An examination of the associations among multiple memory systems, past tense, and vocabulary in typically developing 5 year old children

Purpose: Considerable research has investigated the role of verbal working memory in language development in children with and without language problems. Much less is currently known about the relationship between language and the declarative and procedural memory systems. This study examined whether these 2 memory systems were related to typically developing children's past tense and lexical knowledge.

Method: Fifty-eight typically developing children approximately 5 years of age completed a battery of linguistic and nonlinguistic tasks, including tests of vocabulary, past tense production, and procedural and declarative memory.

Results: The results showed that declarative and procedural memory were not correlated with either regular or irregular past tense use. A significant correlation was observed between declarative memory and vocabulary.

Conclusions: The results of the study were not consistent with the view that the declarative and procedural memory systems support children's use of the regular and irregular past tense. However, evidence was found suggesting that declarative memory supports vocabulary in this age group.

Top-down and bottom-up approaches to motor skill assessment of children : are child-report and parent-report perceptions predictive of children's performance-based assessment results?

Background/ Aim: Therapists use different types of tests, scales, and instruments to assess children's motor skills, including those classified as being top-down and bottom-up. The aim of the study was to investigate the ability of measures of children's motor skill performance from the perspectives of children and parents (a type of top-down assessment) to predict children's performance-based motor ability test results (a type of bottom-up assessment).
Methods: A convenience sample of 38 children and parents was recruited from Victoria, Australia. Motor skill performance was evaluated from a top-down perspective using the Physical Self-Description Questionnaire (PSDQ) and the Movement Assessment Battery for Children – Second Edition (MABC-2) Checklist to measure children's and parents' perspectives respectively. Motor skill performance was also evaluated from a bottom-up approach using the Bruininks-Oseretsky Test of Motor Proficiency – Second Edition (BOT-2). Data were analyzed using multiple linear regression analysis to determine whether the PSDQ or MABC-2 Checklist was predictive of the children's BOT-2 performance results.
Results: Two predictive relationships were identified based on parents' perspectives, where the total score of the MABC-2 Checklist was found to be a significant predictor of the BOT-2 Manual Coordination motor composite score, accounting for 8.35% of its variance, and the BOT-2 Strength and Agility motor composite score, accounting for 11.6% of its variance. No predictive relationships were identified between the children's self-report PSDQ perspectives and the BOT-2 performance scores.
Conclusions: Therapists are encouraged to utilize a combination of top-down and bottom-up approaches and purposefully to seek parents' and children's perspectives when evaluating children's motor skill performance.

Effects of N-acetyl cysteine on cognitive function in bipolar disorder

Aims

Bipolar disorder is characterized by progressive changes in cognition with declines in executive functioning, memory and sustained attention. Current pharmacotherapies for bipolar disorder target mood symptoms but have not addressed these cognitive changes resulting in euthymic individuals who still experience cognitive deficits. N-acetyl cysteine (NAC) has been shown to have effects on antioxidant status, glutamate transmission, inflammation and neurogenesis. Adjunctive treatment with NAC improves the symptoms experienced by those with bipolar disorder, particularly depression, and it was hypothesized that cognition may also be improved following NAC treatment.
Methods

As part of a larger randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial, participants in the current report were tested at baseline and 6 months to assess changes in cognitive function following either 2000 mg of NAC daily or placebo.
Results

This study failed to find changes in cognitive function following treatment with NAC compared to placebo.
Conclusions

While an important pilot study, this study had a small sample size and included a limited battery of cognitive tests. Further investigations on the effects of NAC on cognitive performance in bipolar disorder are required.

Diabetes MILES – The Netherlands: rationale, design and sample characteristics of a national survey examining the psychosocial aspects of living with diabetes in Dutch adults

Background : As the number of people with diabetes is increasing rapidly worldwide, a more thorough understanding of the psychosocial aspects of living with this condition has become an important health care priority. While our knowledge has grown substantially over the past two decades with respect to the physical, emotional and social difficulties that people with diabetes may encounter, many important issues remain to be elucidated. Under the umbrella of the Diabetes MILES (Management and Impact for Long-term Empowerment and Success) Study International Collaborative, Diabetes MILES – The Netherlands aims to examine how Dutch adults with diabetes manage their condition and how it affects their lives. Topics of special interest in Diabetes MILES - The Netherlands include subtypes of depression, Type D personality, mindfulness, sleep and sexual functioning.

Methods/design : Diabetes MILES – The Netherlands was designed as a national online observational study among adults with diabetes. In addition to a main set of self-report measures, the survey consisted of five complementary modules to which participants were allocated randomly. From September to October 2011, a total of 3,960 individuals with diabetes (40% type 1, 53% type 2) completed the battery of questionnaires covering a broad range of topics, including general health, self-management, emotional well-being and contact with health care providers. People with self-reported type 1 diabetes (specifically those on insulin pump therapy) were over-represented, as were those using insulin among respondents with self-reported type 2 diabetes. People from ethnic minorities were under-represented. The sex distribution was fairly equal in the total sample, participants spanned a broad age range (19–90 years), and diabetes duration ranged from recent diagnosis to living with the condition for over fifty years.

Discussion : The Diabetes MILES Study enables detailed investigation of the psychosocial aspects of living with diabetes and an opportunity to put these findings in an international context. With several papers planned resulting from a pooled Australian-Dutch dataset and data collections planned in other countries, the Diabetes MILES Study International Collaborative will contribute substantially to identifying potentially unmet needs of those living with diabetes and to inform clinical research and care across the globe.

