A school-based group activity therapy intervention with at-risk high school students as it relates to their moral reasoning.

The main goal of this study was to examine whether group therapy is useful for developing moral reasoning in at-risk youth. This research compared the impact of 10 weeks of group activity therapy (n = 27) and group talk therapy (n = 34) on the moral reasoning of at-risk ninth grade students. Group activity therapy is the developmentally appropriate extension of child centered play therapy for adolescents. Using pretest and posttest scores on the Maintaining Norms Schema subscale of the Defining Issues Test 2 (DIT-2; Rest, Narvaez, Thoma, & Bebeau, 1999), an analysis of covariance indicated significant difference between groups. Implications for counselors who work with this population are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

24-hour ambulatory blood pressure and renal disease in young subjects with type I diabetes

OBJECTIVES: The clinical data on individuals who were diagnosed to have juvenile myoclonic epilepsy (JME) on the basis of myoclonic jerks alone has been analysed. The points in favour and against individuals with only myoclonic jerks being classified as "affected" for research on JME are discussed. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We studied 15 persons diagnosed with JME on the basis of only myoclonic jerks in a series of 161 patients with JME and their relatives. Detailed information on the seizure types in JME patients and their family members was collected. All affected individuals were examined by one person and had at least one conventional scalp EEG. CT/MRI of the brain was done as and when indicated. RESULTS: Nine of these were probands while 6 were the relatives of JME patients. The EEG was abnormal in 8 of 9 probands and 1 of 6 relatives with only myoclonic jerks. All the 9 probands and 2 relatives with only myoclonic jerks were treated with anti-epileptic drugs. Three of the 4 relatives had spontaneous remission of jerks after variable intervals. Four of 15 persons with only myoclonic jerks had a first degree relative with definite JME. CONCLUSIONS: It appears that persons with myoclonic jerks alone may represent a benign subgroup of JME that may be genetically distinct from classic JME and the jerks may even spontaneously remit in a few cases. It is suggested that those persons with only myoclonic jerks and a first degree relationship with a definite diagnosis of JME can be classified as "affected" for inclusion into molecular studies, till molecular tools are available to settle the issue of phenotypic variations in hereditary neurological disorders like JME.     

Fatty acid patterns in iron-deficient maternal and neonatal rats

To determine the effects of maternal iron deficiency on lipid composition and fatty acid patterns in offspring, rats were fed ad libitum diets containing 5 ppm iron (deficient) (n=8) or 320 ppm iron (control) (n=7) and deionized water from day-1 of gestation through day-18 of lactation. On day-2 of lactation, litters were standardized to three male and three female pups. On day-18, pups were fasted for 4 hr before tissue and blood collection. Significant changes in serum and liver lipid concentrations and fatty acid patterns were observed in deficient pups. Serum triglycerides, cholesterol and phospholipids and liver triglycerides, cholesterol, and cholesteryl esters were increased. In deficient pups, percentage total fatty acids of 14∶0, 16∶1, 18∶1, 18∶2 from serum lipids were increased; in liver, 14∶0, 18∶2, 18∶3 were increased; 18∶0 and 20∶4 were decreased in both serum and liver. Dam serum lipid levels did not differ between groups. Lipid changes observed in iron-deficient pups did not consistently reflect the milk, serum or liver lipid patterns observed in dams. Altered lipid composition and fatty acid patterns of iron-deficient pups thus appear to be of endogenous origin.     

Physics and Limitations of HgCdTe APDs: A Review

Avalanche photodiodes (APDs) made in HgCdTe have been developed for a large number of applications over the last 15 years. The developments have been motivated by exceptional gain characteristics that enables the detection of a low number of photons with close to negligible loss of information over observation times ranging from sub nanoseconds up to milliseconds. In this communication, we review the present understanding of the physics that governs the gain, noise, and response time characteristics of HgCdTe APDs. Recent data resulting from impulse response measurements are also reported that demonstrate a fast 4 GHz bandwidth response at 80 K and show the capacity to obtain bandwidths in excess of 10 GHz in such detectors.     

The effects of outcome expectations and satisfaction on weight loss and maintenance: Correlational and experimental analyses-a randomized trial.

This study examines the hypothesis that highly favorable outcome expectations promote weight loss and hinder weight maintenance. To investigate the effects of outcome expectations and satisfaction with treatment outcomes on weight loss, 349 adults were randomly assigned to 1 of 2 weight loss programs that emphasize either (a) an "optimistic" message, focusing exclusively on the positive aspects of weight loss, or (b) a "balanced" message, giving equal time to positive and negative aspects of weight loss. Participants changed their weight loss cognitions in response to the intervention, but there was no significant difference between the intervention treatment groups in short-term or long-term (18-month) weight loss. Independent of treatment message, positive outcome expectations and satisfaction were both associated with weight loss. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Development of Phase Change Heat Spreader for Treatment of Intractable Neocortical Epilepsy

A combined analytical and experimental investigation was conducted to develop a flat, phase change heat spreader to enable focal thermoelectric cooling as a treatment for intractable neocortical epilepsy. The design parameters required minimum transport capacity of 5 W with an associated temperature drop of less than 0.5°C. A one-dimensional steady-state model was developed and the predicted performance characteristics compared with the results obtained from the experimental evaluation of three conceptual designs of varying complexity. These designs varied in terms of the materials used, but all three used water as the working fluid. The experimental results indicate that the minimum transport limit of 5 W can be achieved by one of the three concepts evaluated with a maximum overall temperature drop of 0.36°C at 5 W, well below the 0.5°C limit and within the experimental uncertainty of the temperature measurement technique used. A simple model was used to aid in the selection of an appropriate heat pipe. Using the verified model, the initial design was optimized, and based upon this optimized design, a number of test articles were fabricated and evaluated experimentally.     

Common structure in the heterogeneity of plant-matter decay

Carbon removed from the atmosphere by photosynthesis is released back by respiration. Although some organic carbon is degraded quickly, older carbon persists; consequently carbon stocks are much larger than predicted by initial decomposition rates. This disparity can be traced to a wide range of first-order decay-rate constants, but the rate distributions and the mechanisms that determine them are unknown. Here, we pose and solve an inverse problem to find the rate distributions corresponding to the decomposition of plant matter throughout North America. We find that rate distributions are lognormal, with a mean and variance that depend on climatic conditions and substrate. Changes in temperature and precipitation scale all rates similarly, whereas the initial substrate composition sets the time scale of faster rates. These findings probably result from the interplay of stochastic processes and biochemical kinetics, suggesting that the intrinsic variability of decomposers, substrate and environment results in a predictable distribution of rates. Within this framework, turnover times increase exponentially with the kinetic heterogeneity of rates, thereby providing a theoretical expression for the persistence of recalcitrant organic carbon in the natural environment.