Aluminium is the most common metallic element, but has no known biological role. It accumulates i... more Aluminium is the most common metallic element, but has no known biological role. It accumulates in the body when protective gastrointestinal mechanisms are bypassed, renal function is impaired, or exposure is high – all of which apply frequently to preterm infants. Recognised clinical manifestations of aluminium toxicity include dementia, anaemia and bone disease. Parenteral nutrition (PN) solutions are liable to contamination with aluminium, particularly from acidic solutions in glass vials, notably calcium gluconate. When fed parenterally, infants retain >75% of the aluminium, with high serum, urine and tissue levels. Later health effects of neonatal intravenous aluminium exposure were investigated in a randomised trial comparing standard PN solutions with solutions specially sourced for low aluminium content. Preterm infants exposed for >10 d to standard solutions had impaired neurologic development at 18 months. At 13–15 years, subjects randomised to standard PN had lower ...
ABSTRACT The increasing adoption of educational technology in school classrooms has resulted in g... more ABSTRACT The increasing adoption of educational technology in school classrooms has resulted in greater use of electronic devices to take lesson notes. Recent research comparing performance of adult students who recorded lecture notes using computer keyboards with that of students who handwrote their notes shows somewhat conflicting findings about their factual recall and conceptual understanding. There is very little, if any, research with children on the effect of note-taking mode on recall and understanding. The present study compared the recall and understanding of children taking handwritten notes to that of children typing their notes. Twenty-six boys age 10–11 years old participated in the study. Factual recall and understanding of a history and a biology lesson were assessed using multiple choice questions (MCQ). MCQ tests were carried out both immediately after each lesson and one week later. Factual recall was not affected by the note-taking mode but, in both lessons, children who handwrote notes had greater conceptual understanding one week after viewing their lesson, compared to those who typed notes.
Previous studies suggest that acute water drinking interventions enhance working memory, particul... more Previous studies suggest that acute water drinking interventions enhance working memory, particularly digit span. The aims of the present study were two-fold. Firstly, to investigate whether the working memory enhancements extend to different components of working memory. Secondly, to evaluate whether drinking water would improve long term memory task performance. Seventy-four adult participants completed baseline tests and then either drank 300 ml water or nothing. They completed a thirst scale, two working memory tests (digit span and Corsi blocks) and two long term memory tests (picture recall and word recall). After this the water group was offered 300 ml water and the control group did not have a drink. Following a 20 minute interval the measures were repeated. The results showed that both working memory tests were improved by drinking water, but long term memory assessments were not affected. This study adds to the body of evidence that suggests that acute drinking interventions in adults enhance working memory, but not long term memory, and that it may not be restricted to particular components of working memory.
OBJECTIVE To systematically examine the effect of dehydration on health outcomes, identify associ... more OBJECTIVE To systematically examine the effect of dehydration on health outcomes, identify associated financial costs and consider impacts on cognitive performance in older adults. DESIGN A systematic review of English-language articles via OVID using MEDLINE, PsychINFO, EMBASE, and others, to March 2018. Included studies examined the relationship between hydration status and health, care costs or cognitive outcome. SETTING Cross sectional and cohort data from studies reporting on dehydration in older adults. PARTICIPANTS Adults aged 60 years and older. MEASUREMENTS Independent quality ratings were assessed for all extracted articles. RESULTS Of 1684 articles screened, 18 papers (N = 33,707) met inclusion criteria. Participants were recruited from hospital settings, medical long-term care centres and the community dwelling population. Data were synthesised using a narrative summary. Mortality rates were higher in dehydrated patients. Furthermore, health outcomes, including frailty, bradyarrhythmia, transient ischemic attacks, oral health and surgery recovery are linked to and worsened by dehydration. Length of hospital stay, either as a principal or secondary diagnosis, is greater in those with dehydration, compared to those who are euhydrated. Finally, neurocognitive functioning may be impacted by dehydration. There are issues with study design, inconsistency in hydration status measurement and different measures used for outcome assessment. CONCLUSION Dehydration in older people is associated with increased mortality, poorer course of illness and increased costs for health services. In addition, there is some, but sparse evidence that dehydration in older people is linked to poorer cognitive performance. Intervention studies should test strategies for reducing dehydration in older adults.
There is general consensus that drinking water facilitates certain cognitive processes. However, ... more There is general consensus that drinking water facilitates certain cognitive processes. However, it is not yet known what mechanism underlies the effect of drinking on performance and these may be different for different cognitive processes. We sought to elucidate the mechanisms involved by establishing at what stage of the drinking process cognitive performance is influenced. We examined the effect of mouth rinsing and mouth drying on subjective thirst and mood, visual attention and short term memory in children. Data are reported from 24 children aged 9- to 10-years. Children's performance was assessed in three conditions - mouth drying, mouth rinsing and a control (no intervention). In each condition they were assessed twice - at baseline, before intervention, and 20 min later at test. Mouth rinsing improved visual attention performance, but not short term memory, mood or subjective thirst. The effects of mouth drying were more equivocal. The selective nature of the results i...
