| 1. |
- Gustavsson, Eva, 1970, et al.
(author)
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Min plats i biosfären
- 2019
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Book (other academic/artistic)abstract
- “Min plats i biosfären” är en skrift som presenterar forskningsresultat om vilken roll kulturmiljön och de kulturella ekosystemtjänsterna kulturarv och platsidentitet har för människors välbefinnande och för hållbar landskapsförvaltning inom Biosfärområde Vänerskärgården med Kinnekulle. Resultaten i skriften baseras på forskningsprojektet “Kulturmiljö och kulturarv som en del av hållbar landskapsförvaltning” och har genomförts av forskare vid Göteborgs universitet och Högskolan i Gävle.
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| 2. |
- Josefsson, Maria, 1979-, et al.
(author)
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Genetic and Lifestyle Predictors of 15-Year Longitudinal Change in Episodic Memory
- 2012
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In: Journal of The American Geriatrics Society. - : Wiley. - 0002-8614 .- 1532-5415. ; 60:12, s. 2308-2312
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Objectives: To reveal distinct longitudinal trajectories in episodic memory over 15 years and to identify demographic, lifestyle, health-related, and genetic predictors of stability or decline. Design: Prospective cohort study. Setting: The Betula Project, Umeå, Sweden. Participants: One thousand nine hundred fifty-four healthy participants aged 35 to 85 at baseline. Measurements: Memory was assessed according to validated episodic memory tasks in participants from a large population-based sample. Data were analyzed using a random-effects pattern-mixture model that considered the effect of attrition over two to four longitudinal sessions. Logistic regression was used to determine significant predictors of stability or decline relative to average change in episodic memory. Results: Of 1,558 participants with two or more test sessions, 18% were classified as maintainers and 13% as decliners, and 68% showed age-typical average change. More educated and more physically active participants, women, and those living with someone were more likely to be classified as maintainers, as were carriers of the met allele of the catechol-O-methyltransferase gene. Less educated participants, those not active in the labor force, and men were more likely to be classified as decliners, and the apolipoprotein E ɛ4 allele was more frequent in decliners. Conclusion: Quantitative, attrition-corrected assessment of longitudinal changes in memory can reveal substantial heterogeneity in aging trajectories, and genetic and lifestyle factors predict such heterogeneity.
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| 3. |
- Lansner, Anders, et al.
(author)
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Reactivation in Working Memory : An Attractor Network Model of Free Recall
- 2013
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In: PLOS ONE. - : Public Library of Science (PLoS). - 1932-6203. ; 8:8, s. e73776-
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- The dynamic nature of human working memory, the general-purpose system for processing continuous input, while keeping no longer externally available information active in the background, is well captured in immediate free recall of supraspan word-lists. Free recall tasks produce several benchmark memory phenomena, like the U-shaped serial position curve, reflecting enhanced memory for early and late list items. To account for empirical data, including primacy and recency as well as contiguity effects, we propose here a neurobiologically based neural network model that unifies short- and long-term forms of memory and challenges both the standard view of working memory as persistent activity and dual-store accounts of free recall. Rapidly expressed and volatile synaptic plasticity, modulated intrinsic excitability, and spike-frequency adaptation are suggested as key cellular mechanisms underlying working memory encoding, reactivation and recall. Recent findings on the synaptic and molecular mechanisms behind early LTP and on spiking activity during delayed-match-to-sample tasks support this view.
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| 4. |
- Piper, Brian J., et al.
(author)
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Non-replication of an association of Apolipoprotein E2 with sinistrality
- 2013
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In: Laterality. - 1357-650X .- 1464-0678. ; 18:2, s. 251-261
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- A recent report found that left-handed adolescents were more than three times more likely to have an Apolipoprotein (APOE) E2 allele. This study was unable to replicate this association in young adults (N=166). A meta-analysis of nine other datasets (N=360 to 7559, Power > 0.999) including that of National Alzheimer's Coordinating Center also failed to find an over-representation of E2 among left-handers indicating that this earlier outcome was most likely a statistical artefact.
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| 5. |
- Moens, Lotte N, et al.
