Linking Temperamental Shyness and Social Anxiety in Childhood and Adolescence: Moderating Influences of Sex and Age

Although childhood shyness has been linked to social anxiety problems, the factors playing a role in this association have gone largely unexplored. Here we examined the potential moderating roles of sex and age on this relation in a sample of 119 (75 girls) children (10–12 years) and adolescents (14–16 years). As predicted, shyness was positively associated with social anxiety symptoms. Sex, but not age, served as a moderating factor in linking shyness and social anxiety. Specifically, shyness was more strongly associated with social anxiety symptoms among girls than boys. These results suggest the importance of considering sex differences when examining the relation between shyness and social anxiety in childhood and adolescence.     

性别、年龄、卒中类型与卒中后失语症类型的相关性分析

【摘要】
目的 本文旨在探讨性别、年龄、卒中类型和卒中后失语症分类间的关系。
方法 回顾性分析2005年7月～2012年7月首都医科大学附属北京天坛医院收治的符合病例入排标准的421例急性卒中患者,应用北京大学第一医院神经内科汉语失语检查法中的利手评定标准进行利手判定、西部失语成套测验进行失语症的分类及失语指数（Aphasia Quotient,AQ）评分,按照年龄不同分为青、中、老年三组,按卒中类型分为脑梗死及脑出血,结合不同性别观察失语症类型的分布情况,比较不同年龄、性别以及卒中类型间失语症类型分布有无差异。
结果 入选患者均为右利手,男性占69.60%,女性占30.40%。失语症类型如下：运动性失语116例（男85例,女31例）,感觉性失语35例（男20例,女15例）,传导性失语15例（男10例,女5例）,经皮质运动性失语63例（男50例,女13例）,经皮质感觉性失语11例（男8例,女3例）,经皮质混合性失语27例（男13例,女14例）,命名性失语73例（男47例,女26例）,完全性失语81例（男60例,女21例）,经统计学分析,男性卒中后失语症发生率（69.60%）明显高于女性（30.40%）（χ2=11.57,P=0.003）,尤以青中年（≤65岁）为主（73.38%）,老年期（>65岁）女性发生率逐渐升高（42.97%）,与男性差异逐渐缩小（26.28%）;性别对失语症类型无明显影响（χ2=13.84,P=0.054）,男女患者均以运动性失语最常见（分别为29.01%、24.22%）;各年龄组患者失语类型分布无明显差异（χ2=14.94,P=0.382）。脑梗死所致失语症患者较脑出血所致者更为多见（分别为306例和115例）,但在失语症类型分布上差异无显著性（χ2=13.23,P=0.067）,除女性脑出血患者外,均以运动性失语最为常见（分别为29.82%,29.55%,26.67%）。
结论 年龄、性别及卒中类型对卒中后失语症类型分布均无明显影响,男性卒中后失语发生率明显高于女性且患病平均年龄小于女性,两性中均以运动性失语最常见;除去女性脑出血患者外,均以运动性、完全性及命名性失语最常见。     

Gambling Involvement: Considering Frequency of Play and the Moderating Effects of Gender and Age

Research indicates that specific types of gambling, such as electronic gaming machines (e.g., Video Lottery Terminals (VLTs), slot machines, virtual gaming machines), are associated with increased odds of experiencing gambling problems. Recent findings suggest that to advance our understanding of gambling-related problems scientists need to focus less on a simple association (e.g., specific gambling type) and more on complex models that include the extent of gambling involvement. The objective of this study is to advance this area of investigation by establishing the generalizability of the involvement effect to the general population of Canada, as well as to examine two potential moderating factors: gender and age. Secondary data analysis of the nationally representative Canadian Community Health Survey (CCHS) cycle 1.2 (data collected during 2002, response rate = 77 %, n?=?18,913) using logistic regression models were conducted. All types of gambling were associated with problem gambling. However, when adjusting for gambling involvement (i.e., the number of games played during the past year), these specific game relationships were either eliminated or attenuated. Significant relationships remained for instant win lottery tickets, bingo, card and/or board games, electronic gaming machines outside of casinos, electronic gaming machines inside casinos, other casino gambling, horse racing, sports lotteries, and games of skill. For many types of gambling, the nature of the relationships seemed to be a function of the frequency of engagement with specific games. Gender and age did not moderate these findings. These findings indicate that focusing on a narrow direct cause (e.g., game type) for gambling problems needs to shift towards a more complex model that also includes the level of gambling involvement.     

