Depressive symptom patterns among older women.

The structure of depressive symptom patterns was investigated in a community sample of 344 women between the ages of 51 and 92 who were administered the SCL-90—R Depression and Additional Symptoms Scales. Confirmatory factor analysis was used to test alternative measurement hypotheses implied by clinical formulations of depressive symptom patterns among elderly persons. The findings show support for the hypothesis that 2 somewhat different depressive syndromes, along with 4 more delimited forms of distress, underlie symptom-reporting patterns. Implications of these findings for future research on the relation between aging and depression are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Subject Choice and Occupational Aspirations among Pupils at Girls' Schools

Various studies have found that British girls' curriculum subject preferences and future aspirations have changed and diversified in recent years. Other work has suggested that girls educated in single-sex schools might have a different (perhaps less gender-stereotypical) experience of education in comparison with their contemporaries at co-educational schools. This article draws on a study of the preferences of girls in English single-sex schools to explore these issues of subject choice and occupational aspiration further. It is argued that, like girls in mixed-sex secondary schools, single-sex schoolgirls' subject preferences have become more diverse and less gender-stereotypical than was the case twenty years ago. But where single-sex schoolgirls might have been expected to rate maths and science more highly than their counterparts in mixed-sex schools, the reverse was the case. Our findings support the argument that girls are now significantly more academically focused and ambitious for their future occupations than they were twenty years ago. However, we argue that a gender dichotomy remains evident in the types of future occupation chosen by girls.     

Testing of highly loaded horizontal axis wind turbines designed for optimum performance

The realization of a wind turbine as a source of clean, non-polluting and renewable energy may depend on the optimum design of turbine blades that can operate efficiently under extreme variations in wind conditions. In this paper we provide results of an experimental investigation to examine the effectiveness of a highly loaded theory for the design of a horizontal axis wind turbine for optimum power production over a wide range of advance ratios. We find the theory, which can be used to set up design curves easily and requires only hand held calculator for calculation, offers a rational basis for the design of propeller wind turbines for peak performance.     

Image reconstruction based on human and monkey cone mosaics

The image reconstruction capacity of the actual foveal cone sampling mosaics of an adult monkey and human is investigated through computer simulations. A retinocortical mapping model in which positions are known and disorder is compensated (DC) has been implemented using classical Whittaker-Kotelnikov-Shannon (WKS) reconstruction theory and a two-dimensional hexagonal tessellation technique that maps the cone lattice onto a perfectly hexagonal grid. The DC model has been compared with a retinocortical mapping model in which cone positions are also known but position disorder is uncompensated (DU) in the reconstruction process. A control model has also been implemented using WKS reconstruction based on sampled data obtained with simulated perfectly hexagonal lattices whose Nyquist limits are equivalent to those of the human and monkey lattices. Quantitative comparisons of these models are based on the RMS error per pixel between the original and reconstructed images. Results of these simulations demonstrate a pronounced superiority of the DC over the DU model. The results of these simulations, which use “biologically correct” sampling lattices, document a potential image reconstruction advantage when foveal cone positions are known.     

Double-blind, parallel, comparative multicentre study of a new combination of diltiazem and hydrochlorothiazide with individual components in patients with mild or moderate hypertension

OBJECTIVE: To compare the antihypertensive efficacy and tolerability of a new combination preparation of diltiazem (150 mg) and hydrochlorothiazide (12.5 mg) with the individual constituents in patients with mild/moderate hypertension. DESIGN: Multi-centre, double-blind, randomised parallel group study. PATIENTS: Seventy-one patients with essential hypertension were recruited to the study. TREATMENT: Following completion of the placebo run-in period 63 patients fulfilled the prerandomisation criteria and entered the 10 week treatment period. Patients were randomised to receive either the combination preparation (D 150 mg/H 12.5 mg), diltiazem (150 mg) or hydrochlorthiazide (12.5 mg). The dosage was increased in three patients who had not attained target blood pressure (BP) control after 6 weeks. OUTCOME MEASURES: Response to treatment assessed by change from baseline in clinic and 24 h ambulatory BP. RESULTS: The proportion of patients achieving target BP (a reduction in resting supine diastolic blood pressure (DBP) to below 90 mm Hg or a reduction of 10 mm Hg from baseline) was 80% in the combination group, 55% in the diltiazem group, and 38% in the hydrochlorothiazide group. The respective figures for reduction in supine DBP from baseline were 13.5 mm Hg, 11.2 mm Hg and 5.9 mm Hg. A similar treatment order appeared throughout each of the efficacy variables. BP control throughout the 24 h dosing interval was demonstrated by ambulatory BP monitoring. Each treatment was well tolerated. CONCLUSION: This study provides clear evidence of the efficacy of combination therapy with diltiazem and hydrochlorothiazide in the management of patients with hypertension.     

The sociobiology of bereavement: A reply to Littlefield and Rushton.

This article offers a critique of Littlefield and Rushton's (1986) application of sociobiological principles to bereavement following the death of a child. The following general issues are considered: (a) whether behavior is always adaptive and (b) the distinction between proximate and ultimate explanations. It is argued that grief is a maladaptive by-product of another, adaptive feature and that hypotheses about the severity of grief are best derived from proximate considerations rather than genetic relatedness. The use of a single-item rating scale to measure grief is questioned, and it is noted that interspouse reliabilities reported in the article were low, a problem not solved (as claimed) by aggregation. Criticisms are made of the specific hypotheses, notably in terms of their origins in sociobiological theory. It is argued that functional hypotheses are not alternatives to proximate mechanisms, but enable some proximate mechanisms to be viewed from the perspective of evolutionary biology. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)