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Executive functions (EF) impact the success of university students. These skills appear to have a predictive role in academic performance. The aim of this study was to investigate the effectiveness of an intervention program in EF aimed at university students, the πFex-Academics , seeking to verify whether there are gains in EF, a reduction in inattention and hyperactivity indicators and a transfer to reading comprehension. Participants were two professors and their respective classes, totaling 129 students. The classes were divided into: experimental group (EG) ( n  = 66) and control group (CG) ( n  = 63). All students underwent a pre- and post-intervention assessment. The program implementation process was mediated by the EG professor. Although no direct gains were identified in the indices of EF difficulties, greater gains in the EG were verified in the hyperactivity/impulsivity and reading comprehension indices, when compared to the CG. These findings are promising, demonstrating the first evidence of the effectiveness of the πFex - Academics . The incorporation of interventions into the university context can provide various benefits for students, with improved behavior and written language processing, necessary for the best possible academic success. Activities of EF mediation for higher education learning can be incorporated into extension courses or the curriculum of university courses.

Background:  Fibromyalgia (FM) is a chronic condition characterized by widespread pain that is associated with sleep, emotional, and cognitive disturbances, including in executive functions (EFs)., Objective:  To investigate the relationship between EFs and functionality in women with FM., Methods:  The study included 17 women with FM, aged between 30 and 59 years, with no history of neurological disease. The EFs were assessed using the Digit Span Subtest (DS), Five Digit Test, Trail Making Test (TMT), Corsi Block-Tapping Task, Hayling Test (HT), and Verbal Fluency Task. Functionality was evaluated through the Fibromyalgia Impact Questionnaire. The Beck Depression Inventory, Hamilton Anxiety Rating Scale, and Brief Pain Inventory were used to measure depression, anxiety, and pain, which were controlled in the statistical analyses., Results:  The FM patients showed longer response latency on the HT and TMT. They made fewer errors on part B of the HT, and they performed worse on the DS backward and on the Corsi Block-Tapping Task forward and backward. There were moderate correlations in the expected direction between performance on the Corsi Block-Tapping Task backward and interference at work, as well as between the time to complete part B of the Trail Making Test - B (TMT-B) and fatigue. An unexpected relationship was found between errors on part B of the HT and interference at work., Conclusion:  The results suggest lower efficiency in processes such as inhibitory control and cognitive flexibility, difficulties in working memory and non-executive processes such as processing speed. Even with pain, anxiety, and depression controlled, some relationships between EFs and functionality were observed, indicating that these symptoms do not fully explain this relationship. We suggest that cognition, particularly EFs, and broader measures of functionality be considered in the evaluation of FM., Competing Interests: The authors have no conflict of interest to declare., (The Author(s). This is an open access article published by Thieme under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, permitting copying and reproduction so long as the original work is given appropriate credit (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).)

Myelomeningocele (MMC) is an in-utero closure defect of the posterior portion of the neural tube, and it is the most common neural tube defect (NTD) compatible with life. It is usually associated with other congenital malformations, such as hydrocephalus and Chiari type 2 syndrome. Therefore, the long-term outcome depends on early repair, and the surgery is urgently scheduled. Newborns with MMC are a special population that requires meticulous preoperative preparation to maintain hemodynamic stability during the procedure and a favorable outcome. In this case report, we describe the challenges of unruptured myelomeningocele closure surgery in a newborn with 12 hours of life. This special case emphasizes the importance of a multidisciplinary approach between anesthesiologists, neurosurgeons, and plastic surgeons to provide the best care to this subset of patients., Competing Interests: Human subjects: Consent was obtained or waived by all participants in this study. Conflicts of interest: In compliance with the ICMJE uniform disclosure form, all authors declare the following: Payment/services info: All authors have declared that no financial support was received from any organization for the submitted work. Financial relationships: All authors have declared that they have no financial relationships at present or within the previous three years with any organizations that might have an interest in the submitted work. Other relationships: All authors have declared that there are no other relationships or activities that could appear to have influenced the submitted work., (Copyright © 2024, Duarte et al.)

