Environmental opportunities facilitating cognitive development in preschoolers: development of a multicriteria index.

Access to environmental opportunities can favor children's learning and cognitive development. The objectives is to construct an index that synthesizes environmental learning opportunities for preschoolers considering the home environment and verify whether the index can predict preschoolers' cognitive development. A quantitative, cross-sectional, exploratory study was conducted with 51 preschoolers using a multi-attribute utility theory (MAUT). The criteria used for drawing up the index were supported by the literature and subdivided in Group A "Resources from the house" extracted from HOME Inventory including: (1) to have three or more puzzles; (2) have at least ten children's books; (3) be encouraged to learn the alphabet; (4) take the family out at least every 2 weeks. Group B "Screens" (5) caution with using television; (6) total screen time in day/minutes. Group C "Parental Schooling" (7) maternal and paternal education. Pearson correlation analyses and univariate linear regression were performed to verify the relationship between the established index with cognitive test results. The index correlated with the total score of the mini-mental state exam (MMC) and verbal fluency test (VF) in the category of total word production and word production without errors. Multicriteria index explained 18% of the VF (total word production), 19% of the VF (total production of words without errors) and 17% of the MMC. The present multicriteria index has potential application as it synthesizes the preschooler's environmental learning opportunities and predicts domains of child cognitive development.

Association between inflammatory biomarkers in plasma, radiological severity, and duration of exposure in patients with silicosis.

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the plasma levels of CCL2, CCL3, CCL11, CCL24, tumor necrosis factor alpha, sTNFR1, and sTNFR2 in subjects exposed to silica (SES) with and without silicosis compared with unexposed reference control group, and their associations with the radiological severity and duration of exposure to silica. METHODS: Fifty-seven SES; 36 with silicosis and 22 subjects in control group, were included in the study. RESULTS: CCL3, CCL24, sTNFR1, and sTNFR2 were increased in SES and in SES with silicosis than in controls. There were no differences in the levels of CCL2, CCL11, or tumor necrosis factor alpha. The sTNFR2 level was greater in SES with silicosis than in SES without silicosis. There was a positive correlation between sTNFR1 and sTNFR2 and the radiological severity and time of exposure to silica. sTNFR2 was associated with all categories of radiological severity. CONCLUSION: sTNFR2 is associated with silicosis severity and early exposure to silica.

Multidisciplinary perspective for cerebral palsy assessment after an international, classification of functioning, disability and health training.

OBJECTIVE: To assess knowledge related to the ICF before and after an ICF training and to identify items to compose a monocentric rehabilitation ICF code set for cerebral palsy (CP). METHODS: (a) DESIGN: A cross-sectional study with a descriptive-explorative design. (b) PARTICIPANTS: Professionals from the fields of physiotherapy, nutrition, dentistry, occupational therapy, psychology, social work, speech therapy and medicine. (c) INSTRUMENT: A questionnaire to assess ICF's knowledge (total score = 17). RESULTS: A high effect size of the ICF training was found (Cohen's d = 4.10). Ninety-one and 43 ICF categories were selected for a comprehensive evaluation and triage, respectively, for CP. CONCLUSION: ICF categories were identified to compose a comprehensive evaluation and for triage through an ICF code sets for CP. Studies are needed to validate the instrument on the knowledge of the ICF and to test the impact of ICF's training for clinical rehabilitation of CP.