The role and function of the school psychologist in the 21st century: a literature review

Includes bibliographical references

Neurocognition and social cognition in patients with schizophrenia spectrum disorders with and without a history of violence: results of a multinational European study

Objective: Neurocognitive impairment has been extensively studied in people with schizophrenia spectrum disorders and seems to be one of the major determinants of functional outcome in this clinical population. Data exploring the link between neuropsychological deficits and the risk of violence in schizophrenia has been more inconsistent. In this study, we analyse the differential predictive potential of neurocognition and social cognition to discriminate patients with schizophrenia spectrum disorders with and without a history of severe violence. Methods: Overall, 398 (221 cases and 177 controls) patients were recruited in forensic and general psychiatric settings across five European countries and assessed using a standardized battery. Results: Education and processing speed were the strongest discriminators between forensic and non-forensic patients, followed by emotion recognition. In particular, increased accuracy for anger recognition was the most distinctive feature of the forensic group. Conclusions: These results may have important clinical implications, suggesting potential enhancements of the assessment and treatment of patients with schizophrenia spectrum disorders with a history of violence, who may benefit from consideration of socio-cognitive skills commonly neglected in ordinary clinical practice

PREVALÊNCIA DA RETINOPATIA DA PREMATURIDADE NO CENTRO DE NEONATOLOGIA DO HOSPITAL DE CLÍNICAS DE PORTO ALEGRE

Objetivo: Estudar a prevalência da retinopatia da prematuridade em recém-nascidos prematuros, nascidos no Hospital de Clínicas de Porto Alegre entre outubro de 2002 e agosto de 2005. Métodos: Estudo transversal de 220 crianças prematuras nascidas com peso igual ou inferior a 1.500 gramas e/ou com idade gestacional igual ou menor do que 32 semanas, examinadas no centro de neonatologia, após dilatação das pupilas, sempre a partir da sextasemana de vida. Resultados: A retinopatia da prematuridade ocorreu em 61 (61/220) prematuros, em um percentual de 27,73%. A doença atingiu estadiamento 1 em 12,73% dos casos (28/220), estadiamento 2 em 9,55% dos casos (21/220) e estadiamento 3 em 5% dos casos (11/220). Apenas uma das crianças atingiu o estadiamento 5 da doença, em 0,45% dos casos (1/220).Conclusões: O percentual de 27,73% de retinopatia encontrado foi similar ao de outros trabalhos internacionais com o mesmo delineamento, assim como o percentual de 5% de retinopatia no estágio 3. Apenas um dos prematuros desenvolveu a doença até o estágio mais grave (5), havendo 0,45% de cegueira pela retinopatia da prematuridade no Hospital de Clínicas de Porto Alegre.Unitermos: Retinopatia da prematuridade, prevalência, cegueira, prevenção

Modeling and Bioinformatics Identify Responders to G-CSF in Patients With Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis

Objective: Developing an integrative approach to early treatment response classification using survival modeling and bioinformatics with various biomarkers for early assessment of filgrastim (granulocyte colony stimulating factor) treatment effects in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) patients. Filgrastim, a hematopoietic growth factor with excellent safety, routinely applied in oncology and stem cell mobilization, had shown preliminary efficacy in ALS. Methods: We conducted individualized long-term filgrastim treatment in 36 ALS patients. The PRO-ACT database, with outcome data from 23 international clinical ALS trials, served as historical control and mathematical reference for survival modeling. Imaging data as well as cytokine and cellular data from stem cell analysis were processed as biomarkers in a non-linear principal component analysis (NLPCA) to identify individual response. Results: Cox proportional hazard and matched-pair analyses revealed a significant survival benefit for filgrastim-treated patients over PRO-ACT comparators. We generated a model for survival estimation based on patients in the PRO-ACT database and then applied the model to filgrastim-treated patients. Model-identified filgrastim responders displayed less functional decline and impressively longer survival than non-responders. Multimodal biomarkers were then analyzed by PCA in the context of model-defined treatment response, allowing identification of subsequent treatment response as early as within 3 months of therapy. Strong treatment response with a median survival of 3.8 years after start of therapy was associated with younger age, increased hematopoietic stem cell mobilization, less aggressive inflammatory cytokine plasma profiles, and preserved pattern of fractional anisotropy as determined by magnetic resonance diffusion tensor imaging (DTI-MRI). Conclusion: Long-term filgrastim is safe, is well-tolerated, and has significant positive effects on disease progression and survival in a small cohort of ALS patients. Developing and applying a model-based biomarker response classification allows use of multimodal biomarker patterns in full potential. This can identify strong individual treatment responders (here: filgrastim) at a very early stage of therapy and may pave the way to an effective individualized treatment option