Objective: Executive functions (EFs) are a multifaceted construct, important for several outcomes throughout life. The most commonly addressed executive components are inhibitory control, working memory, and cognitive flexibility. To map how other executive components are addressed conceptually and methodologically in the literature, a scoping review was carried out., Method: The Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic reviews and Meta-Analyses extension for Scoping Reviews guideline was used. The database search (2017-2022) was carried out on the APA PsycInfo, Medline, Scopus, LILACS, and SciELO databases. A total of 3,473 articles were identified; 1,302 remained after screening. Given the large number of articles, a sample calculation was performed (95% CI and 5% error), with 297 articles randomly selected for full-text reading and 242 studies included for analysis., Results: There was a predominance of health application studies in adults and older adults and in developed countries. There is relative conceptual consensus that EF are a multidimensional construct; however, there is no explicit identification of the theoretical model used in the studies. A diversity of EF was evidenced, which broadens the understanding of the construct, its assessment, and intervention targets. Furthermore, there was a variety of instruments used to assess these skills, with a predominance of performance tests, often with construct-instrument ambivalence between studies., Conclusions: The mapping showed a diversity of skills referred to as EF in addition to the core components and identified the instruments used in their assessment. Greater conceptual and structural clarity and greater methodological care are fundamental to support the assessment of EF and their intervention. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).

Cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) and neuropsychology are areas of psychology that have a common focus of interest on cognitive processing. The present study aimed to map and describe in a systematic way information about the association between CBT and neuropsychology by means of a scoping review. The systematic search for empirical articles published between 2010 and 2020, without language restriction, was carried out in the Medline, PsycInfo, LILACS, and SciELO databases. We found 3,723 articles, of which 198 were duplicates, which were excluded, and 3,525 articles went on to double-blind screening. For full text reading, we selected 323 articles, while 143 of them were selected for analysis. Results showed the characteristics, methodological aspects, and possible associations identified in the studies, which were as follows: neuropsychological assessment (NPA) and CBT assessment; NPA and CBT intervention; neuropsychological intervention and CBT intervention; and CBT strategy in neuropsychological intervention. The most used interventions were classic CBT, rehabilitation, and cognitive training, with the use of psychoeducation, cognitive restructuring, and problem solving, among others, applied, on the whole, to psychiatric and neurological conditions. We conclude that a greater understanding of the possible connections between the two areas can benefit patients from the psychiatric and neurological clinic.

Aim: This study investigated how Colombian dentists with different academic levels indicate antibiotics with therapeutic purposes in endodontics., Materials and Method: A cross-sectional survey was conducted among 559 dentists in the form of an online questionnaire., Results: Three hundred and twenty questionnaires were answered (57.2%). There were significant differences among respondents. For irreversible pulpitis, 140 dentists (43.7%) said they prescribe antibiotics (57.5% of general practitioners, 20.1% of specialists and 38.9% of those with Master's and/or PhD degrees), while for symptomatic apical periodontitis, 183 (57.2%) did so (74.1% of general practitioners, 28.4% of specialists and 50.0% of those with Master's and/or PhD degrees) (p<0.05). Amoxicillin was the most frequently prescribed antibiotic, and its association with clavulanic acid was the most often cited for acute periradicular abscess with systemic involvement., Conclusions: The greatest misunderstandings in prescribing antibiotics occurred among general practitioners. Considering all clinical conditions that do not require antibiotics, 60% of general practitioners and 34% of specialists, on average, indicated antibiotics., Competing Interests: The authors declare no potential conflicts of interest regarding the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article., (Sociedad Argentina de Investigación Odontológica.)

This article describes the reporting characteristics of systematic reviews (SRs) in Psychology. The inclusion criteria were self-declared SRs in all branches of Psychology, published between 2019 and 2020. The search was performed in the PsycINFO and MEDLINE databases, from which 2487 records were identified, and 305 papers selected. There were many discrepancies in the reporting of Psychology SRs. Some PRISMA items, such as self-identification as an SR, description of the aim and the inclusion criteria, specification of the databases, and the description of the search and selection process using a flow diagram were reported in more than 90% of the SRs. Other items had lower coverage, such as the specification of the PICO framework, presentation of the complete search strategies, mention of the reporting guidelines, description of the exclusion criteria, performance of a risk of bias assessment, and analysis of the quality of the evidence, among others. The study highlights the need to improve the planning, performance and reporting of SR in Psychology.

