Fluidez verbal semántica y fonológica en una muestra de niños de Argentina

The aim of this work is to obtain data about the evolutionary pattern of performance in verbal fluency tasks for a sample of Argentinean primary school aged children (3rd, 5th y 7th grade) in semantic and phonological verbal fluency tasks. For the semantic fluency task, children were assessed in different categories: animals, fruits and vegetables, and body parts for living things domain, and means of transport, musical instruments and clothes for inanimate objects. For the phonological fluency assessment, children were tested with /f/, /a/and /s/phonemes. Both fluency tasks showed differences between grades, indicating the influence of education. Besides, irrespective of the grade, children performed better on the semantic fluency tasks. Results in the semantic fluency task also showed a better performance for the living things domain over the inanimate objects domain. Further analysis on the results showed that 3rd grade children have the worst performance, compared to 5th and 7th grade children. The results of our work are discussed taking in account cognitive mechanisms, executive functions and semantic memory development.No presente trabalho oferecemos dados de tarefas de fl uência verbal para crianças argentinas de 3°, 5° e 7 ° ano do ensino fundamental. Os participantes foram avaliados com uma tarefa de fl uência semântica, que testou as categorias de animais, frutas e legumes e partes do corpo para o domínio dos seres vivos e meios de transporte, instrumentos musicais e roupas para os objetos inanimados. As crianças também foram avaliadas com uma tarefa de fl uência fonológica que testou os fonemas /f/, /a/ e /s/. Os dados obtidos apontam para diferenças de desempenho entre as tarefas e mostraram um melhor desempenho nas de fl uência semântica. Além disso, nas tarefas de fl uência semântica os participantes tiveram um melhor desempenho no domínio dos seres vivos. Tanto para fl uência semântica quanto fonológica, as diferenças estiveram presentes quando os grupos foram comparados pelo nível de escolaridade, de modo que os alunos de 3° ano se dissociam signifi cativamente dos 5° e 7 ° anos, produzindo menor quantidade de exemplares. Os resultados são discutidos à luz de possíveis diferenças originadas no desenvolvimento cognitivo, as funções executivas e o sistema semântico.El objetivo del presente trabajo es obtener información del patrón evolutivo de desempeño en tareas de fl uidez verbal para una muestra de niños argentinos de nivel primario de 3°, 5° y 7° grado. Se evaluó a los participantes con una tarea de fl uidez semántica, en la que se evaluaron las categorías de animales, frutas y verduras, y partes del cuerpo para el dominio de seres vivos, y medios de transporte, instrumentos musicales y ropa para el de objetos inanimados. Asimismo fueron evaluados con una tarea de fl uidez fonológica en la que se testearon los fonemas /f/, /a/ y /s/. Los datos obtenidos dan cuenta de diferencias de rendimiento entre las tareas de fl uidez con un mejor desempeño en las tareas de fl uidez semántica. Asimismo, en las tareas de fl uidez semántica se observa un mejor rendimiento en el dominio de seres vivos. Las diferencias obtenidas en ambas tareas se identifi can al comparar los grupos según escolaridad, siendo únicamente los niños de 3° grado los que, con menor cantidad de ejemplares recuperados, se disocian signifi cativamente de los de 5° y 7° grado. Estos hallazgos son discutidos a la luz de posibles diferencias en función del desarrollo cognitivo, de las funciones ejecutivas y del sistema semántico.Fil: Fumagalli, Julieta Carolina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Houssay; Argentina. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Filosofía y Letras. Instituto de Lingüística; ArgentinaFil: Soriano, Federico Gonzalo. Instituto de Neurociencias Cognitiva y Traslacional; ArgentinaFil: Shalóm, Diego Edgar. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Ciudad Universitaria. Instituto de Física de Buenos Aires. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. Instituto de Física de Buenos Aires; ArgentinaFil: Barreyro, Juan Pablo. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Houssay; Argentina. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Psicología. Instituto de Investigaciones; ArgentinaFil: Martínez Cuitiño Carricaburo, María Macarena. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Houssay. Instituto de Neurociencia Cognitiva. Fundación Favaloro. Instituto de Neurociencia Cognitiva; Argentin

