Little is known about the experiences of people living alone with dementia in the community and their non-resident relatives and friends who support them. In this paper, we explore their respective attitudes and approaches to the future, particularly regarding the future care and living arrangements of those living with dementia. The study is based on a qualitative secondary analysis of interviews with 24 people living alone with early-stage dementia in North Wales, United Kingdom, and one of their relatives or friends who supported them. All but four of the dyads were interviewed twice over 12 months (a total of 88 interviews). In the analysis, it was observed that several people with dementia expressed the desire to continue living at home for ‘as long as possible’. A framework approach was used to investigate this theme in more depth, drawing on concepts from the existing studies of people living with dementia and across disciplines. Similarities and differences in the future outlook and temporal orientation of the participants were identified. The results support previous research suggesting that the future outlook of people living with early-stage dementia can be interpreted in part as a response to their situation and a way of coping with the threats that it is perceived to present, and not just an impaired view of time. Priorities for future research are highlighted in the discussion.

Background: Schema Theory proposes that the development of maladaptive schemas are based on a combination of memories, emotions and cognitions regarding oneself and one's relationship to others. A cognitive model of psychosis suggests that schemas are crucial to the development and persistence of psychosis. Little is known about the impact that schemas may have on those considered to be at clinical high risk (CHR) of developing psychosis. Aims: To investigate schemas over time in a large sample of CHR individuals and healthy controls. Method: Sample included 765 CHR participants and 280 healthy controls. Schemas were assessed at baseline, 6 and 12 months using the Brief Core Schema Scale (BCSS). Baseline schemas were compared to 2-year clinical outcome. Results: CHR participants evidenced stable and more maladaptive schemas over time compared to controls. Schemas at initial contact did not vary amongst the different clinical outcome groups at 2 years although all CHR outcome groups evidenced significantly worse schemas than healthy controls. Although there were no differences on baseline schemas between those who later transitioned to psychosis compared to those who did not, those who transitioned to psychosis had more maladaptive negative self-schemas at the time of transition. Associations between negative schemas were positively correlated with earlier abuse and bullying. Conclusions: These findings demonstrate a need for interventions that aim to improve maladaptive schemas among the CHR population. Therapies targeting self-esteem, as well as schema therapy may be important work for future studies.

Deterioration in premorbid functioning is a common feature of schizophrenia, but sensitivity to psychosis conversion among clinical high-risk samples has not been examined. This study evaluates premorbid functioning as a predictor of psychosis conversion among a clinical high-risk sample, controlling for effects of prior developmental periods. Participants were 270 clinical high-risk individuals in the North American Prodrome Longitudinal Study—I, 78 of whom converted to psychosis over the next 2.5 years. Social, academic, and total maladjustment in childhood, early adolescence, and late adolescence were rated using the Cannon–Spoor Premorbid Adjustment Scale. Early adolescent social dysfunction significantly predicted conversion to psychosis (hazard ratio = 1.30, p = .014), independently of childhood social maladjustment and independently of severity of most baseline positive and negative prodromal symptoms. Baseline prodromal symptoms of disorganized communication, social anhedonia, suspiciousness, and diminished ideational richness mediated this association. Early adolescent social maladjustment and baseline suspiciousness together demonstrated moderate positive predictive power (59%) and high specificity (92.1%) in predicting conversion. Deterioration of academic and total functioning, although observed, did not predict conversion to psychosis. Results indicate early adolescent social dysfunction to be an important early predictor of conversion. As such, it may be a good candidate for inclusion in prediction algorithms and could represent an advantageous target for early intervention.

