Using the Mixed Rasch Model to analyze data from the beliefs and attitudes about memory survey.

In this study, we used the Mixed Rasch Model (MRM) to analyze data from the Beliefs and Attitudes About Memory Survey (BAMS; Brown, Garry, Silver, and Loftus, 1997). We used the original 5-point BAMS data to investigate the functioning of the "Neutral" category via threshold analysis under a 2-class MRM solution. The "Neutral" category was identified as not eliciting the model expected responses and observations in the "Neutral" category were subsequently treated as missing data. For the BAMS data without the "Neutral" category, exploratory MRM analyses specifying up to 5 latent classes were conducted to evaluate data-model fit using the consistent Akaike information criterion (CAIC). For each of three BAMS subscales, a two latent class solution was identified as fitting the mixed Rasch rating scale model the best. Results regarding threshold analysis, person parameters, and item fit based on the final models are presented and discussed as well as the implications of this study.

Evaluation of a REDCap-based Workflow for Supporting Federal Guidance for Electronic Informed Consent.

Adoption of electronic informed consent (eConsent) for research remains low despite evidence of improved patient comprehension, usability, and workflow processes compared to paper. At our institution, we implemented an eConsent workflow using REDCap, a widely used electronic data capture system. The goal of this study was to evaluate the extent to which the REDCap eConsent solution adhered to federal guidance for eConsent. Of 29 requirements derived from sixteen recommendations from the United States Office for Human Research Protections (OHRP) and Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the REDCap eConsent solution supported 24 (86%). To the best of our knowledge, this is among the first studies to evaluate an eConsent approach's support for federal guidance. Findings suggest use of REDCap may help other institutions overcome barriers to eConsent adoption, and that OHRP and FDA expand guidance to recommend eConsent solutions integrate with enterprise clinical and research information systems.

Relation between temporal perception and inhibitory control in the Go/No-Go task.

This research was designed to replicate and extend findings concerning bidirectional interference between concurrent timing and inhibition tasks reported previously. Subjects performed serial temporal production and Go/No-Go (GNG) tasks under single-task and dual-task conditions in two experiments. The degree of inhibitory control required in the GNG tasks was manipulated by varying the proportion of go and no-go stimuli (experiment 1) and by instructing subjects to devote different amounts of attention to the dual tasks (experiment 2). The dual-task conditions in both experiments showed a pattern of mutual interference in which each task interfered with the other. In experiment 1, concurrent timing interfered more strongly with performance on a high inhibitory-demand GNG task compared with a low inhibitory-demand GNG task. In experiment 2, concurrent timing and GNG performance displayed a reciprocity effect in which greater attentiveness to one task improved performance for that task but diminished performance for the other task, and vice versa. These results support the view that temporal processing and inhibitory control depend upon a common pool of attentional resources, and point to the GNG task as a reliable research tool for investigators studying the role of attentional processes in time perception.

Executive attentional resources in timing: Effects of inhibitory control and cognitive aging.

This research is based on an executive resource theory of timing, which postulates that time perception relies on specialized attentional resources that support executive cognitive functions. In 4 experiments, older and younger participants performed a timing task and an executive task emphasizing inhibitory control under both single-task and dual-task conditions. The timing task in each experiment was serial temporal production. The executive tasks, representing different types of inhibitory control, were the flanker task (Experiment 1), the number-letter task (Experiment 2), the go/no-go task (Experiment 3), and the antisaccade task (Experiment 4). The results showed (a) a pattern of bidirectional interference in each experiment, in that the concurrent inhibition tasks interfered with timing performance and concurrent timing interfered with inhibition performance, (b) the older participants demonstrated a stronger bidirectional interference effect relative to younger participants in 3 experiments, and (c) weaker versions of the inhibition tasks produced weaker interference effects. These findings support the idea that temporal processing relies on executive attentional resources.

Catecholamines in a macrophage cell line.

This study provides the first evidence for catecholamine synthesis and release in the RAW264.7 cell line, an important macrophage model. Although catecholamines were low in unstimulated cells, activation with lipopolysaccharide (LPS) induced tyrosine hydroxylase (TH) mRNA and increased extracellular norepinephrine and intracellular dopamine within 48 h. The catecholamine synthesis inhibitor alpha-methyl-para-tyrosine (alpha-mpt) decreased extracellular norepinephrine levels, suggesting release and rapid turnover of newly synthesized norepinephrine. High concentrations of dopamine or norepinephrine (>/=100 microM) decreased proliferation and increased apoptosis of macrophages. These anti-proliferative effects were prevented by simultaneous treatment with the anti-oxidant ascorbic acid. Pre-incubation with a glutathione synthesis inhibitor (L-buthionine-[S,R]-sulfoximine [L-BSO]) increased sensitivity to catecholamine-stimulated apoptosis, suggesting that glutathione protects macrophages from both endogenous and exogenous catecholamines.