Given the importance of the environment for the development of the theory of mind (ToM) in childhood, as well as the scarcity of studies in low-income Latin American countries, we aimed to investigate the relation between family environment characteristics and performance in ToM tasks in a group of Brazilian children. A total of 49 children participated, whose ages ranged between 3 and 5 years ( M  = 4.43; SD = 0.71), all of whom attended a public kindergarten school located in the metropolitan region of São Paulo, Brazil, and took the Theory of mind test for children (TMTC). The observation of the characteristics of the family environment was conducted by using the Home Observation for Measurement of the Environment (HOME) instrument in the very home setting of each participating child. By controlling the effects of children's age, intelligence, vocabulary, and mother's and father's educational level, a consistent positive, significant, and low-magnitude correlation was found between HOME's Responsiveness subscale with the total score in TMTC. A robust regression analysis also showed that individual and contextual variables (above cited, plus sex) and Responsiveness accounted for 28.4% of ToM variance. This study corroborates previous findings on the relation between family aspects and ToM, specifically highlighting parents' responsiveness.

In this study, we provide a baseline assessment of introduced marine species along the extensive (~600 km) Brazilian semiarid coast. We reported 27 introduced and 26 cryptogenic species. Moreover, the main vectors of introduction were ballast water, shipping lines, oil and gas activities, biofouling, and rafting on plastic debris. The taxa were Ascidiacea (17 species) and Bryozoa (17), followed by Crustacea (6), Mollusca (6), Cnidaria (3), Echinodermata (3), and Porifera (1). Among these invertebrates, some species are recognized as drivers of impacts such as the invasive corals (Tubastraea tagusensis and Tubastraea coccinea), the bivalves Isognomom bicolor and Perna viridis, the crab Charybdis hellerii, the brittle star Ophiothela mirabilis, and, finally, the bryozoan Membraniporopsis tubigera. These species threaten the biodiversity of unique ecosystems such as intertidal sandstone reefs, shallow-water coral reefs, and mesophotic ecosystems. Moreover, the up-to-date results highlight that this region is a hotspot of bioinvasion in the tropical South Atlantic., (Copyright © 2021 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Bacteriophages (phages) are ubiquitous entities present in every conceivable habitat as a result of their bacterial parasitism. Their prevalence and impact in the ecology of bacterial communities and their ability to control pathogens make their characterization essential, particularly of new phages, improving knowledge and potential application. The isolation and characterization of a new lytic phage against Sphaerotilus natans strain DSM 6575, named vB&#95;SnaP-R1 (SnaR1), is here described. Besides being the first sequenced genome of a Sphaerotilus natans infecting phage, 99% of its 41507 bp genome lacks homology with any other sequenced phage, revealing its uniqueness and previous lack of knowledge. Moreover, SnaR1 is the first Podoviridae phage described infecting this bacterium. Sphaerotilus natans is an important filamentous bacterium due to its deleterious effect on wastewater treatment plants (WWTP) and thus, phages may play a role as novel biotechnological tools against filamentous overgrowth in WWTP. The lytic spectrum of SnaR1 was restricted to its host strain, infecting only one out of three S. natans strains and infection assays revealed its ability to reduce bacterial loads. Results suggest SnaR1 as the prototype of a new phage genus and demonstrates its potential as a non-chemical alternative to reduce S. natans DSM 6575 cells., (© The Author(s) 2021. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of FEMS.)

Glyphosate residues in grain can be explained by the concentrations and formulations of glyphosate products. This study aimed to evaluate the residues from glyphosate formulations labeled with 14 C-glyphosate applied to leaves of glyphosate-resistant soybean (GRS) in two life cycles by liquid scintillation spectrometry. Different plant tissues were analyzed after the end of the plants' life cycles. The experimental design was four repetitions of three treatments: Roundup® Original, Roundup Ready ® , and unformulated glyphosate (control). The application of the dosing solution was 120 µL on the first four trifoliate leaves (10 µL per leaflet) of each plant, deposited manually with a 1-µL dispenser. All treatment solutions were calculated at a 1.2 kg a.e ha -1 of glyphosate. Glyphosate formulations of Roundup ® Original and Roundup Ready ® increased 14 C-glyphosate distribution in GRS compared to the unformulated herbicide, regardless of the experiment (first or second cycle). Overall, the percentages of total radioactivity applied (18.33 kBq) found in grains were less than 5%. Grains, stems, and leaves showed the highest levels of herbicide residues compared to other parts of the plant. Despite the Roundup Ready ® formulation having increased residues, the highest value found in grains, 1.95 mg kg -1 , was less than 10 mg kg -1 , the maximum residue limit (MRL) in Brazil.

