Racial and ethnic disparities in self-assessed health status: evidence from the National Survey of Families and Households

We examined racial and ethnic disparities in global health assessment and functional limitations of daily activities among whites, blacks and Hispanics, and within the Hispanic origin among Mexicans, Puerto Ricans, Cubans, and 'Others'. Logistic regression were employed to estimate the log odds of reporting 'poor health' and 'having functional limitations' among 12,814 respondents from the 1987-1988 National Survey of Families and Households. Compared with whites, blacks had an increased risk of reporting poor health and functional limitations. Hispanics had even a higher risk of reporting poor health, but did not have an increased risk of reporting functional limitations. Among Hispanics, Mexicans were more likely than whites to report poor health, whereas Puerto Ricans were more likely than whites to experience functional limitations. Both race and ethnicity remain important factors in explaining the disparities in self-assessed health status independent of socioeconomic status (SES). Meanwhile, the way self-assessed health status varies with ethnicity is importantly stratified by SES as measured by income and education. These results suggest that future research should analyze the interplay between ethnicity and SES rather than assuming measuring either captures all the important variation.     

Influence of concurrent auditory input on tactual processing in very young children: Developmental changes.

Investigated right-hemispheric specialization for tactual processing in 96 2–5 yr old right-handed children. Cross-modal transfer from touch to vision was assessed under conditions where Ss palpated shapes with either their left or right hand while music was simultaneously played to the left ear, right ear, or neither ear. This task pitted music against palpation such that both tasks involved the same or different cerebral hemispheres (if music and haptic perception are both lateralized in the right hemisphere as is thought). Results show that in the absence of music, Ss at each age showed a left-hand (right-hemisphere) advantage. The adultlike patterns of ipsilateral interference from music were evident among 4- and 5-yr-olds, in that music to the left ear selectively disrupted left-hand performance. The adultlike pattern was absent at ages 2 and 3 yrs, and music to the right ear disrupted left-hand performance at these ages. Music had an overall, nonselective interference on right-hand performance at all ages. The early appearing left-hand advantage and the lateralized nature of the interference observed among older Ss support the idea of a right-hemispheric specialization for tactual processing of form in young children. (29 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Mental rotation and the right hemisphere

Mental rotation may be considered a prototypical example of a higher-order transformational process that is nonsymbolic and analog as opposed to propositional. It is therefore a paradigm case for testing the view that these properties are fundamentally right-hemispheric. Evidence from brain-imaging, unilateral brain lesions, commissurotomy, and visual-hemifield differences in normals is reviewed. Although there is some support for a right-hemispheric bias, at least for the holistic rotation of relatively simple shapes, it is unlikely that this bias approaches the degree of left-hemispheric dominance for language-related skills. An evolutionary scenario is sketched in which the characteristically symbolic mode of the left hemisphere evolved relatively late and achieved the quality of recursive generativity only in the late stages of hominid evolution. This forced an increasingly right-hemispheric bias onto analog processes like mental rotation. Such processes nevertheless remain important and are integral even to those processes we think of as highly symbolic, such as language and mathematics.     

Spatial abilities, sex differences, and lateral eye movements.

Conducted 2 experiments with 91 female and 50 male undergraduates to examine relationships among the ability to determine horizontality, a general test of spatial abilities, and hemispheric activation measured lateral eye movements. Females who could determine horizontality were more likely to demonstrate a right-hemispheric mode of processing indexed by direction of lateral eye movements. Overall, the ability to determine horizontality was positively correlated with a general measure of spatial ability for the right-hemispheric females but not for the left-hemispheric females. For males, there was a high positive correlation between the horizontality task and the spatial ability measure, regardless of hemispheric mode of processing. (12 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Behavioral deficits in groups with cerebral vascular lesions.

