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Cognitive and non-cognitive traits are frequently analyzed in isolation. However, there is an increasing acknowledgment that their interplay should be considered for enhancing our understanding of human psychological differences. Testing both traits in the same sample of individuals is desirable when addressing their relationships. Here, for that purpose, 299 university students from Spain (mean age = 18.5 years., 83% female) completed a cognitive ability battery comprised by nine tests, the NEO-FFI for assessing the big five personality traits, and the SCL-90-R for evaluating a range of subjective psychopathological symptoms. This resulted in 23 cognitive and non-cognitive variables that were submitted to a data reduction providing four factors: (1) neuroticism/p, (2) cognitive ability/g, (3) agreeableness/A, and (4) introversion/I. Summary factor scores revealed a positive correlation between p and I (0.47), along with negative correlations of A with p (−0.26) and with g (−0.24), and a negative correlation between A and I (−0.16). These factors were related to some degree even when the assessment of the cognitive and non-cognitive variables cannot be considered straightforwardly comparable because the former was performance based, whereas the later was based on self-reports. Conceptual and methodological implications are discussed regarding the three-way relationship among cognitive ability, personality, and subjective psychopathological symptoms.

Background: Iron deficiency anemia (IDA) is highly prevalent in women of child-bearing age. However, their nonhematological symptoms have been overlooked. This study aims to analyze the nonhematological features and symptoms of IDA in a group of women of reproductive age and the changes occurred during iron therapy. Materials and Methods: IDA women underwent dietary, physical activity, menstrual blood loss, and cognitive function assessment at baseline. Hematological and biochemical parameters were analyzed. Executive attention was tested by the flanker task and working memory by the 2-back task. Oral iron therapy (ferrous sulfate) was given to 35 women for 8 weeks and the changes in iron status, biochemical markers, cognitive function, and nonhematological symptoms were evaluated. Results: Patients presented nonhematological symptoms: pica, 32.4%; cheilitis, 20.6%; restless legs syndrome (RLS), 20.6%; diffuse hair loss, 55.9%; and ungual alterations, 38.2%. Two or more symptoms were present in 58.8% of women. Serum iron and working memory were correlated at baseline. Multivariate analyses show associations (odds ratio [OR], 95% confidence interval [CI]) between pica and reaction time in the working memory test (OR 2.14, 95% CI 1.19?3.87, p?=?0.012); RLS with total serum protein (OR 0.08, 95% CI 0.06?0.92, p?=?0.043); and cheilitis with mean corpuscular hemoglobin (OR 0.388, 95% CI 0.189?0.799, p?=?0.01). Pica, cheilitis, and RLS completely resolved with iron therapy, and ungual alterations and hair loss improved in 92.3% and 84.2% of women, respectively. Better performance in executive attention and working memory was observed after iron therapy. Conclusions: More attention should be given to the nonhematological manifestations of IDA to improve the quality of life of menstruating women.

Long noncoding (lnc)RNAs are reported to be key regulators of tumor progression, including hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). The lncRNA long intergenic noncoding RNA 00673 (LINC00673) was indicated to play an important role in HCC progression, but the impacts of genetic variants (single-nucleotide polymorphisms, SNPs) of LINC00673 on HCC remain unclear. A TaqMan allelic discrimination assay was performed to analyze the genotypes of three tagging SNPs, viz., rs9914618 G > A, rs6501551 A > G, and rs11655237 C > T, of LINC00673 in 783 HCC patients and 1197 healthy subjects. Associations of functional SNPs of LINC00673 with HCC susceptibility and clinicopathologic variables were analyzed by logistic regression models. After stratification by confounding factor, we observed that elderly patients (≥60 years) with the LINC00673 rs9914618 A allele had an increased risk of developing HCC under a codominant model (p = 0.025) and dominant model (p = 0.047). Moreover, elderly patients carrying the GA + AA genotype of rs9914618 exhibited a higher risk of having lymph node metastasis compared to those who were homozygous for the major allele (p = 0.013). Genotype screening of rs9914618 in HCC cell lines showed that cells carrying the AA genotype expressed higher LINC00673 levels compared to the cells carrying the GG genotype. Further analyses of clinical datasets from the Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) showed that LINC00673 expressions were upregulated in HCC tissues compared to normal tissues, and were correlated with advanced clinical stages and poorer prognoses. In conclusions, our results suggested that the LINC00673 rs9914618 polymorphism may be a promising HCC biomarker, especially in elderly populations.

