Previous research showed an effect of words’ rated body–object interaction (BOI) in children’s visual word naming performance, but only in children 8 years of age or older . In that Theories of embodied cognition emphasize the importance of sensorimotor experience for acquiring and representing conceptual knowledge e.g., . The embFrom an embodied cognition perspective, representations of word meaning are, at least in part, grounded in sensorimotor and other bodily systems  and ratings of this dimension capture how easily a human body can interact with a word’s referent. Research with adults shows that in lexical decision tasks, phonological lexical decision tasks, and semantic categorization tasks, words rated high in BOI  are processed faster and/or more accurately than words rated low in BOI  are probably applicable to children, adults’ BOI ratings of their own bodily experience may not capture variability in children’s physical interaction experience. This could have been a particular issue for the younger children in the Wellsby and Pexman study (the 6–7 year olds), who would have had even less experience with some of the objects than the older children, and this issue could have contributed to the null BOI effect observed for that group. There is a need to ensure that the words chosen to assess BOI effects in children’s lexical processing are high and low in terms of the average child’s BOIs. This was addressed in the present study by asking parents of children in this age range (6–7 years) to provide ratings using a dimension we refer to as child-BOI. We reasoned that parents with children in this age group would be best suited to make ratings of 6–7 year olds’ sensorimotor experiences with word referents since these parents have direct knowledge of their children’s activities.An additional issue with the previous examination of BOI effects in children’s lexical processing involves the use of adult BOI ratings. While many studies have used adult ratings of semantic variables to assess effects of those variables in children’s language processing, this practice is particularly problematic for BOI. The BOI variable is intended to capture fine-grained differences between highly imageable words; that is, it provides an indication of differences in the average person’s previous experiences physically interacting with the words’ referents. Whereas adults rate In the present study, we thus examined imageability effects (comparing responses to high and low imageability words) and child-BOI effects  in the auditory naming task. We tested a group of 6–7 year old children and also a group of adults. Adults were tested primarily as a control group to verify our assumptions about the auditory naming task. That is, although the auditory naming task has been used to examine semantic effects in lexical processing with adults i.e., , we wantIf BOI effects can be observed before age 8, but were masked in the previous study  by task M age = 7;2, SD = 0;6) and 25 adults . Children were recruited through the University of Calgary Child and Infant Learning and Development (ChILD) database and received a small toy for participating. Adults were undergraduate students in Psychology courses at the University of Calgary who received partial course credit for participating.Participants were 54 children aged 6–7 years , word length, phonological Levenshtein distance  with the 60 high imageability words. These adults were instructed to rate each word on a 7-point scale, and to use a 6-year-old child as their referent. That is, they were asked to rate how much physical interaction experience the average 6-year-old might be likely to have with each thing . Based on these ratings, we selected 12 high child-BOI words  and 12 low child-BOI words , again not significantly different on grade one print frequency, child spoken frequency, adult spoken frequency, word length, PLD, OLD, and valence. Descriptive statistics for these items are also provided in Table 1), while still maintaining perceptibility. Edited files were then played individually to six adults to verify that each word could still be recognized accurately.Word stimuli for the auditory naming task were recorded as sound files by a female speaker who was naïve to the purpose of the study (using Sound Recorder). Since all words were monosyllabic the durations of sound files were quite consistent; to further improve this, however, sound files were edited using the program Praat. The editing ensured that all files included the entire duration of the word and that there were no significant differences between lengths (durations) of the sound files for high imageability and low imageability word sets or for the high child-BOI and low child-BOI word sets , “incorrect” (participant did not repeat the correct word), or “spoiled”  using the computer keyboard. The code of 1, 2, or 3 (respectively) prompted the presentation of the next word; this way, the experiment proceeded at a pace the participant was comfortable with. Participants were also allowed to request a break at any point in order to prevent fatigue effects.M = 38.58, SD = 3.57, word reading M = 47.50, SD = 21.89 and word attack M = 19.56, SD = 10.20) were very similar to those obtained for the younger group in the Wellsby and Pexman study.Following the auditory naming task, child participants completed three subtests of the Woodcock Reading Mastery Tests-Revised WRMT-R; . These rTable 1. Auditory naming accuracy was high for all other items : too high, in fact, to warrant further analysis of the accuracy data. Before analyzing latency data, we removed latencies for trials with incorrect  or spoiled responses . In addition, trials with response latencies faster than 250 ms or slower than the participant’s mean plus 2.5 SD  were removed from the analysis. Since the adults were tested simply to establish that the auditory naming task was sensitive to the kinds of effects tested here, we present the analysis of the adult data first and then, separately, analysis of the child data, including tests for correlations with reading skill variables. Imageability effects in response latencies were examined using ANOVAs on the entire dataset , whereas child-BOI effects were examined using separate ANOVAs on the subset of the high imageability items for which child-BOI was manipulated .We first examined auditory naming accuracy by item to determine whether any items should be excluded from the analysis. The item “full” was removed as it was only named correctly 24.32% of the time by the child participants. Removing this low imageability item did not compromise the matching illustrated in F = 28.46, p < 0.001, M = 752.70, SD = 77.37) faster than low imageability words . Although it was not our focus for the adult data, we also tested the effect of child-BOI for adults and found that it was not significant, F = 3.99, p = 0.057, M = 746.81, SD = 76.33) significantly faster than low child-BOI words . Given that child-BOI was characterized based on 6-year-olds’ physical experience this is not entirely surprising.The analysis of adults’ auditory naming latencies showed a significant effect of imageability, F = 57.02, p < 0.001, M = 881.96, SD = 123.02) faster than low imageability words . There was also a significant effect of child-BOI for children’s naming latencies, F = 44.86, p < 0.001, M = 860.01, SD = 126.19) faster than low child-BOI words .The analysis of children’s auditory naming latencies showed a significant effect of imageability, Table 2. Not surprisingly, there were significant correlations between children’s age and scores on each of the reading subtests, since older children also tended to have better reading skills. In addition, children’s scores on the reading subtests were correlated. More importantly, children’s age was correlated with their child-BOI effect but not their imageability effect, such that older children showed larger BOI effects. There were no significant relationships between the reading skill measures and the imageability or child-BOI effects, and this held regardless of whether age was partialled out of the correlations. There was also no significant relationship between the size of children’s imageability and child-BOI effects.We next examined correlations between children’s age, reading skills, imageability effects, and child-BOI effects. These correlations are presented in ease of interaction. Here, for child-BOI ratings, we emphasized likelihood of interaction in order to highlight the ways in which a child’s experience might be different than that of adults. As such, the child-BOI dimension probably measures a slightly different aspect of interaction than does the adult BOI dimension, and frequency of interaction may play a stronger role in child-BOI ratings than in adult-BOI ratings. Further, while the low and high child-BOI word sets do not differ significantly on print frequency or on either of the spoken frequency measures , there are large numeric differences between the low and high child-BOI word sets on the spoken frequency dimensions. To evaluate whether the child-BOI effect we observed was incremental to those spoken frequency differences, we conducted linear mixed effects analyses (2(1) = 4.43, p = 0.035 for the model in Table 3, with child spoken frequency as a predictor, and χ2(1) = 4.45, p = 0.035 for the model in Table 4, with adult spoken frequency as a predictor. The resulting model with child spoken frequency as a predictor is presented in Table 3, and the model with adult spoken frequency as a predictor is presented in Table 4. As can be seen, even after including spoken frequency as a predictor, there is evidence that effects of child-BOI may be incremental to the influence of spoken frequency.In collecting ratings of the child-BOI dimension in the present study, we asked parents to rate “how much experience the average 6-year-old would have likely had physically interacting ” with each word’s referent. In this way our ratings instructions were somewhat different than those used by Siakaluk and colleagues to collect BOI ratings from adults e.g., . The BOIanalyses  using R.The purpose of the present research was to examine whether children’s lexical processing is influenced by words’ sensorimotor histories (as indexed by imageability and child-BOI) before age 8. Children younger than 8 years of age typically struggle with lexical processing tasks that depend on reading skills. With this in mind, we used an auditory naming task to assess the influence of sensorimotor variables in 6- and 7-year-old children. Even the youngest children in the sample were able to perform this task with high accuracy, suggesting it was well suited to their lexical processing skills. Results showed a significant imageability effect and a significant child-BOI effect in this age group. Thus, there is now evidence that children’s lexical processing is influenced by sensorimotor variables before 8 years of age.Our findings suggest that children do have richer semantic representations for words associated with more sensorimotor information. Thus, sensorimotor information is part of children’s lexical knowledge, consistent with an embodied framework for word meaning. Although these representations may not be measurable in orthographically based tasks until age 8, effects can be observed earlier in a word processing task that does not require orthographic coding. As such, our results provide an important new data point for sensorimotor effects in childhood and are consistent with the assertion that word meaning is embodied throughout the lifespan. This conclusion would be compatible with results showing that during passive listening to verb stimuli  4- to 6-year-old children showed activation in the motor cortex . SimilarThe present results also showed that while the child-BOI effect in auditory naming was related to age, the imageability effect was not. That is, child-BOI effects tended to increase across the developmental window examined, while imageability effects remained stable. The child-BOI variable is intended to measure physical experiences, and these may be accumulating rapidly in this age group, such that the older children in the sample have sufficiently more physical interaction experiences to effect differences in the underlying semantic representations. In contrast, imageability measures multisensory  experiences. Since these multisensory experiences do not depend on motor skills to the same degree that child-BOI-related experiences do, they may begin to accumulate earlier and reach a relative plateau during the developmental window assessed here. In future studies, it would be important to test an even younger group of children to determine when imageability effects are first observed in children’s lexical processing. Given the high level of accuracy children exhibited for the auditory naming task in the present study, it may be possible to use this task successfully with an even younger group of children in order to test these remaining research questions.Additional topics for future research include investigating implications for vocabulary acquisition and literacy development: if bodily experiences are an important aspect of children’s semantic representations, then providing more of those experiences may facilitate more rapid acquisition of word meaning. In related research, The present results provide new insight about the developing lexicon and suggest a role for sensorimotor experience in the acquisition of word meaning. Sensorimotor effects can be observed in auditory naming in 6–7 year olds, but future research will be required to map out the trajectory of sensorimotor effects in the developing linguistic and conceptual systems.MI collected most of the data and wrote the first draft of the manuscript. MW helped design and program the experiment and assisted with analyses. EL assisted with data collection, coding, and writing. PP helped design the experiment, analyze the data, and write the paper.The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.


