IN SILICO AND IN VIVO VALIDATION OF DIGESTION BEHAVIOR OF RICE IN THE ARTIFICIAL STOMACH ARK®

The effect of the physicochemical properties on the digestion behavior of rice was evaluated using the artificial stomach response kit (ARK®). Due to the presence of the external bran layer, brown rice (Rv3) showed delayed rates of gastric emptying, apart from a higher half emptying time (101.80 ± 1.20 min) than milled rice (Rv1 - 57.84 ± 7.49 min) and basmati rice (Rv2 - 77.93 ± 10.18 min). The bran layer of Rv3 inhibited the diffusion of the simulated gastric fluid and resulted in lesser particle breakdown and low glycemic index (GI). In comparison with the shaker digestion process, the mechanical force produced in the ARK® resulted in a higher degree of particle breakdown. An in silico approach successfully predicted the glucose response pattern of rice varieties with no statistical difference (at p< 0.05) with the human in vivo datasets using the output obtained from ARK®. The GI obtained from ARK® was validated with in vivo data using Bland Altmann’s statistical tool which showed good agreement. The morphology, dimensions, capacity of the stomach chamber in the ARK® also resembled in vivo observations. The ARK® is proposed as an improved alternative for in vitro digestion studies.

P6518Radial artery dilatation to improve access and lower complication rates during coronary angiography (RADIAL): a randomized controlled trial

Background

Transradial catheterization has become the preferred access site for coronary angiography. The transradial approach is however not without challenges and complications. Cannulation is technically challenging and may require multiple cannulation attempts or access may fail. Local access site complications may occur postprocedurally.

Purpose

To explore the use of prolonged occlusion flow mediated dilatation (PO-FMD) to dilate the radial artery prior to cannulation to reduce puncture attempts, increase cannulation success and reduce access site complications in transradial coronary angiography.

Methods

1156 patients undergoing transradial coronary angiography were randomized into PO-FMD and sham PO-FMD groups. PO-FMD was achieved by a 10 minute inflation of a blood pressure cuff on the arm to above systolic pressure, followed by deflation with resultant radial artery dilation. In the sham PO-FMD group the cuff was not inflated. The operators were blinded to the intervention.

Results

580 patients were randomized to the sham PO-FMD group and 576 to the PO-FMD group. The number of puncture attempts were reduced with the use of PO-FMD, with a median number of attempts of 1 in the PO-FMD group and 2 in the sham PO-FMD group (p<0.001). Cannulation failure was reduced with PO-FMD FMD with cannulation failure rates of 2.7% in the PO-FMD group and 5.8% in the sham PO-FMD group (p=0.01). Radial artery pulsation loss (RAPL) was reduced with PO-FMD with 1.4% in the PO-FMD group and 3.8% in the sham PO-FMD group (p=0.02).

Conclusion

PO-FMD decreases puncture attempts, reduces cannulation failure rates and decreases RAPL during transradial coronary angiography.

A-65 Verbal Abilities May Influence Performance in Assessment of Verbal Short-Term Memory Tasks

Objective

Examine whether verbal abilities may help explain the learning strategies people employ when completing a short-term verbal memory task.

Methods

The assessment records of 296 American Veterans with diverse neuropsychiatric conditions were analyzed using Exploratory Factor Analyses. There were no exclusion criteria. All participants completed the Benton Serial Digit Learning Test – 9 Digits (SDL-9) and Visual Naming (VisNam), Sentence Repetition (SenRep), Controlled Word Association (COWA), and Token Tests of the Multilingual Aphasia Examination (MAE). Individual assessment instruments were factored using Principal Component Analyses (PCA). A three-factor solution of the SDL-9 was co-factored with the verbal components of the MAE to identify common sources of variance.

Results

A three-factor solution of the SDL-9 separated trials into three overlapping factors consisting of early (SDL-9_Early), middle (SDL-9_Middle), and late (SDL-9_Late) trials. Co-factoring the three new scales with the verbal components of the MAE produced a four-factor model explaining 67.85% of the shared variance: 1) SenRep loaded with SDL-9_Early, 2) COWAT loaded with SDL-9_Middle and SDL-9_Late, 3) Token loaded with SDL-9_Late, and 4) Vis Nam loaded with SDL-9_Late.

Conclusions

The results suggest that individuals may engage verbal abilities differently as they progress from simpler to more difficult verbal short-term memory tasks. It appears performance in early trials is mostly associated with rote repetition and performance on middle trials is mostly associated with verbal fluency, while performance on the late trials is associated with a combination of verbal fluency, auditory comprehension, and conceptual organization/naming. This may therefore indicate a shift in learning strategy to meet increased cognitive demands.