The aim of this study was to examine the effect of carbohydrate mouth rinse on 30-min arm crankin... more The aim of this study was to examine the effect of carbohydrate mouth rinse on 30-min arm cranking performance. Twelve healthy, active males (age 21.6, standard deviation (SD)=3.1 years; mass 76.2, SD=12.2 kg) volunteered in a single-blind, randomised crossover design. Firstly they completed an incremental exercise test to exhaustion (VO2max test) on an arm crank (50W for 2 min, increasing by 10W every min). During visit 2 and 3 they arm cranked for maximal distance over 30 min at a resistance equivalent to 50% of their peak power, mouth rinsing for 5 s with either 25 ml of a tasteless 6.4% maltodextrin solution (CHO) or 25 ml of water (placebo) every 6 min. A letter cancellation test was performed pre and post exercise to measure cognitive function. The result showed that cognitive function was not significantly different between trials (P=0.874). There was no significant difference in distance arm cranked between trials (P=0.164) even though 9 out of 12 participants had improved p...
Quarterly journal of experimental psychology (2006), Jan 17, 2017
Experiments revealing 'spontaneous' visual perspective-taking are conventionally interpre... more Experiments revealing 'spontaneous' visual perspective-taking are conventionally interpreted as demonstrating that adults have the capacity to track simple mental states in a fast and efficient manner ('implicit mentalising'). A rival account suggests that these experiments can be explained by the general purpose mechanisms responsible for reflexive attentional orienting. Here, we report two experiments designed to distinguish between these competing accounts. In Experiment 1, we assessed whether reflexive attention orienting was sufficient to yield findings interpreted as spontaneous perspective taking in the 'avatar task' (Samson et al., 2010) when the protocol was adapted so that participants were unaware that they were taking part in a perspective-taking experiment. Results revealed no evidence for perspective-taking. In Experiment 2, we employed a Posner paradigm to investigate the attentional orienting properties of the avatar stimuli. This revealed cue...
Aluminium is the most common metallic element, but has no known biological role. It accumulates i... more Aluminium is the most common metallic element, but has no known biological role. It accumulates in the body when protective gastrointestinal mechanisms are bypassed, renal function is impaired, or exposure is high – all of which apply frequently to preterm infants. Recognised clinical manifestations of aluminium toxicity include dementia, anaemia and bone disease. Parenteral nutrition (PN) solutions are liable to contamination with aluminium, particularly from acidic solutions in glass vials, notably calcium gluconate. When fed parenterally, infants retain >75% of the aluminium, with high serum, urine and tissue levels. Later health effects of neonatal intravenous aluminium exposure were investigated in a randomised trial comparing standard PN solutions with solutions specially sourced for low aluminium content. Preterm infants exposed for >10 d to standard solutions had impaired neurologic development at 18 months. At 13–15 years, subjects randomised to standard PN had lower ...
ABSTRACT The increasing adoption of educational technology in school classrooms has resulted in g... more ABSTRACT The increasing adoption of educational technology in school classrooms has resulted in greater use of electronic devices to take lesson notes. Recent research comparing performance of adult students who recorded lecture notes using computer keyboards with that of students who handwrote their notes shows somewhat conflicting findings about their factual recall and conceptual understanding. There is very little, if any, research with children on the effect of note-taking mode on recall and understanding. The present study compared the recall and understanding of children taking handwritten notes to that of children typing their notes. Twenty-six boys age 10–11 years old participated in the study. Factual recall and understanding of a history and a biology lesson were assessed using multiple choice questions (MCQ). MCQ tests were carried out both immediately after each lesson and one week later. Factual recall was not affected by the note-taking mode but, in both lessons, children who handwrote notes had greater conceptual understanding one week after viewing their lesson, compared to those who typed notes.
Previous studies suggest that acute water drinking interventions enhance working memory, particul... more Previous studies suggest that acute water drinking interventions enhance working memory, particularly digit span. The aims of the present study were two-fold. Firstly, to investigate whether the working memory enhancements extend to different components of working memory. Secondly, to evaluate whether drinking water would improve long term memory task performance. Seventy-four adult participants completed baseline tests and then either drank 300 ml water or nothing. They completed a thirst scale, two working memory tests (digit span and Corsi blocks) and two long term memory tests (picture recall and word recall). After this the water group was offered 300 ml water and the control group did not have a drink. Following a 20 minute interval the measures were repeated. The results showed that both working memory tests were improved by drinking water, but long term memory assessments were not affected. This study adds to the body of evidence that suggests that acute drinking interventions in adults enhance working memory, but not long term memory, and that it may not be restricted to particular components of working memory.
