Sleep Problems Before and During the COVID-19 Pandemic in Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder, Down Syndrome, and Typical Development.

Sleep problems are common in children and adolescents, particularly those with Neurodevelopmental Disorders. With the changes in daily habits resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic, we have analyzed sleep characteristics, during social isolation, in Brazilian children and adolescents aged between 4 and 12 years with Autism Spectrum Disorder (N = 267), Down Syndrome (N = 74), and typical development (N = 312). The ASD group presented with worse indicators of sleep habits in the Children's Sleep Habits Questionnaire (CSHQ-BR) and fell asleep later during the pandemic.

Translation and adaptation into Brazilian Portuguese and investigation of the psychometric properties of the Children's Sleep Habits Questionnaire (CSHQ-BR).

Objectives: To translate to Brazilian Portuguese, culturally adapt and confirm the psychometric parameters of validity and reliability of the Children's Sleep Habits Questionnaire (CSHQ-BR) in children.

Methods: A sample of 314 typically developing children, 51% girls, mean age 7.12 years (SD = 2.

The Child Emotion Facial Expression Set: A Database for Emotion Recognition in Children.

This study developed a photo and video database of 4-to-6-year-olds expressing the seven induced and posed universal emotions and a neutral expression. Children participated in photo and video sessions designed to elicit the emotions, and the resulting images were further assessed by independent judges in two rounds. In the first round, two independent judges (1 and 2), experts in the Facial Action Coding System, firstly analysed 3,668 emotions facial expressions stimuli from 132 children.

Relations between theory of mind and family environment among Brazilian preschool children.

Given the importance of the environment for the development of the theory of mind (ToM) in childhood, as well as the scarcity of studies in low-income Latin American countries, we aimed to investigate the relation between family environment characteristics and performance in ToM tasks in a group of Brazilian children. A total of 49 children participated, whose ages ranged between 3 and 5 years ( = 4.43; SD = 0.

Component mechanisms of executive function in schizophrenia and their contribution to functional outcomes.

Objective: In schizophrenia, scores reflecting deficits in different cognitive processes are strongly correlated, making it difficult to establish a solid relationship between different cognitive mechanisms and other features of this disorder. The objective of this study was to explore whether three frequently postulated executive functions (updating, shifting, and inhibition) could be compared between groups and considered independently in terms of their respective roles in functional outcome.

Methods: This study relied on confirmatory factor analysis of schizophrenia patients (n=141) and healthy controls (n=119).

Eye Movements and Cognitive Strategy in a Fluid Intelligence Test: Item Type Analysis.

Eye movements help to infer the cognitive strategy that a person uses in fluid intelligence tests. However, intelligence tests demand different relations/rules tokens to be solved, such as rule direction, which is the continuation, variation or overlay of geometric figures in the matrix of the intelligence test. The aim of this study was to understand whether eye movements could predict the outcome of an intelligence test and in the rule item groups.

Contribution of Word Reading Speed to Reading Comprehension in Brazilian Children: Does Speed Matter to the Comprehension Model?

Studies have suggested that reading speed (RS) or fluency should be a component of reading comprehension (RC) models. There is also evidence of a relationship between RS and RC. However, some questions remain to be explored, as the changes in such a relationship may be a function of development.

Brazilian scientific output on autism spectrum disorders.

Objective: This systematic review sought to conduct a general analysis of the Brazilian scientific output on autism spectrum disorders (ASD) published between 2002 and 2009.

Methods: A literature search was conducted in the scientific databases PubMed, SciELO, and LILACS and in the CAPES portal, using keywords such as "autism" and "pervasive developmental disorders".

Results: A total of 93 articles were identified, most of which were authored by researchers from Southeast Brazil and affiliated with public universities.

Transcranial direct current stimulation of the prefrontal cortex modulates the desire for specific foods.

We aimed to assess whether modulation of the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLFPC) with noninvasive brain stimulation, namely transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS), modifies food craving in healthy subjects. We performed a randomized sham-controlled cross-over study in which 23 subjects received sham and active tDCS (anode left/cathode right and anode right/cathode left) of the DLPFC. Subjects were exposed to food and also watched a movie of food associated with strong craving.

Prefrontal cortex modulation using transcranial DC stimulation reduces alcohol craving: a double-blind, sham-controlled study.

Background: Functional neuroimaging studies have shown that specific brain areas are associated with alcohol craving including the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC). We tested whether modulation of DLPFC using transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) could alter alcohol craving in patients with alcohol dependence while being exposed to alcohol cues.

Methods: We performed a randomized sham-controlled study in which 13 subjects received sham and active bilateral tDCS delivered to DLPFC (anodal left/cathodal right and anodal right/cathodal left).