Influence of age and schooling in written discourse of healthy adults.

Background: Discourse production is a very complex cognitive task that requires the integration of several linguistic cognitive skills. Socio-demographic factors such as schooling can impact on cognitive tasks. This study investigated the impact of age and schooling in some macrolinguistic and microlinguistic aspects in the written discourse of healthy adults.

[Percentage of Consonants Correct (PCC) in children with and without hearing loss].

Purpose: To compare the Percentage of Consonants Correct (PCC) index of children with and without hearing loss, and to verify whether the time using hearing aids, the time in therapy, and the time spent until hearing loss was diagnosed influence the performance of deaf children.

Methods: Participants were 30 children, 15 with hearing impairment and 15 with normal hearing, paired by gender and age. The PCC index was calculated in three different tasks: picture naming, imitation and spontaneous speech.

CEA, MCA, CA 15.3 and CA 549 and their combinations in expressing and monitoring metastatic breast cancer: a prospective comparative study.

Serum levels of carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA), mucin-like carcinoma-associated antigen (MCA), CA 15.3 and CA 549 were concurrently assayed in patients with metastatic breast cancer. Overall sensitivity in detecting metastatic breast cancer (201 pts) was CEA 45%, MCA 59%, CA 15.

Zinc and thymic hormone-dependent immunity in normal ageing and in patients with senile dementia of the Alzheimer type.

Plasma zinc levels were measured in young controls, aged controls, patients with dementia of the Alzheimer type and patients with non-Alzheimer type dementia. Zinc levels decreased with age; however, no difference was found between patients with dementia and age-matched controls. Plasma levels of active or inactive thymulin, a nonapeptide produced and released by the thymus gland, were also determined in young controls, aged controls, patients with dementia of the Alzheimer type and patients with non-Alzheimer type dementia.

CA 15.3 and CEA plasma level monitoring in patients with breast cancer.

CA 15.3 and CEA were determined in the serum of 217 patients with early and advanced breast carcinoma. CA 15.