Apathetic Group Research Articles

Apathy scores in Parkinson's disease relate to EEG components in an incentivized motor task.

Apathy is one of the most prevalent non-motor symptoms of Parkinson's disease and is characterized by decreased goal-directed behaviour due to a lack of motivation and/or impaired emotional reactivity. Despite its high prevalence, the neurophysiological mechanisms underlying apathy in Parkinson's disease, which may guide neuromodulation interventions, are poorly understood. Here, we investigated the neural oscillatory characteristics of apathy in Parkinson's disease using EEG data recorded during an incentivized motor task. Thirteen Parkinson's disease patients with apathy and 13 Parkinson's disease patients without apathy as well as 12 healthy controls were instructed to squeeze a hand grip device to earn a monetary reward proportional to the grip force they used. Event-related spectral perturbations during the presentation of a reward cue and squeezing were analysed using multiset canonical correlation analysis to detect different orthogonal components of temporally consistent event-related spectral perturbations across trials and participants. The first component, predominantly located over parietal regions, demonstrated suppression of low-beta (12-20 Hz) power (i.e. beta desynchronization) during reward cue presentation that was significantly smaller in Parkinson's disease patients with apathy compared with healthy controls. Unlike traditional event-related spectral perturbation analysis, the beta desynchronization in this component was significantly correlated with clinical apathy scores. Higher monetary rewards resulted in larger beta desynchronization in healthy controls but not Parkinson's disease patients. The second component contained gamma and theta frequencies and demonstrated exaggerated theta (4-8 Hz) power in Parkinson's disease patients with apathy during the reward cue and squeezing compared with healthy controls (HCs), and this was positively correlated with Montreal Cognitive Assessment scores. The third component, over central regions, demonstrated significantly different beta power across groups, with apathetic groups having the lowest beta power. Our results emphasize that altered low-beta and low-theta oscillations are critical for reward processing and motor planning in Parkinson's disease patients with apathy and these may provide a target for non-invasive neuromodulation.

Predictive factors of post-operative apathy in patients with diffuse frontal gliomas undergoing awake brain mapping.

Patients with diffuse frontal gliomas often present with post-operative apathy after tumour removal. However, the association between apathy and tumour removal of gliomas from the frontal lobe remains unknown. This study aimed to investigate the factors influencing post-operative apathy after tumour removal in patients with diffuse frontal gliomas. We compared the demographics and clinical characteristics of patients with and without post-operative apathy in a cohort of 54 patients who underwent awake brain mapping for frontal gliomas. The frequency of clinical parameters such as left-sided involvement, high-grade tumour types (WHO grades III, IV), main tumour location in the anterior cingulate gyrus (ACC) and/or dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) and orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) was significantly greater in the apathetic group compared to the non-apathetic group. The apathetic group scored significantly lower on neuropsychological assessments such as the Letter Fluency Test among the Word Fluency Tests than the non-pathetic group (p = .000). Moreover, the scores of Parts 3, and 3-1 of the Stroop test were significantly lower in the apathetic group than those in the non-apathetic group (p = .023, .027, respectively). Multivariate model analysis revealed that the appearance of post-operative apathy was significantly related to side of the of lesion [left vs. right, hazard ratio (HR) = 8.00, 95% confidence interval (CI) = 1.36-46.96, p = .021], location of the main tumour in the frontal lobe (ACC/DLPFC/OFC vs. others, HR = 7.99, 95% CI = 2.16-29.59, p = .002), and the Letter Fluency Test (HR = .37, 95% CI = .15-.90, p = .028). Post-operative apathy is significantly associated with ACC and/or DLPFC and OFC in the left hemisphere of diffuse frontal gliomas. Apathy in frontal gliomas is correlated with a decline in the Letter Fluency Test scores. Therefore, this instrument is a potential predictor of post-operative apathy in patients with diffuse frontal gliomas undergoing awake brain mapping.