Subcortical brain volume, regional cortical thickness, and cortical surface area across disorders: findings from the ENIGMA ADHD, ASD, and OCD Working Groups

Objective Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), autism spectrum disorder (ASD), and obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) are common neurodevelopmental disorders that frequently co-occur. We aimed to directly compare all three disorders. The ENIGMA consortium is ideally positioned to investigate structural brain alterations across these disorders. Methods Structural T1-weighted whole-brain MRI of controls (n=5,827) and patients with ADHD (n=2,271), ASD (n=1,777), and OCD (n=2,323) from 151 cohorts worldwide were analyzed using standardized processing protocols. We examined subcortical volume, cortical thickness and surface area differences within a mega-analytical framework, pooling measures extracted from each cohort. Analyses were performed separately for children, adolescents, and adults using linear mixed-effects models adjusting for age, sex and site (and ICV for subcortical and surface area measures). Results We found no shared alterations among all three disorders, while shared alterations between any two disorders did not survive multiple comparisons correction. Children with ADHD compared to those with OCD had smaller hippocampal volumes, possibly influenced by IQ. Children and adolescents with ADHD also had smaller ICV than controls and those with OCD or ASD. Adults with ASD showed thicker frontal cortices compared to adult controls and other clinical groups. No OCD-specific alterations across different age-groups and surface area alterations among all disorders in childhood and adulthood were observed. Conclusion Our findings suggest robust but subtle alterations across different age-groups among ADHD, ASD, and OCD. ADHD-specific ICV and hippocampal alterations in children and adolescents, and ASD-specific cortical thickness alterations in the frontal cortex in adults support previous work emphasizing neurodevelopmental alterations in these disorders

Reinsurance of Life Risks

Abweichender Titel nach Übersetzung der Verfasserin/des VerfassersIn der Praxis spielt die Rückversicherung von Lebensrisiken verglichen mit jener von Sachrisiken eine untergeordnete Rolle, da der Lebensversicherungsbestand der Erstversicherer grundsätzlich homogen ist und der Risikoausgleich im Kollektiv gut funktioniert. Dennoch ist insbesondere die Bestimmung der Risikorückversicherungsprämie für verschiedenst ausgestaltete Versicherungsverträge sehr interessant. In Carter wird eine Möglichkeit zur Kalkulation der Rückversicherungsprämie von Lebensrisiken (insbesondere von Ablebensund Gemischten Versicherungen), wenn das Mortalitätsrisiko an den Rückversicherer abgegeben wird, angeführt. Die Rückversicherungsprämie ist hier als proportionaler Anteil der Risikosumme definiert, wobei die Risikosumme mittels des Äquivalenzprinzips bestimmt wird. In dieser Arbeit wird dieses Modell jedoch lediglich als Basismodell betrachtet. Die Erstprämie kann auch mittels anderer Prämienkalkulationsprinzipien - wie zum Beispiel mittels des Erwartungswert-, Varianzoder des Standardabweichungsprinzips berechnet werden. Anschließend ist es möglich, die Änderungen in der Kalkulation der Risikosumme auf die Rückversicherungsprämie zu untersuchen. Erlebensversicherungen können auch mit nicht-proportionalen Methoden (zum Beispiel Stop-Loss-Verträgen) rückversichert werden.The reinsurance of life risks plays a minor role compared to the one of non-life risks, because the life portfolio of an insurance company is basically homogenous and there is a wide spread of risks. Nevertheless the calculation of the reinsurance premium for different types of life insurance contracts is pretty interesting. Carter shows a first possibility to calculate the reinsurance risk premium of life risks (especially in case of endowment and life insurance policies), if only the mortality risk is transferred to the reinsurer. The risk premium is defined as a proportional share of the sum at risk, which calculation is based on the equivalence principle. The methodology of calculating the premium which is paid by the insured person to the insurer can be extended for example by using the mean principle and the standard deviation principle. Afterwards it is possible to investigate the influence of a change in the premium calculation to the reinsurance risk premium. Pure endowment policies can be reinsured with non proportional methods (e.g. Stop-Loss-Contracts) as well.5