A-49 Visual Memory Errors and Intelligence: The Role of Verbal Mediation

Objective

Examine the relationship of verbal mediation with visual memory errors and intelligence to understand the role of spoken language on other assessment measures.

Method

Assessment records were obtained from a Veteran Affairs clinic for veterans (n=100) with diverse neuropsychiatric conditions who completed the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale, third edition (WAIS-III), Multilingual Aphasia Examination (MAE), and Benton Visual Retention Test (BVRT). A Principal Component Analysis (PCA) was used to examine the interrelationship among these assessments. The components of spoken language, types of errors on the BVRT, and the four factors of the WAIS-III were factored using the PCA to identify common sources of variance.

Results

A principal component analysis revealed a six-factor model explaining 68.16% of the shared variance among the WAIS-III factors, MAE components, and BVRT Errors. Omission errors loaded with Processing Speed and Controlled Word Association. Distortions and size errors loaded with Perceptual Organization. Size errors also loaded with Verbal Comprehension and Visual Naming. Misplacements loaded with Working Memory and Sentence Repetition. Misplacements, perseverations, and omissions loaded with the Token Test (a measure associated with auditory comprehension). Rotation errors loaded with Perceptual Organization.

Conclusions

Results indicated significant shared variance between visual memory errors, spoken language, and intelligence factors. This suggests that spoken language is involved in the process of visual memory, and deficits in spoken language may result in increased errors on visual memory tasks. Therefore, treatment recommendations for visual memory difficulties should take into consideration verbal capabilities and intelligence factors to better individualize treatment.

A-44 Categorical Errors on the Benton Visual Retention Test are Systemically Related to Specific Factorial Components of Intelligence

Objective

We investigated the factorial relationship of the six categories of memory errors of the BVRT to the four factorial variables of the WAIS to determine the relationship between cognitive and nonverbal memory variables.

Methods

A sample of 134 diagnostically mixed ambulatory American Veteran patients with a wide variety of mixed neuropsychiatric diagnoses and with or without general medical problems who had completed the WAIS-3, and the BVRT were examined. There were no demographic or diagnostic exclusion criteria.

Results

The 6 types of BVRT memory errors (omissions, distortions, perseverations, rotations, misplacements, and size errors) were factored using principal component analysis. The four WAIS 3 and six BVRT components were jointly factored to examine for systematic relationships between memory and cognitive domains. The analysis identified specific factorial relationships of BVRT error type to each of the four factorial components of the WAIS. POI was related to rotation errors, VCI was related to size errors, PSI specifically related to omissions and WMI to distortions. Misplacement and perseveration errors were related to each other but not to factorial constructs of the WAIS.

Conclusions

There are specific and robust relationships among BVRT errors and dimensional cognitive variables.

A-53 Exploring the Relationship between Spoken Language and Verbal Short-term Memory Assessment Tasks

Objective

Examine whether performance on spoken language assessment measures may be associated with performance at different phases of verbal learning and recall tasks.

Method

The assessment records of 222 American Veterans with diverse neuropsychiatric conditions were analyzed using Exploratory Factor Analyses. There were no exclusion criteria. All participants completed the Visual Naming (VisNam), Sentence Repetition (SenRep), Controlled Word Association (COWA), and Token Tests of the Multilingual Aphasia Examination (MAE), and Benton Serial Digit Learning Test – 8 Digits (SDL8). Individual assessment instruments were factored using Principal Component Analyses (PCA). A three-factor solution of the SDL-8 was co-factored with the spoken language components of the MAE to identify common sources of variance.

Results

A three-factor solution of the SDL8 separated trials into three overlapping factors consisting of early (SDL8_Early), middle (SDL8_Middle), and late (SDL8_Late) trials. Co-factoring the three new scales with the verbal components of the MAE produced a five-factor model explaining 84.563% of the shared variance: 1) SDL8_Early loaded with SenRep, 2) SDL8_Middle loaded with SenRep, 3) SDL8_Late loaded with Token, 4) SDL8_Late loaded with COWA, and 5) VisNam alone formed the fifth factor.

Conclusions

The results suggest that rote repetition is largely associated with early trials and slightly associated with middle trials, while late trials are largely associated with auditory comprehension and slightly associated with verbal fluency. This may be indicative of a shift in use of spoken language abilities to accommodate increasing levels of complexity in presented verbal short-term memory tasks and thus reflective of a change on learning strategy to optimize performance.

A-43 Factorial Relationships Among Copy and Memory Trials of the Benton Visual Retention Test

Objective

We investigated the factorial relationships among categorical error groups on the Benton Visual Retention Test (BVRT) copy and memory trials.