Political Participation of Fishermen Community Voters Amidst COVID-19 in the Local Election

This study examines fisherman community voters' political engagement in Covid 19 in the 2020 Regional Head Election in Tritiro Village, Bontotiro District, Bulukumba Regency. This qualitative research method analyses primary and secondary data using interview, observation, and documentation. According to the study, (1) Active Participation: The fishing community participates in the post-conflict local election by campaigning for certain candidates openly, placing banners for candidate pairs, socialising the programme for the next 5 years if mandated by the community, and most of the fishing communities choose one Paslon because of the 4 existing candidates, one may change and (2) Passive Participation: the fishing community participates passively because the problem occurs almost every general election and events have not been adequately analysed for the next participant. First, political parties' candidates are old. (2) campaign promises are not fulfilled with political realities, (3) post-conflict local election organisers lack socialisation, (4) candidate candidates are considered too much talk and not realised after taking office, and (5) the community participates passively because each community has a different perspective. (6) There are more pressing issues and (3) the Abstain group (Golput) or apathetic groups: Fishing communities rarely skip district head elections in Bulukumba Regency this year. Even if fishing villages are apathetic and think an election is pointless, they believe their one vote cannot influence the outcome.

The dilemma faced by the people of Poso District, Sausu District, Central Sulawesi against the East Indonesia Mujahideen (MIT) group and the role of the National Police in Overcoming it

The conflict that occurred in Poso Regency, Central Sulawesi, Sausu District has been going on for a long time and has not been resolved. The East Indonesia Mujahideen (MIT) groups carried out shooting actions against security forces and carried out Amaliyah attacks on community settlements that had claimed many victims. The community begins to dilemma on the one hand, if they provide information to the Police then their safety is also threatened, and vice versa if the community does not provide information to the Police then the community can be categorized as MIT sympathizers. The sympathizers are organized into 4 quadrants consisting of active sympathizer groups, passive groups, agent groups and apathetic groups. The purpose of this study is to see changes in community behavior before and after Madago Raya security operations towards social dilemmas that occur in the people of Poso Regency. This research uses qualitative methods where the data obtained through interviews and documentation studies. Interviews were conducted with informants who had been designated, secondary data that had been obtained and then analyzed using triangulation data analysis techniques to obtain research results.

Apathy in Patients With Cerebral Amyloid Angiopathy: A Multimodal Neuroimaging Study.

To analyze the prevalence and associated clinical characteristics of apathy in sporadic cerebral amyloid angiopathy and investigate whether apathy was associated with disease burden and disconnections of key structures in the reward circuit through a structural and functional multimodal neuroimaging approach. Thirty-seven participants with probable sporadic cerebral amyloid angiopathy without symptomatic intracranial hemorrhage or dementia (mean age, 73.3 ± 7.2 years, % male = 59.5%) underwent a detailed neuropsychological evaluation, including measures of apathy and depression, and a multimodal MR neuroimaging study. A multiple linear regression analysis was used to assess the association of apathy with conventional small vessel disease neuroimaging markers. A voxel-based morphometry with a small volume correction within regions previously associated with apathy and a whole-brain tract-based spatial statistics were performed to identify differences in the gray matter and white matter between the apathetic and nonapathetic groups. Gray matter regions significantly associated with apathy were further evaluated for their functional alterations as seeds in the seed-based resting-state functional connectivity analysis. Potential confounders, namely, age, sex, and measures of depression, were entered as covariates in all analyses. A higher composite small vessel disease marker score (CAA-SVD) was associated with a higher degree of apathy (standardized coefficient = 1.35 (0.07-2.62), adjusted R2 = 27.90, p = 0.04). Lower gray matter volume of the bilateral orbitofrontal cortices was observed in the apathetic group than in the nonapathetic group (F = 13.20, family-wise error-corrected p = 0.028). The apathetic group demonstrated a widespread decrease in white matter microstructural integrity compared with the nonapathetic group. These tracts connect key regions within and between related reward circuits. Finally, there were no significant functional alterations between the apathetic and nonapathetic groups. Our findings revealed the orbitofrontal cortex as a key region in the reward circuit associated with apathy in sporadic cerebral amyloid angiopathy, independent from depression. Apathy was shown to be associated with a higher CAA-SVD score and an extensive disruption of white matter tracts, which suggested that a higher burden of CAA pathology and the disruption in large-scale white matter networks may underlie manifestations of apathy.

