Archive for August, 2008
Lexical and nonlexical processing in developmental dyslexia: a case for different resources and different impairments.
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Lexical and nonlexical processing in developmental dyslexia: a case for different resources and different impairments.
Cogn Neuropsychol. 2008 Sep;25(6):798-830
Authors: Romani C, Di Betta AM, Tsouknida E, Olson A
In a group of adult dyslexics word reading and, especially, word spelling are predicted more by what we have called lexical learning (tapped by a paired-associate task with pictures and written nonwords) than by phonological skills. Nonword reading and spelling, instead, are not associated with this task but they are predicted by phonological tasks. Consistently, surface and phonological dyslexics show opposite profiles on lexical learning and phonological tasks. The phonological dyslexics are more impaired on the phonological tasks, while the surface dyslexics are equally or more impaired on the lexical learning tasks. Finally, orthographic lexical learning explains more variation in spelling than in reading, and subtyping based on spelling returns more interpretable results than that based on reading. These results suggest that the quality of lexical representations is crucial to adult literacy skills. This is best measured by spelling and best predicted by a task of lexical learning. We hypothesize that lexical learning taps a uniquely human capacity to form new representations by recombining the units of a restricted set.
PMID: 18781498 [PubMed - in process]
(Source: Cognitive Neuropsychology)
Original post by Cognitive Neuropsychology
No commentsPoor performance on serial visual tasks in persons with reading disabilities: impaired working memory?
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Poor performance on serial visual tasks in persons with reading disabilities: impaired working memory?
J Learn Disabil. 2008 Sep-Oct;41(5):437-50
Authors: Ram-Tsur R, Faust M, Zivotofsky AZ
The present study investigates the performance of persons with reading disabilities (PRD) on a variety of sequential visual-comparison tasks that have different working-memory requirements. In addition, mediating relationships between the sequential comparison process and attention and memory skills were looked for. Our findings suggest that PRD perform worse than normally achieving readers (NAR) when the task requires more than a minimal amount of working memory, unrelated to presentation rate. We also demonstrate high correlations between performance on the task with the most working-memory demands and reading-related skills, suggesting that poor working-memory abilities may be one of the underlying mechanisms of dyslexia. The mediating model analysis indicates that order judgment tasks are mediating to verbal working memory, suggesting that visual sequence memory precedes auditory sequence memory. We further suggest that visual tasks involving sequential comparisons could probe for poor working memory in PRD.
PMID: 18768775 [PubMed - in process]
(Source: Journal of Learning Disabilities)
Original post by Journal of Learning Disabilities
No commentsLow testosterone a common theme among young diabetic men- talk to your doctor
Researchers out of the University of Buffalo have found that young men with type 2 diabetes have significantly low levels of testosterone. This could prove to make fathering children and quality of life a challenge. This study follows research published earlier by these same scientists reporting that one-third of middle-aged men with type 2 diabetes have low testosterone levels, requiring treatment for erectile dysfunction. ED can prove to be a real blow to ones emotional and physical being.
Reduced testosterone during these years may lead to diminished bone mass and the lack of development or loss of skeletal muscle. These patients may gain more weight and become even more insulin dependent. The men are also at a higher risk for developing atherosclerosis and heart disease due to also being pre-disposed to higher concentrations of C reactive proteins.
Talk to your doctor about any concerns you might have in respect to the above mentioned problems. Do not be embarrassed- this is a common problem.
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Original post by Diabetes Notes
No commentsActos and avandia- yes or no?
Will you continue to take Avandia or Actos regardless of the new findings?
Yes, it works for me
I will follow my doctors advice
No- way!
I already stopped taking it
View Results
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Original post by Diabetes Notes
No commentsQuestions about actos and avandia arise again
Over 20% of all diabetics have heart disease. That is why it is so scary when new research and studies come out that prove diabetic medication to harm your heart. And here we go again… Two Wake Forest University School of Medicine faculty members sifted through three trials to come to the conclusion that certain diabetic medications could cause increased heart failure- ACCORD, ADVANCE, and the Veterans Affairs Diabetes study.
“We strongly recommend restrictions in the use of thiazolidinediones (the class of drugs) and question the rationale for leaving rosiglitazone on the market,” write Sonal Singh, M.D., M.P.H., assistant professor of internal medicine, and Curt D. Furberg, M.D., Ph.D., professor of public health sciences. Rosiglitazone and pioglitazone are the two major thiazolidinediones.
What are the drugs being above mentioned? Actos and Avandia. If you take these medications please talk to your physician if you have any concerns or questions. Remember, you need the risk factors to be affected in a negative way.
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Original post by Diabetes Notes
No commentsIn SIDS, Smoking During Pregnancy A ‘Double-Edged Sword’
Premature infants whose mothers smoked during pregnancy may be at even higher risk for sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) than preemies whose mothers did not smoke, according to new research out of the University of Calgary. In the first-ever experimental study to compare the breathing reflexes of preemies of smokers versus non-smokers, researchers found that babies whose mothers had smoked showed a number of signs of impaired respiratory function.
Original post by Diabetes Notes
No commentsRisk Of Death Not Reduced By Flu Shot
The widely-held perception that the influenza vaccination reduces overall mortality risk in the elderly does not withstand careful scrutiny, according to researchers in Alberta. The vaccine does confer protection against specific strains of influenza, but its overall benefit appears to have been exaggerated by a number of observational studies that found a very large reduction in all-cause mortality among elderly patients who had been vaccinated.
Original post by Diabetes Notes
No commentsWow… one of those days!!!!
Yesterday I went to my son’s Football Jamboree and basically stayed out in the sun and rain for about 8 hours. I was having a terrible time trying to stay solid in my sugar levels. High Low ping pong was the rule of the day. I would go very low, have to eat something(usually with unknown [...] (Source: SugarStats.com – Simple, Online Blood Sugar Tracking for Diabetes Management)
Original post by SugarStats.com – Simple, Online Blood Sugar Tracking for Diabetes Management
No commentsRapid Changes In Key Alzheimer’s Protein Described In Humans
For the first time, researchers have described hour-by-hour changes in the amount of amyloid beta, a protein that is believed to play a key role in Alzheimer’s disease, in the human brain. A collaborative team of scientists at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis and the University of Milan report their results in Science.
Original post by Allergy News From Medical News Today
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