Effects of the Age, Sex, and Maternal Education of Monolingual Spanish-Speaking Preschool Children on Oral Narrative Production

Purpose The aim of the present cross-sectional study was to determine the effects of age, sex, and maternal education of monolingual Spanish-speaking preschoolers on both macrostructural (oral narrative quality) and microstructural measures (number of different words, communication units, mean length of utterance in both words and morphemes, and number of conjunctions) of their oral narrative production. Method A total of 277 monolingual Spanish-speaking Mexican children aged 2;06–5;11 (years;months) and divided into four age groups (ages 2, 3, 4, and 5 years) were asked to retell a fictional story from the oral narrative ability task of the Evaluación Neuropsicológica Infantil–Preescolar . Results Appropriate internal consistency and interrater reliability were demonstrated. Pearson correlations between macro- and microstructural measures showed a positive association. A multivariate analysis of variance revealed a main effect for age, but not for sex, maternal education, or between-variables interactions. Partial eta-squared showed that age had a medium effect size on oral narrative quality and the number of different words and conjunctions, with a small effect size on communication units and mean length of utterance in words and morphemes. Hierarchical multiple regression analyses indicated that age explained the largest percentage of variance across the oral narrative measures. Conclusions The measures found to be most sensitive to the effect of age (number of different words, oral narrative quality, communication units, conjunctions) are also those most easily assessed by clinicians with limited training in linguistics. Results obtained for the number of different words and communication units were similar to those reported previously for English-speaking children.

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Classifying Disfluencies in Preschool- and School-Age Spanish–English Bilinguals Who Do Not Stutter: An Exploratory Study

Perspectives of the ASHA Special Interest Groups ◽

10.1044/2019_persp-19-00164 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 5 (1) ◽

pp. 119-130

Author(s):

Raúl Rojas ◽

Farzan Irani

Keyword(s):

Exploratory Study ◽

Evidence Base ◽

Medium Effect ◽

Bilingual Children ◽

Linear Regression Models ◽

Cross Sectional ◽

Total Percentage ◽

Narrative Production ◽

Language Measures ◽

Mean Length Of Utterance

Purpose This exploratory study examined the language skills and the type and frequency of disfluencies in the spoken narrative production of Spanish–English bilingual children who do not stutter. Method A cross-sectional sample of 29 bilingual students (16 boys and 13 girls) enrolled in grades prekindergarten through Grade 4 produced a total of 58 narrative retell language samples in English and Spanish. Key outcome measures in each language included the percentage of normal (%ND) and stuttering-like (%SLD) disfluencies, percentage of words in mazes (%MzWds), number of total words, number of different words, and mean length of utterance in words. Results Cross-linguistic, pairwise comparisons revealed significant differences with medium effect sizes for %ND and %MzWds (both lower for English) as well as for number of different words (lower for Spanish). On average, the total percentage of mazed words was higher than 10% in both languages, a pattern driven primarily by %ND; %SLDs were below 1% in both languages. Multiple linear regression models for %ND and %SLD in each language indicated that %MzWds was the primary predictor across languages beyond other language measures and demographic variables. Conclusions The findings extend the evidence base with regard to the frequency and type of disfluencies that can be expected in bilingual children who do not stutter in grades prekindergarten to Grade 4. The data indicate that %MzWds and %ND can similarly index the normal disfluencies of bilingual children during narrative production. The potential clinical implications of the findings from this study are discussed.

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Transdiagnostic comparison of visual working memory capacity in bipolar disorder and schizophrenia

International Journal of Bipolar Disorders ◽

10.1186/s40345-020-00217-x ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 9 (1) ◽

Author(s):

Catherine V. Barnes-Scheufler ◽

Caroline Passow ◽

Lara Rösler ◽

Jutta S. Mayer ◽

Viola Oertel ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Bipolar Disorder ◽

