Memory for the Rey-Osterrieth Figure: Perceptual clustering, encoding, and storage.

Administered copy, immediate recall, and delayed recall conditions of the Rey-Osterrieth Complex Figure (ROCF) test to 50 neuropsychiatric patients (aged 23–83 yrs). Measures of copy accuracy, perceptual clustering, encoding, and savings were computed. Perceptual clustering in the copy condition was a better predictor of memory performance than was copy accuracy. An absence of association between the encoding score and the savings score suggests that these indices reflect different cognitive processes. The need to assess both immediate and delayed recall of the ROCF is emphasized. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Deficits of Organizational Strategy and Visual Memory in Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder.

This study was conducted to investigate the deficits of organizational strategy and visual memory in obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). Thirty OCD patients and 30 healthy controls aged 20-35 years participated. The Maudsley Obsessive-Compulsive Inventory, Beck Anxiety Inventory, Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale, and Rey-Osterrieth Complex Figure (ROCF) test were administered to participants. The authors scored ROCF performances using the Boston Qualitative Scoring System. The OCD patients showed poorer planning ability and higher fragmentation than did healthy controls when copying the ROCF, and they showed even poorer performances in the immediate and delayed recall conditions. The authors found that the Organization score in the copy condition mediated the difference between the OCD group and the healthy group in immediate recall. The direct effect of diagnosis (OCD or healthy) on the immediate recall condition of the ROCF was also significant. This study indicates that people with OCD have poor memory function and organizational deficits. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Performance of children with ADHD on the Rey-Osterrieth complex figure: a pilot neuropsychological study

This study evaluates the performance of boys with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) on the Rey-Osterrieth Complex Figure (ROCF) taking into consideration familiality and comorbid psychiatric and learning disorders (LD). Sixty-five children with ADHD performed at developmentally lower levels of Copy Organization and Recall Style than did 45 controls. ADHD children with LD scored significantly lower on Copy Organization than did ADHD children without LD, whereas psychiatric comorbidity and familiality had no effect. These results suggest that a developmental analysis of the ROCF identifies organizational difficulties associated with ADHD and that these impairments cannot simply be attributed to comorbidities associated with ADHD.     

Positive mood and executive function: Evidence from Stroop and fluency tasks.

Contrasting predictions have been made about the effects of positive mood states on the performance of frontal lobe tests that tap executive functions such as inhibition, switching, and strategy use. It has been argued that positive mood is likely to improve some cognitive processes, particularly those dependent on the frontal cortex and anterior cingulate of the brain. However, there is some evidence that happy mood may impair executive functioning. The current experiments investigated the effects of positive mood on Stroop and fluency tests, which are frequently used to assess executive function. Positive mood impaired performance on a switching condition of the Stroop test, but improved performance on a creative uses test of fluency. The effect of positive mood on an executive task may therefore depend on whether a task is inherently motivating or is impaired by diffuse semantic activation. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Visuoconstructional problems in dementia: Contribution of executive systems functions.

Visuoconstructional ability was assessed by asking patients diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease (AD), ischaemic vascular dementia (IVD), and Parkinson's disease (PD) and a normal control group (NC) to copy a modification of the Rey–Osterrieth Complex Figure (M–ROCF). The drawings of the NC group were superior to all dementia participants. AD patients generally outperformed LVD and PD patients; however, there were few differences between LVD and PD groups. Nonetheless, the drawings of LVD and PD patients were very fragmented and contained numerous perseverations and omissions. Despite these errors, patients with LVD and PD obtained higher delayed recognition memory scores than AD patients. Correlational analyses among dementia patients between neuropsychological tests and the copy of the M–ROCF found that accurate figure copy was most consistently correlated with tests of working memory, that is, tests requiring patients to monitor their behavior and sustain a complex mental set while performing mental manipulations. By contrast, no relationship between executive function tests related to measures of response selection/inhibition or other domains of neuropsychological functioning was found. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Task switching performance reveals heterogeneity amongst patients with mild cognitive impairment.

