Current approaches to assessment and treatment of persons with serious mental illness.

Psychologists increasingly have the opportunity to work with persons with serious and chronic mental illnesses. Managed care encourages services that rely less on hospital treatment and more on a combination of brief and intensive outpatient therapy and long-term, low-cost maintenance and support. Diagnostic practices needed to be effective in such an environment include categorical and functional assessment. Psychological treatments that have been demonstrated effective include cognitive-behavioral social skills training, pragmatic supportive therapy, personal therapy, the multimodal functional model, therapeutic contracting, case management, and multiple family therapy. These innovative assessment and treatment techniques are described along with some experimental treatments of cognitive dysfunction. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Prospective evaluation of three smoking interventions in 205 recovering alcoholics: One-year results of Project SCRAP-Tobacco.

205 (113 male, 92 female) nonhospitalized recovering alcoholics with >3 mo of continuous abstinence from alcohol and drugs and relatively heavy tobacco dependence (Fagerstrom Tolerance Questionnaire score?=? 7.7; mean number of cigarettes per day, 26.8; mean number of years smoked, 24.4) were randomized to standard treatment (ST) American Lung Association quit program plus nicotine anonymous meetings (n?=?70), behavioral counseling plus physical exercise (BEX; n?=?72), or behavioral counseling plus nicotine gum (BNIC; n?=?63). A 3?×?4 repeated measures design was used to evaluate the effectiveness of the interventions on smoking outcome at baseline, posttreatment, and 6- and 12-mo follow-ups. Self-reported smoking status was verified with biochemical and informant report. Verified self-report indicated that significantly more smokers in BEX quit by posttreatment (60%) than in either BNIC (52%) or ST (31%), χ–2(2, N?=?205)?=?17.85, p?     

Reductions in Hydrogen Sulfide and Changes in Mitochondrial Quality Control Proteins Are Evident in the Early Phases of the Corneally Kindled Mouse Model of Epilepsy

Epilepsy is a heterogenous neurological disorder characterized by recurrent unprovoked seizures, mitochondrial stress, and neurodegeneration. Hydrogen sulfide (H₂S) is a gasotransmitter that promotes mitochondrial function and biogenesis, elicits neuromodulation and neuroprotection, and may acutely suppress seizures. A major gap in knowledge remains in understanding the role of mitochondrial dysfunction and progressive changes in H₂S levels following acute seizures or during epileptogenesis. We thus sought to quantify changes in H₂S and its methylated metabolite (MeSH) via LC-MS/MS following acute maximal electroshock and 6 Hz 44 mA seizures in mice, as well as in the early phases of the corneally kindled mouse model of chronic seizures. Plasma H₂S was acutely reduced after a maximal electroshock seizure. H₂S or MeSH levels and expressions of related genes in whole brain homogenates from corneally kindled mice were not altered. However, plasma H₂S levels were significantly lower during kindling, but not after established kindling. Moreover, we demonstrated a time-dependent increase in expression of mitochondrial membrane integrity-related proteins, OPA1, MFN2, Drp1, and Mff during kindling, which did not correlate with changes in gene expression. Taken together, short-term reductions in plasma H₂S could be a novel biomarker for seizures. Future studies should further define the role of H₂S and mitochondrial stress in epilepsy.     

Viticulture in Texas: the challenge of natural hazards

Natural hazards present a ubiquitous challenge to the successful practice of viticulture. This article reports on the results of a research study conducted to ascertain the effects of natural hazards on viticulture in Texas. It examines the locational differences in the types of natural hazards that affect viticulture, as well as differences in mitigation techniques used by growers in different parts of the state. Results from an online survey indicate that most crop losses in Texas occurred as a result of multiple hazards having a cumulative effect over time. Analyses of survey data also show that viticultural crop loss as a result of one or a combination of natural hazards appears to affect Texas growers almost equally, regardless of prior professional experience (agricultural or non-agricultural) or whether a grower retains crop insurance. A thorough understanding of the types of hazards that may impact viticulture in Texas, along with the types of mitigation measures that are employed to combat those hazards, may prove invaluable those new to the field before the decision is made to invest in a new vineyard.     

Effective interactions and transport properties of degenerate spin-polarized3He-4He mixtures

We present calculations of the thermal conductivity, viscosity, and longitudinal spin diffusion of degenerate³He-⁴He mixtures as a function of spin polarization. Physical arguments and sum rules are used to describe qualitatively the behavior of the effective interactions between two³He quasiparticles. A recently proposed potential model is consistent with these expectations and provides the momentum- and polarization-dependent transition probabilities that enter into transport calculations. In the limit of small³He concentrations, our results agree with previous calculations based on the hard sphere model. For concentrations nearing saturation, however, we find structure in the thermal conductivity as a function of polarization with the³He density kept fixed. While the behavior of the viscosity remainsqualitatively similar to that at low concentration, the spin diffusion coefficient is qualitatively different. This behavior of the transport coefficients is largely a consequence of the strongly polarization dependentm _z =1 triplet scattering rate which becomes comparable to that in the singlet channel at large polarizations.