A nomogram based on iron metabolism can help identify apathy in patients with Parkinson's disease.

Apathy is common in Parkinson's disease (PD) but difficult to identify. Growing evidence suggests that abnormal iron metabolism is associated with apathy in PD. We aimed to investigate the clinical features and iron metabolism of apathetic patients with PD, and construct a nomogram for predicting apathy in PD. Data of 201 patients with PD were analyzed. Demographic data, Apathy Scale (AS) assessments, and serum iron metabolism parameters were obtained. Spearman correlations were used to assess relationships between AS scores and iron metabolism parameters, separately for male and female patients. Additionally, a nomograph for detecting apathetic patients with PD was built based on the results of logistic regression analysis. The serum transferrin (TRF, p < 0.0024) concentration and total iron binding capacity (TIBC, p < 0.0024) were lower in the apathetic group after Bonferroni correction, and they were negatively associated with AS scores in male participants with PD (TRF, r = -0.27, p = 0.010; TIBC, r = -0.259, p = 0.014). The nomogram was developed by incorporating the following five parameters: age, sex, serum iron concentration, TIBC and Hamilton Depression Rating Scale (HAMD) scores, which showed good discrimination and calibration, with a consistency index of 0.799 (95% confidence interval = 0.732-0.865). Abnormal iron metabolism may contribute to apathy in PD, especially among men. TIBC levels in combination with HAMD scores can be effectively used for the prediction of apathetic patients with PD.

The Analysis of The Youth Political Perception of 2019 General Elections in Jayapura City

Community participation in politics is an important indicator in measuring whether a country is democratic or not. The higher level of community participation results in the transparency of democracy. However, towards the 2019 elections, the absent of people in giving their voice was dominant in Indonesia. The apathetic groups who decided not to vote in elections have a variety of reasons. One of the reason is the distrust of the electoral system. Refers to the 2019 elections in the city of Jayapura, there was a tendency for some young people not to vote. In fact, elections are an important instrument in selecting leaders through democratic mechanisms. The two main objectives to be achieved through this research are first to find out the perspective of young people to view the general election. This is related to the understanding of the election as well as their hopes for the election and their political references if they decide to vote or not vote (abstentions). Second, this study aims to examine the models of youth participation in the election. Furthermore, this research will contribute to the gap of knowledge and studies related to youth their participation in general election, especially in the city of Jayapura. The city of Jayapura will become an important place of this case study because it’s social and political dynamics in analyzing youth perceptions.

Analysis of Influencing Factors of Apathy in Patients with Parkinson's Disease.

Background: Apathy is a common non-motor symptom of Parkinson’s disease (PD). The influencing factors of apathy are currently controversial. This study aimed to describe the clinical characteristics of PD-associated apathy and to analyze the associated risk factors. Methods: Two hundred patients diagnosed with PD were selected. Included patients were divided into an apathetic group and a non-apathetic group. Demographic and clinical data, motor symptoms, non-motor symptoms and medication use of the two groups were assessed. Results: The incidence of apathy was 69%. Demographic and clinical data, motor symptoms, non-motor symptoms and medications use were statistically significant. Conclusions: PD patients with more severe motor symptoms, cognitive impairment, depression, anxiety, RBD, excessive daytime sleep, fatigue, low education level, long disease course, poor quality of life and lower DA dosage are more prone to apathy. Cognitive function, quality of life, educational level, DA and LEDD are independent risk factors for apathy.

