Processes and outcomes of psychotherapists' personal therapy: Replication and extension 20 years later.

In this replication and extension of a national survey of psychotherapists conducted in 1987, American psychologists (n = 219), counselors (n = 191), and social workers (n = 192) reported in 2007 on the processes and outcomes of their personal therapy experiences. Of the 85% who sought therapy at least once, women, men, and members of all three professions were equally as likely to have received personal treatment. Their top reasons for seeking therapy were marital–couple distress (20%), depression (13%), need for self-understanding (12%), and anxiety–stress (10%). Approximately 24% used psychotropic medication in combination with personal therapy. More than 90% of therapists reported positive outcomes across multiple domains. The modal lasting lessons from personal treatment related to therapist reliability, skill, and empathy. The results are tentatively compared with those obtained in 1987, thus chronicling the evolution of personal therapy among psychologists and social workers during the past 20 years. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Are working memory deficits in bipolar disorder markers for psychosis?

Working memory deficits have been identified in bipolar disorder, but there is evidence suggesting that these deficits may be markers for psychosis rather than affective disorder. The current study examined this issue by comparing two groups of individuals with bipolar disorder, one with psychotic features and one without psychotic features, with a group of normal controls. Working memory was conceptualized as a multicomponent system that includes auditory and visuospatial short-term stores, executive control processes, and an episodic buffer that allows for communication between short- and long-term memory stores (Baddeley & Logie, 1999). Results indicated that only executive control processes significantly differentiated the psychotic and nonpsychotic bipolar groups, although visuospatial working memory differentiated both bipolar groups from controls. The results support the idea that some aspects of working memory performance are markers for psychosis, while others may be more general markers for bipolar disorders. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Mediators of aggression among young adult offspring of depressed mothers.

The current article explores the connection between maternal depression and offspring aggression during the transition to adulthood, expanding the scope of prior research on this topic. Both family-level factors (including parent–child relationship quality and maternal romantic relationship quality) and youth factors (including depression history and social functioning in midadolescence) were tested as potential mediators in a longitudinal community sample of 710 youth at ages 15 and 20. The results suggest that maternal depression confers a risk for higher levels of aggressive behavior by offspring at age 20. Structural equation models suggested that the association between maternal depression and youth aggression is fully mediated by youth history of depression by midadolescence, even when accounting for the stability of aggression between ages 15 and 20. Parent–child relationship quality, youth social functioning, and maternal relationship quality were not unique mediators of this association. Limitations and implications are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Chemical Defenses Against Fish Predation in Three Brazilian Octocorals: 11β,12β-Epoxypukalide as a Feeding Deterrent in Phyllogorgia dilatata

The feeding-deterrence properties of crude extracts of three Brazilian octocoral species, Neospongodes atlantica Kükenthal (Alcyonacea, Nephtheidae), Plexaurella regia Castro (Gorgonacea, Plexauridae), and Phyllogorgia dilatata Esper (Gorgonacea, Gorgoniidae), were investigated. All the extracts were incorporated into food strips at the concentrations occurring in the living organisms. Crude extract and its ethyl acetate fraction obtained from P. dilatata collected in Armação dos Búzios (Rio de Janeiro State), when incorporated into artificial diets and tested in the habitat of origin, reduced consumption of food strips by fishes, relative to controls. Crude extracts from two octocoral species collected at the National Marine Park of Abrolhos (Bahia State), N. atlantica and P. regia, had no apparent feeding-deterrence properties; in fact, they seemed to stimulate feeding. Bioassay-guided fractionation of the bioactive P. dilatata crude extract revealed that the deterrent property was restricted to a medium polarity fraction. Field palatability experiments with two pure compounds isolated from this fraction revealed that the furanocembranolide 11,12-epoxypukalide is a potent feeding deterrent produced by P. dilatata against fish. Apparently, furanocembranolides are a particular class of compounds with feeding deterrent properties, protecting some octocorals from potential fish predator species in both tropical and temperate environments.     

Application of ultrafiltration to the preparation of defined hydrolysates of bovine haemoglobin

Many uses of protein hydrolysates have been developed and applied to areas such as nutritional therapy, culture media, and the isolation of biologically active peptides. All these applications need carefully controlled and characterized hydrolysates. In order to produce such a type of hydrolysate, it is possible to use haemoglobin which is a very well defined and constant protein source. Enzymic hydrolysis of haemoglobin by pepsin was carried out at pilot-plant scale in an ultrafiltration reactor with mineral membranes. The object was to obtain a reproducible, decolorized, salt-free enzymic hydrolysate. Two types of membranes were tested having 10000 dalton (M5 type) and 20000 dalton (M4 type) cut-offs. Little significant difference was observed in the final products when both types of membranes were used. Reproducibility of hydrolysates was verified by amino acid analysis and gel filtration chromatography. The haemoglobin hydrolysates produced contained more than 90% protein and are especially suitable for fine applications.     

