Impaired cholinergic integrity of the colon and pancreas in dementia with Lewy bodies.

Dementia with Lewy bodies is characterized by a high burden of autonomic dysfunction and Lewy pathology in peripheral organs and components of the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous system. Parasympathetic terminals may be quantified with 18F-fluoroetoxybenzovesamicol, a PET tracer that binds to the vesicular acetylcholine transporter in cholinergic presynaptic terminals. Parasympathetic imaging may be useful for diagnostics, improving our understanding of autonomic dysfunction and for clarifying the spatiotemporal relationship of neuronal degeneration in prodromal disease. Therefore, we aimed to investigate the cholinergic parasympathetic integrity in peripheral organs and central autonomic regions of subjects with dementia with Lewy bodies and its association with subjective and objective measures of autonomic dysfunction. We hypothesized that organs with known parasympathetic innervation, especially the pancreas and colon, would have impaired cholinergic integrity. To achieve these aims, we conducted a cross-sectional comparison study including 23 newly diagnosed non-diabetic subjects with dementia with Lewy bodies (74 ± 6 years, 83% male) and 21 elderly control subjects (74 ± 6 years, 67% male). We obtained whole-body images to quantify PET uptake in peripheral organs and brain images to quantify PET uptake in regions of the brainstem and hypothalamus. Autonomic dysfunction was assessed with questionnaires and measurements of orthostatic blood pressure. Subjects with dementia with Lewy bodies displayed reduced cholinergic tracer uptake in the pancreas (32% reduction, P = 0.0003) and colon (19% reduction, P = 0.0048), but not in organs with little or no parasympathetic innervation. Tracer uptake in a region of the medulla oblongata overlapping the dorsal motor nucleus of the vagus correlated with autonomic symptoms (rs = -0.54, P = 0.0077) and changes in orthostatic blood pressure (rs = 0.76, P < 0.0001). Tracer uptake in the pedunculopontine region correlated with autonomic symptoms (rs = -0.52, P = 0.0104) and a measure of non-motor symptoms (rs = -0.47, P = 0.0230). In conclusion, our findings provide the first imaging-based evidence of impaired cholinergic integrity of the pancreas and colon in dementia with Lewy bodies. The observed changes may reflect parasympathetic denervation, implying that this process is initiated well before the point of diagnosis. The findings also support that cholinergic denervation in the brainstem contributes to dysautonomia.

Severe cholinergic terminal loss in newly diagnosed dementia with Lewy bodies.

Cholinergic changes play a fundamental role in the natural history of dementia with Lewy bodies and Lewy body disease in general. Despite important achievements in the field of cholinergic research, significant challenges remain. We conducted a study with four main objectives: (i) to examine the integrity of cholinergic terminals in newly diagnosed dementia with Lewy bodies; (ii) to disentangle the cholinergic contribution to dementia by comparing cholinergic changes in Lewy body patients with and without dementia; (iii) to investigate the in vivo relationship between cholinergic terminal loss and atrophy of cholinergic cell clusters in the basal forebrain at different stages of Lewy body disease; and (iv) to test whether any asymmetrical degeneration in cholinergic terminals would correlate with motor dysfunction and hypometabolism. To achieve these objectives, we conducted a comparative cross-sectional study of 25 newly diagnosed dementia with Lewy bodies patients (age 74 ± 5 years, 84% male), 15 healthy control subjects (age 75 ± 6 years, 67% male) and 15 Parkinson's disease patients without dementia (age 70 ± 7 years, 60% male). All participants underwent 18F-fluoroetoxybenzovesamicol PET and high-resolution structural MRI. In addition, we collected clinical 18F-fluorodeoxyglucose PET images. Brain images were normalized to standard space and regional tracer uptake and volumetric indices of basal forebrain degeneration were extracted. Patients with dementia showed spatially distinct reductions in cholinergic terminals across the cerebral cortex, limbic system, thalamus and brainstem. Also, cholinergic terminal binding in cortical and limbic regions correlated quantitatively and spatially with atrophy of the basal forebrain. In contrast, patients without dementia showed decreased cholinergic terminal binding in the cerebral cortex despite preserved basal forebrain volumes. In patients with dementia, cholinergic terminal reductions were most severe in limbic regions and least severe in occipital regions compared to those without dementia. Interhemispheric asymmetry of cholinergic terminals correlated with asymmetry of brain metabolism and lateralized motor function. In conclusion, this study provides robust evidence for severe cholinergic terminal loss in newly diagnosed dementia with Lewy bodies, which correlates with structural imaging measures of cholinergic basal forebrain degeneration. In patients without dementia, our findings suggest that loss of cholinergic terminal function occurs 'before' neuronal cell degeneration. Moreover, the study supports that degeneration of the cholinergic system is important for brain metabolism and may be linked with degeneration in other transmitter systems. Our findings have implications for understanding how cholinergic system pathology contributes to the clinical features of Lewy body disease, changes in brain metabolism and disease progression patterns.