This systematic review, with meta-analyses conducted where data were available, aimed to investigate the prevalence of symptoms of depression and anxiety in mild cognitive impairment (MCI), and to establish how symptoms of depression and anxiety relate to the progression from no cognitive impairment to MCI, and from MCI to dementia. Sixty studies were included in the review. Meta-analyses indicated that symptoms of depression and anxiety were more prevalent in people with MCI than in people with normal cognitive function, and increased the risk of progression from no cognitive impairment to MCI. There were mixed results regarding the effect of such symptoms on progression from MCI to dementia. The findings highlight the need for more research in this area, which can inform attempts to slow or halt the progression of cognitive impairment in later life, with resulting benefits for quality of life.

Background: The extent to which care home residents with severe dementia show awareness is influenced by the extent to which the environment provides opportunities for engagement and by the way in which care staff interact with them. We aimed to establish whether training care staff to observe and identify signs of awareness in residents with severe dementia resulted in improved quality of life for residents.

Methods: In this pilot cluster randomized trial, care staff in four homes (n = 32) received training and supervision and carried out structured observations of residents using the AwareCare measure (n = 32) over an eight-week period, while staff in four control homes (n = 33) had no training with regard to their residents (n = 33) and no contact with the research team. The primary outcome was resident quality of life. Secondary outcomes were resident well-being, behavior and cognition, staff attitudes and well-being, and care practices in the home.

Results: Following intervention, residents in the intervention group had significantly better quality of life as rated by family members than those in the control group, but care staff ratings of quality of life did not differ. There were no other significant between-group differences. Staff participating in the intervention identified benefits in terms of their understanding of residents’ needs.

Conclusions: Staff were able to use the observational measure effectively and relatives of residents in the intervention homes perceived an improvement in their quality of life.

Background: Numerous theoretical models have been developed to explore how caregiving can impact on caregiving outcomes. However, limited attention has been given to the effects of caregivers’ motivations for providing care, the meaning they find in caregiving, and the nature of their relationship with the care-recipient. The current study explored the associations between intrinsic and extrinsic motivations, ability to find meaning in caregiving, and pre-caregiving and current relationship quality, and the way in which these variables interact to influence caregiving outcomes.

Methods: This was a cross-sectional questionnaire study, in which the respondents were 447 caregivers of people with dementia who were in receipt of a specialist nursing service.

Results: The results showed that intrinsic motivations, meaning, and pre-caregiving and current relationship quality were significantly related to each other, while extrinsic motivations were only related to intrinsic motivations and meaning. All these factors were significantly related to caregiving outcomes as measured by caregiver burden, role captivity, and competence.

Conclusions: Based on these findings, it is recommended that interventions aimed at reducing caregiving stress should take into account the impact of the quality of the relationship and the caregivers’ motivations for providing care. More longitudinal research is needed to explore how meanings, motivations, and relationship quality change over the caregiving career.

Background: The majority of people in the early and middle stages of dementia are cared for at home by non-paid caregivers, the majority of whom will be family members. Two factors which could have an impact on the quality of care provided to the care-recipient are the caregiver's motivations for providing care and the meaning s/he finds in caregiving. The aim of this review is to explore the potential impact of both meaning and motivation on the wellbeing of caregivers of people with dementia. The review also explores individual differences in motivations to provide care.

Methods: This was a systematic review of peer-reviewed empirical studies exploring motivations and meanings in informal caregivers of people with dementia. Four studies were identified which examined the caregiver's motivations to provide care. Six studies were identified which examined the meaning that caregivers found in dementia caregiving.

Results: Caregivers' wellbeing could be influenced by the nature of their motivations to care. In addition, cultural norms and caregivers’ kin-relationship to the care-recipient impacted on motivations to provide care. Finding meaning had a positive impact on caregiver wellbeing.

Conclusions: The limited evidence currently available indicates that both the caregiver's motivations to provide care and the meaning s/he finds in caregiving can have implications for the caregiver's wellbeing. More research is needed to explore the role of motivations and meaning in dementia caregiving.

