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The benefits of peer collaboration on strategy use, metacognitive casual attribution, and recall.

This study examined the benefits of a peer collaborative activity on cognitive strategy use and effectiveness, and on metacognitive understanding of strategy use. Children's knowledge about the effectiveness of the sorting strategy grouped them into lower and higher metacognitive understanding. Treatment group triads, consisting of children with lower and higher levels of metacognitive understanding, were given a collaborative recall task. Results indicated that interaction with children working at a higher level of metacognitive knowledge, in conjunction with directions to explicitly discuss strategies, increased strategy use and induced higher levels of metacognitive thinking in children who had been operating at lower levels of metacognitive thinking. overall, children's use of the sorting strategy and recall performance improved as a function of treatment group membership. Implications for future research are discussed.

Child↗

Cardiorespiratory function during exercise in obese children.

Fifteen obese children, aged 4 to 16 years and ranging in body weight from 27.3 to 95 kg (median 67.5) and percentage overweight from 22 to 127% (median 40), underwent graded exercise testing on a treadmill and were compared with healthy peers of comparable age. Cardiorespiratory performance capacity was assessed by determination of the ventilatory threshold. This was defined as the highest oxygen uptake at which the pulmonary ventilation stops to increase linearly with increasing exercise intensity. The ventilatory threshold, expressed as ml O2/min/kg, was significantly (p less than 0.05) lower than in normal children and averaged 70.6 +/- 13.5% of the normal mean value, matched for age. The habitual level of physical activity, assessed by a questionnaire, was 27% lower (p less than 0.01) in the obese children compared to healthy controls. As the ventilatory threshold was strikingly lower and also exceeded sooner in the majority of the obese children, compared with normal controls, it may be assumed that obese children avoid moderate or strenuous exercise, because of the higher degree of effort needed. This may contribute to the maintenance of overweight.

Adolescent↗

The DDE recombinases: diverse roles in acquired and innate immunity.

BACKGROUND: The RAG proteins required for V(D)J recombination of immunoglobulin and T-cell receptor genes in the acquired immune response contain a magnesium ion-binding site termed a DDE site, composed of D (aspartic acid) and E (glutamic acid) amino acids. A similar DDE-like magnesium binding site also is present in transposases, retroviral integrases, and the innate antiviral response enzymes RNAse H and RNA-induced silencing complex (RISC). OBJECTIVE: To help clinicians understand immunodeficiency that results from deficiencies of RAG protein functions, such as severe combined immunodeficiency disorders, Omenn syndrome, and ataxia telangiectasia, and to be familiar with the diverse roles of other DDE enzymes. METHODS: Literature published in peer-reviewed journals during the past 2 decades that identified and characterized DDE enzymes, including RAG proteins, RISC and RNA silencing, RNAse H, retroviral integrases, transposases, and a putative DDE recombinase required for herpes virus replication, was selectively reviewed and summarized by the author. RESULTS: DDE enzymes play a critical role in acquired immunity through RAG-mediated immunoglobulin and T-cell receptor V(D)J recombination in innate immunity through RISC and RNAse H. Paradoxically, DDE enzymes are critical components of pathogen-specific enzymes such as retroviral integrase and other pathogen-encoded proteins. CONCLUSION: Because of their critical role in acquired and innate immunity, the DDE recombinases are attractive targets for novel pharmacologic therapies. Currently, retroviral integrase inhibitors in clinical trial for human immunodeficiency virus infection appear to be safe and effective and could provide a paradigm for inactivating DDE sites in other viral pathogens, as well as RAG and RISC.

Animals↗

Educational attainments in early adolescence of infants who required major neonatal surgery.

