Naturalistic Assessment using a Simulated Environment: Cognitive Correlates and Relationship to Functional Status in Individuals with Neurologic Conditions.

OBJECTIVE: Research has shown that neurologic conditions, such as traumatic brain injury and multiple sclerosis, result in a number of cognitive and functional deficits. However, little is known about the relationship between various cognitive domains and ability to perform everyday activities. The Community Shopping Task (CST), a naturalistic assessment task conducted in a simulated environment, was used to examine functional abilities and cognitive correlates of everyday functioning in individuals with neurologic conditions. METHOD: Thirty-four participants with neurologic conditions and 34 healthy controls completed the CST as well as traditional paper-pencil measures of cognition. In addition, all participants completed a questionnaire assessing instrumental activities of daily living (IADLs). RESULTS: The results indicated that participants with neurologic conditions required significantly more cues and time to complete the CST compared to control participants and that immediate memory and executive functioning were important predictors of CST performance. Furthermore, time to complete the CST accounted for a significant amount of variance in IADL performance, over and beyond the traditional measures of cognition. CONCLUSIONS: These results provide evidence that a naturalistic task completed in an everyday environment can enhance our understanding of how daily functioning is impacted in individuals with neurologic conditions and subsequently inform rehabilitation strategies.

School-age children's perceptions of a person who stutters.

UNLABELLED: The present study examined the perceptions school-age children have of stutterers. Four groups of fourth and fifth grade students viewed a videotape with either the speaker stuttering or not stuttering while reading a poem. A semantic differential scale of bi-polar adjective pairs was used to rate the speaker on intelligence and personality traits. The current study found that there is a significant difference between school-age children's perceptions of stutterers and nonstutterers with the ratings for the disfluent speaker more negative than the ratings for the fluent speaker. It was found that children did not rate personality and intelligence related traits differently. This information can be used to validate the need for education regarding stuttering for children and those who work with children. EDUCATIONAL OBJECTIVES: The reader will learn about and be able to (1). identify perceptions of stutterers by a variety of groups; (2). discuss the implications of research on perceptions of stutterers; and (3). compare/contrast children and adults and their perceptions.

An evidence-based systematic review on cognitive interventions for individuals with dementia.

PURPOSE: To evaluate the current state of research evidence related to cognitive interventions for individuals with Alzheimer's disease or related dementias. METHOD: A systematic search of the literature was conducted across 27 electronic databases based on a set of a priori questions, inclusion/exclusion criteria, and search parameters. Studies were appraised for methodological quality and categorized according to intervention technique and outcome (e.g., cognitive-communication impairment or activity limitation/participation restriction). Results were summarized and, when possible, analyzed quantitatively using indicators of treatment effect size. RESULTS: Forty-three studies met criteria for inclusion in the review. The most commonly used cognitive intervention techniques used were errorless learning, spaced-retrieval training, vanishing cues, or verbal instruction/cueing. Most treatment outcomes were measured at the cognitive-communication impairment level of functioning and were generally positive. However, results should be interpreted cautiously because of methodological limitations across studies. CONCLUSIONS: Research evidence to support the use of cognitive interventions for individuals with dementia is accumulating. Researchers are beginning to evaluate treatment efficacy, yet the focus tends to be on discovery, specifically, refining intervention variables that will facilitate optimal outcomes. Implications for clinical practice and avenues for future research are discussed.

Avaliação da influência de variáveis de processo sobre a cinética de desidratação osmótica da polpa de abacate (Persea americana L.) / Evaluation of the influence of process variables on osmotic dehydration kinetics of avocado pulp (Persea americana L.)

O abacate é uma das frutas tropicais cultivadas em diversas regiões do mundo e possui alto valor nutricional, porém é instável a deteriorações. A desidratação osmótica é uma técnica útil na conservação de frutas e vegetais pode ser uma alternativa para estabilização da polpa do abacate. Porém, é necessário estudar o comportamento físico da polpa da fruta frente a esta técnica. Desta forma, o objetivo deste trabalho foi avaliar a influência das variáveis de processo na desidratação osmótica da polpa do abacate. A desidratação osmótica foi realizada com auxílio de um planejamento experimental fatorial com as seguintes variáveis: concentrações das soluções de sacarose (30 e 60% p/p), espessura do corte (0,5 e 1 cm) e temperatura de imersão (25 e 45 °C) tendo por variáveis de resposta a perda de água (PA), ganho de sólidos (GS) e relação ganho de sólidos/perda de água (GS/PA) em 200 minutos de processo. Os resultados obtidos mostraram que o nível máximo de perda de água (PA), de 55,53%, ocorreu na menor concentração de açúcar (30%), maior temperatura (45 °C) e menor espessura (0,5cm). O nível mínimo de PA (14,5%) foi observado tanto na combinação de maior concentração de açúcar (60%), espessura (1 cm) e temperatura (45 °C) como nas condições de menor temperatura (25 °C), menor concentração de sacarose (30%) e maior espessura (1cm). A espessura foi o parâmetro que mais influenciou o processo em relação às respostas (GS, PA e GS/PA) estudadas. A temperatura também obteve significância para a resposta GS/PA, e a concentração de sacarose não apresentou influência significativa, nas condições em que a pesquisa foi realizada.

Avocado is one kind of tropical fruit grown in different regions in the world, and it has high nutritional value, but it is unstable to damage. Osmotic dehydration is a useful technique for the conservation of fruit and vegetables, and it can be an alternative for the stabilization of avocado pulp. However, it is necessary to study the physical behavior of the fruit pulp in the face of this technique. Thus, the aim of this study was to evaluate the influence of process variables on avocado pulp osmotic dehydration. Osmotic dehydration was carried out with help of a factorial-experimental planning with the following variables: concentrations of sucrose solutions (30 and 60% w/w), section thickness (0.5 and 1cm) and immersion temperature (25 and 45 °C), in which the response variables are water loss (WL), gain of solids (GS) and gain of solids/water loss relation (GS/WL) in 200 minutes of process. The results showed that the highest level of water loss (WL), 55.53%, occurred at the lowest sucrose concentration (30%), highest temperature (45 °C) and smallest thickness (0.5cm). The minimum level of WL (14.5%) was observed both in the combination of higher sugar concentration (60%), thickness (1cm) and temperature (45 °C) and lower temperature (25 °C), lower concentration of sucrose (30%) and greater thickness (1cm). The thickness was the parameter that most influenced the process concerning the responses analyzed (GS, WL, and GS/WL). The temperature was also significant for the GS/WL response, and the sucrose concentration had no significant influence in the conditions in which the survey was conducted.