Low Average Scores Research Articles

Trajectories of depressive symptoms and their relationship to the progression of dementia

BackgroundThe relationship between progression of Alzheimer's disease and depression and its underlying mechanisms has scarcely been studied. MethodsA sample of 282 outpatients with Alzheimer's disease (AD; 105 with amnestic AD and 177 with Alzheimer's dementia) from Norway were followed up for an average of two years. Assessment included Cornell Scale for Depression in Dementia and Clinical Dementia Rating Scale (CDR) at baseline and follow-up to examine the relationship between AD and depression. Additionally, MRI of the brain, CSF dementia biomarkers and APOE status were assessed at baseline. Progression of dementia was defined as the difference between CDR sum of boxes at follow-up and baseline (CDR-SB change). Trajectories of depressive symptoms on the Cornell Scale were identified using growth mixture modeling. Differences between the trajectories in regard to patients’ characteristics were investigated. ResultsThree distinct trajectories of depressive symptoms were identified: 231 (82.8%) of the patients had stable low-average scores on the Cornell Scale (Class 1); 11 (3.9%) had high and decreasing scores (Class 2); and 37 (13.3%) had moderate and increasing scores (Class 3). All classes had average probabilities over 80%, and confidence intervals were non-overlapping. The only significant characteristic associated with membership in class 3 was CDR-SB change. LimitationsNot all patients screened for participation were included in the study, but the included and non-included patients did not differ significantly. Some patients with amnestic MCI might have been misdiagnosed. ConclusionA more rapid progression of dementia was found in a group of patients with increasing depressive symptoms.

When left-hemisphere reading is compromised: Comparing reading ability in participants after left cerebral hemispherectomy and participants with developmental dyslexia.

We investigated reading skills in individuals who have undergone left cerebral hemispherectomy and in readers with developmental dyslexia to understand diverse characteristics contributing to reading difficulty. Although dyslexia is a developmental disorder, left hemispherectomy requires that patients (re)establish the language process needed to perform the language-based tasks in the nondominant (right) hemisphere to become readers. Participants with developmental dyslexia (DD; n = 11) and participants who had undergone left hemispherectomy (HEMI; n = 11) were matched on age and gender, and were compared on timed and untimed measures of single word and pseudo-word reading. The hemispherectomy group was subdivided into prenatal (in utero) and postnatal (>3 years) insult groups, indicating the timing of the primary lesion that ultimately required surgical intervention. On an untimed reading measure, the readers with DD were comparable to individuals who had undergone left hemispherectomy due to prenatal insult, but both scored higher than the postnatal hemispherectomy group. Timed word reading differed across groups. The hemispherectomy prenatal subgroup had low average scores on both timed and untimed tests. The group with dyslexia had average scores on untimed measures and below average scores on timed reading. The hemispherectomy postnatal group had the lowest scores among the groups by a significant margin, and the most pronounced reading difficulty. Patients with prenatal lesions leading to an isolated right hemisphere (RH) have the potential to develop reading to a degree comparable to that in persons with dyslexia for single word reading. This potential sharply diminishes in individuals who undergo hemispherectomy due to postnatal insult. The higher scores of the prenatal hemispherectomy group on timed reading suggest that under these conditions, individuals with an isolated RH can compensate to a significant degree.

Research and Development of the Ability of Teacher for Student-Centered Teaching, the Schools in Area of Education 1 Chonburi: Follow-Up Research to Evaluate a Student-Centered Teaching

