Objectives: Children with sickle cell anemia (SCA) are commonly reported to experience executive dysfunction. However, the development of executive function (EF) in preschool-age children without stroke in this patient population has not been investigated so it is unclear when and how these deficits emerge. Methods: This case-control study examines the feasibility of assessing the early development of executive functioning in 22 preschool children years with SCA in the domains of processing speed, working memory, attention, inhibitory control, and cognitive flexibility, as well as everyday function, in comparison to matched control children. Results: A pattern of potential deficits in early emerging executive skills was observed in the domains of inhibitory control and cognitive flexibility. Parents reported no differences for everyday EF and no significant differences were observed for working memory and processing speed. Conclusions: Results suggest that deficits in everyday executive difficulties, working memory, and processing speed, as commonly reported for older children with SCA, may not yet have emerged at this early developmental stage, despite specific deficits in cognitive flexibility and inhibitory control on behavioral measures. The feasibility of using available executive measures with preschool age children to characterize the development of early EF skills is discussed. (JINS, 2018, 24, 949–954)

Hyneria lindae is one of the largest Devonian sarcopterygians. It was found in the Catskill Formation (late Famennian) of Pennsylvania, USA. The current study focuses on the palaeohistology of the humerus of this tristichopterid and supports a low ossification rate and a late ossification onset in the appendicular skeleton. In addition to anatomical features, the large size of the cell lacunae in the cortical bone of the humerus mid-shaft may suggest a large genome size and associated neotenic condition for this species, which could, in turn, be a partial explanation for the large size of H. lindae. The low metabolism of H. lindae revealed here by bone histology supports the hypothesis of an ambush predatory behaviour. Finally, the lines-of-arrested-growth pattern and late ossification of specimen ANSP 21483 suggest that H. lindae probably had a long juvenile stage before reaching sexual maturity. Although very few studies address the life-history traits of stem tetrapods, they all propose a slow limb development for the studied taxa despite different ecological conditions and presumably distinct behaviours. The bone histology of H. lindae would favour the hypothesis that a slow long-bone development could be a general character for stem tetrapods.

Increasing numbers of freshwater ecosystems have had sportfish consumption advisories posted in recent years. Advisories are sometimes issued in lieu of environmental remediation if they are considered more cost-effective than “cleaning up” the resource, but this approach assumes that anglers adjust behavior in response to the warning. Previous studies, however, suggest that compliance with advisories can be quite low. In contrast, this study measures a statistically significant response by reservoir anglers to consumption advisories. In particular, anglers are less likely to choose to visit a reservoir with an advisory than a similar reservoir without an advisory. Furthermore, the economic losses due to advisories are quantified for anglers in two regions of Tennessee.

Scholars argue that states undertake foreign military interventions for economic reasons, yet few have investigated whether intervention produces economic benefits. This article answers this question in the context of US foreign-imposed regime changes (FIRCs) in Latin America. Because FIRCs install leaders who are sympathetic to the intervener’s interests, economic arguments maintain that these interventions should increase bilateral trade between the targets and imposing countries. Yet security-based arguments assert that FIRCs should have little economic effect, as regime changes target threats rather than generate economic benefits. A third perspective argues that FIRCs reduce trade by generating political instability, which causes foreign firms to cut back on their involvement and domestic firms to experience difficulty getting goods to market. To test these competing arguments, this study employs a novel dataset on bilateral trade (1873–2007) compiled through archival research in Washington, DC. Using a gravity model and synthetic controls, it finds that FIRC produces an average decrease of 45 per cent in the dollar value of bilateral trade. Further analysis of archival sector-level data and case studies cast doubt on alternate explanations.