Established 3 groups of patients with cerebrovascular disease (right hemisphere, left hemisphere, or generalized involvement) by matching 15 triads for age, sex, education, and duration of diagnosed cerebrovascular disease. Intergroup and intragroup comparisons were made of results on a large battery of measures, including psychometric intelligence, motor strength and speed, psychomotor performance, and sensory functions. Tests given included halstead's finger tapping test, halstead's tactual performance test, and wechsler-bellevue, form i, verbal and performance iq values. Significant differences were found between groups with lateralized lesions, whereas the group with generalized involvement tended to occupy an intermediate position. The group with left cerebral damage had a significantly lower verbal than performance iq, whereas this relationship was reversed in the group with right cerebral damage. Motor, psychomotor, and sensory functions were consistently impaired on the side contralateral to the damage hemisphere for the groups with lateralized lesions. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Right-hemispheric superiority in split-brain monkeys for learning and remembering facial discriminations

Twenty-six split-brain rhesus monkeys learned and remembered 8 go/no-go discriminations of monkey faces significantly better with the right hemisphere than with the left. Four discriminations required differentiating individual identity with expression held constant, and 4 required discriminating facial expression with identity held constant. There was no significant difference in the degree of laterality shown for these 2 types of problems. Female monkeys were more lateralized for learning to discriminate faces than were males. This sex difference in laterality was significant for learning but not for memory. Laterality for the facial discriminations was not significantly related to handedness of the monkeys. Overall, rhesus monkeys, like humans, show a right-hemispheric superiority for facial processing.     

Lateralized Attentional Functions of Cortical Cholinergic Inputs.

The integrity of the cortical cholinergic input system is necessary for attention performance. This experiment tested hypotheses concerning the lateralized contributions of cortical cholinergic inputs to attention performance by assessing the effects of unilateral lesions of basal forebrain cholinergic neurons on sustained attention performance. Loss of right-hemispheric cortical cholinergic inputs impaired the rats' ability to detect signals but did not affect nonsignal trial performance. Conversely, loss of left-hemispheric cortical cholinergic inputs increased the number of false alarms in nonsignal trials. These data correspond with hypotheses about the mediation of detection processes primarily by right-hemispheric circuits and executive aspects of attention performance by left-hemispheric systems. Cortical cholinergic inputs represent a major component of the brain's lateralized attention systems. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Motivation, affect, and hemispheric asymmetry: Power versus affiliation.

In 4 experiments, the authors examined to what extent information related to different social needs (i.e., power vs. affiliation) is associated with hemispheric laterality. Response latencies to a lateralized dot-probe task following lateralized pictures or verbal labels that were associated with positive or negative episodes related to power, affiliation, or achievement revealed clear-cut laterality effects. These effects were a function of need content rather than of valence: Power-related stimuli were associated with right visual field (left hemisphere) superiority, whereas affiliation-related stimuli were associated with left visual field (right hemisphere) superiority. Additional results demonstrated that in contrast to power, affiliation primes were associated with better discrimination between coherent word triads (e.g., goat, pass, and green, all related to mountain) and noncoherent triads, a remote associate task known to activate areas of the right hemisphere. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Hemispheric asymmetry for emotional stimuli detected with fMRI

Current brain models of emotion processing hypothesize that positive (or approach-related) emotions are lateralized towards the left hemisphere, whereas negative (or withdrawal-related) emotions are lateralized towards the right hemisphere. Brain imaging studies, however, have so far failed to document such hemispheric lateralization. In a functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) study, 14 female subjects viewed alternating blocks of emotionally valenced positive and negative pictures. When the experience of valence was equated for arousal, overall brain reactivity was lateralized towards the left hemisphere for positive pictures and towards the right hemisphere for negative pictures. This study provides direct support for the valence hypothesis, under conditions of equivalent arousal, by means of functional brain imaging.     

Asymmetries in the Hippocampus and Amygdala of Chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes).

Magnetic resonance imaging was used to measure the hippocampal and amygdalar volumes of 60 chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes). An asymmetry quotient (AQ) was then used to calculate the asymmetry for each of the structures. A one-sample t test indicated that there was a population-level right hemisphere asymmetry for the hippocampus. There was no significant population-level asymmetry for the amygdala. An analysis of variance using sex and rearing history as between-group variables showed no significant main effects or interaction effects on the AQ scores; however, males were more strongly lateralized than females. Several of these findings are consistent with results found in the human literature. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Morphological structure and hemispheric functioning: The contribution of the right hemisphere to reading in different languages.

