pacers' Roy Hibbert (55) and George Hill, right, during the first half of Game 6 of an Eastern Conference semifinal NBA basketball playoff series Saturday, May 18, 2013, in Indianapolis. (AP Photo/Darron Cummings)
INDIANAPOLIS (AP) ? Indiana spent the entire season perfecting its defense.
On Saturday, it produced the biggest payoff for the Pacers in nearly a decade.
Roy Hibbert's block of Carmelo Anthony's dunk attempt midway through the fourth quarter spurred an 11-2 run that rallied the Pacers to a 106-99 victory in Game 6 of their second-round series, sending them into their first Eastern Conference final since 2004.
New York native Lance Stephenson scored nine points in the run, finishing with a playoff career-high 25.
"That's why they pay me the big bucks this summer, so I have to protect the paint," said Hibbert, who signed a $58 million contract last summer. "If all else fails, meaning the offense, I have to protect the paint."
With players from both teams standing on the court as the final seconds ticked off and Pacers fans roaring in appreciation, the sellout crowd wasted little time breaking into chants of "Beat The Heat!"
For Indiana, it sets up a postseason rematch with the defending NBA champs, the team that eliminated them last May after the Pacers had taken a 2-1 lead in the best-of-seven semifinals. The Heat wound up winning Game 4 at Indiana and followed that with two more wins as Danny Granger struggled with a knee injury.
Indiana used the lessons from that series as motivation to improve this season and wound up beating the Heat twice at home before losing the third game of the season series at Miami. The Pacers will return to South Florida for Game 1 on Wednesday night.
With Granger missing all but five games this season because of the lingering knee injury, the Pacers put an even greater emphasis on playing defense and it showed.
Indiana led the league in rebounding, defensive field goal percentage and defensive 3-point percentage while finishing second in points allowed per game during the regular season. It was no different in the playoffs, as the Knicks found out.
New York had another subpar shooting night Saturday, making just 40 percent of its shots, and again wound up on the wrong side of a 43-36 rebounding discrepancy. In the paint, New York was outscored 52-20, and Anthony, who finished with 39 points, scored just four points in the final 12 minutes when he went 2 of 7 from the field.
Iman Shumpert added 19 points, hitting five 3-pointers, and J.R. Smith scored 15. Nobody else was in double figures.
The combination, as it had been in the previous three losses to Indiana, produced the same frustrating result.
"They have a hell of a defense. They hold down the paint. They do a great job, do a hell of a job of controlling the paint, closing it down, making it tough for guys," Anthony said. "You've got to give them guys credit, especially when they got a chance to set. Roy Hibbert gets to sit in the paint, causes havoc."
It's not just that.
The biggest question coming into Saturday's game was whether starting point guard George Hill would play. He took part in the team's morning shootaround, was cleared by the team doctors and wound up returning two days after missing Game 5 with a concussion. His return gave the Pacers a big boost.
Hill finished with just 12 points on 2-of-10 shooting but had five rebounds and four assists, and kept the Pacers composed enough to commit only nine turnovers ? 10 fewer than Thursday night's loss in New York.
The results showed up everywhere on the floor.
Paul George had 23 points, five rebounds and four assists. David West added 17 points, five rebounds and four assists, and Hibbert finished with 21 points, 12 rebounds and five blocks, none bigger than the stuff on Anthony that changed the game. Stephenson had 10 rebounds and three assists in his best postseason game ever.
The reason: He wanted to avoid a trip home.
"I just didn't want to go back to New York and play Game 7," Stephenson said. "Just get it done with now and I'd do whatever it takes to do that today. It showed tonight."
The New York native made sure of it.
After George grabbed the rebound off of Hibbert's block, Stephenson took a pass from West and scored on a layup to tie the score at 92 with 4:51 left in the game. Stephenson followed that with a steal and drove in for a layup, drawing a foul and completing a three-point play. After grabbing another rebound and making two more free throws, West tipped in a miss and Stephenson closed the decisive spurt with another layup. Suddenly, the Pacers led 101-94 with 1:53 to go.
New York never got another chance to tie the score or take the lead again despite making a far more typical 13 of 30 from 3-point range.
"It's tough to go out this way," coach Mike Woodson said. "I didn't make it happen for us and that's what's disappointing."
The Pacers have a far different goal now as they get ready to face LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Miami.
"We're not satisfied with where we're at," coach Frank Vogel said. "We feel like there's no ceiling on this team this year."
