Androcentric reporting of gender differences in APA journals: 1965-2004.

Androcentric thinking assumes maleness to be normative and attributes gender differences to females. A content analysis of articles reporting gender differences published between 1965 and 2004 in four American Psychological Association journals examined androcentric pronouns, explanations, and tables and graphs. Few articles used generic masculine pronouns to refer to both women and men. However, explanations of gender differences within articles that mentioned such differences in their abstracts and titles referenced attributes of women significantly more often than attributes of men. Most tables and graphs depicting gender differences positioned males' data before females' data, except when gender differences among parents were concerned. Psychologists have ceased to use male-centered pronouns, but female and male psychologists continue to report, explain, and depict gender differences in androcentric ways. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Serum bile acids and ursodeoxycholic acid treatment in cystic fibrosis-related liver disease

Increased circulating levels of hepatotoxic bile acids may contribute to the cholestasis characteristic of cystic fibrosis-related liver disease. The aims of this study were to compare serum bile acid profiles in patients with cystic fibrosis with and without liver disease, and to evaluate the effect of treatment with ursodeoxycholic acid, a non-hepatotoxic bile acid, on liver biochemistry and serum bile acids in patients with cystic fibrosis-related liver disease. Fasting and postprandial serum bile acid levels were analysed in 15 patients (nine males; median age 18 years) with cystic fibrosis-related liver disease and compared with serum bile acid levels in 18 cystic fibrosis patients (12 males; median age 22 years) without liver disease and 10 control subjects. Fasting and postprandial serum levels of primary and secondary serum bile acids were analysed using high-performance liquid chromatography. Liver biochemistry and serum bile acids were measured in six cystic fibrosis patients with liver disease before and 6 months after treatment with ursodeoxycholic acid 20 mg/kg/day and compared with six control patients with cystic fibrosis-related liver disease. Total fasting and postprandial serum bile acid levels were significantly (P < 0.01) elevated in patients with liver disease compared to those without liver disease and controls. The fasting glycine conjugates of cholic acid, chenodeoxycholic acid and deoxycholic acid, and the fasting and postprandial taurine conjugates of cholic acid and chenodeoxycholic acid were significantly (P < 0.05) elevated in liver disease patients compared to patients without liver disease and controls. After 6 months' treatment with ursodeoxycholic acid, although the serum was significantly saturated with ursodeoxycholic acid and significant improvements in liver biochemistry were observed in the treatment group, there was no significant reduction in the levels of individual serum bile acids. Although circulating levels of potentially hepatotoxic serum bile acids are elevated in patients with cystic fibrosis-related liver disease, improvements in liver biochemistry associated with ursodeoxycholic acid treatment cannot be attributed solely to alterations in levels of endogenous bile acids.     

Some determinants of unethical decision behavior: An experiment.

Evaluated ethical decision making under different contingencies of reinforcement. A laboratory experiment was devised around a simulated task involving marketing decision making and the possibility of kickback payments to purchasing agents. Ss were 120 graduate business students who made a series of decisions of whether to pay kickbacks or not. When Ss were rewarded for unethical behavior, then unethical behavior was higher than when Ss were not rewarded. Unethical behavior was also higher under increased competition. Four personality variables (locus of control, economic and political value orientation, and Machiavellianism, as assessed by Rotter's Internal–External Locus of Control Scale, the Allport-Vernon-Lindzey Study of Values, and the Mach V Scale) were found to be significant covariates of unethical behavior. Foreign Ss were found to be more unethical than US Ss, but sex was not related to ethical behavior. Overall, results suggest that unethical decision making is a combination of personality, cultural and value orientation, and environmental rewards and punishments. (21 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Comprehension of arithmetic word problems: Evidence from students' eye fixations.

Students have difficulty solving arithmetic word problems containing a relational term that is inconsistent with the required arithmetic operation (e.g., containing the term less, yet requiring addition) rather than consistent. To investigate this consistency effect, students' eye fixations were recorded as they read arithmetic word problems on a computer monitor and stated a solution plan for each problem. As predicted, low-accuracy students made more reversal errors on inconsistent than consistent problems, students took more time for inconsistent than consistent problems, this additional time was localized in the integration/planning stages of problem solving rather than in the initial reading of the problem, these response-time patterns were obtained for high-accuracy but not for low-accuracy students, and high-accuracy students required more rereadings of previously fixated words for inconsistent than for consistent problems. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

An introduction to a new direct testing method for characterizing pressure in compression fabrics

A newly developed direct pressure measuring system known as the CRIM Pressure System was compared with a traditional direct measuring device, the PicoPress Compression System, for compression bandage and hosiery samples. PicoPress measurements were taken both on the CRIM system and on research participants. Initial results indicated a good correlation between CRIM Pressure System and PicoPress participants’ measurements.     