Working Memory ◽

Visual Working Memory ◽

Effect Size ◽

Working Memory Capacity ◽

Memory Capacity ◽

Medium Effect ◽

Full Spectrum ◽

Small Effect Size ◽

The Difference

Abstract Background Impaired working memory is a core cognitive deficit in both bipolar disorder and schizophrenia. Its study might yield crucial insights into the underpinnings of both disorders on the cognitive and neurophysiological level. Visual working memory capacity is a particularly promising construct for such translational studies. However, it has not yet been investigated across the full spectrum of both disorders. The aim of our study was to compare the degree of reductions of visual working memory capacity in patients with bipolar disorder (PBD) and patients with schizophrenia (PSZ) using a paradigm well established in cognitive neuroscience. Methods 62 PBD, 64 PSZ, and 70 healthy controls (HC) completed a canonical visual change detection task. Participants had to encode the color of four circles and indicate after a short delay whether the color of one of the circles had changed or not. We estimated working memory capacity using Pashler’s K. Results Working memory capacity was significantly reduced in both PBD and PSZ compared to HC. We observed a small effect size (r = .202) for the difference between HC and PBD and a medium effect size (r = .370) for the difference between HC and PSZ. Working memory capacity in PSZ was also significantly reduced compared to PBD with a small effect size (r = .201). Thus, PBD showed an intermediate level of impairment. Conclusions These findings provide evidence for a gradient of reduced working memory capacity in bipolar disorder and schizophrenia, with PSZ showing the strongest degree of impairment. This underscores the importance of disturbed information processing for both bipolar disorder and schizophrenia. Our results are compatible with the cognitive manifestation of a neurodevelopmental gradient affecting bipolar disorder to a lesser degree than schizophrenia. They also highlight the relevance of visual working memory capacity for the development of both behavior- and brain-based transdiagnostic biomarkers.

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Lateral differences in maximal grip strength in Czech male tennis players aged 11 – 12 in the context of injury prevention

Studia sportiva ◽

10.5817/sts2019-1-6 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 13 (1) ◽

pp. 55-62

Author(s):

Roman Kolínský ◽

Jiří Zháněl

Keyword(s):

Grip Strength ◽

Effect Size ◽

Body Height ◽

Statistical Characteristics ◽

Medium Effect ◽

Dominant Hand ◽

Tennis Players ◽

Left Handed ◽

Small Effect Size ◽

The Right

The term laterality indicates the one-sided preference or functional advantage of the stronger, more accurate and coordinated limbs or organs and the brain hemisphere of a human body. In the preference process, more accurate, precise, coordinated and stronger side is chosen from the perspective of motoric functions. Among the general population is about 10-13% of left-handers and in certain sport fields this percentage may (baseball, tennis, box etc.). The left-handed dominance in tennis is considered an advantage. Due to unilateral load, there may be an excessive side-effect in strength differences in tennis and overloading of specific muscle group could lead to an injury. The aim of the research was to identify the levels of somatic and strength characteristics and assess the lateral difference in maximal grip strength of Czech elite male tennis players. The sample consisted of male tennis players, ranging in age from 11 to 12.9 years (n=186) who participated in the regular tests for Czech Tennis Association in years 2000-2018. Base anthropometrics were measured (height, weight) and maximal grip strength of both hands using the hand-held dynamometry (Grip D, Takei). Data came from normal distribution (statistically proven – chi-square test). The basic statistical characteristics were calculated (body height, M=155.08±7.98 cm; body weight, M=43.45±7.13 kg; strength of right hand: M=24.88±4.67 kp; strength of left hand: M=21.70±4.74 kp). It was found that 87.6% of the players (n=163) were right-handed and the remaining 12.4% left-handed (n=23). The assessment of the significance (Cohen´s d) between the dominant (playing) hand for the right-handed and left-handed players showed small effect size (dominant hand right: MRHR=25.11±4.41 kp, dominant hand left: MLHL=26.62±5.65 kp; d=0.30, small) in favor of the left-handed players. The difference between the dominant and the non-dominant hand showed large effect size for the right-handed (dominant hand right vs. hand left; MRHR=25.11±4.41 kp, MRHL=21.01±4.15 kp, d=0.96, large) and medium effect size for the left-handed players (dominant hand left vs. hand right; MLHL=26.62±5.65 kp, MLHR=23.24±5.98 kp, d=0.58, medium). The results showed that the value of 15 % level of strength laterality between dominant and non-dominant hand was exceeded for the right-handed (55.83 %) and left-handed (43.48%) groups ergo the exceeded value could be a cause of injuries. Because of this signals attention should be given during training process for optimizing the required load.