Notes: New York failed to become the ninth team to rally from a 3-1 deficit. ... Indianapolis 500 pole winner Ed Carpenter made the short trip from the track to Bankers Life Fieldhouse, where he is a regular attendee. ... Colts coach Chuck Pagano also attended the game. ... The Knicks were 18 of 18 from the free throw line.
Colorado Bed and Breakfast Guide: Enjoying the Hospitality of Colorado's Finest book download
Marie T. Layton
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Wealth Within Your Reach (Pera Mo, Palaguin Mo!) e-book
Google made a relatively quiet announcement today regarding how it's pushing the developer ecosystem forward around Google Now, its intelligent personal assistant for Android devices. The company has begun extending mark up tools for emails from select partners, which help highlight flight schedules, hotel bookings and various types of reservations, to make sure that Gmail can spot that information and use it to auto-generate helpful reminders in Google Now.
Individuals who drink heavily and smoke may show 'early aging' of the brainPublic release date: 17-May-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Timothy C. Durazzo, Ph.D.
timothy.durazzo@ucsf.edu
415-221-4810 x4157
San Francisco Veterans Administration Medical Center
Alecia Dager, Ph.D.
alecia.dager@yale.edu
860-545-7670
Yale University
Alcoholism: Clinical & Experimental Research
Alcohol treatment interventions work best when patients understand and are actively involved in the process.
A first-of-its-kind study looks at the interactive effects of smoking status and age on neurocognition in one-month-abstinent alcohol dependent (AD) individuals in treatment.
Results show that AD individuals who currently smoke have more problems with memory, ability to think quickly and efficiently, and problem-solving skills than those who do not smoke, effects which seem to become greater with increasing age.
Treatment for alcohol use disorders works best if the patient actively understands and incorporates the interventions provided in the clinic. Multiple factors can influence both the type and degree of neurocognitive abnormalities found during early abstinence, including chronic cigarette smoking and increasing age. A new study is the first to look at the interactive effects of smoking status and age on neurocognition in treatment-seeking alcohol dependent (AD) individuals. Findings show that AD individuals who currently smoke show more problems with memory, ability to think quickly and efficiently, and problem-solving skills than those who don't smoke, effects which seem to become exacerbated with age.
Results will be published in the October 2013 issue of Alcoholism: Clinical & Experimental Research and are currently available at Early View.
"Several factors nutrition, exercise, comorbid medical conditions such as hypertension and diabetes, psychiatric conditions such as depressive disorders and post-traumatic stress disorder, and genetic predispositions may also influence cognitive functioning during early abstinence," explained Timothy C. Durazzo, assistant professor in the department of radiology and biomedical imaging at the University of California San Francisco, and corresponding author for the study. "We focused on the effects of chronic cigarette smoking and increasing age on cognition because previous research suggested that each has independent, adverse affects on multiple aspects of cognition and brain biology in people with and without alcohol use disorders. This previous research also indicated that the adverse effects of smoking on the brain accumulate over time. Therefore, we predicted that AD, active chronic smokers would show the greatest decline in cognitive abilities with increasing age."
"The independent and interactive effects of smoking and other drug use on cognitive functioning among individuals with AD are largely unknown," added Alecia Dager, associate research scientist in the department of psychiatry at Yale University. "This is problematic because many heavy drinkers also smoke. Furthermore, in treatment programs for alcoholism, the issue of smoking may be largely ignored. This study provides evidence of greater cognitive difficulties in alcoholics who also smoke, which could offer important insights for treatment programs. First, individuals with AD who also smoke may have more difficulty remembering, integrating, and implementing treatment strategies. Second, there are clear benefits for thinking skills as a result of quitting both substances."
Durazzo and his colleagues compared the neurocognitive functioning of four groups of participants, all between the ages of 26 and 71 years of age: never-smoking healthy individuals or "controls" (n=39); and one-month abstinent, treatment-seeking AD individuals, who were never-smokers (n = 30), former-smokers (n = 21) and active-smokers (n = 68). Evaluated cognitive abilities included cognitive efficiency, executive functions, fine motor skills, general intelligence, learning and memory, processing speed, visuospatial functions, and working memory.
"We found that, at one month of abstinence, actively smoking AD [individuals] had greater-than-normal age effects on measures of learning, memory, processing speed, reasoning and problem-solving, and fine motor skills," said Durazzo. "AD never-smokers and former-smokers showed equivalent changes on all measures with increasing age as the never-smoking controls. These results indicate the combination of alcohol dependence and active chronic smoking was related to an abnormal decline in multiple cognitive functions with increasing age."