Both multivariate analysis of traits and phylogenetic analyses were used to assess diversity among small millet landraces. Our research revealed considerable variation in traits and DNA sequences among the 32 small millet landraces. We utilized a tiered approach using ITS2 DNA barcode to make 100 % accurate landrace (32 landraces) and species (six species) assignments for all 160 blind samples in our study. We have also recorded precious TK of nutritional value, ecological and agricultural traits used by local farmers for each of these traditional landraces. This research demonstrates the potential of DNA barcoding as a reliable identification tool and for use in evaluating and conserving genetic diversity of small millets. We suggest ways in which DNA barcodes could be used in the Protection of Plant Varieties and Farmers’ Rights in India and Nepal.Despite the extensive use of small millet landraces as an important source of nutrition for people living in semi-arid regions, they are presently marginalized and their diversity and distribution are threatened at a global scale. Local farmers have developed ancient breeding programs entrenched in traditional knowledge (TK) that has sustained rural cultures for thousands of years. The convention on biological diversity seeks fair and equitable sharing of genetic resources arising from local knowledge and requires signatory nations to provide appropriate policy and legal framework to farmers’ rights over plant genetic resources and associated TK. DNA barcoding employed in this study is proposed as a model for conservation of genetic diversity and an essential step towards documenting and protecting farmers’ rights and TK. Our study focuses on 32 landraces of small millets that are still used by indigenous farmers located in the rain fed areas of rural India and Nepal. Traditional knowledge of traits and utility was gathered using participatory methods and semi-structured interviews with key informants. DNA was extracted and sequenced (The online version of this article (doi:10.1007/s13205-016-0450-6) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users. Panicum sumatrense Roth ex Roem. & Schult.), proso millet (Panicum miliaceum L.), Italian millet  P. Beauv.), kodo millet , Indian barnyard millet (Echinochloa frumentacea Link.), and finger millet (Eleusine coracana (L.) Gaertn.)  is one of the commonly grown millets and an important staple crop in the hill and mountain farming systems, especially in the rainfed and marginal agricultural lands. The total area under finger millet cultivation was 268 thousand hectares with a national average productivity of 1.11 mt/ha in 2009/2010. It occupies nine percent of total cultivable land and around 75 % of finger millet cultivation areas located in the mid hills , barnyard millet (Echinochloa frumentacea Link.), little millet (Panicum miliare) and proso millet (Panicum miliaceum) are other small millets grown in Nepal. Apart from the morphological differences, it is the incredible underutilization of small millets that distinguishes them from the major millets. Although these landraces have considerable utility for farmers, these “small” millets have received relatively low market and research support for enhancing crop area, production, improvement and utilization  for thousands of years  under the government owned Nepal Agricultural Research Council (NARC). The conservation strategies followed are the ex situ conservation, on-farm conservation and in situ conservation. However, a systematic recording and documentation of DNA database is still a long journey. The PPVFR Act in India has set the tone for farmers’ ownership over plant genetic resources , which has three main objectives: the conservation of biological diversity, the sustainable use of its components and fair and equitable sharing of benefits arising out of the utilization of genetic resources. CBD envisaged that the benefits accruing from commercial use of traditional knowledge have to be shared with the people responsible for creating, refining and using this knowledge. The Article 8 (j) of the CBD provides for respecting, protecting and rewarding the Knowledge, Innovations and Practices (KIP) of local communities Patel . AlthougtrnH-psbA spacer or highly variable nuclear regions such as ITS2  to examine variation between 15 landraces from rural southern India. They observed high interspecific and intraspecific variation in the ITS regions among six species of small millets. In addition, they identified 100 % accurate species and landraces from 150 blind samples and showed that genomic variation is aligned with the TK hierarchical classification. Furthermore, they also found that the plastid region trnH-psbA allowed differentiation for eight out of 15 landraces. Though classification by farmers is finer than that of scientific classification, it is impractical to employ TK as a species identification tool due to its complex and time-consuming nature. Newmaster et al.  to allow a fine scale classification of 32 small millets?; and (3) How can DNA barcodes can help in protecting farmers’ rights recognized under the CBD?There are key uncertainties concerning the genetic and trait diversity of small millets. We have a limited understanding of TK of landraces and a very poor understanding of how much variation there is in genetic, trait and TK among the many landraces still used today. Such information can help inform breeding and sustainability programs targeted towards conserving these underutilized yet valuable crops that support many rural communities of southern Asia. The present study aims to answer the following questions to provide more information on the diversity among small millet landraces: (1) Is there a variation in traits among the small millet landraces? If so, how does this variation group landraces in multivariate ordination space?; (2) Is there a sufficient genetic variation  as ruling crop. Their preference over finger millet cultivation is mainly because of the hill top landscape, climatic adversity, and the cultural importance of finger millet-based products.The sites selected for this research project were located in rain fed areas of India and Nepal, which have high incidence of poverty, food and nutritional insecurity. They are remote, underdeveloped and have a considerable indigenous population. These are areas where traditional millet landrace-based cropping systems still exist. The local farmers in these areas have considerable traditional knowledge of small millet landraces used in traditional agriculture. We conducted research in the three districts of Tamil Nadu, India and two districts in Nepal. From India, we selected (1) Plains of Peraiyur located at 9.72°N 77.8°E (Madurai district) that fall in moderately food secure category, poorer and more food insecure than their respective state’s performance; (2) Eastern Ghats of Anchetty located at 12°31′11″N77°46′48″ (Krishnagiri district), which is a predominately subsistence-based food security among small and marginal rainfed farmers due to the drought prone nature of the area, high levels of poverty, remoteness and the need to conserve the millet-based subsistence cropping system in the area 3) Jamnamarudur located at 12°35′52″N 78°53′11″E (Vellore district), which is predominately subsistence-based food security, small millets are regularly grown and consumed. In Nepal, field research was conducted in Kaski—28°16′0″N 83°53′0″E and Dhading—27°52′0″N 84°55′0″E districts from the central hills of Nepal. Farmers grew only finger millet ; age group 2—middle age people between 26 and 50 years (n = 26); age group 3: elders between 51 and 75 years (n = 20). Initially, a 4th age group (>76 years) was considered for knowledge stratification, but this was excluded because the sample size of participants was too small and had no consistency to be included in the study. The knowledge of these (4th age group) elders was considerable and notes were made of this elderly knowledge where appropriate within the discussion.Fieldwork was conducted between April 2011 and July 2012 with 96 research participants  consisting of small and marginal farmers. We interviewed 48 male and 48 female informants categorized into three age groups: age group 1—young people between 5 and 25 years  Knowledge holders were requested to accompany us to the field and identify the plants used; (2) specimens were brought to the village and shown to knowledge holders for sharing information; and (3) photographs taken from the field crops in the vicinity were also used as stimulus. These exercises were conducted using suitable participatory rural appraisal techniques such as oral history, transect walk and resource mapping. Farmer-specific data were collected using focus group discussions (FGD), individual in-depth interviews, and passive observation to document farmers’ traits knowledge on small millet cultivation, consumption and nutrition. Data were collected at different intervals of time with diverse groups of farmers. Village meetings were organized and the objectives and outcome of the study were explained in detail. Appropriate suggestions/modifications given by the villagers were incorporated. The prior informed consent was obtained from the village councils where the study was intended, as a part of ethical commitment. Also the individual respondent’s prior informed consent was obtained. Both qualitative and quantitative data collection and analysis tools were used. Research instruments included were the checklists, semi-structured interviews, photo identification of selected plants, and informal key informant interviews (Pelto and Pelto http://www.cbdindia.org) and seed samples were deposited in “All India Coordinated Small Millet Integrated Project” (AICSMIP), Bangalore, India. Information collected was recorded in field notebooks and electronic recorder. The specimens were identified once in three months when they were brought back to the CBD head office herbarium at Chennai, with the help of the Floras such as Flora of British India . The same protocol as per the manufacturer’s instructions was followed. Duplicate samples were maintained to ensure the consistency of the experiment. The isolated DNA samples were quantified by NanoDrop N-1000 spectrophotometer . The PCR was performed under standard conditions for the primer pairs: r et al. , b, c.Sequencing was carried out in two directions of each fragment with Big Dye terminator v3.1 Cycle sequencing kit  and an automated ABI 3730 sequencer . The sequences were edited and aligned using Clustal W ” in Barcode of Life Database System . This provides a searchable public database of barcode-sequence clusters that closely approximate landraces of small millets in this study. We submitted all 32-millet landrace’s DNA sequence and millet landraces voucher information to the BOLD system, which generated the barcodes Table  for all ITS2 as a possible marker for quick and efficient molecular identification. Identification of unknown sample ITS2 sequences was conducted using BLAST against a local DNA barcode library for the selected landraces with a minimum BLAST cutoff of 97 % identity for a top match. These results were verified by neighbor-joining analysis and by evaluating the branches leading to specimens tested as compared with sequences of reference species. We also used the “best match” and “best close match” functions of the program TAXONDNA . These samples were blind labeled and randomly drawn from a pool of 160 seed packets labeled only with a number (unknown landraces). These samples were all barcoded using We used multivariate analyses