Attentional processes in time perception: effects of mental workload and event structure.

The role of attention in timing was evaluated in 2 experiments. In Experiment 1, participants reproduced the durations of melodies with either a coherent or an incoherent structure. Participants were tested under control (timing only) and detection (timing plus target detection) workload conditions. Reproductions were shorter and more inaccurate under detection conditions, and incoherent event structure extended the effect to a wider range of durations. In Experiment 2, participants reproduced the durations of auditory prose passages that represented 3 levels of mental workload and 3 levels of event structure. Both increases in workload and the degradation of structure led to inaccurate reproductions. The results point to the central role of attention in temporal experience.

Glenohumeral joint total rotation range of motion in elite tennis players and baseball pitchers.

UNLABELLED: The amount of glenohumeral joint internal and external rotation used during overhead sport activities has been measured experimentally by sports scientists. Clinical measurement of glenohumeral joint internal and external rotation using goniometry is an integral part of a shoulder evaluation after injury or surgery or during preseason or preventative musculoskeletal screenings. PURPOSE: This study measured glenohumeral joint internal and external rotation in two groups of unilaterally dominant upper extremity athletes to compare the total arc of rotational range of motion between the dominant and nondominant extremities. METHODS: A total of 163 elite athletes (117 male junior tennis players and 46 male baseball pitchers) were measured for glenohumeral joint internal and external rotation at 90 degrees of abduction. Total rotation range of motion was calculated by summing internal and external rotation measures in each extremity. RESULTS: An ANOVA with post hoc testing revealed no significant difference (P > 0.05) between extremities in baseball pitchers for total rotation range of motion (145.7 vs 146.9), whereas significantly less (P < 0.001) dominant arm total rotation range of motion was identified in the elite junior tennis players (149.1 vs 158.2). CONCLUSION: This study has identified unique glenohumeral joint rotational patterning in unilaterally dominant upper extremity athletes that has ramifications for rehabilitation after injury and for both injury prevention and performance enhancement.

Involvement of shared resources in time judgment and sequence reasoning tasks.

Previous research suggests that time perception is supported by the same attentional resources involved in sequence processing. The present experiment was designed to clarify this connection by examining the relation between timing and reasoning tasks that involved either sequencing or non-sequencing judgments. For the timing task, subjects produced a series of 5-s intervals. For the reasoning tasks, subjects judged whether pairs of statements describing common actions either (a) were presented in the correct temporal order (sequencing), or (b) described similar actions or objects (similarity). Subjects performed the timing and reasoning tasks both separately and concurrently in a series of 3-minute trials. Comparisons of single-task and dual-task performance assessed interference patterns between concurrent tasks. Both reasoning tasks interfered with timing by making temporal productions longer and more variable. Timing had differential effects on the two reasoning tasks. Concurrent timing caused sequencing judgments to become slower, less accurate, and less sensitive relative to sequencing-only conditions. In contrast, similarity judgments were either unaffected or affected to a lesser degree by the concurrent timing task. These results support the notion that timing and sequencing are closely related processes that rely on the same set of cognitive resources or mechanisms.

Time perception and temporal order memory.

The purpose of this research was to investigate the relation between the attentional resources underlying time perception and temporal order memory. Subjects made judgments about temporal attributes associated with a series of wordlists. Each word was displayed for 1.4s, and the lists contained 10 words (14s total), 15 words (21s total), or 20 words (28s total). Subjects judged either the list duration, the temporal order of the words, or both duration and temporal order. In addition, there were three mental workload conditions: control (no additional task requirements), and two mental arithmetic tasks (subtract 3 or subtract 7 from a series of random numbers). The results showed a pattern of bidirectional interference between timing and temporal order: the concurrent temporal order task interfered with duration judgments, and the concurrent timing task interfered with temporal order judgments. Bidirectional interference also occurred between the mental workload task and both duration judgments and temporal order judgments. The results indicate that duration and temporal order are closely related temporal attributes, and suggest that the processing of these attributes relies on a common set of executive attentional resources.

Implementing a Clinical Research Management System: One Institution's Successful Approach Following Previous Failures.