The influence of water and metal ions on the transport properties of Trihexyl(tetradecyl)phosphonium chloride

A recent study indicated that the water-saturated ionic liquid (IL) trihexyl(tetradecyl)phosphonium chloride ([P_6,6,6,14][Cl]) provided a viable electrolyte for a Mg-air battery. However, there is limited literature on the properties of IL-water mixtures as battery electrolytes. The physical properties of [P_6,6,6,14][Cl] were studied with the addition of both water and metal salts (M_gCl₂ and LiCl) using conductivity and self-diffusion coefficient measurements. The conductivity of the samples at low water concentrations is surprisingly enhanced by the addition of the metal salt, contrary to lithium IL electrolytes. It was also found that the conductivity of the IL was increased by an order of magnitude by saturation with water. NMR diffusion measurements were used to probe the behaviour of both the cation and the water in the mixtures. It was found that the addition of metal salts to the water-saturated [P_6,6,6,14][Cl] did not affect the transport properties of the water or cation.

Structural composites embedded with lithium polymer batteries

Structural battery composites that concurrently carry load and store electric energy will
transform future vehicles. They can replace inert structural components and simultaneously provide supplementary power for light load applications. Rechargeable lithium polymer battery cells are embedded into carbon fibre/epoxy matrix composite laminates, which are then tested under tension and three-point bending to investigate the mechanical and electrical performances of structural batteries. The experimental results show that the integration of battery cells into composite laminates has negligible impact on the mechanical strengths of the composite structures. Furthermore, the battery cells remain 95% effective at loads up to about 60% of the ultimate flexural failure load and 50% of the ultimate tensile failure load.

Anxiety versus fundamental emotions as predictors of perceived functionality of pre-competitive emotional states, threat, and challenge in individual sports

The objectives of this study were to examine the contribution of anxiety and fundamental emotions to perceived emotion functionality and evaluate the informational value of anxiety measures used in sport versus measures of fundamental emotions in terms of appraisal. A battery of questionnaires comprising the somatic and cognitive subscale of the Competitive State Anxiety Inventory-2 (CSAI-2), the State Anxiety Inventory, the Differential Emotions Scale–IV, a perceived functionality of emotions single item, and two items assessing challenge and threat appraisals was administered to 202 athletes competing in individual sports in the United Kingdom. They were tested on recalled pre-competitive emotions experienced before their best and worst competition ever and momentary emotions experienced one hour before an actual competition. In general, measures of fundamental emotions with clear approach or avoidance action tendencies were better predictors of emotion functionality than anxiety measures. Results also suggested that the CSAI-2 does not convey clear information about an athlete’s appraisal of a competition. Measures of negative and positive fundamental emotions with clear action tendencies were better indicators of athletes’ appraisal patterns. It was concluded that assessment of athletes’ emotional state should not be exclusively based on anxiety measures but should encompass or be replaced with measures of emotions conveying unambiguous information about the athlete-competition relationship.

The relationship between body dysmorphic disorder symptoms and self-construals

Background:  Cognitive models of body dysmorphic disorder (BDD) suggest that beliefs and evaluations related to self-concept are central to the maintenance of the disorder, but such beliefs have received little empirical attention. This study examined the relative importance of contingent self-worth and self-ambivalence to BDD symptoms in comparison to their importance to obsessive–compulsive disorder and social phobia symptoms.

Method:  The sample comprised 194 non-clinical participants (female, N = 148; males, N = 46) with a mean age of 24.70 years (standard deviation = 9.34). Participants were asked to complete a battery of self-report questionnaires. Results:  While significant relationships were found between the self-beliefs and symptoms of all three disorders, some specificity was found in the relationships.

Conclusions:  Self-worth based upon appearance was most important in BDD, while contingent self-worth based on the approval of others was important in social phobia. Self-ambivalence was associated with each disorder. Implications and limitations are discussed.

The influence of confidence in memory on checking behaviours

Recent theories of Obsessive Compulsive Disorder have suggested that meta-cognitive beliefs, particular confidence in memory, may relate to the maintenance of symptoms. For example, individuals who worry that their memory is deficient may check in order to ensure that the doors are locked, regardless of their actual memory ability. While studies have related meta-memory beliefs to OCD symptoms, and have found that memory is affected by checking behaviours; to date, no experimental literature has attempted to ascertain whether lowered confidence in memory directly leads to greater checking behaviours. In the current study 46 non-clinical participants completed a battery of questionnaires measuring these constructs, before undertaking a “memory task” designed to manipulate their level of confidence in their memory. The effect of the manipulation on the level of checking on a visuomemory task was subsequently assessed. The questionnaires indicated that cognitive confidence predicted variation in obsessive-compulsive symptoms over-and-above the influence of depressive symptoms and other OCD-related beliefs. However, while confidence in memory was successfully manipulated, the group with increased memory confidence was not found to have lower checking behaviours. Limitations of the study are discussed and directions for further research are suggested.

Body image during pregnancy: an evaluation of the suitability of the body attitudes questionnaire

Background: 

Effects of mechanical deformation on electric performance of rechargeable batteries embedded in load carrying composite structures

Integrating rechargeable battery cells with fibre reinforced polymer matrix composites is a promising technology to enable composite structures to concurrently carry load and store electric energy, thus significantly reducing weight at the system level. To develop a design criterion for structural battery composites, rechargeable lithium polymer battery cells were embedded into carbon fibre/epoxy matrix composite laminates, which were then subjected to tensile, flexural and compressive loading. The electric charging/discharging properties were measured at varying levels of applied loads. The results showed that degradation in battery performance, such as voltagea and energy storage capacity, correlated well with the applied strain under three different loading conditions. Under compressive loading, battery cells, due to their multilayer construction, were unable to prevent buckling of composite face sheets due to the low lateral stiffness, leading to lower compressive strength that sandwich panels with foam core.