The mix-up regarding mixed and unmixed lists in spacing-effect research.

J. W. Hall (see record 1992-30089-001) proposed that participants in spacing-effect experiments use massed repetitions as an opportunity to study previously presented items. He provided apparent evidence for this displaced-rehearsal strategy in a free-recall experiment involving unmixed lists consisting of all massed or all spaced repetitions. He argued that this strategy produces artifactual spacing effects when experiments involve mixed lists containing both massed and spaced repetitions. This raises the specter that much of the spaced-repetition literature might be contaminated by artifactual results because most experiments have used mixed-list designs. The authors replicated Hall's experiment and extended it by including critical control conditions. Although Hall's results are replicable, they are primarily attributable to factors that were uncontrolled in his study. There seems to be no compelling reason to question spacing effects obtained with mixed-list designs. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

James F. T. Bugental (1915-2008).

James F. T. Bugental died peacefully at age 92 at his Petaluma, California, home on September 18, 2008. Jim was a leading psychotherapist and a founding father, with Abraham Maslow and others, of humanistic psychology, or the "third force" (in contrast to psychoanalysis and behaviorism). Jim was also the creator, along with Rollo May, of existential-humanistic psychotherapy. Jim was born in Fort Wayne, Indiana, on Christmas Day in 1915. Jim earned his doctorate in 1948 from Ohio State University, where he was influenced by Victor Raimy and George Kelly. After a brief time on the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) faculty in psychology, Jim resigned in 1953 to found the first group practice of psychotherapy, Psychological Service Associates, with Alvin Lasko. With Abraham Maslow and others, Jim was a cofounder of the Journal of Humanistic Psychology (JHP) and the Association for Humanistic Psychology in 1961. Jim also wrote many books on the topic of psychotherapy during his lifetime. Jim was a great and bold spirit--his many writings and teachings are cherished today widely, and the field of psychology is much richer for his efforts. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effect of the Slag Composition on the Process Behavior,Energy Consumption,and Nonmetallic Inclusions during Electroslag Remelting

Electroslag remelting (ESR) is an important process to produce high-quality tool steels. The slag composition has a strong effect on the remelting behavior, particularly on energy consumption and the removal of nonmetallic inclusions (NMI). The latter aspect is strongly related to chemical reactions between the slag and the metal and determines the necessary composition of the slag. Also, the electrical conductivity of the slag is determined by the slag composition, and a high resistivity is desirable. The effect of different slag compositions with 0%–60% CaF₂ and a corresponding wide range of electrical conductivities is investigated regarding slag movement, slag surface temperature, and slag skin thickness, as well as their impact on chemical reactions and the removal of NMI. Therefore, a laboratory-scale ESR unit and the plastic mold steel X40Cr14 are used for the experimental trials. The results show a strong impact on the remelting behavior as well as on the specific energy consumption ranging from ≈900 to over 1700 kWh h⁻¹. The findings from the chemical analysis and detection of NMI indicate that a similar metallurgical behavior is feasible, leading to comparable amounts of dominantly Al₂O₃–MgO-type inclusions with some variation due to different activities in the slag.     

Factorial validity of Stephen's Social Behavior Assessment.

Conducted exploratory factor and item analyses of the Social Behavior Assessment (SBA), using teacher ratings of 301 elementary school pupils from regular classes (mean age 9.4 yrs), 39 learning disabled students (mean age 9.1 yrs), and 62 emotionally disturbed children (mean age 10.1 yrs). It was found that a 5-factor oblique solution was the most reasonable. Factors obtained from item analysis explained more of the variance than factors based on subcategory scores. A shorter revised instrument is proposed that consists of 71 items based on 4 underlying factors—Social Participation/Conversation, Academic Responsibility, Self-Control, and Consideration for Others. This revised SBA discriminated between Ss in regular classes and those enrolled in special education programs. Emotionally disturbed Ss had the most deviant scores on each of the 4 factors. (7 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Employee and customer perceptions of service in banks: Replication and extension.