The burden of Huntington's disease: A prospective longitudinal study of patient/caregiver pairs

BackgroundCaregiver burden is widely recognized in Huntington's disease, but little is known about the factors determining its evolution over time in the absence of longitudinal studies. Our objective was to identify typical patterns of caregiver burden level and evolution using both patients' and caregivers' characteristics over a one-year period to identify potential levers for alleviation. MethodsWe conducted a prospective multicenter longitudinal study in caregiver/patient pairs in Huntington's disease (NCT02876445) between March 2011 and May 2015. Caregiver data were derived from two questionnaires at one-year interval on perceived burden (Zarit Burden Interview), social environment and support. Caregiver data were linked to clinical and demographic data from patients included in the Biomarker study (NCT01590589). Unsupervised clustering analysis was performed using self-organizing maps. Results105 caregiver/patient pairs were included in the analysis. We identified four clusters. Of the two clusters of patients with advanced disease, cluster A was characterized by high levels of irritability and obsessive-compulsive behaviors, with high and increasing burden (N = 30; 29%), cluster B, the more apathetic group, with low and decreasing burden (N = 22; 21%). Clusters C (N = 27; 26%) and D (N = 26; 25%) were composed of patients in earlier stages, associated with a stable burden in group C but a notably increasing one in group D driven by patients' depression scores increase. ConclusionsOur results revealed the dynamics of caregiver burden over time in Huntington's disease, combining the stage of the disease, the severity of the patients' decline, psychiatric and behavioral disorders, and their evolution over time.

A Study on the Relationship Between Consumer Motivations and Subjective Well-Being: A Latent Profile Analysis.

Consumer motivation plays an important role in their purchase decisions and well-being. Previous studies have investigated the relationship between certain consumer motivations and well-being separately. We aim to employ latent profile analysis (LPA) to explore subgroups of participants who display similar patterns of consumer multiple motivations and to examine differences in subjective well-being across these subtypes. The final group of (N = 1,023, ages 18–58) completed the Consumer Motivation scale online, assessing seven dimensions of consumer motivation. Results of LPA identified four subpopulations of participants: the enthusiastic group has high expectations in all aspects; the balanced group values each aspect of the product but has lower expectations; the rational group emphasizes aspects such as value for money, comfort, and quality; the apathetic group has no strong motivation for consumption, and they are relatively concerned with the dimensions of security, social acceptance, and stimulation. Consumers’ subjective well-being (life satisfaction, positive affect, and negative affect) differed significantly across the four profiles. Specifically, scores for positive affect and life satisfaction were highest in the enthusiastic group, medium in the balanced group, and lowest in the rational and apathetic groups. Scores for negative affect were significantly higher in the enthusiastic and apathetic groups than in the rational group. These findings enable marketers to develop customized marketing strategies for different motivation profiles and contribute to helping consumers with varying motivation profiles to consciously pay attention to their well-being.

Вплив компенсації та кар’єрного розвитку на лояльність працівників при врахуванні задоволеності роботою як медіатора

Research shows that a motivated workforce is substantially more productive than an unmotivated, apathetic group of employees. When workers have career opportunities and receive compensation, they are more likely to work harder for the good of the company, because they can see first-hand what their contributions mean to its success. The purpose of this research is to analyze the effect of compensation and career development on employee loyalty as mediated by job satisfaction. The sample in this study was employees of PT PLN (Persero) UPT Pulogadung. The number of samples collected was 133 samples. This study used a quantitative method based on analytical approaches using Structural Equation Modeling (SEM). Data was obtained through questionnaires distributed to employees and then processed using the Amos 26 application. According to the findings of this research, compensation and career development have a positive and significant effect on job satisfaction. Job satisfaction has a positive and significant effect on employee loyalty. Compensation and career development have no effect on employee loyalty. Mediation results show that job satisfaction can mediate the effect of compensation and career development on employee loyalty. It can be conclude that in order to increase employee loyalty, companies must pay attention to the amount of compensation and career development. Employees who are satisfied with their work have a major impact on the growth and success of the company. That’s why it’s worth the effort to create a work environment that motivates and inspires employees to do their best. Ultimately, when employee loyalty is elevated, company’s achievements become their achievements – and success is all but guaranteed.

Screening of apathetic elderly adults using kinematic information in gait and sit-to-stand/stand-to-sit movements measured with Doppler radar.