Bloodstream infections (BSIs) are considered a major cause of death worldwide. Staphylococcus spp. are one of the most BSIs prevalent bacteria, classified as high priority due to the increasing multidrug resistant strains. Thus, a fast, specific and sensitive method for detection of these pathogens is of extreme importance. In this study, we have designed a novel assay for detection of Staphylococcus in blood culture samples, which combines the advantages of a phage endolysin cell wall binding domain (CBD) as a specific probe with the accuracy and high-throughput of flow cytometry techniques. In order to select the biorecognition molecule, three different truncations of the C-terminus of Staphylococcus phage endolysin E-LM12, namely the amidase (AMI), SH3 and amidase+SH3 (AMI&#95;SH3) were cloned fused with a green fluorescent protein. From these, a higher binding efficiency to Staphylococcus cells was observed for AMI&#95;SH3, indicating that the amidase domain possibly contributes to a more efficient binding of the SH3 domain. The novel phage endolysin-based flow cytometry assay provided highly reliable and specific detection of 1-5 CFU of Staphylococcus in 10 mL of spiked blood, after 16 hours of enrichment culture. Overall, the method developed herein presents advantages over the standard BSIs diagnostic methods, potentially contributing to an early and effective treatment of BSIs.

Warmblood Fragile Foal Syndrome (WFFS) is an autosomal recessive genetic disorder caused by a mutation in the procollagen-lysine, 2-oxoglutarate 5-dioxygenase 1 (PLOD1) gene, associated with collagen biosynthesis. WFFS causes lesions and malformations of the skin in neonatal foals, and abortion. The objective of this study was to investigate the allelic frequency of the single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) c.2032G>A in the PLOD1 gene in warmblood samples from Brazil. Of the 374 Warmblood horses tested, 41 animals (11%) were identified as heterozygous for the WFFS SNP and 333 (89%) were homozygous for the wild-type allele (N/N), and therefore, the allele frequency was 5.5%. This study highlights the importance of control measures to prevent an increase in the incidence of WFFS in Warmblood horses worldwide., (Copyright © 2019 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Objective: In schizophrenia, scores reflecting deficits in different cognitive processes are strongly correlated, making it difficult to establish a solid relationship between different cognitive mechanisms and other features of this disorder. The objective of this study was to explore whether three frequently postulated executive functions (updating, shifting, and inhibition) could be compared between groups and considered independently in terms of their respective roles in functional outcome., Methods: This study relied on confirmatory factor analysis of schizophrenia patients (n=141) and healthy controls (n=119). The main analyses examined the degree to which three executive functions (updating, set-shifting, and inhibition) could be separated in schizophrenia and compared this model among groups. Structural equation modeling analysis was also performed to examine the extent to which executive function components contribute to functional outcome in schizophrenia., Results: Multiple-group confirmatory factor analysis with unconstrained model parameters indicated that the full three-factor model may fit the data in both groups (χ2 = 61.48, degrees of freedom = 34, p < 0.001, comparative fit index = 0.95; standardized root mean square residual = 0.037; root mean square error of approximation = 0.04; Akaike's information criteria = 169.49; normed fit index = 0.90), although there was also a good data fit for the patient group with a two-factor model. In the patient group, structural equation modeling suggested that shifting and (principally) updating were associated with the general measure of functional outcome (regression path coefficients: 0.34, p < 0.005; 0.39, p < 0.005, respectively), although when combined the mechanisms fail to contribute., Conclusion: This data suggests that the factor structure may be similar but not identical between groups, and both updating and shifting may play an important role in functional outcome in schizophrenia.

