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1. Feasibility, Acceptability, and Initial Efficacy of Delivering Alcohol Use Cognitive Interventions via Crowdsourcing

   https://doi.org/10.1111/acer.13987  

   Strickland, Justin C. ; Hill, J. Chauncey ; Stoops, William W. ; Rush, Craig R. ( March 2019 , Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research)

   Inhibitory control training and working memory training are 2 cognitive interventions that have been considered for alcohol use disorder (AUD). Existing studies have typically relied on small samples that preclude the evaluation of small effects. Crowdsourcing is a sampling method that can address these limitations by effectively and efficiently recruiting large samples with varying health histories. This study tested the feasibility and acceptability of delivering cognitive training interventions via crowdsourcing.

   Participants withAUDwere recruited from the crowdsourcing website Amazon Mechanical Turk (mTurk) (ClinicalTrials.gov;NCT03438539). Following completion of a baseline survey, participants were randomized to an inhibitory control, working memory, or control training condition. Participants were asked to complete training tasks daily over a 2‐week period. Follow‐up assessments evaluating acceptability measures and alcohol and soda consumption were completed immediately following and 2 weeks after training.

   Response rates were satisfactory over the 2‐week intervention period (65% of training tasks completed), and performance on training tasks was consistent with expected effects. A majority of participants indicated that they were satisfied with the study procedures (94.6%), would participate again (97.4%), and would consider incorporating the training task in their daily life (81.1%). Modest reductions in alcohol consumption were observed (e.g., 0.5 drinking day/wk), primarily in the inhibitory control group, and these effects were selective to alcohol use and did not extend to soda consumption.

   These findings demonstrate the feasibility and acceptability of utilizing crowdsourcing methods for interventions development. Such a demonstration helps establish the crowdsourcing setting for future large sample studies testing novel interventions forAUDand other substance use disorders.

    

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2. Independent Component and Graph Theory Analyses Reveal Normalized Brain Networks on Resting‐State Functional MRI After Working Memory Training in People With HIV

   https://doi.org/10.1002/jmri.28439  

   Jia, Chunying ; Long, Qunfang ; Ernst, Thomas ; Shang, Yuanqi ; Chang, Linda ; Adali, Tülay ( September 2022 , Journal of Magnetic Resonance Imaging)

   Cognitive training may partially reverse cognitive deficits in people with HIV (PWH). Previous functional MRI (fMRI) studies demonstrate that working memory training (WMT) alters brain activity during working memory tasks, but its effects on resting brain network organization remain unknown.

   To test whether WMT affects PWH brain functional connectivity in resting‐state fMRI (rsfMRI).

   Prospective.

   A total of 53 PWH (ages 50.7 ± 1.5 years, two women) and 53HIV‐seronegative controls (SN, ages 49.5 ± 1.6 years, six women).

   Axial single‐shot gradient‐echo echo‐planar imaging at 3.0 T was performed at baseline (TL1), at 1‐month (TL2), and at 6‐months (TL3), after WMT.

   All participants had rsfMRI and clinical assessments (including neuropsychological tests) at TL1 before randomization to Cogmed WMT (adaptive training,n = 58: 28 PWH, 30 SN; nonadaptive training,n = 48: 25 PWH, 23 SN), 25 sessions over 5–8 weeks. All assessments were repeated at TL2 and at TL3. The functional connectivity estimated by independent component analysis (ICA) or graph theory (GT) metrics (eigenvector centrality, etc.) for different link densities (LDs) were compared between PWH and SN groups at TL1 and TL2.

   Two‐way analyses of variance (ANOVA) on GT metrics and two‐samplet‐tests on FC or GT metrics were performed. Cognitive (eg memory) measures were correlated with eigenvector centrality (eCent) using Pearson's correlations. The significance level was set atP < 0.05 after false discovery rate correction.

