The Effect of Mental Health Problems on Children���s Ability to Discriminate Amongst Thoughts, Feelings and Behaviours

Many young children appear to have skills sufficient to engage in basic elements of cognitive behaviour therapy (CBT). Previous research has, however, typically used children from non-clinical populations. It is important to assess children with mental health problems on cognitive skills relevant to CBT and to compare their performance to children who are not identified as having mental health difficulties. In this study 193 6 and 7 year old children were assessed using a thought���feeling���behaviour discrimination task [Quakley et al. Behav. Res. Therapy 42 (2004) 343] and a brief IQ test (the WASI). Children were assigned to groups (at risk, borderline, low risk) according to ratings of their mental health made by their teachers and parents on the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire [Goodman, J. Am. Acad. Child Adolescent Psych. 40 (2001) 1337]. After controlling for IQ, children ���at risk��� of mental health problems performed significantly less well than children with a ���low risk��� of mental health problems. Before receiving CBT, children���s meta-cognitive development should be assessed and additional help provided to those with meta-cognitive difficulties.

Cognitive Therapy Abilities in People with Learning Disabilities

Background��� There is a need to develop and adapt therapies for use with people with learning disabilities who have mental health problems. Aims��� To examine the performance of people with learning disabilities on two cognitive therapy tasks (emotion recognition and discrimination among thoughts, feelings and behaviours). We hypothesized that cognitive therapy task performance would be significantly correlated with IQ and receptive vocabulary, and that providing a visual cue would improve performance. Method��� Fifty-nine people with learning disabilities were assessed on the Wechsler Abbreviated Scale of Intelligence (WASI), the British Picture Vocabulary Scale-II (BPVS-II), a test of emotion recognition and a task requiring participants to discriminate among thoughts, feelings and behaviours. In the discrimination task, participants were randomly assigned to a visual cue condition or a no-cue condition. Results��� There was considerable variability in performance. Emotion recognition was significantly associated with receptive vocabulary, and discriminating among thoughts, feelings and behaviours was significantly associated with vocabulary and IQ. There was no effect of the cue on the discrimination task. Conclusion��� People with learning disabilities with higher IQs and good receptive vocabulary were more likely to be able to identify different emotions and to discriminate among thoughts, feelings and behaviours. This implies that they may more easily understand the cognitive model. Structured ways of simplifying the concepts used in cognitive therapy and methods of socialization and education in the cognitive model are required to aid participation of people with learning disabilities.

Using computers to teach people with intellectual disabilities to perform some of the tasks used within cognitive behavioural therapy: a randomised experiment

Aims Training has been shown to improve the ability of people with intellectual disabilities (IDs) to perform some cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) tasks. This study used a computerised training paradigm with the aim of improving the ability of people with IDs to: a) discriminate between behaviours, thoughts and feelings, and b) link situations, thoughts and feelings. Methods Fifty-five people with mild-to-moderate IDs were randomly assigned to a training or attention-control condition in a single-blind mixed experimental design. Computerised tasks assessed the participants��� skills in: (a) discriminating between behaviours, thoughts and feelings (separately and pooled together), and (b) cognitive mediation by selecting appropriate emotions as consequences to given thoughts, and appropriate thoughts as mediators of given emotions. Results Training significantly improved ability to discriminate between behaviours, thoughts and feelings pooled together, compared to the attention-control condition, even when controlling for baseline scores and IQ. Large within-group improvements in the ability to identify behaviours and feelings were observed for the training condition, but not the attention-control group. There were no significant between-group differences in ability to identify thoughts, or on cognitive mediation skills. Conclusions A single session of computerised training can improve the ability of people with IDs to understand and practise CBT tasks relating to behaviours and feelings. There is potential for computerised training to be used as a ���primer��� for CBT with people with IDs to improve engagement and outcomes, but further development on a specific computerised cognitive mediation task is needed.

Long-term positive effects of repeating a year in school: Six-year longitudinal study of self-beliefs, anxiety, social relations, school grades, and test scores

Consistently with a priori predictions, school retention (repeating a year in school) had largely positive effects for a diverse range of 10 outcomes (e.g., math self-concept, self-efficacy, anxiety, relations with teachers, parents and peers, school grades, and standardized achievement test scores). The design, based on a large, representative sample of German students (N = 1,325, M age = 11.75 years) measured each year during the first five years of secondary school, was particularly strong. It featured four independent retention groups (different groups of students, each repeating one of the four first years of secondary school, total N = 103), with multiple post-test waves to evaluate short- and long-term effects, controlling for covariates (gender, age, SES, primary school grades, IQ) and one or more sets of 10 outcomes realised prior to retention. Tests of developmental invariance demonstrated that the effects of retention (controlling for covariates and pre-retention outcomes) were highly consistent across this potentially volatile early-to-middle adolescent period; largely positive effects in the first year following retention were maintained in subsequent school years following retention. Particularly considering that these results are contrary to at least some of the accepted wisdom about school retention, the findings have important implications for educational researchers, policymakers and parents.

