Revised and extended norms for a picture naming test sensitive to category dissociations.

This study presents revised and extended norms for a picture naming test [Laiacona et al. (Arch Neurol Psicol Psichiatr 54:209-248, 1993)], based on 80 Snodgrass and Vanderwart (J Exp Psychol Human Learn Mem 6:174-215, 1980) pictures, devised to detect a categorical dissociation in the naming of items between biological and man-made categories. This survey is based on data from 215 healthy Italian participants. Since males are more frequently reported to have a disproportionate impairment of biological categories, norms have also been separately calculated for males and females and for the two categories of man-made objects and biological entities. Besides providing new normative values based on the Equivalent Scores approach, this study reappraises the interaction between categorical dissociations and sex in the normal population, and discusses some methodological aspects concerning the use of statistical norms.

Portuguese version of the PTSD Checklist-Military Version (PCL-M) - II: diagnostic utility

Objective: War veterans are at high risk of developing posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and the development of brief self-report instruments that enable screening for PTSD in this population is crucial. The PTSD Checklist-Military Version (PCL-M) is widely used for this purpose. This study sought to explore the diagnostic utility of the Portuguese version of the PCL-M. Methods: The participants were 86 Portuguese Colonial War veterans (42 with a PTSD diagnosis and 44 without PTSD). Participants completed a self-report instrument designed to collect sociodemographic data, the PCL-M, and the Clinician-Administered PTSD Scale (CAPS). Results: The area under the receiver operator characteristic (ROC) curve showed excellent discriminant ability between subjects with and without PTSD (AUC = 0.94). To achieve a positive PTSD diagnosis, an optimal cutoff point of 49 for the PCL-M total score and cutoff points for each of its 17 items are recommended. Conclusions: This work is a relevant contribution for research and clinical practice in the vast population of Portuguese Colonial War veterans. Use of the PCL-M as a screening tool for PTSD symptoms will allow easier, resource-aware targeting of subjects with a potential PTSD diagnosis, adding to the improvement of public health in Portugal. .