   The ventral default mode network (vDMN) eCent differed between PWH and SN groups at TL1 but not at TL2 (P = 0.28). In PWH, vDMN eCent changes significantly correlated with changes in the memory ability in PWH (r = −0.62 at LD = 50%) and vDMN eCent before training significantly correlated with memory performance changes (r = 0.53 at LD = 50%).

   ICA and GT analyses showed that adaptive WMT normalized graph properties of the vDMN in PWH.

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3. Impact of acculturation on math achievement in community college students

   Halverson, K. ; Cirino, P.T. ; Bick, J. ; Medina, L. ( February 2022 , Ineternational Neuropsychological Society)

   Objective We live in an increasingly multicultural society which is reflected in the student population. In the community college (CC) setting, students from underrepresented groups are over-represented in remedial math courses and are less likely to complete the sequence. The extant literature suggests higher levels of acculturation, both cultural adoption and cultural maintenance, support academic success. Working memory (WM) is a well-known domain-general predictor of mathematical development and has been shown to relate to math achievement r = .38. Given this moderate relation, additional predictors of math achievement warrant investigation. In the present study, we investigated the potential moderational role of acculturation (cultural adoption and maintenance), on the WM-math relation in a diverse group of CC students (n = 94). Math was assessed both by a standardized measure of math computation and a measure of “everyday math” word problems including medical and financial management. We expected that higher levels of acculturation (adoption and maintenance) would decreasing WM load (via cognitive load) and aid math performance. At higher levels of acculturation, the WM-math relation was hypothesized approximate meta analytic findings, r = .38. Alternatively, at low levels of acculturation, the WM-math correlation was anticipated to be attenuated due to the added variability in culture and the negative impact low acculturation levels have on WM by increasing cognitive load. Participants and Methods A diverse sample of CC students (ages 18-25) who were enrolled in a math course were included. Participants completed an online survey covering demographic and cultural domains, then completed an in-person cognitive testing session to assess language abilities, WM, and math ability. Bivariate correlations and regression based moderation analyses were used. Post-hoc analyses were conducted to assess for three-way interactions with baseline verbal or math abilities. Results WM-math correlations averaged r = .38. Acculturation did not significantly relate to either outcome variable. Neither cultural adoption (computations: F=1.68, p =.199; word problems: F=.42, p =.521 ) nor cultural maintenance (computations: F=.83, p = .364; word problems: F=.36, p = .550) moderated the WM-math relations. Post-hoc analyses revealed significant three-way interactions between cultural adoption and math computation across different levels of vocabulary (F=4.66, p = .034) and math abilities (F= 6.16 p = .015). Conclusion The hypothesized moderational role of acculturation on the WM-math relation was not supported. Post-hoc analyses, however, revealed that the cultural adoption-math relationship varied across different levels of vocabulary and math abilities, although not in the direction anticipated. Finding suggest complex relationships between the WM, acculturation, and math such that acculturation does impact math performance when either vocabulary or math abilities are strong. At low levels of math or vocabulary, students’ WM may already be overtaxed, such that higher acculturation levels cannot benefit the student. Whereas when baseline abilities are average/high, increased cultural adoption can benefit the student by potentially decreasing cognitive load and freeing additional WM capacity which can be applied to the task. Findings could identify patterns of students at risk for math failure and inform future intervention/policy development to address their needs and support success. 

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4. Enhancing Working Memory Training with Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation

   https://doi.org/10.1162/jocn_a_00979  

   Au, Jacky ; Katz, Benjamin ; Buschkuehl, Martin ; Bunarjo, Kimberly ; Senger, Thea ; Zabel, Chelsea ; Jaeggi, Susanne M. ; Jonides, John ( September 2016 , Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience)

   Abstract Working memory (WM) is a fundamental cognitive ability that supports complex thought but is limited in capacity. Thus, WM training interventions have become very popular as a means of potentially improving WM-related skills. Another promising intervention that has gained increasing traction in recent years is transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS), a noninvasive form of brain stimulation that can modulate cortical excitability and temporarily increase brain plasticity. As such, it has the potential to boost learning and enhance performance on cognitive tasks. This study assessed the efficacy of tDCS to supplement WM training. Sixty-two participants were randomized to receive either right prefrontal, left prefrontal, or sham stimulation with concurrent visuospatial WM training over the course of seven training sessions. Results showed that tDCS enhanced training performance, which was strikingly preserved several months after training completion. Furthermore, we observed stronger effects when tDCS was spaced over a weekend break relative to consecutive daily training, and we also demonstrated selective transfer in the right prefrontal group to nontrained tasks of visual and spatial WM. These findings shed light on how tDCS may be leveraged as a tool to enhance performance on WM-intensive learning tasks. 

