Spiritual struggle related to plasma interleukin-6 prior to cardiac surgery.

Spiritual struggle appeared consistently to predict poor health outcomes, including mortality. Despite surging interest in the health benefits of religion and spirituality, the health hassle of existential conflicts and proinflammatory cytokines as a potential physiological mechanism has been overlooked. Based on psychological and theological assumptions, we argue for the universal nature of spiritual struggle, a crisis-related existential conflict, and for investigating its physiological influence as essential to understanding human nature. Increased levels of inflammatory cytokines such as interleukin-6 (IL-6) have been linked with adverse health outcomes and negative emotions. This study thus examined spiritual struggle related to plasma IL-6 in 235 adult patients undergoing cardiac surgery, along with positive religious coping, general coping, and optimism, controlling for standardized clinical medical indicators. Multiple regression analysis, following a preplanned sequence, showed that spiritual struggle (p = .011), behavioral coping (p = .013) were positively associated with excess plasma IL-6, controlling for medical correlates (e.g., left ventricular ejection fraction). We conclude that spiritual struggle, indicating the crisis in an existential relation, and behavioral coping strategies are associated with elevated pre-operative plasma IL-6. The interdisciplinary implications are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Validation of a new self-report measure of parental attributions.

Attributional theory and empirical evidence suggest that a tendency to make stable, global self-causal attributions for undesirable events is associated with negative outcomes. However, existing self-report measures of parental attributions do not account for the possibility that dysfunctional parent-causal attributions for child misbehavior might be important predictors of poor family functioning. To address these concerns, the authors developed and tested a new measure of both parent-causal and child-responsible attributions for child misbehavior in a sample of 453 community couples. Structural validity, convergent validity, discriminant validity, internal consistency, and temporal stability of the new measure were examined. As expected, confirmatory factor analysis resulted in 2 factors, Child-Responsible (9 items) and Parent-Causal (7 items); the final model was cross-validated in a holdout sample. The final scale demonstrated adequate internal consistency (αs = .81–.90), test–retest reliability (rs = .55–.76), and convergent and discriminant validity. Dysfunctional parent-causal and child-responsible attributions significantly predicted parental emotional problems, ineffective discipline, parent–child physical aggression, and low parenting satisfaction. Associations with parent–child aggression and parenting satisfaction were generally larger than with partner aggression and relationship satisfaction. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Brain fMRI reactivity to smoking-related images before and during extended smoking abstinence.

[Correction Notice: An erratum for this article was reported in Vol 18(3) of Experimental and Clinical Psychopharmacology (see record 2010-11933-011). In the article the authors find it necessary to redefine the thresholding procedure used for data analyses, due to problems in the Brain Voyager software. This does not affect the main findings of the paper.] Reactivity to smoking-related cues may play a role in the maintenance of smoking behavior and may change depending on smoking status. Whether smoking cue-related functional MRI (fMRI) reactivity differs between active smoking and extended smoking abstinence states currently is unknown. We used fMRI to measure brain reactivity in response to smoking-related versus neutral images in 13 tobacco-dependent subjects before a smoking cessation attempt and again during extended smoking abstinence (52 ± 11 days) aided by nicotine replacement therapy. Prequit smoking cue induced fMRI activity patterns paralleled those reported in prior smoking cue reactivity fMRI studies. Greater fMRI activity was detected during extended smoking abstinence than during the prequit assessment subcortically in the caudate nucleus and cortically in prefrontal (BA 6, 9, 44, 46), primary somatosensory (BA 1, 2, 3), temporal (BA 22, 41, 42), parietal (BA 7, 40) anterior cingulate (BA 24, 32), and posterior cingulate (BA 31) cortex. These data suggest that during extended smoking abstinence, fMRI reactivity to smoking versus neutral stimuli persists in brain areas involved in attention, somatosensory processing, motor planning, and conditioned cue responding. In some brain regions, fMRI smoking cue reactivity is increased during extended smoking abstinence in comparison to the prequit state, which may contribute to persisting relapse vulnerability. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Review and analysis of literature on self-management interventions to promote appropriate classroom behaviors (1988–2008).

In the late 1980s, J. W. Fantuzzo and colleagues conducted a review of the self-management literature in order to better define the characteristics of this class of interventions. Results indicated that many interventions were minimally student-directed despite the title “self-managed” and that student-managed interventions demonstrated incremental effects above teacher-managed interventions. In the current study, updated information was compiled with regard to how self-management interventions have been described, including the degree to which self-management interventions continue to rely on external (i.e., teacher) contingencies. Review of the literature identified 16 different characterizations of self-management interventions, each of which varied widely in terms of the number of intervention components included as well as the degree to which students were involved in implementation. Although self-observation and recording of a predefined behavior appear to be the cornerstones of self-management interventions, meaningful differences were noted, including whether reinforcement was involved and whether changes in performance were tracked over time. Furthermore, although self-management interventions appear to have undergone a small shift toward increased reliance on internal (i.e., student-managed) contingencies, adults continue to play a large role in the implementation. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Stigma and barriers to care in soldiers postcombat.

