A comparison between low-magnitude voucher and buprenorphine medication contingencies in promoting abstinence from opioids and cocaine.

This study compared the relative efficacy of low-magnitude, contingent monetary vouchers, contingent buprenorphine medication, and standard counseling in promoting abstinence from illicit opioids and cocaine among opioid-dependent adults. Following an 8-week baseline period during which participants received buprenorphine maintenance treatment with no contingencies in place, 60 participants were randomly assigned to one of 3 treatment groups for 12 weeks: (a) Participants in the voucher group earned vouchers for each opioid- and cocaine-negative urine sample, in accordance with an escalating schedule. Continuous abstinence resulted in voucher earnings equivalent to a total of $269, which participants could exchange for material reinforcers of their choice. (b) Participants in the medication contingency group received half their scheduled buprenorphine dose for clinic attendance and the other half for remaining abstinent from opiates and cocaine. Thus, they received only half of their scheduled dose on submission of an opioid- and/or cocaine-positive urine sample. (c) Participants in standard treatment did not receive programmed consequences contingent on urinalysis results. All participants were maintained with buprenorphine according to a 3-times-per-week dosing regimen and participated in behavioral drug counseling. Retention rate did not significantly differ across the groups; however, participants in the medication contingency group achieved significantly more weeks of continuous abstinence from opiates and cocaine compared with participants in the voucher group (Ms = 5.95 and 2.90, respectively). Results suggest that the use of medication-based contingencies in combination with behavioral therapy in promoting drug abstinence may have clinical utility. Limitations of the study are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Connecting physical and social dimensions of place attachment: What can we learn from attachment to urban recreational spaces?

This paper is concerned with the ways in which people form attachments to recreational spaces. More specifically it examines the relationship between recreational spaces associated with sporting activity in urban neighbourhoods and place attachment. The focus is on the ways in which changes to these spaces exposes the affective bonds between people and their surroundings. The paper applies a qualitative methodology, namely focus groups and photo elicitation, to the case study of Parkhead, a neighbourhood in the East End of Glasgow. Parkhead has historically been subjected to successive waves of redevelopment as a result of deindustrialization in the late twentieth century. More recently redevelopment associated with the 2014 Commonwealth Games involved further changes to neighbourhood recreational spaces, including refurbishing of existing sports facilities and building new ones. This paper reflects on the cumulative impacts of this redevelopment to conclude (a) that recreational sports spaces provoke multi-layered and complex attachments that are inextricably connected to both temporal and spatial narratives and (b) that research on neighbourhood recreational spaces can develop our understanding of the intricate relationship between the social and physical dimensions of place attachment.     

Chromogenic cross-linker for the characterization of protein structure by infrared multiphoton dissociation mass spectrometry

We have developed a new IR chromogenic cross-linker (IRCX) to aid in rapidly distinguishing cross-linked peptides from unmodified species in complex mixtures. By incorporating a phosphate functional group into the cross-linker, one can take advantage of its unique IR absorption properties, affording selective infrared multiphoton dissociation (IRMPD) of the cross-linked peptides. In a mock mixture of unmodified peptides and IRCX-cross-linked peptides (intramolecularly and intermolecularly cross-linked), only the peptides containing the IRCX modification were shown to dissociate upon exposure to 50 ms of 10.6-microm radiation. LC-IRMPD-MS proved to be an effective method to distinguish the cross-linked peptides in a tryptic digest of IRCX-cross-linked ubiquitin. A total of four intermolecular cross-links and two dead-end modifications were identified using IRCX and LC-IRMPD-MS. IRMPD of these cross-linked peptides resulted in secondary dissociation of all primary fragment ions containing the chromophore, producing a series of unmodified b- or y-type ions that allowed the cross-linked peptides to be sequenced without the need for collision-induced dissociation.     

An investigation of microstructure, hardness, tensile behaviour of a titanium alloy: Role of orientation

In this technical paper, the microstructure, hardness, tensile deformation and final fracture behaviour of an emerging titanium alloy for performancecritical applications are presented and discussed. Both longitudinal and transverse test specimens were prepared from the as-provided sheet stock of the alloy and deformed in uniaxial tension. The yield strength and tensile strength of the alloy sheet in the transverse orientation was higher than the longitudinal orientation. The ductility of the test specimens, quantified in terms of reduction-in-cross-sectional area, was higher for the transverse specimen when compared to the longitudinal counterpart. The elongation-to-failure of the test specimens was identical in the two orientations of the sheet stock. The tensile fracture behaviour of the alloy was quantified by careful examination of the fracture surfaces in a scanning electron microscope. The intrinsic fracture features on the tensile fracture surface were discussed taking into consideration the nature of loading and contribution from intrinsic microstructural features.     

Rhesus monkeys (Macaca mulatta) lack expertise in face processing.