Sequence diversity on four ORFs of citrus tristeza virus correlates with pathogenicity

The molecular characterization of isolates of citrus tristeza virus (CTV) from eight locations in Mexico was undertaken by analyzing five regions located at the opposite ends of the virus genome. Two regions have been previously used to study CTV variability (coat protein and p23), while the other three correspond to other genomic segments (p349-B, p349-C and p13). Our comparative nucleotide analyses included CTV sequences from different geographical origins already deposited in the GenBank databases. The largest nucleotide differences were located in two fragments located at the 5' end of the genome (p349-B and p349-C). Phylogenetic analyses on those five regions showed that the degree of nucleotide divergence among strains tended to correlate with their pathogenicity. Two main groups were defined: mild, with almost no noticeable effects on the indicator plants and severe, with drastic symptoms. Mild isolates clustered together in every analyzed ORF sharing a genetic distance below 0.022, in contrast with the severe isolates, which showed a more disperse distribution and a genetic distance of 0.276. Analyses of the p349-B and p349-C regions evidenced two lineages within the severe group: severe common subgroup (most of severe isolates) and severe divergent subgroup (T36-like isolates). This study represents the first attempt to analyze the genetic variability of CTV in Mexico by constructing phylogenetic trees based on new genomic regions that use group-specific nucleotide and amino acid sequences. These results may be useful to implement specific assays for strain discrimination. Moreover, it would be an excellent reference for the CTV situation in México to face the recent arrival of brown citrus aphid

Presence of necrotic strains of Potato virus Y in Mexican potatoes

Correction to Ramírez-Rodríguez VR, Frías-Treviño G, Aviña-Padilla K, Silva-Rosales L, Martínez-Soria JP: Presence of necrotic strains of Potato virus Y in Mexican potatoes. Virology Journal 2009, 6:4

Differences between sexes in children and adults in semantic fluency tasks: innate or cultural?

Las diferencias en el procesamiento semántico de hombres y mujeres han sido identificadas en tareas de denominación y fluencia semántica. Las posibles explicaciones dan cuenta de diferencias innatas o culturales. Este trabajo indagó si era factible identificar estas disociaciones de procesamiento en una tarea de fluencia semántica con diferentes categorías en un grupo de adultos jóvenes y de niños en edad escolar. Las diferencias de procesamiento semántico por género en niños han sido poco estudiadas en la literatura. Los datos obtenidos a partir de una tarea de fluencia semántica oral (niños) y escrita (adultos) muestran una ventaja significativa de las mujeres (niñas y mujeres adultas) en el dominio de seres vivos. Para ese dominio, los datos no indican diferencias significativas entre los grupos etarios. Por otra parte, en lo que respecta al dominio de objetos inanimados no se detectan diferencias significativas entre hombres y mujeres, pero sí diferencias a favor de adultos en relación con los niños en cantidad de ejemplares recuperados. Los resultados encontrados abren la posibilidad de pensar en una hipótesis mixta de interacción entre factores biológicos y culturales. *Revista Indexada en: Web of Science (WoS),ESCI, Núcleo Básico de Revistas Científicas Argentinas, Catálogo de Latindex, Redalyc, DIALNET, PSICODOC, DOAJ, IMBIOMED y e-Revistas.Differences in semantic processing between men and women have been identified in picture naming and semantic fluency tasks. The possible explanations for these differences are based on innate or cultural hypothesis. The present study inquired whether is possible to identify semantic processing dissociations in a semantic fluency task in school-aged children and young adults, including different categories. Semantic processing dissociations by gender have been understudied in literature. Our data showed a significant advantage for women (girls and adult women) for the living things domain. No difference was found between girls and women for this domain. No significant differences were found for the non-living things domain between men and women. Differences in favor of adults in comparison to children in the number of exemplars retrieved were found. These results allow the possibility of a mixed interpretation based on the interaction between innate and cultural factors.Fil: Soriano, Federico Gonzalo. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Houssay. Instituto de Neurociencia Cognitiva. Fundación Favaloro. Instituto de Neurociencia Cognitiva; ArgentinaFil: Fumagalli, Julieta Carolina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentina. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Filosofía y Letras. Instituto de Lingüística; ArgentinaFil: Shalóm, Diego Edgar. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. Departamento de Física. Laboratorio de Neurociencia Integrativa; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; ArgentinaFil: Barreyro, Juan Pablo. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Psicología. Instituto de Investigaciones; Argentina. Instituto de Investigaciones; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; ArgentinaFil: Martínez Cuitiño Carricaburo, María Macarena. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Houssay. Instituto de Neurociencia Cognitiva. Fundación Favaloro. Instituto de Neurociencia Cognitiva; Argentina. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Psicología. Instituto de Investigaciones; Argentin