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Transdiagnostic Comparison of Visual Working Memory Capacity in Bipolar Disorder and Schizophrenia

10.21203/rs.3.rs-16602/v2 ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Catherine Barnes-Scheufler ◽

Caroline Passow ◽

Lara Rösler ◽

Jutta Mayer ◽

Viola Oertel ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Bipolar Disorder ◽

Working Memory ◽

Visual Working Memory ◽

Effect Size ◽

Working Memory Capacity ◽

Memory Capacity ◽

Medium Effect ◽

Full Spectrum ◽

Small Effect Size ◽

The Difference

Abstract BackgroundImpaired working memory is a core cognitive deficit in both bipolar disorder and schizophrenia. Its study might yield crucial insights into the underpinnings of both disorders on the cognitive and neurophysiological level. Visual working memory capacity is a particularly promising construct for such translational studies. However, it has not yet been investigated across the full spectrum of both disorders. The aim of our study was to compare the degree of reductions of visual working memory capacity in patients with bipolar disorder (PBD) and patients with schizophrenia (PSZ) using a paradigm well established in cognitive neuroscience. Methods62 PBD, 64 PSZ, and 70 healthy controls (HC) completed a canonical visual change detection task. Participants had to encode the color of four circles and indicate after a short delay whether the color of one of the circles had changed or not. We estimated working memory capacity using Pashler’s K. ResultsWorking memory capacity was significantly reduced in both PBD and PSZ compared to HC. We observed a small effect size (r = .202) for the difference between HC and PBD and a medium effect size (r = .370) for the difference between HC and PSZ. Working memory capacity in PSZ was also significantly reduced compared to PBD with a small effect size (r = .201). Thus, PBD showed an intermediate level of impairment. ConclusionsThese findings provide evidence for a gradient of reduced working memory capacity in bipolar disorder and schizophrenia, with PSZ showing the strongest degree of impairment. This underscores the importance of disturbed information processing for both bipolar disorder and schizophrenia. Our results are compatible with the cognitive manifestation of a neurodevelopmental gradient affecting bipolar disorder to a lesser degree than schizophrenia. They also highlight the relevance of visual working memory capacity for the development of both behavior- and brain-based transdiagnostic biomarkers.

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Critical thinking and academic succes of english language students

Život i škola ◽

10.32903/zs.64.2.10 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 64 (2) ◽

pp. 141-155

Author(s):

Amir Pušina ◽

Amina Osmanović

Keyword(s):

Academic Achievement ◽

Critical Thinking ◽

Environmental Factors ◽

Effect Size ◽

English Language ◽

Demographic Data ◽

Thinking Skills ◽

Critical Thinking Skills ◽

Medium Effect ◽

Small Effect Size

The goal of this study is to examine the relationship between critical thinking skills and academic achievement of English language learners in relation to different personal and environmental factors. In total, 117 female and 54 male (N=171) English language and literature students (age of M=20.99, SD=2.43) from four different universities in Bosnia and Herzegovina participated. Critical thinking skills and socio-demographic characteristics were examined by Ennis-Weir Critical Thinking Essay Test (EWCT) and Demographic Data Questionnaire. Nonparametric statistical procedures were used to test relations of critical thinking skills and academic achievement (GPA) clustering for gender, age, family education level, university affiliation and year of study. Analysis indicated only one significant relation between the socio-demographic variables, EWCT and GPA scores: very weak negative correlation between age and GPA (rs=-.160, p˂.05), with a small effect size, accounting for 2.56% common variance. A statistically significant positive moderate correlation (rs=.41, p<.001) with medium effect size (16.81% variance) between EWCT and GPA was found. Furthermore, difference between EWCT mean rank scores by GPA grade levels was a statistically significant: χ2(4)=35.751, p<.001. According to these results, critical thinking skills are important for students’ academic achievement. Forthcoming research needs more clarification of socio-demographic, environmental factors and critical thinking skills relationship

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The Age-Related Performance Decline in Marathon Running: The Paradigm of the Berlin Marathon

International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health ◽

10.3390/ijerph16112022 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 16 (11) ◽

pp. 2022 ◽

Cited By ~ 6

Author(s):

Pantelis T. Nikolaidis ◽

José Ramón Alvero-Cruz ◽

Elias Villiger ◽

Thomas Rosemann ◽

Beat Knechtle

Keyword(s):