Faces are salient stimuli for primates that rely predominantly on visual cues for recognizing conspecifics and maintaining social relationships. While previous studies have shown similar face discrimination processes in chimpanzees and humans, data from monkeys are unclear. Therefore, three studies examined face processing in rhesus monkeys using the face inversion effect, a fractured face task, and an individual recognition task. Unlike chimpanzees and humans, the monkeys showed a general face inversion effect reflected by significantly better performance on upright compared to inverted faces (conspecifics, human and chimpanzees faces) regardless of the subjects' expertise with those categories. Fracturing faces alters first- and second-order configural manipulations whereas previous studies in chimpanzees showed selective deficits for second-order configural manipulations. Finally, when required to individuate conspecific's faces, i.e., matching two different photographs of the same conspecific, monkeys showed poor discrimination and repeated training. These results support evolutionary differences between rhesus monkeys and Hominoids in the importance of configural cues and their ability to individuate conspecifics' faces, suggesting a lack of face expertise in rhesus monkeys. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Opioids and the treatment of chronic pain: Controversies, current status, and future directions.

Opioids have been regarded for millennia as among the most effective drugs for the treatment of pain. Their use in the management of acute severe pain and chronic pain related to advanced medical illness is considered the standard of care in most of the world. In contrast, the long-term administration of an opioid for the treatment of chronic noncancer pain continues to be controversial. Concerns related to effectiveness, safety, and abuse liability have evolved over decades, sometimes driving a more restrictive perspective and sometimes leading to a greater willingness to endorse this treatment. The past several decades in the United States have been characterized by attitudes that have shifted repeatedly in response to clinical and epidemiological observations, and events in the legal and regulatory communities. The interface between the legitimate medical use of opioids to provide analgesia and the phenomena associated with abuse and addiction continues to challenge the clinical community, leading to uncertainly about the appropriate role of these drugs in the treatment of pain. This narrative review briefly describes the neurobiology of opioids and then focuses on the complex issues at this interface between analgesia and abuse, including terminology, clinical challenges, and the potential for new agents, such as buprenorphine, to influence practice. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The National Child Traumatic Stress Network: Collaborating to improve the standard of care.

Mental health practitioners are often called upon to provide services to children, adolescents, and families in the aftermath of traumatic experiences such as child neglect, sexual or physical abuse, family/domestic violence, sexual assault, interpersonal violence, school and community violence, serious accidental injury, catastrophic medical illness, traumatic bereavement, or mass casualty events, including natural and man-made disasters. The National Child Traumatic Stress Network (NCTSN) was established in 2001 to raise the standard of care and improve access to services for traumatized children, their families, and communities throughout the United States. This article describes the development of the NCTSN, its structure, programs, and many of the products and resources--including online lectures, training programs and videos, and searchable databases of child trauma resources--available through the NCTSN Web site (www.nctsn.org) to assist professionals in providing state-of-the-art assessment, treatment, and services to these children and their families. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Robust and conventional neuropsychological norms: Diagnosis and prediction of age-related cognitive decline.

The aim of the study was to compare the performance of Robust and Conventional neuropsychological norms in predicting clinical decline among healthy adults and in mild cognitive impairment (MCI). The authors developed Robust baseline cross sectional and longitudinal change norms from 113 healthy participants retaining a normal diagnosis for at least 4 years. Baseline Conventional norms were separately created for 256 similar healthy participants without follow-up. Conventional and Robust norms were tested in an independent cohort of longitudinally studied healthy (n=223), MCI (n=136), and Alzheimer's disease (AD, n=162) participants; 84 healthy participants declined to MCI or AD (NL→DEC), and 44 MCI declined to AD (MCI→AD). Compared to Conventional norms, baseline Robust norms correctly identified a higher proportion of NL→DEC with impairment in delayed memory and attention-language domains. Both norms predicted decline from MCI→AD. Change norms for delayed memory and attention-language significantly incremented baseline classification accuracies. These findings indicate that Robust norms improve identification of healthy individuals who will decline and may be useful for selecting at-risk participants for research studies and early interventions. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A generally robust approach for testing hypotheses and setting confidence intervals for effect sizes.

Standard least squares analysis of variance methods suffer from poor power under arbitrarily small departures from normality and fail to control the probability of a Type I error when standard assumptions are violated. This article describes a framework for robust estimation and testing that uses trimmed means with an approximate degrees of freedom heteroscedastic statistic for independent and correlated groups designs in order to achieve robustness to the biasing effects of nonnormality and variance heterogeneity. The authors describe a nonparametric bootstrap methodology that can provide improved Type I error control. In addition, the authors indicate how researchers can set robust confidence intervals around a robust effect size parameter estimate. In an online supplement, the authors use several examples to illustrate the application of an SAS program to implement these statistical methods. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)