Assessment of strategic self-regulation in traumatic brain injury: Its relationship to injury severity and psychosocial outcome.

Standard neuropsychological tests administered in a constrained and artificial laboratory environment are often insensitive to the real-life deficits faced by patients with traumatic brain injury (TBI). The Revised Strategy Application Test (R-SAT) creates an unstructured environment in the laboratory in which environmental cues and internal habits oppose the most efficient strategy, thus mimicking the real-life situations that are problematic for patients with TBI. In this study, R-SAT performance was related both to severity of TBI (i.e., depth of coma) sustained 2–3 years earlier and to quality of life outcome as assessed by the Sickness Impact Profile. This relationship held after accounting for variance attributable to TBI-related slowing and inattention. These findings support the validity of the R-SAT and suggest that behavioral correlates of quality of life outcome in TBI can be assessed in the laboratory with unstructured tasks. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Localized Delaunay Refinement for Sampling and Meshing

The technique of Delaunay refinement has been recognized as a versatile tool to generate Delaunay meshes of a variety of geometries. Despite its usefulness, it suffers from one lacuna that limits its application. It does not scale well with the mesh size. As the sample point set grows, the Delaunay triangulation starts stressing the available memory space which ultimately stalls any effective progress. A natural solution to the problem is to maintain the point set in clusters and run the refinement on each individual cluster. However, this needs a careful point insertion strategy and a balanced coordination among the neighboring clusters to ensure consistency across individual meshes. We design an octtree based localized Delaunay refinement method for meshing surfaces in three dimensions which meets these goals. We prove that the algorithm terminates and provide guarantees about structural properties of the output mesh. Experimental results show that the method can avoid memory thrashing while computing large meshes and thus scales much better than the standard Delaunay refinement method.     

Autobiographical remembering and hypermnesia: A comparison of older and younger adults.

This study examined age differences in autobiographical memory and extended findings concerning hypermnesia in laboratory tasks to a real world event, the announcement of the verdict in the O. J. Simpson murder trial. Older and younger adults repeatedly recalled the event in a single session. Interviews were coded for amount and type of accurate information and for errors. The age groups did not differ in ability to recall the gist of the event or in the number of errors made. Younger adults were better at remembering when the event had occurred. Both age groups showed hypermnesia. The results are discussed in terms of the importance of autobiographical memory across the life span and the phenomenon of hypermnesia in everyday memory. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Cognitive–behavioral therapy to reduce weight concerns improves smoking cessation outcome in weight-concerned women.

Women smokers concerned about weight gain (N?=?219) were randomly assigned to 1 of 3 adjunct treatments accompanying group smoking cessation counseling: (a) behavioral weight control to prevent weight gain (weight control); (b) cognitive–behavioral therapy (CBT) to directly reduce weight concern, in which dieting was discouraged; and (c) standard counseling alone (standard), in which weight gain was not explicitly addressed. Ten sessions were conducted over 7 weeks, and no medication was provided. Continuous abstinence was significantly higher at posttreatment and at 6 and 12 months of follow-up for CBT (56%, 28%, and 21%, respectively), but not for weight control (44%, 18%, and 13%, respectively), relative to standard (31%, 12%, and 9%, respectively). However, weight control, and to a lesser extent CBT, was associated with attenuation of negative mood after quitting. Prequit body mass index, but not change in weight or in weight concerns postquit, predicted cessation outcome at 1 year. In sum, CBT to reduce weight concerns, but not behavioral weight control counseling to prevent weight gain, improves smoking cessation outcome in weight-concerned women. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Causal attribution, perceived benefits, and morbidity after a heart attack: An 8-year study.

In a sample of 287 heart attack victims who were interviewed 7 weeks and 8 years after their attack or who were known to have died during follow-up, interrelations among causal attributions for the attack, perceived benefits of the attack, survivor morbidity, and heart attack recurrence were explored. Analyses focused on early cognitive predictors of heart attack recurrence and 8-year morbidity and on the effects of surviving another heart attack on cognitive appraisals. Independently of sociodemographic characteristics and physicians' ratings of initial prognosis, patients who cited benefits from their misfortune 7 weeks after the first attack were less likely to have another attack and had lower levels of morbidity 8 years later. Attributing the initial attack to stress responses (e.g., worrying, nervousness) was also predictive of greater morbidity in 8-year survivors and blaming the initial attack on other people was predictive of reinfarctions. Men who survived a subsequent heart attack were more likely than men who did not have additional attacks to cite benefits and made more attributions 8 years after the initial attack. (37 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Importance sampling for the random phase Gaussian channel

Importance sampling (IS) is developed as a variance reduction technique for Monte Carlo simulation of data communications over random phase additive white Gaussian noise channels. The binary problem (with known performance) is examined initially to determine parameter values and estimate the performance gain of IS. These results can then be applied to intractable m-ary signaling problems through composite IS. An example compares the performance of linear, square-law, and optimum receivers for binary block coded data     

The supportive care needs of newly diagnosed cancer patients attending a regional cancer center

BACKGROUND: The objective of this study was to examine the physical and emotional health status, self-perceived problems, and needs of newly diagnosed cancer patients to determine and plan supportive care strategies. METHODS: A cross-sectional survey of newly diagnosed cancer patients attending a regional cancer center during a 6-month period was performed. Patients with breast, colorectal, head and neck, lung, and prostate carcinoma as well as nonmelanoma of the skin were selected randomly. Patients were interviewed prior to their first appointment at the clinic. Physical health status was assessed using the Symptom Distress Scale, psychologic health status was assessed with the General Health Questionnaire (GHQ), day-to-day functioning with the Rapid Disability Scale, and social support with the modified Sarason's Social Support Scale. Perceived needs were assessed in a number of ways, including identification of patients' specific social concerns and informational needs, and by asking them to list their current problems or concerns. RESULTS: Of 156 eligible patients, 134 completed the interview. One hundred and twenty-nine patients (96%) reported current symptoms that included fatigue (66%), worried outlook (61%), difficulty sleeping (48%), and pain (42%). Forty-four patients (33%) were identified as psychologically distressed with a GHQ score of > or = 6. One hundred and fourteen patients (85%) had informational needs, 89 (66%) indicated > or = 1 social concerns, and 55 (41%) reported a need for assistance with day-to-day living. CONCLUSIONS: Patients with newly diagnosed cancer commonly report symptoms related to fatigue, pain, and psychologic distress. Other frequently reported issues relate to the need for information and social concerns regarding the patients' ability to take care of their home and maintain family and other relationships. Awareness of these issues is important for planning supportive care interventions for newly diagnosed cancer patients.