Effect Size ◽

Age Groups ◽

The United States ◽

Medium Effect ◽

Peak Performance ◽

Marathon Running ◽

Marathon Race ◽

Age Related ◽

Medium Effect Size ◽

Performance Decline

The variation of marathon race time by age group has been used recently to model the decline of endurance with aging; however, paradigms of races (i.e., marathon running) examined so far have mostly been from the United States. Therefore, the aim of the present study was to examine the age of peak performance (APP) in a European race, the “Berlin Marathon”. Race times of 387,222 finishers (women, n = 93,022; men, n = 294,200) in this marathon race from 2008 to 2018 were examined. Men were faster by +1.10 km.h−1 (10.74 ± 1.84 km.h−1 versus 9.64 ± 1.46 km.h−1, p <0.001, η2 = 0.065, medium effect size) and older by +2.1 years (43.1 ± 10.0 years versus 41.0 ± 9.8 years, p < 0.001, η2 = 0.008, trivial effect size) than women. APP was 32 years in women and 34 years in men using 1-year age groups, and 30–34 years in women and 35–39 years in men using 5-year age groups. Women’s and men’s performance at 60–64 and 55–59 age groups, respectively, corresponded to ~90% of the running speed at APP. Based on these findings, it was concluded that although APP occurred earlier in women than men, the observed age-related differences indicated that the decline of endurance with aging might differ by sex.

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Do animated triangles reveal a marked difficulty among autistic people with reading minds?

Autism ◽

10.1177/1362361321989152 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 136236132198915

Author(s):

Alexander C Wilson

Keyword(s):

Effect Size ◽

Meta Analysis ◽

General Information ◽

Medium Effect ◽

Group Differences ◽

Social Challenges ◽

Autistic People ◽

The Social ◽

Small Effect Size ◽

The Difference

This meta-analysis tested whether autistic people show a marked, isolated difficulty with mentalising when assessed using the Frith -Happé Animations, an advanced test of mentalising (or ‘theory of mind’). Effect sizes were aggregated in multivariate meta-analysis from 33 papers reporting data for over 3000 autistic and non-autistic people. Relative to non-autistic individuals, autistic people underperformed, with a small effect size on the non-mentalising control conditions and a medium effect size on the mentalising condition. This indicates that studies have reliably found mentalising to be an area of challenge for autistic people, although the group differences were not large. It remains to be seen how important mentalising difficulties are in accounting for the social difficulties diagnostic of autism. As autistic people underperformed on the control conditions as well as the mentalising condition, it is likely that group differences on the test are partly due to domain-general information processing differences. Finally, there was evidence of publication bias, suggesting that true effects on the Frith -Happé Animations may be somewhat smaller than reported in the literature. Lay abstract Autistic people are thought to have difficulty with mentalising (our drive to track and understand the minds of other people). Mentalising is often measured by the Frith -Happé Animations task, where individuals need to interpret the interactions of abstract shapes. This review article collated results from over 3000 people to assess how autistic people performed on the task. Analysis showed that autistic people tended to underperform compared to non-autistic people on the task, although the scale of the difference was moderate rather than large. Also, autistic people showed some difficulty with the non-mentalising as well as mentalising aspects of the task. These results raise questions about the scale and specificity of mentalising difficulties in autism. It also remains unclear how well mentalising difficulties account for the social challenges diagnostic of autism.

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Age- and Sex-Related Changes in Labial Dimensions of Sudanese Youngs of Arab Descent: A Three-Dimensional Cross-Sectional Study

Children ◽

10.3390/children8070574 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 8 (7) ◽

pp. 574

Author(s):

Claudia Dolci ◽

Fadil Elamin ◽

Daniele M. Gibelli ◽

Luisa Barni ◽

Alessandra Scolaro ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Growth And Development ◽

Age Groups ◽

Three Dimensional ◽

Width Ratio ◽

Cross Sectional ◽

Age Related ◽

Small Effect Size ◽

Mouth Width ◽

Arab Descent ◽

Age And Sex

Proper evaluation of facial features during growth and development requires the knowledge of anthropometric reference values validated for ethnicity, sex and age. In order to provide information concerning the normal sex-related size of the lips during childhood and young adulthood in Sudanese people of Arab descent, the three-dimensional coordinates of nine labial soft tissue landmarks were obtained by a laser scanner in 332 male and 386 female healthy Northern Sudanese subjects aged 3–30 years. Six labial linear distances, the vermilion height to mouth width ratio, vermilion areas and lip volumes were calculated and averaged for age and sex. Comparisons were performed by factorial analysis of variance (p < 0.01). All labial dimensions significantly increased with age. Significant effects of sex were found for four measurements only, with very small effect size; nonetheless, lips and their parts grew faster in females than in males at almost all ages. Philtrum width was the first linear distance that attained adult values. The vermilion height to mouth width ratio was nearly constant across the age groups. Data collected in this study contribute to information about ethnic-specific lip morphology during growth and development. As orolabial features change over time with their own pattern, the relevant age-related trends should be properly considered for clinical treatment planning.