This study aimed to evaluate 1) the influence of gibberellic acid (GA3) in the development of Tifton 85 bermudagrass grown in constructed wetland systems (CWs) and 2) the plant's capacity to remove nutrients and sodium from synthetic municipal wastewater (SMW). The experiment was carried out in Viçosa, Minas Gerais, Brazil, and consisted of foliar applications of GA3 set in randomized blocks design, with four replicates and 6 treatments as following: NC (control with plants); 0 μM GA3; N1: 5 μM GA3; N2: 25 μM GA3; N3: 50 and N4: 100 μM GA3 per CWs, NC* (control with no plants): 0 μM GA3. The study was conducted over two crop cycles in the spring 2016. The parameters used to evaluate the performance of the Tifton 85 bermudagrass were its plant height, productivity, chlorophyll measurement, number of internodes, nutrients and Na removals. Chemical analyses of the effluents were conducted. In response to the application of GA3, the increase in height of Tifton 85 bermudagrass in the first crop cycle was higher than the increase in height in the second crop cycle. The decrease in plant growth in response to GA3 in the second crop cycle may be linked to the age of the plant tissue and climatic conditions. The greater growth of the plants cultivated in the CWs allows a more efficient removal of pollutants, using simple management and low cost. The results suggest that applying 50 μM of GA3 to the development of Tifton 85 bermudagrass provides higher dry matter yield and removal of nitrogen, phosphorus, and sodium for the first crop cycle in CWs. However, in the second crop cycle, the application of GA3 had no effect on dry matter production and nutrient removal by Tifton 85 bermudagrass in CWs., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist

Studies have suggested that reading speed (RS) or fluency should be a component of reading comprehension (RC) models. There is also evidence of a relationship between RS and RC. However, some questions remain to be explored, as the changes in such a relationship may be a function of development. In addition, while there are studies published with English speakers and learners, less evidence exists in more transparent orthographies, such as Portuguese. This study investigated the relationship between RC and RS in typical readers. Objectives included elucidating the following: (1) the contribution of RS to RC controlling for intelligence, word recognition, and listening and (2) the differential relationships and contributions of RS to comprehension in different school grades. The sample of participants comprised 212 students ( M = 8.76; SD = 1.06) from 2nd to 4th grade. We assessed intelligence, word recognition, word RS, listening, and RC. Performance in all tests increased as a function of grade. There were significant connections between RC and all other measures. Nonetheless, the regression analysis revealed that word RS has a unique contribution to RC after controlling for intelligence, word recognition, and listening, with a very modest but significant improvement in the explanatory power of the model. We found a significant relationship between RS and RC only for 4th grade and such relationship becomes marginal after controlling for word recognition. The findings suggest that RS could contribute to RC in Portuguese beyond the variance shared with listening and, mainly, word recognition, but such a contribution was very small. The data also reveal a differential relationship between RS and RC in different school grades; specifically, only for the 4th grade does RS begins to relate to RC. The findings add a developmental perspective to the study of reading models.

Anoxia is one of the most prevalent causes of neonatal morbidity and mortality, especially in preterm neonates, constituting an important public health problem due to permanent neurological sequelae observed in patients. Oxygen deprivation triggers a series of simultaneous cascades, culminating in cell death mainly located in more vulnerable metabolic brain regions, such as the hippocampus. In the process of cell death by oxygen deprivation, cytosolic calcium plays crucial roles. Intracellular inositol 1,4,5-trisphosphate receptors (IP3Rs) are important regulators of cytosolic calcium levels, although the role of these receptors in neonatal anoxia is completely unknown. This study focused on the functional role of inositol 1,4,5-trisphosphate receptor type 1 (IP3R1) in rat hippocampus after neonatal anoxia. Quantitative real-time PCR revealed a decrease of IP3R1 gene expression 24 hours after neonatal anoxia. We detected that IP3R1 accumulates specially in CA1, and this spatial pattern did not change after neonatal anoxia. Interestingly, we observed that anoxia triggers translocation of IP3R1 to nucleus in hippocampal cells. We were able to observe that anoxia changes distribution of IP3R1 immunofluorescence signals, as revealed by cluster size analysis. We next examined the role of IP3R1 in the neuronal cell loss triggered by neonatal anoxia. Intrahippocampal injection of non-specific IP3R1 blocker 2-APB clearly reduced the number of Fluoro-Jade C and Tunel positive cells, revealing that activation of IP3R1 increases cell death after neonatal anoxia. Finally, we aimed to disclose mechanistics of IP3R1 in cell death. We were able to determine that blockade of IP3R1 did not reduced the distribution and pixel density of activated caspase 3-positive cells, indicating that the participation of IP3R1 in neuronal cell loss is not related to classical caspase-mediated apoptosis. In summary, this study may contribute to new perspectives in the investigation of neurodegenerative mechanisms triggered by oxygen deprivation., Competing Interests: I have read the journal's policy and the authors of this manuscript have the following competing interests: AHK is part of PLOS ONE Academic Board. This does not alter our adherence to PLOS ONE policies on sharing data and materials.