PURPOSE: The aim of this study was to assess long-term educational attainment in adolescence of former infants who required major neonatal surgery. METHODS: The study is an extension of a prospective longitudinal study begun in 1983 on 30 full-term newborns requiring major neonatal surgery, a matched healthy control group, and full-term infants requiring neonatal intensive care for medical reasons. Educational attainment levels were obtained from the results of compulsory national curriculum examinations taken at age 11 years in 3 core academic subjects, English, Mathematics, and Science and teachers' assessments of current academic performance. Additionally, follow-up data on health were obtained from family general practitioners and parents. RESULTS: Seventy percent of the original surgical group, 48% of the original control group, and 77% of the original medical group underwent follow-up. The participants were aged between 11 and 13 years. After adjustment for social factors (gender, social group, and mother's age), the surgical group was significantly behind on all measures of educational attainment (English, P < .0005; Mathematics, P < .02; Science, P < .0005; academic performance, P = .004), compared with the control group and medical group who did not differ from each other. Independent predictors of outcome were mechanical ventilation for >or=4 days in the neonatal period and behavior problems at 3 years. At 12 months of age, independent predictors of cognitive functioning were length of hospitalization and, at 3 years of age, the number of operative procedures. Mechanical ventilation was not significantly associated with cognitive functioning at previous stages of the study. CONCLUSIONS: These results show that, in early adolescence, children who required major neonatal surgery were performing less well academically compared with their peers. This information can be used to increase awareness of the difficulties these children may experience during childhood so that intervention can be directed appropriately, thereby lessening the risk of later educational problems. J Pediatr Surg 36:858-862.

Achievement↗

Methods for identifying and assessing groups in health behavioral research.

Methods to study groups developed in other fields have much to contribute to the study of health behavior, including alcohol and substance use. This paper surveys group methods in order to demonstrate how attention to group levels of analysis can provide new insights about the context and causes of health behavior. The first major section of this paper focuses on the influences on health behavior associated with "naturally occurring groups" such as peer networks, families, workplaces, neighborhoods, churches, treatment groups and residential settings. Different aspects of group influence are discussed in terms of seven different features of social groups: history, structure, function, resources, process, norms and climate. The second major part of this paper is concerned with methods to identify meaningful subgroups in heterogeneous samples. Following an overview of taxonomic methods to identify and assign cases to groups, we highlight the potential for these methods to help address a number of fundamental theoretical problems in health behavioral research, including: describing cultural diversity, distinguishing response sets in survey research, controlling error in outcomes scores related to baseline differences, tracking trajectories of change, and revealing interactions among determinants of health behavior. The third and final section of the paper highlights specific applications of taxonomic and group-influence methodologies in intervention research, including design and analysis of randomized trials, studies of existing treatment settings and group-level variables involved in translational research.

Group Processes↗

The relationship between the quality of cooperative learning, students' goal preferences, and perceptions of contextual factors in the classroom.

This study examined relationships between the quality of cooperative learning (CL) and students' goal preferences and perceptions of contextual factors in the classroom. Subjects were 1,920 students in secondary vocational schools. The study focused on four different types of goals: social support, belongingness, mastery, and superiority goals. It was found that social support goals had the strongest relation with the quality of CL. Further we found that the quality of CL was best predicted by a combination of social support goals, evaluations of the extent that students were taught cooperation skills, perception of teacher monitoring behavior, and the availability of academic and emotional peer support. Female students' preferences for mastery and social goals were stronger than those of male students, whereas male students had a stronger preference for superiority goals. Program type functioned as a moderator variable within the relation of students' superiority/ individuality goals and the quality of CL.

Adolescent↗

Disagreement between parent and adolescent reports of functional impairment.

OBJECTIVE: Adolescents' functional impairment has become increasingly important as a criterion for diagnosis and service eligibility as well as a target of therapeutic intervention in mental health settings. This study examines three critical issues in measuring functioning: 1) agreement between parent and adolescent reports of functioning, 2) explanations for disagreement, and 3) clinicians' ratings of functioning compared with parent and adolescent reports. METHODS: Agreement between parent and adolescent reports of functioning was estimated using the kappa statistic and conditional agreement in a sample of 258 adolescents. Rates of and reasons for expected disagreements between informants were explored in semi-structured interviews (n = 43). ANOVA was calculated for clinician ratings for parent-adolescent pairs categorized on the basis of their agreement or disagreement on impairment. Finally, the independent contribution of parents' or adolescents' reports of impairment on clinician ratings of functioning was examined. RESULTS: From 12% to 97% of problems reported by one informant were denied by the other. Agreement was particularly poor for questions about relationships with friends, peers' delinquent behaviors, and leisure activities. On average, parents and adolescents were more likely to expect the other would agree with their ratings rather than disagree. Reasons for disagreement included: 1) differences in how parents and adolescents interpreted questions; 2) lack of parental awareness of adolescents' behaviors; and 3) different thresholds for what is considered problematic. Results also demonstrated that clinicians perceive problems reported only by parents as somewhat more serious than problems reported only by adolescents. CONCLUSIONS: Implications for diagnosis, treatment planning and outcomes measurement are discussed.