Mapping Cholinergic Synaptic Loss in Parkinson's Disease: An [18F]FEOBV PET Case-Control Study.

BACKGROUND: Cholinergic degeneration is strongly associated with cognitive decline in patients with Parkinson's disease (PD) but may also cause motor symptoms and olfactory dysfunction. Regional differences are striking and may reflect different PD related symptoms and disease progression patterns. OBJECTIVE: To map and quantify the regional cerebral cholinergic alterations in non-demented PD patients. METHODS: We included 15 non-demented PD patients in early-moderate disease stage and 15 age- and sex-matched healthy controls for [18F]FEOBV positron emission tomography imaging. We quantitated regional variations using VOI-based analyses which were supported by a vertex-wise cluster analysis. Correlations between imaging data and clinical and neuropsychological data were explored. RESULTS: We found significantly decreased [18F]FEOBV uptake in global neocortex (38%, p = 0.0002). The most severe reductions were seen in occipital and posterior temporo-parietal regions (p < 0.0001). The vertex-wise cluster analysis corroborated these findings. All subcortical structures showed modest non-significant reductions. Motor symptoms (postural instability and gait difficulty) and cognition (executive function and composite z-score) correlated with regional [18F]FEOBV uptake (thalamus and cingulate cortex/insula/hippocampus, respectively), but the correlations were not statistically significant after multiple comparison correction. A strong correlation was found between interhemispheric [18F]FEOBV asymmetry, and motor symptom asymmetry of the extremities (r = 0.84, p = 0.0001). CONCLUSION: Cortical cholinergic degeneration is prominent in non-demented PD patients, but more subtle in subcortical structures. Regional differences suggest uneven involvement of cholinergic nuclei in the brain and may represent a window to follow disease progression. The correlation between asymmetric motor symptoms and neocortical [18F]FEOBV asymmetry indicates that unilateral cholinergic degeneration parallels ipsilateral dopaminergic degeneration.

Healthy brain aging assessed with [18F]FDG and [11C]UCB-J PET.

BACKGROUND: The average human lifespan has increased dramatically over the past century. However, molecular and physiological alterations of the healthy brain during aging remain incompletely understood. Generalized synaptic restructuring may contribute to healthy aging and the reduced metabolism observed in the aged brain. The aim of this study was to assess healthy brain aging using [18F]FDG as a measure of cerebral glucose consumption and [11C]UCB-J PET as an indicator of synaptic density. METHOD: Using in vivo PET imaging and the novel synaptic-vesicle-glycoprotein 2A (SV2A) radioligand [11C]UCB-J alongside with the fluorodeoxyglucose radioligand [18F]FDG, we obtained SUVR-1 values for 14 pre-defined volume-of-interest brain regions defined on MRI T1 scans. Regional differences in relative [18F]FDG and [11C]UCB-J uptake were investigated using a voxel-wise approach. Finally, correlations between [11C]UCB-J, [18F]FDG PET, and age were examined. RESULTS: We found widespread cortical reduction of synaptic density in a cohort of older HC subjects (N = 15) compared with young HC subjects (N = 11). However, no reduction persisted after partial volume correction and corrections for multiple comparison. Our study confirms previously reported synaptic stability during aging. Regional differences in relative [18F]FDG and [11C]UCB-J uptake were observed with up to 20 % higher [11C]UCB-J uptake in the amygdala and temporal lobe and up to 34 % higher glucose metabolism in thalamus, striatum, occipital, parietal and frontal cortex. CONCLUSION: In vivo PET using [11C]UCB-J does not support declining synaptic density levels during aging. Thus, loss of synaptic density may be unrelated to aging and does not seem to be a sufficient explanation for the recognized reduction in brain metabolism during aging. Our study also demonstrates that the relationship between glucose consumption and synaptic density is not uniform throughout the human brain with implications for our understanding of neuroenergetics.

