Visual-temporal processing in reading-disabled and normal twins

Percent contrast thresholds for the detection of 1 or 8 cycle/degree sinusoidalgratings flickering in counter-phase at 1 or 10Hz were evaluated in 356 8–19 year old twinsand their school-age siblings. 107 of the twinshad a school history of reading disability.Subjects adjusted contrast levels to thresholdfrom above and below in a total of 32 trialsover about 12 minutes. Internal reliability foreach of the 4 stimulus conditions was 0.8, andeach stimulus condition was similarlycorrelated at 0.2–0.3 with several measuresof reading and phonological processing,suggesting modest relations with readingdeficits for both parvocellular (sustained) andmagnocellular (transient) visual processes. Thevariance in the word-reading measure that wasrelated to visual contrast thresholds waslargely shared with full-scale IQ, although IQand reading each also accounted for small(1%) but statistically significant amounts ofadditional independent variance in contrastthresholds. Word reading and nonword readingalso accounted for largely overlapping variancein contrast thresholds, but with a small (1%)amount of independent variance for nonwordreading. A behavioral-genetic analysis of themonozygotic and dizygotic twin correlationsindicated no significant genetic influence onindividual differences in contrast-thresholdlevels.     

A Global Investigation of Granger Causality between Information Infrastructure Investment and Service-Sector Growth

Over the past two decades, both developed and developing countries have been investing a significant portion of their resources in the creation of an information infrastructure. However, speculation abounds regarding the efficacy of information infrastructure investments, especially when the opportunity cost for investing in information technology (IT) is measurably high among developing nations. This longitudinal study introduces and explores infrastructure development and service-sector growth as key metrics for IT investment success. It also traces the notional evidence of IT infrastructure development as mediating the causal relationship between information infrastructure investments and service-sector growth. Using data from low-income, middle-income, and high-income countries, the mediating and lagged impact of information infrastructure on service-sector growth reveals that information infrastructure development does play a significant role as a mediator. It points out that information infrastructure investments can be a misleading causal antecedent if countries fail to develop their infrastructure. It also provides evidence of a recursive relationship between infrastructure development and service-sector growth. An exploratory time-series analysis across different country categories suggests that information infrastructures must be properly developed to reconcile the paradox. In addition, exploratory tests reveal a distinct divergence between infrastructure investments and infrastructure development among different country tiers.     

Preliminary study on the effect of a herbal formulation “Deepaniyavati” in hyperlipidemia

To examine the effect of “DeepaniyaVati”, a herbal formulation in the management of hyperlipidemia, a randomized group pre-test post-test study trial was carried out on fifty male (30 to 70 yrs) hyperlipidemic volunteers who were asked to follow their normal routine diet and activity pattern throughout the investigation period. The formulation, prepared by mixing nine plant products in equal proportion, when given in a daily dose of 2g, twice a day for a period of one month, brought about an observable improvement in all the lipid parameters by significantly reducing total cholesterol (10%), low density lipoprotein cholesterol (12.76%), very low density lipoprotein cholesterol (27.4%), triglycerides (34.7%) and bringing these values much nearer to the normal levels. In control group, no such effect was noticed. A concomitant significant increase in the HDL-C levels suggests the possible utility of “Deepaniya Vati” in the management of hyperlipidemia and the need for further detailed study.     

Mycorrhiza

The symbiotic association between plant and fungi (mycorrhizal association) is an amazing phenomenon observed in nature. The mycorrhizal association is one of nature’s boons for sustainable agriculture. In today’s changing environment, indiscriminate use of pesticides and chemicals pose a great threat to the existence of mycorrhizal species. There is a need to spread awareness in order to save mycorrhizal fungi from extinction.     

Reference Interval Determination of Total Plasma Homocysteine in an Indian Population

Hyperhomocysteinemia has been shown to be an independent risk factor for cardiovascular disease as well as retinal vascular occlusion. Because of the epidemiological, dietary, genetic and environmental diversity among the different countries, each country should establish the reference interval of homocysteine of their own population for recommending appropriate medical decision limits. Hence a total of 1,288 apparently healthy subjects including 636 male and 652 female were enrolled in the present study to determine the reference intervals of homocysteine in an Indian population. Results of the study were presented as mean, standard deviation, median and 2.5th and 97.5th percentile with the 0.90 confidence interval of each percentile values of homocysteine along with decade-wise changes.     

Quality of author guidelines of journals in the biomedical and physical sciences

To assess quantitatively the completeness and clarity of author guidelines of international English‐language journals in the biomedical and physical sciences, we randomly sampled 80 journals for which author guidelines were available online in English. The guidelines were reviewed for completeness and clarity in addressing ‘aims and scope’, ‘submission and post‐submission processes’, ‘formatting instructions’, ‘ethical requirements’, and ‘authorship’, and were subjectively assessed as being complete (score 1) or incomplete (0), and clear (1) or unclear (0). Scores were represented as mean percentages. No journal scored 100% for completeness and clarity. ‘Formatting instructions’ was the most complete and clear category, and ‘authorship’ the least complete and clear category. Biomedical science journals were more complete and clear in all categories, except ‘authorship‘, compared to physical science journals. While author guidelines of many English‐language journals of biomedical and physical sciences adequately address some essential aspects, they currently do not provide all necessary information as clearly as possible.