Head-Toes-Knees-Shoulders task and EF in two samples of adolescents in Brazil and United States

Executive function (EF) is a foundational cognitive construct, which is linked to better cognitive and physical health throughout development. The present study examines the construct validity of an EF task, the Head-Toes-Knees-Shoulders task (HTKS) that was initially developed for young children, in a sample of adolescents. We investigate the initial validity and range in scores between 54 adolescents from Brazil (mean age 12.58) and 56 US adolescents (mean age 12.48) from different socioeconomic contexts. Results indicated that the HTKS showed sufficient variability in both samples, especially for a measure of HTKS efficiency (completion time divided by the total score). The US sample performed better on all cognitive measures. For the Brazilian sample, regression models controlling for age and sex showed a significant relationship between the digit span working memory task, the HTKS total score, and the HTKS efficiency score. The Heart and Flowers cognitive flexibility measure was also included as an independent variable only for the Brazil sample, showing a significant relationship with both HTKS scores. For the US sample, results showed that only the HTKS efficiency score was significantly related to the digit span working memory task. This study highlights the importance of cognitive efficiency measures to achieve greater validity, as they can assess a broader range of performance with different populations. The HTKS showed good ecological validity with two adolescent samples, as it differentiated between populations with high and low socioeconomic status from different cultural contexts

Stability of hybrid versus vaccine immunity against BA.5 infection over 8 months

© 2022 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.The coverage of SARS-CoV-2 vaccination in large parts of the world, together with the high number of breakthrough infections, especially following the emergence of Omicron subvariants, makes hybrid immunity (resulting from vaccine and infection) common. Hybrid immunity, particularly after BA.1 or BA.2 infection, confers substantial protection against the BA.5 infection. However, although the waning of protection afforded by natural infection in non-vaccinated individuals or by vaccination has been well documented, the stability of hybrid immunity, specifically against the BA.5 subvariant, now dominant in many countries, has not been thoroughly addressed.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Genetic divergence and importance of morphological characters in genotypes of kale

A caracteriza??o morfol?gica de gen?tipos de couve ? necess?ria bem como as estimativas da diverg?ncia gen?tica entre os mesmos. O presente trabalho teve como objetivos estudar os caracteres morfol?gicos dos gen?tipos de couve oriundos do banco de germoplasma da UFVJM, a diverg?ncia gen?tica existente entre os gen?tipos e a import?ncia destes caracteres nas estimativas da diverg?ncia. O experimento foi conduzido no Setor de Olericultura da UFVJM, Diamantina-MG, utilizando-se o delineamento experimental em blocos casualizados com trinta gen?tipos e quatro repeti??es, constitu?das por cinco plantas. Para a caracteriza??o morfol?gica avaliaram-se em cada planta quarenta e quatro caracter?sticas. Verifcou-se que h? gen?tipos com grande diverg?ncia gen?tica entre si, sendo os gen?tipos UFLA-6 e UFVJM-24 os mais divergentes em rela??o aos demais, contudo, a maioria dos gen?tipos ? similar. Verifcou-se tamb?m que h? caracter?sticas importantes que podem ser usadas nas estimativas da diverg?nciaFunda??o de Amparo ? Pesquisa do Estado de Minas Gerais (FAPEMIG)Empresa de Pesquisa Agropecu?ria de Minas Gerais (EPAMIG)Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Cient?fico e Tecnol?gico (CNPq)Coordena??o de Aperfei?oamento de Pessoal de N?vel Superior (CAPES)The morphological characterization of genotypes of kale is needed as well as the estimates of genetic divergence between them. We studied the morphological characters of kale genotypes originated from the germplasm bank of UFVJM, the genetic divergence among the genotypes and the importance of these characters in the estimates of divergence. The experiment was carried out in the Department of Horticulture of UFVJM, Diamantina, Minas Gerais state, Brazil, using the randomized complete block design with four replications and thirty genotypes, consisting of five plants. Forty-four traits were evaluated on each plant for morphological evaluations. Some genotypes showed high genetic divergence, such as the genotypes UFLA-6 and 24-UFVJM, which were the most divergent compared to the others. Most of the genotypes, however, were similar to each other. It was also observed that there are important characteristics that can be used in the estimation of divergence