This is a research and development conducted by Integrated Mixed methodology on both quantitative and qualitative. The purpose of this research to study the students centered teaching. The teachers and staff of the schools under the area of Chonburi 1 Thailand collected the data in the year 2015. The students centered focus research tool behaviors on teaching. The data was analyzed Statistics describing the information and inferential statistics used for comparison, content analysis by the method of classification. Research results found that, Students centered teaching of teachers as perceived after participants are classified according to the level of ability (the average score) showed that the ability of the learning and teaching focuses on the student's center (After participating), most scores are good (4.00- 4.51), representing 43.60 per cent, followed by a moderate. The average score of mean=3.50 - 3.99, percent and averaging 27.40 in the well (4.51- 5.00) and found that the low average scores mean= 0:00 - 3:49, with only 3.20 per cent. Compare the ability of the learning and teaching of teachers based on student perceptions of their own (the participants) by the group found that the average effectiveness of the project. Students centered teaching of teachers based on their perception of their own (the participants) was good and very good teaching ability increases of Training. The very highest increase was 10.20 percent and 8.20 increased ability levels that result from poor training ability with fewer make the most moderate 11.60 percent and 6.70 percent less. Students centered teaching (after joining) by individuals found that teachers develop the competencies of students centered teaching after the program of 804 representing a percentage of 72.04 but The teachers have not developed a number of 312 people, representing 27.96 per cent. The students centered teaching after participating by school that mean scores were at a high level total mean = 4.21 , standard deviation = .39 and considering identified by the school, found The school ability scores mean = 4.56 , standard deviation = .36 and found that the mean of the lowest, Mean = 3.65 , standard deviation = .25.

Social Self-Regulation in the Context of Applied Parental Styles and Preferred Styles of Coping in Early and Middle Adolescence – Pilot Study

The study was realised as a part of an extensive research plan, which aims at tracing a developmental trend in the development of self-regulation of an individual in the context of coping, self-efficacy and self-esteem, by monitoring selected connections between social self-regulation, applied parental educational styles and preferred strategies of coping in the period of early and middle adolescence. Since this is already a widely held belief this study may be considered unnecessary unless the writers say that this study hopes to provide further empirical evidence to support this belief. In order to execute the above mentioned research plan, we have chosen a quantitative research design realised through a one-time interview survey by using a combination of questionnaire methods: Social selection, optimisation and compensation questionnaire (Social SOC; Geldholf, Little, Hawley, 2012), Parents Perception Scale (Niemiec, Ryan & Deci 1991; adapted Robbins 1994) and Children´s Coping Strategies Checklist (Ayers et al., 1996). This study included 229 respondents aged 13 to 15 (M=14,7; sd=0,712), from which 53.3% were girls (N=122) and 46.7% were boys (N=107). The results of the study generated many findings related to self-regulation and coping strategies with a focus on significant gender differences in social self-regulation and also differences in preferred coping strategies (r=44,21,sd=7,896). From a practical point of view, the study generated valuable conclusions about differences in preferred styles of coping in relation to applied parental educational styles – e.g. the group of respondents with low average scores in Parents Perception Scale had statistically considerably lower score in several fundamental coping strategies (COP_ACT (p<0,001) and COP_SUP (p<0,001)).

Research and Development of Classroom Action Research Process to Enhance School Learning

Abstract The purposes of this research were 1) to develop the classroom action research (CAR) process to enhance teachers’ five disciplines and school learning, 2) to compare teachers’ disciplines and school learning using two development methods (those using the CAR process and those relying on training), and 3) to study teachers’ opinions on the development of teachers’ five disciplines and school learning. This research involved two main phases. In the first phase, new CAR process to enhance teachers’ five disciplines and school learning were developed. The development relied on documents and a survey. In the second phase, the new CAR process was tested in the quasi-experimental research involving 83 subjects who were teachers from nine schools in Bangkok. Based on the document study, the researcher found that CAR process still had many problems. In response to the problems, the researcher developed the new CAR process based on related concepts. According to the survey, teachers still had inadequate fundamental abilities; desire to continue learning and reflection skill. Regarding school learning, the survey showed that schools had very low average scores about experiments with various working process. According to the quasi-experimental research, there were no significant statistical difference among teachers undergoing the different development methods in regards to the five disciplines and school learning. However there was significant statistical difference on mental model. Teachers undergoing the CAR process and teachers receiving training had higher average scores on mental model than those in the control group at the 0.05 level of significance.

Developing and Applying an Information Literacy Rubric to Student Annotated Bibliographies

Objective – This study demonstrates one method of developing and applying rubrics to student writing in order to gather evidence of how students utilize information literacy skills in the context of an authentic assessment activity. The process of creating a rubric, training scorers to use the rubric, collecting annotated bibliographies, applying the rubric to student work, and the results of the rubric assessment are described. Implications for information literacy instruction are also discussed.
 
