[Screening by teachers for language and behavior difficulties in 2059 children aged 3,5 years]. / Repérage par les enseignants des difficultés de langage et de comportement chez 2,059 enfants de 3 ans et demi.

BACKGROUND: Several tools have been proposed for screening for specific language impairment and behavioral problems in pre-school children. These disorders are risk factors for later poor school achievement and social life. However, presence of real disorders must be differentiated from environmental factors, such as low educational level of the parents or bilingual family. METHODS: A 29-item teachers'questionnaire was used for screening for language and behavioral disorders in 2059 nursery-school children aged 3.5 years from 200 nursery-schools of different areas in France. RESULTS: According to the teachers, difficulties were clearly more frequent in boys than girls, in children from low educational level families, and in children with not-french-speaking parents. CONCLUSION: The gender of the child and the characteristics of the family play a very important role in the teachers'assessment of a young pre-school child's language and behavior. Longitudinal studies would be required to differentiate the presence of specific disorders, requiring individual intervention, from simple delays due to environmental factors.

Vocalization elicited by activation of A delta- and C-fibres in the rat.

Complex vocal responses in both the audible and ultrasonic frequency ranges were elicited by a single 2 ms electrical pulse applied to the tail. The first two cries exhibited consistent latencies and durations, were intensity-dependent and were triggered by peripheral fibres with conduction velocities of 7.3 +/- 0.8 and 0.7 +/- 0.1 ms-1, respectively. These behavioural responses are reminiscent of first and second pain triggered by A delta- and C-peripheral fibres in humans. They were followed by irregular audible cries with a fundamental frequency of 1.5 kHz and '22 kHz ultrasonic calls'.

[Change in laryngeal vibratory mechanism: a physiological entity]. / Le changement de mécanisme vibratoire laryngé: une entité physiologique.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the change of laryngeal vibratory mechanism in 10 males and 9 females trained and untrained singers. The electroglottographic (E.G.G.) data analysis demonstrated strong evidence to support the view that such event could be considered as a whole physiological entity. In fact findings clearly indicated biomechanical, neuromuscular and central levels in the control of the laryngeal vibration involved in the change of mechanism.

Factors predicting success in picture naming in Alzheimer's disease and primary progressive aphasia.

The aim of the present study was to determine the predictive value of all important variables in the picture naming performance of 8 patients with probable Alzheimer's disease (AD) and 8 patients with primary progressive aphasia (PPA). The experimental investigation controlled for (i) visual complexity, (ii) name agreement on dominant response, (iii) age of acquisition, (iv) frequency, (v) word length, (vi) concept familiarity, and (vii) category membership. The results of the multiple regression analyses showed that age of acquisition and name agreement were significant for 10/16 subjects. Visual complexity, frequency, familiarity, and category were also significant for four patients respectively. Word length had no effect. These results are at variance with those of series of patients with AD (Gaillard et al., 1998) and with PPA (Lambon Ralph et al., 1998) where concept familiarity was found to be one of the most predictive factors of naming success.