Reading comprehension in autism spectrum disorders: The role of oral language and social functioning

Reading comprehension is an area of difficulty for many individuals with autism spectrum disorders (ASD). According to the Simple View of Reading, word recognition and oral language are both important determinants of reading comprehension ability. We provide a novel test of this model in 100 adolescents with ASD of varying intellectual ability. Further, we explore whether reading comprehension is additionally influenced by individual differences in social behaviour and social cognition in ASD. Adolescents with ASD aged 14-16 years completed assessments indexing word recognition, oral language, reading comprehension, social behaviour and social cognition. Regression analyses show that both word recognition and oral language explain unique variance in reading comprehension. Further, measures of social behaviour and social cognition predict reading comprehension after controlling for the variance explained by word recognition and oral language. This indicates that word recognition, oral language and social impairments may constrain reading comprehension in ASD.

Data-driven treatment selection for seamless phase II/III trials incorporating early-outcome data

Seamless phase II/III clinical trials are conducted in two stages with treatment selection at the first stage. In the first stage, patients are randomized to a control or one of k > 1 experimental treatments. At the end of this stage, interim data are analysed, and a decision is made concerning which experimental treatment should continue to the second stage. If the primary endpoint is observable only after some period of follow-up, at the interim analysis data may be available on some early outcome on a larger number of patients than those for whom the primary endpoint is available. These early endpoint data can thus be used for treatment selection. For two previously proposed approaches, the power has been shown to be greater for one or other method depending on the true treatment effects and correlations. We propose a new approach that builds on the previously proposed approaches and uses data available at the interim analysis to estimate these parameters and then, on the basis of these estimates, chooses the treatment selection method with the highest probability of correctly selecting the most effective treatment. This method is shown to perform well compared with the two previously described methods for a wide range of true parameter values. In most cases, the performance of the new method is either similar to or, in some cases, better than either of the two previously proposed methods.

Stress, time pressure, and decision making

This study surveys parents with children who are deaf or hard of hearing from one private school in St. Louis, Missouri. The issue of stress and time pressure on decision making is addressed and the importance of how stress and time pressure effect parents’ decisions regarding their children who are deaf and hard of hearing.

Reproductive ecology of dipsadine snakes, with emphasis on South American species

A relatively large amount of variation occurs in the reproductive ecology of tropical snakes, and this variation is generally regarded as being a consequence of seasonality in climate and prey availability. In some groups, even closely related species may differ in their reproductive ecology; however, in others it seems to be very conservative. Here we explore whether characters related to reproduction are phylogenetically constrained in a monophyletic group of snakes, the subfamily Dipsadinae, which ranges from Mexico to southern South America. We provide original data on reproduction for Leptodeira annulata, Imantodes cenchoa, and three species of Sibynomorphus from southern, southeastern and central Brazil, and data from literature for other species and populations of dipsadines. Follicular cycles were seasonal in Atractus reticulatus, Dipsa, albifrons, Hypsiglena torquata, Leptodeira maculata, L. punctata, Sibynomorphus spp. and Sibon sanniola from areas where climate is seasonal. In contrast, extended or continuous follicular cycles were recorded in Dipsas catesbyi, D. neivai, Imantodes cenchoa, Leptodeira annulata, and Ninia maculata from areas with seasonal and aseasonal climates. Testicular cycles also varied from seasonal (in H. torquiata) to continuous (in Dipsa,5 spp., Leptodeira annulata, L. maculata, N. maculata, and Sibynomorphus spp.). Most dipsadines are small (less than 500 rum SVL), and females attain sexual maturity with similar relative body size than males. Sexual dimorphism occurred in terms of SVL and tail length in most species, and clutch size tended to be small (less than five eggs). Combat behavior occurs in Imantodes cenchoa, which did not show sexual size dimorphism. Reproductive timing, for both females and males, varied among species but in general there were no differences between the tribes of Dipsadinae in most of the reproductive characteristics, such as mean body size, relative size at sexual maturity, sexual size and tail dimorphism, duration of vitellogenesis or egg-carrying in oviducts.

ON THE IDENTITY OF CYCLORAMPHUS JORDANENSIS HEYER, 1983 (ANURA: CYCLORAMPHIDAE)

Cycloramphus jordanensis was described based on a single preserved specimen from Campos do Jordao (22 degrees 44` S ,45 degrees 35` W), State of Sao Paulo, Brazil. While examining the holotype; we noticed the presence of toe and tarsal fringes. Because these characters are absent in Cycloramphus, we suspected that the species was mistakenly placed in the genus. X-ray images of the holotype revealed T-shaped terminal phalanges and fang-like teeth. Together with the presence of toe and tarsal fringes, these characters squarely place the specimen in the genus Megaelasia. Considering the striking niche differences between Cycloramphus and Megaclosia, we expect the new combination will facilitate location of new individuals of this rare frog.

