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Purpose: Fast ForWord-Language (FFW-L) is designed to enhance children's processing of auditory-verbal signals and, thus, their ability to learn language. As a preliminary evaluation of this claim, we examined the effects of a 5-week course of FFW-L as an adjuvant treatment with a subsequent 5-week conventional narrative-based language intervention (NBLI) that targeted narrative comprehension and production and grammatical output. Method: Twenty-three children 6-8 years of age with language impairments were assigned randomly to 1 of 3 intervention sequences: (a) FFW-L/NBLI, (b) NBLI/FFW-L, or (c) wait/NBLI. We predicted that after both treatment periods, the FFW-L/NBLI group would show greater gains on measures of narrative ability, conversational grammar, and nonword repetition than the other groups. Results: After the first 5-week study period, the intervention groups, taken together (i.e., FFW-L/NBLI and NBLI/FFW-L), significantly outperformed the no-treatment wait/NBLI group on 2 narrative measures. At the final test period, all 3 groups displayed significant time-related effects on measures of narrative ability, but there were no statistically significant between-groups effects of intervention sequence. Conclusions: This preliminary study provides no evidence to support the claim that FFW-L enhances children's response to a conventional language intervention.

A rapidly growing number of neuromagnetic studies focus on the analysis of auditory steady-state responses (ASSR) in relation to a diverse array of factors including age, selective attention, and presence of psychopathology. The objectives of these studies require accurate spatio-temporal estimation of the underlying neural generators, a challenging task due to the relatively low signal strength and high correlation between bilateral auditory cortical sources. This paper evaluates the performance of two beamforming schemes that can potentially overcome such difficulties: 1) the linearly constrained minimum variance beamformer with partial sensor coverage (LCMV-PSC), and 2) the multiple constrained minimum-variance beamformer with coherent source region suppression (MCMV-CSRS). Simulation experiments are conducted to assess the impact of source parameters on the reconstruction accuracy. The results indicate that the LCMV-PSC method is prone to localization errors that essentially occur along medio-lateral directions, increase with source depth, and are associated to amplitude and phase distortions of the estimated time courses of activity. Comparatively, the MCMV-CSRS method exhibits precise localization and minimal amplitude and phase distortion for a broad range of relative interferer's positions within the suppression region. The results from the numerical experiments are validated on real magnetoencephalographic (MEG) data collected from a 40-Hz ASSR paradigm. Index Terms--Auditory steady-state response (ASSR), beamformers, magnetoencephalography (MEG), spatial filtering.

Previous attempts at unequivocal specification of signal strength in fetal magnetocardiographic (fMCG) recordings have used an equivalent current dipole (ECD) to estimate the cardiac vector at the peak of the averaged QRS complex. However, even though the magnitude of fetal cardiac currents are anticipated to be relatively stable, ECD-based estimates of signal strength show substantial and unrealistic variation when comparing results from different time windows of the same recording session. The present study highlights the limitations of the ECD model, and proposes a new methodology for fetal cardiac source reconstruction. The proposed strategy relies on recursive subspace projections to estimate multiple dipoles that account for the distributed myocardial currents. The dipoles are reconstructed from spatio-temporal fMCG data, and are subsequently used to derive estimators of the cardiac vector over the entire QRS. The new method is evaluated with respect to simulated data derived from a model of ventricular depolarization, which was designed to account for the complexity of the fetal cardiac source configuration on the QRS interval. The results show that the present methodology overcomes the drawbacks of conventional ECD fitting, by providing robust estimators of the cardiac vector. Additional evaluation with real fMCG data show fetal cardiac vectors whose morphology closely resembles that obtained in adult MCG. Index Terms--Cardiac vector, fetal magnetocardiography, inverse problem, multiple signal classification.

A measure of developmental instability (DI), body fluctuating asymmetry (FA), the Raven's Advanced Progressive Matrices (RAPM), and other cognitive tests on a group of 19 healthy male volunteers on whom cortical volume, white matter, overall brain volume, and cross-sectional areas of the corpus callosum and planum temporale were assessed. However, multiple regression analyses yields effects of FA on RAPM scores and a general intelligence principle component independent of cortical volume.

To the Editor.-- As discussed below, the paper by Lewine et al raises serious concerns, including ethical ones, which were not adequately addressed by Dr Neville (who also seems to [...]

Two studies were conducted to assess the impact of methylphenidate on normal young adults in a fixed version of Sternberg's memory scanning task. Both studies yielded characteristic monotonic increases in reaction time (RT) and P3b latency as a function of memory load. Also, in both studies, methylphenidate speeded up RTs and decreased error rates and intrasubject RT variability. However, the slope of RT as a function of memory load, i.e. the rate of memory search, was not altered by the stimulant. In Study 1, P3b latency also was not affected by methylphenidate, a result suggesting that the stimulant brought about the decrease in RT by acting after the completion of evaluation, presumably by accelerating response processes. However, in Study 2, the drug significantly shortened P3b latency and the interval between RT and P3b latency. Thus, a speeding both evaluation as well as motor processes was achieved. A review of procedural differences between the two studies suggests some possible explanations. In combination, the two studies indicate that methylphenidate consistently shortened the timing of motor processes and, under some circumstances, the duration of evaluation processes as well. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) remains a critical intervention for treatment-resistant depression (MDD), yet its neurobiological underpinnings are not fully understood. This pilot study utilizes high-resolution magnetoencephalography (MEG) in nine depressed patients receiving right unilateral ECT, to investigate the changes in loudness dependence of auditory evoked potentials (LDAEP), a proposed biomarker of serotonergic activity, following ECT. We hypothesized that ECT would reduce the LDAEP slope, reflecting enhanced serotonergic neurotransmission. Contrary to this, our findings indicated a significant increase in LDAEP post-ECT ( t 8 = 3.17, p = .013). The increase in LDAEP was not associated with changes in depression severity or cognitive performance, as assessed by the Hamilton Depression Rating Scale (HAMD-24) and Repeatable Battery for the Assessment of Neuropsychological Status (RBANS). We discussed potential mechanisms for the observed increase, including ECT's impact on serotonergic, dopaminergic, glutamatergic, and GABAergic receptor activity, neuroplasticity involving brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), and inflammation modulators such as TNF- alpha . Our results suggest a complex interaction between ECT and these neurobiological systems, rather than a direct reflection of serotonergic neurotransmission.