Effects of goal-setting and feedback on memory performance and beliefs among older and younger adults.

This research examined the impact of goal-setting conditions on memory beliefs and performance among older and younger adults. After baseline recall and assessment of beliefs, participants were assigned to goal-setting, goals plus feedback, or control. Then, additional recall trials were followed by repeated memory beliefs assessments. For both younger and older adults, performance, motivation, and self-efficacy were affected positively by goal-setting. The impact of goals plus feedback was mixed and varied as a function of age and dependent measure. Success rates for reaching memory goals, which were low for the older adults, may have been a factor in these results. Adults' self-set recall goals were predicted initially by baseline performance and self-efficacy. On the final trial, goals were predicted by last trial performance, self-efficacy, and control beliefs.

Scurvy presenting as painful gait with bruising in a young boy.

A case of scurvy occurred in an apparently well-nourished 5-year-old boy with normal growth parameters. Only after the diagnosis of scurvy was raised on clinical grounds did we discover the peculiar dietary habits that were responsible for his deficiency of ascorbic acid. His case is a reminder to the clinician that nutritionally based disease may occur in any socioeconomic setting and that nutritional screening remains an important part of every child's general health care.

The Short Portable Mental Status Questionnaire: assessing cognitive ability in nursing home residents.

BACKGROUND: The Short Portable Mental Status Questionnaire (SPMSQ) and other brief tests of cognitive functioning have been widely used to screen for cognitive dysfunction; however, they are rarely used to assess cognitive ability. OBJECTIVES: To discern whether the SPMSO might adequately substitute for longer assessments in the prediction of memory performance in older adults. METHOD: The SPMSQ and grocery list and prose recall tests were administered to 67 cognitively intact nursing home residents (mean age = 75 years). Demographic characteristics and self-rated health were recorded. RESULTS: The number of items missed on the SPMSQ predicted up to 32% of the variance in more extensive list and prose recall measures, even with demented patients excluded. The SPMSQ retained a strong predictive relationship to memory after age variance was removed, accounting for 11-16% of the variance. CONCLUSIONS: The SPMSQ may be useful as a general measure of cognitive abilities in nursing home residents.

A comparison of air displacement plethysmography with three other techniques to determine body fat in healthy adults.

BACKGROUND: This study compared air displacement plethysmography (ADP), which relies on measurements of body density to estimate body fat, with three other techniques that measure body composition: (1) hydrostatic weighing (HW), which also measures body density; (2) bioelectrical impedance (BIA), which determines electrical resistance and total body water to estimate fat-free mass; and (3) dual-energy x-ray absorptiometry (DXA), which measures bone, fat, and fat-free soft tissue masses. METHODS: ADP, HW, BIA, and DXA were performed on 20 healthy volunteers (10 males and 10 females). The subjects were within 20% of ideal body weight, 31.1 +/- 1.8 years of age, and 75.4 +/- 2.7 kg with body mass index values of 25.2 +/- 0.9 (kg/m2) and percent body fat by ADP ranging from 6.0% to 41.0%. RESULTS: Percent body fat measurements by the four methods were highly correlated (r > .90, p < .0001). Mean body fat as determined by ADP, HW, BIA, and DXA were 23.4% +/- 2.3%, 23.9% +/-1.8%, 23.1% +/- 1.9%, and 26.4% +/- 2.4%, respectively (* p < .05 vs ADP). There was a significantly positive slope (+0.23) for the individual differences vs the average of ADP and HW percent body fat, demonstrating a slightly negative difference at lower body fat levels and a slightly positive difference at greater body fat levels. Although the average percent body fat determined by ADP was similar to that by HW for the entire population, there was a significant gender difference with the average body fat measured by ADP being 16% less in males and 7% greater in females than that determined by HW. CONCLUSIONS: Body fat measurements using ADP were highly correlated with those using HW, BIA, and DXA across a relatively wide range of body fat levels in healthy adults. These results support the utility of ADP as a relatively new technique in the estimation of percent body fat in healthy adults. However, the error associated with gender and the level of body fat is not negligible and requires further investigation.