Development of a progestin-based estrus synchronization program: II. Reproductive response of cows fed melengestrol acetate for 14 days with injections of progesterone and prostaglandin F2alpha

We tested the efficacy of an estrus control system designed to provide optimal control of follicular development. In Exp. 1, postpartum cows (n = 133) and yearling heifers (n = 57) were fed either .5 mg x female(-1) x d(-1) of melengestrol acetate (MGA) or the carrier for MGA from d -13 to d 0 (d 0 = last day of MGA feeding). All females received 25 mg of PGF2alpha (i.m.) on d -13 and 0. On d -6, cows and heifers fed MGA were administered an i.m. injection of progesterone (200 mg; MGA/P4), and those fed the corn carrier (2XPGF2alpha) received no progesterone. Beginning on d 1, females were bred by AI from d 1 to at least d 5. During the estrus synchronization period (d 1 to d 5), more (P < .05) postpartum cows were observed in estrus (70.1 vs 42.4%), the timing of estrus was more (P < .05) precise, conception rate was similar, and pregnancy rate was higher (P < .05) in the MGA/P4 than in the 2XPGF2alpha treatment. More (P < .05) cows that were anestrous at the beginning of the breeding season were in estrus during the synchronization period in the MGA/P4 (55.8%) than in the 2XPGF2alpha (28.6%) treatment. In heifers, estrus was synchronized in over 90% of females, and neither conception nor pregnancy rate during the synchronization period differed between treatments. In Exp. 2, postpartum cows (n = 122) and heifers (n = 84) received treatments (MGA/P4 or 2XPGF2alpha) as described for Exp. 1 with one exception. In the MGA/ P4 treatment, progesterone was administered on d -7 rather than d -6. Females were bred by AI from d 1 to 5. The estrus response and conception rate during the synchronization period did not differ between treatments for either cows or heifers. We conclude that the progestin-based estrous synchronization system used in this study effectively synchronized an estrus of normal fertility in cyclic cows and induced a majority of anestrous cows to reinitiate estrous cycles.     

Development and evaluation of an interpersonal skill-training program for psychiatric inpatients.

Experimentally evaluated an empirically developed interpersonal-skill-training program for male psychiatric inpatients. The program development phase involved identifying patient-relevant problem situations, analyzing effective responses for these situations, deriving principles governing such effective behavior, and developing explicit scoring criteria for such behavior. In the evaluation phase, 36 male psychiatric inpatients received 3 individual sessions of either interpersonal skill training or pseudotherapy, or they were in an assessment-only control group. Skill training was superior to the other 2 conditions on a number of behavioral and self-report measures, both in the training context and in a more real-life context. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Development of a vibratory white finger prevention program for shipyard workers: an exploratory study

OBJECTIVE: To study the effects of thevetoside (TS), a cardiac glycoside, and an inhibitor of Na+, K(+)-ATPase, on tumor cells cultured in vitro. METHODS: The cytotoxic effects of TS on tumor cells were determined by trypan blue dye exclusion, neutral red vital staining and clonogenic assay. The time-effect relationship and growth inhibition of tumor cells by TS were assayed with trypan blue exclusion method. RESULTS: TS at low doses (0.005-0.1 mg.L-1), with dose dependence, was able to kill SMMC-7721, SGC-7901 and HeLa cells. IC50 values for SMMC-7721, SGC-7901 and HeLa cells were 0.007, 0.011 and 0.018 mg.L-1 by trypan blue dye exclusion test and 0.016, 0.055 and 0.078 mg.L-1 by neutral red vital staining test. TS inhibited the clonal forming rate of SMMC-7721 and SGC-7901 significantly with IC50 values of 0.021 and 0.036 mg.L-1, respectively. Only when the cells were continuously treated with TS for more than 8 hours, the drug-induced cell lethality could be displayed and strengthened quickly. The growth of tumor cells was notably inhibited after they were exposed to 0.1 microgram/ml of TS for 12 hours. All the experimental results of antitumor activity in vitro showed that SMMC-7721 was most sensitive to TS among the three kinds of tumor cells. CONCLUSIONS: TS has cytotoxic action on tumor cells cultured in vitro and this lethal effect must have an action process, in which tumor cells are not dead but suffer from deadly injury and lost the capability of unlimited proliferation.     

Development of a bilingual interpreter program: An alternative model for Spanish-speaking services.