Changes in sleep following internet-delivered cognitive-behavioral therapy for insomnia in women treated for breast cancer: A 3-year follow-up assessment.

BACKGROUND: Sleep disturbances are common in women treated for breast cancer. We have previously shown that internet-delivered cognitive-behavioral therapy for insomnia (e-CBT-I) is an efficacious, low-cost treatment approach. Furthermore, research has shown that e-CBT-I can result in sustained improvements at 12 months post-treatment. However, given the complexity and long duration of post-treatment symptomatology in breast cancer patients, as well as the recommended use of antihormonal therapy for up to 10 years, it is relevant to investigate long-term (>12 months) changes in sleep following e-CBT-I in this population. In the present study, we report data from a 3-year long-term follow-up assessment after e-CBT-I. METHODS: Women treated for breast cancer with sleep disturbances (Pittsburg Sleep Quality Index [PSQI] global score >5) who had previously been enrolled in a randomized-controlled trial investigating the efficacy of e-CBT-I (n = 255), were invited to participate in a 3-year follow-up study. All women in the initial control group had also been granted access to e-CBT-I. Assessment included self-reported sleep quality (PSQI), insomnia severity (Insomnia Severity Index, ISI), cancer-related fatigue and symptoms of depression. Within-group changes in these outcomes from baseline to the 3-year long-term follow-up assessment were analyzed. RESULTS: A total of 131 women (51%) participated in the 3-year follow-up study of which 77 (59%) were from the initial intervention group and 54 (41%) from the initial control group. For the pooled sample, within-group improvements from baseline to the 3-year follow-up assessment corresponding to large effect sizes were observed in sleep quality (Cohen's d = 1.0 95% CI [0.78, 1.21]) and insomnia severity (Cohen's d = 1.36 CI 95% [1.12, 1.59]). Similar changes were observed in cancer-related fatigue (Cohen's d = 0.48 CI 95% [0.30, 0.66]) and symptoms of depression (Cohen's d = 0.80 CI 95%. [0.60, 0.99]). The proportion of patients with scores above established cut-offs on the PSQI and the ISI were 56.1% and 29.8%, respectively. Within the initial intervention group, 15.6% evidenced relapse at the 3-year assessment. CONCLUSION: Overall, these results indicate that long-term sleep quality and insomnia severity following the use of e-CBT-in women treated for breast cancer is significantly lower than the pre-treatment levels. However, a substantial proportion of participants still evidence sleep disturbances.

Asymmetric amyloid deposition in preclinical Alzheimer's disease: A PET study.