 Methods – The focus of this study was the English 102 (ENG 102) course, a required research-based writing course that partners the instructors with the university librarians for information literacy instruction. The author developed an information literacy rubric to assess student evaluation of information resources in the ENG 102 annotated bibliography assignment and trained three other librarians how to apply the rubric to student work. The rubric assessed the extent to which students critically applied the evaluative criteria Currency, Relevance, Accuracy, Authority, and Purpose to the information sources in their annotations. At the end of the semester, the author collected up to three de-identified annotated bibliographies from each of the 58 sections of ENG 102. The rubric was applied to up to five annotations in each bibliography, resulting in a total examination of 773 annotations (some sections turned in fewer than 3 samples, and some bibliographies had fewer than 5 annotations).
 Results – The results of the study showed that students struggle with critically evaluating information resources, a finding that supports the existing information literacy assessment literature. The overwhelming majority of annotations consisted of summative information with little evidence that students used any evaluative criteria when they selected an information source. Of the five criteria examined, Relevance to the student’s research topic and Authority were the most commonly used methods of resource evaluation, while Currency, Accuracy, and Purpose were criteria least-often used. The low average scores on the rubric assessment indicate that students are not adequately learning how to apply this set of information literacy skills.
 
 Conclusions – The library instruction sessions for ENG 102 need to move beyond the skills of choosing and narrowing a topic, selecting keywords, and searching in a library database. Students also need more targeted instruction on higher-order skills, particularly how to critically evaluate and question the sources they find. The results of this assessment are being used to refocus the learning outcomes of ENG 102 library sessions so that instruction can better meet student needs. The results are also being used to make the case for further collaboration between ENG 102 and the university library.

Remifentanil-Induced Tolerance, Withdrawal or Hyperalgesia in Infants: A Randomized Controlled Trial. RAPIP Trial: Remifentanil-Based Analgesia and Sedation of Paediatric Intensive Care Patients

Background: Short-acting opioids like remifentanil are suspected of an increased risk for tolerance, withdrawal and opioid-induced hyperalgesia (OIH). These potential adverse effects have never been investigated in neonates. Objectives: To compare remifentanil and fentanyl concerning the incidence of tolerance, withdrawal and OIH. Methods: 23 mechanically ventilated infants received up to 96 h either a remifentanil- or fentanyl-based analgesia and sedation regimen with low-dose midazolam. We compared the required opioid doses and the number of opioid dose adjustments. Following extubation, withdrawal symptoms were assessed by a modification of the Finnegan score. OIH was evaluated by the CHIPPS scale and by testing the threshold of the flexion withdrawal reflex with calibrated von Frey filaments. Results: Remifentanil had to be increased by 24% and fentanyl by 47% to keep the infants adequately sedated during mechanical ventilation. Following extubation, infants revealed no pronounced opioid withdrawal and low average Finnegan scores in both groups. Only 1 infant of the fentanyl group and 1 infant of the remifentanil group required methadone for treatment of withdrawal symptoms. Infants also revealed no signs of OIH and low CHIPPS scores in both groups. The median threshold of the flexion withdrawal reflex was 4.5 g (IQR = 2.3) in the fentanyl group and 2.7 g (IQR = 3.3) in the remifentanil group (p = 0.312), which is within the physiologic range of healthy infants. Conclusions: Remifentanil does not seem to be associated with an increased risk for tolerance, withdrawal or OIH.

