George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, and Arthur Jensen—are they compatible?

Argues that the conflict over the issue of heredity, environment, and intelligence has become irrational and that the emotion which is the source of this irrationality is generated by the possibility of a conflict between basic American values and scientific findings. The 4 possible outcomes of the debate are placed in a truth table, and their consequences are discussed. The author concludes that correctly believing in an environmental outcome does not necessarily lead to Utopia and that correctly believing in hereditarian outcome does not necessarily lead to social Darwinism. (36 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The relationship between grades and a predictive test battery in the school of pharmacy of the George Washington University.

"A predictive battery of four tests [ACE, Ohio State PE, Purdue Mathematics Training Test and Iowa Chemistry Test] has been studied in relation to success in the School of Pharmacy of the George Washington University. The sample included… 74 cases. The following conclusions may be drawn: (1) The battery… showed a substantial validity with grades in the pharmacy school; (2) Elimination of the Purdue Mathematics Training Test… does not decrease the effectiveness of the battery." (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Hypnotic analgesia, placebo analgesia, and ischemic pain: The effects of contextual variables.

In two experiments we examined the relation between hypnotic and placebo analgesia using ischemic pain. The first experiment examined an artifact in a previously used ischemic pain stimulus. Experiment 2 investigated the relation between hypnotic and placebo analgesia using a submaximum effort tourniquet technique to produce ischemic pain. High- and low-susceptible subjects received hypnotic and placebo analgesia in counterbalanced order. High-susceptible subjects received placebo analgesia followed on a subsequent trial by hypnotic analgesia showed significant increases in tolerance from placebo to hypnotic analgesia. When presented in the reverse order, however, placebo analgesia and hypnotic analgesia led to equivalent levels of tolerance in both high- and low-susceptible subjects. A similar pattern of findings emerged for subjects' magnitude estimates of pain, but it was not related to hypnotic susceptibility. These findings indicate that both hypnotic and placebo analgesia may be contextually dependent phenomena. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Conditional analgesia, defensive freezing, and benzodiazepines.

When rats are placed in a situation that has come to be associated with footshock through the process of Pavlovian conditioning, they react with the species-specific defensive response of freezing and a reduction in sensitivity to painful stimulation. In the present experiments, the effects of three benzodiazepines on both of these responses were examined. Pain sensitivity was measured with the formalin test. Concurrent observations of formalin-induced recuperative behavior and freezing were recorded while the animals were in the presence of shock-associated contextual stimuli. It was found that midazolam (Experiments 1 and 2), chlordiazepoxide (Experiment 3), and diazepam (Experiment 4) were capable of significantly attenuating the conditional analgesia. Midazolam and diazepam also reduced the freezing response. The finding that these anxiolytic agents attenuate both conditional responses suggests that the freezing and analgesia are mediated by a common fearlike process. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The modern, the postmodern, and George Kelly's personal construct psychology.

Comments on the J. Martin and J. Sugarman (see record 2000-08148-003) discussion on the relationship between modern and postmodern approaches to psychology. The current author notes that, although Martin and Sugarman's efforts are laudable, they ignored an important and seminal figure by failing to examine and incorporate G. Kelly and his personal construct psychology (PCP)—an approach that embraces much of the critique offered by postmodernists without abandoning a traditional emphasis on psychological meaning. Raskin describes several of the ways that PCP echoes Martin and Sugarman's analyses. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

George A. Miller, language, and the computer metaphor and mind.

This article asks why the analogy between humans and computers was understood by cognitive psychologists to mean that "minds exist and that it is our job as psychologists to study them." Earlier psychologists, such as Clark Hull, used analogies between humans and complex machines such as telephone switchboards to defend a rigorous behaviorism. How, then, did the computer metaphor of mind come to be seen as the root concept underlying a paradigm shift from behaviorism to cognitivism? To answer this question, this article examines the life and work of George A. Miller, one of the most prominent of a generation of psychologists who began their careers as "good behaviorists" but later came to embrace cognitivism. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Experimental designs, expectancy effects, and hypnotic analgesia.