Methods

A sample of 523 ambulatory American Veteran patients who presented for clinical evaluation with a wide variety of mixed neuropsychiatric diagnoses and general medical diagnoses were studied. There were no demographic or diagnostic exclusion criteria.

Results

Frequency summary scores for the six types of BVRT errors (omission, misplacement, size, distortion, perseveration, and rotation errors) were factored jointly by means of principal component analysis. Omission, misplacement, and size errors grouped factorially across copy and memory domains by error type. Results showed the factorial relationships are primarily defined by the type of error. Omission, size, and misplacement errors were grouped together regardless of whether they occurred on copy or memory trials. Rotation, distortion, and perseveration errors were factorially grouped on both the copy and memory trials, but the groupings of these similar error groups formed independent factors for the copy and memory trials. The copy error factor explained the most variance and the memory error factor o explained the least variance.

Conclusions

Omission, size, and misplacement errors on the BVRT copy and memory trials appear to be due to similar encoding process errors. Distortion, rotation, and perseveration errors on the BVRT copy and memory trials are related to each other within each trial type but different cognitive processes account for errors of this kind on the copy and memory trials.

A-45 Systematic Relationships of the Benton Visual Retention Test to Intelligence, Language and Demographics

Objective

We investigated the factorial relationships of WAIS 3, BVRT, Visual Naming and demographic variables to better understand factorial relationships among those variables.

Methods

A sample of 126 ambulatory American Veteran patients who presented for clinical evaluation with a wide variety of mixed neuropsychiatric diagnoses and general medical diagnoses were studied. There were no demographic or diagnostic exclusion criteria.

Results

Our first analysis demonstrated robust independent relationships of age to a late occurring BVRT item group and education to an early occurring BVRT item group. A two factor solution for the items of the multilingual aphasia exam visual naming subtest from previous research showed systematic and robust relationships of one visual naming factor to VCI and the other visual naming factor to PSI only. Factor scales were computed to represent the orthogonal factors for the new variables in each of these analyses. Factor scales from the first two analyses were factored together to produce a four-part solution that explained 86% of the variance. POI was related to the late BVRT item group and age. The early BVRT item grouping was related to educational level, VCI, PSI and both visual naming components. WMI was independent of demographic, linguistic and BVRT variables.

Conclusions

There are factorial relationships between factorial components of nonverbal memory, intelligence, naming and demographic variables.

A-52 An Exploratory Factor Analysis Investigation of the Role of Verbal Mediation in the Interaction between Intelligence and Visual Memory Tasks

Objective

Examine whether verbal mediation may play a role in the interaction between visual memory tasks and the four-factor model of intelligence as operationalized by standard neuropsychological assessment instruments.

Method

The assessment records of 101 American Veterans with diverse neuropsychiatric conditions were examined using Exploratory Factor and Principal Component Analyses (EFA and PCA respectively). There were no exclusion criteria. All participants completed the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale, third edition (WAIS-III), Benton’s Visual Retention Test (BVRT), and Multilingual Aphasia Examination (MAE). Individual assessment instruments were factored using PCA. The factor solution of the BVRT was co-factored with the scales of the WAIS-III, then the resulting factor scales were again factored with the verbal components of the MAE to identify common sources of variance.

Results

A three-step analysis revealed a four-factor model explaining 69.44% of the shared variance: 1) Items 1-4 of the BVRT (BVRT-E) loaded with Verbal Comprehension and Visual Naming. 2) BVRT-E also loaded with Processing Speed and Controlled Word Association. 3) Items 5-10 of the BVRT (BVRT-L) loaded with Perceptual Organization and the Token Test. 4) Working Memory loaded with Sentence Repetition on a fourth factor.

Conclusions

The results indicate a strong relationship between assessed performance on visual memory tasks and performance on measures based on the four-factor model of intelligence. The results also appear to support the idea that verbal mediation plays a role in the interaction between visual memory and intelligence, particularly when comparing performance on simple versus more complex visual memory tasks.

Diarylheptanoids as nutraceutical: A review

Phenolic compounds are naturally occurring compounds present ubiquitously in plants. They have potential health benefits and substantiate evidence for their nutraceutical applications. Diarylheptanoids are part of the broad class of plant phenolics with structurally divergent compounds. They have been used in traditional medicines and homemade remedies to treat various ailments, as organoleptic additives in foods, and also for aesthetic purposes. With their potential therapeutic and organoleptic characteristics, diarylhepatanoids can be rightly termed as nutraceuticals. This review summarizes the wide range of pharmacological activities of diarylhepatanoids and nutraceutical formulations, with relevance to human health.