OBJECTIVE To systematically examine the effect of dehydration on health outcomes, identify associ... more OBJECTIVE To systematically examine the effect of dehydration on health outcomes, identify associated financial costs and consider impacts on cognitive performance in older adults. DESIGN A systematic review of English-language articles via OVID using MEDLINE, PsychINFO, EMBASE, and others, to March 2018. Included studies examined the relationship between hydration status and health, care costs or cognitive outcome. SETTING Cross sectional and cohort data from studies reporting on dehydration in older adults. PARTICIPANTS Adults aged 60 years and older. MEASUREMENTS Independent quality ratings were assessed for all extracted articles. RESULTS Of 1684 articles screened, 18 papers (N = 33,707) met inclusion criteria. Participants were recruited from hospital settings, medical long-term care centres and the community dwelling population. Data were synthesised using a narrative summary. Mortality rates were higher in dehydrated patients. Furthermore, health outcomes, including frailty, bradyarrhythmia, transient ischemic attacks, oral health and surgery recovery are linked to and worsened by dehydration. Length of hospital stay, either as a principal or secondary diagnosis, is greater in those with dehydration, compared to those who are euhydrated. Finally, neurocognitive functioning may be impacted by dehydration. There are issues with study design, inconsistency in hydration status measurement and different measures used for outcome assessment. CONCLUSION Dehydration in older people is associated with increased mortality, poorer course of illness and increased costs for health services. In addition, there is some, but sparse evidence that dehydration in older people is linked to poorer cognitive performance. Intervention studies should test strategies for reducing dehydration in older adults.
There is general consensus that drinking water facilitates certain cognitive processes. However, ... more There is general consensus that drinking water facilitates certain cognitive processes. However, it is not yet known what mechanism underlies the effect of drinking on performance and these may be different for different cognitive processes. We sought to elucidate the mechanisms involved by establishing at what stage of the drinking process cognitive performance is influenced. We examined the effect of mouth rinsing and mouth drying on subjective thirst and mood, visual attention and short term memory in children. Data are reported from 24 children aged 9- to 10-years. Children's performance was assessed in three conditions - mouth drying, mouth rinsing and a control (no intervention). In each condition they were assessed twice - at baseline, before intervention, and 20 min later at test. Mouth rinsing improved visual attention performance, but not short term memory, mood or subjective thirst. The effects of mouth drying were more equivocal. The selective nature of the results i...
The aim of this study was to examine the effect of carbohydrate mouth rinse on 30-min arm crankin... more The aim of this study was to examine the effect of carbohydrate mouth rinse on 30-min arm cranking performance. Twelve healthy, active males (age 21.6, standard deviation (SD)=3.1 years; mass 76.2, SD=12.2 kg) volunteered in a single-blind, randomised crossover design. Firstly they completed an incremental exercise test to exhaustion (VO2max test) on an arm crank (50W for 2 min, increasing by 10W every min). During visit 2 and 3 they arm cranked for maximal distance over 30 min at a resistance equivalent to 50% of their peak power, mouth rinsing for 5 s with either 25 ml of a tasteless 6.4% maltodextrin solution (CHO) or 25 ml of water (placebo) every 6 min. A letter cancellation test was performed pre and post exercise to measure cognitive function. The result showed that cognitive function was not significantly different between trials (P=0.874). There was no significant difference in distance arm cranked between trials (P=0.164) even though 9 out of 12 participants had improved p...
Quarterly journal of experimental psychology (2006), Jan 17, 2017
Experiments revealing 'spontaneous' visual perspective-taking are conventionally interpre... more Experiments revealing 'spontaneous' visual perspective-taking are conventionally interpreted as demonstrating that adults have the capacity to track simple mental states in a fast and efficient manner ('implicit mentalising'). A rival account suggests that these experiments can be explained by the general purpose mechanisms responsible for reflexive attentional orienting. Here, we report two experiments designed to distinguish between these competing accounts. In Experiment 1, we assessed whether reflexive attention orienting was sufficient to yield findings interpreted as spontaneous perspective taking in the 'avatar task' (Samson et al., 2010) when the protocol was adapted so that participants were unaware that they were taking part in a perspective-taking experiment. Results revealed no evidence for perspective-taking. In Experiment 2, we employed a Posner paradigm to investigate the attentional orienting properties of the avatar stimuli. This revealed cue...
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