Adolescents' explanations for political issues: Concordance with their views of self and society.

The relationships between adolescents' explanations for unemployment, poverty, and homelessness and their beliefs about opportunity, reports of family values, and personal aspirations were tested for 434 teenagers (mean age?=?16 years 4 months). Explanations were coded for references to individual causes, societal causes, or both. Higher maternal education and average household income in the adolescent's school district were positively related to the likelihood of attributing all three problems to societal causes. When explaining unemployment, older adolescents noted both causes, and boys mentioned individual factors whereas girls mentioned societal factors. After adjustment for background factors, those endorsing individual causes were more likely to believe that all Americans enjoyed equal opportunity and that government support encouraged dependency, and they were more committed to materialist goals. In contrast, youth endorsing societal or situational causes had more altruistic life goals and reported that compassion was emphasized in their families. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

AIDS: Ethical implications for psychological intervention.

Examines the ethical issues facing psychologists working with people who are infected with AIDS (acquired immune deficiency syndrome) and individuals in high-risk groups. Duty to treat is examined with a consideration of homophobia and biases about intravenous drug users. Confidentiality is discussed in the context of record keeping, in cases of conflict with duty to warn, and in cases of suicide. Psychologists are urged to consider possible ethical dilemmas before they arise, to ensure that the best decisions are made. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Depression and sensitization to stressors among young women as a function of childhood adversity.

The authors tested a stress-sensitization version of a diathesis-stress approach to depression. In a 2-year longitudinal follow-up design, exposure to stressful life events was examined in young women in the transition to adulthood. The authors hypothesized that those who had experienced one or more significant childhood adversities would have a lower threshold for developing a depressive reaction to stressors. Results indicated that women with exposure to one or more childhood adversities—such as family violence, parent psychopathology or alcoholism, and others—were more likely to become depressed following less total stress than women without such adversity. The results could not be accounted for by chronic stress or prior depression. Both biological and psychological sensitization mechanisms may be speculated to play a role, but the actual mechanisms of stress sensitization remain to be explored. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Improved estimation of the resistivity of pure copper and electrical determination of thin copper film dimensions

Improved values for the resistivity, ρ, of pure, bulk copper from 50 to 1200 K, and their confidence intervals, are developed by extending the analysis of Matula. A recommended value for dρ/dT and its confidence interval in the temperature range of 290–425 K is developed for use with Matthiessen's rule to calculate the electrical thickness of thin copper films and the cross-sectional area of copper lines from resistance measurements at two temperatures. Error analyses are used to estimate the uncertainty with which the electrical thickness and cross-sectional area can be determined. Values for the temperature coefficient of resistance of pure, bulk copper are also provided.     

Experimental determination of 3D crack propagation scenario in resistance spot welds of a martensitic stainless steel

International Journal of Fracture - The development of high-performance automotive steels involves increasingly complex chemistries and heat treating sequences, to produce stronger and lighter...     

Systems analysis utilising pathway interactions identifies sonic hedgehog pathway as a primary biomarker and oncogenic target in hepatocellular carcinoma

The development and progression of cancer is associated with disruption of biological networks. Historically studies have identified sets of signature genes involved in events ultimately leading to the development of cancer. Identification of such sets does not indicate which biologic processes are oncogenic drivers and makes it difficult to identify key networks to target for interventions. Using a comprehensive, integrated computational approach, the authors identify the sonic hedgehog (SHH) pathway as the gene network that most significantly distinguishes tumour and tumour‐adjacent samples in human hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). The analysis reveals that the SHH pathway is commonly activated in the tumour samples and its activity most significantly differentiates tumour from the non‐tumour samples. The authors experimentally validate these in silico findings in the same biologic material using Western blot analysis. This analysis reveals that the expression levels of SHH, phosphorylated cyclin B1, and CDK7 levels are much higher in most tumour tissues as compared to normal tissue. It is also shown that siRNA‐mediated silencing of SHH gene expression resulted in a significant reduction of cell proliferation in a liver cancer cell line, SNU449 indicating that SHH plays a major role in promoting cell proliferation in liver cancer. The SHH pathway is a key network underpinning HCC aetiology which may guide the development of interventions for this most common form of human liver cancer.Inspec keywords: bioinformatics, cancer, cellular biophysics, genetics, liver, molecular biophysics, RNA, systems analysis, tumoursOther keywords: biomedical informatics, human liver cancer, network underpinning HCC aetiology, liver cancer cell line, cell proliferation, SHH gene expression, siRNA‐mediated silencing, CDK7 levels, phosphorylated cyclin B1, Western blot analysis, in silico findings, SHH pathway, human hepatocellular carcinoma, tumour‐adjacent samples, gene network, integrated computational approach, oncogenic drivers, biologic processes, cancer development, biological networks, cancer progression, oncogenic target, primary biomarker, sonic hedgehog pathway, pathway interactions, systems analysis     

Initial symptom levels and the life-event–depression relationship.

93 undergraduates selected for diversity of initial depression levels were studied longitudinally to explore the relation between stressful events and depression. Ss were chosen on the basis of their scores on an information-processing procedure, the Beck Depression Inventory, the Schedule for Affective Disorders and Schizophrenia—Lifetime Version, and the SCL-90. After the initial screening, Ss completed a 2-hr interview covering current and lifetime diagnostic status and stressful life-event occurrence in the previous 12 mo. Following this, they participated in 4 regular monthly follow-ups. Regression analyses and inspection of individual patterns supported the hypothesis that initial depression status is a critical factor in depression–event associations and that concurrent high-impact negative events contribute significantly but modestly to outcomes. It appeared that nonsymptomatic Ss were relatively resistant to onset even when exposed to high-impact stress events, whereas a subset of initially symptomatic Ss continued to have both more depression and more high-impact events over time. It is suggested that future research on event–depression associations should carefully consider these different outcome patterns: symptom resistance and symptom onset in nondepressed persons and symptom remission and symptom maintenance or recurrence in initially depressed persons. (43 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)