Introduction: The typical spatial pattern of amyloid-ß (Aß) in diagnosed Alzheimer's disease (AD) is that of a symmetrical hemispheric distribution. However, Aß may be asymmetrically distributed in early stages of AD. Aß distribution on PET has previously been explored in MCI and AD, but it has yet to be directly investigated in preclinical AD (pAD). We examined how Aß was distributed in individuals with pAD and MCI using 11C-Pittsburgh Compound B (PiB) PET. Methods: In this PET study, 79 subjects were retrospectively enrolled, including 34 controls, 24 pAD, and 21 MCI. All subjects underwent APOE genotyping, 11C-PiB PET, MRI, and cognitive testing. We explored differences in Aß load, Aß lateralisation, and Aß distribution, as well as associations between Aß distribution and cognition. Results: The Aß asymmetry index (AI) differed between groups, with pAD having the highest Aß AI as compared to both controls and MCI. There was no clear Aß lateralisation in pAD, but there was a non-significant trend towards Aß being more left-lateralised in MCI. There were no correlations between the cognitive scores and Aß AI or Aß lateralisation in pAD or MCI. Conclusion: The distribution of Aß is most asymmetrical in pAD, as Aß first starts accumulating, and it then becomes less asymmetrical in MCI, when Aß has spread further, suggesting that more pronounced asymmetrical Aß distribution may be a distinguishing factor in pAD. Longitudinal studies examining the distribution of Aß across the AD continuum are needed.

Reduced Synaptic Density in Patients with Lewy Body Dementia: An [11 C]UCB-J PET Imaging Study.

BACKGROUND: Patients with Parkinson's disease (PD) often develop dementia, but the underlying substrate is incompletely understood. Generalized synaptic degeneration may contribute to dysfunction and cognitive decline in Lewy body dementias, but in vivo evidence is lacking. OBJECTIVE: The objective of this study was to assess the density of synapses in non-demented PD (nPD) subjects (N = 21), patients with PD-dementia or Dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB) (N = 13), and age-matched healthy controls (N = 15). METHOD: Using in vivo PET imaging and the novel synaptic-vesicle-glycoprotein 2A (SV2A) radioligand [11C]UCB-J, SUVR-1 values were obtained for 12 pre-defined regions. Volumes-of-interest were defined on MRI T1 scans. Voxel-level between-group comparisons of [11C]UCB-J SUVR-1 were performed. All subjects underwent neuropsychological assessment. Correlations between [11C]UCB- J PET and domain-specific cognitive functioning were examined. RESULTS: nPD patients only demonstrated significantly reduced SUVR-1 values in the substantia nigra (SN) compared to HC. DLB/PDD patients demonstrated reduced SUVR-1 values in SN and all cortical VOIs except for the hippocampus and amygdala. The voxel-based analysis supported the VOI results. Significant correlation was seen between middle frontal gyrus [11C]UCB-J SUVR-1 and performance on tests of executive function. CONCLUSION: Widespread cortical reduction of synaptic density was documented in a cohort of DLB/PDD subjects using in vivo [11C]UCB-J PET. Our study confirms previously reported synaptic loss in SN of nPD patients. [11C]UCB-J binding in selected cortical VOIs of the DLB/PDD patients correlated with their levels of cognitive function across relevant neuropsychological domains. These findings suggest that the loss of synaptic density contributes to cognitive impairment in nPD and DLB/PDD. © 2021 International Parkinson and Movement Disorder Society.

Preserved noradrenergic function in Parkinson's disease patients with rest tremor.

Noradrenergic neurotransmission may play an important role in tremor modulation through its innervation of key structures of the central tremor circuits. Here, Parkinson's disease (PD) patients with (PDT+) or without (PDT-) rest tremor had 11C-methylreboxetine(11C-MeNER) positron emission tomography (PET) to test the hypothesis that noradrenaline terminal function was relatively preserved in PDT+ compared to PDT-. METHODS: Sixty-five PD patients and 28 healthy controls (HC) were scanned with 11C-MeNER PET. Patients were categorized as PDT+ if subscores in UPDRS-III item 3 or MDS-UPDRS-III item 17 was ≥2; remaining were categorized as PDT-. Simplified reference tissue model 2 distribution volume ratios (DVR) for 11C-MeNER were calculated for thalamus, dorsal and median raphe, locus coeruleus (LC) and red nucleus using time activity curves (TACs) obtained from volumes of interest (VOI). Data were statistically interrogated with a general linear mixed model using 'region', and 'group' as factors and the interaction of 'region x group' was examined. RESULTS: Tremor positive PD patients had a significantly higher mean 11C-MeNER DVR compared to PDT- in LC and thalamus. The PDT+ mean LC DVR was similar to that of HC. PDT+ mean 11C-MeNER DVRs were significantly lower than HC in the dorsal raphe while the PDT- group showed significantly lower mean 11C-MeNER DVR across all regions compared to HC. CONCLUSION: While both PD T+ and PD T- groups showed a significant loss of noradrenaline terminal function compared to controls, noradrenergic neurons were relatively preserved in PDT+ in LC and thalamus. The greater loss of noradrenergic transporters in PDT- in LC and thalamus compared with PDT+ is in line with earlier in-vitro studies and could potentially contribute to their tremor negative phenotype.

