Impaired acuity of the approximate number system in 22q11.2 microdeletion syndrome

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES)

Development of numerical cognition among Brazilian school-aged children

The Numerical Cognition is influenced by biological, cognitive, educational, and cultural factors and entails the following systems: Number Sense (NS) represents the innate ability to recognize, compare, add, and subtract small quantities, without the need of counting; Number Production (NP) which includes reading, writing and counting numbers or objects; Number Comprehension (NC), i.e., the understanding the nature of the numerical symbols and their number, and the calculation (CA). The aims of the present study were to: i) assess theoretical constructs (NS, NC, NP and CA) in children from public schools from 1 st -to 6 th - grades; and ii) investigate their relationship with schooling and working memory. The sample included 162 children, both genders, of 7-to 12-years-old that studied in public school from 1 st -to 6 th -grades, which participated in the normative study of Zareki-R (Battery of neuropsychological tests for number processing and calculation in children, Revised; von Aster & Dellatolas, 2006). Children of 1 st and 2 nd grades demonstrated an inferior global score in NC, NP and CA. There were no genderrelated differences. The results indicated that the contribution of NS domain in Zareki-R performance is low in comparison to the other three domains, which are dependent on school-related arithmetic skills.

Desempenho de crianças com deficiência auditiva e implante coclear em tarefas de seleção de e de nomeação de figuras

The aim of this study was to investigate the development of specific domains of Numerical Cognition (Number Sense – NS, Number Comprehension – NC, Number Production – NP, and Calculation – CA) in Brazilian children with Specific Learning Disorders. The study included 72 children (36 boys), from 9-to 10-years-old, enrolled in 4th and 5th years of elementary school of public schools at countryside of Sao Paulo State, Brazil. They were divided into three groups: control (CT, N = 42), Developmental Dyslexia (DL, N = 11) and Developmental Dyscalculia combined with dyslexia (DDc, N = 19). All participants had intellectual level within the normal range, however, children from the last two groups had Learning Disorders classified by School Achievement Test - TDE (Stein, 1994) and DDc children received necessarily classification as 'inferior' in Arithmetic Test of TDE. The children did not differ in NS. DL and DDc children showed slight deficits in NC. However, DDc children had moderate in NP and mild to moderate deficits in CA, which indicates a more generalized impairment in Numerical Cognition. Furthermore, DDc children showed discrepancy in Numerical Cognition performance when compared to the other groups. Thus, children with Learning Disorders showed different performances in Numerical Cognition, although both groups had preserved SN, DDc children showed higher deficits and discrepancy in relation DL and typically developing children.

Cognição Numérica de crianças pré-escolares brasileiras pela ZAREKI-K

The Numerical Cognition is infl uenced by biological, cognitive, educational and cultural factors. It consists of a primary system, called Number Sense that would be innate and universal, also of secondary systems: the Calculation, implied to perform mathematical operations by means of symbols or words and Number Processing, which is divided into two components, Number Comprehension, related with the understanding of numerical symbols and Number Production, which includes reading, writing and coun-ting numbers. However, studies that show the development of these functions in children of preschool age are scarce. Therefore, aims of this study were to investigate numerical cognition in preschool Brazilian children to demonstrate the construct validity of the ZAREKI-K (A Neuropsychological Battery for the Assessment of Treatment of Numbers and Calculation for preschool children). The participants were 42 children of both genders, who attended public elementary schools; the children were evaluated by this battery and WISC-III. The results indicated signifi cant differences associated with age which children of 6 years had better scores on subtests related to Number Production, Calculation and Number Comprehension, as well moderate and high correlations between some subtests of both instruments, demonstrating the construct validity of the battery. In conclusion, preliminary normative data were obtained for ZAREKI-K. The analyses suggested that it is a promising tool for the assessment of numerical cognition in preschool children.Keywords: Mathematics, number, preschoolers, working memory, Developmental Dyscalculia.

HERITABILITY OF THE NUMBER OF OVARIOLES IN HONEY-BEE WORKERS (APIS-MELLIFERA L) (HYM, APIDAE)

Narrow and broad sense heritabilities (h(2)) of the number of ovarioles in Apis mellifera L. workers were estimated using two distinct data sets, based on groups of half (queens inseminated by several drones) and super-sisters (single drone insemination). The values found are in the usual range for economically important characters (0.25-0.38).

Heritability of the number of ovarioles in honey bee workers (Apis mellifera L.) (hym.:apidae)

Narrow and broad sense heritabilities (h2) of the number of ovarioles in Apis mellifera L. workers were estimated using two distinct data sets, based on groups of half (queens inseminated by several drones) and super-sisters (single drone insemination). The values found are in the usual range for economically important characters (0.25-0.38).

Differences in the number of sensilla coeloconica and sensilla ampullacea of segment 10 of the antennae of Africanized and Caucasian bees and of their F1 hybrids

The numbers of sensilla coeloconica and sensilla ampullacea of segment 10 of the antennae of Caucasian and Africanized worker bees and of their hybrids were counted with the aid of a scanning electron microscope. Africanized bees have fewer sensilla than Caucasian bees and the continuous distribution obtained from the F1 values suggests polygenic inheritance for the control of this trait. There are also indications that the hybrid Brazilian Apis mellifera studied here are close to typical African bees (Apis mellifera scutellata) in terms of number of sensilla.

Is the number of antennal plate organs (sensilla placodea) greater in hygienic than in non-hygienic Africanized honey bees?

Hygienic behavior is a desirable trait in honey bees (Apis mellifera L.), as hygienic bees quickly remove diseased brood, intermpting the infectious cycle. Hygienic lines of honey bees appear to be more sensitive to the odors of dead and diseased honey bee brood, and Africanized honey bees are generally more hygienic than are European honey bees. We compared the number of sensilla placodea, antennal sensory structures involved in the perception of odor, in 10 bees from each of six hygienic and four non-hygienic colonies of Africanized honey bees. The sensilla placodea of three of the terminal segments (flagellomeres) of the right antenna of each bee were counted with a scanning electron microscope. There were no significant differences in the mean numbers of sensilla placodea between the hygienic and non-hygienic bees, though the variance was higher in the hygienic group. Flagellomere 4 had significantly more sensilla placodea than flagellomeres 6 and 8. However, there was no significant difference between the other two flagellomeres. As hygienic bees are capable of identifying dead, injured, or infested brood inside a capped brood cell, sensilla placodea probably have an important role in enabling worker bees to sense sick brood. However, we did not find greater numbers of this sensory structure in the antennae of hygienic, compared to non-hygienic Africanized honey bees.