to explore variation among 32 landraces for 50 agricultural traits. The classification structure in the landraces to the agricultural trait characters was analyzed with nonmetric multidimensional scaling Kruskal  using “RThere is limited research on the genomic variation found among small millet landraces. Molecular techniques such as restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP), randomly amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD), inter simple sequence repeat amplification (ISSR) and microsatellites have been employed to understand genetic diversity in major and various small millet species  and one major millet Sorghum saccharum  in Eluecine coracana  and species (six species) assignments for all 160 blind samples in our study. Previous research  of millet.Our research provides a molecular diagnostic tool for fast and accurate identification of millet landraces. We utilized a tiered approach using Landraces are associated with highly valued traditional knowledge concerning traits. These morphological traits such as grain size and plant height are important to crop yield. Other traits are associated with ecological tolerance with respect to the types of areas on the landscape where these landraces will grow and flourish. Farmers have selected for these traits over many generations and the variation among these traits reflects the different needs of farmers whom seek to grow a particular landraces of millet with respect to different types of sites. Many agricultural traits, such as length of the growing season, salt tolerance, and germination requirements, are highly variable among the different landraces. We visited farms where they grew millet at low and very high elevations (1000–1500 m) in very harsh conditions. Perhaps one of our biggest discoveries is the existence of a drought tolerant landrace, which is of considerable importance given recent changes in the local climate. The farmers told us that many landraces are vulnerable due to the recent adverse climate conditions such as recurrent drought . Most landraces that have yellow or brown colored collars are spread out on the right side of the axis and landraces with collar which are dull green or pale spread out on the left side of the axis . Most landraces that are on the upper area of axis 2 are shorter and have lower biomass than those on the lower area of the axis . Landraces on the top portion of axis 3 had more round grains than those in the bottom portion of the axis. Most landraces on the top of axis 3 have lower population germination rate than the landraces spread out on the bottom portion of the axis  and roti (millet chapatti) in our community”. Similarly, another old female farmer in Dhikur Pokhari VDC of the same district revealed that consumption of finger millet-based food helps control obesity. In fact, many farmers claim to use millet to control diabetes due to its low glycemic load ; these farmer are aware that the slow digestibility of millet sugar made it the perfect food for diabetic patient. Pregnant and lactating women in many households preferred a millet-based diet because it provided energy as well as prevented weight gain. They believed that during pregnancy, the consumption of millet helped induce lactation and maintain optimal body temperature and energy levels after delivery. Farmers told us that animals that consume millet-based feed have higher yields of milk; some of the feeds include fermented millet. We were told that human consumption of fermented ragi helps individuals to recover from stomach disorders caused by over consumption of liquor. This is very common as there are roadside shops that sell this product on most street corners in the morning  is known to be high in protein, and a good source of starch, vitamins and minerals, such as iron, and phosphorus  paste or turmeric. Vitamin balls are commonly made from ragi mixed with other herbs to treat sick children and malnutrition. These balls are made from freshly matured seeds of Keshvaragu, which are crushed into a green paste with the leaves of Modakathan and other ethnotaxa such as Thirivarugu. This mixture ground up into a fine powder using a hand stone mill and then formed into small (about 1 cm in size) spherical balls and stored them in a cool place. Small millets can also be used as a poultice to treat insect bites, fevers, chickenpox, smallpox and measles. Farmers have actually made plaster cast for broken bones of the fractured human or animal body parts using millet flour plaster in the early days; some millet landraces make better cast that last longer such as the landrace Paundure kodo, which can be used to heal a fracture in 30–45 days. Millet landraces are also used veterinary applications to treat livestock. Most of the treatments are related to digestive disorders such as bloating and diarrhea. Even though, finger millet is stigmatized against its color and taste, as people feel ashamed to offer dhindo to their special guests or relatives, it is well appreciated for its medicinal value, as it helps relieve from cold, asthma, allergies, gastric, joint aches and diabetes ; the locals believe that their God idol will have more power. The Gurung, Newar and Magar communities considered small millet as a ‘pure’ grain with which to brew spirits that are offered to the Gods/Goddesses in various festivals or life ceremonies. Foxtail millet is one of the seven pure grains mentioned in Hindu manuscripts. In fact, they believe that evil can be chased away with the flames from this millet alcohol in a sacred process called Chhyahore. In Nepal, the Chepang community considers a landrace of barnyard millet to also be a ‘pure’ sacred grain of great religious importance, which is offered to their Kuldevata (God of the clan) in Rishi Panchami festival; food prepared from barnyard millet is consumed during a fasting period for well-being. Locally prepared finger millet alcohol is offered as Sagun to relatives and guests to honor them with respect. On contrary, finger millet is considered ‘impure’ grain and not suitable for religious ceremonies especially for Brahmin and Chhetri communities. We also learned of a common tradition where the majority of the farming community will donate millet seed and flour as a wedding gift—a gift of life. The amount of millet gifted depended on the wealth of the farmer. The value of millet in their community was celebrated in all ceremonies, as it is the life source of their culture.Millet landraces have considerable social value. The historical value of millet is well documented throughout India Fuller . We provChhyang, which was prepared during our visit to one of the study sites. The local process is rather innovative in that the local millet grains are boiled and fermented using special locally prepared yeasts. The fermented grains are stored in pots for one to three months and alcohol is prepared from of the fermented millet in an elaborate steam distillation apparatus. Farmers often prepare their own country liquor called rakshi using their own landrace of kodo with an inoculum, which is often uniquely chosen by the farmer  using either its flower or root or stem. Rakshi is a mild tasting alcohol and the locals claim that it has medicinal and nutritional qualities, such as topical application to sooth aching joints or burns; relief from pain and fatigue; treating stomach disorders; and prevention of high altitude sickness. The stalks of millet are commonly used as thatching for roofs, and as straw for both feed and bedding of livestock. This straw is traded or sold within local communities and stored for long periods of drought.Small millet is an important commodity in rural communities. The commercial value of the various landraces is considerable to several local industries. For example, different landraces of finger millet are among the major ingredients in cookie industry. The cookie industry Fig.  providesmer Fig. ; we wereThirikulasama and Pani varagu) were used by farmers in dry steep slopes because they exhibit drought tolerance. The farmers told us that these are small millets that they seed by hand and they will germinate and grow without any irrigation; the farmers do not return to that field until they need to harvest. Although the yield from these drought tolerant landraces is low, the farmers are assured that there will be a harvest even in the dry slopes or in seasons with extend drought. Interestingly, we learned that Kodo millet hay is environment friendly as a biocontrol agent. Kodo millet straw is in high demand where the betel leaf (Piper betel) is grown. Betel leaf is a good cash crop, which is commonly affected by pathogenic fungi. Betel plant stem and root decaying disease causes major losses in yield for the betel plant growers. According to the betel farmers, mulching with kodo millet straw helps prevent the pathogenic fungi from establishing, resulting in much higher yields. We were also told that the straw from Thirivarugu, which is not palatable for animals, can be used as mulch around the beds of Capsicum, tomatoes, and eggplant. The mulch is prepared by making piles of this millet, and then by luring many millipedes and centipedes from the forest. The millipedes and centipedes converted the tough stems and leaves into a rich, humus-like mulch.Traditional farmers have many environmental uses for millet of which most apply to agronomy within their communities. All millets are used on steep slopes to control erosion and drought conditions. Several landraces in our study  and International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT). The International Development Research Center (IDRC) has recently funded several projects in South Asia, under its Canadian International Food Security Research Fund (CIFSRF), to document indigenous landraces of small millets and associated indigenous knowledge system. Many of these accessions have been evaluated in the country and some were released as commercial cultivars for the highlands and lowlands. Still others have been used in supplementing the germplasm base of the international and national agricultural systems around the globe. Maloles et al.  and RengA strategy for the conservation of genetic diversity is not complete and several steps need to be completed. Although India has done excellent job in providing legal framework through PPVFR Act, it does not have a national DNA database on small millets that could be help in prioritizing scientific research and monitoring commercial use and conservation of landraces. Current research on Indian small millets relies on the allele frequency calculations on the western species and varieties using the NCBI GenBank. The ideas presented in this paper is the first step towards demonstrating the use of barcoding methodology and generating scientific data on small millets landraces cultivated in India and Nepal. Such research has to be scaled up by national research institutions to create complete database numerous landraces cultivated and practiced by local farmers. This database can help the government authorities to apply DNA as evidence in the adjudication of farmers’ rights cases through PPVFR. We suggest that our methods and preliminary research were used to establish a biological reference material (BRM) for important landraces of small millet in India and Nepal. The Wildlife Institute of India (WII) located in Dehradun has started the DNA-based Wildlife Forensics Services to provide scientific evidence on crimes that impact biodiversity Gupta , b. The Supplementary material 1 (XLSX 56 kb)Below is the link to the electronic supplementary material.