Universality of sudden death of entanglement

We present a constructive argument to demonstrate the universality of the sudden death of entanglement in the case of two non-interacting qubits, each of which generically coupled to independent Markovian environments at zero temperature. Conditions for the occurrence of the abrupt disappearance of entanglement are determined and, most importantly, rigourously shown to be almost always satisfied: Dynamical models for which the sudden death of entanglement does not occur are seen to form a highly idealized zero-measure subset within the set of all possible quantum dynamics.

Effects of electric fields on ultracold Rydberg atom interactions

The behaviour of interacting ultracold Rydberg atoms in both constant electric fields and laser fields is important for designing experiments and constructing realistic models of them. In this paper, we briefly review our prior work and present new results on how electric fields affect interacting ultracold Rydberg atoms. Specifically, we address the topics of constant background electric fields on Rydberg atom pair excitation and laser-induced Stark shifts on pair excitation.

Evidence of a Ca(2+)-(center dot)NO-cGMP signaling pathway controlling zoospore biogenesis in the aquatic fungus Blastocladiella emersonii

The sporulation stage of the aquatic fungus Blastocladiella emersonii culminates with the formation and release to the medium of a number of zoospores, which are motile cells responsible for the dispersal of the fungus. The presence in the sporulation solution of 1H-[1,2,4]Oxadiazolo[4,3-a]quinoxalin-1-one (ODQ), a potent and selective inhibitor of nitric oxide-sensitive guanylyl cyclases, completely prevented biogenesis of the zoospores. In addition, this compound was able to significantly reduce cGMP levels, which increase drastically during late sporulation, suggesting the existence of a nitric oxide-dependent mechanism for cGMP synthesis. Furthermore, increased levels of nitric oxide-derived products were detected during sporulation by fluorescence assays using DAF-2 DA, whose signal was drastically reduced in the presence of the nitric oxide synthase inhibitor N omega-Nitro-L-arginine methyl ester (L-NAME). These results were confirmed by quantitative chemiluminescent determination of the intracellular levels of nitric oxide-derived products. A putative nitric oxide synthase (NOS) activity was detected throughout sporulation, and this enzyme activity decreased significantly when L-NAME and 1-[2-(Trifluoromethyl)phenyl]imidazole (TRIM) were added to the assays. NOS assays carried out in the presence of EGTA showed decreased enzyme activity, suggesting the involvement of calcium ions in enzyme activation. Additionally, expressed sequence tags (ESTs) encoding putative guanylyl cyclases and a cGMP-phosphodiesterase were found in B. emersonii EST database (http://blasto.iq.usp.br), and the mRNA levels of the corresponding genes were observed to increase during sporulation. Altogether, data presented here revealed the presence and expression of guanylyl cyclase and cGMP phosphodiesterase genes in B. emersonii and provided evidence of a Ca(2+)-(center dot)NO-cGMP signaling pathway playing a role in zoospore biogenesis. (C) 2009 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

A Note on Proxy Variables and Instrument Variable Regression

This is a note about proxy variables and instruments for identification of structural parameters in regression models. We have experienced that in the econometric textbooks these two issues are treated separately, although in practice these two concepts are very often combined. Usually, proxy variables are inserted in instrument variable regressions with the motivation they are exogenous. Implicitly meaning they are exogenous in a reduced form model and not in a structural model. Actually if these variables are exogenous they should be redundant in the structural model, e.g. IQ as a proxy for ability. Valid proxies reduce unexplained variation and increases the efficiency of the estimator of the structural parameter of interest. This is especially important in situations when the instrument is weak. With a simple example we demonstrate what is required of a proxy and an instrument when they are combined. It turns out that when a researcher has a valid instrument the requirements on the proxy variable is weaker than if no such instrument exists

Banning information as a redistributive device

In this paper we analyze the optimality of allowing firms to observe signals of workers��� characteristics in an optimal taxation framework. We show that it is always optimal to prohibit signals that disclose information about differences in the intrinsic productivities of workers like mandatory health exams and IQ tests, for example. On the other hand, it is never optimal to forbid signals that reveal information about the comparative advantages of workers like their specialization and profession. When signals are mixed (they disclose both types of information), there is a trade-off between efficiency and equity. It is optimal to prohibit signals with sufficiently low comparative advantage content.

