Effects of executive and memory function of fetus with earthquake stress / 中国神经精神疾病杂志

Objective To investigate the effect of Tangshan earthquake stress on the executive and memory func?tion in adults. Methods The objects were recruited from Tangshan Kailuan Mining Group. The exposed group included 251 subjects whose mothers exposed to the Tangshan earthquake during pregnancy in 1976. The control group included 341 subjects whose mothers was pregnant the year after the Tangshan earthquake. According to mother's pregnancy time relative to the earthquake exposed group was divided into 3 subgroups:the late pregnancy of earthquake exposed group, the second trimester of earthquake exposed group and the early pregnancy of earthquake exposed group. Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (WCST) was used to evaluate executive function, Brief Visuospatial Memory Test-Revised (BVMT-R) was used to evaluate memory function. Results The index of WCST were not different between two groups (P>0.05). Com?pared with control group, BVMT-R total scores were lower in earthquake exposed group [(25.54 ± 7.45) vs. (27.28 ± 7.10), P<0.01]. In the earthquake exposed group, pregnancy and sex had interaction effect on the nonpreservative errors (nRpe) of WCST (P<0.05). In the late pregnancy earthquake exposed group, male had higher nRpe than female (P<0.01). Preg?nancy time had main effect on offsprings' BVMT-R scores (P<0.05). The BVMT-R total scores were lower in late trimes?ter pregnancy and in second trimester pregnancy than in the early pregnancy (P<0.05). Conclusion The Tangshan earth?quake has potential effect on the memory function of the offsprings. The second trimester (4-to 6-month) and the third trimester (7-to 9-month) may be the sensitive pregnancy window of the stress during the pregnancy. The male offspring from late pregnancy of exposed earthquake have poorer executive function than female.

Developmental delay in early childhood is associated with visual-constructive skills at school age in a brazilian cohort

We investigated differences in IQ and visual-constructive skills in school-age children evaluated as developmentally delayed or typically developed in early childhood. Sixty-four participants from a Brazilian cohort were evaluated in IQ (Wechsler Abbreviated Scale of Intelligence) and tasks of visual-spatial memory and visual-constructive skills through the Benton Visual Retention Test (BVRT) at school age. Neuropsychomotor development at 4 years of age was measured by Denver II. Developmentally delayed children showed lower IQs, lower scores, and more errors in copy and memory BVRT tasks when compared to typically developed children. Delay in neuropsychomotor development in early childhood may affect the subsequent cognitive development of children. (AU)

The Development and Validation of Memory Tasks Using Smart Devices for School Aged Children

OBJECTIVES: The aim of this study was to develop auditory-verbal and visual-spatial memory tasks using smart devices for children aged 8 to 10 years and examine their validity. METHODS: One-hundred and fourteen school-aged children were recruited through internet advertising. We developed memory tasks assessing auditory-verbal memory, visual-spatial memory, and working memory, and then examined their construct validity by examining the developmental trend of the children's mean scores with age. In order to examine the concurrent validity of the tasks, we conducted correlation analyses between the children's scores on the newly developed auditory-verbal, visual-spatial memory and working memory tasks and their scores on well-known standardized tests of memory and working memory, including the auditory-verbal memory subtests of the Korean Luria-Nebraska Neuropsychological Battery for Children, Korean Rey-Osterrieth Complex Figure Test, digit span and arithmetic subtest of Korean Educational Development Institute Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children Revised, and Corsi block test. RESULTS: The memory and working memory scores measured by the newly developed tasks tended to increase with age. Further, there were significant correlations between the scores of the four cognitive tasks and the corresponding scores of the standardized assessment tools. CONCLUSION: This study revealed promising evidence for the validity of the memory tasks using smart devices, suggesting their utility for school-aged children in research and clinical settings.