Introduction: Although the critical feature of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is a persistent pattern of inattention and/or hyperactivity/impulsivity behavior, the disorder is clinically heterogeneous, and concomitant difficulties are common. Children with ADHD are at increased risk for experiencing lifelong impairments in multiple domains of daily functioning. In the present study we aimed to build a brief ADHD impairment-related tool -ADHD concomitant difficulties scale (ADHD-CDS)- to assess the presence of some of the most important comorbidities that usually appear associated with ADHD such as emotional/motivational management, fine motor coordination, problem-solving/management of time, disruptive behavior, sleep habits, academic achievement and quality of life. The two main objectives of the study were (i) to discriminate those profiles with several and important ADHD functional difficulties and (ii) to create a brief clinical tool that fosters a comprehensive evaluation process and can be easily used by clinicians.Methods: The total sample included 399 parents of children with ADHD aged 6–18 years  and 297 parents of children without a diagnosis of ADHD . The scale construction followed an item improved sequential process.Results: Factor analysis showed a 13-item single factor model with good fit indices. Higher scores on inattention predicted higher scores on ADHD-CDS for both the clinical sample  and the whole sample . The ROC curve for the ADHD-CDS (against the ADHD diagnostic status) gave an area under the curve (AUC) of.979 .Discussion: The ADHD-CDS has shown preliminary adequate psychometric properties, with high convergent validity and good sensitivity for different ADHD profiles, which makes it a potentially appropriate and brief instrument that may be easily used by clinicians, researchers, and health professionals in dealing with ADHD. It is amply accepted that Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (hereafter ADHD) impacts negatively on social, academic, and occupational functioning . TherefoSeveral studies have highlighted some alterations in emotional processing , as wellResearch has also suggested primary deficits in motor coordination associated to ADHD . It has Time processing is also affected in ADHD as it is evidenced in both behavioral , and neuThe oppositional defiant disorder (ODD) is the most common comorbid condition associated to ADHD during childhood . ChildreChildren and adults with ADHD may present some symptoms related to sleep disorders such as daytime sleep, insomnia, fractured sleep, restless legs syndrome and sleep-disordered breathing , that serves two main functions: (i) to discriminate some profiles that present several and important ADHD functional difficulties; and (ii) to foster a comprehensive evaluation process that can be easily used by both clinicians and researchers. The aim of the ADHD-CDS was to assess the presence of some of the most important comorbidities, previously described, that usually appear associated to ADHD. It is important to highlight that the aforementioned deficits are not attributable directly to ADHD; they just co-occur frequently with the disease and therefore it cannot permit establishing any causal relation.M = 11.65; SD = 3.1; 280 males). Mental health professionals entirely blinded regarding the objectives of the study, performed the ADHD diagnosis. They all used the inattention (ADHD-IN) and hyperactivity/impulsivity (ADHD-HY) symptoms from the ADHD-Rating Scale-IV , recruited from some schools in the local area. Control participants were excluded if they scored above the clinical threshold of ADHD-RS-IV parent ratings. Demographic and clinical characteristics of the whole sample are shown in Table 1.A sample of 696 families of children with and without a diagnosis of ADHD gave informed consent to participate in the study. Parents of ADHD children were recruited from some child mental health clinics and family support associations. The ADHD sample included parents of 399 children aged 6–18 years .The scale construction followed an item improved sequential process. The first pool of items was comprised of 55 items equally distributed along the seven areas. We first selected a committee of four experts from university academics and clinicians specialized in ADHD. The committee assessed the original pool and reduced it from 55 to 20 items by selecting the most comprehensive items on the basis of clarity, precision, and plainness. Those items which were agreed in terms of the precision in their definition and the degree of sufficiency were selected. Thirteen psychology postgraduate and 66 psychopedagogy undergraduate students that volunteered to participate, formed a second group. Students rated each remaining item with a score ranging from 0 to 4 on the basis of their clarity, intelligibility, and ease to understand . Items reaching average scores of 3 or less, and/or Content Validity Index  lower than 0.50 were further excluded, reducing the pool from 20 to 17 items , were fitted into a web format. Parents were given access to the scales online and results were encrypted for later correction. Parents first rated the occurrence of inattention and hyperactivity/impulsivity symptoms affecting their children for the past 6 months on a Likert-type 4-point scale , according to the ADHD Rating Scale-IV . The twoResponses collected from parents to the ADHD-CDS were analyzed according to the following sequence:(i)U test was used to compare the control vs. the clinical groups, and the Kruskall–Wallis χ2 test was used to compare the control vs. the ADHD clinical presentations. We checked whether case-control differences were due to either age or gender.Differences between parents’ responses from the clinical and control groups were computed by using non-parametric tests. The Mann–Whitney (ii)Principal Axis Factoring was used to determine the latent structure of items. Such method of factoring is recommended for non-normal distributions . We incl(iii)Confirmatory Factor Analysis with diagonally weighted least squares method (cat-DWLS) was performed on the basis of the re-specified model from EFA. We used Mplus 14 software for that purpose.(iv)ADHD-CDS single total scores  were computed and used to estimate correlations. We also computed unique effects among ADHD-IN, ADHD-HY, and ADHD-CDS total score .(v)We conducted sensitivity and specificity analyses, and estimated the area under the ROC curve.p < 0.05). Concretely, the Mann–Whitney U test was employed to assess the differences between the control and the clinical taken gender as a between-subjects factor; and Cliff’s delta was used to estimate the effect sizes. In contrast, the clinical sample scores followed a normal distribution (Kolmogorov–Smirnov test p > 0.05).Non-parametric analyses were conducted with the total sample because item-domain scores followed non-normal distributions , limits , and school diary , whereas females outperformed males in mathematics . The same gender differences were also found in the control group, but the male superiority extended to handwriting , and quality of life . Children from the clinical group that were taking medication showed lower scores in both limits  and quality of life , compared to children that were not taking medication. Age correlated significantly with time management , quality of life , and mathematics .In the clinical group males outperformed females in handicrafts (Table 3). Nevertheless, some differences between the two clinical subgroups were also found. The ADHD-inattentive subgroup showed lower scores than the ADHD-combined subgroup in emotional self-regulation, emotional lability, handwriting, problem solving, quality of life, and limits.Both the ADHD-combined and the ADHD-inattentive subgroups showed higher scores than the control group in all domains (see M = 0.37), they were further excluded from the scale. Additionally, the sleep habits item scored below 1.5 in the clinical group, and thus is was also excluded from the scale.The control group mean scores were greater than 1 in three items, emotional self-regulation, restless management, and sensitive to reward. As the mean scores of those three items were higher than the 0.5 exclusion criterion for controls, and almost three times greater than the mean of the remaining items (Table 4). Correlation between ADHD-dimensions and items were moderate-to-high for inattention , and low-to-high for hyperactive/impulsivity . With the exception of limits , the correlations for each domain were greater for ADHD-IN  than for ADHD-HY .Spearman’s rank correlation coefficients were also computed (Table 5). Factor loadings ranged from 0.62 (maths) to 0.85 (academic support). Results of the 13-item exploratory factor analysis supported a single total score. The sum of 13 items generated an ADHD-CDS total score, with higher scores indicating greater degree of ADHD difficulties . Cronbach’s alpha coefficient was 0.94, and corrected item-total correlations were medium-to-high, ranging 0.59 to 0.82, indicating high internal consistency reliability.The results showed a 13-item single factor model with good fit indices  the multi-factor models were rejected (Kaiser’s criterion). Accordingly, we did not conduct any confirmatory factor analysis with the alternative models, nor did compare them with the single factor model.2 (65) = 543.36; p < 0.001; RMSA = 0.01; WRMR = 1.586; CFI = 0.98; TLI = 0.98. Standardized factor loadings were from 0.61 to 0.91. Hence, the fit indices indicated a satisfactory fit to the single-factor structure1.An additional confirmatory factor analysis with diagonally weighted least squares method (cat-DWLS) was also conducted to verify that each item loaded onto one single component factor. All items converged into one general factor, ADHD concomitant difficulties, with χp < 0.001) and ADHD-HY . Nevertheless, when only the clinical sample was analyzed, the correlations were rather moderate . After controlling for ADHD-IN there was no relationship between ADHD-HY and ADHD-CDS . The ADHD-IN scores predicted ADHD-CDS scores for both the clinical sample  and the whole sample .We computed Spearman rank correlation coefficients between the ADHD dimensions and the total score. Total score was positive correlated with both ADHD-IN  gave an area under the curve (AUC) of 0.979 , which can be considered very high . The AUCIn addition, the percentage of ADHD cases that scored higher than the 90% of the control group scores was 94.3%. Differentiating between the two clinical subgroups, the percentages were 95.4 and 89.2% for the ADHD-combined and the ADHD-inattentive subgroups, respectively.It is clear that