Browsing by Author "Rodrigues, Ana"
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- Comparison of four verbal memory tests for the diagnosis and predictive value of mild cognitive impairmentPublication . Silva, Dina Lúcia Gomes da; Guerreiro, Manuela; Maroco, João; Santana, Isabel; Rodrigues, Ana; Marques, José Bravo; Mendonça, Alexandre deBackground: Mild cognitive impairment (MCI) is considered to be an early stage of a neurodegenerative disorder, particularly Alzheimer’s disease, and the clinical diagnosis requires the objective demonstration of cognitive deficits. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the predictive value of MCI for the conversion to dementia when using four different verbal memory tests (Logical Memory, LM; California Verbal Learning Test, CVLT; Verbal Paired-Associate Learning, VPAL; and Digit Span, DS) in the MCI criteria. Methods: Participants were consecutive patients with subjective cognitive complaints who performed a comprehensive neuropsychological evaluation and were not demented, observed in a memory clinic setting. Results: At baseline, 272 non-demented patients reporting subjective cognitive complaints were included. During the follow-up time (3.0 +- 1.9 years), 58 patients converted to dementia and 214 did not. Statistically significant differences between the converters and non-converters were present in LM, VPAL, and CVLT. A multivariate Cox regression analysis combining the four memory tests revealed that only the CVLT test remained significant as a predictor of conversion to dementia. Non-demented patients with cognitive complaints diagnosed as having MCI according to abnormal ( < 1.5 SD) learning in the CVLT test had a 3.61 higher risk of becoming demented during the follow-up. Conclusion: The verbal memory assessment using the CVLT should be preferred in the diagnostic criteria of MCI for a more accurate prediction of conversion to dementia.
- Connectivity between countries established by landbirds and raptors migrating along the African–Eurasian flywayPublication . Guilherme, João L.; Jones, Victoria R.; Catry, Ines; Beal, Martin; Dias, Maria P.; Oppel, Steffen; Vickery, Juliet A.; Hewson, Chris; Butchart, Stuart; Rodrigues, AnaThe conservation of long-distance migratory birds requires coordination between the multiple countries connected by the movements of these species. The recent expansion of tracking studies is shedding new light on these movements, but much of this information is fragmented and inaccessible to conservation practitioners and policy makers. We synthesized current knowledge on the connectivity established between countries by landbirds and raptors migrating along the African–Eurasian flyway. We reviewed tracking studies to compile migration records for 1229 individual birds, from which we derived 544 migratory links, each link corresponding to a species’ connection between a breeding country in Europe and a nonbreeding country in sub-Saharan Africa. We used these migratory links to analyze trends in knowledge over time and spatial patterns of connectivity per country (across species), per species (across countries), and at the flyway scale (across all countries and all species). The number of tracking studies available increased steadily since 2010 (particularly for landbirds), but the coverage of existing tracking data was highly incomplete. An average of 7.5% of migratory landbird species and 14.6% of raptor species were tracked per country. More data existed from central and western European countries, and it was biased toward larger bodied species. We provide species- and country-level syntheses of the migratory links we identified from the reviewed studies, involving 123 populations of 43 species, migrating between 28 European and 43 African countries. Several countries (e.g., Spain, Poland, Ethiopia, Democratic Republic of Congo) are strategic priorities for future tracking studies to complement existing data, particularly on landbirds. Despite the limitations in existing tracking data, our data and results can inform discussions under 2 key policy instruments at the flyway scale: the African–Eurasian Migratory Landbirds Action Plan and the Memorandum of Understanding on the Conservation of Migratory Birds of Prey in Africa and Eurasia.
