Social desirability corrections in personality measurement: Issues of applicant comparison and construct validity.

Research investigating the validity of personality measures has established these measures as useful selection tools. However, personality measures are vulnerable to response distortion leading to employer concerns about the influence of applicant faking, with specific concerns about the influence of social desirability. A traditional method used to circumvent this is the application of a correction based on a social desirability scale score. This study sought to evaluate whether such corrections are effective tools for removing the influence of intentional distortion. A within-subjects design facilitated comparisons between honest, faked, and corrected scores. The goal was to evaluate whether a social desirability correction allows one to approximate an individual's honest score. The results suggest that a social desirability correction is ineffective and fails to produce a corrected score that approximates an honest score. Results are interpreted with respect to applicant comparison and construct validity. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

MMPI-2 with male and female state and federal prison inmates.

This study examined the base rates, patterns, and configurations of male and female prisoners on the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-2 (MMPI-2; J. N. Butcher, W. G. Dahlstrom, J. R. Graham, A. Tellegen, & B. Kaemmer, 1989) validity, basic, supplementary, and content scales and compares them with the MMPI-2 adult norms and with the performance of offenders on the original MMPI (S. R. Hathaway & J. C. McKinley, 1943). Expectations as to which scales would show significant and meaningful elevations and effect scores were generally upheld. The most prominent MMPI-2 scales are Infrequency, 4, 6, 9, MacAndrew Alcoholism Scale-Revised, and Antisocial Practices for both genders, and Scales 5 and Addiction Admission Scale among women. Scales 0 and Responsibility scale appeared to be inhibitory scales. Men and women had similar profile configurations, but the female offenders' scores were more deviant than those of the men. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Substance versus style: A new look at social desirability in motivating contexts.

Although there is an emerging consensus that social desirability does not meaningfully affect criterion-related validity, several researchers have reaffirmed the argument that social desirability degrades the construct validity of personality measures. Yet, most research demonstrating the adverse consequences of faking for construct validity uses a fake-good instruction set. The consequence of such a manipulation is to exacerbate the effects of response distortion beyond what would be expected under realistic circumstances (e.g., an applicant setting). The research reported in this article was designed to assess these issues by using real-world contexts not influenced by artificial instructions. Results suggest that response distortion has little impact on the construct validity of personality measures used in selection contexts. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Oxidative DNA Damage and Cisplatin Neurotoxicity Is Exacerbated by Inhibition of OGG1 Glycosylase Activity and APE1 Endonuclease Activity in Sensory Neurons

Cisplatin can induce peripheral neuropathy, which is a common complication of anti-cancer treatment and negatively impacts cancer survivors during and after completion of treatment; therefore, the mechanisms by which cisplatin alters sensory neuronal function to elicit neuropathy are the subject of much investigation. Our previous work suggests that the DNA repair activity of APE1/Ref-1, the rate-limiting enzyme of the base excision repair (BER) pathway, is critical for neuroprotection against cisplatin. A specific role for 8-oxoguanine DNA glycosylase-1 (OGG1), the glycosylase that removes the most common oxidative DNA lesion, and putative coordination of OGG1 with APE1/Ref-1 in sensory neurons, has not been investigated. We investigated whether inhibiting OGG1 glycosylase activity with the small molecule inhibitor, TH5487, and/or APE1/Ref-1 endonuclease activity with APE Repair Inhibitor III would alter the neurotoxic effects of cisplatin in sensory neuronal cultures. Sensory neuron function was assessed by calcitonin gene-related peptide (CGRP) release, as a marker of sensitivity and by neurite outgrowth. Cisplatin altered neuropeptide release in an inverse U-shaped fashion, with low concentrations enhancing and higher concentrations diminishing CGRP release. Pretreatment with BER inhibitors exacerbated the functional effects of cisplatin and enhanced 8oxo-dG and adduct lesions in the presence of cisplatin. Our studies demonstrate that inhibition of OGG1 and APE1 endonuclease activity enhances oxidative DNA damage and exacerbates neurotoxicity, thus limiting oxidative DNA damage in sensory neurons that might alleviate cisplatin-induced neuropathy.     

Increasing the firmness of wax-based oleogels using ternary mixtures of sunflower wax with beeswax:candelilla wax combinations

Oleogels were prepared with 5% wax in soybean oil using mixtures of beeswax (BW) and candelilla wax (CLW) with ratios of 10:90, 30:70, 50:50, and 60:40 BW:CLW, and the same series where 10% of the total wax was substituted with sunflower wax (SFW). The hypothesis that SFW would increase the firmness of the oleogels without affecting the melting properties was tested. Firmness of one-wax oleogels decreased from SFW > CLW > BW. Oleogels with 50:50 BW:CLW and 60:40 BLW:CLW had equal firmness to pure 5% SFW oleogels. SFW significantly increased oleogel firmness and reduced the softening that occurred between 4°C and 22°C. Increased firmness was also found with rice bran wax and behenyl-behenate (C44) addition, but not with wax esters with chain lengths ranging from 30 to 40 carbons (C30 to C40). By differential scanning calorimetry, SFW significantly decreased the melting point of oleogels with 10:90 and 30:70 BW:CLW mixtures but significantly increased the melting point of those with 50:50 and 60:40 BW:CLW mixtures. However, the solid fat content melting curves were not significantly influenced by SFW addition. These results indicate that mixed wax oleogels had greater hardness and elasticity, and that the long chain wax esters contributed by SFW helped to improve the strength of oleogels without negatively affecting their melting properties.     

Mithplatins: Mithramycin SA-Pt(II) Complex Conjugates for the Treatment of Platinum-Resistant Ovarian Cancers

DNA coordinating platinum (Pt) containing compounds cisplatin and carboplatin have been used for the treatment of ovarian cancer therapy for four decades. However, recurrent Pt-resistant cancers are a major cause of mortality. To combat Pt-resistant ovarian cancers, we designed and synthesized a conjugate of an anticancer drug mithramycin with a reactive Pt(II) bearing moiety, which we termed mithplatin. The conjugates displayed both the Mg²⁺-dependent noncovalent DNA binding characteristic of mithramycin and the covalent crosslinking to DNA of the Pt. The conjugate was three times as potent as cisplatin against ovarian cancer cells. The DNA lesions caused by the conjugate led to the generation of DNA double-strand breaks, as also observed with cisplatin. Nevertheless, the conjugate was highly active against both Pt-sensitive and Pt-resistant ovarian cancer cells. This study paves the way to developing mithplatins to combat Pt-resistant ovarian cancers.