Applicant Fairness Perceptions of a Robot-Mediated Job Interview: A Video Vignette-Based Experimental Survey.

It is well-established in the literature that biases (e. g., related to body size, ethnicity, race etc.) can occur during the employment interview and that applicants' fairness perceptions related to selection procedures can influence attitudes, intentions, and behaviors toward the recruiting organization. This study explores how social robotics may affect this situation. Using an online, video vignette-based experimental survey (n = 235), the study examines applicant fairness perceptions of two types of job interviews: a face-to-face and a robot-mediated interview. To reduce the risk of socially desirable responses, desensitize the topic, and detect any inconsistencies in the respondents' reactions to vignette scenarios, the study employs a first-person and a third-person perspective. In the robot-mediated interview, two teleoperated robots are used as fair proxies for the applicant and the interviewer, thus providing symmetrical visual anonymity unlike prior research that relied on asymmetrical anonymity, in which only one party was anonymized. This design is intended to eliminate visual cues that typically cause implicit biases and discrimination of applicants, but also to prevent biasing the interviewer's assessment through impression management tactics typically used by applicants. We hypothesize that fairness perception (i.e., procedural fairness and interactional fairness) and behavioral intentions (i.e., intentions of job acceptance, reapplication intentions, and recommendation intentions) will be higher in a robot-mediated job interview than in a face-to-face job interview, and that this effect will be stronger for introvert applicants. The study shows, contrary to our expectations, that the face-to-face interview is perceived as fairer, and that the applicant's personality (introvert vs. extravert) does not affect this perception. We discuss this finding and its implications, and address avenues for future research.

Internet-Delivered Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy for Insomnia in Breast Cancer Survivors: A Randomized Controlled Trial.

Background: Insomnia is two to three times more prevalent in cancer survivors than in the general population, where it is estimated to be 10% to 20%. Cognitive-behavioral therapy for insomnia (CBT-I) is the recommended treatment for chronic insomnia, but meeting survivor needs remains a challenge. Internet-delivered CBT-I (iCBT-I) has been shown efficacious in otherwise healthy adults. We tested the efficacy of iCBT-I in breast cancer survivors with clinically significant sleep disturbance. Methods: Women from a national sample of Danish breast cancer survivors who experienced clinically significant sleep disturbance were randomly allocated to iCBT-I or waitlist control (55:45). The fully automated iCBT-I program consisted of six cores. Online measures of insomnia severity, sleep quality, and fatigue were collected at baseline, postintervention (nine weeks), and follow-up (15 weeks). Online sleep diaries were completed over two-week periods pre- and postintervention. Intention-to-treat analyses (time × group interactions) were conducted with mixed linear models and corrected for multiple outcomes. All statistical tests were two-sided. Results: A total of 255 women were randomly allocated to iCBT-I (n = 133) or waitlist control (n = 122). Statistically significant (P ≤ .02) time × group interactions were found for all sleep-related outcomes from pre- to postintervention. Effect sizes (Cohen's d) ranged from 0.33 (95% confidence interval [CI] = 0.06 to 0.61) for wake after sleep onset to 1.17 (95% CI = 0.87 to 1.47) for insomnia severity. Improvements were maintained for outcomes measured at follow-up (d = 0.66-1.10). Conclusions: iCBT-I appears to be effective in breast cancer survivors, with additional benefit in terms of reduced fatigue. This low-cost treatment could be incorporated in cancer rehabilitation programs.