Objective: To assess executive function in patients with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and to determine whether task switching ability is associated with transition to Alzheimer's disease. Methods: Twenty-seven MCI patients and 19 older controls were tested using a cued letter-digit classification switching task. Sixteen patients could perform the task (MCI-able), 6 could not (MCI-unable), and 5 were able only with cognitive support (MCI-cue). Demographic, neuropsychological, event-related potential (ERP), MRI, and genetic data were also collected. Results: The four groups did not differ on age, gender, and APO E4 frequency. Compared to the controls, the MCI-unable group had significantly poorer performance on the Trail Making task (η2 = .430), lower education (η2 = .234), and smaller cortical volume (η2 = .245). Most MCI patients exhibited task-switching deficits but to vastly different degrees and with varying outcomes. The combined pattern of neuropsychological and task switching performance indicates that the MCI-able patients displayed memory retrieval difficulties (F(2,39) = 3.6, p = .036, MSE = 1.44), generally preserved task switching abilities, and had a high probability of remaining dementia-free at follow-up. The MCI-cue patients had increased mixing costs, F(2,39) = 11.0, p     

Framework for Recycling of Wastes in Construction

Waste and recycled materials (WRM) that are used in structural systems are required to satisfy material strength, durability, and leachability requirements. These materials exhibit a wide variety of characteristics, owing to the diversity of industrial processes that produce them. Several laboratory-based investigations have been conducted to assess the pollution potential and load-bearing capacity of materials such as petroleum-contaminated soils, coal combustion ash, flue-gas desulphurization gypsum, and foundry sand. For full-scale systems that incorporate WRM, although environmental pollution potential and structural integrity are interrelated, comprehensive schemes have not been widely used for integrated assessment of the relevant field-scale performance factors. In this paper, a framework for such an assessment is proposed and presented in the form of a flowchart. The proposed framework enables economic, environmental, worker safety, and engineering factors to be addressed in a number of sequential steps. Quantitative methods and test protocols that have been developed can be incorporated into the proposed scheme for assessing the feasibility of using WRM as partial or full substitutes for traditional materials in construction.     

Is adrenalectomy part of radical nephrectomy?

The spread of Classical Swine Fever (CSF) virus (strain Lorraine), originally isolated in the first CSF infected herd of the 1993-1994 Belgian epizootic, was examined in an isolation unit with three adjacent pens and 15 weaner pigs per pen. Virus was introduced through experimental inoculation of one weaner pig in the middle pen (pen 2). The experimentally inoculated pig became viraemic 4 days post-inoculation (dpi) and the pen mates at 12 (n = 9) and 14 dpi (n = 5). The first viraemia in pens 1 and 3 was observed 18 dpi. Pigs were found to be seropositive in pens 1, 2, and 3 from 24, 20, and 22 dpi onwards, respectively. The reproduction ratio (R0) for the pigs in pen 2, estimated according to the martingale method, was 81.3 (s.e. = 109.54). The rate ratio (Cox proportional hazard) of the first pigs to become viraemic in pen 3 (airborne contact plus contact via contaminated clothing and footwear with pen 2) versus pen 1 (airborne contact with pen 2 only) was 1.60 (P = 0.3342). Thus, the additional contact of contaminated clothing did not affect transmission of the CSF virus. The survivor function (Kaplan-Meier survival analysis) did not significantly differ per pen. The time from first detection of virus in plasma to death was not significantly different between pens. The mean rectal temperature of pigs in a pen increased 3 to 4 days prior to detection of virus. The proportion of seropositive pigs per pen (p) from the day the first weaner pig in a pen became viraemic (dpf) was examined as a function of time with a logistic regression model. The model parameter estimates did not differ between pens. Hence, the data from the three pens were pooled. The regression equation of the seroprevalence over time for the pooled data was p = 1/[1+e(4.65-0.39 *dpf)].     

Risk factors for vulva biting in breeding sows in south-west England

A postal survey was conducted on 410 pig farms in south-west England to investigate the risk factors for vulva biting. The results of the bivariate analyses indicated that group housing, keeping a boar in the same pen and the number of sows per drinker were significantly associated (P < or = 0.05) with vulva biting in service sows. Group housing, group size, keeping a boar in the same pen, straw bedding, electronic sow feeders, feeding once daily, providing water automatically and the number of sows per drinker were significantly associated with vulva biting in dry sows. Vulva biting was also significantly associated with an increased percentage of culled sows and the occurrence of tail biting on the farm. A logistic regression analysis showed that group size and the number of sows per drinker were significant risk factors for vulva biting in service sows, and once a day feeding, group size, the number of sows per drinker and providing water automatically were significant risk factors for dry sows.     

Record keeping in two types of relationships.

