The working memory capacity (WMC) of 400 Russian college students was measured using the Tarnow Unchunkable Test [2] which tests WMC alone without requiring explicit working memory operations. We found small-sized WMC differences by gender and a u-shaped curve: the male/female ratio increases for low and high WMC. The gender proportion in each academic fields was a strong determinant of the ave...

Changes in cognitive function induced by physical activity have been proposed as a mechanism for the link between physical activity and academic performance. The aim of this study was to investigate if executive function mediated the prospective relations between indices of physical activity and academic performance in a sample of 10-year-old Norwegian children. The study included 1,129 childre...

Following adaptation to a spatially uniform patch of light that is gradually brightening (or dimming), a steady test patch appears to be gradually dimming (or brightening). We measured this ramp aftereffect with a nulling method, as a function of the amplitude and temporal repetition rate of the adapting sawtooth waveform and at various retinal eccentricities and levels of dark adaptation. We c...

CONTEXT Complex coagulation test panels ordered by clinicians are typically reported to clinicians without a patient-specific interpretive paragraph. OBJECTIVES To survey clinicians regarding pathologist-generated interpretations of complex laboratory testing panels and to assess the ability of the interpretations to educate test orderers. DESIGN Surveys were conducted of physicians orderin...

Background. Overcrowding in the emergency department (ED) is a significant public health problem in the US, Europe, and Asia. Factors associated with prolonged length of stay in Thailand are still limited. Methods. This study was conducted at the ED, Ramathibodi Hospital, Mahidol University, Thailand, during July 2011. We selected 300 patients (5.77%) from a total of 5,202 who visited the ED du...

OBJECTIVE To assess the effects of a computerised protocol management system on the number, cost, and appropriateness of laboratory investigations requested. DESIGN A before and after intervention. SETTING A supraregional liver unit in a teaching hospital. PATIENTS 1487 consecutive patients admitted during 1990 and 1991 (one year before and one year after introduction of the system). IN...

BACKGROUND Driving is an increasingly important form of transport for older people. Dementia is common in later life and will eventually lead to driving cessation, which reduces the public health risk of impaired driving but also impairs access to services. The factors associated with driving cessation in dementia are uncertain. OBJECTIVE To examine the demographic, psychometric and personal ...

Vasarely's 'nested-squares' illusion shows that 90 degrees corners can be more salient perceptually than straight edges. On the basis of this illusion we have developed a novel visual illusion, the 'Alternating Brightness Star', which shows that sharp corners are more salient than shallow corners (an effect we call 'corner angle salience variation') and that the same corner can be perceived as ...

OBJECTIVE To explore patient's perspectives and expectations from physicians with respect to breaking of bad news. METHODS A cross-sectional survey was carried out in the Community Health Centre of a tertiary care teaching hospital in Pakistan. All consenting individuals from 18 to 60 years of age were interviewed on the basis of a structured, pre-tested questionnaire. RESULTS The response ...

Reading is recognized as being the most important skill needed by ESP learners in their field of study, and vocabulary knowledge is the most widely discussed component of effective ESP reading per se. However, research on how much the different types of words exert substantial influences over ESP reading comprehension remains scanty. To address this lacuna, the present study aimed to examine th...