Self-esteem, manifest hostility, and expression of hostility.

In a previous study (see 34: 7173), it was shown that Ss with low self-esteem, as measured by the Self-Esteem Scale, and high manifest hostility, as measured by Siegel's (1956) Manifest Hostility scale (MH scale), were found to have a high hostility response tendency. In the present study, arousal of hostility was stimulated by criticizing college Ss performing tests, measured via TAT cards, and related to the measure of self-esteem. Ss with a high degree of hostility arousal showed high MH scale scores but not low scores on the Self-Esteem Scale. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Stimulus generalization as a function of clinical anxiety.

"It was hypothesized that the state inferred from manifest clinical symptoms of anxiety would show functionally similar motivational properties to the state of anxiety defined in terms of an implicit response that has been conditioned to situations involving noxious stimulation. It was predicted that both types of anxiety would exhibit the energizing properties of a drive and therefore elevate response gradients of generalization… . The results showed that the groups designated as high in clinical anxiety showed significantly more generalization than the low-clinical anxiety groups under the strong-shock condition. No difference was found between the 2 levels of clinical anxiety for either the weak-shock or buzzer condition." (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Characterization of circulating erythrocytes from myelodysplastic patients treated with recombinant human erythropoietin

Age-density fractionation, in-vitro erythrophagocytosis, and enumeration of membrane-bound antibodies were monitored for circulating red blood cells (RBC) from five anemic patients with myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS), in relation to administration of recombinant human erythropoietin (rhEPO). The density distribution patterns of erythrocytes from the patients prior to treatment were in accordance with their inability to produce compensating levels of circulating RBC. The complete response of one patient to rhEPO and partial responses of two other patients were accompanied by shifts to larger proportions of low density (young) RBC. In vitro phagocytosis of density-fractionated RBC from the complete responder was similar to those of age-matched non-anemic donors. Elevated erythrophagocytosis prior to rhEPO administration was observed for the partial responders and further increased during treatment in one, suggesting the stimulation of abnormal progenitors producing highly defective erythrocytes. There was no correlation between levels of erythrophagocytosis and RBC membrane-bound immunoglobulins in this group of patients. Our findings suggest that density distribution analysis of circulating RBC coupled with in vitro erythrophagocytosis may provide useful predictive tools for selecting potential responders to rhEPO administration among anemic MDS patients.     

Transoesophageal echocardiographic assessment of haemodynamic function during laparoscopic cholecystectomy

We have measured cardiovascular changes associated with insufflation of carbon dioxide and the reverse Trendelenburg position during laparoscopic cholecystectomy, using transoesophageal echocardiography in 13 healthy patients. End-tidal carbon dioxide values increased after insufflation of carbon dioxide, with values significantly (P < 0.05) increased after lateral tilt positioning. Creation of a pneumoperitoneum was associated with increases (P < 0.05) in left ventricular end-systolic wall stress, concomitant with increases (P < 0.01) in peak airway pressure and systemic arterial pressure. In addition, left ventricular end-diastolic area decreased (P < 0.05) after reverse Trendelenburg positioning. Left ventricular ejection fraction was maintained throughout the study.     

Volunteering as a function of field structure.

It was predicted that significantly more volunteering would occur when test Ss observed the invitation (to participate in an experiment) being accepted prior to their being asked than would occur in the control condition (where S had no opportunity to observe the behavior of others in the invitation situation); and significantly less when refusal was observed, as compared with the control condition. The results support the predictions. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Cinderella after the ball.

In this article I reply to a comment made by S. J. Guastello (see record 2006-00920-013) on my original article, "The Cinderella of Psychology: The Neglect of Motor Control in the Science of Mental Life and Behavior" (see record 2005-05480-002). In my article, I asked why motor control has received short shrift in psychology. I observed that it is ironic that motor control has long had the status of a Cinderella in psychological research given that the main question in motor control is, arguably, the same as the main question in psychology: How do behaviors originate? I offered seven hypotheses for psychology's neglect of motor control. Guastello suggested that these seven hypotheses should be supplanted by three others: (a) the division-of-labor hypothesis, (b) the dumb-experiment hypothesis, and (c) the critical-concepts-were-not-available-until-recently hypothesis. Here I ask, Who is right and does it matter? (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Blood pressure changes during short-term fluoxetine treatment

PURPOSE: To evaluate the potential diagnostic role of mediastinal sonography in patients with cystic fibrosis (CF), we screened the mediastinum of adult CF patients with and without signs of infection and healthy controls. METHODS: Fifty-four consecutive adult patients with CF and 53 healthy volunteers underwent high-resolution mediastinal sonography. The paratracheal region and aorticopulmonary window of each subject were examined for lymph nodes. Each patient was screened for clinical signs of infection. RESULTS: Lymph nodes were detectable in the mediastinum of 39 of 50 CF patients (78%); the mean total lymph node volume was 1.5 +/- 1.7 cm3. Lymph nodes were detectable in the mediastinum of 31 of 50 controls (62%); the mean total lymph node volume in this group was 0.3 +/- 0.3 cm3 (p < 0.001). In the 30 CF patients with signs of infection, the mean total lymph node volume was larger (2.0 +/- 1.8 cm3) than in the 20 CF patients without signs of infection (0.7 +/- 0.9 cm3; p = 0.002). CONCLUSIONS: These results indicate that lymph node volume determination by high-resolution mediastinal sonography may help assess inflammatory activity in patients with CF.     

Mental space travel: Damage to posterior parietal cortex prevents egocentric navigation and reexperiencing of remote spatial memories.

The ability to navigate in a familiar environment depends on both an intact mental representation of allocentric spatial information and the integrity of systems supporting complementary egocentric representations. Although the hippocampus has been implicated in learning new allocentric spatial information, converging evidence suggests that the posterior parietal cortex (PPC) might support egocentric representations. To date, however, few studies have examined long-standing egocentric representations of environments learned long ago. Here we tested 7 patients with focal lesions in PPC and 12 normal controls in remote spatial memory tasks, including 2 tasks reportedly reliant on allocentric representations (distance and proximity judgments) and 2 tasks reportedly reliant on egocentric representations (landmark sequencing and route navigation; see Rosenbaum, Ziegler, Winocur, Grady, & Moscovitch, 2004). Patients were unimpaired in distance and proximity judgments. In contrast, they all failed in route navigation, and left-lesioned patients also showed marginally impaired performance in landmark sequencing. Patients' subjective experience associated with navigation was impoverished and disembodied compared with that of the controls. These results suggest that PPC is crucial for accessing remote spatial memories within an egocentric reference frame that enables both navigation and reexperiencing. Additionally, PPC was found to be necessary to implement specific aspects of allocentric navigation with high demands on spontaneous retrieval. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Anxiety disorders of childhood, Implications for adult psychopathology

Although the exact path of acquisition remains incompletely understood, research supports the association between anxiety disorders in children and psychopathologic conditions in adults. This article addresses this relationship; reviews findings on the temperamental profile and behavioral inhibition, which may be an early identifiable childhood predictor of later anxiety disorders; and discusses the importance of early intervention.