A preliminary investigation of the running digit span as a test of working memory

The objective of this study was to compare performance on different versions of the running span task, and to examine the relationship between task performance and tests of episodic memory and executive function. We found that the average capacity of the running span was approximately 4 digits, and at long sequence lengths, performance was no longer affected by varying the running span window. Both episodic and executive function measures correlated with short and long running spans. suggesting that a simple dissociation between immediate memory and executive processes in short and long running digit span tasks may not be warranted.

Psychopathology in Williams Syndrome: the effect of individual differences across the life span

The present research aimed to comprehensively explore psychopathology in Williams syndrome (WS) across the lifespan and evaluate the relationship between psychopathology and age category (child or adult), gender and cognitive ability. The parents of 50 participants with WS, aged 6-50 years, were interviewed using the Schedule for Affective Disorders and Schizophrenia for School-Age Children (K-SADS-PL). The prevalence of a wide range of Axis I DSM-IV disorders was assessed. In addition to high rates of anxiety and Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) (38% and 20% respectively), 14% of our sample met criteria for a depressive disorder and 42% of participants were not experiencing any significant psychopathological difficulties. There was some evidence for different patterns of psychopathology between children and adults with WS and between males and females. These relationships were largely in keeping with those found in the typically developing population, thus supporting the validity of applying theory and treatment approaches for psychopathology in the typically developing population to WS.

Increased aerobic metabolism is essential for the beneficial effects of caloric restriction on yeast life span

Calorie restriction is a dietary regimen capable of extending life span in a variety of multicellular organisms. A yeast model of calorie restriction has been developed in which limiting the concentration of glucose in the growth media of Saccharomyces cerevisiae leads to enhanced replicative and chronological longevity. Since S. cerevisiae are Crabtree-positive cells that present repression of aerobic catabolism when grown in high glucose concentrations, we investigated if this phenomenon participates in life span regulation in yeast. S. cerevisiae only exhibited an increase in chronological life span when incubated in limited concentrations of glucose. Limitation of galactose, raffinose or glycerol plus ethanol as substrates did not enhance life span. Furthermore, in Kluyveromyces lactis, a Crabtree-negative yeast, glucose limitation did not promote an enhancement of respiratory capacity nor a decrease in reactive oxygen species formation, as is characteristic of conditions of caloric restriction in S. cerevisiae. In addition, K. lactis did not present an increase in longevity when incubated in lower glucose concentrations. Altogether, our results indicate that release from repression of aerobic catabolism is essential for the beneficial effects of glucose limitation in the yeast calorie restriction model. Potential parallels between these changes in yeast and hormonal regulation of respiratory rates in animals are discussed.

Immunohistochemical detection of estrogen receptor beta in alveolar bone cells of estradiol-treated female rats: possible direct action of estrogen on osteoclast life span

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)

Higher respiratory activity decreases mitochondrial reactive oxygen release and increases life span in Saccharomyces cerevisiae

Increased replicative longevity in Saccharomyces cerevisiae because of calorie restriction has been linked to enhanced mitochondrial respiratory activity. Here we have further investigated how mitochondrial respiration affects yeast life span. We found that calorie restriction by growth in low glucose increased respiration but decreased mitochondrial reactive oxygen species production relative to oxygen consumption. Calorie restriction also enhanced chronological life span. The beneficial effects of calorie restriction on mitochondrial respiration, reactive oxygen species release, and replicative and chronological life span could be mimicked by uncoupling agents such as dinitrophenol. Conversely, chronological life span decreased in cells treated with antimycin (which strongly increases mitochondrial reactive oxygen species generation) or in yeast mutants null for mitochondrial superoxide dismutase (which removes superoxide radicals) and for RTG2 (which participates in retrograde feedback signaling between mitochondria and the nucleus). These results suggest that yeast aging is linked to changes in mitochondrial metabolism and oxidative stress and that mild mitochondrial uncoupling can increase both chronological and replicative life span.

Red wine and equivalent oral pharmacological doses of resveratrol delay vascular aging but do not extend life span in rats

Objective: To investigate, in male Wistar rats, the effects of long-term moderate red wine (RW) consumption (equivalent to similar to 0.15 mg% resveratrol RS), or RS in low (L, 0.15 mg%) or high (H, 400 mg%) doses in chow. Background: Both RW and RS exhibit cardioprotection. RS extends lifespan in obese rats. It is unclear whether RW consumption or low-dose RS delay vascular aging and prolong life span in the absence of overt risk factors. Methods: Endpoints were aerobic performance, exercise capacity, aging biomarkers (p53,p16,p21, telomere length and telomerase activity in aortic homogenates), vascular reactivity. Data were compared with controls (C) given regular chow. Results: Expressions of p53 decreased similar to 50% similar to with RW and LRS (p < 0.05 vs. C), p16 by similar to 29% with RW (p < 0.05 vs. C) and p21 was unaltered. RW and LRS increased telomere length >6.5-fold vs. C, and telomerase activity increased with LRS and HRS. All treatments increased aerobic capacity (C 32.5 +/- 1.2, RW 38.7 + 1.7, LRS 38.5 + 1.6, HRS 38.3 + 1.8 mlO2 min(-1) kg(-1)), and RW or LRS also improved time of exercise tolerance vs. C (p < 0.05). Endothelium-dependent relaxation improved with all treatments vs. C. Life span, however, was unaltered with each treatment vs. C = 673 +/- 30 days, p = NS. Conclusions: RW and LRS can preserve vascular function indexes in normal rats, although not extending life span. These effects were translated into better aerobic performance and exercise capacity. (c) 2012 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

Implants versus short-span fixed bridges: survival, complications, patients' benefits. A systematic review on economic aspects

To systematically evaluate the existing evidence to answer the focused question: For a patient with a single tooth to be replaced, is the implant crown, based on economic considerations, preferred to a conventional fixed partial denture?

Applied Developmental Psychology as an Implementation of the Life-Span View of Human Development

Application of knowledge about psychological development should, ideally, be theory based. As such, these applications represent “natural ontogenetic experiments”; the results of the evaluation of such interventions feed back to the theory, helping to support, falsify, or refine the ideas from the theory which led to the particular application. Such applied developmental intervention research is central within a currently popular perspective of life-span human development. Thus, applied developmental intervention research provides critical tests of such key concepts within this life-span perspective as: plasticity; multidirectionality; the synthesis of continuous and discontinuous processes across ontogeny; contextual embeddedness; and the role of individuals as agents in their own development. This paper elucidates some of the major features of the dynamic linkage between applied developmental psychology and this view of life-span human development. Key elements of this life-span perspective and the facts of developmental intervention, as seen from this perspective, are specified. Finally, the doctoral training program at the authors' institution is presented as one example of how this link may be institutionalized in the form of graduate education.

The Experience of Micro and Macro Events: A Life-Span Analysis

This study investigated how individuals retrospectively construe their lives in terms of major life events. Ninety-nine participants sorted a set of personal and historical events in terms of perceived importance for their lives. Analyses of variance with repeated measures and rank comparisons were computed. Overall findings revealed no cohort differences with regard to the perception of life events. However, within-cohort differences were found, indicating that more life events were recalled from the young adult years. Those experiences were also perceived as having been more important in the participants' lives than events from other age segments. With regard to historical events, war-related experiences were among the highest ranked. Analyses of variance revealed intracohort differences but not intercohort differences, indicating higher scores for the time between 1930 and 1948 relative to other historical periods.