Noradrenergic Deficits in Parkinson Disease Imaged with 11C-MeNER.

Degeneration of noradrenergic neurons may underlie the disabling nonmotor symptoms in patients with Parkinson disease (PD). Quantification of the loss of noradrenergic neurons by means of neuroimaging has been limited by the lack of radioligands that are selective for noradrenergic neurotransmission. The radioligand (S,S)-11C-2-(α-(2-methoxyphenoxy)benzyl)morpholine (11C-MeNER) is a highly selective inhibitor of noradrenaline transporters, and PET studies suggest that this radioligand is suitable for quantitative neuroimaging of noradrenergic deficits in human brain in vivo. In the present investigation, we used PET with 11C-MeNER to map the density of noradrenaline transporters in groups of patients with PD and age-matched healthy controls. Methods: After administration of 11C-MeNER, 15 nondemented patients with PD and 10 healthy subjects underwent 90-min dynamic PET. We determined 11C-MeNER binding potential relative to nondisplaceable binding potential (BPND) by multilinear analysis, simplified reference tissue model 2, and multilinear reference tissue model 2. Results: Metabolism of 11C-MeNER did not differ between groups. The simplified reference tissue model 2 and the multilinear reference tissue model 2 were used to determine 11C-MeNER BPND11C-MeNER BPND was reduced in the PD group compared with the control subjects, with regionally significant declines in the thalamus and nucleus ruber. Tremor was associated with higher tracer binding in the PD group on multivariate regression analysis. Conclusion: To our knowledge, this was the first specific quantification of noradrenergic denervation in PD patients in vivo. In agreement with predictions from determinations in vitro, we discovered a decline of noradrenergic projections in vivo in brain of PD patients.

Evaluation of the noradrenergic system in Parkinson's disease: an 11C-MeNER PET and neuromelanin MRI study.

Pathological involvement of the noradrenergic locus coeruleus occurs early in Parkinson's disease, and widespread noradrenaline reductions are found at post-mortem. Rapid eye movement sleep behaviour disorder (RBD) accompanies Parkinson's disease and its presence predicts an unfavourable disease course with a higher propensity to cognitive impairment and orthostatic hypotension. MRI can detect neuromelanin in the locus coeruleus while 11C-MeNER PET is a marker of noradrenaline transporter availability. Here, we use both imaging modalities to study the association of RBD, cognition and autonomic dysfunction in Parkinson's disease with loss of noradrenergic function. Thirty non-demented Parkinson's disease patients [16 patients with RBD and 14 without RBD, comparable across age (66.6 ± 6.7 years), sex (22 males), and disease stage (Hoehn and Yahr, 2.3 ± 0.5)], had imaging of the locus coeruleus with neuromelanin sensitive MRI and brain noradrenaline transporter availability with 11C-MeNER PET. RBD was confirmed with polysomnography; cognitive function was assessed with a neuropsychological test battery, and blood pressure changes on tilting were documented; results were compared to 12 matched control subjects. We found that Parkinson's disease patients with RBD showed decreased locus coeruleus neuromelanin signal on MRI (P < 0.001) and widespread reduced binding of 11C-MeNER (P < 0.001), which correlated with amount of REM sleep without atonia. Parkinson's disease with RBD was also associated with a higher incidence of cognitive impairment, slowed EEG activity, and orthostatic hypotension. Reduced 11C-MeNER binding correlated with EEG slowing, cognitive performance, and orthostatic hypotension. In conclusion, reduced noradrenergic function in Parkinson's disease was linked to the presence of RBD and associated with cognitive deterioration and orthostatic hypotension. Noradrenergic impairment may contribute to the high prevalence of these non-motor symptoms in Parkinson's disease, and may be of relevance when treating these conditions in Parkinson's disease.

Intimacy in Phone Conversations: Anxiety Reduction for Danish Seniors with Hugvie.

