Mothers’ and fathers’ attributions for adolescent behavior: An examination in families of depressed, subdiagnostic, and nondepressed youth.

This study examined whether parents of adolescents experiencing depressive symptoms or disorder make more negative and fewer positive attributions for their adolescents’ behavior than do parents of nondepressed adolescents, and whether parental attributions for adolescents’ behavior contribute to parenting behavior, above and beyond the adolescents’ behavior. Parents and adolescents (76 girls and 48 boys) participated in videotaped problem-solving interactions (PSIs). Each parent subsequently watched the videotape and offered attributions for their adolescent’s behavior. In addition, parent and adolescent behavior during the PSIs was coded. Mothers and fathers in families of nondepressed adolescents made significantly fewer negative attributions for their children’s behavior than did parents in families of adolescents with diagnostic or subdiagnostic levels of depressive symptoms. Moreover, mothers’ and fathers’ negative attributions were related to greater levels of observed aggressive behavior and lower levels of observed facilitative behavior during the PSIs controlling for both demographic characteristics and the relative level of adolescent aggressive and facilitative behavior during the PSI. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Communication and the thesis of intentionality in Husserl,Sartre, and Levinas

Review and discussion of the thesis of the intentionality of consciousness are relevant to inquiry into the experience of human communication. Development of the thesis of intentional consciousness is traced from the work of Edmund Husserl (transcendental phenomenology) to Jean-Paul Sartre (existential phenomenology), to Emmanuel Levinas (phenomenology of communication ethics). Insight is offered into the relevance of the thesis of intentionality to the phenomenological roots of three thematics in human communication inquiry: (1) conscious awareness; (2) self-understanding; and (3) the communicative foundation of self–other relating.     

Child responses to parental conflict and their effect on adjustment: A study of triadic relations.

The purpose of this study was to examine child response patterns to parental conflict and assess their contribution to child functioning. The focus was on 3 potential child responses and their relation to later depressive and aggressive behavior. Direct observations and questionnaire data were collected on 156 2-parent families. Aggressive behavior showed the strongest sequential relation to interparental conflict and the strongest predictive relation to increased aggressive functioning. Gender differences were found in the use of child aggressive response patterns. Results for the relation between child responses and increases in depressive functioning were weaker than those found for aggressive functioning. The results provide support for the examination of child response patterns as a potentially rich area of exploration for understanding the family mechanisms affecting both aggressive and depressive functioning in children. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Influence of inhibitors of prostaglandin synthesis on venoconstrictor responses to bradykinin

The interrelationship between prostaglandins (PGs) and bradykinin (BK) was studied in isolated canine saphenous veins. The hypothesis that PGs mediate the venoconstrictor effect of bradykinin was evaluated by determining the influence of low concentrations of indomethacin (Indo) (1 muM) or eicosa-5,8,11,14-tetraynoic acid (ETA) (3 muM), two inhibitors of PG synthesis, on cumulative concentration-response curves for BK or norepinephrine (NE). In the tissue bath, responses to BK improved with time while responses to NE did not vary. When strips were least responsive to BK, Indo and ETA enhanced these responses. When strips were most responsive to BK, neither inhibitor enhanced the responses. Neither Indo nor ETA altered responses to NE. Phentolamine (10(-8) M) did not alter responses to BK. These data suggest that endogenous PGs act to attenuate, rather than mediate, the venoconstrictor response to BK. Progressive enhancement of responses to BK of untreated saphenous vein strips is associated with a decreased ability of inhibitors of PG synthesis to enhance those responses also. Thus, there may be a time-related decrease in the ability of this preparation to synthesize PGs. From the present results, it cannot be determined whether saphenous veins in vivo are highly responsive or relatively unresponsive to the peptide. However, these data do suggest that PGs are a determinant of venous responsiveness to BK.     