This study examined the relationship between morphological structure of languages and performance asymmetries of native speakers in lateralized tasks. In 2 experiments, native speakers of English (concatenative morphology stem plus affix) and of Hebrew and Arabic (nonconcatenative root plus word-form morphology) were presented with lateralized lexical decision tasks, in which the morphological structure of both words and nonwords was manipulated. In the 1st study, stimuli were presented unilaterally. In the 2nd study, 2 stimuli were presented bilaterally, and participants were cued to respond to 1 of them. Three different indexes of hemispheric integration were tested: processing dissociation, effects of distractor status, and the bilateral effect. Lateralization patterns in the 3 languages revealed both common and language-specific patterns. For English speakers, only the left hemisphere (LH) was sensitive to morphological structure, consistent with the hypothesis that the LH processes right visual field stimuli independently but that the right hemisphere uses LH abilities to process words in the left visual field. In Hebrew and Arabic, both hemispheres are sensitive to morphological structure, and interhemispheric transfer of information may be more symmetrical than in English. The relationship between universal and experience-specific effects on brain organization is discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Hand use and gestural communication in chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes).

Hand use in gestural communication was examined in 115 captive chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes). Hand use was measured in subjects while they gestured to food placed out of their reach. The distribution of hand use was examined in relation to sex, age, rearing history, gesture type, and whether the subjects vocalized while gesturing. Overall, significantly more chimpanzees, especially females and adults, gestured with their right than with their left hand. Foods begs were more lateralized to the right hand than pointing, and a greater prevalence of right-hand gesturing was found in subjects who simultaneously vocalized than those who did not. Taken together, these data suggest that referential, intentional communicative behaviors, in the form of gestures, are lateralized to the left hemisphere in chimpanzees. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Cerebral lateralization: relation to subject's sex

Patterns of reflective LEM's have been correlated to a number of cognitive and personality variables, bu the relationship to sex, education, and mental illness is unclear. In this study females produced significantly more R-LEM overall indicating a preferential use of left hemisphere mechanisms when they initiate reflective thought. Females also produced more R-LEM for verbal nonemotional material, suggesting stronger lateralization of language abilities to their left hemisphere. Emotional and spatial stimuli were less well lateralized to the right hemisphere in females, and education was an unimportant variable for both sexes. Schizophrenia was independently associated with increases in total R-LEM indicating increased left hemisphere activity in this group.     

Lateralized brain damage, intelligence, and memory: A failure to find sex differences.

Tested the validity of findings by J. McGlone (1977) of a difference in the sexes in the cognitive sequelae of lateralized brain damage. The present study tested 28 male and 17 female patients with left and right hemisphere infarcts. Although Ss with left and right hemisphere infarcts showed differential impairment on measures of visual and verbal memory and on Performance scale IQ of the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (WAIS), there were no differences between male and female Ss. (8 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Blacks supervising whites: A study of interracial difficulties in working together in a simulated organization.

Investigated interracial difficulties of blacks and whites working together, when blacks are in a supervisory position over whites. 45 groups of male undergraduates were supervised by blacks, and 45 were supervised by whites. In each group, 2 subordinates played a business game with either a black or a white supervisor and were observed by 2 white Os. Results indicate that (a) the performance ratings of black supervisors were significantly poorer than those of white supervisors; (b) subordinates supervised by blacks behaved differently than subordinates supervised by whites, and some of these behaviors appeared to hinder the effectiveness of the black supervisor; and (c) subordinates with negative racial bias gave poorer ratings to black supervisors than subordinates with liberal racial attitudes. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Gesture laterality in aphasic and apraxic stroke patients

Limb preference during conversational gestures may be a reflection of functional hemispheric asymmetries. In right-handers, speech and praxis are usually mediated by the left hemisphere and in conversation, right-handers gesture more with their right than left hand. However, patients with left hemisphere brain damage, who are aphasic and apraxic but not hemiplegic, may use their right hemisphere to compensate for their left. Therefore, we investigated spontaneous lateralized gesture production during conversation in a group of left hemisphere-damaged stroke patients, who were aphasic and apraxic but not hemiparetic, and compared their performance to a group of matched controls. Whereas the control group had a strong right-hand preference, the nonparetic but apraxic and aphasic stroke patients were as likely to produce gestures with the right, left, or both hands.     