40 undergraduates who scored high on the Harvard Group Scale of Hypnotic Susceptibility were randomly assigned to 1 of 4 groups. Each group received 3 60-sec immersions of cold-pressor pain stimulation. Immersions were associated with either hypnotic, waking, or no analgesia (control) instructions. The treatments and their order were varied across groups to induce different expectations about the efficacy of hypnotic and waking analgesia. Magnitude estimates and category scale ratings of pain indicated that hypnotic analgesia was more, less, or equally as effective as waking analgesia, depending on the expectations induced by varying treatment order. Pain ratings were also related to the type of cognitive activity (e.g., imaginative coping) engaged in during an immersion. (46 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Sir George Newman, infant diarrhoeal mortality and the paradox of urbanism

This article describes what happened with the participants and the group as a whole in an analytical group psychotherapy session. Our aim is to reveal how the particular session was run. We describe a period of resistance to change when the principal defences used were: somatization, acting-out, identification-with-the-aggressor, and, more specifically, language abuse leading to confusion. We discuss the value of interpretations that are focused on the group as a whole, where the group is considered to be an internal object. Although this article is not exclusively about an object-relations model, we attempt to analyze the influence of projective identification, which has an effect on the therapist's task of recognizing his "container" and interpreting functions.     

APA report from the Central Office, Washington.

Document highlights American Psychological Association news forwarded through the Central Office. Items include: news on the Community Mental Health Centers programs from the Professional Practice and the Public Interest; the publishing of a casebook by the Committee on Scientific and Professional Ethics and Conduct; news on a recent study that includes projected Changes from the Labor Department and Office of Education; new laws applicable to psychology; The APA Program of Visiting Psychologists in Field (Service) Settings; as well as correspondence forwarded to the Association. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Occupational burns in Washington State, 1989-1993

Occupational burns cause significant morbidity in the United States each year; however, there are few studies that report industries or workplaces where workers are at an increased risk of burn injuries. Washington State's Department of Labor and Industries (L and I) computerized workers' compensation database was used to describe work-related burns over 5 years. From 1989 to 1993, L and I accepted 27,323 claims for occupational burns, 71.4% of them thermal burns and 26.8% chemical burns. The most common sources of injury were cooking oils (14%) and hot water/steam (13%). Workers involved in food preparation or food handling accounted for the highest proportion of injured workers (30%). Industries involved in the smelting, sintering, or refining of ore had the highest rate for thermal burns, with a rate of 15.0 burn injuries per 100 full-time equivalent workers per year, followed by paper, pulp, or wood fiber manufacturing, with a rate of 5.8, then roof work, with a rate of 4.3. Industries involved in hazardous waste landfill clean-up had the highest rate for chemical burns, with a rate of 4.9, followed by portable cleaning and washing, with a rate of 3.5, and paper, pulp, and wood fiber manufacturing, with a rate of 2.6. Further study is needed to identify work practices that result in burn injuries in order to decrease the incidence of this preventable occupational injury.     

Species-specific danger signals, endogenous opioid analgesia, and defensive behavior.

Examined the effects of handling stimuli and stress odors on species-specific defensive behavior and pain sensitivity with a total of 100 female Sprague-Dawley derived rats in 4 experiments. Ss not adapted to handling had longer jump latencies on the hotplate test of pain sensitivity than those with extensive handling experience. In a postshock freezing test in Exp II, naltrexone (7 mg/kg, intraperitoneally) enhanced defensive freezing relative to saline controls in nonadapted Ss. However, naltrexone produced no such effect in Ss that were adapted to handling. These 2 studies indicate that the handling procedure triggered an endogenous opioid analgesic response in Ss not adapted to handling. Exp III showed that a similar naltrexone-reversible opioid analgesia could be triggered by stress odors. Naltrexone, when compared to saline, enhanced postshock freezing in the presence of conspecific stress odors but not in their absence. In Exp IV, stress odors and nonadapted handling were able to activate defensive freezing directly when tested in compound but not in isolation. Results are consistent with the view that stress odors and handling stimuli are danger signals that activate endogenous opioid analgesia as well as defensive behavior, suggesting that analgesia is a component of the rat's defensive behavior system. (41 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Epidural fentanyl, adrenaline and clonidine as adjuvants to local anaesthetics for surgical analgesia: meta-analyses of analgesia and side-effects