Competency requirements in the 21st century: perceptions of practicing school psychologists

Includes bibliographic references

Effect of cultivation practices on Lachenalia cultivars for a potential cut flower

Trials were done on four Lachenalia cultivars (Romaud, Robyn, Rolina and Romelia) to improve flower quality and inflorescence stem length and to evaluate vase life, as these criteria are important for the cut flower grower. Flowering size bulbs were grown under five different shade nets (white 18%, green 40%, black 40%, black 55%, black 7O%) and in the open as a control. Under each shade net, bulbs were planted at a low planting density of two bulb diameters apart (56 bulbs/m2), as well as a high planting density of one bulb diameter apart (111 bulbs/m2). The effect (If the growth hormone gibberellic acid (GA3) on plant growth was investigated to determine if longer stems could be obtained. The plants were treated with gibberellic acid at 10 ppm and 0 ppm, which was applied as a foliar spray and as El bulb dip treatment. It is necessary to identify and describe specific flowering stages to be able to establish a standard rating system for Lachenalia vase life. The morphology of Lachenalia cultivar Romaud was described to determine the real succession of opening flowers on the inflorescence. The stages of 'first flower', 'full flower' and '50% wilt' were described. A high photosynthetically active radiation (PAR) measurement of 1250 µ.mol.m-2.s-1 in the control, resulted in the shortest inflorescence stem length of 13 cm for all four cultivars compared to the rest of the shade nets. The longest inflorescence stem length of 24 cm was produced for cultivars Rolina and Romelia by a low PAR of 400 µ.mol.m-2.s-1 under the black 70% shade net. The inflorescence stem length of all four Lachenalia cultivars tend to decrease to a minimum of 13 cm when average temperatures are 30oC and higher and to a maximum of 24 cm when temperatures are in the range from 24 to 27oC. A long vase life of 12 to 14 days for cultivar Rolina was observed under the green 40% and black 40% shade nets, compared to 10 to 11 days in the control. The green 40% shade produced a long vase life of 14 to 16 days for cultivar Romelia, compared to the 12 to 14 days in the control. Planting density significantly increased inflorescence stem length by about 2.5 cm and vase life by 2 days at the high planting density compared to the low planting density for all four cultivars. Inflorescence stem length for cultivars Romaud and Romelia increased significantly by 3 cm for both the GA3 foliar spray and bulb dip treatments. The number of flowers per inflorescence decreased significantly by about 3 to 5 flowers for cultivar Romaud and Romelia when GA3 was applied as a foliar spray or bulb dip treatment. A significant increase in vase life (2 days) of GA3 treated plants was observed. All four Lachenalia c:ultivars are suitable for cut flower production, as inflorescence stem lengths were either just below or above the 20 cm mark and vase life was longer than the five to six days required by the cut flower industry.Dissertation (MSc (Agric): Horticulture)--University of Pretoria, 2006.Plant Production and Soil Scienceunrestricte