ADHD is a clinical and neuropsychological heterogeneous disorder. At the clinical level, the two main ADHD dimensions described in DSM  are widely validated, although the bidimensional model of ADHD has been recently questioned . FurtherAt the neuropsychological level, multiple neurocognitive deficits have been associated with the disease. Delay aversion, inhibitory control, timing, time variability, decision-making, and working memory among others, are crucial neuropsychological areas that have been found to be altered in ADHD e.g., . Apart fIn the present study we aimed at constructing a brief scale, the ADHD-CDS, that may be a useful and easy-to-use instrument to detect comorbidity associated to ADHD in both clinical and research contexts. These difficulties might also be the target of clinical interventions concerned with ADHD, such as behavioral modification therapy, emotional and motivational self-management skills, family therapy, and/or metacognitive strategies among others.Regarding the ADHD-CDS structure, our results with a rather ample sample of both clinical and control participants, suggest that our scale follows a single-factor latent structure. Single-factor models have also been observed in other screening scales when they have been used in both clinical and non-clinical populations , 2005. IFinally, the present study has several limitations. First, ADHD-CDS assesses ADHD concomitant difficulties, and thus we cannot establish any causal relation between such deficits and the disorder. Second, as other disorders have not been included in the study we cannot assure that the impairment profile obtained with ADHD-CDS is unique to ADHD. Third, ADHD-CDS includes some but not all concomitant difficulties that may be associated with ADHD. Thus, the current scale should be considered as a preliminary proposal, which is open to the inclusion of other ADHD concomitant difficulties that clinicians may consider relevant in the diagnosis and treatment of ADHD. Four, from a methodological perspective, further studies are needed to test the psychometric properties of the scale on independent samples, particularly including people with other disorders different to ADHD .In summary, the present results provide additional evidence that ADHD is a complex and highly heterogeneous disorder with some concomitant difficulties in several functional areas. The ADHD-CDS has shown preliminary adequate psychometric properties, with high convergent validity and good sensitivity for different ADHD profiles, which makes it a potentially appropriate and brief instrument that may be easily used by clinicians, researchers, and health professionals in dealing with ADHD.JF-C was involved all along the process, from the conception to the revision to the manuscript. LF was involved in the drafting and revision of the manuscript.The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.


ADHD) is thought to reflect a continuously distributed quantitative trait, it is assessed through binary diagnosis or skewed measures biased towards its high, symptomatic extreme. A growing trend is to study the positive tail of normally distributed traits, a promising avenue, for example, to study high intelligence to increase power for gene‐hunting for intelligence. However, the emergence of such a ‘positive genetics’ model has been tempered for ADHD due to poor phenotypic resolution at the low extreme. Overcoming this methodological limitation, we conduct the first study to assess the aetiologies of low extreme ADHD traits.Although attention deficit hyperactivity disorder  questionnaire was used to assess ADHD traits on a continuum from low to high. Aetiological influences on extreme ADHD traits were estimated using DeFries–Fulker extremes analysis. ADHD traits were related to behavioural, cognitive and home environmental outcomes using regression.In a population‐representative sample of 2,143 twins, the Strength and Weaknesses of ADHD traits were significantly influenced by shared environmental factors (23–35%) but were not significantly heritable. In contrast, high‐extreme ADHD traits showed significant heritability (39–51%) but no shared environmental influences. Compared to individuals with high extreme or with average levels of ADHD traits, individuals with low extreme ADHD traits showed fewer internalizing and externalizing behaviour problems, better cognitive performance and more positive behaviours and positive home environmental outcomes.Low extreme ADHD traits may reflect passive gene‐environment correlation, which arises because parents provide environments as well as passing on genes. Studying the low extreme opens new avenues to study mechanisms underlying previously neglected positive behaviours. This is different from the current deficit‐based model of intervention, but congruent with a population‐level approach to improving youth wellbeing.Shared environmental influences on low extreme  Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is a common neurodevelopmental disorder affecting around 6–7% of children and adolescents . Significant group heritability (h2g) that is similar in size to the heritability across the range of individual differences, suggests that extreme scores are heritable, and that there are genetic links between extreme scores and normal population variance, consistent with continuity. In contrast, nonsignificant h2g and significant heritability of individual differences would suggest that extreme scores are not significantly influenced by genetic factors, or that there are no genetic links between extreme scores and normal population variance, consistent with discontinuity. Like all common mental health continua  outcomes, or may also come with disadvantages remains a topic for empirical investigation Plomin, . On the Few measures exist that provide resolution at the low extreme of mental health continua. For ADHD, the Strength and Weaknesses of ADHD Symptoms and Normal behaviour (SWAN) questionnaire  from 1083 twin pairs: 415 monozygotic , 349 dizygotic (DZ) same‐sex , and 319 DZ opposite‐sex pairs. Informed written consent was obtained from the parents and twins . Questionnaires were pencil‐and‐paper based and returned via free‐post envelope, some were web‐based (highlighted below).Participants were part of the Twins Early Development Study (TEDS), a U.K. population‐representative sample of twins born in England and Wales between 1994 and 1996  questionnaire . Cronbach's alpha internal consistency was high (0.93). To test that low and high SWAN scores were both reliable, a mean split was used showing that Cronbach's alpha internal consistency was similar for below (0.91) or above (0.93) average SWAN scores. Moreover, previous research has shown that low‐bound estimates of test‐retest reliability, estimated by correlating SWAN scores across time points for MZ twins, are good for the SWAN (0.72–0.90)  was assessed using a child‐rated 4‐item web‐based questionnaire  addresses to what extent genetic factors explain why those at the extreme, as a group, differ from the rest of the population. Likewise group‐shared (c2g) and nonshared (e2g) environment can be estimated, which refer to environmental factors contributing to twin similarity and dissimilarity respectively. We also obtained A (heritability), C  and E  estimates for the entire distribution of individual differences in ADHD traits using full‐information maximum likelihood estimation on raw data in Mx, creating residual scores, corrected for sex and age by means of regression , DF extremes analyses were conducted on low‐ and high extreme 5%, 10%, 15% and 20% cut‐offs on the SWAN, using Mx , polynomial regression analyses were conducted including the linear and nonlinear (quadratic) terms of ADHD traits as predictors (centred scores), age and gender as covariates, and behavioural, cognitive and home environmental measures as outcomes. Linear relations between ADHD traits and outcomes would indicate low extreme ADHD traits represent more adaptive outcomes than high‐extreme ADHD traits. Curvilinear relations could suggest low and high‐extreme traits are both associated with maladaptive outcomes, depending on the shape of the curve. Further, mean outcome measure scores were plotted of individuals with the highest and lowest 10% scores on the ADHD trait distribution, and children scoring in the average 10%. Outcome measures were standardized into z‐scores. The skewed SDQ and MFQ measures transformed using Van der Waerden transformation. Corrections were applied for the nonindependence of data due to including twin pairs , but not for low extreme ADHD traits. In contrast, c2g was nonsignificant for high extreme, but significant for low extreme ADHD traits . However, estimates of h2g and c2g at low and high extremes did not differ significantly as 95% confidence intervals overlapped  and low (e2g = 50–55%) extremes  and nonshared environmental (E = 48%) estimates for the entire distribution of individual differences in ADHD traits were significant, whereas shared environmental influences were nonsignificant (C = 6%) (Table B.S2 in Appendix S2).SDs) of a standard normal distribution  on behaviour problems, between 0.71 and 1.19 SDs on cognitive performance, between 0.61 and 1.4 SDs on the continuous child positive traits, and 0.75 and 1.3 SDs on home environmental outcomes, indicating moderate to large effect sizes . Individuals at the low extreme of ADHD traits, relative to those at the high extreme, had lower internalizing and externalizing behaviour scores, higher general cognitive ability and school grades in English and Mathematics, showed more prosocial behaviour, greater life satisfaction, happiness and grit, were more likely to have a special ability or striking skill, and reported fewer negative parental discipline strategies and less confusion and disorganization at home. Individuals with average levels of ADHD traits tended to score intermediate to those at either extreme of the SWAN distribution  and nonshared environment (50–55%). This is a striking finding as shared environmental influences on high extreme and individual differences in ADHD traits are typically nonsignificant and close to zero Burt, . ConsistWe found no evidence to support an evolutionary trade‐off hypothesis Nettle, , that isGE). Hence, the effect of genes and environments on ADHD traits may be nonlinear across the continuum of ADHD traits. For example, in the presence of perinatal insults, influences of genetic factors on problem behaviour have been shown to decrease and those of shared and nonshared environmental factors to increase, suggestive of environmental moderation of heritability .Click here for additional data file.