Objective: The goal of this study was to describe the construction process and content validity evidence of an early and preventive intervention program for stimulating executive functions (EF) in Elementary School children within the school environment., Methods: The process has followed the recommended steps for creating neuropsychological instruments: internal phase of program organization, with literature search and analyses of available materials in the classroom; program construction; analysis by expert judges; data integration and program finalization. To determine the level of agreement among the judges, a Content Validity Index (CVI) was calculated., Results: Content validity was evidenced by the agreement among the experts with regards to the program, both in general and for each activity. All steps taken were deemed necessary because they contributed to the identification of positive aspects and possible flaws in the process., Conclusion: The steps also helped to adapt stimuli and improve program tasks and activities. Methodological procedures implemented in this study can be adopted by other researchers to create or adapt neuropsychological stimulation and rehabilitation programs. Furthermore, the methodological approach allows the reader to understand, in detail, the technical and scientific rigor adopted in devising this program., Competing Interests: Disclosure: The authors report no conflicts of interest.

Studies have highlighted the role of early Executive Functioning (EF) interventions with regard to preventing behavioral and mental health problems. In this sense, interventions to promote EF have been developed and tested; however, in Latin America, evidence of early EF-related interventions is still limited. We developed a program for EF promotion in children and applied it to first-grade students. Sixty-eight six-year-old children and their five teachers were divided into an experimental group (EG) and a control group (CG). EG teachers administered the Intervention Program for Self-regulation and Executive Functions in a classroom context. The results of the ANCOVAs showed that children in the EG had significantly better performance in measures of cognitive flexibility (Trail Making Test for Preschoolers; p = .05), attention (Cancellation Attention Test - errors in the Part 3; p = .027), inhibition (Simon Task - interference score in the part 1; p = .008 and interference reaction time in the part 2; p = .010), and planning (CHEXI - planning scale; p = .041) than those in the CG. The results show that EF can be promoted using classroom intervention in public schools. These results expand previous findings for Latin America.

This study aimed to investigate if an executive functions (EF) intervention could promote these skills in individuals with attention deficit and hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Eighteen children and adolescents, 7-13 years old, divided into experimental (EG, N = 8) and control (CG, N = 10) groups, were assessed in the Block Design and Vocabulary subtests of the WISC III and seven tests of EF. Parents answered two scales, measuring EF and inattention and hyperactivity signs. EG children participated in a program to promote EF in twice-weekly group sessions of one hour each. After 8 months of intervention, groups were assessed again. ANCOVA, controlling for age, intelligence quotient and pretest performance, revealed gains in attention/inhibition and auditory working memory measures for the EG. No effect was found for scales or measures of more complex EF. Results are not conclusive, but they illustrate some promising data about EF interventions in children and adolescents with ADHD.

The cognitive model of reading comprehension (RC) posits that RC is a result of the interaction between decoding and linguistic comprehension. Recently, the notion of decoding skill was expanded to include word recognition. In addition, some studies suggest that other skills could be integrated into this model, like processing speed, and have consistently indicated that this skill influences and is an important predictor of the main components of the model, such as vocabulary for comprehension and phonological awareness of word recognition. The following study evaluated the components of the RC model and predictive skills in children and adolescents with dyslexia. 40 children and adolescents (8-13 years) were divided in a Dyslexic Group (DG; 18 children, MA = 10.78, SD = 1.66) and control group (CG 22 children, MA = 10.59, SD = 1.86). All were students from the 2nd to 8th grade of elementary school and groups were equivalent in school grade, age, gender, and IQ. Oral and RC, word recognition, processing speed, picture naming, receptive vocabulary, and phonological awareness were assessed. There were no group differences regarding the accuracy in oral and RC, phonological awareness, naming, and vocabulary scores. DG performed worse than the CG in word recognition (general score and orthographic confusion items) and were slower in naming. Results corroborated the literature regarding word recognition and processing speed deficits in dyslexia. However, dyslexics can achieve normal scores on RC test. Data supports the importance of delimitation of different reading strategies embedded in the word recognition component. The role of processing speed in reading problems remain unclear.