BACKGROUND: The risk/benefit ratio of adding fentanyl, adrenaline and clonidine to epidural local anaesthetics for improving intraoperative analgesia is unclear. This meta-analysis was performed to clarify this issue. METHODS: Trials retrieved by search were considered if they were prospective, controlled, epidural analgesia (without combining general anaesthesia) was planned and occurrence of pain during surgery or side-effects were reported. Papers entered meta-analysis if they reached a predefined minimum quality score. Pooled odds ratios (OR) and confidence intervals (CI) were computed. P < 0.05 was considered as significant. RESULTS: Eighteen trials were included in the analysis for fentanyl. Fentanyl decreased the likelihood of pain (OR = 0.21, 95% CI = 0.15-0.30, P < 0.001) and increased the incidence of pruritus (OR = 5.59, 95% CI = 3.12-10.05, P < 0.001) and sedation (OR = 1.88, 95% CI = 1.19-2.98, P = 0.003), compared to control (local anaesthetic without fentanyl). Fentanyl had no effect on respiratory depression, nausea, vomiting and Apgar score. One case of respiratory depression of a newborn was observed. Because of the very low number of trials selected, evaluation of adrenaline and clonidine was not feasible. CONCLUSION: The analysis of current literature shows that the addition of fentanyl to local anaesthetics for intraoperative epidural analgesia is safe and advantageous. The reduction in the incidence of pain during surgery is quantitatively high and therefore clinically significant. Side-effects are mild. Randomized, controlled trials have to be performed in order to clarify the role of adrenaline and clonidine as epidural adjuvants for surgical analgesia.     

Medical waste treatment and disposal methods used by hospitals in Oregon, Washington, and Idaho

This study investigated medical waste practices used by hospitals in Oregon, Washington, and Idaho, which includes the majority of hospitals in the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) Region 10. During the fall of 1993, 225 hospitals were surveyed with a response rate of 72.5%. The results reported here focus on infectious waste segregation practices, medical waste treatment and disposal practices, and the operating status of hospital incinerators in these three states. Hospitals were provided a definition of medical waste in the survey, but were queried about how they define infectious waste. The results implied that there was no consensus about which agency or organization's definition of infectious waste should be used in their waste management programs. Confusion around the definition of infectious waste may also have contributed to the finding that almost half of the hospitals are not segregating infectious waste from other medical waste. The most frequently used practice of treating and disposing of medical waste was the use of private haulers that transport medical waste to treatment facilities (61.5%). The next most frequently reported techniques were pouring into municipal sewage (46.6%), depositing in landfills (41.6%), and autoclaving (32.3%). Other methods adopted by hospitals included Electro-Thermal-Deactivation (ETD), hydropulping, microwaving, and grinding before pouring into the municipal sewer. Hospitals were asked to identify all methods they used in the treatment and disposal of medical waste. Percentages, therefore, add up to greater than 100% because the majority chose more than one method. Hospitals in Oregon and Washington used microwaving and ETD methods to treat medical waste, while those in Idaho did not. No hospitals in any of the states reported using irradiation as a treatment technique. Most hospitals in Oregon and Washington no longer operate their incinerators due to more stringent regulations regarding air pollution emissions. Hospitals in Idaho, however, were still operating incinerators in the absence of state regulations specific to these types of facilities.     

George Frederick Nixon, Jr. (1941-2002).

Reports the death of George Frederick Nixon, Jr. (1941-2002). The author discusses his contributions to family psychology as well as various personal and professional accomplishments. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)