Ⅰ期颈椎前后路手术治疗后纵韧带骨化症

为了探讨颈椎前后路手术治疗后纵韧带骨化症的疗效,对65例后纵韧带骨化症患者,Ⅰ期行颈椎前后路手术,采用JOA评分和X线,CT对手术效果进行评价。结果显示,按JOA标准评定,优良率为94％。术后X线及CT均示椎管有效矢状径增加,硬膜囊压迫解除。因此,颈椎前后路手术可以达到减压、稳定的目的,手术效果良好。     

Coefficients Alpha,Beta, Omega,and the glb: Comments on Sijtsma

There are three fundamental problems in Sijtsma (Psychometrika, 2008): (1) contrary to the name, the glb is not the greatest lower bound of reliability but rather is systematically less than ω _t (McDonald, Test theory: A unified treatment, Erlbaum, Hillsdale, 1999), (2) we agree with Sijtsma that when considering how well a test measures one concept, α is not appropriate, but recommend ω _t rather than the glb, and (3) the end user needs procedures that are readily available in open source software.     

On the Use,the Misuse,and the Very Limited Usefulness of Cronbach’s Alpha

This discussion paper argues that both the use of Cronbach’s alpha as a reliability estimate and as a measure of internal consistency suffer from major problems. First, alpha always has a value, which cannot be equal to the test score’s reliability given the interitem covariance matrix and the usual assumptions about measurement error. Second, in practice, alpha is used more often as a measure of the test’s internal consistency than as an estimate of reliability. However, it can be shown easily that alpha is unrelated to the internal structure of the test. It is further discussed that statistics based on a single test administration do not convey much information about the accuracy of individuals’ test performance. The paper ends with a list of conclusions about the usefulness of alpha.     

The role of the right posterior parietal cortex in temporal order judgment

Perceived order of two consecutive stimuli may not correspond to the order of their physical onsets. Such a disagreement presumably results from a difference in the speed of stimulus processing toward central decision mechanisms. Since previous evidence suggests that the right posterior parietal cortex (PPC) plays a role in modulating the processing speed of a visual target, we applied single-pulse TMS over the region in 14 normal subjects, while they judged the temporal order of two consecutive visual stimuli. Stimulus-onset-asynchrony (SOA) randomly varied between -100 and 100 ms in 20-ms steps (with a positive SOA when a target appeared on the right hemi-field before the other on the left), and a point of subjective simultaneity was measured for individual subjects. TMS stimulation was time-locked at 50, 100, 150, and 200 ms after the onset of the first stimulus, and results in trials with TMS on right PPC were compared with those in trials without TMS. TMS over the right PPC delayed the detection of a visual target in the contralateral, i.e., left hemi-field by 24 (+/-7 SE) ms and 16 (+/-4 SE) ms, when the stimulation was given at 50 and 100 ms after the first target onset. In contrast, TMS on the left PPC was not effective. These results show that the right PPC is important in a timely detection of a target appearing on the left visual field, especially in competition with another target simultaneously appearing in the opposite field.     

孤独症谱系障碍者的生物运动探测障碍：基于行为与神经的证据

关于孤独症谱系障碍个体探测生物运动的能力是否受损,已有行为研究尚存分歧。导致分歧的原因可能是实验刺激、实验任务和测量指标存在差异。然而,神经研究却一致证实其潜在的神经机制存在异常。领域特殊性观点认为该障碍可能是基于后侧颞上沟功能异常的社会性功能障碍,也可能是基于镜像神经元功能异常的社会性功能障碍;而领域一般性观点认为该障碍可能是基于背侧视觉流功能异常的视运动知觉障碍,也可能基于脑功能联结异常的弱中央统合障碍。据此,本文将从研究范式、行为表现及潜在机制三个方面梳理相关研究,以期为后续研究提供新方向。     

Psychometric properties of the Danish 16PF and EPQ

A Danish translation of the Cattell's 16PF has been used in studies evaluating the effects of prenatal drug exposure. This paper reports a psychometric analysis of the 16PF and Eysenck's EPQ based on a sample of 558 young Danes. Many 16PF scales had unacceptable psychometric properties (as indicated by coefficient alpha and item–total score correlations), but more satisfactory results were obtained with the EPQ N and E scales. A factor analysis of all 16PF and EPQ scales suggested a six factor solution that roughly corresponds to the second-order factor structure obtained by Krug and Johns (1986). It is concluded that the second-order factor structure should be the basis of interpretation of the 16PF in both practical and research contexts.     

Evidence of the origin of specific spontaneous head turns during intertrial intervals

Direction and the frequency of spontaneous head movements during the ITIs following forward and backward paired trials were compared to an acquisition of a conditioned orienting (alpha) response directed to the side of the tone source. The head movements were analyzed from video recordings using classification of head turns to preferred and to nonpreferred directions. The results showed a significant increase in the alpha responses during the forward paired conditioning to the preferred direction and rapid extinction during the subsequent backward conditioning sessions. Spontaneous head movements during the ITIs increased to the same preferred direction as the conditioned alpha responses. The results of this experiment suggest that the response initially elicited by the CS can later appear as “spontaneous,” instrumental behavior, the form and the nature of which is determined by the characteristics of the conditioned alpha response developing as a result of classical conditioning.     

A bayesian estimation of factor score in confirmatory factor model with polytomous, censored or truncated data

The posterior analysis in estimating factor score in a confirmatory factor analysis model with polytomous, censored or truncated data is investigated in this paper. For the above three types of data, posterior distributions of the factor score are studied, and the estimators of the factor score are obtained to be the location parameters of the posterior distributions. The accuracy of Bayesian estimates is studied via simulation studies.This research was supported by a Hong Kong UGC grant.     

Role of amygdala-prefrontal cortex circuitry in regulating the expression of contextual fear memory

The basolateral amygdala (BLA) and medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) are inter-connected regions involved in fear memory expression. The reciprocal nature of projections between these areas differs along the rostrocaudal extent of BLA. This study investigated the role of functional interactions between BLA and the prelimbic (PL) subregion of mPFC in mediating contextual fear memory. Freezing served as the measure of conditioned fear. Experiments 1–3 examined the effects of left, right or bilateral infusion of bupivacaine into anterior BLA (aBLA), posterior BLA (pBLA) or PL on fear memory expression. Reversible inactivation of left, right or bilateral aBLA impaired fear memory expression. Bilateral inactivation of pBLA or PL also disrupted the expression of fear memory, although left or right inactivation alone had no significant effects in either region. Experiment 4 examined the effects of functionally disconnecting pBLA and PL on contextual fear memory by infusing bupivacaine unilaterally into pBLA and PL in the ipsilateral or contralateral hemisphere. Fear memory expression was impaired by asymmetric inactivation of pBLA and PL; however, a similar effect was also observed with symmetric inactivation of these regions. Bupivacaine infusion did not affect behavior in the open field, likely ruling out non-specific effects of inactivation on innate fear and locomotor activity. These results demonstrate different roles for rostral and caudal BLA in mediating the expression of contextual fear memory. They also raise the possibility that pBLA–PL circuitry is involved in subserving fear memory expression via complex processing mechanisms, although further research is needed to confirm this preliminary finding.