The present study examined the effects of leadership and unit cohesion on mental health stigma and perceived barriers to care. A sample of 680 soldiers from combat support units were surveyed 3 months after their return from combat operations in Iraq. The survey included scales on psychological symptoms and perceptions of leader behaviors and unit cohesion, as well as items assessing stigma and barriers to care. The sample was used to test the independent and interactive effects of leadership and unit cohesion on soldiers’ perceptions of stigma and barriers to care. Analyses yielded significant interaction effects between leadership and cohesion in predicting stigma and barriers to care, while controlling for the effects of mental health symptoms. Soldiers who rated their leaders more highly and who reported higher unit cohesion also reported lower scores on both stigma and perceived barriers to care. Thus, positive leadership and unit cohesion can reduce perceptions of stigma and barriers to care, even after accounting for the relationship between mental health symptoms and these outcomes. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Veteran interest in family involvement in PTSD treatment.

[Correction Notice: An erratum for this article was reported in Vol 7(3) of Psychological Services (see record 2010-17074-004). The copyright for the article was listed incorrectly. This article is in the Public Domain. The online version has been corrected.] The present study examined interest in family involvement in treatment and preferences concerning the focus of family oriented treatment for veterans (N = 114) participating in an outpatient Veterans Affairs outpatient posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) program. Most veterans viewed PTSD as a source of family stress (86%) and expressed interest in greater family involvement in their treatment (79%). These results suggest the need to consider increasing family participation in the clinical care of individuals with PTSD and to develop specialized family educational and support services for this population. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

美RMA不服判决NHTSA数据再起波澜

美RMA不服判决NHTSA数据再起波澜     

A fuzzy supplier selection model with the consideration of benefits,opportunities, costs and risks

Even though the research on supplier selection is abundant, the works usually only consider the critical success factors in the buyer–supplier relationship. However, the negative aspects of the buyer–supplier relationship must also be considered simultaneously. The main objective in this study is to propose an analytical approach to select suppliers under a fuzzy environment. A fuzzy analytic hierarchy process (FAHP) model, which incorporates the benefits, opportunities, costs and risks (BOCR) concept, is constructed to evaluate various aspects of suppliers. Multiple factors that are positively or negatively affecting the success of the relationship are analyzed by taking into account experts’ opinion on their importance, and a performance ranking of the suppliers is obtained. TFT-LCD manufacturers in Taiwan, which is the largest TFT-LCD producer country in the world, are facing increasing competition nowadays, and the selection of the most appropriate suppliers for cooperation is essential for firms to achieve competitive advantage. A case study of backlight unit supplier selection for a TFT-LCD manufacturer is presented, and the proposed model is applied to facilitate the decision process. The model is a general form that can be tailored and applied by firms that are making decisions on supplier selection.     

The fate of Transparent Exopolymer Particles (TEP) in integrated membrane systems: Removal through pre-treatment processes and deposition on reverse osmosis membranes

The abundance of Transparent Exopolymer Particles (TEP) in surface waters has been unnoticed for many years until recently as a potential foulant in reverse osmosis systems. Recent studies indicate that TEP may cause organic and biological fouling and may enhance particulate/colloidal fouling in reverse osmosis membranes. The presence of TEP was measured in the raw water, the pre-treatment processes and reverse osmosis (RO) systems of 6 integrated membrane installations. A spectrophotometric method was used to measure TEP in the particulate size range (>0.40 μm) and was extended to measure TEP in the colloidal size range (0.05–0.40 μm). Ultrafiltration pre-treatment applied in 4 plants, totally removed particulate TEP while microfiltration systems (2 plants) and coagulation/sedimentation/rapid sand filtration systems (3 plants) partially removed this fraction. None of the pre-treatment systems investigated totally removed colloidal TEP. Biopolymer analysis using LC–OCD showed consistency between colloidal TEP and polysaccharide removal by UF pre-treatment and further verified the presence of TEP in the RO feedwater. TEP deposition in the RO system was determined after measuring total TEP concentrations in the RO feed and concentrate. The TEP deposition factors and specific deposition rates indicate that TEP accumulation had occurred in all plants investigated. This observation was verified by an autopsy of RO modules from two RO plants. Further improvement and verification of the (modified) TEP method, in particular the calibration, is necessary so that it can be employed to investigate the role of TEP in the fouling of RO systems.