Intuitive geometry and visuospatial working memory in children showing symptoms of nonverbal learning disabilities.

Visuospatial working memory (VSWM) and intuitive geometry were examined in two groups aged 11-13, one with children displaying symptoms of nonverbal learning disability (NLD; n = 16), and the other, a control group without learning disabilities (n = 16). The two groups were matched for general verbal abilities, age, gender, and socioeconomic level. The children were presented with simple storage and complex-span tasks involving VSWM and with the intuitive geometry task devised by Dehaene, Izard, Pica, and Spelke (2006 ). Results revealed that the two groups differed in the intuitive geometry task. Differences were particularly evident in Euclidean geometry and in geometrical transformations. Moreover, the performance of NLD children was worse than controls to a larger extent in complex-span than in simple storage tasks, and VSWM differences were able to account for group differences in geometry. Finally, a discriminant function analysis confirmed the crucial role of complex-span tasks involving VSWM in distinguishing between the two groups. Results are discussed with reference to the relationship between VSWM and mathematics difficulties in nonverbal learning disabilities

Are children with developmental dyslexia all the same? A cluster analysis with more than 300 cases

Reading is vital to every aspect of modern life, exacerbated by reliance of the internet, email, and social media on the written medium. Developmental dyslexia (DD) characterizes a disorder in which the core deficit involves reading. Traditionally, DD is thought to be associated with a phonological impairment. However, recent evidence has begun to suggest that the reading impairment in some individuals is provoked by a visual processing deficit. In this paper, we present WISC‐IV data from more than 300 Italian children with a diagnosis of DD to investigate the manifestation of phonological and visual subtypes. Our results indicate the existence of two clusters of children with DD. In one cluster, the deficit was more pronounced in the phonological component, while both clusters were impaired in visual processing. These data indicate that DD may be an umbrella term that encompasses different profiles. From a theoretical perspective, our results demonstrate that dyslexia cannot be explained in terms of an isolated phonological deficit alone; visual impairment plays a crucial role. Moreover, general rather than specific accounts of DD are discussed

The influence of journal submission guidelines on authors' reporting of statistics and use of open research practices.

From January 2014, Psychological Science introduced new submission guidelines that encouraged the use of effect sizes, estimation, and meta-analysis (the "new statistics"), required extra detail of methods, and offered badges for use of open science practices. We investigated the use of these practices in empirical articles published by Psychological Science and, for comparison, by the Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, during the period of January 2013 to December 2015. The use of null hypothesis significance testing (NHST) was extremely high at all times and in both journals. In Psychological Science, the use of confidence intervals increased markedly overall, from 28% of articles in 2013 to 70% in 2015, as did the availability of open data (3 to 39%) and open materials (7 to 31%). The other journal showed smaller or much smaller changes. Our findings suggest that journal-specific submission guidelines may encourage desirable changes in authors' practices

Clinical features and outcomes of elderly hospitalised patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, heart failure or both

Background and objective: Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and heart failure (HF) mutually increase the risk of being present in the same patient, especially if older. Whether or not this coexistence may be associated with a worse prognosis is debated. Therefore, employing data derived from the REPOSI register, we evaluated the clinical features and outcomes in a population of elderly patients admitted to internal medicine wards and having COPD, HF or COPD + HF. Methods: We measured socio-demographic and anthropometric characteristics, severity and prevalence of comorbidities, clinical and laboratory features during hospitalization, mood disorders, functional independence, drug prescriptions and discharge destination. The primary study outcome was the risk of death. Results: We considered 2,343 elderly hospitalized patients (median age 81 years), of whom 1,154 (49%) had COPD, 813 (35%) HF, and 376 (16%) COPD + HF. Patients with COPD + HF had different characteristics than those with COPD or HF, such as a higher prevalence of previous hospitalizations, comorbidities (especially chronic kidney disease), higher respiratory rate at admission and number of prescribed drugs. Patients with COPD + HF (hazard ratio HR 1.74, 95% confidence intervals CI 1.16-2.61) and patients with dementia (HR 1.75, 95% CI 1.06-2.90) had a higher risk of death at one year. The Kaplan-Meier curves showed a higher mortality risk in the group of patients with COPD + HF for all causes (p = 0.010), respiratory causes (p = 0.006), cardiovascular causes (p = 0.046) and respiratory plus cardiovascular causes (p = 0.009). Conclusion: In this real-life cohort of hospitalized elderly patients, the coexistence of COPD and HF significantly worsened prognosis at one year. This finding may help to better define the care needs of this population

Sapienza for International Development Cooperation. Strategies, Projects, Actions

The volume presents the interventions of the speakers and the posters of the professors of Sapienza University of Rome as evidence of the results achieved in international cooperation with a special emphasis on capacity building actions in the main geographical areas identified as: Africa, Mena countries and Latin America and Asia. The materials were presented at the University Conference “Sapienza in International Development: Strategies, Projects, Initiatives” held in Rome, at the Aula Magna of Sapienza University of Rome, on 11 December 2018 and organized with the collaboration of the Roma Sapienza Foundation. The volume also presents in its introductory part a moment of reflection on the geographical areas of cooperation of greatest interest and strategic for Sapienza

Criterios de Bioseguridad Para la Correcta Programación de Ambientes Hospitalarios de Alta Complejidad Tecnológica (Quirófanos y Terapia Intensiva)

Cuando se hablan de espacios de alta complejidad tecnológica o también llamados sitios de alta intensidad de cura, no podemos ignorar que son las áreas en donde existe el mayor riesgo de contaminación y propagación de enfermedades nosocomiales,es por ello que al momento de la planificación, éstas, requieren de mayor atención. Un erróneo diseño espacial, una equivocada proyección de relación funcional entre espacios, mala utilización de materiales de construcción o bien una mala gestión o aplicación de protocolos asistenciales, pueden convertir los espacios de alta complejidad tecnológica en verdaderos focos de contaminación dentro del hospital

ENVIRONMENTAL CONTAMINANTS IN WILD BOARS FROM CALABRIA

The aim of this study was to determine heavy metals (Cd, Cu, Pb and Zn) organochlorine pesticides (POCs) and polychlorinated biphenyl (PCBs) in some samples (heart, kidney, liver, lung, muscle tissue and spleen) of wild boars (utilized as “bioindicator”) from various areas from Calabria. Quantitative determination of POCs and PCBs were carried out using GC-ECD and confirmed with GC-MS. The concentrations of heavy metals were determined by a Varian Atomic Absorption Spectroscopy instrument. Our data have shown low residual levels of OCs, heavy metals and the absence of PCBs in all samples analyzed and therefore the boar meat products are not dangerous for the consumer. Moreover, results obtained deserve particular attention not only for their significance but especially because they were recorded in Calabria, a region a low risk of environmental pollution due to the shortage of industries and the traditional agricultural activity