Adolescent development and public policy.

Emphasis by psychologists on the importance of early experience led policy makers in the 1960's and 1970's to concentrate public resources on compensatory educational programs for young, disadvantaged children. Research on the reversibility of early cognitive deficits and on the remediation of poor school achievement suggests that an expanded national investment in developing the cognitive competence of adolescents and young adults is warranted. Public policy should encourage schools, youth-serving agencies, business and industry, and the military to provide educational programs that stress general problem-solving abilities and basic academic skills alone. Demographic observations underscore the importance of such a policy for the strength of the nation. (3 p ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Sex differences in referrals to a rehabilitation facility for the physically disabled: A research note.

Sex ratios for inpatient and outpatient referrals to a Department of Rehabilitation Medicine and to its psychological services were examined for six general diagnostic categories of injury and disease and compared with known proportions of males and females in the population in these categories. Of the diagnostic categories, only referrals of patients suffering from cerebral vascular accident (CVA) revealed sex ratios significantly different from population estimates. Problems in interpreting the statistics and in judging the adequacy of the estimated sex ratios, which may be confounded by differential age expectancies, were disclosed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Oxidation states in surface and buried coal from the Fording River Deposit

A suite of five representative samples from a freshly opened adit in the Fording River Coal Deposits, BC was taken at selected distances from the surface to the 45.7 m depth of the seam to provide material for studying the progress of coal oxidation under natural conditions. The ‘as-mined’ < 28 US mesh material from each sample was subjected to standard proximate, ultimate and free swelling index (FSI) analyses, followed by quantitative evaluation of surface oxidation states, using several techniques concurrently. Correlation of the results indicates a progressive decrease in oxidation from a very high level for the surface sample, with FSI 1, to a relatively low oxidation level for samples taken at 22.9 m and 45.7 m distances. Solvent extracts show a progressive decrease in the ratio of soluble aliphatic-to-aromatic compounds from surface to deep coal and in the amount of carboxylate groups. Oxidized coals require pretreatment with dilute acids in order to convert phenolate and carboxylate salts into phenols and carboxylic acids respectively; the analytical results for the latter are then increased by a factor of 4–6.     

Covert and overt rehearsal and homework practice in developing assertiveness.

Evaluated the effects of overt rehearsal and homework practice on covert modeling treatment of social skills. 79 18–73 yr old nonassertive clients received 1 of 4 variations of covert modeling that resulted from a 2?×?2 combination of overt rehearsal and homework practice. Ss who received overt rehearsal engaged in overt enactments (role playing) within the treatment sessions; Ss who received homework practice engaged in extra treatment activities to develop their social skills. A delayed-treatment control group was also included to serve as a no-treatment condition before Ss were randomly assigned to 1 of the 4 treatments. Findings indicate that treatments led to significant improvements on self-report inventories, global ratings, and behavioral measures of assertiveness (the Conflict Resolution Inventory and the Wolpe-Lazarus Assertiveness Questionnaire). Ss who engaged in homework practice and/or overt rehearsal of assertive behavior within the treatment sessions made consistently greater improvements at posttreatment and at an 8-mo follow-up than Ss who did not receive the procedures. Treatment effects extended to novel assessment situations and brought Ss to the level of 45 16–41 yr olds who regarded themselves as adept in social situations. (28 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Assessing the effects of diurnal variation on the composition of human parotid saliva: quantitative analysis of native peptides using iTRAQ reagents

Changes in salivary composition correlate with disease susceptibility, disease state, or both. However, use of saliva for diagnostic purposes is complicated by the gland-specific effects of circadian rhythm or diurnal variation. We recently characterized a suite of peptides in the < or =10-kDa fraction of human parotid saliva that included many novel species. In this study, we used novel iTRAQ labeling chemistry to investigate possible diurnal effects on peptide generation. We collected samples produced by gustatory stimulation as the ductal secretions at four time points under conditions that minimized proteolysis, pooled them according to collection time, and isolated the LMW fractions. Samples collected at each collection time were derivatized with a different isobaric iTRAQ reagent. The labeled samples were combined, separated by reversed-phase HPLC, co-spotted with matrix on MALDI targets, and analyzed by MALDI TOF/TOF mass spectrometry. With this approach, we achieved relative quantification of the parotid peptides at four time points. In several cases, abundance during the day changed dramatically. iTRAQ tagging improved the efficiency of MS/MS fragmentation, which in turn allowed the identification of several novel peptides. Our results demonstrated both the utility of this method and the importance of diurnal effects on the composition of the human parotid saliva peptidome.     

Productivity ratings of psychology programs based on publications in clinical journals.

Sought to identify the relative standing of clinical psychology programs by evaluating their frequency of publication in the major clinical journals. In addition, the relative contribution of university programs, hospital programs, medical centers, and other institutions to the clinical literature was investigated. It was found that although American Psychological Association (APA)-approved university clinical programs are responsible for the largest number of articles in the sample examined, (14 journals for the years 1975, 1976, and 1977), 6 of every 10 articles were published either by non-APA-approved academic programs or by individuals in other institutional settings. The general reputation of universities did not reflect their productivity in the clinical journals. The article includes an analysis of the major sources of publication in the clinical literature and an evaluation of the meaning of these findings for clinical psychology. (3 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Training opportunities in neuropsychology at APA-approved internship settings.

Survey data from 98 American Psychological Association (APA)-approved or conditionally APA-approved internship programs indicated that 86 offered training in neuropsychology. Of these, 30 indicated that they admitted students who wished to specialize in clinical neuropsychology. Information on the type of neuropsychological training involved, the length of training, type of tests given, and the number of cases seen by the student are reported. (4 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Exploring regression structure with graphics

Summary We investigate the extent to which it may be possible to carry out a regression analysis using graphics alone, an idea that we refer to asgraphical regression. The limitations of this idea are explored. It is shown that graphical regression is theoretically possible with essentially no constraints on the conditional distribution of the response given the predictors, but with some conditions on marginal distribution of the predictors. Dimension reduction subspaces and added variable plots play a central role in the development. The possibility of useful methodology is explored through two examples. Read before the Spanish Statistical Society at a meeting organized by the Carlos III University of Madrid on Wednesday, April 21, 1993