The FAS Verbal Fluency Test is widely used in neuropsychological clinical services and research. This study investigated the contributions of different executive functions, age and gender to FAS test performance in a sample of children and teenagers divided into two groups: G1 comprised 263 children aged 6-10 years, and G2 comprised 150 teenagers aged 10-14 years. All participants were assessed using the Cancellation Attention Test, the Auditory Working Memory Test, the Visual Working Memory Test, the Semantic Generation Test, and the Trail Making Test, in addition to the FAS test. For G1, age, auditory working memory and shifting were predictors of FAS performance. For G2, gender, auditory working memory, shifting and inhibition comprised the FAS explanatory model. The study contributed to our understanding of which are the best predictor variables for the FAS test in a Brazilian sample and how executive demands change with age.

Executive abilities have been suggested to show differential age-related changes. This study aimed to extend this evidence to a Brazilian sample, which was composed of 572 children and adolescents aged 6 to 14 years, assessed in tests of visual and auditory working memory, selective attention, inhibitory control, cognitive flexibility, attentional abilities, verbal fluency and planning. ANOVAs revealed significant age effect on performance in all tests, with a trend toward better performance with the progression of age, even in differential ways. Overall, the performance on simpler tests, such as the basic attention, increased with age progression until around 11 or 12 years, when performance becomes more stable. However, in more complex tasks, including working memory tasks, the performance showed a more continuous improvement. There was gender effect in two measures: visual working memory, in which boys outperformed girls, and verbal fluency, in which the girls outperformed boys. In general, the results of this Brazilian sample were similar to those reported by studies conducted in other countries, what suggests that Brazilian socio-cultural specificities, at least of the participants of this sample, were not sufficient to reveal a distinct pattern of progression.

Lagochilascariosis is an emerging parasitic disease caused by the helminth Lagochilascaris minor. The experimental mouse model has been used to study the immune response against L. minor infection. In the present work, immunohistochemistry analysis of spleen cells populations was evaluated in susceptible (C57BL/6) and resistant (BALB/c) mice experimentally infected with L. minor. The BALB/c mice exhibited increased spleen cell indexes as follows: F4/80+ at 100 days after infection (DPI), CD4+ at 100 and 250 DPI, CD8+ at 35 and 100 DPI, and CD19+ at 100, 150, and 250 DPI. In the spleens of the infected C57BL/6 mice, increased indexes of the following spleen cells were observed: F4/80+ cells at 250 DPI, CD4+ cells at 150 DPI, CD8+ cells at 35, 150, and 250 DPI, and CD19+ cells at 150 to 250 DPI. The index of spleen cells confirmed the differences between the control and infected groups at several time points following the infection. These data demonstrate an association between a preferential increase in the number of CD4+ and CD19+ spleen cells and resistance to experimental lagochilascariosis in BALB/c mice and between a preferential increase in the number of CD8+ spleen cells and susceptibility in C57BL/6 mice.

Wetting and drying (W-D) cycles can induce important elemental migrations in soils. The main purpose of this work was to study the possible existence of soil chemical elemental migrations in samples submitted to repeated W-D cycles during evaluations of soil water retention curve (SWRC). The experimental measurements were carried out by Atomic Absorption Spectrometry (AAS) for Ca(2+), Mg(2+) and K(+) on samples of three different Brazilian tropical soils (Geric Ferralsol, Eutric Nitosol and Rhodic Ferralsol). Results demonstrate an increase in the electrical conductivity of the water extracted from the samples and significant losses of Ca(2+), Mg(2+) and K(+) during the applications of up to nine W-D cycles. It was also observed differences in SWRC for all soils when samples submitted to the application of several W-D cycles were compared with samples not submitted to it. These differences occurred at the region of both structural and textural pores. A possible explanation for these results could be the soil chemical migration during the sequences of W-D cycles, which can affect the soil structure development.