This study of 4-to 6-year-olds had 2 aims: first, to determine how lower level comprehension skills (receptive vocabulary and grammar) and verbal memory support early higher level comprehension skills (inference and literal story comprehension), and second, to establish the predictive power of these skills on subsequent reading comprehension. Eighty-two children completed assessments of nonverbal ability, receptive vocabulary and grammar, verbal short-term memory, and inferential and literal comprehension of a picture book narrative. Vocabulary was a unique predictor of concurrent narrative comprehension. Longitudinally, inference skills, literal comprehension, and grammar made independent contributions to reading comprehension 1 year later. The influence of vocabulary on reading comprehension was mediated through both inference and literal comprehension. The results show that inference skills are critical to the construction of text representations in the earliest stages of reading comprehension development.

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USING QUESTIONS TO SCAFFOLD NARRATIVE PRODUCTION 2This study examined whether or not question answering aided the construction of coherent narratives in pre-readers. Sixty Chilean preschoolers completed two tasks using a wordless picture-book: 30 children answered questions about the story and then produced a narrative using the book; 30 children completed the tasks in reverse order. Elements of coherence were assessed in both tasks, namely problem, resolution, and mental-states. The findings indicate that questions can scaffold the production of more coherent narratives. Narratives elicited after questions were judged to be more coherent than those produced before the question-answering task. In contrast, there were no differences between scores for the question answers in the different order conditions. The results are discussed regarding the interactional role of questions and the facilitative effect they have on focusing attention to the narrative task.

In this prospective, multicentric, observational study, we describe the clinical characteristics and outcomes of people living with HIV (PLHIV) requiring hospitalization due to COVID-19 in Chile and compare them with Chilean general population admitted with SARS-CoV-2. Consecutive PLHIV admitted with COVID-19 in 23 hospitals, between 16 April and 23 June 2020, were included. Data of a temporally matched-hospitalized general population were used to compare demography, comorbidities, COVID-19 symptoms, and major outcomes. In total, 36 PLHIV subjects were enrolled; 92% were male and mean age was 44 years. Most patients (83%) were on antiretroviral therapy; mean CD4 count was 557 cells/mm3. Suppressed HIV viremia was found in 68% and 56% had, at least, one comorbidity. Severe COVID-19 occurred in 44.4%, intensive care was required in 22.2%, and five patients died (13.9%). No differences were seen between recovered and deceased patients in CD4 count, HIV viral load, or time since HIV diagnosis. Hypertension and cardiovascular disease were associated with a higher risk of death ( p = 0.02 and 0.006, respectively). Compared with general population, the HIV cohort had significantly more men (OR 0.15; IC 95% 0.07–0.31) and younger age (OR 8.68; IC 95% 2.66–28.31). In PLHIV, we found more intensive care unit admission (OR 2.31; IC 95% 1.05–5.07) but no differences in the need for mechanical ventilation or death. In this cohort of PLHIV hospitalized with COVID-19, hypertension and cardiovascular comorbidities, but not current HIV viro-immunologic status, were the most important risk factors for mortality. No differences were found between PLHIV and general population in the need for mechanical ventilation and death.

Este estudio examinó la gestión del tiempo en 12 salas de kindergarten chilenas de la Región Metropolitana pertenecientes a 9 establecimientos de diversos tipos de dependencia y niveles socioeconómicos (NSE). Para ello se realizó un total de 33 observaciones en las 12 salas (promedio de duración de 197 minutos) y se determinó en qué tipo de actividades se invertía el tiempo. Más de la mitad de la jornada en las salas de la muestra se dedicó a actividades no instruccionales, como juego inestructurado, colación (merienda) y manejo conductual. El tiempo dedicado a actividades instruccionales no se distribuyó de acuerdo a los hallazgos actuales sobre las actividades más productivas para el desarrollo de los niños. Estos resultados fueron independientes del tipo de dependencia y NSE de los establecimientos. Palabras clave: educación preescolar, kindergarten, lenguaje, enseñanza de lectura, gestión del tiempo en el aula. This study examined time management in 12 kindergarten classrooms from 9 Chilean schools with diverse sources of funding and socioeconomic status (SES). We conducted 33 observations in the 12 classrooms (average duration 197 minutes), and determined the amount of time devoted to different activities. More than half of the time in these classrooms was spent in non-instructional activities such as recess, snack, and managing the children's behavior. Additionally, the distribution of instructional time is not in accordance with current fi ndings regarding the activities that are more fruitful for children's development. These results are independent of the schools' source of funding and SES.