Termite damage is a major problem in tropical forestry especially where exotic tree species are used. Stressed tress are generally the most susceptible to attack. Dry-wood termites (Kalotermitidae) live and feed in dead wood but sometimes attack living parts of mature trees; generally, they are pests only in the humid tropics, causing local but sometimes serious damage. Coptotermes (Rhinotermitidae) causes more widespread and serious damage to mature trees, especially in Malaysia and Australia. The most serious losses (up to 100%), due predominantly to various Macrotermitinae (Termitidae) such as Macrotermes, Odontotermes and Microtermes, occur in young, exotictrees such as Eucalyptus in dry regions in Africa and India. Chemical control of dry-wood termites is not feasible; use of resistant trees is probably the only satisfactory strategy. Control of Coptotermes by various methods has been suggested; but only insecticide injection into nests within affected trunks (Australia) and destruction of nests with explosives prior to planting, followed by destruction of queens in subsequently located nests (Papua New Guinea), are effective and economically viable. Attack on seedings, especially by Macrotermitinae in Africa and India, can be prevented by the increasingly unacceptable persistent cyclodienes used as mound poisons or as a barrier around the roots preventing attack by subterranean species. Controlled-release formulations of otherwise non-persistent insecticides are being development but are expensive and not widely available. Many non-chemical measures have been suggested, but none has been rigorously evaluated; none will provide the almost complete protection afforded by cyclodienes. Biological control shows little promise. Use of resistant tree species and development of resistant varieties offers the only long-term solution, but until these are available there will be a need to continue using cyclodienes or rapidly to develop alternative control methods.

Some studies of negative priming and other tasks assumed to reflect inhibitory functions suggest a decline in inhibitory processes in Alzheimer's disease. However, none of the measures used in previous studies can be interpreted as an unambiguous reflection of distractor inhibition. The present study investigates whether reductions in negative priming associated with Alzheimer's disease reflect reduced distractor inhibition, rather than perceptual review processes. Individuals with early Alzheimer's disease were predicted to show reduced negative priming on a spatial localization task designed to provide an unambiguous measure of distractor inhibition. Sixteen clinical participants showed significantly less negative priming than old and young healthy control groups, which is interpreted as evidence for reduced distractor inhibition in early dementia. A second analysis indicated that, within the clinical sample only, negative priming effect size was significantly correlated with prime trial response speed. Clinical participants showing the least negative priming were slower to respond to an initial stimulus. The results may mean that people with early Alzheimer's disease have a reduced capacity to use excitatory as well as inhibitory processes in selection. (JINS, 2006, 12, 416–423.)

The spectra of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) are being used to construct a catalogue of QSO absorption lines, for use in studies of abundances, relevant radiation fields, number counts as a function of redshift, and other matters, including the evolution of these parameters. The catalogue includes intervening, associated, and BAL absorbers, in order to allow a clearer definition of the relationships between these three classes. We describe the motivation for and the data products of the project to build the SDSS QSO absorption line catalogue.

This study examines the mediating role of psychological resources on life satisfaction, an indicator of subjective wellbeing. The evidence identifies several life events and changing circumstances that can be potentially detrimental to the wellbeing of older adults. Based on the literature, a theoretical model was developed with the hypothesis that adaptation to potentially adverse events draws on psychological resources central to the self. The study participants were a random sample of 423 community-dwelling people aged 70 years and over. All respondents were interviewed in their own homes using a structured schedule. Quantitative data were obtained on age, gender, social support, marital status, physical functioning, bodily pain, loneliness, isolation and housing difficulties. Subjective well-being was assessed by the life satisfaction index, and the psychological mediator was conceptualised as a measure of environmental mastery. The first round of analyses found that variations in well-being were associated with housing difficulties, isolation, loneliness, physical functioning, pain, support networks and marital status. The full model established perfect mediation by environmental mastery occurred for the variables housing problems and physical functioning, and partial mediation occurred for the variable loneliness – supporting the original hypothesis. The results add to the evidence from an increasing number of studies that demonstrates how psychological resources underlie the processes of adaptation to the changing situations that accompany increasing age and prevent negative outcomes.