Objective: This study aims to characterize electrical signals to establish a diagnosis of cognitive-emotional dysfunction and guide a successful therapeutic intervention. Therefore, the present study aimed to observe these frequency bands in a sample of dysfunctional neurological behaviors to establish a neural marker of neural dysfunction that helps diagnose and monitor treatment. Methods: A descriptive retrospective (extracted from the database) observational study design based on real-world historical data from routine clinical practice. According to DSM-5, low academic achievement (n =70), disruptive behavior (externalizing behavior problems) (n=70), and somatic syndrome disorder (n=70) were the subjects. The mean age of the sample was 14.13 (SD = 1.46; range 12-18), 31.5% women. The measuring instrument was the NeXus-10, which is suitable for acquiring a wide range of physiological signals. Brain electrical activity was recorded by using the quantitative electroencephalograph (qEEG) in accordance with the 10-20 International Electrode Placement System. In particular, the specific form of miniQ (mini-qEEG) was used. Results: A pattern record present in all cases were identified. The record refers to (a) activity along the midline, namely, Fz-Cz-Pz, (b) activity from the center (Cz) to back, namely, Pz-O1 and O2, (c) activity from the center (Cz) forward (Fz), and (d) comparison between hemispheres. The characteristics of theta, alpha, and beta waves define the characteristic pattern of neurological dysfunction. The reversal of the dysfunctional pattern coincided with the remission of the clinical symptoms after treatment, which occurred in 87,6% of the subjects. We define remission as not meeting DSM-5 criteria. Conclusion: This study suggests that miniQ register could be considered a simple and objective tool for studying neurological dysfunction. This dysfunction is explained according to current neurological knowledge of interactive cognition-emotion processing. MiniQ may be a cheap and reliable method and a promising tool for the investigation in the field.

Potential competing interests: No potential competing interests to declare. 14-channel neurofeedback with Auto Train Brain improves the left lateralization of the brain in dyslexia: A pilot study.I read the study with interest.While I am positive with regard to the goal of the study, I have some concerns.I have found myself with some remarks after reading the paper.

Academic underachievement is a burning problem far from being solved. This study evaluated the efficacy of a humanistic psychotherapy intervention program based on planning, attention, successive and simultaneous (PASS) inductive learning, and indirect metaphorical Ericksonian communication grounded in the neuroscientific knowledge of human behavior. The rational neuroscientific foundations are explained throughout the discussion, highlighting the interaction cognition-emotion. The sample was 600 subjects classified as low achievers, very low achievers, and behavioral-psychosomatic dysfunctional low achievers. The mean age was 13.93 (SD = 1.56; range 12-17), 29.5% women. A normal control group of 172 subjects was selected (mean age, 13.88; SD = 1.75;range 12-17; 49.4% women). ANOVA and stepwise regression analysis were performed. No PASS deficit explains the low achievers. A dysfunctional emotional reason is suggested. A lower simultaneous PASS appears related to very low achievers. A lower planning PASS and the "N" pattern appear related to behavioral-psychosomatic low achievers. The "N" pattern is a suggestive marker of emotional dysfunction. After 6 months of intervention, 55% of very low achievers, 85% of low achievers, and 80% of behavioral-psychosomatic participants did not satisfy the criterion of an underachiever. More studies are required to contribute to the accumulative understanding of scientific phenomena, and so investigate replication.

Many children with attention deficit hyperactive disorder (ADHD) are known to have executive dysfunction, which weakens their abilities to learn and behave in daily living. This protocol describes the methodology that is required for the intervention (psychotherapy) based on planning, attention, successive, and simultaneous (PASS theory) cognitive processing and fear emotional processing. It provides guiding principles and practical recommendations. A disproportionately high level of fear (dysregulation) increases the vulnerability for dysfunction in learning and behavior. We explain the interplay between emotion and cognition at the neurological level. A go/no go task (The Adventures of Fundi), which involves decision making, is administered in a PC- mode to a sample of 66 ADHD subjects. The Adventures of Fundi, a computer program, was constructed to induce successive or simultaneous processing when involving the training of planning and selective attention. It aims to improve the executive function with planning and selective attention. If executive function improves, learning improves, and behavior ameliorates. After intervention over 6 months, remission was achieved in 70% of subjects. The instructor encourages the use of appropriate strategies and points out the ways in which the strategies can be useful in finding the solution to the problem (go/no go). The emphasis is not on rehearsing and adult instructed verbal sequence. The verbalization may reveal the conscious verbalized strategy to solve a task that is not really the strategy being unconsciously used in that case. A self-verbal report is unreliable. This is an inductive learning rather than deductive rule-learning approach central to cognitive PASS training. This inductive training has proved to produce not only near transfer but also far transfer. Noncognitive factors (emotional factors) must be considered to maximize the benefit of cognitive training. Indirect and metaphorical communication considers the emotional factor.

