Prospective reciprocal relations between physical activity and depression in female adolescents.

Objective: Although an inverse correlation between physical activity and depression among adolescents has been found in research, this relation has seldom been examined prospectively. Thus, we tested whether physical activity reduces risk for future escalations in depression and whether depression decreases likelihood of future change in physical activity. Method: Data from a longitudinal study involving annual assessments of 496 adolescent girls (mean age = 13 years, SD = 0.73) followed over a 6-year period were analyzed to address these questions. Results: Using analyses that controlled for several covariates, we found that physical activity significantly reduced risk for future increases in depressive symptoms and risk for onset of major–minor depression. Further, depressive symptoms and major–minor depression significantly reduced future physical activity. However, predictive effects were modest for both. Conclusions: Results support a bidirectional relation between exercise and depression and imply that interventions that increase physical activity may reduce risk for depression among this high-risk population. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Linear magnetoresistance of aluminum

The transverse magnetoresistivity of pure single crystals of aluminum (RRR 22,000) has been studied at 4.2 K and in high magnetic fields using the hard helicon technique. The measured magnetoresistivity is separated into a saturating and a linearly increasing part, and the effect of deformation and quenching on the linear component is studied. The linear component appears to be particularly sensitive to strains, and it is suggested that the dislocation structure is important. The Hall coefficient is also measured and is found to be field independent and equal to the free-electron value 1.023×10^–10 Vm/AT within the experimental uncertainty of 1%.     

Olfactory dysfunction, gambling task performance and intracranial lesions after traumatic brain injury.

Objective: To estimate the incidence of olfactory dysfunction across traumatic brain injury (TBI) severity and decision-making deficits with regard to intracranial lesions' location and laterality. Method: A 1-year prospective study including 115 participants (16–55 years) with mild, moderate, and severe TBI. The Brief Smell Identification Test was used 3 months postinjury with a follow-up testing of olfactory dysfunction at 1 year. The Iowa Gambling Task (IGT) and 3 tasks of the Delis–Kaplan Executive Function System were administered 3-months postinjury. MRI was performed 1-year postinjury and TBI severity groups were then divided with respect to frontal, fronto-temporal, diffuse, and no lesions. Results: The incidence of olfactory dysfunction was estimated to be 22.3% at 3 months and 13.5% at 1 year. No significant differences were found on olfactory dysfunction across TBI severity at either check. Anosmia was identified in 10% with severe TBI and 3% with mild TBI. Olfactory dysfunction was associated with verbal fluency tasks. Repeated-measures analysis of variance revealed no significant effect over blocks on IGT, and no main group or interaction effects regarding TBI severity, lesions' location, or laterality. IGT performance at 3-months postinjury was deficient in 83% of persons with intracranial lesions and 71% of those without lesions. Conclusions: Olfactory dysfunction is independent of TBI severity, showing improvements in one third of cases from 3- to 12-months postinjury. However, anosmia was related to TBI severity. There is evidence for marked decision-making deficits after TBI, all subgroups performed similarly and failed to develop an advantageous strategy over time. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Development and psychometric evaluation of the gambling treatment outcome monitoring system (GAMTOMS).

This article describes the development and initial reliability and validity estimates of the Gambling Treatment Outcome Monitoring System (GAMTOMS), a multi-instrument and multidimensional outcome assessment battery designed to measure gambling treatment outcomes. Reliability methods included both internal consistency of scales and a 1-week test-retest temporal stability procedure. Validity was examined with procedures to estimate content, convergent, discriminant, predictive, and construct validity. Data were collected from 2 separate studies, 1 on the questionnaire version and 1 on the interview version. The questionnaire study included 46 female and 41 male gambling treatment clients and 22 female and 2 male nonclinical participants. The interview study included 88 female and 62 male gambling treatment clients and 16 female and 9 male nonclinical participants. The GAMTOMS was found to yield satisfactory estimates of internal consistency, and 1-week test-retest reliability and was also found to demonstrate satisfactory content, convergent, discriminant, predictive, and construct validity. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)