There is a lack of physical contact in current telecommunications such as text messaging and Internet access. To challenge the limitation and re-embody telecommunication, researchers have attempted to introduce tactile stimulation to media and developed huggable devices. Previous experiments in Japan showed that a huggable communication technology, i.e., Hugvie decreased stress level of its female users. In the present experiment in Denmark, we aim to investigate (i) whether Hugvie can decrease stress cross-culturally, i.e., Japanese vs. Danish participants (ii), investigate whether gender plays a role in this psychological effect (stress reduction) and (iii) if there is a preference of this type of communication technology (Hugvie vs. a regular telephone). Twenty-nine healthy elderly participated (15 female and 14 male, M = 64.52 years, SD = 5.67) in Jutland, Denmark. The participants filled out questionnaires including State-Trait Anxiety Inventory, NEO Five Factor Inventory (NEO-FFI), and Becks Depression Inventory, had a 15 min conversation via phone or Hugvie and were interviewed afterward. They spoke with an unknown person of opposite gender during the conversation; the same two conversation partners were used during the experiment and the Phone and Hugvie groups were equally balanced. There was no baseline difference between the Hugvie and Phone groups on age or anxiety or depression scores. In the Hugvie group, there was a statistically significant reduction on state anxiety after meeting Hugvie (p = 0.013). The change in state anxiety for the Hugvie group was positively correlated with openness (r = 0.532, p = 0.041) as measured by the NEO-FFI. This indicates that openness to experiences may increase the chances of having an anxiety reduction from being with Hugvie. Based on the results, we see that personality may affect the participants' engagement and benefits from Hugvie. We discuss the implications of the results and further elaborations.

Attitudinal Change in Elderly Citizens Toward Social Robots: The Role of Personality Traits and Beliefs About Robot Functionality.

Attitudes toward robots influence the tendency to accept or reject robotic devices. Thus it is important to investigate whether and how attitudes toward robots can change. In this pilot study we investigate attitudinal changes in elderly citizens toward a tele-operated robot in relation to three parameters: (i) the information provided about robot functionality, (ii) the number of encounters, (iii) personality type. Fourteen elderly residents at a rehabilitation center participated. Pre-encounter attitudes toward robots, anthropomorphic thinking, and personality were assessed. Thereafter the participants interacted with a tele-operated robot (Telenoid) during their lunch (c. 30 min.) for up to 3 days. Half of the participants were informed that the robot was tele-operated (IC) whilst the other half were naïve to its functioning (UC). Post-encounter assessments of attitudes toward robots and anthropomorphic thinking were undertaken to assess change. Attitudes toward robots were assessed with a new generic 35-items questionnaire (attitudes toward social robots scale: ASOR-5), offering a differentiated conceptualization of the conditions for social interaction. There was no significant difference between the IC and UC groups in attitude change toward robots though trends were observed. Personality was correlated with some tendencies for attitude changes; Extraversion correlated with positive attitude changes to intimate-personal relatedness with the robot (r = 0.619) and to psychological relatedness (r = 0.581) whilst Neuroticism correlated negatively (r = -0.582) with mental relatedness with the robot. The results tentatively suggest that neither information about functionality nor direct repeated encounters are pivotal in changing attitudes toward robots in elderly citizens. This may reflect a cognitive congruence bias where the robot is experienced in congruence with initial attitudes, or it may support action-based explanations of cognitive dissonance reductions, given that robots, unlike computers, are not yet perceived as action targets. Specific personality traits may be indicators of attitude change relating to specific domains of social interaction. Implications and future directions are discussed.

Personality characteristics of depressed and non-depressed patients with Parkinson's disease.

Depression and a specific personality profile are often outlined as premorbid characteristics of Parkinson's disease (PD). However, few studies have explored possible relations between personality and depression in PD despite research in non-parkinsonian samples identifying specific personality traits as risk factors for depression. The personality profiles of 290 non-depressed and 119 depressed patients with PD were compared. The depressed patients were characterized by elevated neuroticism, reduced extroversion, and reduced conscientiousness and less convincing findings of reduced openness and agreeableness. The largest unique contribution to a regression analysis predicting depression was greater number of motor symptoms, increased neuroticism, and reduced extroversion.