Apolipoprotein B and AI distributions in the United States, 1988-1991: results of the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey III (NHANES III)

Serum apolipoproteins (apo) B and AI were measured in a probability sample of the noninstitutionalized US civilian population, ages > or = 4 years, which included non-Hispanic whites, non-Hispanic blacks, and Mexican-Americans. Apo B concentrations were the same in males and females, lower in black males than in other males, low in childhood (approximately 0.80 g/L) and increasing to approximately 1.2 g/L in adults, and higher in younger women on hormones. Apo AI was higher in females than males, higher in blacks than in others, remained constant from childhood to adulthood (approximately 1.35 g/L) in males, but increased with age (approximately 1.30 g/L to approximately 1.55 g/L) in females, and was higher in women taking hormones. These are the first national probability estimates of apo B and apo AI in the US and are referable to the WHO-IFCC First International Reference Materials for apo AI and B.     

Epidemiological investigations on arbovirus infections at Igbo-Ora, Nigeria

Using mortality and incidence data from Alameda County, California, this study attempted to determine whether the higher occurrence rate of prostatic cancer among black men as compared with whites in the United States might be explained by racial differences in factors associated with socioeconomic status. Each death or case of prostatic cancer was assigned to a social class based on census tract of residence, and rates by race and socioeconomic status were computed. Comparison of age-specific mortality and incidence rates by socioeconomic status reveals no gradient in either whites or blacks. The higher risk for blacks holds up at almost every age and socioeconomic level. However, the racial differences are less pronounced for incidence than for mortality. Racial differences in the occurrrence of deaths appearing in Part II of the death certificate are also examined.     

Epidemiology of Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease in the United States, 1979-1990: analysis of national mortality data

The trends and current incidence of Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD) was examined by using a unique and potentially high sensitive source for case ascertainment. We analyzed death certificate information for 1979-1990 from US multiple-cause-of-death mortality data, compiled by the National Center for Health Statistics, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. We evaluated death certificate data for US residents for whom CJD was listed as one of the multiple causes of death on the death certificate (046.1) from the International Statistical Classification of Diseases, Injuries, and Causes of Death (9th revision). Age-adjusted and age-specific CJD death rates by gender, race, and region were calculated to measure the disease incidence because of the rapidly fatal course of the disease for most patients with CJD. We identified 2,614 deaths with CJD listed on the death certificates. The average annual age-adjusted mortality rate was 0.9 deaths per million persons (range 0.8-1.1). The mean age at death was 67 years. CJD-related deaths were uncommon among persons younger than 50 years of age (4.3% of all deaths). The highest average annual mortality rate was for those persons aged 70-74 years (5.9 deaths per million persons). A slight majority (53.0%) of the deaths was in females, but the age-adjusted mortality rate was 1.2 times higher for males. Most deaths (94.8%) were in whites; the mortality rate for blacks was only 40% of that for whites. The age-adjusted CJD mortality rate in the United States is similar to published estimates of the crude incidence of CJD worldwide.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)     

Does socioeconomic status explain the relationship between admissions tests and post-secondary academic performance?

Critics of educational admissions tests assert that tests measure nothing more than socioeconomic status (SES) and that their apparent validity in predicting academic performance is an artifact of SES. The authors examined multiple large data sets containing data on admissions and related tests, SES, and grades showing that (a) SES is related to test scores (r = .42 among the population of SAT takers), (b) test scores are predictive of academic performance, and (c) statistically controlling for SES reduces the estimated test?grade correlation from r = .47 to r = .44. Thus, the vast majority of the test?academic performance relationship was independent of SES: The authors concluded that the test?grade relationship is not an artifact of common influences of SES on both test scores and grades. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)