Cancer Plan Index

To (1) conduct an in-depth assessment of the content of comprehensive cancer control plans and (2) obtain data that can be used to provide guidance to grantees supported by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's National Comprehensive Cancer Control Program (NCCCP) as they refine their plans, and to other health professionals as similar planning is done. Through an iterative development process, a workgroup of subject matter experts from NCCCP and Research Triangle Institute International (RTI International) identified 11 core or essential components that should be considered in cancer plans on the basis of their professional experience and expertise. They also developed a tool, the Cancer Plan Index (CPI), to assess the extent to which cancer plans addressed the 11 core components. Sixty-five comprehensive cancer control programs in states, tribes, territories, and jurisdictions funded by the NCCCP. Raters reviewed and abstracted all available cancer plans (n = 66), which included plans from 62 funded programs and 4 states of the Federated States of Micronesia funded by Centers for Disease Control and Prevention as a subcontractor of one funded program. Of the 66 plans, 3 plans were used to pilot test the CPI and the remaining 63 plans were subsequently reviewed and abstracted. The primary outcome measures are national-level component scores for 11 defined domains (global involvement of stakeholders, developing the plan, presentation of data on disease burden, goals, objectives, strategies, reduction of cancer disparities, implementation, funds for implementation of plan, evaluation, usability of plan), which represent an average of the component scores across all available cancer plans. To aid in the interpretation and usability of findings, the components were segmented into 3 tiers, representing a range high (average score = 2.01-4.00), moderate (average score = 1.01-2.00), and low (average score = 0-1.00) levels of description of the component. Programs overall provided relatively comprehensive descriptions of goals, objectives, and strategies; moderate description of the plan development process, presentation of data on disease burden, and plans on the reduction of cancer disparities; and little to no description of stakeholder involvement plans for implementation, funds for implementation, and evaluation of the plan. Areas of the CPI with low average component scores should stimulate technical assistance to the funded programs, either to increase program activities or to increase discussion of key activities in the plan.

Occurrence of Cognitive and Neurological Symptoms in Norwegian Dentists

ObjectivesPrevious investigations have presented some evidence of late cognitive effects in dental personnel exposed to metallic mercury. We wanted to examine if Norwegian dentists have an increased prevalence of symptoms consistent with neurological and/or cognitive malfunction.MethodsThe study group consisted of 406 dentists from central Norway and 217 controls from the general population, all under the age of 70. They had responded to a standardised postal questionnaire (Euroquest) inquiring about seven symptoms in regard to neurology, psychosomatics, memory, concentration, mood, sleep disturbances, and fatigue. A score was calculated for each symptom based on 4 to 15 single questions scored on a scale from 1 (seldom or never) to 4 (very often).ResultsThe dentists and controls had a participation rate of 57.2% and 42.9% respectively. The dentists reported no more cognitive symptoms than the controls, with low average symptom scores from 1.16 for neurological symptoms in males to 1.73 for fatigue in females. Corresponding figures for the controls were 1.22 and 1.77. There were a total of 1.2% of the dentists and 1.8% of the controls who reported having three or more of the seven symptoms "often" or more frequently.ConclusionNorwegian dentists do not report more cognitive and neurological symptoms than controls from the general population.

Colorectal Surgery Patients’ Pain Status, Activities, Satisfaction, and Beliefs about Pain and Pain Management

This study describes surgical colorectal cancer patients’ pain levels, recovery activities, beliefs and expectations about pain, and satisfaction with pain management. A convenience sample of 50 adult inpatients who underwent colorectal surgery for cancer participated. Patients were administered the modified American Pain Society Patient Outcome Questionnaire on postoperative day 2 and asked to report on their status in the preceding 24 hours. Patients reported low current (mean 1.70) and average (mean 2.96) pain scores but had higher scores and greater variation for worst pain (mean 5.48). Worst pain occurred mainly while turning in bed or mobilizing, and 25% of patients experienced their worst pain at rest. Overall, patients expected to have pain after surgery and were very satisfied with pain management. Patients with worst pain scores >7 reported interference with recovery activities, mainly general activity (mean 5.67) and walking ability (mean 5.15). These patients were likely to believe that “people can get addicted to pain medication easily” (mean 3.39 out of 5) and that “pain medication should be saved for cases where pain gets worse” (mean 3.20 out of 5). These beliefs could deter patients from seeking pain relief and may need to be identified and addressed along with expectations about pain in the preoperative nursing assessment.

