Integrating feminism and multiculturalism: Scientific fact or science fiction?

How can contemporary psychologists become more multiculturally competent? Should practitioners focus primarily on race/ethnicity or should they attempt to integrate feminist principles and other aspects of identity and social location into their quest for multicultural competence? Competent clinical practice requires a complexity paradigm that encompasses the intersectionalities of class, gender, race/ethnicity, and other aspects that define an individual's subjective experience. This article points out the fact that multicultural theorists, for the most part, have underplayed gender and feminism, as feminist theorists have deemphasized race/ethnicity and class. The author provides several clinical examples that illustrate how integrating multiculturalism and feminism can improve clinical practice. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Anismus: fact or fiction?

PURPOSE: Although anismus has been considered to be the principal cause of anorectal outlet obstruction, it is doubtful whether contraction of the puborectalis muscle during straining is paradoxical. The present study was conducted to answer this question. METHODS: During the first part of the study, we retrospectively reviewed 121 patients with constipation and/or obstructed defecation (male:female, 10/111; median age, 51 years). All of these patients underwent electromyography (EMG) of the pelvic floor and the balloon expulsion test (BET) in the left lateral position. Evacuation proctography was performed in all of these patients in the sitting position. Both the posterior anorectal angle and the central anorectal angle were measured. EMG and BET were also performed in ten controls (male:female, 4/6; median age, 47). In 147 patients with fecal incontinence (male:female, 24/123; median age, 58) only EMG activity was recorded. Criteria for anismus during straining were increase or insufficient (<20 percent) decrease of EMG activity, failure to expel an air-filled balloon on BET, and decrease or insufficient (<5 percent) increase of anorectal angle on evacuation proctography. Between June 1994 and March 1995, we conducted a second prospective study in a consecutive series of 49 patients with constipation and/or obstructed defecation and 28 patients with fecal incontinence. Both groups were compared with 19 control subjects. In this study, all three tests were performed. EMG and BET were performed both in the left lateral position and in the sitting position. RESULTS: The retrospective study was undertaken by comparing the constipated patients with the incontinent patients and the controls, and the anismus detected by EMG was found in, respectively, 60, 46, and 60 percent. Failure to expel the air-filled balloon was observed in 80 constipated patients (66 percent) and in 9 control subjects (90 percent). Based on posterior anorectal angle and central anorectal angle measurements, anismus was diagnosed in, respectively, 21 and 35 percent of constipated patients. In the prospective study, none of the tests showed significant differences regarding the prevalence of anismus between the two subgroups of patients and the control subjects. The prevalence of anismus only differed between constipated and incontinent patients when the diagnosis was based on BET in the sitting position (67 vs. 32 percent; P < 0.005). Our study shows that contraction of the puborectalis muscle during straining is not exclusively found in patients with constipation and/or obstructed defecation. The three tests most commonly used for the diagnosis of anismus showed an extremely poor agreement. CONCLUSION: Based on these findings, we doubt the clinical significance of anismus.     

The philosophy of science as proclaimed and science as practiced: "Identity" or "dualism?"

Examines the challenge to the classical view that science is empirical and objective in essence, that the confirmation or disconfirmation of scientific knowledge-claims are independent of subjective factors within the individual investigator. Many philosophers of science have concluded that scientific practice seldom conforms to this ideal. Thus a "dualism" exists between classical proclamations in the philosophy of science and scientific practice. T. S. Kuhn's concept of "paradigm," M. Polanyi's of "tacit knowing," and P. K. Feyerabend's proposal that potentially refuting facts are eliminated by commitment to a theoretical position share the assertion that scientist's subjective premises and presuppositions play a significant role at all levels of endeavor. (37 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Surface-based labeling of cortical anatomy using a deformable atlas

With regard to BHV1 eradication programs in cattle it is important to know whether sheep can be a reservoir of BHV1. We therefore performed an experiment that consisted of three phases. In phase 1, 10 sheep were inoculated with high doses of BHV1 and kept in close contact with 5 sheep and 5 calves. All inoculated sheep excreted BHV1 between 8 and 15 days post inoculation and seroconverted. Although BHV1 was isolated from the nasal mucosa of 3 out of 5 sentinel sheep, none of the sentinel sheep produced antibodies against BHV1. One sentinel calf excreted BHV1 through days 12-17; the remaining 4 calves excreted BHV1 between days 18 and 24 suggesting that the first calf was infected by sheep and the remaining 4 sentinel calves were infected by that calf and not by sheep. The bacic reproduction ratio (R0) of BHV1 between sheep and calves was estimated at 0.1, and among calves it was estimated at > or = 9. In phase 2, all inoculated sheep were treated with dexamethasone and kept in close contact with 5 sheep and 5 calves. All dexamethasone treated sheep re-excreted BHV1 over a 6- to 9-day period. None of the sentinel animals seroconverted. In phase 3, the sentinel sheep and calves of phase 1 were kept in two groups and were treated with dexamethasone. None of the sentinel sheep re-excreted BHV1, whereas 3 out of 5 sentinel calves did. It is concluded that while BHV1 infection in sheep is possible, BHV1 does not spread from sheep easily to cattle.     

Earlier dental maturation: fact or fiction?

The objective of this investigation was to determine if there is a difference in dental age of maturation between adolescents treated in the 1970s and those treated in the 1990s. Records of 150 Caucasian patients, 8.5 to 14.5 years old and treated in a private orthodontic office between 1972 and 1974, were randomly selected; records of another 150 patients of the same race and age range but treated between 1992 and 1994 were also collected. The percentage of calcification of the mandibular canines was rated according to methods used by Demirjian, who divided tooth development into eight segments, A to H. Using stage G to compare the 1970 and 1990 patient samples, we demonstrated dental age reductions of 1.21 years for males and 1.52 years for females, and a combined reduction of 1.40 years.     