Traces the development and growth of an innovative program designed to help English-speaking therapists evaluate and treat Spanish-speaking patients. Difficulties and successes encountered in implementing a bilingual interpreter program are described. Specific issues examined include the roles of language proficiency, language recall, and language distortion; the role of psychological education; and transference problems in a triadic interaction. It is argued that the training and use of bilingual interpreters is an effective and feasible alternative model for providing Spanish-speaking services. (12 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Development and preliminary evaluation of a cessation program for adolescent smokers.

Used a within-S design with multiple baseline and changing criterion elements with 11 "hardcore" adolescent smokers. Monetary rewards were based on achieving target carbon monoxide (CO) levels in expired air breath samples. Five of the 6 male Ss successfully reduced their smoking and CO levels during a gradual-reduction phase and quit smoking. One of these Ss resumed low-level daily smoking, and the other 4 generally maintained abstinence during a 5-mo maintenance/fading and follow-up phase. In contrast, all 5 of the female Ss dropped out at some point during the program. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Psychological consequences of an exercise training program for a paraplegic man: A case study.

Examined the effects of a 12-wk exercise training program on the mood states (assessed via the Profile of Mood States [POMS]) of a 27-yr-old spinal-cord-injured male in a rehabilitation hospital. S was administered the POMS immediately before and after the program and once each week during the program. S demonstrated major mood changes following exercise training, indicating a significant decrease in tension, depression, anger, fatigue, and confusion and a significant increase in vigor. Findings support the hypothesis that vigorous physical exercise can be a useful therapeutic strategy with the disabled. (27 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effects of curtailment on an admissions model for a graduate management program.

Developed 2 admissions models to predict future academic performance of graduate management students. The 1st model was based on 40 students who were admitted and enrolled in the program and was uncorrected for curtailment. The 2nd model was developed from the total applicant population of 222 students after curtailment correction. The corrected model demonstrated higher predictive validity than the uncorrected model for 2 future classes of students. Furthermore, different predictors entered each model, affecting the beta weights, validities of predictors, and the total amount of variance explained by the models. A factor analysis and an analysis of admissions decisions offer additional support for the curtailment-corrected model in selecting students with high academic potential. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Construction of a criterion-referenced, diagnostic test for an individualized instruction program.

In the absence of a well-defined technology for the construction of criterion-referenced tests, a methodology was devised for use in developing and evaluating a diagnostic test keyed to 14 modules of individualized, US Navy shipboard instruction. The test was constructed in 2 phases. In the 1st phase, preinstruction and postinstruction groups each consisted of 100 Navy boiler technicians; in the 2nd phase, each group consisted of 75 Navy boiler technicians. In both phases, 25 members of each instruction group were chosen randomly to form cross-validation samples. The main construction procedures included (a) writing and refining an item pool, (b) selecting items that best discriminated between instruction groups, (c) determining cutoff scores, (d) validating items on cross-validation samples, and (e) estimating test–retest reliability. High face validity was achieved by using materials that were encountered on the job and by having job experts write the items. In the final construction phase, the amount of agreement between actual instruction-group membership of the cross-validation sample and that diagnosed by test scores ranged from 68 to 92%. Also, the discrimination ability of refined items improved significantly. Across a test and retest during a tryout phase, the agreement in diagnostic decisions ranged from 71 to 96%. (10 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Efficacy of an outpatient treatment program for insomnia: A preliminary report.

Evaluated 20 patients who suffered from chronic insomnia and who completed all phases of a 1-yr treatment program. The treatment, which consisted of 5 weekly, 1-hr group sessions and a follow-up 1 mo later, provided education about sleep, instruction in relaxation techniques, stimulus control instructions, and training in sleep hygiene. Self-monitoring data collected by the Ss showed general improvement across a variety of sleep parameters. (9 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Reducing risk factors for eating disorders: Comparison of an Internet- and a classroom-delivered psychoeducational program.

This controlled trial compared Internet- (Student Bodies [SB]) and classroom-delivered (Body Traps [BT]) psychoeducational interventions for the reduction of body dissatisfaction and disordered eating behaviors/attitudes with a control condition. Participants were 76 women at a private university who were randomly assigned to SB, BT, or a wait-list control (WLC) condition. Measures of body image and eating attitudes and behaviors were measured at baseline, posttreatment, and 4-month follow-up. At posttreatment, participants in SB had significant reductions in weight/shape concerns and disordered eating attitudes compared with those in the WLC condition. At follow-up, disordered behaviors were also reduced. No significant effects were found between the BT and WLC conditions. An Internet-delivered intervention had a significant impact on reducing risk factors for eating disorders. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Counseling truants back to school: Motivation combined with a program for action.

