Although the dominant view posits that developmental dyslexia (DD) arises from a deficit in phonological processing, emerging evidence suggest that DD could result from a more basic cross-modal letter-to-speech sound integration deficit. Letters have to be precisely selected from irrelevant and cluttering letters by rapid orienting of visual attention before the correct letter-to-speech sound integration applies. In the present study the time-course of spatial attention was investigated measuring target detection reaction times (RTs) in a cuing paradigm, while temporal attention was investigated by assessing impaired identification of the first of two sequentially presented masked visual objects. Spatial and temporal attention were slower in dyslexic children with a deficit in pseudoword reading (N = 14) compared to chronological age (N = 43) and to dyslexics without a deficit in pseudoword reading (N = 18), suggesting a direct link between visual attention efficiency and phonological decoding skills. Individual differences in these visual attention mechanisms were specifically related to pseudoword reading accuracy in dyslexics. The role of spatial and temporal attention in the graphemic parsing process might be related to a basic oscillatory “temporal sampling” dysfunction.

References1 Cohen JS. Erythromelalgia: new theories and new therapies. J Am Acad Dermatol 2000; 43:841-7. 2 Rey J, Crétel E, Jean R, Durand JM. Erythromelalgia in a patient with idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura. Br J Dermatol 2003; 148:177. 3 Newland A, Caulier MT, Kappers-Klunne M et al. An open-label, unit dose-finding study of AMG 531, a novel thrombopoiesis-stimulating peptibody, in patients with immune thrombocytopenic purpura. Br J Haematol 2006; 135:547-53. 4 Bussel JB, Kuter DJ, George JN et al. AMG 531, a thrombopoiesisstimulating protein, for chronic ITP. N Engl J Med 2006; 355:1672-81. 5 Kuter DJ, Bussel JB, Lyons RM et al. Efficacy of romiplostim in patients with chronic immune thrombocytopenic purpura: a double-blind randomised controlled trial. Lancet 2008; 371:395-403.

Background: A total of 620 healthy term neonates, randomly selected among babies born at the San Paolo Hospital in Milan (Italy), were examined to study the relationship between birthmarks and transient cutaneous lesions in newborns of different ethnic groups. Methods: Information on sociodemographic factors and on physiopathological variables of the pregnancy was collected. Multiple logistic analyses were performed to assess associations between diagnosed skin lesions and various factors. Odds ratios (OR) as a measure of association and the corresponding 95% confidence intervals were estimated. Results: A positive association was found between reduced hypoderm and pregnancy illness (OR = 2.78), hypertrophy genitalia and use of drugs (OR = 1.86) and illnesses in pregnancy (OR = 1.61). Hyperpigmentation in the genital area and Mongolian spot showed significant positive association with geographical area of origin, being systematically more frequent in non-European neonates, while for melanocytic congenital nevi a positive association was observed only for Asiatic newborns (OR = 4.67); salmon patch on the nape showed a significant OR of 1.81 among mothers aged ≧35. Conclusions: Significant associations between some sociodemographic factors and cutaneous lesions of the newborn and anamnestic data related to the pregnancy were found. Dermatologic conditions are common in the newborns and may justify dermatologic examination.

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