Improved maximum-likelihood estimation in a regression model with general parametrization

We analyse the finite-sample behaviour of two second-order bias-corrected alternatives to the maximum-likelihood estimator of the parameters in a multivariate normal regression model with general parametrization proposed by Patriota and Lemonte [A. G. Patriota and A. J. Lemonte, Bias correction in a multivariate regression model with genereal parameterization, Stat. Prob. Lett. 79 (2009), pp. 1655-1662]. The two finite-sample corrections we consider are the conventional second-order bias-corrected estimator and the bootstrap bias correction. We present the numerical results comparing the performance of these estimators. Our results reveal that analytical bias correction outperforms numerical bias corrections obtained from bootstrapping schemes.

Bias correction in a multivariate normal regression model with general parameterization

This paper derives the second-order biases Of maximum likelihood estimates from a multivariate normal model where the mean vector and the covariance matrix have parameters in common. We show that the second order bias can always be obtained by means of ordinary weighted least-squares regressions. We conduct simulation studies which indicate that the bias correction scheme yields nearly unbiased estimators. (C) 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Varför utvecklar människan ett anorektiskt beteende?

Mitt syfte med denna undersökning är att i ett djupare perspektiv redogöra för orsaksgrunder till att någon börjar svälta sig själv och utvecklar ett anorektiskt beteende. Ambitionen har varit att använda mig av en metod som går ut på att jämföra min egen förståelse, som kopplas till en sociologisk teoretisk utgångspunkt, med verkligheten genom att göra observationer och djupintervjuer på ett begränsat antal personer. Ingen avsikt har funnits att generera någon fullständig vetenskaplig sanning, utan endast se på fenomenet i ett djupare perspektiv som kan användas till underlag för ytterliggare forskning vid ett senare tillfälle.Enligt min förförståelse är grunden till att någon ska utveckla anorexi en process som startar redan då individen föds. De människor och den miljö som människan först av allt kommer i kontakt med är hennes totala verklighet och det enda som hon är medveten om. Vad som händer under denna episod i livet i kombination med senare sociala möten i olika situationer är de faktorer som möjliggör ett utlösande eller inte om en person börjar svälta sig själv och utveckla ett anorektiskt beteende. Denna förförståelse har kopplats till socialpsykologiska teoretiska utgångspunkter, i första hand G H Meads teorier i den symboliska interaktionismen om ”jagmedvetandets” ursprung, och därefter jämförts med studier av verkligheten.De resultat som jag har kommit fram till stödjer uppfattning om att de sociala interaktioner som människan gör tidigt i livet påverkar möjligheterna till ett senare utvecklande av anorexi eller inte. Jag har sett under detta arbetes gång att den faktor som är utlösande beror till största del av vilka sociala möten som människan gör senare i livet. Även om individen har förutsättningar till anorexi, så kan den utlösande faktorn utebli och konsekvensen blir att ett anorektiskt utvecklande uteblir. Min undersökning visar att om den utlösande faktorn infinner sig så sker detta oftast vid en tidpunkt i livet då människan är i en känsligare period, till exempel i tonåren då steget mot självständighet och frigörelse från föräldrarna ska tas. Jag har utifrån detta perspektiv dragit slutsatsen att anorexi kan ses som en utvecklingskris.

Qualidade de vida em pacientes do sexo masculino dependentes de álcool

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Mémoires d'une attente inachevée : le temps dans Malone Meurt, L'innommable et En Attendant Godot de Samuel Beckett

Minha dissertação consiste em desenvolver a relação estabelecida entre o texto e o leitor no processo de leitura literária como produtividade, considerada como um conjunto, compreendendo o produtor do texto e seu leitor. A leitura vista como ‘‘jogo", em que o retorno do diferente não desdenha a tradição da leitura, conduz o leitor à produzir um texto múltiplo, plural. O texto é o mesmo e um outro ao mesmo tempo. Este estudo compreende três textos singulares da obra de Samuel Beckett: Malone meurt, L’Innommable e En attendant Godot. Tudo o que é assimilado, assim como refutado por Beckett, é convidado a entrar em cena no decorrer deste trabalho. Como via de acesso para a composisão da escritura becketiana, foi necessário seguir os passos da memória de leitura do autor para chegar a uma conclusão, segundo minha própria leitura, a partir da leitura dos três textos escolhidos. Por isso, reencontrei em Proust, a idéia do leitor ‘‘livre’’ e ‘‘independente’’ mantido por Beckett. Seguindo os traços da tradição, foi possível desenvolver uma memória de leitura como uma repetição, conduzindo a um resultado imprevisto. Balzac é a primeira referência da leitura beketiana. O autor é trabalhado como fonte principal da leitura becketiana. Assim, a composição da memória em Beckett não pode ser recuperada senão na articulação dos estudos textuais como ‘‘produção’’ e, cujas imagens repetitivas fornecidas pelos três textos de Samuel Beckett asseguram a continuidade, a produtividade de leitura, em que, esta memória, torna-se inevitavelmente, memória do texto.

Trade in intermediate goods and total factor productivity

We develop and calibrate a model where differences in factor endowments lead countries to trade intermediate goods, and gains from trade reflect in total factor productivity. We perform several output and growth decompositions, to assess the impact that barriers to trade, as well as changes in terms of trade, have on measured TFP. We find that for very poor economies gains from trade are large, in some cases representing a doubling of GDP. Also, that an improvement in the terms of trade - by allowing the use of a better mix of intermediate inputs in the production process - translates into productivity growth.