The demand for woodfuels by cottage industries in the province of Ilocos Norte,Philippines

We report on a survey of the consumption of wood and other biomass fuels by cottage industries in the province of Northern Luzon in the Philippines. These firms include producers of sugarcane wine, molasses, flue-cured tobacco, pottery, and salt as well as blacksmiths, restaurants, and bakeries.     

Health-Habit Modification.

Comments on the article by T. J. Stachnik (see record 1980-10503-001) that states that psychotherapy may not be useful for health-habit modification and that psychologists should shift the emphasis of their work toward a concern for health-habit modification. The present author takes exception to this statement, stating that psychotherapy, is broadly defined to include behavior modification and hypnosis, is currently the treatment of choice for health-habit modification. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Repeated impact and rebound of an elastic-plastic bar from a rigid surface

The repeated impact, or “bouncing,” of an elastic-plastic rod on a rigid surface, is treated by means of finite element analysis. A computationally convenient substructuring technique is utilized in the analytical treatment to account for the changing kinematic constraints. The time dependence is accounted for by means of a variable time step, direct integration procedure that has been successfully applied to a number of elasto-plastic dynamic response problems. This time integration procedure is at present being employed in a nonlinear crashworthiness study. It has been proven capable of providing an accurate prediction of a variety of multidimensional dynamic elastic-plastic responses. Additionally, the procedure has demonstrated its ability to account for an elastic-plastic dynamic response that includes plastic reflections from boundaries and interaction of plastic wave fronts. The merging of the substructuring technique and numerical time integration procedure has been accomplished. The cases discussed include an unloaded bar traveling at uniform velocity before impact with a rigid barrier, and a bar traveling toward the rigid surface and subject to forces that are applied and removed periodically. Both cases are motivated by questions concerning the elastic-plastic dynamic response of a crashed vehicle. The latter case, which suggests the term “bouncing problem,” has, in addition, applications to problems involving pneumatically driven tools. The response is described, starting with the instant of contact at the impacting end, is followed while elastic/plastic wave propagation extends to the free end, and continues to be treated as elastic/plastic reflections occur and return to the impacting end. Finally, the behavior of the rod as it leaves and possibly returns to the wall is discussed, and the dwell time as a function of elastic and elastic-plastic properties of the material is determined.     

A complex program of striatal gene expression induced by dopaminergic stimulation

Dopamine acting in the striatum is necessary for normal movement and motivation. Drugs that change striatal dopamine neurotransmission can have long-term effects on striatal physiology and behavior; these effects are thought to involve alterations in gene expression. Using the 6-hydroxydopamine lesion model of Parkinson's disease and differential display PCR, we have identified a set of more than 30 genes whose expression rapidly increases in response to stimulation of striatal dopamine D1 receptors. The induced mRNAs include both novel and previously described genes, with diverse time courses of expression. Some genes are expressed at near-maximal levels within 30 min, whereas others show no substantial induction until 2 hr or more after stimulation. Some of the induced genes, such as CREM, CHOP, and MAP kinase phosphatase-1, may be components of a homeostatic response to excessive stimulation. Others may be part of a genetic program involved in cellular and synaptic plasticity. A very similar set of genes is induced in unlesioned animals by administration of the psychostimulant cocaine or the antipsychotic eticlopride, although in distinct striatal cell populations. In contrast to some previously described early genes, most of the novel genes are not induced in cortex by apomorphine, indicating specificity of induction. Thus we have identified novel components of a complex, coordinated genetic program that is induced in striatal cells in response to various dopaminergic manipulations.     

Acute appendicitis in early childhood

1728 appendectomies were performed in our institution between the years 1973 and 1978, only 18 of them below the age of 5 years. Acute appendicitis in this age is characterized by a very low incidence (1%); an overwhelming male predominance (8:1), a short history, and a rapid progress of the disease. In 72% perforation of appendix and peritonitis were present at operation. The triad of fever, abdominal pains and vomiting was present in all cases. A high leucocyte count was noted in all cases except one. All patients were operated upon within 16 h of admission. No mortality, a low morbidity and a short hospital stay were recorded.