This paper presents a Doppler radar apathy-screening technique applied to elderly people based on their basic daily activities of walking and movements of sit-to-stand and stand-to-sit (STS). Our Doppler radar system remotely measured the kinematic parameters of the movements of 78 community-dwelling elderly adults (27 apathetic participants and 51 non-apathetic ones). Subsequently, logistic regression models using the measured kinematic parameters of gait and sit-to-stand/stand-to-sit movements were constructed for screening. The experimental results verified that, although the model using gait parameters could screen an apathetic group with a sensitivity of 85.2% and a specificity of 58.8%, the model using the STS parameters achieved better screening accuracies with a sensitivity of 88.9% and a specificity of 76.5%. These results reveal that the kinematic information of STS movements is significantly more effective at detecting apathy than is the gait information, which is otherwise regarded to be effective in conventional epidemiological studies.

Emotional Processing Impairments in Apathetic Patients with Parkinson's Disease: An ERP Study in Early Time Windows.

We investigated emotional processing in apathetic patients with Parkinson's disease (PD) by observing components of event-related potentials (ERPs) in early time windows. Forty PD patients and 21 healthy controls (HCs) were enrolled. The Starkstein Apathy Scale (SAS) was used to divide the PD patients into apathetic and nonapathetic groups. Cognitive function was evaluated by the forward and backward Digit Span tests, Trail Making Test (TMT), and Word Fluency Test. The participants were required to recognize positive, neutral, and negative emotional faces and engage in an emotion categorization task while EEG was recorded. The time to completion for the TMT (Part A and Part B) from highest to lowest was in the order of apathetic group > nonapathetic group > HC group. Compared with the nonapathetic and HC groups, in the apathetic group, P100 amplitudes were smaller for positive expressions in the right hemisphere and latencies were longer for positive expressions in the left hemisphere, while latencies were longer for neutral expressions bilaterally. Compared with the nonapathetic group, in the apathetic group, N170 amplitudes were attenuated and latencies were delayed for neutral and negative expressions in the right hemisphere. A trend towards larger N170 amplitudes in the right hemisphere than in the left was observed in the nonapathetic and HC groups, but this difference was not significant in the apathetic group. In the apathetic group, bilateral P100 amplitudes elicited by negative expressions were negatively correlated with SAS scores, and SAS scores were positively correlated with Part B of the TMT. N170 amplitudes elicited by negative expressions in the right hemisphere were negatively correlated with SAS in the apathetic group and with Part B of TMT in both PD groups. Our findings suggested that emotional processing was impaired in apathetic PD patients and that the right hemisphere was more sensitive to reflecting this impairment in the early time windows of ERPs.

Apathy Associated With Impaired Recognition of Happy Facial Expressions in Huntington's Disease.

Previous research has demonstrated an association between emotion recognition and apathy in several neurological conditions involving fronto-striatal pathology, including Parkinson's disease and brain injury. In line with these findings, we aimed to determine whether apathetic participants with early Huntington's disease (HD) were more impaired on an emotion recognition task compared to non-apathetic participants and healthy controls. We included 43 participants from the TRACK-HD study who reported apathy on the Problem Behaviours Assessment - short version (PBA-S), 67 participants who reported no apathy, and 107 controls matched for age, sex, and level of education. During their baseline TRACK-HD visit, participants completed a battery of cognitive and psychological tests including an emotion recognition task, the Hospital Depression and Anxiety Scale (HADS) and were assessed on the PBA-S. Compared to the non-apathetic group and the control group, the apathetic group were impaired on the recognition of happy facial expressions, after controlling for depression symptomology on the HADS and general disease progression (Unified Huntington's Disease Rating Scale total motor score). This was despite no difference between the apathetic and non-apathetic group on overall cognitive functioning assessed by a cognitive composite score. Impairment of the recognition of happy expressions may be part of the clinical picture of apathy in HD. While shared reliance on frontostriatal pathways may broadly explain associations between emotion recognition and apathy found across several patient groups, further work is needed to determine what relationships exist between recognition of specific emotions, distinct subtypes of apathy and underlying neuropathology. (JINS, 2019, 25, 453-461).

Clinical and demographic correlates of apathy in Parkinson's disease.