This study aims to measure the psychometric properties of the Das Naglieri Cognitive Assessment System (DN-CAS), to examine the construct validity of the Catalan-Spanish version, and to determine its clinical utility in a large bilingual Catalan-Spanish sample ( n = 2146). Participant age ranged from 5 years to 15 years old (female 56%). 472 of them were between 5 and 7 years old, 1050 of them were between 8 and 11 years old, and 624 of them were between 12 and 15 years old. The clinical discrimination of the DN-CAS was examined by comparing children with learning difficulties ( n = 1160) and behavioral dysfunction (n = 986) . A four-factor solution for cognitive performance was demonstrated. The current four-factor structure of the DN-CAS was similar to the original four-factor structure of the test. Furthermore, planning and attention are the most interdependent processes (r > .05, p < .001), and instead successive is the most independent process. Additionally, the DN-CAS, particularly successive and simultaneous, appear as development-related whereas planning and attention are more independent of age. Also, underperformance is mainly linked to successive and instead overperformance is clearly linked to simultaneous. And planning and attention are less susceptible to deviation from the norms independently of age, which is an advantage because intervention is basically based on planning. Finally, an “N” pattern is described in relationship to emotional dysfunction, therefore it represent a marker of emotional dysfunction.

Se estudió el DN-CAS versus el WISC para altas capacidades con aprendizaje o conductas disfuncionales (doble excepcionalidad). 114 casos de alta capacidad, entre 10 y 14 años (56% mujeres), 54 con dificultades de aprendizaje y 60 con conductas disfuncionales, fueron evaluados con el DN-CAS (PASS) y el WISC. Un análisis factorial mostró cuatro factores PASS y uno WISC. El WISC cargó principalmente en el simultáneo. Ningún otro procesamiento PASS cargó en el WISC. Se halló débil o moderada correlación entre DN-CAS y WISC. El simultáneo es el proceso menos correlacionado por lo que puede inferirse es el más independiente. El análisis estadístico descriptivo mostró que el simultáneo fue el procesamiento PASS con mayor puntuación y el procesamiento atención fue el con menor puntuación. En el análisis de agrupamiento de los procesos PASS superiores a 115 (+1DS) y 130 (+2DS), el simultaneo es el más frecuentemente involucrado. Por último, un patrón singular (patrón “N”) aparece como marcador de disfunción emocional ligada al planning. En resumen, se demuestra la estructura de cuatro factores del DNCAS. El simultáneo aparece ligado al WISC. Un buen o excelente simultáneo aparece en alta capacidad. El DN-CAS es ventajoso para alta capacidad con aprendizaje o conducta disfuncional (doble excepcionalidad) pues el DN-CAS valora planificación, creatividad y metacognición.

This study is based on PASS theory, which suggests that the cognitive process of Planning is responsible for developing metacognitive strategies. The aim is to verify the effect of stimulating the cognitive process of PASS Planning on secondary school students using two different methodologies, with experiential learning (inductive) being applied in one group and deductive learning in the other. The study also aims to verify if improvements are observed in student grades in maths and problem solving. A quantitative study with a quasi-experimental design was carried out with two experimental groups of 59 and 57 students and a control group of 57. The results confirm significant improvements in both experimental groups in relation to their capacity to plan after the stimulations sessions, regardless of the methodology used. Nevertheless, improved grades in maths and problem solving were only found in the group who were administered the experiential learning (inductive) method. The conclusion drawn is that these kinds of methodologies need to be promoted for the stimulation of Planning to have the desired effect on mathematics performance.