Relationship of Age at Onset, Chronologic Age, and Adequacy of Preoperative Performance to Verbal Memory Change After Anterior Temporal Lobectomy

Summary We examined the relationship of age of onset of epilepsy, chronological age at time of operation, and adequacy of preoperative memory performance to pre- to postoperative verbal memory decline. Patients who underwent left (n = 50) or right (n = 51) anterior temporal lobectomy (ATL) were administered tests of verbal episodic (list learning, paragraph recall) and semantic memory (visual naming, vocabulary), both preoperatively and 6 months postoperatively. As a group, left ATL patients showed the classic selective decrease on measures of episodic but not semantic memory. However, examination of episodic memory outcome showed considerable individual variability. Stepwise regression analyses indicated that both later age at onset and older chronologic age were significant and selective predictors of episodic memory decrease for left ATL patients. Adequacy of preoperative memory performance was a nonspecific predictor, associated with decrease in postoperative memory performance for both left and right ATL patients and for multiple types of memory indices. The clinical and theoretical implications are discussed.     

Influence of Sex on Age at Onset of Schizophrenia

Abstract: The age at onset of schizophrenia was investigated in 2,417 inpatients (1,433 males and 984 females) meeting the DSM-III criteria for schizophrenia. About 80% of the patients became schizophrenic before the age of 30. The mean age at onset of the male patients was slightly earlier than that of the female patients. There was a higher cumulative percentage of the male patients who became affected at each age quinquennium. More men than women became schizophrenic before the age of 30.     

Differential Effects of Left and Right Anterior Temporal Lobectomy on Verbal Learning and Memory Performance

The California Verbal Learning Test (CVLT) was utilized to identify the quantitative and qualitative alterations in verbal learning and memory performance that discriminated between patients following partial resection of the left (dominant) (n = 26) or right (nondominant) (n = 31) temporal lobe. Patients were administered the CVLT preoperatively and 6 months postoperatively, and the differential effects of laterality of resection on verbal learning and memory performance were determined. Following left temporal resection, patients showed significantly more serial clustering, a lower proportion of words recalled from the middle of the list, and more intrusion errors in free recall. Patients who underwent right temporal resection showed significantly greater recall of words from the middle and fewer words from the end of the list, more semantic clustering, and greater ability to recall verbal material after a short delay. These findings suggest that anterior temporal lobectomy (ATL) results in changes in the way verbal material is acquired, and affects the rate of forgetting. Patients who undergo left ATL become more dependent on less effective and efficient learning strategies, and forget the material that they have acquired at a faster rate. The opposite tendencies characterize patients who undergo right ATL.     

Impact of Age and Sex on QT Prolongation in Patients Receiving Psychotropics

Objective:

To assess older age and female sex, 2 of the major risk factors for potentially fatal cardiac arrhythmias or sudden cardiac death in patients prescribed psychotropics, within the context of electrocardiographic evidence of time between start of Q wave and end of T wave (QT) interval prolongation, which is an indicator of an increased risk for potentially fatal cardiac arrhythmias.

Method:

The literature on the relation between age, sex, and QT interval with respect to psychotropic drugs was reviewed.

Results:

The QT interval must be corrected (QTc) for heart rate. Because slower heart rates prolong and faster heart rates shorten the QT interval, people with faster heart rates may have a prolonged QT interval that is not apparent until the correction is performed. QTc values for apparently healthy post-pubertal people are less than 450 ms for males and less than 470 ms for females. The longer QT intervals in women may account for their increased risk of potentially fatal cardiac arrhythmias on psychotropics. QTc increases with increasing age. Assessment of QTc in older people is especially important to identify people with a longer QTc who are more likely to attain a serious QT level with drugs that prolong QTc. The age-related increase in QTc is more evident in men than women, suggesting that male sex does not afford protection against potentially fatal arrhythmias at older age.

Conclusion:

The association of increasing age and female sex with greater QT intervals indicates the need to have an increased awareness of the QTc prior to use of these psychotropics and to evaluate the QTc after initiation of therapy.     

Moderating Effects of Control on the Relationship Between Stress and Change

Given the well-documented impact of stress on employees, it is important to understand moderating factors, especially in behavioral health treatment settings, where constant change occurs. Staff members at four mental health (n=663) and four substance abuse (n=256) treatment agencies completed questionnaires inquiring about perceptions of direct and indirect agency changes, stress experienced due to changes, and control and input into the changes. Results revealed that as direct and indirect change increased, stress increased; as level of control and input into changes increased, stress decreased. Control and input served as a moderating variable between stress and direct change, but not for indirect change.     