"These results indicate the combined effects of these drugs are especially harmful and become even more apparent in older age," said Dager. "In general, people show cognitive decline in older age. However, it seems that years of combined alcohol and cigarette use exacerbate this process, contributing to an even greater decline in thinking skills in later years."
Durazzo agreed. "Chronic cigarette smoking, excessive alcohol consumption, and increasing age are all associated with increased oxidative damage to brain tissue," he said. "Oxidative damage results from increased levels of free radicals and other compounds that directly injure neurons and other cells that make up the brain. Cigarette smoking and excessive alcohol consumption expose the brain to a tremendous amount of free radicals. We hypothesize that chronic, long-term exposure to cigarette smoke and excessive alcohol consumption interacts with the normal aging process to produce greater neurocognitive decline in the active-smoking AD group."
Cigarette smoking is a "modifiable health risk" that is directly associated with at least 440,000 deaths every year in the United States, Durazzo noted. "Chronic smoking, and to a lesser extent, alcohol use disorders are also associated with an increased risk for Alzheimer's disease," he said. "So, the combination of these modifiable health risks may place an individual at even greater risk for development of Alzheimer's disease. Given the above, in conjunction with the findings from our cognitive and neuroimaging research, we completely support programs that routinely offer smoking cessation programs to all individuals seeking treatment for alcohol/substance abuse disorders."
###
Alcoholism: Clinical & Experimental Research (ACER) is the official journal of the Research Society on Alcoholism and the International Society for Biomedical Research on Alcoholism. Co-authors of the ACER paper, "Neurocognition in 1-Month-Abstinent Treatment-Seeking Alcohol Dependent Individuals: Interactive Effects of Age and Chronic Cigarette Smoking," were: David L. Pennington, Christoph Ab, and Dieter J. Meyerhoff of the Center for Imaging of Neurodegenerative Diseases at the San Francisco VA Medical Center, and the Department of Radiology and Biomedical Imaging at the University of California, San Francisco; and Thomas P. Schmidt and Anderson Mon of the Center for Imaging of Neurodegenerative Diseases at the San Francisco VA Medical Center. The study was funded by the National Institutes of Health. This release is supported by the Addiction Technology Transfer Center Network at http://www.ATTCnetwork.org.
[ | E-mail | Share ]
?
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
Individuals who drink heavily and smoke may show 'early aging' of the brainPublic release date: 17-May-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Timothy C. Durazzo, Ph.D.
timothy.durazzo@ucsf.edu
415-221-4810 x4157
San Francisco Veterans Administration Medical Center
Alecia Dager, Ph.D.
alecia.dager@yale.edu
860-545-7670
Yale University
Alcoholism: Clinical & Experimental Research
Alcohol treatment interventions work best when patients understand and are actively involved in the process.
A first-of-its-kind study looks at the interactive effects of smoking status and age on neurocognition in one-month-abstinent alcohol dependent (AD) individuals in treatment.
Results show that AD individuals who currently smoke have more problems with memory, ability to think quickly and efficiently, and problem-solving skills than those who do not smoke, effects which seem to become greater with increasing age.
Treatment for alcohol use disorders works best if the patient actively understands and incorporates the interventions provided in the clinic. Multiple factors can influence both the type and degree of neurocognitive abnormalities found during early abstinence, including chronic cigarette smoking and increasing age. A new study is the first to look at the interactive effects of smoking status and age on neurocognition in treatment-seeking alcohol dependent (AD) individuals. Findings show that AD individuals who currently smoke show more problems with memory, ability to think quickly and efficiently, and problem-solving skills than those who don't smoke, effects which seem to become exacerbated with age.
Results will be published in the October 2013 issue of Alcoholism: Clinical & Experimental Research and are currently available at Early View.
"Several factors nutrition, exercise, comorbid medical conditions such as hypertension and diabetes, psychiatric conditions such as depressive disorders and post-traumatic stress disorder, and genetic predispositions may also influence cognitive functioning during early abstinence," explained Timothy C. Durazzo, assistant professor in the department of radiology and biomedical imaging at the University of California San Francisco, and corresponding author for the study. "We focused on the effects of chronic cigarette smoking and increasing age on cognition because previous research suggested that each has independent, adverse affects on multiple aspects of cognition and brain biology in people with and without alcohol use disorders. This previous research also indicated that the adverse effects of smoking on the brain accumulate over time. Therefore, we predicted that AD, active chronic smokers would show the greatest decline in cognitive abilities with increasing age."