Three studies with 109 undergraduates tested the predictions that members of exchange relationships would keep track of individual inputs into joint tasks and members of communal relationships would not. In each study, Ss worked on a task with a partner with whom they (a) desired or had a communal relationship or (b) desired or had an exchange relationship. The task involved locating and circling number sequences in a large matrix. Whether Ss used a pen of the same or of a different color from that used by their partner served as the dependent measure. If partners worked with pens of the same color, individual inputs were obsured. If they worked with different color pens, individual inputs were clear. As predicted, in all 3 studies the proportion of Ss in the exchange conditions who chose a different color pen was significantly greater than 50% and was significantly greater than the proportion of Ss in the communal conditions who chose a different color pen. Also as expected, in no study was this percentage greater than 50% in the communal conditions. When Ss anticipated rather than had an existing communal relationship with the other (Study 1), the proportion of communal Ss choosing a different color pen was significantly lower than 50%. (24 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Methods of peer assessment.

Reviews research on 3 methods of peer assessment: peer nominations, peer ratings, and peer rankings. Each method is evaluated in terms of its practicality, reliability, validity, freedom from bias, and acceptability. Among the conclusions drawn are that peer assessment can be reliable and valid and that it is best used as part of a multisource approach to performance assessment. Peer nomination has been the subject of the most research and appears to have the highest validity and reliability. Peer rating is the most useful of the 3 methods for feedback purposes but also produces the least valid, reliable, and unbiased measurements. Peer ranking has been the least researched of the 3 methods but is by nature the most discriminating method and can incorporate nonmetric scaling advances that might establish it as the all-purpose method of choice. (69 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Microsurgical epididymal sperm aspiration versus epididymal micropuncture with perivascular nerve stimulation for intracytoplasmic sperm injection to treat unreconstructable obstructive azoospermia

A novel sperm collection method by epididymal micropuncture combined with perivascular nerve stimulation has been developed to obtain as many clean sperm as possible for IVF for patients with surgically irreparable vasal obstruction. To assess whether the new technique could improve the fertilization and pregnancy rates obtained when attempting microsurgical epididymal sperm aspiration (MESA) to retrieve epididymal sperm from such patients, a prospective randomized comparative study was conducted. Twenty-nine cycles of conventional MESA with ICSI were performed on 25 couples with congenital bilateral absence of the vas deferens (CBAVD) and four failed vasovasostomy cases (group 1). Thirty cycles of epididymal micropuncture with nerve stimulation with ICSI were performed on 28 couples with CBAVD and two failed epididymovasostomy cases (group 2). The mean volume of epididymal fluid and sperm motility in group 2 was significantly higher than that in group 1 (p < .001). Both fertilization and pregnancy rates in group 2 were significantly higher than those in group 1 (p < .001 and p < .03). This novel epididymal sperm collection method for ICSI can provide significantly higher fertilization and pregnancy rates than conventional MESA for ICSI.     

Further evidence for a deficit in switching attention in schizophrenia.

In this study, sustained, selective, divided, and switching attention, and reloading of working memory were investigated in schizophrenia by using a newly developed Visual Attention Battery (VAB). Twenty-four outpatients with schizophrenia and 24 control participants were studied using the VAB. Performance on VAB components was correlated with performance of standard tests. Patients with schizophrenia were significantly impaired on VAB tasks that required switching of attention and reloading of working memory but had normal performance on tasks involving sustained attention or attention to multiple stimulus features. Switching attention and reloading of working memory were highly correlated with Trails (B–A) score for patients. The decline in performance on the switching-attention task in patients with schizophrenia met criteria for a differential deficit in switching attention. Future research should examine the neurophysiological basis of the switching deficit and its sensitivity and specificity to schizophrenia. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Evaluation of amperometric detector for liquid chromatographic determination of 2-phenylphenol residues in orange rind

A modular component liquid chromatograph has been assembled which has on-stream ultraviolet (UV) and amperometric detectors connected to a dual pen recorder. In this method, the commonly used UV detection technique provides a reference for direct comparisons of results from the amperometric detector. The system has been evaluated and applied to the determination of 2-phenylphenol (2PP) fortified in orange rind. The method is not tedious; before liquid chromatographic analysis, the sample is extracted with methylene chloride and cleaned up on a Florisil column. The method is sensitive to less than 1 ppm 2PP fortified in orange rind; there are no electrically oxidizable interference, from control samples, in the chromatographic region of 2PP. Some background interference does appear from the same samples on the UV chromatogram. Thus, amperometric detection is more specific than UV detection for this application.     

