This longitudinal study of executive function (EF) addressed three questions. These concerned: (i) the validity of EF as a latent construct underpinning performance at ages 4 and 6 on tests of planning, inhibitory control, and working memory; (ii) developmental change in EF across these time-points, which straddled children's transition to school; and (iii) verbal ability and family income as predictors of base-line individual differences and variation in the slopes of EF development. Confirmatory factor analyses of data from a socially diverse sample of 191 children supported the validity of a single EF construct at both time-points; a MIMIC (multiple indicators, multiple causes) model showed equally good fit for boys and girls. Latent growth models demonstrated that verbal mental age and family income predicted EF intercepts, but EF slopes were only related to verbal mental age. Across the transition to school, less able children (but not children from low income families) showed greater gains in EF than their peers.

Frontotemporal dementia has a devastating effect on activities of daily living, which is of considerable importance to caregivers and not captured by bedside cognitive tests.

In this review we outline some of the current issues surrounding the measurement of executive function (EF) in children. Beginning with the theoretical background to the concept of EF we then review the difficulties in measuring EF in adult populations, and argue that these difficulties may, at least in part, be overcome when working with children, so that developmental studies of EF may provide special insights into the organisation of EF. Next, we review three research areas that have attracted considerable interest in childhood EF: (i) developmental disorders; (ii) new methodologies for investigating the normative development of EF (including three task batteries -CANTAB, TEA-Ch and MARS); and (iii) the relationship between Theory of Mind (ToM) and EF. Finally, we consider what progress has been made so far in the fractionation of EF into component processes, and what remains to be done to achieve this important goal.

Objective: Studies have shown variable memory performance in patients with behavioral variant frontotemporal dementia (bvFTD). Our study investigated whether this variability is due to the admixture of patients with true bvFTD and phenocopy patients. We also sought to compare performance of patients with bvFTD and patients with Alzheimer disease (AD). Methods:We analyzed neuropsychological memory performance in patients with a clinical diagnosis of bvFTD divided into those who progressed (n ϭ 50) and those who remained stable (n ϭ 39), patients with AD (n ϭ 64), and healthy controls (n ϭ 64). Results:Patients with progressive bvFTD were impaired on most memory tests to a similar level to that of patients with early AD. Findings from a subset of patients with progressive bvFTD with confirmed FTLD pathology (n ϭ 10) corroborated these findings. By contrast, patients with phenocopy bvFTD performed significantly better than progressors and patients with AD. Logistic regression revealed that patients with bvFTD can be distinguished to a high degree (85%) on the immediate recall score of a word list learning test (Rey Auditory Verbal Learning Test). Conclusions:Our results provide evidence for an underlying memory deficit in "real" or progressive behavioral variant frontotemporal dementia (bvFTD) similar to Alzheimer disease, though the groups differ in orientation scores, with patients with bvFTD being intact. Exclusion solely based on impaired neuropsychological memory performance can potentially lead to an underdiagnosis of FTD. Neurology Our study focuses on episodic memory in frontotemporal dementia (FTD). "Severe amnesia" is currently an exclusion criterion for the behavioral subtype of FTD (bvFTD), 1 yet 10% of pathologically confirmed cases have reported memory symptoms in the initial stages of disease, 2 and occasional cases have severe amnesia, 3 as emphasized in early descriptions of Pick's. 4 Recently this and other findings have put into question the reliability of current diagnostic criteria for bvFTD. [5][6][7] To date, surprisingly few studies have investigated episodic memory in bvFTD, with inconsistent results. Such inconsistency could, at least in part, be explained by recent studies which have shown that clinically diagnosed patients with bvFTD vary in their prognosis [8][9][10] ; some show rapid progression while others show little or no progression over a decade. The 2 patient groups can be discriminated on MRI and PET findings despite exhibiting equivalent degrees of behavioral disturbance. [8][9][10] This heterogeneity of bvFTD might explain previous findings: if only the progressive group shows brain atrophy, then this group is more likely to exhibit From the Prince

This contribution documents the satellite data archives, data processing methods and temporal Fourier analysis (TFA) techniques used to create the remotely sensed datasets on the DVD distributed with this volume. The aim is to provide a detailed reference guide to the genesis of the data, rather than a standard review. These remotely sensed data cover the entire globe at either 1 × 1 or 8 × 8 km spatial resolution. We briefly evaluate the relationships between the 1 × 1 and 8 × 8 km global TFA products to explore their inter-compatibility. The 8 × 8 km TFA surfaces are used in the mapping procedures detailed in the subsequent disease mapping reviews, since the 1 × 1 km products have been validated less widely. Details are also provided on additional, current and planned sensors that should be able to provide continuity with these environmental variable surfaces, as well as other sources of global data that may be used for mapping infectious disease.

Yellow fever has been subjected to partial control for decades, but there are signs that case numbers are now increasing globally, with the risk of local epidemic outbreaks. Dengue case numbers have also increased dramatically during the past 40 years and different serotypes have invaded new geographical areas. Despite the temporal changes in these closely related diseases, and their enormous public health impact, few attempts have been made to collect a comprehensive dataset of their spatial and temporal distributions. For this review, records of the occurrence of both diseases during the 20th century have been collected together and are used to define their climatic limits using remotely sensed satellite data within a discriminant analytical model framework. The resulting risk maps for these two diseases identify their different environmental requirements, and throw some light on their potential for co-occurrence in Africa and South East Asia.

Early and severe memory impairment is generally held to be an exclusion criterion for the clinical diagnosis of frontotemporal dementia (FTD). However, clinical experience suggests that some patients with otherwise typical FTD can be amnesic from presentation, or even present solely with amnesia. A review of severe amnesia at presentation in patients with pathologically proven FTD is therefore warranted. The present study examined the records of all patients in the joint Cambridge-Sydney neuropathological series of patients with dementia and a pathological diagnosis of FTD to identify those for whom memory complaints were dominant at presentation. Eight of 71 patients met these criteria. For two patients, memory loss was the only complaint; for one patient, memory loss was accompanied by personality change; for two patients, memory loss was accompanied by prominent dysexecutive symptoms; and for three patients, memory loss was accompanied by apathy but no other behavioural changes. In seven patients local specialist teams initially diagnosed Alzheimer's disease; four patients entered anticholinesterase drug trials. All eight later developed behavioural features: in four, the diagnosis was revised to FTD, while in four the diagnosis of FTD was made only on neuropathological examination after death. In conclusion, severe amnesia at presentation in FTD is commoner than previously thought and the clinical consensus criteria for the diagnosis of FTD may need to be revised. The underlying basis of the memory impairments in patients with FTD may be heterogeneous, with different explanations in different subgroups.

Dimethylzirconocene precatalysts are shown to initiate the polymerization of methyl methacrylate (MMA) when activated by a Lewis acidic methyl abstractor in the absence of any ZnEt 2 additive. The order of addition of the various components is crucial to forming a well-defined active species. Conversion of the precatalysts Cp2ZrMe2 (1a), rac-{C2H4(η 5 -C9H6)2}ZrMe2 (2a), {Me2C(η 5 -C5H4)(η 5 -C13H8)}-ZrMe2 (3a), {Me2C(η 5 -C5H4)(η 5 -C9H6)}ZrMe2 (4a), {Me2C(η 5 -C5H4)(η 5 -2-MeC9H5)}ZrMe2 (5a), and (Cp)-(Cp*)ZrMe2 (6a) to their cationic methylzirconocene derivatives (2b-6b) followed by addition of methyl methacrylate results in controlled polymerization to poly(methyl methacrylate) with the exception of 3b which is inactive.