Gender Differences in Semantic Fluency Patterns in Children

Previous literature in cognitive psychology has provided data involvingdifferences in language processing between men and women. It has been found that women areusually more proficient with certain semantic categories such as fruit, vegetables and furniture.Men are reported to be better at other categories semantic, e.g. tools and transport. The aim of thisarticle is to provide an inquiry about possible differences in semantic category processing of livingthings (LT) and inanimate objects (IO) by Argentinian Spanish-speakers school-aged children.The group of 86 children between 8 and 12 years old (51.16 % boys) has been assessed on asemantic fluency task. Six semantic categories have been tested, three of them from the LTdomain (animals, fruit/vegetables, and body parts) and three from the IO domain (transport,clothes and musical instruments). Results showed differences in semantic processing betweenboys and girls. Girls retrieved more items from the LT domain and activated more animals andfruit/vegetables. These findings appear to support an innate conceptual organization of the mind,which is presumably influenced by cultural factors and/or schooling.Fil: Soriano, Federico Gonzalo. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Houssay. Instituto de Neurociencia Cognitiva. Fundación Favaloro. Instituto de Neurociencia Cognitiva; ArgentinaFil: Fumagalli, Julieta Carolina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; ArgentinaFil: Shalóm, Diego Edgar. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; ArgentinaFil: Barreyro, Juan Pablo. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; ArgentinaFil: Martínez Cuitiño Carricaburo, María Macarena. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentin

Efeitos categoriais em tarefas de denominação e categorização de desenhos com e semcor

Los efectos categoriales (EC) observados en pacientes y en sujetos sin lesión cerebral podrían deberse a las características estructurales de los ejemplares de los dominios de seres vivos (SV) y objetos inanimados (OI) en función de su mayor o menor semejanza estructural. La Hipótesis Pre-Semántica de los Efectos Categoriales (PACE) propone que los SV y OI se verán favorecidos/desfavorecidos en función de las demandas perceptuales de cada tarea que se administre. El objetivo de este trabajo es indagar posibles EC en tareas de denominación y categorización utilizando tanto dibujos en blanco y negro como a color. Se evaluaron cuatro muestras de participantes adultos con tareas de denominación y categorización. Se observaron EC en denominación y categorización de dibujos en blanco y negro y en categorización de dibujos a color. El efecto desaparece en denominación con dibujos a color. Los resultados acuerdan parcialmente con los postulados de la hipótesis PACE. A la luz de estos, se discuten las implicancias cognitivas de las tareas utilizadas.Category-effects (CE) observed both in patients and normal subjects could be explained by structural similarity between the members of living things (LT) and inanimate objects (IO) semantic domains. The Pre-Semantic Account of the Categorial Effects (PACE) proposes that the perceptual demands of the possible task will work in favour/against each domain. The aim of this study is to assess the existence of CE in picture naming and picture categorization tasks using black and white and color pictures. Four groups of participants were assessed with picture naming task and categorization task. CE was observed in black and white picture naming task, black and white picture categorization task and in color picture categorization task. The CE disappeared in the color picture-naming task. The results partially agree with the PACE. These results are discussed considering the cognitive implications of the tasks used in this research.Os efeitos categóricos (DC) observados em pacientes e indivíduos sem lesão cerebral podem ser devidos às características estruturais das amostras dos domínios de seres vivos (SV) e objetos inanimados (OI), dependendo de sua maior ou menor semelhança estrutural . A hipótese pré-semântica de efeitos de categoria (PACE) propõe que a SV e a OI sejam favorecidas / desfavorecidas, dependendo das demandas perceptivas de cada tarefa administrada. O objetivo deste trabalho é investigar possíveis CEs em tarefas de nomeação e categorização usando desenhos em preto e branco e em cores. Quatro amostras de participantes adultos com tarefas de nomeação e categorização foram avaliadas. CE foram observados na denominação e categorização dos desenhos em preto e branco e na categorização dos desenhos em cores. O efeito desaparece na denominação com desenhos coloridos. Os resultados concordam parcialmente com os postulados da hipótese PACE. À luz disso, são discutidas as implicações cognitivas das tarefas utilizadas.Fil: Martínez Cuitiño Carricaburo, María Macarena. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Houssay. Instituto de Neurociencia Cognitiva. Fundación Favaloro. Instituto de Neurociencia Cognitiva; ArgentinaFil: Peccin, Agustina Lara. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Houssay. Instituto de Neurociencia Cognitiva. Fundación Favaloro. Instituto de Neurociencia Cognitiva; ArgentinaFil: Soriano, Federico Gonzalo. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Houssay. Instituto de Neurociencia Cognitiva. Fundación Favaloro. Instituto de Neurociencia Cognitiva; ArgentinaFil: Barreyro, Juan Pablo. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentina. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Psicología; Argentin