The value and meaning of creative leisure.

The purpose of this paper is to introduce the construct of creative leisure and explore its implications for both the fields of creativity and leisure. The relationship between the constructs of creativity and leisure has yet to be considered directly, and these fields indeed overlap in significant and important ways. When one has the perception of freedom and the intrinsic desire, creates for the sake of creating, and perceives this to be creative, this is creative leisure. Research and theory that relates to creative leisure is identified. The author proposes why creative leisure should be examined and poses future research questions. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Atypical chondrodysplasia: a further variant of multiple enchondromatosis with vertebral involvement?

We report the case of a child with asymmetrical enchondromatosis and vertebral involvement, who presented in utero, and postulate its relationship to similar rarely reported cases.     

Comparison of ultracentrifugation and gel filtration for the isolation of bovine lipoproteins

Lipoproteins from the plasma of three nonlactating Holstein cows were isolated using either preparative ultracentrifugation or gel filtration chromatography. Lipoprotein classes obtained by ultracentrifugation were very low density plus chylomicra, <1.006 g/ml; low density, 1.007–1.039 g/ml; high density₁, 1.040–1.063 g/ml; and high density, 1.064–1.22 g/ml. These lipoprotein classes were individually applied to an agarose gel column to determine at what volume they eluted in comparison to lipoproteins that were separated after applying total bovine lipoproteins to the column. Three major peaks corresponding to very low density lipoproteins plus chylomicra, low density, and high density lipoproteins resulted after gel filtration of total lipoproteins. Very low density lipoproteins plus chylomicra, obtained by ultracentrifugation, eluted as a single peak, as did low density and high density lipoproteins. However, high density₁ lipoproteins eluted as two peaks. The first peak eluted at the same volume as low density lipoproteins, and the second peak eluted at a volume similar to that of the ascending slope of the high density lipoprotein peak. Results from disc polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis, immunoelectrophoresis and double immunodiffusion of lipoprotein fractions, and SDS polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis of their apoproteins, similarly indicated that the lipoproteins present in the 1.040–1.063 g/ml density interval are a mixture of low and high density lipoproteins rather than a unique class of lipoproteins.     

Alexithymia and Impairment of Decoding Positive Affect: An fMRI Study

Previous research has implicated alexithymia as a psychological impairment to accurately decode emotional messages. This study attempted to explore potential neurological reasons for this impairment. Using functional brain imaging procedures, an experimental design was undertaken to assess group differences between individuals high and low in alexithymia on brain activation while viewing images of individuals displaying neutral or positive affect. While controlling for activation due to neutral affect images, results showed less activation for alexithymic versus nonalexithymic individuals due to positive affect images in several areas of the brain, including the amygdala and the hippocampus. Several implications and directions for future research are also discussed.     

Operation of an optoelectronic crossbar switch containing a terabit-per-second free-space optical interconnect

The experimental operation of a terabit-per-second scale optoelectronic connection to a silicon very-large-scale-integrated circuit is described. A demonstrator system, in the form of an optoelectronic crossbar switch, has been constructed as a technology test bed. The assembly and testing of the components making up the system, including a flip-chipped InGaAs-GaAs optical interface chip, are reported. Using optical inputs to the electronic switching chip, single-channel routing of data through the system at the design rate of 250 Mb/s (without internal fan-out) was achieved. With 4000 optical inputs, this corresponds to a potential aggregate data input of a terabit per second into the single 14.6 /spl times/ 15.6 mm CMOS chip. In addition 50-Mb/s data rates were switched utilizing the full internal optical fan-out included in the system to complete the required connectivity. This simultaneous input of data across the chip corresponds to an aggregate data input of 0.2 Tb/s. The experimental system also utilized optical distribution of clock signals across the CMOS chip.