Conceptualization and implementation of a multi-agent model to simulate whale-watching tours in the St. Lawrence Estuary in Quebec, Canada

The Saguenay St. Lawrence Marine Park (SSLMP) and the adjacent Marine Protected Area (MPA) in the St. Lawrence Estuary, in Quebec, cover a territory of exceptional biodiversity including 12 species of marine mammals, nearly half of which are considered to be endangered species. Whale-watching trips and other human activities related to commercial shipping, tourism, and recreation generate very intensive traffic in the area, which pose cumulative threats to the marine wildlife. This study has been undertaken in collaboration with the Marine Park and the MPA managers to develop a multi-agent system (MAS) to investigate the interactions between the traffic and the marine mammals in the estuary. This paper describes the first prototype version of the proposed MAS model where the focus is on the whale-watching boats. It discusses the conceptual model with its principal components: the physical environment and the boat agents and whale entities, and the implementation of the model with the behavior rules of the agents. In this version of the MAS, the whale-watching boats are represented as cognitive agents while the whales are simple reactive entities. The prototype model was implemented in the agent-based modeling platform RePast. An index, the happiness factor (i.e., the ratio of whale observation time over the trip duration) was designed to measure how successful the boat agents are in achieving their goal. Simulations were run to assess different decision strategies of the boat agents and their impacts on the whales. Results show that cooperative behavior that involves a combination of innovator and imitator strategies yields a higher average happiness factor over non-cooperative, purely innovators, behavior. However, this cooperative behavior creates increased risk for the whale populations in the estuary.     

Assessment of Load Transfer and Load Distribution in Bridges Utilizing FRP Panels

A primary means of demonstrating the feasibility and effectiveness of fiber-reinforced polymer (FRP) composite bridge materials is via in situ bridge load testing. For this study, the prescribed or assumed design factors for each of the study bridges were compared to those exhibited by the performance of the bridge. Specifically, the wheel load distribution factors and impact factors as defined by AASHTO were considered in order to assess the load transfer and distribution in structures utilizing FRP panels. The in situ testing configurations for the study bridges are outlined, including the truck and instrumentation placement to obtain the desired information. Furthermore, comparisons were drawn between the design values for deflection and those experienced by the structures during testing. It was found that although the deflections exhibited by the bridges were well within the design limits, further research is needed to be able to prescribe bridge design factors for FRP panels.     

Dopamine D? receptor stimulation of the nucleus accumbens or the medial preoptic area promotes the onset of maternal behavior in pregnancy-terminated rats.

There is good evidence that interference with the mesolimbic dopamine (DA) system results in impaired maternal responding in postpartum female rats. However, whether activation of the mesolimbic DA system is capable of promoting maternal behavior has not been investigated. This study examined whether increasing DA activity in various brain regions of pregnancy-terminated, naive female rats would stimulate the onset of maternal behavior. Experiments 1 and 2 examined the effects of microinjection of various doses (0, 0.2, or 0.5 μg/0.5 μl/side) of a D? DA receptor agonist, SKF 38393, or a D? DA receptor agonist, quinpirole, into the nucleus accumbens (NA) on latency to show full maternal behavior, and Experiment 3 determined the effects of SKF 38393 injection into a control site. Finally, because the medial preoptic area (MPOA) is also important for maternal behavior, receives DA input, and expresses DA receptors, the authors examined whether microinjection of SKF 38393 into MPOA was capable of stimulating the onset of maternal behavior. Results indicated that microinjection of SKF 38393 into either the NA or the MPOA facilitates maternal responding in pregnancy-terminated rats. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

New developments in fire retardant non‐halogen aromatic phosphates

Akzo Nobel Chemicals has recently introduced on the market an aromatic oligomeric phosphate (BDP) based on Bisphenol A. This product shows higher thermal and hydrolytic stability than other aryl phosphates. It provides similar or better fire retardant performance than an oligomeric phosphate (RDP) based on resorcinol. Fire retardant formulations with BDP based on polycarbonate/ABS plastic (PC/ABS) blend, polyphenylene oxide/high impact polystyrene (PPO/HIPS) blend, and HIPS alone show similar or better physical properties than those obtained with RDP. Upon thermal decomposition of the fire retarded polymers containing BDP, phosphorus tends to accumulate in the solid residue, a result which indicates that the primary fire retardant action of BDP is likely to occur in the condensed phase.     

Comparison of the univariate and multivariate methods in the optimization of experimental conditions for determining Cu, Pb, Ni and Cd in biodiesel by GFAAS

Experimental design was used as a tool to define the optimum pyrolysis and atomization temperatures for four analytes (Cu, Pb, Ni and Cd) in biodiesel samples. Two chemical modifiers (Pd + Mg and W) and two distinct sample preparation procedures (microemulsion and wet digestion in a focused microwave system) were also investigated. The pyrolysis and atomization temperatures were optimized using 2⁴ factorial design for Cu, Pb, Ni and Cd, with 16 assays carried out for each analyte. The results for Cu and Pb indicated that variables of sample preparation for digestion by focused microwave was the most important one for both analytes. The pyrolysis and atomization temperatures applied were 1000 °C and 2200 °C for Cu and 500 °C and 2000 °C for Pb. None of the variables analyzed here were important for Ni, and the pyrolysis and atomization temperatures chosen for this element were 800 °C and 2300 °C. A different factorial design was used for Cd. The variables of medium and modifier were not important for this element, and the lowest temperatures, Tp-500 °C and Ta-1400 °C, were chosen based on this second design. The importance of factorial design in the simultaneous optimization of several variables studied by GFAAS was confirmed, for it involves fewer experiments and hence, lower costs, greater speed and higher efficiency.