Lung adenocarcinoma (LADC) is a major subtype of lung cancer, particularly among populations of East Asia. The epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) is the most frequently mutated oncogene promoting LADC progression and can serve as a therapeutic target in LADC. The tissue inhibitor of metalloproteinases (TIMP)-3 is a major regulator of extracellular matrix turnover via targeting of matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs), and thus, plays a critical role in tumor development and progression. The purpose of this study was to investigate potential associations among TIMP-3 genetic polymorphisms, EGFR statuses, and cancer clinicopathologic development in patients with LADC. In this study, 277 LADC patients with different EGFR statuses were recruited to dissect the allelic discrimination of TIMP-3 -1296 T>C (rs9619311), TIMP3 249T>C (rs9862), and TIMP3 261C>T (rs11547635) polymorphisms using a TaqMan allelic discrimination assay. Our data showed that compared to those LADC patients with wild-type CC homozygotes of TIMP-3 rs9862, patients harboring TT homozygotes of rs9862 were at a higher risk of developing mutant EGFR (adjusted odds ratio (AOR) = 2.530; 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.230–5.205; p = 0.012), particularly the EGFR L858R point mutation (AOR = 2.975; 95% CI: 1.182–7.488; p = 0.021). Moreover, we observed that TIMP-3 TT homozygotes of rs9862 were correlated with the incidence of EGFR mutations in patients with a smoking habit (p = 0.045). Within male patients harboring a mutant EGFR, TIMP-3 rs9862 T (CT+TT) allele carriers were at higher risk of developing an advanced stage (p = 0.025) and lymph node metastasis (p = 0.043). Further analyses of clinical datasets revealed correlations of TIMP-3 expression with a favorable prognosis in patients with LADC. In conclusion, the data suggest that TIMP-3 rs9862 polymorphisms may contribute to identify subgroups of lung cancer patients at high risk for tumor progression, among carriers of LADC-bearing mutant EGFR.

El objetivo de este estudio ha sido elaborar dos test informatizados que midan los componentes de la atención que permiten caracterizar a los niños diagnosticados TDAH. Para su elaboración se han tenido en cuenta los estudios sobre desarrollo de la atención así como las críticas recibidas por los instrumentos de evaluación disponibles, en un claro intento por superarlas. Ambos test se administraron a 423 escolares (de 2º a 6º) de 7 a 11 años de edad. Los datos obtenidos muestran el patrón de desarrollo de cada uno de los índices que aportan las pruebas: eficacia general de la atención, inexactitud, olvidos, organización de la ejecución y distracción-precipitación. Los índices de fiabilidad de estos índices se hallan en el rango 0.77 a 0.96 que se considera satisfactorio. En la discusión se reseña la utilidad que pueden tener ambos test para la valoración del perfil atencional en el niño, sea con un objetivo académico o clínico.

Strong relationship between working memory and intelligence is already established and simultaneous relationships among short-term memory (STM), working memory (WM), and general intelligence (g) is studied. Structural equation modelling (SEM) results reveal WM and g are isomorphic constructs, the isomorphism vanishes when the storage component of WM is partialed out, and STM and WM predict g.

A study was done on 226 participants for Spatial Working Memory (WM) and spatial cognitive abilities while the Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) were computed to test the unitary nature of the WM system. The results strongly support the statement that verbal, quantitative and spatial WM are not mainly fuelled by different pools of resources, instead, WM can be conceived as a single pool of general purpose resources used to temporarily preserve a reliable mental representation of information about any task.

Hydrothermally stable and structurally ordered mesoporous and microporous aluminosilicates with different pore sizes are synthesized to immobilize cytochrome c (cyt c), MAS-9, MCM-48-S, MCM-41-S and Y zeolites. Possible mechanisms for mesoporous silica (MPS)-cyt c catalytic oxidation of hyperoxides and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) are proposed based on the spectroscopic characterizations of the systems.

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There is great interest in the relationships between memory span tasks and cognitive abilities. However, the causes underlying their correlation remain unknown. In the present article, five key data sets were reanalyzed according to two criteria: They must consider complex span tasks (so-called working memory [WM] tasks) and simple span tasks (so-called short-term memory [STMI tasks), and they must comprise cognitive ability measures. The obtained results offer several points of interest. First, memory span tasks should be conceived from a hierarchical perspective: They comprise both general and specific components. Second, the general component explains about four times the variance explained by the specific components. Third, STM and WM measures are closely related. Fourth, STM and WM measures share the same common variance with cognitive abilities. Finally, the strong relationship usually found between memory span tasks and cognitive abilities could be tentatively interpreted by the component shared by STM and WM—namely, the capacity for temporarily preserving a reliable memory representation of any given information. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Convergent validity of two tests of conscientiousness. The absence of correspondence between objective measurement of behavior and measurement based on self-report along with generalized use of questionnaires as personality assessment instruments raises a problem with regard to the validity of assessment instruments in this area of study. The goal of this work is to obtain a convergent validity measure for an objective assessment computerized task of conscientiousness based on the development of a functional equally but morphologically different task. The features of the designed assessment task are commented upon. The sample was made up of 267 university graduates (194 males and 73 females). The high convergent validity value obtained (r= .638, p<.001) is a first step in the validation process of both tasks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Multistage adaptive testing has recently emerged as an alternative to the computerized adaptive test. The current study details a new multistage test to assess fluid intelligence. Method: An item pool of progressive matrices with constructed response format was developed, and divided into six subtests. The subtests were applied to a sample of 724 college students and their psychometric properties were studied (i.e., reliability, dimensionality and validity evidence). The item pool was calibrated under the graded response model, and two multistage structures were developed, based on the automatic test assembly principles. Finally, the test information provided by each structure was compared in order to select the most appropriate one. Results: The item pool showed adequate psychometric properties. From the two compared multistage structures, the simplest structure (i.e., routing test and two modules in the next stages) were more informative across the latent trait continuum and were therefore kept. Discussion: Taken together, the results of the two studies support the application of the F1MT (Fluid Intelligence Multistage Test), a multistage test to assess fluid intelligence accurately and innovatively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]