We tested whether visual processing impairments in aging and Alzheimer's disease (AD) reflect uniform posterior cortical decline, or independent disorders of visual processing for reading and navigation. Young and older normal controls were compared to early AD patients using psychophysical measures of visual word and motion processing. We find elevated perceptual thresholds for letters and word discrimination from young normal controls, to older normal controls, to early AD patients. Across subject groups, visual motion processing showed a similar pattern of increasing thresholds, with the greatest impact on radial pattern motion perception. Combined analyses show that letter, word, and motion processing impairments are independent of each other. Aging and AD may be accompanied by independent impairments of visual processing for reading and navigation. This suggests separate underlying disorders and highlights the need for comprehensive evaluations to detect early deficits.

Waste nasopharyngeal swabs (N = 244) were evaluated by the reverse-transcriptase polymerase chain reaction/electrospray ionization mass spectrometry PLEX-ID Broad Respiratory Virus Surveillance Kit version 2.5 compared to direct fluorescent antibody and xTAG Respiratory Virus Panel for percent agreement, sensitivity, and specificity. Sensitivity and specificity were 91% (111/122) and 95.1% (116/122), respectively. Sensitivity by virus, except parainfluenza, was 92.9–100%, and specificity was 99–100%.

Background Medical resident scheduling is difficult due to multiple rules, competing educational goals, and ever-evolving graduate medical education requirements. Despite this, schedules are typically created manually, consuming hours of work, producing schedules of varying quality, and yielding negative consequences for resident morale and learning.

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