To better understand the demographic, neuropsychiatric, cognitive, and motor predictors of apathy in Parkinson's disease (PD). 112 participants (Mage = 68.53 years; Mdisease duration = 6.17years) were administered the Apathy Scale (AS), Beck Depression Inventory-II (BDI-II), Movement Disorder Society Unified Parkinson's Disease Rating Scale (MDS-UPDRS), Trail Making Test (TMT), Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale-IV Matrix Reasoning subtest, letter (F-A-S) and category (Animals) fluency, and Hopkins Verbal Learning Test-Revised. Psychosis was assessed. A stepwise logistic regression analysis was performed to investigate the ability of demographic factors and clinical assessments to predict nonapathetic (AS ≤ 13) versus apathetic (AS > 13) group membership. The regression analysis yielded a robust model in which older age, less education, elevated BDI-II, current psychosis, higher MDS-UPDRS PartIII (motor score), and slower TMT-B performance predicted membership in the apathetic group, with a correct classification rate of 77.5% (Nagelkerke R2 = 0.48, p < .001). Depression (OR = 9.20, p < .001) and education (OR = 0.66, p = 0.002) contributed significantly to the overall model. A linear regression with AS score as the outcome variable was similar, but TMT-B additionally contributed significantly (p = 0.02) to the overall model, F(6, 86) = 12.02, p < .001, adjusted R2 = 0.42. Of the factors examined, depression, education, and executive functioning were the strongest correlates of apathy in PD. These results support the idea that common underlying frontosubcortical disruptions in this population contribute to apathy, depression, and executive dysfunction.

Brain Perfusion Correlates of Apathy in Alzheimer's Disease.

Background and PurposeApathy is one of the most common neuropsychiatric symptoms in patients with Alzheimer's disease (AD). It may have adverse impacts on the progression of AD. However, its neurobiological underpinnings remain unclear. The objective of this study was to investigate differences in regional cerebral blood flow (rCBF) between AD patients with apathy and those without apathy.MethodsSixty-six apathetic AD patients and 66 AD patients without apathy completed Neuropsychiatric Inventory (NPI) and underwent technetium-99m hexamethylpropylene amine oxime single-photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) scans. Voxel-wise differences in rCBF between the 2 groups were examined. Association between rCBF and levels of apathy in the apathetic group was also assessed.ResultsAD patients with apathy showed lower rCBF in the bilateral orbitofrontal cortex, left putamen, left nucleus accumbens, left thalamus, and bilateral insula than those without (all p<0.005). Mean perfusion across all significant clusters showed a negative linear correlation with NPI apathy score in AD patients with apathy (β=−0.25; p=0.04).ConclusionsHypoperfusion in the prefrontal, striatal, and insular areas may be neural correlates of apathy in AD patients.

Reduction of white matter integrity correlates with apathy in Parkinson's disease

ABSTRACTBackground: Apathy is a common non-motor symptom in Parkinson's disease (PD), but little is known about apathy and white matter (WM) change. In this study, we investigated whether fractional anisotropy (FA) of the WM can distinguish apathetic patients from non-apathetic PD patients, and whether the FA value correlates with the severity of apathy in PD.Methods: Thirty-nine PD patients participated in our study, of which 18 participants were with apathy symptom, and 21 without apathy symptom. Diffusion tensor imaging was performed on all the subjects.Results: Compared to non-apathetic PD patients, the apathetic group had reduced FA values in the genu and body of corpus callosum, bilateral anterior corona radiata, left superior corona radiata and left cingulum. Furthermore, in these WM regions, the FA values were negatively correlated with the Lille Apathy Rating Scale scores in apathetic subjects.Conclusion: The WM change is associated with apathy in PD patients. In addition, the FA values of specific regions of WM could be a promising marker to predict the severity of apathy.