Right hemisphere language: Science or fiction?

Reviews inconsistencies and misrepresentations in M. S. Gazzaniga's (see record 1984-07149-001) analysis of 3 series of patients who underwent brain bisection. The inaccuracies led to the conclusion that right-hemisphere (RH) language and cognition are a rarity attributable to left-hemisphere brain damage. Gazzaniga's data fail to make a substantive contribution to the understanding of RH language or cognition. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Comments on Rogers' "Persons or science".

Comments on Rogers' article (American Psychologist, July, 1955) in which Rogers, speaking as a clinician, regards the therapeutic process, as experienced by the therapist, as a thoroughly subjective phenomenon. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Self-serving biases in the attribution of causality: Fact or fiction?

A review of the evidence for and against the proposition that self-serving biases affect attributions of causality indicates that there is little empirical support for the proposition in its most general form. Some support was found for the contention that individuals engage in self-enhancing attributions under conditions of success, but only minimal evidence suggested that individuals engage in self-protective attributions under conditions of failure. Moreover, it was proposed that the self-enhancing effect may not be due to motivational distortion, but rather to the tendency of people to (a) expect their behavior to produce success, (b) discern a closer covariation between behavior and outcomes in the case of increasing success than in the case of constant failure, and (c) misconstrue the meaning of contingency. (60 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Visual complexity in letter-by-letter reading: "pure" alexia is not pure

Standard accounts of pure alexia have favoured the view that this acquired disorder of reading arises from damage to a left posterior occipital cortex mechanism dedicated to the processing of alphanumeric symbols. We challenge these accounts in two experiments and demonstrate that patients with this reading deficit are also impaired at object identification. In the first experiment, we show that a single subject, EL, who shows all the hallmark features of pure alexia, is impaired at picture identification across a large set of stimuli. As the visual complexity of pictures increases, so EL's reaction time to identify the stimuli increases disproportionately relative to the control subjects. In the second experiment, we confirm these findings with a larger group of five pure alexic patients using a selected subset of high- and low-visual complexity pictures. These findings suggest that the deficit giving rise to pure alexia is not restricted to orthographic symbols per se but, rather, is a consequence of damage to a more general-purpose visual processing mechanism.     

Heterogeneity in intensive care units: fact or fiction?

Weight reduction, either by dietary or surgical means, is associated with prolongation of the heart rate corrected QT interval (QTc = QT/R-R0.5) and, on occasion, sudden death. Screening subjects with obesity before weight loss for prolonged QTc intervals is an accepted practice, although at present, there are no guidelines for whether subjects should be fasting before electrocardiogram (EKG) evaluation. The aim of this study was to test the hypothesis that EKG QTc interval duration is independent of meal ingestion. The hypothesis was tested in 11 healthy subjects who ingested a 500-kcal formula meal. A small decrease in absolute QT interval and a steady decline in R-R interval were observed for up to 60 minutes after formula ingestion. The QTc interval increased above baseline at 15 minutes (p < 0.007) after meal, a change that persisted for the 1-hour postmeal observation period. Spectral analysis of EKG R-R intervals (low-/high-frequency amplitude ratio) indicated a change in cardiac autonomic flow after meal ingestion. The QTc interval did not lengthen and R-R low-/high-frequency amplitude ratio remained unchanged in eight subjects evaluated in a similar manner but in whom isovolumic amounts of water replaced the meal. These observations suggest that (1) cardiac repolarization changes with fasting and feeding, (2) the QTc interval is influenced by meal intake, and (3) the autonomic nervous system may play a role in meal-related QTc changes. These findings have implications for the evaluation of patients with obesity before starting and during weight loss treatment.     

The management dilemma of the mildly abnormal smear: fact or fiction?

For at least 10 years, there has been much controversy regarding the management of women presenting with a first mildly dyskaryotic cervical smear. Argument has centred on many key issues, including the risk of progression to more serious disease, the anxiety caused to the patient, the risk of overtreating patients with minor disease and, more recently, the financial implications of prompt intervention and treatment. Essentially, it has been established for many years that only two main management options are appropriate. The first is a policy of referring all patients with mild dyskaryosis for prompt colposcopy and intervention. The second option is to keep such patients under cytological surveillance, with recourse to colposcopy only if the lesion persists or progresses on subsequent cytological screening. This review article aims at appraising the evidence that is currently available in an attempt to try and resolve the management dilemma posed by a mildly abnormal smear.     

Nitric oxide, the biological mediator of the decade: fact or fiction?

Nitric oxide (NO), an atmospheric gas and free radical, is also an important biological mediator in animals and humans. Its enzymatic synthesis by constitutive (c) and inducible (i) isoforms of NO synthase (NOS) and its reactions with other biological molecules such as reactive oxygen species are well characterized. NO modulates pulmonary and systemic vascular tone through its vasodilator property. It has antithrombotic functions and mediates some consequences of the innate and acute inflammatory responses; cytokines and bacterial toxins induce widespread expression of iNOS associated with microvascular and haemodynamic changes in sepsis. Within the lungs, a diminution of NO production is implicated in pathological states associated with pulmonary hypertension, such as acute respiratory distress syndrome: inhaled NO is a selective pulmonary vasodilator and can improve ventilation-perfusion mismatch. However, it may have deleterious effects through modulating hypoxic pulmonary vasoconstriction. Inhibitors of NOS may be of benefit in inotrope-refractory septic shock, but toxicity of newly developed selective iNOS inhibitors have prevented clinical trials of efficacy. An expanding literature on the origins and measurement of NO in exhaled breath implicates NO as a potentially useful marker of disease activity in respiratory tract inflammation in the future. This report reviews some aspects of research into the clinical importance of nitric oxide.