Objective. This study evaluated the effect of immediate or delayed finishing/polishing using different systems on the surface roughness, hardness, and microleakage of a silorane-based composite. Material and Methods. Specimens were made with silorane-based composite  and assigned to the treatments: control (light-cured); aluminum oxide discs ; diamond-impregnated silicone tips ; aluminum oxide-impregnated silicone tips . Half of the specimens were finished/polished immediately and the rest after 7 days. Surface roughness  and Vickers microhardness  were measured. Cavities were prepared in bovine incisors and filled with Filtek P90. The fillings received immediate or delayed finishing/polishing (n = 10) and were subjected to dye penetration test . Data were analyzed by ANOVA and Scheffe, Kruskal-Wallis, and Mann-Whitney tests (p < 0.05). Results. The finishing/polishing system significantly influenced roughness and microhardness (p < 0.0001). For enamel, microleakage was not affected by the finishing/polishing system (p = 0.309). For dentin, Sof-Lex discs and Astropol points promoted greater microleakage than Enhance points (p = 0.033). Conclusion. Considering roughness, microhardness, and microleakage together, immediate finishing/polishing of a silorane-based composite using aluminum oxide discs may be recommended. Dental restorations require finishing and polishing procedures to fulfill the requirements of form and function and to promote aesthetics, longevity, and periodontal health , 2. DiffThere is controversy regarding the best time to perform finishing and polishing of composite restorations. Although composite manufacturers recommend performing the procedure immediately after the restoration, it should be delayed to avoid the negative effects of heat generation, such as smearing of the resin matrix and the creation of local hot spots before the final polymerization of the composite . However Candida albicans [A silorane-based low-shrinkage composite has been introduced as an alternative to methacrylates and has low filler content by volume with a combination of fine quartz particles and yttrium fluoride . When coalbicans –10. Cuspalbicans . Furtheralbicans . Siloranalbicans . Howeveralbicans .Changes in matrix composition, the introduction of new monomers, filler content optimization, and variations in particle size, type, and morphology can all increase the surface roughness of composites  and can The objective of the present study was to evaluate the effect of immediate or delayed finishing/polishing using different systems on the surface roughness, hardness, and microleakage of a silorane-based composite. The null hypothesis tested was that the time to perform finishing/polishing and the use of different systems do not affect the surface roughness, microhardness, and microleakage of a silorane-based composite resin. in vitro study were finishing/polishing systems at four levels—control (light-cured in contact with polyester strip), aluminum oxide discs , diamond-impregnated silicone tips , and aluminum oxide-impregnated silicone tips —and the time to perform finishing/polishing at two levels (immediately and after 7 days). The specimens were made of silorane-based composite  following a randomized complete block design. The dependent variables were mean surface roughness  (n = 20), Vickers microhardness (n = 10), and microleakage at the enamel and dentin margins, evaluated by dye penetration scores (n = 10). The surfaces of the specimens were analyzed using scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The main factors evaluated in this2) using a QHT light-cure unit  positioned in direct contact with the polyester strip. A marking was made on the outer edge of each specimen to standardize the direction of rotating device application. Half of the specimens of each group randomly divided received finishing/polishing immediately after preparation. The other half was stored in dark container on gauze soaked in distilled water at 37°C for 7 days. The following finishing/polishing procedures were applied.A two-part Teflon mold (diameter = 10 mm and high = 2 mm) was filled with the composite in a single increment, using a 70 spatula . A polyester strip and a glass slide were positioned on the strip, and a load of 500 g was applied for 30 seconds, followed by light-curing , Astropol P (green), and Astropol F (pink) discs, mounted on the handpiece. Each disc was applied to the specimen for 10 seconds under constant cooling with a water jet. Irrigation was performed between each application with compressed air/water for 5 seconds. One disc sequence was used for each specimen.After finishing and polishing, the specimens were washed for 10 seconds with compressed air/water and cleaned (ultrasonic bath for 30 seconds in distilled water), dried with paper towels, and stored dry. A single operator performed all laboratory procedures in an air-conditioned environment at temperature of 21 ± 2°C. The same specimens were used sequentially for measurements of surface roughness and microhardness.μm) was recorded within a measuring length of 4 mm and with a cut-off of 0.8 mm. Four readings were taken for each specimen, one parallel, one perpendicular, and two diagonal in relation to the direction of the finishing/polishing instrument application. The mean of the four readings was obtained to represent each specimen.A profilometer  calibrated with a standard of known roughness was used. The arithmetic mean of the absolute distance of the roughness profile  under 50 g load, over 45 seconds. Four indentations were made on each specimen, one in each quadrant, equidistant from the center. The readings were recorded immediately after removal of the penetrator to minimize the effect of elastic recovery. The mean of the four indentations was used to determine the Vickers hardness number of each specimen.For illustrative purposes, two specimens representative of each experimental condition were prepared for surface characterization using SEM . The specimens were metallized with carbon, and the surface was examined with up to 3,000x magnification and an accelerating voltage of 10,000 V.2) in contact with a polyester strip. The gross excesses were removed with a 15 scalpel blade.Extracted bovine teeth were scaled to remove organic and inorganic debris and were stored in 0.05% thymol solution. Eighty teeth were visually selected based on the absence of cracks, stains, and excessive incisal wear. After thorough washing in running water, cylindrical cavities (2.0 mm in diameter and 1.5 mm in depth) were prepared using 2294 diamond bur  in a high-speed handpiece under constant air/water cooling. Two cavities were prepared on the buccal surface of each tooth to 3 mm of the enamel-cement junction, one on the coronal portion and the other on the root surface. A new diamond tip was used for every two prepared teeth. The cavities dimensions were checked using a millimeter probe . The coronal restoration operative steps were (a) application of 37% phosphoric acid  for 30 seconds on the enamel, washing with air/water spray for 60 s, and drying with paper towels; (b) active priming  application for 15 seconds, applying a gentle air stream until the primer was spread into a uniform film, and light-curing for 10 seconds; and (c) adhesive application  into the cavity, applying a gentle stream of air until the adhesive was spread into a uniform film, and light-curing (10 seconds). The composite was then inserted into the cavity in a single increment and was light-cured  3 mm in diameter was applied to the restoration and adjacent tooth structure. The apical foramen was covered with plastified wax , and a double layer of nail polish  was applied over the entire tooth surface.After the nail polish dried, the tape discs were removed to expose the restoration and the 1 mm adjacent tooth structure. The specimens were immersed in 0.5% basic fuchsin for 24 hours at room temperature, washed in running water for 2 minutes, and dried with absorbent paper. The teeth were sectioned on the enamel-dentin junction to separate the crowns of the roots. Then they were sectioned longitudinally in a buccolingual direction through the center of the restorations using a double-faced diamond disc .A trained examiner (Kappa = 0.86) examined both crown and root hemisections to determine the scores of dye penetration in the restoration margins. The cervical and incisal or apical margins of the coronal and root restorations were examined separately using a stereomicroscope  with 32x magnification and were classified according to the following scores: (0) no evidence of dye penetration at the tooth/restoration interface; (1) dye penetration up to half the length of the wall; (2) dye penetration along all the length of the wall; and (3) dye penetration along all the length of the wall and in the axial direction.p = 0.094) and microhardness data (p = 0.200). Levene's test was used to verify the equality of variances for the surface roughness (p = 0.547) and microhardness (p = 0.916) data. The effects of the finishing and polishing systems, the time of application, and the interactions were analyzed using two-way Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) and Scheffe post hoc test. Kruskal-Wallis test compared median microleakage scores to determine the effects of finishing/polishing systems and time of application on the enamel and dentin margins. Comparison of the polishing systems was performed using the Mann-Whitney test. All tests were considered significant at 95% confidence level.Kolmogorov-Smirnov and Shapiro-Wilk tests verified the normal distribution of surface roughness (p < 0.0001). There was no significant effect of the application time (p = 0.2851) or the interaction between polishing system and application time (p = 0.0669). The control group produced significantly less surface roughness than the other types of polishing, which did not differ from each other (Two-way ANOVA found a significant effect of finishing/polishing system on surface roughness (ch other .p < 0.0001). There was no significant effect of the application time (p = 0.500) or of the interaction (p = 0.313). The control group had significantly lower microhardness than the Astropol and Sof-Lex groups but did not differ from the Enhance group. Enhance did not differ from Astropol but produced significantly lower microhardness than Sof-Lex. Sof-Lex produced significantly higher microhardness than control and Enhance but did not differ from Astropol (Two-way ANOVA showed a significant effect of finishing/polishing system on microhardness (Astropol .p = 0.009), but there was no significant effect of finishing/polishing