Where is the infant in infant intervention? A review of the literature on changing troubled mother-infant relationships.

Four intervention models that aim to reduce problematic caregiver–infant relationships are reviewed within the context of attachment theory. These models include support, guidance, psychotherapy, and infant-led psychotherapy. All of the models are consistent with attachment theory in that they aim to enhance maternal sensitivity and responsiveness. Only infant-led psychotherapy focuses primarily on the mother–infant relationship and directly includes the infant in treatment instead of focusing and working primarily with the more verbal partner, the caregiver. Thus, of the 4 interventions, infant-led psychotherapy is most consistent with the current empirical and theoretical understanding of infants as active contributors to their relationships and development. However, there is little empirical research on this intervention; the bulk of studies evaluate support and guidance. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Resonant couplers acting as add-drop filters made withsilica-on-silicon waveguide technology

Add-drop filters are demonstrated using silica-on-silicon optical waveguide technology. This device consists of a full directional coupler subdivided by Mach-Zehnder sections. Tapering of the coupling coefficients is experimentally shown to dramatically reduce the filters' sidelobes. Only one photolithographic step is required using the silica planar waveguide technology, yielding accurate wavelength control of the filters. Excellent agreement between measurement and design was achieved     

High spatial order finite element method to solve Maxwell's equations in time domain

This paper presents a finite element method with high spatial order for solving the Maxwell equations in the time domain. In the first part, we provide the mathematical background of the method. Then, we discuss the advantages of the new scheme compared to a classical finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) method. Several examples show the advantages of using the new method for different kinds of problems. Comparisons in terms of accuracy and CPU time between this method, the FDTD and the finite-volume time-domain methods are given as well.     

Life stress and adjustment: Effects of life events experienced by young adolescents and their parents.

A longitudinal design was used to test the effects of life events experienced by young adolescents and their parents. The criteria were the adolescents' depression, anxiety, and self-esteem. The longitudinal analysis revealed a significant effect for the adolescents' controllable, but not uncontrollable, negative events. However, causal analyses revealed that this effect was the result of the significant relation between initial adjustment and the subsequent occurrence of controllable life stress (e.g., school suspension). The longitudinal analysis also revealed the stress-protective role of positive events, but only with respect to girls' self-esteem. There was no longitudinal support for the role of the parents' negative life events. These findings do not support the etiological importance of an accumulation of relatively discrete negative events experienced by early adolescents and their parents, but they do suggest the need (a) to conceptualize (controllable) life stress as a dependent variable in future research on developmental psychopathology; (b) to examine gender differences in early adolescent life stress; and (c) to develop more sophisticated measures of family life stress. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Male honor and female fidelity: Implicit cultural scripts that perpetuate domestic violence.

Two studies explored how domestic violence may be implicitly or explicitly sanctioned and reinforced in cultures where honor is a salient organizing theme. Three general predictions were supported: (a) female infidelity damages a man's reputation, particularly in honor cultures; (b) this reputation can be partially restored through the use of violence; and (c) women in honor cultures are expected to remain loyal in the face of jealousy-related violence. Study 1 involved participants from Brazil (an honor culture) and the United States responding to written vignettes involving infidelity and violence in response to infidelity. Study 2 involved southern Anglo, Latino, and northern Anglo participants witnessing a "live" incident of aggression against a woman (actually a confederate) and subsequently interacting with her. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Religion's role in adjustment to a negative life event: Coping with the loss of a child.

Parents (N?=?124) who had lost an infant to sudden infant death syndrome were interviewed 3 wks and 18 mo postloss. Two components of religion (religious participation and religious importance) were assessed, and their relations with 3 coping-process variables (perceived social support, cognitive processing of the loss, and finding meaning in the death) were examined. Greater religious participation was related to increased perception of social support and greater meaning found in the loss. Importance of religion was positively related to cognitive processing and finding meaning in the death. Furthermore, through these coping-process variables, religious participation and importance were indirectly related to greater well-being and less distress among parents 18 mo after their infants' deaths. Results suggest that further study of the social and cognitive aspects of religion would be profitable. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Tripe palms: a cutaneous paraneoplastic syndrome

Tripe palms is a cutaneous paraneoplastic syndrome. We report a case of tripe palms in a 71-year-old man with non-small cell lung cancer. Approximately 90% of patients with tripe palms have an associated cancer, most commonly involving the lung or the stomach. Any patient with tripe palms must have a complete cancer workup, especially for lung and stomach cancer.     

Optic chiasm astrocytomas of childhood. 1. Long-term follow-up

There are many in vivo animal models for studying airway mucus secretion and hypersecretion, each with advantages and disadvantages. Use of a particular test system will depend upon the aspect of secretion to be modelled. Airway hypersecretory diseases exhibit chronic mucus hypersecretion, of which the clinical impact is predominantly in the distal airways. The majority of documented test preparations study acute secretion, invariably using tracheal preparations, but have been invaluable in elucidating the normal physiology of airway mucus secretion. Chronic models of the hypersecretory state in the distal airways have been developed, but are predominantly histologic in nature (for example quantification of increased goblet cell number). There are few investigations of mucus hypersecretion. Examination of the 'antisecretory' potential of pharmaceutical compounds has been investigated predominantly in chronic histologic models with the drug being given 'prophylactically' rather than 'therapeutically'. Refinement of chronic hypersecretory models should lead to elucidation of the connection between airway irritation, inflammation, MUC gene expression, mucous cell hyperplasia/metaplasia, airway hypersecretion and bronchial hypersecretory disease.     

Intramuscular ceftriaxone compared with oral amoxicillin-clavulanate for treatment of acute otitis media in children

Two hundred and fifteen children aged 4 months 6 years with acute otitis media (AOM) were randomized to be treated either by a single i.m. injection of ceftriaxone, 50 mg/kg, with a second dose in the event of unsatisfactory response after 48 h or a history of recurrent AOM (109 patients) or amoxicillin clavulanate 12.5 mg tid (106 patients). The failure rate was similar in children treated by ceftriaxone and amoxicillin clavulanate, 4.6% and 4.7%, respectively (standard error for intergroup difference -2.87%, 95% confidence interval -5.62% to 5.87%). No significant differences between the groups were found in the dynamics of the resolution of the acute symptomatology, otoscopy findings, relapse rate at 30 days or tympanographic evidence of middle ear effusion at the scheduled visits on days 30, 60 and 90. Recurrence of AOM between days 31 and 90 was observed significantly in more children treated with amoxicillin clavulanate than with ceftriaxone--25 out of 84 (29.4%) versus 11 out of 81 (13.6%) (P = 0.012). Conclusion: Ceftriaxone injection(s) is as efficient at least as 10-day oral amoxicillin clavulanate for treatment of acute otitis media in children. Although not recommended as routine, ceftriaxone can be considered in the management of acute otitis media under special circumstances, particularly in cases when the ability to tolerate or absorb oral drugs is compromised, in children refusing or unable to take oral therapy or when the compliance is questionable.