Conducted a study with 32 13-17 yr old male chronic truants from a low-income, inner-city area. Ss were given counseling aimed at returning them to regular attendance. Optimistic vs threat appeal and presence vs absence of supportive instruction were manipulated in a 2 * 2 design, and persuasion was assessed both as verbal intention to attend school regularly and as actual attendance. Supportive instruction included the continuing availability of a tutor. Results show that threat appeal was sufficient to change intention to return to school, but supportive instruction was necessary to change actual attendance. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Oral topotecan given once or twice daily for ten days: a phase I pharmacology study in adult patients with solid tumors

The development of a highly sensitive method for detection of telomerase activity, telomeric repeat amplification protocol (TRAP), has provided knowledge on telomerase activity in normal and cancer tissues. Subsequent several modifications have been achieved, including an introduction of the internal standard and hybridization protection technique that leads to simplicity and improvement of reproducibility and linearity of this method, and application of TRAP to in situ analysis to identify the cells responsible for telomerase activity. As for measurement of telomere length, fluorescence in situ hybridization technique appeared to give an information of telomere length on an individual chromosome in contrast to analysis of terminal restriction fragment, a conventional method which can express mean telomere length of all chromosomes. Further methodological improvement in this field is ongoing and showing a new sight on cell mortality and immortality.     

Secondary prevention with college drinkers: Evaluation of an alcohol skills training program.

This study evaluated secondary prevention approaches for young adults (N?=?36, mean age 23 yrs) at risk for alcohol problems. Ss were randomly assigned to cognitive-behavioral alcohol skills training, a didactic alcohol information program, or assessment only. The skills program included training in blood alcohol level estimation, limit setting, and relapse prevention skills. All Ss maintained daily drinking records during the 8-wk intervention and for 1 wk at each follow-up. Repeated measures multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) found a significant reduction over 1-yr follow-up in self-reported alcohol consumption for the total sample. For all drinking measures, the directional findings consistently favored skills training. Despite overall reductions, most Ss continued to report occasional heavy drinking. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Medications prescribed for children with mood disorders: Effects of a family-based psychoeducation program.

Few controlled trials have examined psychotropic medications in children with mood disorders. Multiple medications are often prescribed for these children, who frequently suffer from several comorbid conditions. However, this polypharmacy has been infrequently studied and may lead to adverse drug-drug interactions. Multi-Family Psychoeducation Groups (MFPGs) are an 8-session, manual-driven treatment for children with mood disorders, designed as an adjunct to current medications and psychotherapy. In part, MFPG teaches parents and children to be better consumers of mental health care, including medications. This study examined the effect of MFPG on medications taken by 165 children, ages 8-11, with mood disorders. The authors hypothesized that MFPG would not affect the mean number of medications taken but that the variance in number of medications would decrease from pre- to posttreatment (i.e., the number of medications prescribed for any given child should become more closely distributed around the sample mean). Approximately 70% of participants were diagnosed with bipolar spectrum disorders, and 30% were diagnosed with depressive spectrum disorders. Most had both comorbid behavioral (97%) and anxiety (69%) disorders. Information regarding medications was gathered 4 times: at baseline, 6, 12, and 18 months. Approximately half (n=78) of the participants were randomized into immediate treatment, and half (n=87) were randomized into a 1-year wait-list condition. All were encouraged to continue treatment as usual throughout the study. As hypothesized, no significant pre- to posttreatment differences were found between groups for the mean number of current medications, but variance declined significantly from pre- to posttreatment. Implications and future research goals are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Simulation of die filling for the wax injection process: Part I. Models for material behavior

This article is the first of two articles dedicated to the modeling of wax injection for the investment casting (or lost wax) process. It will present several models that have been established in order to describe the behavior of the wax during the injection in a die. The first part of the article presents the modeling of the rheology of the wax, and the second part presents the modeling of the thermophysical properties of the wax. These models will be validated in the second article by comparison of the results from experimental and numerical work, the numerical work being carried out using the models presented here. The quality of these models will then be assessed in the second paper.     

