University of Massachusetts Boston

About: University of Massachusetts Boston is a education organization based out in Boston, Massachusetts, United States. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Population & Health care. The organization has 6541 authors who have published 12918 publications receiving 411731 citations. The organization is also known as: UMass Boston.

Pain and Cognitive Function Among Older Adults Living in the Community

Abstract: Background Pain related to many age-related chronic conditions is a burdensome problem in elderly adults and may also interfere with cognitive functioning. The purpose of this study was to examine the cross-sectional relationship between measures of pain severity and pain interference and cognitive performance in community-living older adults. Methods We studied 765 participants in the Maintenance of Balance Independent Living Intellect and Zest (MOBILIZE) Boston Study, a population-based study of persons aged 70 and older. Global pain severity and interference were measured using the Brief Pain Inventory subscales. The neuropsychological battery included measures of attentional capacity (Trail Making Test A, WORLD Test), executive function (Trail Making Test B and Delta, Clock-in-a-Box, Letter Fluency), memory (Hopkins Verbal Learning Test), and a global composite measure of cognitive function. Multivariable linear regression models were used to analyze the relationship between pain and cognitive functioning. Results Elderly adults with more severe pain or more pain interference had poorer performance on memory tests and executive functioning compared to elders with none or less pain. Pain interference was also associated with impaired attentional capacity. Additional adjustment for chronic conditions, behaviors, and psychiatric medication resulted in attenuation of many of the observed associations. However, the association between pain interference and general cognitive function persisted. Conclusions Our findings point to the need for further research to understand how chronic pain may contribute to decline in cognitive function and to determine strategies that may help in preventing or managing these potential consequences of pain on cognitive function in older adults.

Cognitive aspects of young children's experience of economic disadvantage.

Abstract: Economic disadvantage is a well-studied risk factor for poorer behavioral and academic functioning in young children. Although the mechanisms by which disadvantage impacts children have long been of interest to researchers, studies to date have predominantly focused on mechanisms that are external to the child (e.g., parental depression, marital conflict). Very few studies have examined the internal, cognitive aspects of the experience of economic disadvantage, and almost none have considered how the effects of disadvantage on children's functioning might be mediated through cognitive processes. This article provides a framework for research into cognitive and social-cognitive mediators of economic disadvantage operating in early-to-middle childhood. The initial section of the article briefly reviews and summarizes the extant literature on childhood poverty and its effects. The second section reviews the evidence that preschool-aged children have the requisite cognitive abilities to recognize social inequality in their environments, to be aware of stereotypes related to social class, and to connect these social concepts to their own experience. The third section reviews and evaluates the small literature on children's appraisals, attributions, stereotypes, and perceptions of or about poverty and inequality. The fourth section defines and evaluates the literature on 2 social-cognitive processes-stereotype threat and status anxiety-that are hypothesized to mediate the effects of economic disadvantage on children's functioning. The article concludes with a series of proposed questions and hypotheses for future research, and elaborates on the potential implications of the proposed area of research. (PsycINFO Database Record

Patterns, dynamics and consequences of microplastic ingestion by the temperate coral, Astrangia poculata.

Abstract: Microplastics (less than 5 mm) are a recognized threat to aquatic food webs because they are ingested at multiple trophic levels and may bioaccumulate. In urban coastal environments, high densities...

Conflicts of interest and disclosure in the American Psychiatric Association's Clinical Practice Guidelines.

Abstract: Background: Clinical practice guidelines (CPG) are developed, endorsed, and disseminated through professional medical organizations such as the American Psychiatric Association (APA