Adjustment Disorders↗

Obesity, dyslipidemias and erectile dysfunction: a report of a subcommittee of the sexual medicine society of North America.

Because of increasingly sedentary lifestyles and diets higher in saturated fats, obesity and dyslipidemias are common and increasing in prevalence in Westernized countries. Longitudinal population-based studies clearly demonstrate that dyslipidemias and obesity, as well as factors such as hypertension, diabetes, and smoking, are major risk factors for atherosclerosis. Both clinical and animal models of endothelial dysfunction confirm that atherosclerosis leads to increased cerebrovascular and cardiovascular morbidity. Clinical studies with hypolipidemic agents demonstrate that hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl coenzyme A reductase inhibitors can decrease the risk of vascular morbidity. An increasing body of evidence from animal models demonstrates that hypercholesterolemia and atherosclerosis are risk factors for the development of erectile dysfunction (ED). This causal relationship between obesity and dyslipidemias with the development of ED in humans still needs further definition with convincing peer-reviewed scientific studies. The challenge for the future will be to define the benefit of controlling obesity and dyslipidemias on the development of ED and improvement of erectile function.

Animals↗

Substance use and psychosocial functioning in schizophrenia among new enrollees in the NIMH CATIE study.

OBJECTIVE: This study examined the relationship between substance use and psychosocial functioning in schizophrenia. METHODS: Participants were enrolled in the Clinical Antipsychotic Trials of Intervention Effectiveness. This study used baseline assessments and examined psychosocial functioning assessed by the Quality of Life Scale. Participants were classified as being abstinent, using substances, or having a substance use disorder. RESULTS: Of the 1,460 participants, 23 percent used substances and 37 percent had a substance use disorder. Of the 544 with a substance use disorder, 87 percent used alcohol, 44 percent used marijuana, and 36 percent used cocaine. Compared with participants who used substances, those with a substance use disorder had higher rates of polysubstance use. Compared with those who were abstinent, those who used substances had higher overall psychosocial functioning, and those with a substance use disorder had similar overall functioning but lower scores on the common objects and activities subscales. Among participants with a substance use disorder, those who used cocaine had lower overall functioning. CONCLUSIONS: Compared with abstinence, substance use and substance use disorder, unless they involved cocaine use, were generally associated with higher or equivalent overall psychosocial functioning. Patterns of substance use were similar to those in the community, suggesting that treatment of substance use disorders in schizophrenia should focus on reconnecting substance users to nonusing peer groups.

Adult↗

Discriminant analysis of gross and fine motor proficiency data.

Two classes of non-handicapped and two classes of handicapped children (n = 67), aged 5 to 12 years, took part in a study designed to determine whether a regular or specially designed physical education program suited their individual needs best. Initially receiving instruction with class peers each child was administered the 14-item short-form Bruininks-Oseretsky Test of Motor Proficiency. Discriminant analysis of the data indicated that two of the three functions were significant, together accounting for 93% of the variance. For each significant function fewer than half the test items contributed substantial discriminatory power. Over-all, 75% of the subjects were correctly classified but misclassifications occurred in each class; different placements seem appropriate for non-handicapped and handicapped children.

Child↗

The relation of conceptual tempo to aggression and its control.

The relationship of conceptual tempo to fantasy and overt aggression and its control was examined in order to test the generalizability of this cognitive style to domains of social and personality functioning. Fifth-grade boys and girls were administered the Matching Familiar Figures Test and a projective measure of fantasy aggression and its control and were rated sociometrically by peers and teachers on physical, verbal, and indirect forms of overt aggression. While reflective and impulsive children did not differ in degree of fantasy aggression expressed, impulsive children, especially boys, were found to exercise less control over their aggressive thoughts than the other 3 conceptual tempo groups. Impulsive and slow-inaccurate children were also more overtly aggressive, especially in comparison with fast-accurates. In addition, fantasy aggression predicted overt aggression in impulsives but not in reflectives. This study presents new evidence that conceptual tempo relates to areas beyond problem solving involving the child's social-emotional makeup.