Aim: Hemoencephalography (HEG) is an emerging procedure for clinical application in attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder and other disorders, regardless of age. It is available to any research group for its relative simplicity and low cost and is a useful tool for assessing prefrontal-dependent functions. Older teenagers pose peculiarities in the prefrontal maturation, and we aim to establish HEG patterns that might have clinical applicability.Methods: The HEG patterns of 70 university students (56 women and 14 men, 21-48 years old, mean 31.84, SD 10.65, standard error of mean 0.31) were compared with those of 59 adolescents 13-14-year-old secondary education students, 28 females and 31 males. The HEG patterns were obtained in response to the observation of shocking, unpleasant, and pleasant pictures. We use one-way and two-way analysis of variance to disentangle the differences between groups. All effects were analyzed with F-tests.Results: In all cases, university students and adolescents showed a decrease in prefrontal activity, indicative of differences in the emotional inner networks between groups, which are responsible for security-insecurity processing. Compared with university students, adolescents showed statistically significant differences in decreased activity in very unpleasant (shocking) tests that demand increased security-insecurity processing. Adolescents showed lower decrease. In addition, adolescents, compared with university subjects, did not show statistically significantly decreased HEG activity compared with the baseline in very unpleasant tests.Conclusion: Teens showed distinguishable patterns of HEG, which were consistent with the cognitive emotional dysregulation in cognition and emotion interaction, that is, exterior network versus internal network interactions. Disability in regulation (modulation) of emotional response to negative emotional stimuli (fear of insecurity) in adolescence is an indicator of possible future clinical and psychiatric disorders such as depression and anxiety with high incidence of onset at this critical age and frequent comorbidity in attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder. HEG pattern might be a useful marker to define maturation and future possible mental dysfunctions.

Background: The Planning, Attention, Simultaneous and Successive (PASS) theory of intelligence allows us cognitive assessment. Hemoencephalography (HEG) allows us to assess cortical prefrontal activity. Reaction time (RT) allows us to assess decision-making. We aim to find teenager profile according to the PASS, HEG, and RT. Methods and findings: 59 secondary education adolescent students (30 females and 29 males, 14-16- year-old, mean=15.29, SD=0.67) were tested by two RT + HEG experiments. Stimuli of experiment 1 were cognitive and emotional dilemmas as displayed sentences or images. Stimuli of experiment 2 were shocking, unpleasant, and pleasant pictures with music or without music. PASS assessment was performed. We used oneway ANOVA (F-test) and correlation analysis. Longer reaction time was found in emotional dilemmas than cognitive items (p=0.000). The HEG activity deviation from baseline was not consistent in both cognitive and emotional processing and the statistically significant value showed remarkable variability. HEG-activity differences at statistically significant level between cognitive and emotional processing were not found, indicating that both cognitive and emotional tasks scored close together. All this means atypical pattern related to adult pattern. Poorer planning, attention, and successive was associated with poorer academic performance (p=0.00). Conclusion: A longer RT in emotional decision-making along with a simultaneously atypical HEG activity and all this associated with the relationship between poorer planning and poorer academic performance makes it reasonable that an imbalance between cognition and emotion in adolescence (relative to adulthood) contributes to adolescent personality. This imbalance is hypothesized to result in distinct patterns of activity shown in fMRI, and – we hypothesize – HEG in adolescence. Further HEG studies are needed.

Cochlear implantation is a surgical procedure that can restore the hearing capabilities to patients with severe or complete functional loss. However, the level of restoration varies highly between subjects and depends on patient-specific factors. This paper presents a software application for planning cochlear implantation procedures that includes patient-specific anatomy estimation using high resolution models, implant optimization for patient-specific implant selection, simulation of mechanical and electrical properties of the implant as well as clinical reporting.