The extragenomic action of progesterone on human spermatozoa: evidence for a ubiquitous response that is rapidly down-regulated

Image analysis techniques have been used to demonstrate that progesterone induces a rapid calcium transient in the acrosomal domain of greater than 90% of human spermatozoa (n = 2354). These results are at variance with previous reports, suggesting that progesterone receptors are only expressed on a small subpopulation of these cells, by virtue of their ability to bind fluorescent probes incorporating progesterone 3- (O-carboxymethyl) oxime conjugated to BSA. In the present study, we could confirm that such probes only bound to a small proportion of human spermatozoa (3.01 +/- 0.29%; n = 7557) although 91.79 +/- 1.8% of the same sperm populations exhibited a calcium transient in response to progesterone. These results indicate that the binding of labeled progesterone conjugates to human spermatozoa does not reflect the size of the progesterone responsive population; the response elicited by this steroid is essentially ubiquitous. Progesterone action was shown to involve an influx of extracellular calcium via mechanisms that did not involve voltage sensitive- or second messenger operated-channels, phospholipase C, or G proteins. Despite previous evidence suggesting that progesterone action might involve a GABAA receptor/chloride channel, neither GABA nor the GABA agonist muscimol had any effect on intracellular calcium concentrations in human spermatozoa or influenced their functional competence. The only factor that disrupted the responses of human spermatozoa to progesterone was this steroid itself. Progesterone exposure induced a prolonged period of refractoriness to further stimulation that influenced the capacity of these cells to generate calcium transients, and their ability to exhibit a biological response to changes in intracellular calcium. There are implications in these results for our understanding of the extragenomic action of progesterone on human spermatozoa and the clinical manipulation of this system for the assessment and suppression of human sperm function.     

Induced and synchronized estrus in cattle: dose titration of estradiol benzoate in peripubertal heifers and postpartum cows after treatment with an intravaginal progesterone-releasing insert and prostaglandin F2alpha

Seven cysteine-rich repeats form the ligand-binding region of the low-density lipoprotein (LDL) receptor. Each of these repeats is assumed to bind a calcium ion, which is needed for association of the receptor with its ligands, LDL and beta-VLDL. The effects of metal ions on the folding of the reduced N-terminal cysteine-rich repeat have been examined by using reverse-phase high-performance liquid chromatography to follow the formation of fully oxidized isomers with different disulfide connectivities. In the absence of calcium many of the 15 possible isomers formed on oxidation, whereas in its presence the predominant product at equilibrium had the native disulfide bond connectivities. Other metals were far less effective at directing disulfide bond formation: Mn2+ partly mimicked the action of Ca2+, but Ba2+, Sr2+, and Mg2+ had little effect. This metal-ion specificity was also observed in two-dimensional 1H NMR spectral studies; only Ca2+ induced the native three-dimensional fold. The two paramagnetic ions, Gd3+ and Mn2+, and Cd2+ did not promote adoption of a well-defined structure, and the two paramagnetic ions did not displace calcium ions. The location of calcium ion binding sites in the repeat was also explored by NMR spectroscopy. The absence of chemical shift changes for the side chain proton resonances of Asp26, Asp36, and Glu37 from pH 3.9 to 6.8 in the presence of calcium ions and their proximal location in the NMR structures implicated these side chains as calcium ligands. Deuterium exchange NMR experiments also revealed a network of hydrogen bonds that stabilizes the putative calcium-binding loop.     

Working with professional athletes in the rink: the evolution of a nutrition program for an NHL team

For many professional sports, nutrition is not recognized as an important component of the team's training program. The implementation of a nutrition program for one professional hockey team has had positive results. Players who had been unable to maintain their weight during the season can now maintain their weight and be prepared for the playoffs. Others have improved their endurance with proper fluid and carbohydrate replacement. Working with the entire time--coaching staff, trainers and players--has led to the success of this program.     

RCT of a psychological intervention for patients with cancer: I. Mechanisms of change.

Little is known about the therapeutic processes contributing to efficacy of psychological interventions for patients with cancer. Data from a randomized clinical trial yielding robust biobehavioral and health effects (B. L. Andersen et al., 2004, 2007) were used to examine associations between process variables, treatment utilization, and outcomes. Novel findings emerged. Patients were highly satisfied with the treatment, but their higher levels of felt support (group cohesion) covaried with lower distress and fewer symptoms. Also, specific treatment strategies were associated with specific outcomes, including lower distress, improved dietary habits, reduced symptomatology, and higher chemotherapy dose intensity. These data provide a comprehensive test of multiple therapeutic processes and mechanisms for biobehavioral change with an intervention including both intensive and maintenance phases. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Cost effectiveness of an employee assistance program with rational€motive therapy: A critique.

Raises 2 issues with an article by S. H. Klarreich et al (see record 1987-29949-001) concerning methodological considerations (a no-control group posttest design) and data analysis. It is suggested that cost-benefit research needs to be carried out carefully. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)