Aggression↗

Family and parenting interventions in children and adolescents with conduct disorder and delinquency aged 10-17.

BACKGROUND: Conduct disorder and delinquency are significant problems for children and adolescents and their families, with the potential to consume much of the resources of the health, social care and juvenile justice systems. A number of family and parenting interventions have been recommended and are used for these conditions. The aim of this review was to determine if these interventions are effective in the management of conduct disorder and delinquency in children and adolescents, aged 10-17. OBJECTIVES: To determine if family and parenting interventions improve the child/adolescent's behaviour; parenting and parental mental health; family functioning and relations; and have an effect on the long term psychosocial outcomes for the child/adolescent. SEARCH STRATEGY: Randomised controlled trials were identified through searching the Cochrane Controlled Trial Register (CCTR), databases (MEDLINE, EMBASE, PsycINFO, CINAHL, Sociofile, ERIC, Healthstar), reference lists of articles and contact with authors. SELECTION CRITERIA: Randomised controlled trials with a major focus on parenting and/or family functioning were eligible for inclusion in the review. Trials needed to include at least one objective outcome measure (e.g. arrest rates) or have used a measure that had been published in peer review publications and validated for the relevant purpose. Studies were required to have a control group, which could be a no intervention group, a wait list group or a usual intervention group (e.g. probation). Trials in children and adolescents aged 10 to 17 years with conduct disorder and/or delinquency and their families were considered. Conduct disorder was defined by a standardised psychological assessment (for example, using a child behaviour checklist), or a psychiatric diagnosis. Delinquency was defined by a referral from a juvenile justice or another legal system for a child/adolescent who has committed a serious crime e.g assault and/or offended on at least two occasions. DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS: Two reviewers independently reviewed all eligible studies for inclusion, assessed study quality (allocation concealment, blinding, follow up, clinically important outcomes) and extracted data. Heterogeneity was assessed using the Chi squared test of heterogeneity along with visual inspection of the data. A significance level less than 0.1 was interpreted as evidence of statistically significant heterogeneity. For data where heterogeneity was found the reviewers looked for an explanation. If studies with heterogeneous results were thought to be comparable the statistical synthesis of the results was done using a random effects model. This model takes into account within-study sampling error and between-studies variation in the assessment of uncertainty and will give wider confidence intervals to the effect size and hence a more conservative result. Sensitivity analysis was performed to explore the effects of the varying quality of the studies included on the results. MAIN RESULTS: Of the nine hundred and seventy titles initially identified through the search strategy, eight trials met the inclusion criteria. A total of 749 children and their families were randomised to receive a family and parenting intervention or to be in a control group. In seven of these studies the participants were juvenile delinquents and their families and in only one the participants were children/adolescents with conduct disorder who had not yet had contact with the juvenile justice system. At follow up, family and parenting interventions significantly reduced the time spent by juvenile delinquents in institutions (WMD 51.34 days, 95%CI 72.52 to 30.16). There was also a significant reduction in the risk of a juvenile delinquent being re arrested (RR 0.66, 95%CI 0.44 to 0.98) and in their rate of subsequent arrests at 1-3 years (SMD -0.56, 95% CI -1.100 to - 0.03). For both of these outcomes there was substantial heterogeneity in the results suggesting a need for caution in interpretation. At present there is insufficient evidence that family and parenting interventions reduce the risk of being incarcerated (RR=0.50, 95% CI 0.20 to 1.21). No significant difference was found for psychosocial outcomes such as family functioning, and child/adolescent behaviour. REVIEWER'S CONCLUSIONS: The evidence suggests that family and parenting interventions for juvenile delinquents and their families have beneficial effects on reducing time spent in institutions. This has an obvious benefit to the participant and their family and may result in a cost saving for society. These interventions may also reduce rates of subsequent arrest but at present these results need to be interpreted with caution due to the heterogeneity of the results.

Adolescent↗

The PDGF/VEGF receptor controls blood cell survival in Drosophila.