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Bilateral Symmetry of Jumping and Agility in Professional Basketball Players: Differentiating Performance Levels and Playing Positions

Symmetry ◽

10.3390/sym13081316 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 13 (8) ◽

pp. 1316

Author(s):

Sime Versic ◽

Miran Pehar ◽

Toni Modric ◽

Vladimir Pavlinovic ◽

Miodrag Spasic ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Effect Size ◽

Vertical Jump ◽

Bilateral Symmetry ◽

Medium Effect ◽

F Test ◽

Basketball Players ◽

Performance Levels ◽

Small Effect Size ◽

Medium Effect Size ◽

And Performance

Although functional asymmetry is very common and normal in professional athletes, the better interlimb symmetry between dominant and nondominant sides (bilateral symmetry) could contribute to successful performance in basketball. The aim of this study was to evaluate the importance of bilateral symmetry of the one-leg jumping and agility performances in differentiating basketball players according to their (i) playing position (guards, forwards, and centers) and (ii) performance levels (first division vs. second division). The participants were 102 professional male basketball players, with all members of the teams competing in the two highest national divisions at the moment of testing (height: 194.92 ± 8.09 cm; body mass: 89.33 ± 10.91 kg; 21.58 ± 3.92 years of age). Performance levels (first division, N = 58 vs. second division, N = 44) and playing positions (guards, N = 48; forwards, N = 22; centers, N = 32) were observed as dependent variables. We measured one-leg jumping capacities (running vertical jump and lay-up vertical jump), basketball-specific preplanned agility (CODS), and basketball-specific reactive agility (RAG), all executed on dominant and nondominant sides. Accordingly, the bilateral symmetry of jumping and agility was calculated by calculating the ratio of the corresponding performances on the dominant and nondominant sides. Factorial analysis of variance (performance levels × positions) indicated that the bilateral symmetry of one-leg jumping differentiated players according to their playing position, with better bilateral symmetry among guards (F-test = 6.11 (medium effect size) and 5.81 (small effect size), p < 0.05 for lay-up and running-jump symmetry, respectively). Performance levels significantly differed in the bilateral symmetry of lay-up jump, with better symmetry for first-division players (F-test = 10.11 (medium effect size), p < 0.001), which was mostly influenced by significant differences among guards. Playing positions and performance levels did not differ in bilateral symmetry of the CODS and RAG. The study reveals the importance of bilateral symmetry of the sport-specific performance in differentiating playing positions and performance levels in basketball. Further studies in other multidirectional sports and other sport-specific performances are warranted.

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Malnutrition prevailing trend study among under five children of urban slum area of Gwalior city Madhya Pradesh

International Journal of Community Medicine and Public Health ◽

10.18203/2394-6040.ijcmph20210211 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 8 (2) ◽

pp. 623

Author(s):

Anil Kumar Agarwal ◽

Swati Sarswat ◽

Ramniwas Mahore ◽

Satender Saraswat ◽

Paromita Kuity ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Maternal Education ◽

Age Groups ◽

Urban Slum ◽

Cross Sectional Study ◽

Contributory Factor ◽

Feeding Practice ◽

Slum Area ◽

Cross Sectional ◽

Under Five ◽

Under Five Children

Background: Under five children constitute the most vulnerable segment and their nutritional status and mortality rate is a sensitive indicator of the community’s health and nutrition. Health indices of slum children are worst among all urban groups and are even poorer than rural average.Methods: A community based cross-sectional study was conducted from October 2019 to January 2020 in urban slum area of Gwalior city. Data were collected from 550 mothers of children aged 6-60 months using pre-tested semi structured questionnaires and measuring weight, height and mid upper arm circumference of the children.Results: 68.36% of 550 children were having under nutrition in the form of underweight (53.09%), wasting (22.18%) and stunting (59.45%). Maximum number of underweight children belongs to age group 24-60 months (64.54%) followed by <24 months age groups. Stepwise regression showed that the risk of underweight and stunting was significantly (p<0.001) higher among children of illiterate mothers and children from lowest and middle households wealth index.Conclusions: Malnutrition is widely prevalent among study population more than the state and national prevalence. With increasing age cumulative increase in prevalence of malnutrition is seen perhaps due to persistence and addition of causative factors. Maternal education and faulty feeding practice are contributory factor of this high prevalence of disease.

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