- Connectivity between countries established by landbirds and raptors migrating along the African–Eurasian flywayPublication . Guilherme, João L.; Jones, Victoria R.; Catry, Ines; Beal, Martin; Dias, Maria P.; Oppel, Steffen; Vickery, Juliet A.; Hewson, Chris; Butchart, Stuart H. M.; Rodrigues, AnaThe conservation of long-distance migratory birds requires coordination between the multiple countries connected by the movements of these species. The recent expansion of tracking studies is shedding new light on these movements, but much of this information is fragmented and inaccessible to conservation practitioners and policy makers. We synthesized current knowledge on the connectivity established between countries by landbirds and raptors migrating along the African–Eurasian flyway. We reviewed tracking studies to compile migration records for 1229 individual birds, from which we derived 544 migratory links, each link corresponding to a species’ connection between a breeding country in Europe and a nonbreeding country in sub-Saharan Africa. We used these migratory links to analyze trends in knowledge over time and spatial patterns of connectivity per country (across species), per species (across countries), and at the flyway scale (across all countries and all species). The number of tracking studies available increased steadily since 2010 (particularly for landbirds), but the coverage of existing tracking data was highly incomplete. An average of 7.5% of migratory landbird species and 14.6% of raptor species were tracked per country. More data existed from central and western European countries, and it was biased toward larger bodied species. We provide species- and country-level syntheses of the migratory links we identified from the reviewed studies, involving 123 populations of 43 species, migrating between 28 European and 43 African countries. Several countries (e.g., Spain, Poland, Ethiopia, Democratic Republic of Congo) are strategic priorities for future tracking studies to complement existing data, particularly on landbirds. Despite the limitations in existing tracking data, our data and results can inform discussions under 2 key policy instruments at the flyway scale: the African–Eurasian Migratory Landbirds Action Plan and the Memorandum of Understanding on the Conservation of Migratory Birds of Prey in Africa and Eurasia.
- Connectivity between countries established by landbirds and raptors migrating along the African–Eurasian flywayPublication . Guilherme, João L.; Jones, Victoria R.; Catry, Inês; Beal, Martin; Dias, Maria P.; Oppel, Steffen; Vickery, Juliet A.; Hewson, Chris; Butchart, Stuart; Rodrigues, AnaThe conservation of long-distance migratory birds requires coordination between the multiple countries connected by the movements of these species. The recent expansion of tracking studies is shedding new light on these movements, but much of this information is fragmented and inaccessible to conservation practitioners and policy makers.We synthesized current knowledge on the connectivity established between countries by landbirds and raptors migrating along the African–Eurasian flyway. We reviewed tracking studies to compile migration records for 1229 individual birds, from which we derived 544 migratory links, each link corresponding to a species’ connection between a breeding country in Europe and a nonbreeding country in sub-Saharan Africa. We used these migratory links to analyze trends in knowledge over time and spatial patterns of connectivity per country (across species), per species (across countries), and at the flyway scale (across all countries and all species). The number of tracking studies available increased steadily since 2010 (particularly for landbirds), but the coverage of existing tracking data was highly incomplete. An average of 7.5% of migratory landbird species and 14.6% of raptor species were tracked per country. More data existed from central and western European countries, and it was biased toward larger bodied species.We provide species- and country-level syntheses of the migratory links we identified from the reviewed studies, involving 123 populations of 43 species, migrating between 28 European and 43 African countries. Several countries (e.g., Spain, Poland, Ethiopia, Democratic Republic of Congo) are strategic priorities for future tracking studies to complement existing data, particularly on landbirds. Despite the limitations in existing tracking data, our data and results can inform discussions under 2 key policy instruments at the flyway scale: the African–Eurasian Migratory Landbirds Action Plan and the Memorandum of Understanding on the Conservation of Migratory Birds of Prey in Africa and Eurasia.