Replicated the 1st author and J. J. Parkington's (1979) research on the relationships between employees and customers in service organizations by analyzing survey data from 142 employees and 968 customers from 28 branches of a bank. Moderate support was found for the 1st author and Parkington's work on correlates of stress for boundary role employees. Support was also found for relationships between branch employees' and branch customers' service perceptions and attitudes as reported by the present 1st author et al (1980). Significant relationships were reported between branch employees' perceptions of organizational human resources practices and branch customers' attitudes about service. Employee attitudes and customer attitudes were related to their own and one another's turnover intentions. Results are discussed from the perspective of promoting an integration of consumer and organizational behavior in the service sector. (51 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Dihydropyrimidine dehydrogenase activity in cancer patients

Dihydropyrimidine dehydrogenase (DPD) is the major catabolic enzyme of pyrimidines and fluoropyrimidines. The clinical course of 2 patients with suspected DPD deficiency is described. Both patients had significantly delayed clearance of fluorouracil (5-FU), elevated plasma uracil concentrations, and subsequent lethal toxicity. The prevalence of DPD deficiency in the general population is unknown, but given the large number of cancer patients treated with 5-FU, it may be of great clinical significance. Lymphocytes have been previously shown to be a useful marker of systemic DPD activity. Because DPD activity has not been previously reported in a large population of cancer patients using 5-FU as the substrate, we determined DPD activity in lymphocytes from 66 patients with cancer. DPD activity was determined by a sensitive high performance liquid chromatography method. The mean DPD activity (S.D.) in 66 patients with head and neck cancer was 0.189 (0.071) nomol/min/mg protein with wide interpatient variability (range 0.058-0.357). DPD activity was not correlated to age (r = -0.164, P = 0.188). The mean DPD activity in men [0.192 (0.074)] was not significantly different from that in women [0.172 (0.057); t-test P = 0.418]. Likewise, there was no statistical difference in DPD activity in patients who had not received prior chemotherapy [0.195 (0.066)] to patients receiving one or more cycles of chemotherapy [0.186 (0.074); t-test P = 0.638].     

Development of neurosurgery in southern California and the Los Angeles county/University of Southern California Medical Center

We reported a case of successful treatment of bilateral pulmonary metastasis from rectal cancer with high-dose 5'-DFUR plus MMC combination chemotherapy. A woman born in 1948 showed a recurrence in the bilateral lung about 29 months after low anterior resection. High-dose 5'-DFUR plus MMC combination chemotherapy was started in March, 1991. The chest X-ray examination 8 weeks after beginning this therapy showed a remarkable decrease in the size of the pulmonary metastatic foci and CEA decreased in the same way. The dose of 5'-DFUR was reduced after 5 courses, and then CEA increased. No remarkable side effect was encountered and the patient could be safely treated at an outpatient clinic. During this therapy no recurrence has been detected, and we performed a resection of the bilateral pulmonary metastasis by median sternotomy in October, 1991. The above findings suggested that this was an effective and safe therapy for pulmonary metastasis from colon cancers and could be a neo-adjuvant chemotherapy for surgical resection of pulmonary metastasis.     

Long-term treatment with abecarnil does not induce diazepam-like dependence in mice

Abecarnil (isopropyl-6-benzyloxy-4-methoxymethyl-beta-carboline-3-carboxylate) is a metabolically stable anxiolytic and anticonvulsant beta-carboline derivative with few sedative and muscle relaxant effects in rodents. Abecamil binds with high affinity to benzodiazepine receptors. Because long-term treatment with benzodiazepines leads to development of dependence, we evaluated in mice whether abecarnil also possesses a potential for producing dependence, using electroencephalographic and electromyographic monitoring, and behavioral assessment of anxiety to detect withdrawal responses after chronic treatment. Diazepam was used as a reference. Mice withdrawn from chronic treatment with diazepam (15 mg/kg/day for 12 days) showed a time-related evolution of anxiety, muscle rigidity and seizures between days 4 and 21 after discontinuation of the treatment. A period between withdrawal days 1 and 3 was symptom free. Mice withdrawn from chronic administration of abecarnil (6 mg/kg/day for 12 days) showed no anxiety and no changes in seizure susceptibility and muscle tone. The doses of diazepam and abecarnil used for chronic treatment were equivalent in terms of kinetics and binding to benzodiazepine receptors. These data indicate that long-term treatment with abecarnil does not induce benzodiazepine-like dependence in mice. Thus, it may be predicted that chronic treatment with abecarnil in humans may offer an important alternative to benzodiazepines in the treatment of anxiety.