Desenvolvimento de analisadores virtuais aplicados a colunas de destila����o industriais

Nas ind��strias de processo, algumas vari��veis como as composi����es de topo de colunas de destila����o s��o quantificadas atrav��s de an��lises laboratoriais e ou de analisadores em linha. Este tipo de controle apresenta algumas limita����es tais como custos de manuten����o e o tempo de amostragem (em geral an��lises laboratoriais ocorrem de 1 a 3 vezes ao dia). Para melhoria destes m��todos, as vari��veis podem ser continuamente estimadas a partir de sua rela����o com as vari��veis medidas diretamente no processo. Atrav��s de um algoritmo matem��tico, um analisador virtual de propriedades pode ser constru��do, sendo necess��rio para o seu desenvolvimento um modelo simplificado do processo. Este trabalho teve como objetivo a constru����o de dois analisadores virtuais para estima����o das composi����es de topo de duas colunas fracionadoras de tolueno presentes em uma ind��stria petroqu��mica. Para tal, estudou-se as metodologias existentes para constru����o de analisadores voltados para aplica����es em colunas de destila����o. O desenvolvimento de analisadores virtuais tem como base tr��s etapas: sele����o de vari��veis secund��rias, constru����o de modelos e corre����o/adapta����o de modelos. Tais etapas, baseadas principalmente em m��todos estat��sticos, foram estudadas e as t��cnicas que melhor se adaptaram ao caso em quest��o foram empregadas com resultados satisfat��rios. Realizaram-se tamb��m estudos comparativos entre modelos estacion��rios e din��micos e modelos constru��dos a partir de dados de simula����o e de processo. As simula����es foram conduzidas nos softwares Aspen Plus�� e Aspen Dynamics�� e o software usado para implementa����o dos analisadores na ind��stria foi o Aspen IQ��.

Desafios para a forma����o de parcerias no servi��o creche da secretaria da assist��ncia social da PMSP

Analisa os v��nculos estabelecidos entre a Secretaria de Assist��ncia Social da PMSP e algumas Entidades Sociais para a presta����o do servi��o creche. Investigou-se o campo da Assist��ncia Social e o da rela����o entre a esfera p��blica estatal e a esfera privada, sem fins lucrativos, na provis��o de servi��os p��blicos. A partir de revis��o bibliogr��fica, de pesquisa documental e de estudo de casos, dando voz a todos que se relacionam no conv��nio, definiu-se parcerias como sendo rela����es substantivas que implicam corresponsabilidades, compartilhamento de valores e comprometimentos. Analisou-se duas creches diretas, duas conveniadas e duas indiretas, (e as respectivas Entidades Sociais), al��m da SAS Regional de IQ/G e SAS Central. Foram escolhidas as creches que obtiveram avalia����o positiva quanto ao seu desempenho e alcance de resultados. Considerou-se que tanto os servi��os prestados de forma direta quanto os conveniados podem ter qualidade e sucesso no alcance de seus objetivos, sendo necess��rio, em qualquer das modalidades, ter presente aspectos como: transpar��ncia nas a����es, di��logos permanentes, clarifica����o de pap��is e compet��ncias, responsabiliza����o e compromissos com causas e com acordos. Justificam-se os servi��os conveniados em raz��o das quest��es conjunturais hoje postas, e da responsabiliza����o por parte de toda uma sociedade no enfrentamento da quest��o social. Justificam-se os servi��os diretos pela necessidade vital da afirma����o do papel do Estado na provis��o de servi��os p��blicos para garantia de servi��os de forma continuada com vistas �� universaliza����o. Indicou-se, como desafio a necessidade de rever a forma como est��o se dando os v��nculos entre os agentes estudados, na dire����o do estabelecimento de parcerias, bem como o desafio da apropria����o da condu����o da pol��tica p��blica pelos ��rg��os de assist��ncia social, consolidando como esfera p��blica n��o-estatal a a����o das Entidades Sociais.

Seletividade do imazapic para dois cultivares de amendoim (Arachis hypogaea) cultivados na aus��ncia e na presen��a de palha de cana-de-a����car

Neste trabalho, objetivou-se estudar a seletividade de imazapic a dois cultivares de amendoim (Tatu Vermelho e IAC-5), em condi����es de aus��ncia e de presen��a de palha de cana-de-a����car. O experimento foi instalado em vasos, em delineamento inteiramente casualizado, com os tratamentos dispostos em esquema fatorial 3x2, com quatro repeti����es. Constitu��ram os fatores principais tr��s doses de imazapic (0, 98 e 140 g ha-1), aplicadas em pr��-emerg��ncia sobre duas condi����es de palha de cana-de-a����car (0 e 15 t ha-1). Constatou-se que a camada de palha possui potencial em reter o herbicida, especialmente sob per��odos de pouca precipita����o ou irriga����o; as plantas de amendoim sob esta condi����o apresentaram menos sintomas de intoxica����o. Entretanto, na aus��ncia da palha, as plantas, independentemente do cultivar, apresentaram maiores inj��rias visuais e redu����o na altura, massa seca da parte a��rea e raiz.