Brazilian flavonoid database: Application of quality evaluation system

Much information on flavonoid content of Brazilian foods has already been obtained; however, this information is spread in scientific publications and non-published data. The objectives of this work were to compile and evaluate the quality of national flavonoid data according to the United States Department of Agriculture's Data Quality Evaluation System (USDA-DQES) with few modifications, for future dissemination in the TBCA-USP (Brazilian Food Composition Database). For the compilation, the most abundant compounds in the flavonoid subclasses were considered (flavonols, flavones, isoflavones, flavanones, flavan-3-ols, and anthocyanidins) and the analysis of the compounds by HPLC was adopted as criteria for data inclusion. The evaluation system considers five categories, and the maximum score assigned to each category is 20. For each data, a confidence code (CC) was attributed (A, B, C and D), indicating the quality and reliability of the information. Flavonoid data (773) present in 197 Brazilian foods were evaluated. The CC “C” (as average) was attributed to 99% of the data and “B” (above average) to 1%. The main categories assigned low average scores were: number of samples; sampling plan and analytical quality control (average scores 2, 5 and 4, respectively). The analytical method category received an average score of 9. The category assigned the highest score was the sample handling (20 average). These results show that researchers need to be conscious about the importance of the number and plan of evaluated samples and the complete description and documentation of all the processes of methodology execution and analytical quality control.

WAIS-R Features of Preclinical Huntington’s Disease: Implications for Early Detection

Background/Aims: The main purpose of the study was to determine whether the predicted age of onset of Huntington’s disease (HD) affects cognitive function as measured by the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale-Revised (WAIS-R). The subscales and subtests, and their potential selectivity were examined in preclinical HD (30 mutation carriers and 34 noncarriers) with no motor or neuropsychiatric signs of HD. Methods: The predicted age of onset in mutation carriers was calculated by a regression equation allowing this group to be divided according to whether onset was predicted as within 12 years (HD+CLOSE) or longer than this (HD+DISTANT). Results: The HD+CLOSE group scored significantly lower on Verbal, Performance, and Full Scale IQ compared to noncarriers and performed significantly lower on 7 of the 11 WAIS-R subtests, with low average scores in language abilities, attention, abstract thinking, problem solving, visuospatial ability, and psychomotor speed. Conclusion: These low average scores affect general intelligence and functioning of HD+CLOSE carriers and are likely to reflect dysfunction of frontal cortex and frontostriatal circuits more than a decade before manifest symptoms. Our findings support a continuous linear model of slow cognitive decline in HD.

A Comparative Assessment of the Cognitive Functioning of Adults with Childhood Histories of Learning Disability and Adults with Noncognitive Disorders

Demographic, cognitive, and academic achievement data were collected from 591 adults evaluated as part of an outpatient Vocational Rehabilitation service. The specific aims of the research were to systematically compare adults with a childhood history of LD (putative LD) to groups of adults with principally physical or psychiatric disorders and assess the extent to which the LD group continued to meet diagnostic criteria and may differ from the other groups. Most adults with putative LD performed lowest of the three groups and were found to have low average achievement test scores and reduced general cognitive test performance. Frequency of adults with a past history of LD that met current criteria was surprisingly low, with less than ¼ of the sample having intelligence-achievement discrepancies of a magnitude to meet DSM-IV criteria for adult LD. Issues with regard to the continuity of LD behaviors into adulthood, adherence to diagnostic criteria, problems associated with the application of the LD label to individuals with borderline intellectual functioning, as well as the strengths and limitations of the study were discussed. A suggested agenda for adult LD research was also proffered with a particular focus on implications for practicing professionals working in clinical environments where adults with putative LD are often encountered.

The effect of a CPD training (educational) intervention on the level of HIV knowledge of pharmacists

Introduction: Due to the huge impact of the HIV/AIDS epidemic in South Africa, it is critical that all health care professionals make the maximum possible contribution to prevention and care. Pharmacists in practice, who may have learnt little about the disease during their training, require to be taught and updated. We designed and implemented a continuing professional development (CPD) programme for this purpose. Learning materials were compact disc (CD) based and in print format. Aim: The main objective of the study described in this paper was to determine the effect of the training course on the level of knowledge of community pharmacists in South Africa and to identify whether any differences occurred between study group sub-groups which received the manual only or the CD plus the instructional manual. Method: We utilised a pre-intervention/post-intervention study design, with control and study groups, which also identified knowledge gaps at baseline. Questions in the research instrument were classified into five categories, transmission, testing and counselling, treatment, diagnosis and compliance/adherence. Differences between pre- and post-intervention results for the two groups were calculated, compared and analysed statistically and for effect size. Each respondent served as her/his own control. Results: The differences between the sub-groups at post-test 1 were small and not statistically significant. We therefore combined them and compared the performance of the study group as a whole against that of the control group. In three of the five knowledge categories baseline scores were low (average scores around 50%). In the study group, these three categories showed highly significant increases at post-intervention (scores improved by between 20 and 30%), as did the overall response. The total effect size was high (0.85). Conclusion: The CPD programme on the pharmacist in HIV/AIDS management tested in this study is highly effective in improving the knowledge base of participating pharmacists and hence preparing them for a wider role in reducing the effect of the pandemic.