Clinical research management systems (CRMSs) can facilitate research billing compliance and clinician awareness of study activities when integrated with practice management and electronic health record systems. However, adoption of CRMSs remains low, and optimal approaches to implementation are unknown. This case report describes one institution's successful approach to organization, technology, and workflow for CRMS implementation following previous failures. Critical factors for CRMS success included organizational commitment to clinical research, a dedicated research information technology unit, integration of research data across disparate systems, and centralized system usage workflows. In contrast, previous failed approaches at the institution lacked a mandate and mechanism for change, received support as a business rather than research activity, maintained data in separate systems, and relied on inconsistent distributed system usage workflows. To our knowledge, this case report is the first to describe CRMS implementation success and failures, which can assist practitioners and academic evaluators.

Timing and executive resources: dual-task interference patterns between temporal production and shifting, updating, and inhibition tasks.

Three dual-task experiments were designed to assess the contribution of executive cognitive functions to the perception of time. Each experiment combined a serial temporal production timing task with an executive task emphasizing either shifting, updating, or inhibition. The experiments uncovered evidence of bidirectional interference between the concurrent tasks, such that the executive tasks interfered with timing performance and the timing task interfered with executive performance. Each experiment also included 3 dual-task conditions in which subjects allocated attention to the concurrent tasks in specified proportions. The results showed a reciprocal tradeoff in performance on each task: More attention allocated to timing caused timing performance to improve and executive performance to decline, whereas more attention allocated to the executive task produced the opposite pattern. The findings suggest that timing relies on the same processing resources that support basic executive functions.

The attenuation effect in timing: counteracting dual-task interference with time-judgment skill training.

A basic finding in the time-perception literature is an interference effect in dual-task conditions involving concurrent timing and distractor tasks. Dual-task conditions typically cause time judgments to become less accurate than single-task conditions in which subjects judge time alone. Previous research (Brown, 1998 Psychological Research 61 71-81; Brown and Bennett, 2002 Psychological Research 66 80-89) has shown that practice on the distractor task reduces interference, a phenomenon called the attenuation effect. The present research was designed to determine whether practice on the time-judgment task would produce a similar result. In experiment 1, subjects reproduced 6-14 s intervals in a series of practice trials. Some subjects received feedback regarding the accuracy of each response and others received no feedback. Subsequent testing under dual-task (timing + digit memory) conditions showed that feedback training reduced interference. In experiment 2, the practice trials included both single-task and dual-task conditions. Later tests showed that feedback training eliminated the interference effect. The results highlight the role of attentional resources, the transfer of skills, and compensatory decision processes in time-judgment skill training.

Hydration status, knowledge, and behavior in youths at summer sports camps.

PURPOSE: To assess the hydration status and level of hydration knowledge of youths at summer sports camps. METHODS: Sixty-seven active youths, 57 males (mean +/- SD, 12 +/- 2 y, 136 +/- 16 cm, 50.6 +/- 21.1 kg) and 10 females (13 +/- 2 y, 153 +/- 8 cm, 45.2 +/- 9.0 kg) participated in 4 d of sports camp. Hydration status was assessed before the first practice (AM) and after the second practice (PM). Participants completed surveys assessing hydration knowledge (HAQ) and hydration habits on day 3 and a self-assessment (EQ#1). RESULTS: Mean AM urine specific gravity (USG) and urine osmolality (Uosm) scores ranged from minimal to significant dehydration across 4 d, even when temperatures were mild. Correlations between hydration indices and EQ#1, ranging from 0.11 to -0.51, were statistically significant (P < .05), indicating that subjects recognized when they were doing a good or bad job hydrating. HAQ did not correlate strongly with hydration indices suggesting other impediments to hydration. Thirst correlated negatively with EQ#1 (from -0.29 to -0.60). CONCLUSION: Hydration at summer sports camp is a concern and special efforts need to be made to help youths develop hydration strategies.

Processing resources in timing and sequencing tasks.

Subjects performed timing and sequencing tasks under separate (single-task) and concurrent (dual-task) conditions in two experiments. The timing task required the subjects to generate a series of 5-sec temporal productions. The sequencing task in Experiment 1 involved verifying reasoning statements that described the ordering of a pair of letters. The task in Experiment 2 involved monitoring a familiar event sequence and detecting omissions in that sequence. Comparisons of single-task and dual-task conditions showed a pattern of bidirectional interference. In each experiment, the concurrent sequencing task caused temporal productions to become more variable and longer. The concurrent timing task interfered with sequencing by lengthening response times to the reasoning statements (Experiment 1) and by lengthening response times to sequence omissions and reducing sensitivity at detecting the omissions (Experiment 2). The results suggest that time perception and sequence perception are related cognitive processes that rely on a common set of attentional resources.