Machine Learning to Find Areas of Rotors Sustaining Atrial Fibrillation from the ECG

Atrial fibrillation (AF) is the most frequent irregular heart rhythm due to disorganized atrial electrical activity, often sustained by rotational drivers called rotors. The non-invasive localization of AF drivers can lead to improved personalized ablation strategy, suggesting pulmonary vein (PV) isolation or more complex extra-PV ablation procedures in case the driver is on other atrial regions. We used a Machine Learning approach to characterize and discriminate simulated single stable rotors (1R) location: PVs, left atrium (LA) excluding the PVs, and right atrium (RA), utilizing solely non-invasive signals (i.e., the 12-lead ECG). 1R episodes sustaining AF were simulated. 128 features were extracted from the signals. Greedy forward algorithm was implemented to select the best feature set which was fed to a decision tree classifier with hold-out cross-validation technique. All tested features showed significant discriminatory power, especially those based on recurrence quantification analysis (up to 80.9% accuracy with single feature classification). The decision tree classifier achieved 89.4% test accuracy with 18 features on simulated data, with sensitivities of 93.0%, 82.4%, and 83.3% for RA, LA, and PV classes, respectively. Our results show that a machine learning approach can potentially identify the location of 1R sustaining AF using the 12-lead ECG

Correlational patterns in semantic and phonological fluency in school aged children