The reach of the genome signature in prokaryotes

BackgroundWith the increased availability of sequenced genomes there have been several initiatives to infer evolutionary relationships by whole genome characteristics. One of these studies suggested good congruence between genome synteny, shared gene content, 16S ribosomal DNA identity, codon usage and the genome signature in prokaryotes. Here we rigorously test the phylogenetic signal of the genome signature, which consists of the genome-specific relative frequencies of dinucleotides, on 334 sequenced prokaryotic genome sequences.ResultsIntrageneric comparisons show that in general the genomic dissimilarity scores are higher than in intraspecific comparisons, in accordance with the suggested phylogenetic signal of the genome signature. Exceptions to this trend, (Bartonella spp., Bordetella spp., Salmonella spp. and Yersinia spp.), which have low average intrageneric genomic dissimilarity scores, suggest that members of these genera might be considered the same species. On the other hand, high genomic dissimilarity values for intraspecific analyses suggest that in some cases (e.g.Prochlorococcus marinus, Pseudomonas fluorescens, Buchnera aphidicola and Rhodopseudomonas palustris) different strains from the same species may actually represent different species. Comparing 16S rDNA identity with genomic dissimilarity values corroborates the previously suggested trend in phylogenetic signal, albeit that the dissimilarity values only provide low resolution.ConclusionThe genome signature has a distinct phylogenetic signal, independent of individual genetic marker genes. A reliable phylogenetic clustering cannot be based on dissimilarity values alone, as bootstrapping is not possible for this parameter. It can however be used to support or refute a given phylogeny and resulting taxonomy.

A Delphi study of district nursing research priorities in Australia

This study, using a Delphi approach, sought the opinion of a self-selected panel of 320 district nurses regarding research priorities for district nursing in Australia. Over three rounds of questionnaires, the 419 research clinical problem areas requiring research as suggested by the panel were each rated in importance by the panel and then ranked through analysis from high to low average rating scores, thereby, whittling down the list to the top 15% (68) research questions and to a final list of the top 10 research priorities overall. Research questions focusing on discharge planning are dominant in these top 10 priorities, with documentation issues the second most common focus. Other foci in the top 10 priorities are staffing, aged care, palliative care, and assessment. The organization-specific top 10 research priorities focus on wound care, funding, education, and communication issues. Additionally, the top 68 priorities, which are either finitely practice-based or contextual-issues research questions, were categorized into 20 themes. The results will hopefully lead to scarce human and financial resources being directed to practice-relevant research programs that will facilitate improved health for district nursing (primarily home-nursing) clients in Australia and elsewhere.

A critical role for lymphotoxin in experimental allergic encephalomyelitis.

The lymphotoxin (LT)/tumor necrosis factor (TNF) family has been implicated in the neurologic inflammatory diseases multiple sclerosis (MS) and experimental allergic encephalomyelitis (EAE). To determine the role of individual family members in EAE, C57BL/6 mice, LT-alpha-deficient (LT-alpha-/- mice), or LT-beta-deficient (LT-beta-/- mice), and their wild-type (WT) littermates were immunized with rat myelin oligodendrocyte glycoprotein (MOG) peptide 35-55. C57BL/6 and WT mice developed chronic, sustained paralytic disease with average maximum clinical scores of 3.5 and disease indices (a measure of day of onset and sustained disease scores) ranging from 367 to 663 with central nervous system (CNS) inflammation and demyelination. LT-alpha-/- mice were primed so that their splenic lymphocytes proliferated in response to MOG 35-55 and the mice produced anti-MOG antibody. However, LT-alpha-/- mice were quite resistant to EAE with low average clinical scores (<1), an average disease index of 61, and the negligible CNS inflammation and demyelination. WT T cells transferred EAE to LT-alpha-/- recipients. LT-beta-/- mice were susceptible to EAE, though less than WT, with an average maximum clinical score of 1.9 and disease index of 312. These data implicate T cell production of LT-alpha in MOG EAE and support a major role for LT-alpha3, a minor role for the LT-alpha/beta complex, and by inference, no role for TNF-alpha.