"The independent and interactive effects of smoking and other drug use on cognitive functioning among individuals with AD are largely unknown," added Alecia Dager, associate research scientist in the department of psychiatry at Yale University. "This is problematic because many heavy drinkers also smoke. Furthermore, in treatment programs for alcoholism, the issue of smoking may be largely ignored. This study provides evidence of greater cognitive difficulties in alcoholics who also smoke, which could offer important insights for treatment programs. First, individuals with AD who also smoke may have more difficulty remembering, integrating, and implementing treatment strategies. Second, there are clear benefits for thinking skills as a result of quitting both substances."
Durazzo and his colleagues compared the neurocognitive functioning of four groups of participants, all between the ages of 26 and 71 years of age: never-smoking healthy individuals or "controls" (n=39); and one-month abstinent, treatment-seeking AD individuals, who were never-smokers (n = 30), former-smokers (n = 21) and active-smokers (n = 68). Evaluated cognitive abilities included cognitive efficiency, executive functions, fine motor skills, general intelligence, learning and memory, processing speed, visuospatial functions, and working memory.
"We found that, at one month of abstinence, actively smoking AD [individuals] had greater-than-normal age effects on measures of learning, memory, processing speed, reasoning and problem-solving, and fine motor skills," said Durazzo. "AD never-smokers and former-smokers showed equivalent changes on all measures with increasing age as the never-smoking controls. These results indicate the combination of alcohol dependence and active chronic smoking was related to an abnormal decline in multiple cognitive functions with increasing age."
"These results indicate the combined effects of these drugs are especially harmful and become even more apparent in older age," said Dager. "In general, people show cognitive decline in older age. However, it seems that years of combined alcohol and cigarette use exacerbate this process, contributing to an even greater decline in thinking skills in later years."
Durazzo agreed. "Chronic cigarette smoking, excessive alcohol consumption, and increasing age are all associated with increased oxidative damage to brain tissue," he said. "Oxidative damage results from increased levels of free radicals and other compounds that directly injure neurons and other cells that make up the brain. Cigarette smoking and excessive alcohol consumption expose the brain to a tremendous amount of free radicals. We hypothesize that chronic, long-term exposure to cigarette smoke and excessive alcohol consumption interacts with the normal aging process to produce greater neurocognitive decline in the active-smoking AD group."
Cigarette smoking is a "modifiable health risk" that is directly associated with at least 440,000 deaths every year in the United States, Durazzo noted. "Chronic smoking, and to a lesser extent, alcohol use disorders are also associated with an increased risk for Alzheimer's disease," he said. "So, the combination of these modifiable health risks may place an individual at even greater risk for development of Alzheimer's disease. Given the above, in conjunction with the findings from our cognitive and neuroimaging research, we completely support programs that routinely offer smoking cessation programs to all individuals seeking treatment for alcohol/substance abuse disorders."
###
Alcoholism: Clinical & Experimental Research (ACER) is the official journal of the Research Society on Alcoholism and the International Society for Biomedical Research on Alcoholism. Co-authors of the ACER paper, "Neurocognition in 1-Month-Abstinent Treatment-Seeking Alcohol Dependent Individuals: Interactive Effects of Age and Chronic Cigarette Smoking," were: David L. Pennington, Christoph Ab, and Dieter J. Meyerhoff of the Center for Imaging of Neurodegenerative Diseases at the San Francisco VA Medical Center, and the Department of Radiology and Biomedical Imaging at the University of California, San Francisco; and Thomas P. Schmidt and Anderson Mon of the Center for Imaging of Neurodegenerative Diseases at the San Francisco VA Medical Center. The study was funded by the National Institutes of Health. This release is supported by the Addiction Technology Transfer Center Network at http://www.ATTCnetwork.org.
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AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
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Public release date: 21-May-2013
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Google made a relatively quiet announcement today regarding how it's pushing the developer ecosystem forward around Google Now, its intelligent personal assistant for Android devices. The company has begun extending mark up tools for emails from select partners, which help highlight flight schedules, hotel bookings and various types of reservations, to make sure that Gmail can spot that information and use it to auto-generate helpful reminders in Google Now.