Comparative Analysis of Infrastructure Assessment Methodologies at the Small Unit Level

This paper presents a comparative analysis of three different infrastructure assessment tools currently used by the U.S. Army’s combat engineer small units (squad, platoon, company). The infrastructure assessment tools included one pen and paper checklist and two software-based tools based on specialized handheld hardware for data collection in combat conditions. Evaluation was conducted using macroergonomic and applied cognitive task analysis methods with soldiers of varying levels of infrastructure assessment expertise. Each assessment method was evaluated based on performance (time, errors, and accuracy) and usability (ergonomic and cognitive challenges). We found that soldiers documented more accurate data using handheld digital devices instead of pen-and-paper assessment forms, but there was little difference in time between the methods. Contrary to initial expectation, we also found that most soldiers prefer a slightly more difficult to use handheld assessment device with customized checklists rather than an easier to use, less restrictive device. Critiques developed by this research can be used to improve engineering and construction organizations as well as add to our design guidelines for portable infrastructure assessment tools and methods.     

Culture and conformity: A meta-analysis of studies using Asch's (1952b, 1956) line judgment task.

A meta-analysis of conformity studies using an Asch-type line judgment task (1952, 1956) was conducted to investigate whether the level of conformity has changed over time and whether it is related cross-culturally to individualism–collectivism. The literature search produced 133 studies drawn from 17 countries. An analysis of US studies found that conformity has declined since the 1950s. Results from 3 surveys were used to assess a country's individualism–collectivism, and for each survey the measures were found to be significantly related to conformity. Collectivist countries tended to show higher levels of conformity than individualist countries. Conformity research must attend more to cultural variables and to their role in the processes involved in social influence. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Member ratings of health care provided by 48 physician groups

BACKGROUND: Satisfaction with health plan performance has been assessed frequently, but assessment of physician group performance is rare. OBJECTIVE: To present ratings of the care provided by physician groups to enrollees in a variety of capitated health maintenance organization plans. METHODS: A random sample was drawn of adult enrollees receiving managed health care from 48 physician groups in a group practice association. Each individual in the sample was mailed a 12-page questionnaire and 7093 were returned (59% response rate). The mean age of those returning the questionnaire was 51 years; 65% were women. RESULTS: Reliability estimates for 6 multi-item satisfaction scales were excellent, and noteworthy differences in ratings among groups were observed. In particular, ratings of overall quality ranged from a low of 28 to a high of 68 (mean, 50; SD, 10). Average scores for physician groups were strongly correlated across all scales, but no single group scored consistently highest or lowest on the different scales. Negative ratings of care were significantly related to the following: intention to switch to another physician group, difficulty in getting appointments, lengthy waiting periods in the reception area and examination room, the inability to get consistent care from one physician for routine visits, and not being informed by the office staff when there was a delay in seeing the primary care provider. CONCLUSIONS: Monitoring of health care quality at the physician group level is possible, and could be used for benchmarking, internal quality improvement, and for providing information to the public about how these physician groups will meet its needs.     

Motor sequencing deficits in schizophrenia: A comparison with Parkinson's disease.

Motor abnormalities occur in schizophrenia (SZ) and may arise from striatal dysfunction. This study examined whether the pattern of performance on simple and complex motor abilities in SZ was similar to that of patients with Parkinson's disease (PD). Quantitative tests of speeded movement and motor and cognitive sequencing were used to assess 25 SZ, 16 PD, and 84 normal controls (NCs). Sequencing performance was also examined with motor rigidity taken into account. Compared with the NC group, the SZ and PD groups were impaired on measures of motor rigidity and motor sequencing. With rigidity accounted for, the SZ group was significantly more impaired than the PD group on motor sequencing; cognitive and motor processes contributed to the motor deficit. Cognitive sequencing performance predicted motor sequencing performance in PD but not SZ. Although both SZ and PD resulted in significant motor and cognitive sequencing deficits, the pattern and correlates of these deficits differ, suggesting that the affected neural systems underlying motor deficits in SZ are different from those involved in PD. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The effect of intellectual deterioration on retention deficits in amnesic alcoholics.

The performance of matched groups of alcoholic Korsakoff's syndrome patients, amnesic alcoholics with intellectual deterioration, and nonamnesic alcoholic control patients was assessed on three experimental memory tests. On a task measuring rate of short-term forgetting, the Korsakoff's syndrome and demented groups were found to have equivalent forgetting rates and both showed significantly more rapid decay than the control group. The Korsakoff's syndrome and demented groups also performed similarly on a task designed to assess semantic encoding deficits by examining sensitivity to, and release from, proactive interference. In a third experiment, the findings of Graf, Squire, and Mandler (1984) were replicated, with both the amnesic and demented groups having normal semantic priming performance on word completion test. Again, no difference was found between the two amnesic groups on verbal free- and cued-recall tasks. These results suggest that the contribution of concurrent intellectual deterioration to the poor performance of alcoholic Korsakoff's syndrome patients on verbal retention tasks may not be as great as has been assumed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)