The Drosophila PDGF/VEGF receptor (PVR) has known functions in the guidance of cell migration. We now demonstrate that during embryonic hematopoiesis, PVR has a role in the control of antiapoptotic cell survival. In Pvr mutants, a large fraction of the embryonic hemocyte population undergoes apoptosis, and the remaining blood cells cannibalistically phagocytose their dying peers. Consequently, total hemocyte numbers drop dramatically during embryogenesis, and large aggregates of engorged macrophages carrying multiple apoptotic corpses form. Hemocyte-specific expression of the pan-caspase inhibitor p35 in Pvr mutants eliminates hemocyte aggregates and restores blood cell counts and morphology. Additional rescue experiments suggest involvement of the Ras pathway in PVR-mediated blood cell survival. In cell culture, we demonstrate that PVR directly controls survival of a hemocyte cell line. This function of PVR shows striking conservation with mammalian hematopoiesis and establishes Drosophila as a model to study hematopoietic cell survival in development and disease.

Animals↗

Ethical dilemmas in scientific publication: pitfalls and solutions for editors.

Editors of scientific journals need to be conversant with the mechanisms by which scientific misconduct is amplified by publication practices. This paper provides definitions, ways to document the extent of the problem, and examples of editorial attempts to counter fraud. Fabrication, falsification, duplication, ghost authorship, gift authorship, lack of ethics approval, non-disclosure, 'salami' publication, conflicts of interest, auto-citation, duplicate submission, duplicate publications, and plagiarism are common problems. Editorial misconduct includes failure to observe due process, undue delay in reaching decisions and communicating these to authors, inappropriate review procedures, and confounding a journal's content with its advertising or promotional potential. Editors also can be admonished by their peers for failure to investigate suspected misconduct, failure to retract when indicated, and failure to abide voluntarily by the six main sources of relevant international guidelines on research, its reporting and editorial practice. Editors are in a good position to promulgate reasonable standards of practice, and can start by using consensus guidelines on publication ethics to state explicitly how their journals function. Reviewers, editors, authors and readers all then have a better chance to understand, and abide by, the rules of publishing.

Advertising↗

Recruitment of periventricular parietal regions in processing cluttered point-light biological motion.

Recent findings point to the existence of a cortical-subcortical parietal network that drives attention-related integration of features and elements. Here we ask whether the functioning of this network might be modulated by early periventricular lesions. To this end, a cohort of adolescents who were born premature with different severity of bilateral periventricular leukomalacia (PVL) and two groups of matched peers (term-born adolescents and former preterms with normal MRI scan) were shown a set of impoverished point-light stimuli. Observers had to detect a point-light walker embedded in an array of distracters mimicking the motion of the target's dots. Patients exhibited higher susceptibility to distortions caused by distracters. In patients only, sensitivity to the point-light figure highly correlates not just with performance on additionally administered feature integration tasks but also on visual attention-demanding IQ tasks. Moreover, the sensitivity index, as well as the values of both IQ factors, decreases with an increase in the volumetric PVL extent in the parieto-occipital region. No relationship was found between these variables and the lesion extent in the frontal or temporal periventricular regions. The data suggest that visual integration and attention in processing cluttered point-light displays are intimately connected. Most importantly, periventricular parieto-occipital regions might be part of a distributed network recruited in deployment of the posterior attentional system. The functioning of this system seems to be vulnerable to bilateral periventricular damage even if it occurs very early in brain development.

Adolescent↗

Data bank has operational impact. Proper peer review can protect hospitals from antitrust and defamation suits.

The Health Care Quality Improvement Act of 1986 can help protect medical professionals and healthcare facilities from antitrust and defamation claims and other forms of litigation arising from the peer review process. Some hospitals may need to make major changes in their peer review activity as a result of the act. The healthcare entity, not the physicians involved in peer review, has the burden of complying with the provisions of the act. Failure to comply with the act can lead to loss of immunity from damages, fines, and potential exclusion from the Medicare program. The potential for liability has sparked a need for hospitals to reexamine and possibly reorganize medical staff and update procedures and related governing documents. Healthcare entities may consider changes such as implementing a director of medical affairs function, choosing medical staff for multiple-year terms, and centralizing physician review files. In the 1980s many hospitals created quality assurance and risk management programs. Risk managers need to share data with quality assurance personnel, who must in turn share the information with medical staff involved with credentialing, peer review, and medical affairs management. Legal counsel will need to be familiar with the legalities of the act, as well as the hospital's peer review procedures and operations. General legal counsel should oversee coordination of hospital proceedings and assist in educating staff on the legalities of peer review.

Credentialing↗