A Criterion Validity Study of the Schizophrenia Subscale of the PIMRA.

Sixty-five mildly to moderately mentally retarded adult patients from institutional and community placements in Louisiana and Texas and with a diagnosis of schizophrenia, depression, or no psychopathology were recruited. The primary goal of the study was to establish the validity of the schizophrenia subscale of the PIMRA for diagnosing schizophrenia among mentally retarded individuals. The same methods utilized to determine the validity of the schizophrenia subscale were also used to replicate the validation of the depression subscale of the PIMRA. In addition, the extent to which other PIMRA subscale scores aid in diagnosis was investigated. Assessment measures included the informant version of the PIMRA, DSM-III-R checklists for schizophrenia and depression, and a drug response rating. Univariate and multivariate analyses were conducted as well as interrater reliability on all measures. Results provided some support for the validity of the schizophrenia subscale of the PIMRA. Support was more strongly indicated, however, for the affective disorder subscale of this measure. Combinations of subscales improved prediction of group membership. Issues such as the impact of reliability and small sample size on results were discussed. Implications of the research as well as directions for future research were presented

Effect of snack-food proximity on intake in general population samples with higher and lower cognitive resource.

OBJECTIVE: Placing snack-food further away from people consistently decreases its consumption ("proximity effect"). However, given diet-related health inequalities, it is important to know whether interventions that alter food proximity have potential to change behaviour regardless of cognitive resource (capacity for self-control). This is often lower in those in lower socio-economic positions, who also tend to have less healthy diet-related behaviours. Study 1 aims to replicate the proximity effect in a general population sample and estimate whether trait-level cognitive resource moderates the effect. In a stronger test, Study 2 investigates whether the effect is similar regardless of manipulated state-level cognitive resource. METHOD: Participants were recruited into two laboratory studies (Study 1: n = 159; Study 2: n = 246). A bowl of an unhealthy snack was positioned near (20 cm) or far (70 cm) from the participant, as randomised. In Study 2, participants were further randomised to a cognitive load intervention. The pre-specified primary outcome was the proportion of participants taking any of the snack. RESULTS: Significantly fewer participants took the snack when far compared with near in Study 2 (57.7% vs 70.7%, β = -1.63, p = 0.020), but not in Study 1 (53.8% vs 63.3%, X2 = 1.12, p = 0.289). Removing participants who moved the bowl (i.e. who did not adhere to protocol), increased the effect-sizes: Study 1: 39.3% vs 63.9%, X2 = 6.43, p = 0.011; Study 2: 56.0% vs 73.9%, β = -2.46, p = 0.003. Effects were not moderated by cognitive resource. CONCLUSIONS: These studies provide the most robust evidence to date that placing food further away reduces likelihood of consumption in general population samples, an effect unlikely to be moderated by cognitive resource. This indicates potential for interventions altering food proximity to contribute to addressing health inequalities, but requires testing in real-world settings. TRIAL REGISTRATION: Both studies were registered with ISRCTN (Study 1 reference no.: ISRCTN46995850, Study 2 reference no.: ISRCTN14239872)

“Sure I’ll help – I’ve just been sitting around doing nothing at school all day”: cognitive flexibility and child irony interpretation

Successful peer relations in older children depend on proficiency with banter, which in turn frequently involves verbal irony. Individual differences in successful irony interpretation have traditionally been attributed to Theory of Mind. Our premise was that the key factor might in fact be cognitive flexibility, the ability to switch between different perspectives (here: on the same utterance). We also wished to extend the focus of previous irony studies, which have almost exclusively examined Simple Irony, where the literal meaning conflicts with observable physical evidence (e.g. ‘great day for a picnic’ when viewing a downpour). Therefore, we also examined how children interpreted more Complex Irony, where listeners must consider at a deeper level the common ground shared with the speakers (e.g. general knowledge / cultural common ground or information about the particular speaker). In Study 1 we found that for six- to eight-year-olds both cognitive flexibility and Theory of Mind contributed unique variance to Simple Irony interpretation, when statistically controlling for non-verbal reasoning and structural language standardised scores. Neither inhibitory control, working memory nor general knowledge correlated with irony interpretation. Six- to eight-year-olds were at floor for Complex Irony. In Study 2 we found that cognitive flexibility contributed unique variance to how ten- to twelve-year-olds interpreted Complex Irony, while controlling for non-verbal reasoning, structural language and specific knowledge required. We are the first to examine the relationship with cognitive flexibility and conclude it must be taken into account when investigating the relationship between Theory of Mind and irony interpretation

Executive Function in Very Preterm Children at Early School Age

We examined whether very preterm (≤30 weeks gestation) children at early school age have impairments in executive function (EF) independent of IQ and processing speed, and whether demographic and neonatal risk factors were associated with EF impairments. A consecutive sample of 50 children (27 boys and 23 girls) born very preterm (mean age = 5.9 years, SD = 0.4, mean gestational age = 28.0 weeks, SD = 1.4) was compared to a sample of 50 age-matched full-term controls (23 girls and 27 boys, mean age = 6.0 years, SD = 0.6) with respect to performance on a comprehensive EF battery, assessing the domains of inhibition, working memory, switching, verbal fluency, and concept generation. The very preterm group demonstrated poor performance compared to the controls on all EF domains, even after partialing out the effects of IQ. Processing speed was marginally related to EF. Analyses with demographic and neonatal risk factors showed maternal education and gestational age to be related to EF. This study adds to the emerging body of literature showing that very preterm birth is associated with EF impairments

Epikeratophakia as the Surgical Treatment of Choice for the Correction of Traumatic Aphakia in Childhood

The paper reports the outcomes of epikeratophakia performed in 8 eyes of 8 children with traumatic aphakia