Las tareas de fluidez verbal semántica (FVS) y fluidez verbal fonológica (FVF) son medidas sensibles para detectar y diagnosticar diversas patologías tanto en la población adulta como en la infantil. Dado que las tareas de FVS y FVF permiten detectar problemas específicos de determinadas facultades lingüís­ticas o cognitivas, el objetivo de este trabajo es indagar las posibles relacio­nes existentes entre FVS y FVF en una población de niños argentinos de nivel escolar primario de 3°, 5° y 7° grado y edades comprendidas entre los 8 y 12 años. Los 86 niños participantes respondieron a una tarea de FVS en la que se evaluaron cinco categorías (animales, partes del cuerpo, medios de trans­portes, ropa e instrumentos musicales) y una tarea de FVF en la que respon­dieron a los fonemas /f/, /a/, /s/. Se realizó un análisis de correlaciones cuyo resultado muestra que existe una asociación de mediana intensidad entre ambas tareas. Además, se llevaron a cabo un análisis factorial exploratorio y uno confirmatorio, que detectaron dos factores diferenciados: un factor verbal semántico y un factor verbal fonológico. Los resultados obtenidos muestran que los procesos fonológicos y semánticos se encuentran diferenciados desde edades tempranas, aunque por su correlación es posible concluir que ambos procesos confluyen en un mismo almacén de búsqueda en la memoria verbal.Semantic verbal fluency tasks (SVF) and phonological verbal fluency tasks (PVF) are highly sensitive measures used to detect and diagnose different pathologies in adult and child populations. The results of numerous investigations point out differential performances between these two tasks both in adults and children. Based on this evidence, we intend to identify the possible connections between SVF and PVF in a group of Argentinian children aged 8 to 12 years old who attended to 3 rd , 5 th and 7 th school primary levels. Participants answered to a SVF task which tested five categories (animals and body parts for living things and transports, cloth and musical instruments for inanimate objects domain) and a PVF task where the phonemes /f, a, s/ were assessed. A correlations analysis was carried out. The result showed there is a mild association between both tasks. In addition, an exploratory factor analysis and a confirmatory factor analysis were conducted. Two differential factors were detected: a semantic verbal factor and a phonological verbal factor. Our results show that phonological and semantic are different processes and function separately in early development, although due to their correlation it is possible to conclude that both processes converge in the same store in verbal memory.Fil: Fumagalli, Julieta Carolina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentina. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Filosofía y Letras. Instituto de Lingüística; ArgentinaFil: Soriano, Federico Gonzalo. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Houssay. Instituto de Neurociencia Cognitiva. Fundación Favaloro. Instituto de Neurociencia Cognitiva; ArgentinaFil: Shalóm, Diego Edgar. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Ciudad Universitaria. Instituto de Física de Buenos Aires. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. Instituto de Física de Buenos Aires; ArgentinaFil: Barreyro, Juan Pablo. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentina. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Psicología. Instituto de Investigaciones; ArgentinaFil: Martínez Cuitiño Carricaburo, María Macarena. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Houssay. Instituto de Neurociencia Cognitiva. Fundación Favaloro. Instituto de Neurociencia Cognitiva; Argentin

Semantic processing of concrete and abstract concepts in semantic variant- Primary Progressive Aphasia

Semantic variant Primary Progressive Aphasia (sv-APP) is characterized by progressive affectation of conceptual knowledge. Previous investigations have reported a higher affectation for abstract concepts than for concrete ones. This is known as a concreteness effect. Nonetheless, there are works that have spotted an inverse concreteness effect, that is, subjects better performance with abstract concepts. In this investigation we compared the performance of 8 sv-APP patients to a group of 20 healthy controls matched in age and education level, using a synonyms task. Results show a concreteness effect, this means, a better performance with concretes concepts for nouns and verbs. These findings agree with previous research that found a worse performance with abstract concepts in sv-APP patients. These findings support the idea of an amodal semantic hub which processes both types of concepts. The observed low affectation in concrete concepts could be explained by higher semantic richness

Haemoparasites in endemic and non-endemic passerine birds from central Mexico highlands

Haemosporidian parasites of birds are found worldwide and include the genera Haemoproteus, Plasmodium and Leucocytozoon. Infection with haemosporidian parasites can affect host physical condition and reproductive success. The aim of this study was to identify the blood parasites and parasitaemia in endemic and non-endemic passerine birds from central Mexico highlands. This study included 157 passerines representing 29 species from 17 families. Overall, 30.6% (48/157) of the birds were infected with blood parasites. Of those, Haemoproteus spp. were found in 14.0% (n = 22), Leucocytozoon spp. 12.1% (n = 19) and microfilariae 0.6% (n = 1). Blood parasites were found in 71.4% (5/7) of endemic bird species and 45.4% (10/22) of non-endemic species. Medium to high parasitaemia (number of parasites/number erythrocytes) was observed in birds with infections of Haemoproteus spp. and Leucocytozoon spp. Co-infections 3.8% (n = 6) were observed in two species of endemic birds. This study contributes to the knowledge of haemoparasites in endemic and non-endemic passerine birds from central Mexico highlands. Additional investigation on the molecular identification of haemosporidian parasites, pathogenicity and health status of these birds is necessary