Ecological Assessment of Everyday Executive Functioning at Home and at School using the BRIEF Questionnaire following Childhood Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI)

IntroductionCognitive and behavioural aspects of executive functioning (EF) are frequently impaired following childhood TBI. The Behavior Rating Inventory of Executive Function (BRIEF) questionnaire provides an ecological assessment of EFs in everyday life in home and school environments. The aims of this study were to describe the dysexecutive disorders in children with TBI using the BRIEF; to compare parent- and teacher-ratings and to analyse the demographic and medical variables influencing outcome.MethodsParticipants: Children/adolescents aged 5–17 years 11 months, referred to a paediatric rehabilitation department following TBI. Outcome measures: the parent–and the teacher-report of the BRIEF were collected during neuropsychological assessment (2009–2014), as well as the teacher-report (from 2014). Age at injury and assessment, parental education and TBI severity were collected.Results194 patients (142 boys) participated in the study [mild (n=13), moderate (n=12) or severe (n=169: mean duration of coma 7.2 days; SD=6.5)]. 193 parent-reports and 28 complete teacher reports of the BRIEF were available. Mean age at injury/assessment were 6.9 (SD=4.4), and 11.8 (SD=3.5) years respectively. According to parent-ratings, children had significantly elevated scores in all BRIEF indices [Global Executive Composite (GEC), Behaviour Regulation Index (BRI), Metacognition Index (MI)], and subscales (mean T-scores 61–64; all P<.0001), with 24% to 48.0% scoring in the clinical range. Teachers’ ratings indicated similar deficits in all sub-scales (mean T-scores 63–70; all P<.001), with 39.3–57.2% scoring in the clinical range. For patients with teacher and parent-reports (n=27), no significant difference was found between parent and teacher ratings, which were significantly correlated (r: .44–.72). Regression analyses indicated that GEC was significantly predicted by older age at assessment. The regression model for BRI was not significant. For MI, younger age at injury and older age at assessment were significant predictors.Discussion and conclusionThis study highlights elevated levels of executive dysfunction in everyday life following childhood TBI, evident in home and school environments. Younger age at injury seems to influence the cognitive rather than the behavioural aspects of EFs, whereas older age at assessment is related to higher levels of complaints, probably due to the increasing levels of expectations

Examining the Frontal Subcortical Brain Vulnerability Hypothesis in Children With Neurofibromatosis Type 1: Are T2-Weighted Hyperintensities Related to Executive Dysfunction?

Objective: It was hypothesized that neuropsychological impairments in children with neurofibromatosis type I (NF1) are associated with brain areas of increased T2-weighted signal intensity on MRI. Systematic and extensive examination of this hypothesis remains however scarce, particularly regarding executive dysfunction whereas hyperintensities are located preferentially in frontal-sub-cortical networks. In this study, we compared the executive functioning profile with characteristics of brain hyperintensities in children with NF1. Method: A sample of 36 school-age children with NF1 (7-12 years) underwent a detailed examination of executive function, including performance-based tests and child\u27s behavior rating in daily life. Executive function measures were compared with the characteristics of the T2-weighted hyperintensities on parallel MRI scans. The presence, number, and size of hyperintensities in the whole brain were considered as well as their main cerebral locations. Results: Executive dysfunction including traditional cognitive and ecological measures in children with NF1 is not significantly influenced by T2-weighted hyperintensities, in terms of presence or not, number, size, and location, whether in the whole brain or according to involved specific brain areas. Conclusion: T2-weighted hyperintensities, as they are currently measured, cannot be used as a strong indicator of executive dysfunction in children with NF1. Based on the available NF1 cognitive impairment pathogenesis models, a critical discussion on anatomical-functional relationships between hyperintensities and neuropsychological profile is proposed, especially the executive dysfunction. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2014 APA, all rights reserved)

Réussir son mémoire en psycho: Elaboration et rédaction du travail d'étude et de recherche

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Additive effects of ectoparasites over reproductive attempts in the long-lived alpine swift

1. Parasitism is a non-negligible cost of reproduction in wild organisms, and hosts are selected to partition resources optimally between current and future reproduction. While parents can compensate for the cost of parasitism by increasing their current reproductive investment, such change in resource allocation is expected to carry-over costs on future reproduction. 2. Life history theory predicts that because long-lived organisms have a high residual reproductive value, they should be more reluctant to increase parental effort in response to parasites. Also, when rearing successive infested broods, the cost of parasitism can cumulate over the years and hence be exacerbated by past infestations. 3. We tested these two predictions in the alpine swift Apus melba, a long-lived colonial bird that is infested intensely by the nest-based blood sucking louse-fly Crataerina melbae. For this purpose, we manipulated ectoparasite load over 3 consecutive years and measured reproductive parameters in successive breeding attempts of adults assigned randomly to 'parasitized' and 'deparasitized' treatments. 4. In current reproduction, fathers of experimentally parasitized broods produced a similar number of offspring as fathers from the deparasitized treatment, but the rearing period was prolonged by 4 days. Fathers that were assigned to the parasitized treatment in year x produced significantly fewer fledglings the following year x + 1 than those of the deparasitized treatment. The number of young produced by fathers in year x + 1 was correlated negatively with the number of days they cared for their brood in the previous year x. We also found a significant interaction between treatments performed over 2 successive years, with fathers of parasitized broods suffering a larger fitness loss if in the past they had already cared for a parasitized brood rather than for a deparasitized one. Similar effects of parasitism, although partly non-significant (0.05 &lt; P-values &gt; 0.10), were found in mothers. 5. Altogether, our results show that parasites can modify resource allocation between current and future reproduction in long-lived hosts, and that the cost of parasitism can cumulate over the years. It emphasizes the fact that effects of parasites can depend on past infestations and become apparent in future reproduction only