Intellectual impairment in children exposed to polychlorinated biphenyls in utero.

In utero exposure to polychlorinated biphenyls, a ubiquitous environmental contaminant, has been linked to adverse effects on neurologic and intellectual function in infants and young children. We assessed whether these effects persist through school age and examined their importance in the acquisition of reading and arithmetic skills. We tested 212 children, recruited as newborns to overrepresent infants born to women who had eaten Lake Michigan fish contaminated with polychlorinated biphenyls. A battery of IQ and achievement tests was administered when the children were 11 years of age. Concentrations of polychlorinated biphenyls in maternal serum and milk at delivery were slightly higher than in the general population. A composite measure of prenatal exposure was derived from concentrations in umbilical-cord serum and maternal serum and milk. Prenatal exposure to polychlorinated biphenyls was associated with lower full-scale and verbal IQ scores after control for potential confounding variables such as socioeconomic status (P = 0.02). The strongest effects related to memory and attention. The most highly exposed children were three times as likely to have low average IQ scores (P <0.001) and twice as likely to be at least two years behind in reading comprehension (P = 0.03). Although larger quantities of polychlorinated biphenyls are transferred by breast-feeding than in utero, there were deficits only in associated with transplacental exposure, suggesting that the developing fetal brain is particularly sensitive to these compounds. In utero exposure to polychlorinated biphenyls in concentrations slightly higher than those in the general population can have a long-term impact on intellectual function.

Dynamics of decline and mortality of Chamaecyparis nootkatensis in southeast Alaska

Alaska-cedar, Chamaecyparis nootkatensis (D. Don) Spach, has been dying in undisturbed forests throughout southeast Alaska for the last 100 years. To determine if decline spreads, boundaries of mortality at seven sites with decline were mapped using aerial photographs taken in 1927, 1948, 1965, and 1976. Mortality was present at all seven sites in 1927. The boundaries of mortality have since expanded, but not by more than 100 m beyond the 1927 limit. In ground surveys, dead Alaska-cedar trees, classified according to their degree of deterioration, were recorded in 427 plots along 39 transects. Fifty-five taxa of understory vegetation were also recorded from 280 plots along these 21 transects; an ordination was produced from their distribution that represented a gradient from bogs to sites with better drainage. Most mortality was associated with bog and semibog sites. Alaska-cedar has a disproportionate level of mortality (65% of basal area dead) relative to other conifers. Local spread of cedar decline occurred along this gradient, as plots with more recently killed cedar trees had high average ordination scores (better drainage) and plots with cedars killed long ago had low average scores (boggy). Snags that probably date from the onset of extensive mortality were relatively common (at least 8% of all snags) on all 23 sites where intensive mortality was surveyed on the ground. As all sites with mortality that we investigated throughout southeast Alaska have these snags, decline does not appear to have spread to new sites since its onset. Although decline is relatively species specific and has patterns of local spread, the spread of mortality is along a specific, preexisting ecological gradient. These results, and the apparent lack of any site to site spread in the last 100 years, suggest that Alaska-cedar decline is not caused by some biotic agent.

Reconciliation of Data on Aptitude Test Scores and University Grades of Teachers

National comparisons demonstrate that education students and graduates tend to obtain lower Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) scores than noneducation stu dents. Nonetheless some researchers assert that education students also ob tain grade point averages (GPAs) equiva lent to those of noneducation students at the same institutions and based on the same courses. Clark suggests a re conciliation of these two effects. Specifi cally, evidence is presented showing that the universities involved in the GPA studies enroll students with low average SAT scores compared to other univer sities, and also enroll a high percentage of education students. In relatively non- selective universities, education stu dents obtain equivalent GPAsto nonedu cation students while at the same time they score relatively low with respect to national SAT results that include all in stitutions. Implications for future re search and teacher education are consi dered.