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5. Factors Associated With Nonadherence to Lung Cancer Screening Across Multiple Screening Time Points

   https://doi.org/10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2023.15250  

   Lin, Yannan ; Liang, Li-Jung ; Ding, Ruiwen ; Prosper, Ashley Elizabeth ; Aberle, Denise R. ; Hsu, William ( May 2023 , JAMA Network Open)

   Screening with low-dose computed tomography (CT) has been shown to reduce mortality from lung cancer in randomized clinical trials in which the rate of adherence to follow-up recommendations was over 90%; however, adherence to Lung Computed Tomography Screening Reporting &amp; Data System (Lung-RADS) recommendations has been low in practice. Identifying patients who are at risk of being nonadherent to screening recommendations may enable personalized outreach to improve overall screening adherence.

   To identify factors associated with patient nonadherence to Lung-RADS recommendations across multiple screening time points.

   This cohort study was conducted at a single US academic medical center across 10 geographically distributed sites where lung cancer screening is offered. The study enrolled individuals who underwent low-dose CT screening for lung cancer between July 31, 2013, and November 30, 2021.

   Low-dose CT screening for lung cancer.

   The main outcome was nonadherence to follow-up recommendations for lung cancer screening, defined as failing to complete a recommended or more invasive follow-up examination (ie, diagnostic dose CT, positron emission tomography–CT, or tissue sampling vs low-dose CT) within 15 months (Lung-RADS score, 1 or 2), 9 months (Lung-RADS score, 3), 5 months (Lung-RADS score, 4A), or 3 months (Lung-RADS score, 4B/X). Multivariable logistic regression was used to identify factors associated with patient nonadherence to baseline Lung-RADS recommendations. A generalized estimating equations model was used to assess whether the pattern of longitudinal Lung-RADS scores was associated with patient nonadherence over time.

   Among 1979 included patients, 1111 (56.1%) were aged 65 years or older at baseline screening (mean [SD] age, 65.3 [6.6] years), and 1176 (59.4%) were male. The odds of being nonadherent were lower among patients with a baseline Lung-RADS score of 1 or 2 vs 3 (adjusted odds ratio [AOR], 0.35; 95% CI, 0.25-0.50), 4A (AOR, 0.21; 95% CI, 0.13-0.33), or 4B/X, (AOR, 0.10; 95% CI, 0.05-0.19); with a postgraduate vs college degree (AOR, 0.70; 95% CI, 0.53-0.92); with a family history of lung cancer vs no family history (AOR, 0.74; 95% CI, 0.59-0.93); with a high age-adjusted Charlson Comorbidity Index score (≥4) vs a low score (0 or 1) (AOR, 0.67; 95% CI, 0.46-0.98); in the high vs low income category (AOR, 0.79; 95% CI, 0.65-0.98); and referred by physicians from pulmonary or thoracic-related departments vs another department (AOR, 0.56; 95% CI, 0.44-0.73). Among 830 eligible patients who had completed at least 2 screening examinations, the adjusted odds of being nonadherent to Lung-RADS recommendations at the following screening were increased in patients with consecutive Lung-RADS scores of 1 to 2 (AOR, 1.38; 95% CI, 1.12-1.69).

   In this retrospective cohort study, patients with consecutive negative lung cancer screening results were more likely to be nonadherent with follow-up recommendations. These individuals are potential candidates for tailored outreach to improve adherence to recommended annual lung cancer screening.

    

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