Apathetic symptom presentations in patients with severe traumatic brain injury: Assessment, heterogeneity and relationships with psychosocial functioning and caregivers’ burden

Objectives: Apathy is frequently described following traumatic brain injury (TBI) and defined on the basis of three dimensions (emotional blunting, lack of initiative, lack of interest), which are commonly assessed by the Apathy Inventory (AI). The aims were (1) to explore the psychometric properties of this scale in the TBI population and the relationships between the dimensions; and (2) to determine whether sub-groups of patients differing with respect to the three AI dimensions could be identified and to examine their differences on psychosocial functioning and caregivers’ burden.Participants and measures: Close relatives of 68 patients with severe TBI were given the AI and two questionnaires to assess their subjective burden and patients’ changes in psychosocial functioning.Results: The scores distribution and the sensitivity of each sub-scale showed that the AI can be used as a screening tool in the TBI population. Four clusters were identified: one group with high scores on each dimension, one group with low scores on each dimension, one group with high emotional blunting alone and another with elevated lack of initiative/interest. The high apathetic group and the lack of initiative/interest group were associated with poorer psychosocial functioning and the high apathetic group was related to subjective burden.Conclusions: These results shed new light on the concept of apathy in patients with TBI and underline the necessity to take into account the various profiles of symptoms of apathy.

Mechanisms underlying apathy in Parkinson's disease

BackgroundApathy is a common syndrome observed in many neurological conditions, including in up to 70% of patients with Parkinson's disease. Mechanisms underlying apathy are poorly understood and clinically we lack robust, objective detection methods. We aimed to address this using novel objective measures of motivation and reward sensitivity in relation to apathy in patients with Parkinson's disease. MethodsSaccadic velocity and pupil modulation by reward were used as objective metrics of motivation in patients with Parkinson's disease. In addition, differences in reward sensitivity in patients off medication were compared with those on medication, and assessed in relation to apathy. 20 patients with idiopathic Parkinson's disease and 21 healthy participants were recruited. Patients were tested in counterbalanced sessions, on and off dopaminergic medication. Participants were asked to make saccadic eye movements for different monetary rewards, with eye position, velocity, and pupil diameter monitored with an infrared eye tracker. Faster initiation of saccades received a greater proportion of rewards. Apathy was indexed by Lille Apathy Rating Scale (LARS) scores. FindingsHealthy controls and patients on medication demonstrated an increase in saccadic peak velocity as reward magnitude increased (an increase by 41 deg/s [SE 20] p<0·0001, and 22·5 [4·7] p<0·0001, respectively). This reward sensitivity was lost in patients off medication (5·2 [3·2], p=0·117). In all groups, pupil diameter dilated more with larger rewards (p<0·05). In Parkinson's diease, pupil reward sensitivity was greater in patients on medication than off medication, but not statistically so (p=0·06). A median split of patients on medication into high motivated and low motivated groups based on LARS scores revealed a significant interaction between motivation level and rewards for saccadic peak velocity (F2,18=5·153, p=0·049), with the apathetic (low motivation) group exhibiting less reward sensitivity in saccadic peak velocity. InterpretationThese findings demonstrate that saccadic velocity and pupil diameter are affected by reward magnitude and that the degree of modulation varies with motivation levels across individuals. These indices provide a novel behavioural measure for probing disorders of motivation in neurological disorders such as Parkinson's disease. Dopaminergic medication might be an effective treatment for apathy by increasing reward sensitivity, independent of effects on motor control. FundingWellcome Trust.

Affective Disposition, Thinking Styles, Neuroticism and Life Satisfaction

The way in which positive and negative affects are perceived may be associated with a distinct pattern of behaviors and attitudes. The aim of this study was to evaluate the relationship between various combinations of affections and gender along with tendencies towards neuroticism, rumination, reflection, and life satisfaction. The participants were 348 students, who answered the questionnaire in groups. The euphoric group showed the highest scores of life satisfaction and emotional stability, while the dysphoric group presented the lowest scores. The emotional and apathetic groups showed no significant differences in relation to life satisfaction, depression, anxiety and vulnerability. From these results, it can be assumed that positive affect can lessen the impact that negative affect has on the development of vulnerability and other psychopathological symptoms. Interventions based on positive affect increase might be efficient to prevent vulnerability.