Relating Worry and Executive Functioning During Childhood: The Moderating Role of Age

The associations between worry and executive functioning across development have not been previously explored. Examining the interrelationships between these variables in childhood may further elucidate the cognitive nature of worry as well as its developmental course. Hypotheses predicted that difficulties with executive functioning would correlate with child worry; based on extant literature, age-related hypotheses were proposed for particular aspects of executive functioning. Children (N = 130) participated in the present study. Difficulties with executive functioning and child worry were assessed. Results demonstrated that each executive functioning subscale correlated with worry. The relations between worry and several facets of executive functioning were no longer significant at older ages, while the relations between worry and the facets of inhibition, shifting, and emotional control did not demonstrate age-related interaction effects. Overall, the findings suggest that worry is associated with executive functioning at young ages and that this association takes distinct forms during different childhood stages.     

Emotional Arousal in Temporal Lobectomy: Autonomic and Performance Effects of Success and Failure Feedback

Abstract

Both theory and evidence suggest that right temporal lobectomy (RTL) patients show hypoarousal and left temporal lobectomy (LTL) patients show relative hyperarousal (Davidson, Fedio, Smith, Aurielle. & Martin, 1992). However, we hypothesized that these differences occur only under passive, nonevaluative stimulus conditions. The present study employed, instead, conditions of performance evaluation. We recorded the skin conductance responses (SCRs) and reaction times (RTs) of RTLs, LTLs, and normal controls (NCs) during easy and difficult trial blocks on a target-detection task, with auditory success/failure feedback. We found that LTLs exhibited relative hypoarousal and retarded RTs and that RTLs were normally aroused following success feedback. These results demonstrated that the arousal level of LTLs is contingent on stimulus conditions, thus calling into question the theory that this group is generally subject to hyperarousal. The two-dimensional theory of the neural processing of emotional experience partially explains our data.     

Adult Age Differences in Self-Ordered Pointing Task Performance: Contributions From Working Memory,Executive Function and Speed of Information Processing

This study investigated adult age differences in, and predictors of, the performance of a test of executive function, the Self-Ordered Pointing Task (SOPT; Petrides Milner, 1982). Performance on the SOPT is thought to rely on high level working memory processes, therefore, measures reflecting the common operationalization of working memory, along with measures of executive function and speed of information processing, were investigated as predictors of SOPT performance. Younger (aged 1748 years) and older (aged 6588 years) adults completed a 16-item, 3-trial, modified version of Shimamura and Juricas (1994) version of the SOPT, and tests assessing working memory, executive function and speed. Results showed that younger adults made fewer errors on the SOPT. There was no age difference in the frequency of use of a clustering strategy. Contrary to expectations, working memory was not a good predictor of individual or age differences in SOPT performance. Instead, speed of processing, and to a lesser extent, measures of perseverations, made larger unique and overlapping contributions to the variance. The SOPT and its association, or dissociation, with other measures of working memory may be useful for research into the nature of working memory and executive function and the theoretical links between them.     

A Study on the Effects of 40% Oxygen on Addition Task Performance in Three Levels of Difficulty and Physiological Signals

This study investigated the effect of 40% oxygen administration on addition task performance in three levels of difficulty and physiological signals, such as blood oxygen saturation and heart rate. The accuracy rates of the addition tasks were enhanced with 40% oxygen administration compared to 21% oxygen. As the difficulty level increased, the difference in the accuracy rate between 40% and 21% oxygen administration increased. When 40% concentration oxygen was supplied, blood oxygen saturation was increased and heart rate was decreased compared to that with 21% oxygen administration. A positive correlation was found between task performance and oxygen saturation level during the Task3 phase. This result suggests that 40% oxygen administration would lead to increases in addition task performance.     

RBANS Performance: Influences of Sex and Education

A sample of 278 men and 353 elderly women who resided in the community received the Repeatable Battery for the Assessment of Neuropsychological Status (RBANS) as part of a study of health in mature adult Oklahomans. Females attained significantly higher scores on the Immediate and Delayed Memory and the Language Indexes. Males performed better on the Visuospatial/Construction Index, but there was no sex difference on the Attention or Total Indexes. Differences related to sex were modest (2–6 Index points), but combined with the larger effects of education could lead to an adjustment of up to 11 Index points.