Learning problems in the light of PASS assessment and intervention were studied. Data for 248 subjects with specific learning impairment (SLI), dyslexia, dyscalculia, and non-defined learning difficulty were studied. Hierarchical cluster analysis of PASS scores at baseline was performed. PASS re-assessment was carried out at 6 and 12 months after 6-month period of intervention. Four statistically different cluster groups were identified. All groups, except one, showed cognitive weakness. Planning weakness, associated with other weakness, appears involved in all groups except two where isolated planning and successive weaknesses were identified, respectively. SLI, dyslexia, and dyscalculia are not homogenous entities. A kind of dyslexia is clearly linked to isolated successive weakness. SLI-expressive (SLIe) and a minority of both dyslexia and dyscalculia appear linked to successive weakness although associated with planning and additionally with attention in the case of SLIe. SLI-expressive-receptive (SLIe-r) and Dyscalculia appear linked to simultaneous weakness, although associated with planning weakness. Other kind of SLIe-r appears linked to isolated planning weakness. Other types of SLIe-r and Dyscalculia appear liked to combined planning + successive + attention weakness. Isolated dysfunctional attention does not appear in any case. After 6 months of intervention, planning improves statistically in all cases. Attention improves in few cases. Successive and simultaneous do not improve. The best result is in dyslexia, SLIe and a minority of Dyscalculia. The worst result is in those without cognitive deficiency. The effect of intervention at 6 months remains with minor changes at 12 months after 6 months without intervention.

espanolLas dificultades de lectura y escritura se pueden detectar desde el momento en que los ninos y ninas inician el aprendizaje de la lectoescritura en la etapa de Educacion Infantil. En algunos casos estos alumnos reciben un apoyo escolar que en muchas ocasiones no conlleva las mejoras esperadas, siendo las tecnicas y metodologias de refuerzo aplicadas ineficaces. El problema, desde nuestro punto de vista, empieza con el diagnostico que se realiza a estos jovenes, que determina las directrices de la intervencion idonea en cada caso. La Teoria PASS de la inteligencia nos permite conocer que procesos estan implicados cuando el nino lee o escribe, y parte de la premisa de que si conocemos el perfil cognitivo de un alumno que presenta dificultades podremos entender como estas se originan. Para conocer este perfil cognitivo (los cuatro procesos cognitivos que describe esta teoria: Planificacion, Atencion, Simultaneo y Secuencial) utilizamos la bateria DN-CAS (Das & Naglieri: Cognitive Assessment System). El perfil obtenido al aplicar el DN-CAS nos permitira conocer el origen de las dificultades de lectura y escritura, saber cuando esta justificada una dislexia, descartar problemas emocionales o la presencia de los mismos y disenar la intervencion mas adecuada en cada situacion. EnglishReading and writing difficulties can be detected in pre-school children as soon as they begin to learn to read and write. However, the support they receive in school often does not lead to expected improvements due to the ineffective techniques and methods used. The problem, in our view, begins with diagnosing young learners correctly to determine the ideal intervention in each case. The PASS theory of intelligence, which identifies reading and writing processes in children, proceeds from the premise that the origins of reading and writing difficulties can be better understood if we know the cognitive profiles of the students who have them. To identify this cognitive profile (the four cognitive processes described by this theory are planning, attention, simultaneous and sequential) we use the DNCAS (Das & Naglieri: Cognitive Assessment System) battery. The profile identified by the DNCAS will help us reveal the origin of reading and writing difficulties, justify a diagnosis of dyslexia, eliminate emotional problems or their presence, and design the most appropriate intervention in each situation.

Medial representations are powerful tools for describing and parameterizing the volumetric shape of anatomical structures. Existing methods show excellent results when applied to 2D objects, but their quality drops across dimensions. This paper contributes to the computation of medial manifolds in two aspects. First, we provide a standard scheme for the computation of medial manifolds that avoid degenerated medial axis segments; second, we introduce an energy based method which performs independently of the dimension. We evaluate quantitatively the performance of our method with respect to existing approaches, by applying them to synthetic shapes of known medial geometry. Finally, we show results on shape representation of multiple abdominal organs, exploring the use of medial manifolds for the representation of multi-organ relations.

In this paper we review global Monte Carlo techniques for radiosity. A technique for progressively refining the solution in global Monte Carlo is presented, based in the classical statistical results on the expected value and variance of a weighted sum of independent random variables. The method is shown to work well also for the classic Monte Carlo methods. We finally show its usefulness in distributing the work over a workstations network.