Communication Skills in Children with Cerebral Palsy and Autism Spectrum Disorder

While the literature focusing on communication deficits in children with cerebral palsy (CP) is extensive, few researchers have analyzed this construct in individuals with CP and a comorbid Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). Therefore, the purpose of the current study was to examine impairments in communication in infants and toddlers (18 to 35 months of age) who had CP and comorbid autism, CP and comorbid pervasive developmental disorder-not otherwise specified (PDD-NOS), and CP alone. A total of 42 children met inclusion criteria for this study. Those diagnosed with CP and a comorbid ASD were found to possess significantly greater communication impairments as assessed by the Baby and Infant Screen for aUtIsm Traits-Part 1 (BISCUIT-Part 1) than participants who only had a diagnosis of CP. The autism and PDD-NOS groups did not significantly differ from one another on the communication domain of this measure, however. Implications of these results are discussed.     

Performance of Older Depressed Patients on Two Cognitive Malingering Tests: False Positive Rates for the Rey 15-item Memorization and Dot Counting Tests

To our knowledge, no investigations have been undertaken to determine whether depression impacts performance on two commonly used tests to detect malingering of cognitive symptoms, the Rey 15-item Memorization Test and the Rey Dot Counting Test. This is a critical issue because of the high rate of depressive symptoms in patients with neurological conditions. It was hypothesized that depressed individuals, especially those with more severe depression, might be at risk for failing the tests, because these patients exhibit mild deficits in mental speed, visual perceptual/spatial skills, and visual memory, abilities required for successful completion of the malingering tests. However, examination of test performance in 64 older participants with major depression generally revealed very low false positive rates for most test scores, and severity of depression was unrelated to test scores. These results add to accumulating data supporting the validity of these cognitive malingering tests by documenting few false positive identifications.     

Epidemiology of Confirmed COVID-19 Deaths in Adults,England, March–December 2020

Of the 58,186 coronavirus deaths among adults in England during March–December 2020, 77% occurred in hospitals, 93% were in patients >60 years, and 91% occurred within 28 days of positive specimen. Cumulative mortality rates were highest among persons of Black, Asian, other, or mixed ethnicities and in socioeconomically deprived areas.     

Residual Infestation and Recolonization during Urban Triatoma infestans Bug Control Campaign,Peru

Chagas disease vector control campaigns are being conducted in Latin America, but little is known about medium-term or long-term effectiveness of these efforts, especially in urban areas. After analyzing entomologic data for 56,491 households during the treatment phase of a Triatoma infestans bug control campaign in Arequipa, Peru, during 2003–2011, we estimated that 97.1% of residual infestations are attributable to untreated households. Multivariate models for the surveillance phase of the campaign obtained during 2009–2012 confirm that nonparticipation in the initial treatment phase is a major risk factor (odds ratio [OR] 21.5, 95% CI 3.35–138). Infestation during surveillance also increased over time (OR 1.55, 95% CI 1.15–2.09 per year). In addition, we observed a negative interaction between nonparticipation and time (OR 0.73, 95% CI 0.53–0.99), suggesting that recolonization by vectors progressively dilutes risk associated with nonparticipation. Although the treatment phase was effective, recolonization in untreated households threatens the long-term success of vector control.     

Bidirectional Relations of Impulsive Personality and Alcohol Use Across Three Waves of Data Collection

Objective: To explore the bidirectional relations between alcohol use and three impulsive personality traits, to advance understanding of risk processes. Participants: 525 college students (mean age = 18.95 years) recruited in August 2008 and 2009 and followed up annually for three years. Methods: Personality and past/current substance use were assessed. Results: T2 sensation seeking mediated the predictive relationship between T1 and T3 alcohol use, and T2 alcohol use mediated the predictive relationship between T1 and T3 sensation seeking. In addition, T2 alcohol problems mediated the predictive relationship between T1 alcohol use and T3 negative urgency. Conclusions: Findings support a bidirectional relationship between sensation seeking and alcohol use, and drinking anticipates drinking problems, which predict increases in negative urgency. For some individuals, there appears to be an ongoing process of increased risk in the form of increases in both drinking and high-risk personality traits.     

Association of salivary-assessed oxytocin and cortisol levels with time of night and sleep stage

There have been proposals for REM to have a function of emotional memory consolidation, and also for REM sleep to be involved in the promotion of attachment behaviour. The hormones cortisol and oxytocin, respectively, may be involved in these proposed REM sleep functions. However, there are conflicting reports on whether levels of cortisol differ between sleep stages when time since sleep onset (SSO) is controlled, and virtually no literature on whether levels of oxytocin differ between sleep stages. This study thus investigated the changes in levels of oxytocin (OT) and cortisol (CT) across the night, and whether these levels differ between REM and N2 sleep when time SSO is controlled. 20 participants (10 males, 10 females, mean age?=?20.45, SD?=?2.01) were awakened 10?min into REM and N2 sleep periods in the sleep laboratory and gave saliva samples which were assayed for OT and CT. Levels of OT were relatively constant across the night, whereas CT increased significantly. REM and N2 did not differ significantly neither for OT nor for CT. The study has implications for models of sleep-dependent memory consolidation that incorporate the late sleep increase in cortisol as a functional component of memory consolidation, and also for the medical diagnostic assaying of OT during sleep.