system (p = 0.309). Medians, minimum and maximum values, and mean ranks of microleakage observed for immediate and delayed finishing/polishing in enamel and dentin are presented in For the enamel margins, delayed polishing produced significantly higher microleakage than immediate polishing (p = 0.313), but there was a significant effect of finishing/polishing type on microleakage (p = 0.033). For the dentin margins,there was nosignificant effect of the application time  was similar to the mean found in a previous study (0.220 ± 0.292) [μm proposed as the roughness threshold required for the accumulation of biofilm [μm (0.1–2 μm) in silorane-based composite may have contributed to this surface roughness value [In the present study, the surface roughness obtained for the silorane-based composite light-cured in contact with a polyester strip  reported for silorane-based resin (measured after polishing with abrasive sandpaper) has ranged from 59.26 to 80.8 , 20, 24.In this experiment, the use of different finishing and polishing systems resulted in a significant difference in the microhardness of silorane-based resin when it was applied either immediately or after 7 days. The use of Sof-Lex resulted in significantly higher microhardness compared to Enhance, which was not different from Astropol, which yielded intermediate microhardness values. We did not find previous studies that have evaluated the microhardness of silorane-based resin in response to different finishing and polishing systems. It is likely that the use of the abrasive disc sequence more effectively removed the organic matrix rich layer compared to other systems, exposing a harder surface. The different finishing and polishing systems showed the same behavior after 7 days. One might expect to find greater hardness for a silorane-based composite polished after 7 days because its polymerization reaction is characterized by continuous cationic ring opening initiated at the time of light-curing . HoweverThe dye penetration test was performed to determine the marginal sealing capacities of the restorations under the conditions evaluated. Overall, median microleakage scores were low (0.00 to 0.50) for the enamel and dentin margins. Silorane-based composite restorations of Class II and Class V cavities with enamel and dentin margins had similarly low microleakage results , 25–29. The effects of the finishing and polishing systems on microleakage were observed only for the dentin substrate. The use of the Sof-Lex discs promoted greater microleakage compared to the control and Enhance and did not differ from Astropol. It seems that the use increasing grit sequential tips or discs produced some kind of damage to the tooth-restoration union, notably on the dentin margins, which have less mineral content and more moisture compared to the enamel. Delayed polishing promoted greater microleakage than immediate polishing, only on the enamel margins. It suggests that after 7 days of storage in a humid environment at 37°C, there was a loss of bond quality of the self-etching adhesive system, even when enamel etching had previously been performed with 37% phosphoric acid. Immediate polishing did not make the silorane-based composite more susceptible to the supposed adverse effects of heat generation, probably due to the stability of its aromatic rings . in vitro study, it can be concluded that immediate polishing does not adversely influence the surface roughness, microhardness, and microleakage of silorane-based composite resin. The sequential aluminum oxide discs system produced a beneficial effect on microhardness but negatively influenced microleakage on the dentin margins. Considering the three outcomes studied as a whole, no finishing and polishing system performance was superior to the others.Considering the limitations of this


Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) is a heterogeneous disorder. Therefore it is important to look for factors that can contribute to better diagnosis and classification of these patients. The aims of the study were to characterize adult psychiatric out-patients with a mixture of mood, anxiety and attentional problems using an objective neuropsychological test of attention combined with an assessment of mood instability.n = 99; aged 18–65 years) requiring diagnostic evaluation of ADHD, mood or anxiety disorders were recruited, and were given a comprehensive diagnostic evaluation including the self-report form of the cyclothymic temperament scale and Conner’s Continuous Performance Test II (CPT-II). In addition to the traditional measures from this test we have extracted raw data and analysed time series using linear and non-linear mathematical methods.Newly referred patients . When compared to the clinical controls the ADHD patients had more omission and commission errors, and higher reaction time variability. Analyses of response times showed higher values for skewness in the ADHD patients, and lower values for sample entropy and symbolic dynamics. Among the ADHD patients 59 % fulfilled criteria for a cyclothymic temperament, and this group had higher reaction time variability and lower scores on complexity than the group without this temperament.The CPT-II is a useful instrument in the assessment of ADHD in adult patients. Additional information from this test was obtained by analyzing response times using linear and non-linear methods, and this showed that ADHD patients with a cyclothymic temperament were different from those without this temperament. Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) is a heterogeneous disorder  and subgThe diagnosis of ADHD is based on symptoms and behavioural criteria , but neuThe CPT uses several different measures to characterize the response patterns, one of them being variability. In neuropsychological tests ADHD patients are characterized by increased intraindividual variability of reaction times. One reason for this variability is the presence of some very long response times. In order to investigate this phenomenon further different analysis methods have been used, such as frequency domain analyses and ex-Gaussian analyses . A complThus, in this study we wanted to further characterize the time series from the CPT-II using linear and non-linear methods . ReducedThe aims of the study have been two-fold, first to characterize an adult population of ADHD patients according to scores on the CPT-second edition (CPT-II) , and to Secondly we aimed to examine whether ADHD patients, grouped according to the presence or not of CT, differ in their profile of CPT-II scores.The study protocol was approved by the Norwegian Regional Medical Research Ethics Committee West. Written informed consent was obtained from all participants involved in the study.Patients were recruited from the private psychiatric practice of authors KM and WF, both of them certified psychiatrists with long-standing clinical experience. The patients were consecutive new referrals, between 18 and 65 years of age, in need of diagnostic evaluation of ADHD, mood or anxiety disorders.Exclusion criteria were inability to speak Norwegian and not being able to comply with the study protocol. None were excluded because of inability to speak Norwegian. A total of 104 patients were recruited and 100 of them were tested with CPT-II. One of the patients had been treated with stimulants during testing and was therefore omitted from the analyses, bringing the total number of patients to 99, and these are reported on in the present paper. The group consisted of 48 women and 51 men, with an average age of 37.8 ± 11.0 years (mean ± SD), range 17–61.74 % of the ADHD patients and 65 % of the clinical controls were not prescribed psychotropic medications. A summary of the drugs used by the patients is presented in Table After a comprehensive evaluation and consensus discussion, 50 patients fulfilled criteria for a diagnosis of ADHD, while 49 did not. All these 49 patients were given other psychiatric diagnoses, . The gender ratio  and mean age are similar in the two groups Table .Table 2CAll diagnostic assessments of the patients were performed by either KM or WF using a clinical interview, supplemented when possible with information from collateral sources (relatives) concerning symptoms of ADHD in childhood. The final diagnostic evaluation assessment was made after an assessment of all available information, and a consensus diagnosis, based on DSM-IV criteria, was made after discussion of each case .The Mini-International Neuropsychiatric Interview , a module based semi-structured interview for DSM-IV and ICD-10 diagnoses, including a module on ADHD symptoms. All the modules except the one on psychotic disorders were administered [nistered , 22.Wender Utah Rating Scale, 25 questions version (WURS-25), is a 25-item self-rating scale that assesses symptoms and signs of ADHD in childhood, using a scale of 0–4 , yielding a range of scores from 0 to 100. WURS-25 has been used in previous studies in Norway [n Norway .Adult ADHD Self-Report Scale (ASRS). This is the World Health Organization’s rating scale for current symptoms of ADHD in adults. It consists of 18 questions that follow the DSM-IV criteria for ADHD, and uses a 5 point scale of 0–4 , with a range of scores from 0 to 72. The items from 1 to 9 cover symptoms of inattention and the items from 10 to 18 cover hyperactivity and impulsivity [ulsivity –25.Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS). This is a self-assessment form for detecting current states of depression and anxiety, and has been extensively used, also in Norway [n Norway .The Montgomery-Asberg Depression Rating Scale (MADRS), a standard instrument for the assessment of depression [pression .Mood Disorder Questionnaire (MDQ). This is a screening instrument for bipolar disorder that has been validated in both clinical and control populations. It is a self-report form with 13 questions scored “Yes” of “No”. Positive answer to at least 7 questions and confirmation that the symptoms have occurred together and caused problems is suggestive of a bipolar disorder [disorder , 28.Cyclothymic temperament scale is a self-report form consisting of 21 questions covering the cyclothymic temperament according to the definition of Akiskal [ Akiskal , 9. The  Akiskal .Conner’s Continuous Performance Test II (CPT-II) is a computerized test [n = 11; ADHD: n = 8, clinical controls : n = 3). Since we have included information from the CPT-II test in the diagnostic assessment of ADHD this may of course have influenced the association between ADHD and CPT-II measures. We have therefore made separate correlation analyses between scores on the ADHD module of MINI + and CPT-II results.zed test  with stiThe following assessment instruments were employed:For the time series raw data we calculated six measures. Linear measures: 1) The mean RT,2) the standard deviation (SD) of RT, expressed as percent of the mean RT, 3) the root mean square successive differences (RMSSD), expressed as percent of the mean RT and 4) skewness. Non-linear measures: 5) sample entropy, 6) symbolic dynamic analysis.http://www.physionet.org. Sample entropy is a nonlinear measure, indicating the degree of regularity (complexity) of time series, and is the negative natural logarithm of an estimate of the conditional probability that subseries of a certain length (m) that match point-wise, within a tolerance (r), also match at the next point. We chose the following values, m = 2 and r = 0.2. Sample entropy was employed since it can be employed with comparatively short time series (>50) and is robust with regard to outliers [For the analysis of sample entropy the data were normalized, by transforming the time series to have sample mean 0 and sample variance 1. The software used for the estimation of sample entropy was from the Physio Toolkit Research Resource for Complex Physiologic signals , see httoutliers .The time series were transformed into series of symbols according to the method described by Guzzetti et al.  and PortStudent’s t-test was used to evaluate differences between two groups, with the p-value set at 0.05. The Mann–Whitney U test was used when data were not normally distributed. Chi square test was employed when dealing with categorical data. Analysis of variance (ANOVA), with post-hoc Bonferroni corrections were used to compare four groups. We have not used Bonferroni corrections for the other analyses since many of the measures are correlated. Where relevant we have used ANCOVA to adjust for medication (use or no use of medication). There were no interactions with medication use for any of the measures reported. Effect sizes (d) are indicated where relevant. Pearson’s correlation coefficient was employed to evaluate correlations. SPSS version 21 was used for the statistical analyses.p < 0.001, d = 1.34) and ASRS scales 50.0 ± 12.2 vs. 31.6 ± 12.7, p < 0.001, d = 1.48) than the controls. For the questionnaires  and the MADRS scale there were no significant differences between the groups. The clinical diagnoses were based on the MINI+ interview. There was a higher number of patients with anxiety disorders in the group without ADHD . In the ADHD group 62 % did not have an anxiety disorder. For the other diagnoses there were no significant differences between the two groups.Table p < 0.001, d = 0.74) and commission errors  and variability  were all significantly higher in the ADHD group. The ADHD Confidence Index score was also elevated . Skewness  and the two variability measures SD , and RMSSD  showed higher values in the ADHD patients, combined with lower values for the two complexity measures sample entropy  and symbolic dynamics .In Table p = 0.008, d = 0.76). Among the patients with combined type ADHD 17 of 26 (65 %) have positive scores on the CT questionnaire compared to 12 of 23 (52 %) in the inattentive group, but this difference was not significant.The only significant difference between the groups two subgroups of ADHD patients, combined type and inattentive type, was in the reaction time, which was higher in the combined subtype , commission errors , variability  and ADHD Confidence Index scores . There were significant positive correlations between ADHD scores and values for the two variability measures SD  and RMSSD , and significant negative correlations between ADHD scores and the two complexity measures sample entropy  and symbolic dynamics . We have not applied any post-hoc corrections to these analyses.Table p = 0.004, d = 0.98) and RMSSD  and also lower values for sample entropy , while skewness was higher . For the clinical controls those with cyclothymic temperament had similar scores on the CPT-II test as those without this temperament (data not shown). For these four measures we also tested the difference between all four groups using ANOVA. This showed significant results for all measures except symbolic dynamics: F  = 12,232, p < 0.001 for SD; F  = 10,560, p < 0.001 for RMSSD; F  = 10,977, p < 0.001 for sample entropy and F  = 3,059, p < 0.033 for skewness. Post hoc Bonferroni tests showed that the ADHD + CT group was significantly different from all the three other groups for SD , RMSSD , and sample entropy . For skewness the ADHD + CT group was not significantly different from the ADHD and no CT group.Among the ADHD patients 59 % had a positive score on the test for cyclothymic temperament. In Table When the ADHD patients are separated into two groups based on the presence or not of positive score on the MDQ questionnaire there were no significant differences (data not shown). Similarly, for ADHD patients with a comorbid bipolar diagnosis, there were no significant differences (data not shown).The main findings of the present study are first that adult patients with ADHD differ from clinical controls on the CPT-II test not only in increased variability, but also reduced complexity. Secondly these changes in variability and complexity are only found in the subgroup of ADHD patients that fulfill criteria for a CT.For the whole group of patients, omission and commission errors, variability and skewness, discriminate well between patients with ADHD and those with other psychiatric diagnoses, mainly mood and anxiety disorders. The results are similar to previous studies using Conner’s CPT in adult patients. Epstein et al.  found moWe think these data support the notion that the CPT-II is a useful test in the assessment of patients with mixed complaints, including mood, anxiety and attentional problems, in an adult outpatient setting. This is in contrast to previous studies that have found little support for the usefulness of the Conner’s CPT in evaluating adult psychiatric out-patients. Walker et al.  found thAssignment of an ADHD diagnosis has been based on the fulfillment of formal diagnostic criteria. Even though CPT-II has only been used as supplementary information in the diagnostic process we have used correlation between MINI+ scores and CPT-II measures to get an independent verification of the association between CPT-II and ADHD. These correlations showed the same pattern as we found when CPT-II measures were listed according to the presence or not of a final ADHD diagnosis.In a number of studies it has been shown that increased intraindividual variability of reaction times is a characteristic feature of ADHD , 39, 40.Although variability has been offered much attention in the field of ADHD research, complexity has not been given a similar focus. Analysis of the complexity of the present time series show that sample entropy and symbolic dynamics gave very similar results, indicating that in adult ADHD patients there is reduced complexity of response time series, meaning increased order and predictability. This is in agreement with the suggestion that reduced complexity is associated with disease states and aging . In a raIn neuropsychological tests, increased variability has been reported in patients with depression , and in Landaas et al.  studied The present results are in apparent direct contrast with the findings of Hopwood and Morey , that emLundervold et al.  in a stuThe only difference we found between the inattentive and combined ADHD subgroups was in reaction time, while none of the other measures differed between groups. In adults Tucha et al.  found onThe patients reported on in this study may not be representative of ADHD patients in a general population. Most of them have comorbid psychiatric disorders in addition to ADHD and it is therefore difficult to know the effect of ADHD compared to the contribution from these other conditions. On the other hand, when these patients are seen in an adult psychiatric setting, comorbidity with other disorders is the rule, and also in epidemiological studies the comorbidity is high . It is tThe clinical interviews were performed by two different psychiatrists, but the use of the same diagnostic instruments and a final common evaluation of each case by these two, in addition to two other experienced psychiatrists, make it likely that the diagnostic assessment is reasonably accurate.The time interval between the presented letters (ISI) varies randomly in the CPT, and each individual therefore received a different presentation of intervals. Randomization of intervals between stimulus events has been shown to reduce variability compared to fixed intervals in a go/no-go test . It is tWe do not think medication is a likely confounding factor. Most of the patients were not using any medication, and among those that did use psychopharmacological agents, antidepressants were the most common medications, and with equal frequency in the ADHD and clinical control groups.In contrast to some previous studies, we have found that the CPT-II is a useful supplement in the diagnosis of ADHD in adult patients with a mixture of mood, anxiety and attentional problems. Furthermore, it is possible to gain additional information from this test by extracting raw data and performing separate analyzes using linear and non-linear methods. With such an approach we have found that patients with ADHD differ from clinical controls not only in showing increased variability, but also reduced complexity, and that these changes are restricted to the subgroup of ADHD patients that fulfil criteria for a cyclothymic temperament. We suggest that this may be employed not only in subtyping of ADHD patients, but also when trying to predict treatment effects.ADHD, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder; ANCOVA, Analysis of covariance; ANOVA, Analysis of variance; ASRS, Adult ADHD Self-Report Scale; CPT, Conner’s Continuous Performance Test; CPT-II, Conner’s Continuous Performance Test II; CT, cyclothymic temperament; DSM-IV, Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 4th Edition; HADS, Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale; ICD-10, International Classification of mental and behavioural Disorders -10; ISI, inter stimulus interval; MADRS, Montgomery-Asberg Depression Rating Scale; MDQ, Mood Disorder Questionnaire; MINI +, Mini-International Neuropsychiatric Interview; RMSSD, root mean square successive differences; RT, reaction time; SD, standard deviation; SPSS, Statistical Package for the Social Sciences; TEMPS-A, Temperament Evaluation of the Memphis, Pisa, Paris, and San Diego autoquestionnaire; WURS-25, Wender Utah Rating Scale, 25 questions version.