Number processing and calculation in Brazilian children aged 7-12 years

Numerical cognition is based on two components - number processing and calculation. Its development is influenced by biological, cognitive, educational, and cultural factors. The objectives of the present study were to: i) assess number processing and calculation in Brazilian children aged 7-12 years from public schools using the Zareki-R (Battery of neuropsychological tests for number processing and calculation in children, Revised; von Aster & Dellatolas, 2006) in order to obtain normative data for Portuguese speakers; ii) identify how environment, age, and gender influences the development of these mathematical skills; iii) investigate the construct validity of the Zareki-R by the contrast with the Arithmetic subtest of WISC-III. The sample included 172 children, both genders, divided in two groups: urban (N = 119) and rural (N = 53) assessed by the Zareki-R. Rural children presented lower scores in one aspect of number processing; children aged 7-8 years demonstrated an inferior global score than older; boys presented a superior performance in both number processing and calculation. Construct validity of Zareki-R was demonstrated by high to moderate correlations with Arithmetic subtest of WISC-III. The Zareki-R therefore is a suitable instrument to assess the development of mathematical skills, which is influenced by factors such as environment, age, and gender.     

The role of a lifetime history of oppositional defiant and conduct disorders in adults with ADHD: implications for clinical practice

IntroductionAttention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), oppositional defiant disorder (ODD), and conduct disorder (CD) are frequently co-occurring disorders in children and adolescents. However, their clinical status among adults is still under discussion. This study analyzes how the current clinical presentation of adult ADHD might be influenced by a lifetime history of CD and ODD. METHODS: We compared three groups of patients: ADHD without history of CD/ODD (n = 178), ADHD + history of ODD (n = 184), and ADHD + history of CD (n = 96). RESULTS: A history of CD (and to a lower extent ODD) is associated with a more severe and externalizing profile.ConclusionPast CD and ODD entail a significant negative mental health impact on persistent ADHD, reinforcing the importance of actively assessing the developmental history of adult ADHD patients.     

Unconscious vigilance: worldview defense without adaptations for terror, coalition, or uncertainty management

Individuals subtly reminded of death, coalitional challenges, or feelings of uncertainty display exaggerated preferences for affirmations and against criticisms of their cultural in-groups. Terror management, coalitional psychology, and uncertainty management theories postulate this "worldview defense" effect as the output of mechanisms evolved either to allay the fear of death, foster social support, or reduce anxiety by increasing adherence to cultural values. In 4 studies, we report evidence for an alternative perspective. We argue that worldview defense owes to unconscious vigilance, a state of accentuated reactivity to affective targets (which need not relate to cultural worldviews) that follows detection of subtle alarm cues (which need not pertain to death, coalitional challenges, or uncertainty). In Studies 1 and 2, death-primed participants produced exaggerated ratings of worldview-neutral affective targets. In Studies 3 and 4, subliminal threat manipulations unrelated to death, coalitional challenges, or uncertainty evoked worldview defense. These results are discussed as they inform evolutionary interpretations of worldview defense and future investigations of the influence of unconscious alarm on judgment. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved).     

Developmental dissociation of visual dorsal stream parvo and magnocellular representations and the functional impact of negative retinotopic BOLD responses

Localized neurodevelopmental defects provide an opportunity to study structure–function correlations in the human nervous system. This unique multimodal case report of epileptogenic dysplasia in the visual cortex allowed exploring visual function across distinct pathways in retinotopic regions and the dorsal stream, in relation to fMRI retinotopic mapping and spike triggered BOLD responses.     

Is time limit at the minimum swimming velocity of VO2 max influenced by stroking parameters?

The aim of this study was to observe the relationship between time limit at the minimum velocity that elicits maximal oxygen consumption (TLim-v VO2 max) and stroke rate, stroke length, and stroke index. 13 men and 10 women, highly trained swimmers, performed an intermittent incremental test for v VO2 max assessment and an all-out swim to estimate TLim-v VO2 max. The mean +/- SD TLim-v VO2 max, v VO2 max, stroke rate, stroke length, and stroke index values were 233.36 +/- 53.92 sec., 1.40 +/- .06 meter/sec., 35.58 +/- 2.89 cycles/min., 2.39 +/- .22 meter/cycle, and 3.36 +/- .41 meter2/(cycle x sec.), respectively. The correlation between TLim-v VO2 max and stroke rate was -.51 (p < .01), and values for TLim-v VO2 max with stroke length (r = .52, p < .01) and stroke index (r = .45, p < .05). These results seem to suggest that technical skill is a key factor in typical efforts requiring prolonged aerobic power.     

Pre‐menstrual period: Do women really consume more?

The aim of this study was to investigate female consumption behavior during the different menstrual cycle phases, regarding impulsivity, regret, willingness to pay, and purchase intention for hedonic and utilitarian products. This paper focuses on the gap between literary theory and common sense beliefs. A survey was conducted to 405 women. The results revealed no idiosyncrasy in behavior during the different cycle phases. Impulsive behavior explains the perception of regret; however, hormonal changes throughout the month could not support this correlation, which suggests the reported behavior to be different from the actual one. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Squares in Fork Arrow Logic

In this paper we show that the class of fork squares has a complete orthodox axiomatization in fork arrow logic (FAL). This result may be seen as an orthodox counterpart of Venema's non-orthodox axiomatization for the class of squares in arrow logic. FAL is the modal logic of fork algebras (FAs) just as arrow logic is the modal logic of relation algebras (RAs). FAs extend RAs by a binary fork operator and are axiomatized by adding three equations to RAs equational axiomatization. A proper FA is an algebra of relations where the fork is induced by an injective operation coding pair formation. In contrast to RAs, FAs are representable by proper ones and their equational theory has the expressive power of full first-order logic. A square semantics (the set of arrows is U×U for some set U) for arrow logic was defined by Y. Venema. Due to the negative results about the finite axiomatizability of representable RAs, Venema provided a non-orthodox finite axiomatization for arrow logic by adding a new rule governing the applications of a difference operator. We address here the question of extending the type of relational structures to define orthodox axiomatizations for the class of squares. Given the connections between this problem and the finitization problem addressed by I. Németi, we suspect that this cannot be done by using only logical operations. The modal version of the FA equations provides an orthodox axiomatization for FAL which is complete in view of the representability of FAs. Here we review this result and carry it further to prove that this orthodox axiomatization for FAL also axiomatizes the class of fork squares.