Rea����o de plantas de amendoim (Arachis hypogaea L. ) ao trifluralin e mudan��as na morfologia da parte subterr��nea

Com o objetivo de reproduzir sintomas de malforma����o de ra��zes, observados em campo, foram estuda dos os efeitos do trifluralin sobre Arachis hypogaea L., cultivar Tatu, em condi����es de vaso, em Jaboticabal, SP. Quatro formula����es de trifluralin foram aplicadas em solo Latossol Roxo - s��rie Jaboticabal, barro argiloso, com 2,7% de mat��ria org��nica, em dosagem correspondentes a 1,5; 3,0 e 6,0 litros da formula����o comercial por ha. Cada vaso contendo 2,5 1 -de solo, recebeu duas sementes pr�� -germinada s e foi mantido sob condi����es de casa-de-vegeta����o durante 29 dias. Foi adotado o delineamento inteiramente casualizado com treze tratamentos e quatro repeti����es, perfazendo total de 52 parcelas. Aos 29 dias as plantas, foram retiradas e determinadas as seguintes caracter��sticas: peso da mat��ria seca das ra��zes, dos caules, dos pec��olos e dos fol��olos; n��mero de fol��olos; ��rea foliar e comprimento da haste principal. Altera����es morfol��gicas externas e internas foram observadas. Os resultados mostraram que as partes subter r��n eas das plantas foram afetadas, com uma correla����o linear negativa e significativa entre o aumento da dose dos herbicidas e peso da mat��ria. As folhas se mostraram pouco sens��veis, sendo que nenhuma das formula����es diminuiu o n��mero de foliolos da planta. A ��rea foliar e o peso da mat��ria seca dos fol��olos somente foram afetados pelo aumento da dose de T. Fecotrigo com va lores de F iguais a 9,62* e 7,61*, respectivamente. de modo geral,po de-se concluir que o maior efeito ocorre devido ao incremento nas doses e n��o devido a possiveis diferen��as entre os tipos de formula ����es testadas. Quanto a altera����es morfol��gicas observou-se que nas doses mais elevadas houve grande diminui����o na quantidade de ra��zes, com ra��zes secund��rias curtas e grossas. O hipoc��tilo emitiu ra��zes at�� a altura do n�� cotiledonar. Na dose de 3,0 1/ha j�� foram notadas ra��zes secund��rias um pouco mais espessas que na dose de 1,5 1/ha. As l��minas histol��gicas de amostras da re gi��o do hipoc��tilo mostraram par��n quima cortical bastante espesso, de vido ao maior numero de camadas de c��lulas, por��m n��o se notou anormalidade na forma das c��lulas, nem nos demais tecidos da regi��o estudada.

Avalia����o de cultivares de amendoim para resist��ncia a Spodoptera frugiperda

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Cient��fico e Tecnol��gico (CNPq)

N��o-prefer��ncia para oviposi����o e alimenta����o de Spodoptera frugiperda (J. E. Smith, 1797) (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae) por cultivares de amendoim.

This study aimed to select peanut cultivars resistant to Spodoptera frugiperda, selecting non-oviposition and non-feeding preference in choice and no-choice tests. Peanut cultivars with upright growth habit (IAC 5, IAC 8112, IAC 22 and IAC Tatu ST) and runner growth habit (IAC 503, IAC 505, IAC 147, IAC 125, IAC Caiapo and IAC Runner 886) were evaluated. Tests of non-oviposition preference were conducted with newly emerged adults. Adults were fed a 10% honey solution, remaining in cages for 4 days until the start of the evaluations. The evaluations consisted of quantifying the number of eggs and egg masses, followed by calculating the number of eggs per egg mass. To perform non-feeding preference tests, leaf discs from different peanut cultivars were placed in disposable Petri dishes followed by releasing of a third-instar caterpillar for each cultivar. The attractiveness at 1, 5; 10, 15, 30, 60, 120, 360, 720 and 1,440 minutes was evaluated by counting the caterpillars that were feeding on cultivars. The leaf area consumed was evaluated at the end of the experiment for each cultivar. In the tests of non-oviposition and non-feeding preference, with choice or no-choice, none of the cultivars of the upright growth and runner growth habit influenced the oviposition or food of S. frugiperda. Thus, the peanut cultivars showed no resistance of the non-feeding and non-oviposition types.