Mania in a case of hyperparathyroidism.

Psychiatric manifestations of primary hyperparathyroidism are mediated by hypercalcemia. To date, most evidence indicates that hypercalcemia and increased cerebrospinal-fluid calcium levels produce depression symptoms. Presented here is a case report of a 52-year-old woman in a manic state. She had no psychiatric history but had substantially elevated parathyroid hormone levels and hypercalcemia. On the basis of emerging evidence that calcium channel-blockers effectively treat mania, the authors propose that elevated calcium levels may act through multiple mechanisms or on various regions of the brain to produce a spectrum of psychiatric symptoms that should now include mania as a possibility.

A study of technical signs in science: implications for lexical database development.

Both classroom instruction and lexical database development stand to benefit from applied research on sign language, which takes into consideration American Sign Language rules, pedagogical issues, and teacher characteristics. In this study of technical science signs, teachers' experience with signing and, especially, knowledge of content, were found to be essential for the identification of signs appropriate for instruction. The results of this study also indicate a need for a systematic approach to examine both sign selection and its impact on learning by deaf students. Recommendations are made for the development of lexical databases and areas of research for optimizing the use of sign language in instruction.

Timing and executive function: bidirectional interference between concurrent temporal production and randomization tasks.

A review of interference effects in concurrent temporal/nontemporal dual-task studies suggests that prospective timing may be related to executive cognitive functions. Executive processes play a supervisory role in behavior by controlling attention, coordinating information, and scheduling actions. In the present research, a timing task was paired with an established executive task in a dual-task paradigm. The timing task required subjects t o generate a series o f 5-sec temporal productions,and the executive task was random number generation. These tasks were performed both separately and concurrently. Comparisons of single-task and dual-task conditions showed that (1) the randomization task interfered with timing by making temporal productions more variable and longer and (2) concurrent timing disrupted randomization performance by making responses less random. This pattern of bidirectional interference supports the idea that timing relies on the same attentional resources used by other executive-level tasks.

Intrarater and interrater reliability of a manual technique to assess anterior humeral head translation of the glenohumeral joint.

The purpose of this study was to determine the intrarater and interrater reliability of a manual anterior humeral head translation test. Fifteen subjects were positioned lying in a supine position with their identity shielded from examiners. A standard manual anterior humeral head translation test was performed and repeated with the glenohumeral joint in 90 degrees of elevation in the scapular plane, with use of the grading method proposed by Altchek and Dines in 1993. Reliability was assessed with the coefficient of agreement and kappa statistic. Intrarater reliability was 81.4% comparing grade I and II translation. This decreased to 54% when examiners distinguished between grades I, I+, II, and II+. Interrater reliability for the same comparisons was 70.4%, decreasing to 37.3%. On the basis of these data, the technique of manually assessing anterior humeral head translation studied has poor overall interrater reliability and only fair intrarater reliability. The test-retest accuracy of humeral head translation is enhanced when examiners only determine the relationship of the humeral head relative to the glenoid rim.

Global citizenship and new literacies providing new ways for social Inclusion

We are living in a society where information is the most valuable asset. However, the gigantic amount of information available daily creates the need for people to acquire new skills to locate, analyze and communicate this information. This comparative study utilizes an online survey to define global citizenship traits and identify the use of information and communication technologies (ICT), in 258 high school students in Brazil and the U.S. Differences in gender were also examined and the results inform how globalization, citizenship and ICT use are reflected in the self perceptions of boys and girls from both countries. The concept of new literacies is defined as the skills that individuals must posses to participate effectively and to be included in the diverse society we live.

Estamos vivendo em uma sociedade onde a informação é o bem mais valioso. Entretanto, a enorme quantidade de informação disponível diariamente cria a necessidade das pessoas adquirirem novas habilidades para localizar, analisar e transmitir essa informação. Esse estudo comparativo utiliza um questionário on-line para definir características de cidadania global e identificar o uso das tecnlogias da informação e comunicação (TICs) em 258 alunos no Brasil e nos Estados Unidos. Diferenças de gênero também foram examinadas e os resultados informam como globalização, cidadania e uso das TICs estão refletidas nas percepções de meninos e meninas nos dois países. O conceito 'nova literácia' envolve as habilidades que os indivíduos devem possuir para participarem efetivamente e estarem incluídos nessa sociedade tão diversa e desigual em que vivemos.