- Data mining methods in the prediction of dementia: A real-data comparison of the accuracy, sensitivity and specificity of linear discriminant analysis, logistic regression, neural networks, support vector machines, classification trees and random forestsPublication . Maroco, João Lúcia Gomes da; Silva, Dina Lúcia Gomes da; Rodrigues, Ana; Guerreiro, Manuela; Santana, Isabel; Mendonça, Alexandre deBackground: Dementia and cognitive impairment associated with aging are a major medical and social concern. Neuropsychological testing is a key element in the diagnostic procedures of Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI), but has presently a limited value in the prediction of progression to dementia. We advance the hypothesis that newer statistical classification methods derived from data mining and machine learning methods like Neural Networks, Support Vector Machines and Random Forests can improve accuracy, sensitivity and specificity of predictions obtained from neuropsychological testing. Seven non parametric classifiers derived from data mining methods (Multilayer Perceptrons Neural Networks, Radial Basis Function Neural Networks, Support Vector Machines, CART, CHAID and QUEST Classification Trees and Random Forests) were compared to three traditional classifiers (Linear Discriminant Analysis, Quadratic Discriminant Analysis and Logistic Regression) in terms of overall classification accuracy, specificity, sensitivity, Area under the ROC curve and Press’Q. Model predictors were 10 neuropsychological tests currently used in the diagnosis of dementia. Statistical distributions of classification parameters obtained from a 5-fold cross-validation were compared using the Friedman’s nonparametric test. Results: Press’ Q test showed that all classifiers performed better than chance alone (p < 0.05). Support Vector Machines showed the larger overall classification accuracy (Median (Me) = 0.76) an area under the ROC (Me = 0.90). However this method showed high specificity (Me = 1.0) but low sensitivity (Me = 0.3). Random Forest ranked second in overall accuracy (Me = 0.73) with high area under the ROC (Me = 0.73) specificity (Me = 0.73) and sensitivity (Me = 0.64). Linear Discriminant Analysis also showed acceptable overall accuracy (Me = 0.66), with acceptable area under the ROC (Me = 0.72) specificity (Me = 0.66) and sensitivity (Me = 0.64). The remaining classifiers showed overall classification accuracy above a median value of 0.63, but for most sensitivity was around or even lower than a median value of 0.5. Conclusions: When taking into account sensitivity, specificity and overall classification accuracy Random Forests and Linear Discriminant analysis rank first among all the classifiers tested in prediction of dementia using several neuropsychological tests. These methods may be used to improve accuracy, sensitivity and specificity of Dementia predictions from neuropsychological testing.
- Memória de cuidados na infância, estilo de vinculação e qualidade da relação com pessoas significativas: Estudo com grávidas adolescentePublication . Rodrigues, Ana; Figueiredo, Bárbara; Pacheco, Alexandra; Costa, Raquel João Magro; Cabeleira, Cristina; Magarinho, RuteO presente estudo teve como principal objectivo estimar a influência das memórias de cuidados pelos pais durante a infância no estilo de vinculação e na qualidade das relações com pessoas significativas na gravidez. Contou com uma amostra de 48 adolescentes a quem se administrou, no terceiro trimestre de gestação, a versão portuguesa dos seguintes instrumentos: Inventory for Assessing Memories of Parental Rearing Behaviour (EMBU) (Perris, Jacobson, Lindstorm, von Knorring, & Perris, 1980), Attachment Style Interview (ASI) (Bifulco, Figueiredo, Guedeney, Gorman, Hayes, et al., 2004) e Self Evaluation and Social Support (SESS) (Brown, Bifulco, Veiel, & Andrews, 1990), no sentido de avaliar, respectivamente, as memórias de cuidados parentais, o estilo de vinculação e a qualidade do suporte e do relacionamento com a mãe e com o companheiro. Os resultados sugerem que a qualidade dos cuidados parentais durante a infância é um factor determinante para a qualidade da vinculação em grávidas adolescentes, sobretudo a rejeição e a ausência de suporte emocional por parte de ambos os pais mostram ser decisivos na emergência de estratégias inseguras de vinculação. A qualidade dos cuidados parentais durante a infância – o suporte emocional por parte da mãe e a rejeição por parte de ambos os pais – influencia também a qualidade do relacionamento com o companheiro e com própria mãe durante a gravidez. Surgem, ainda, indicações de que os cuidados parentais durante a infância determinam a qualidade do relacionamento do indivíduo com pessoas significativas na adolescência/ /adulticia, na medida em que contribuem para o elaborar de estratégias seguras ou inseguras da vinculação