(author)
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Sequencing of DISC1 Pathway Genes Reveals Increased Burden of Rare Missense Variants in Schizophrenia Patients from a Northern Swedish Population
- 2011
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In: PLOS ONE. - : Public Library of Science (PLoS). - 1932-6203. ; 6:8, s. e23450-
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- In recent years, DISC1 has emerged as one of the most credible and best supported candidate genes for schizophrenia and related neuropsychiatric disorders. Furthermore, increasing evidence - both genetic and functional - indicates that many of its protein interaction partners are also involved in the development of these diseases. In this study, we applied a pooled sample 454 sequencing strategy, to explore the contribution of genetic variation in DISC1 and 10 of its interaction partners (ATF5, Grb2, FEZ1, LIS-1, PDE4B, NDE1, NDEL1, TRAF3IP1, YWHAE, and ZNF365) to schizophrenia susceptibility in an isolated northern Swedish population. Mutation burden analysis of the identified variants in a population of 486 SZ patients and 514 control individuals, revealed that non-synonymous rare variants with a MAF<0.01 were significantly more present in patients compared to controls (8.64% versus 4.7%, P = 0.018), providing further evidence for the involvement of DISC1 and some of its interaction partners in psychiatric disorders. This increased burden of rare missense variants was even more striking in a subgroup of early onset patients (12.9% versus 4.7%, P = 0.0004), highlighting the importance of studying subgroups of patients and identifying endophenotypes. Upon investigation of the potential functional effects associated with the identified missense variants, we found that similar to 90% of these variants reside in intrinsically disordered protein regions. The observed increase in mutation burden in patients provides further support for the role of the DISC1 pathway in schizophrenia. Furthermore, this study presents the first evidence supporting the involvement of mutations within intrinsically disordered protein regions in the pathogenesis of psychiatric disorders. As many important biological functions depend directly on the disordered state, alteration of this disorder in key pathways may represent an intriguing new disease mechanism for schizophrenia and related neuropsychiatric diseases. Further research into this unexplored domain will be required to elucidate the role of the identified variants in schizophrenia etiology.
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| 6. |
- Sjölinder, Marie, et al.
(author)
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Age differences and the acquisition of spatial knowledge in a three-dimensional environment : Evaluating the use of an overview map as a navigation aid.
- 2005
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In: International Journal of Human-Computer Studies. - : Elsevier BV. - 1071-5819. ; 63, s. 537-564
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- This study examined age differences in the use of an electronic three-dimensional (3D) environment, and how the age differences were affected by the use of an overview map as a navigation aid. Task performance and the subjects' acquisition of configural knowledge of the 3D-environment were assessed. Impact of spatial ability and prior experience on these measurements were also investigated. One group of older subjects (n = 24) and one group of younger subjects (n = 24) participated. An overall hypothesis for the work presented here was that differences in learning to and performing navigational tasks in the physical world are similar in learning and performing navigational tasks in the virtual world. The results showed that the older participants needed more time to solve the tasks; and similar to navigation in the physical world, the older participants were less likely to create configural knowledge. It could not be established that older participants benefited more from an overview map as cognitive support than younger subjects, except in the subjective sense: the older users felt more secure when the map was there. The map seemed to have supported the older users in creating a feeling of where objects were located within the environment, but it did not make them more efficient. The results have implications for design; in particular, it brings up the difficult issue of balancing design goals such as efficiency in terms of time and functionality, against maintaining a sense of direction and location in navigational situations.
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| 7. |
- Sjölinder, Marie
(author)
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Age-related cognitive decline and navigation in electronic environments
- 2006
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Doctoral thesis (other academic/artistic)abstract
- The older population is increasing, as is life expectancy. Technical devices are becoming more widespread and used for many everyday tasks. Knowledge about new technology is important to remain as an active and independent part of the society. However, if an old user group should have equal access to this technology, new demands will be placed on the design of interfaces and devices. With respect to old users it is and will be important to develop technical devices and interfaces that take the age-related decline in physical and cognitive abilities into account. The aim of this work was to investigate to what extent the age-related cognitive decline affects performance on different computer-related tasks and the use of different interfaces. With respect to the use of computer interfaces, two studies were conducted. In the first study, the information was presented with a hierarchical structure. In the second study the information was presented as a 3D-environment, and it was also investigated how an overview map could support navigation. The third study examined the age-related cognitive decline in the use of a small mobile phone display with a hierarchical information structure. The results from the studies showed that the most pronounced age-related difference was found in the use of the 3D-environment. Within this environment, prior experience was found to have the largest impact on performance. Regarding the hierarchical information structures, prior experience seemed to have a larger impact on performance of easy tasks, while age and cognitive abilities had a larger impact on performance of more complex tasks. With respect to navigation aids, the overview map in the 3D-environment did not reduce the age-differences; however, it contributed to a better perceived orientation and reduced the feeling of being lost.
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