Nonoperative management of secondary shoulder impingement syndrome

Shoulder pain secondary to impingement of the rotator cuff tendons underneath the coracoacromial arch is a common problem seen in athletes who perform repetitive overhead activities. Shoulder impingement has been classified into primary and secondary types. Several factors contribute to impingement, including rotator cuff weakness, posterior capsule tightness, and subacromial crowding. Recently, it has been proposed that scapulothoracic muscle weakness could be a factor that contributes to impingement. Traditional rehabilitation protocols for shoulder impingement syndrome stress individualized rotator cuff strengthening. The authors propose that individualized scapulothoracic muscle strengthening should be a part of any protocol for nonoperative treatment of secondary shoulder impingement syndrome.     

Refinements in validity generalization methods: Implications for the situational specificity hypothesis.

Using a large database, this study examined 3 refinements of validity generalization procedures: (1) a more accurate procedure for correcting the residual standard deviation (SD) for range restriction to estimate SDp, (2) use of r? instead of study-observed rs in the formula for sampling error variance, and (3) removal of non-Pearson rs. The 1st procedure does not affect the amount of variance accounted for by artifacts. The addition of the 2nd and 3rd procedures increased the mean percentage of validity variance accounted for by artifacts from 70 to 82%, a 17% increase. The cumulative addition of all 3 procedures decreased the mean SDp estimate from .150 to .106, a 29% decrease. Six additional variance-producing artifacts were identified that could not be corrected for. In light of these it was concluded that the obtained estimates of mean SDp and mean validity variance accounted for were consistent with the hypothesis that the true mean SDp value is close to zero. These findings provide further evidence against the situational specificity hypothesis. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Child care in the United States today

This article describes the consumers and providers of child care in the United States. It uses data from nationally representative surveys and research studies conducted from the late 1960s through 1995 to examine the child care arrangements parents select for their young children, comparing today's arrangements with those made by parents decades ago. It then discusses the availability of child care, examining both the number of child care spaces available and whether quality programs are available to suit the needs and resources of parents. The article concludes with speculation about how proposed new policies and continuing trends may lead to future changes in child care.     

Semantic priming after severe closed head trauma: Automatic and attentional processes.

The 2-process theory of semantic priming (J. H. Neely, 1977; M. I. Posner and C. R. Snyder, 1975) was used to determine the maintenance of automatic processes after severe closed head injury (CHI) and to determine whether processes that demand attention suffer a deficit. Ss with severe CHI (N?=?18,?>?2 yrs postinjury) and 18 matched control Ss completed a lexical decision task in which a category prime was followed by a target. Automatic and attentional priming were determined by orthogonally varying prime–target relatedness, expectancy, and stimulus onset asynchrony. Although the CHI Ss had slower reaction times (RTs) overall, there were no significant group differences in the magnitude of either the automatic or attentional component of semantic priming. The present results indicate the integrity of semantic processes and normal semantic priming in long-term patients with severe CHI. The results are discussed in relation to an attentional resource hypothesis. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

An in vitro model for toxin-mediated vascular leak syndrome: ricin toxin A chain increases the permeability of human endothelial cell monolayers

Vascular leak syndrome (VLS) is the dose-limiting toxicity observed in clinical trials of immunotoxins containing ricin toxin A chain (RTA). RTA itself is thought to cause VLS by damaging vascular endothelial cells, but the exact mechanism remains unclear. This is partially due to the paucity of appropriate models. To study VLS, we developed an in vitro model in which human umbilical vein-derived endothelial cells were first grown to confluence on microporous supports and then cultured under low pressure in the presence or absence of RTA. Endothelial cell barrier function was assessed by measuring the volume of fluid that passed through each monolayer per unit time. We found that RTA significantly increased monolayer permeability at times and concentrations consistent with the onset of VLS in patients treated with RTA-based immunotoxins. Scanning electron microscopy showed that intercellular gaps formed in endothelial monolayers exposed to RTA. Intercellular gap formation followed endothelial cell death caused by the enzymatic activity of RTA. We conclude that RTA is directly toxic to endothelial cells in vitro and speculate that this contributes to VLS in vivo.     

Accelerating entry into supported employment for persons with severe psychiatric disabilities.

Tested the hypothesis that Ss with severe mental illnesses would achieve better vocational outcomes with an accelerated approach to supported employment (AASE), as compared to gradual approaches (GA) with prevocational training. 86 Ss (mean age 35.1 yrs) with a diagnosis of a serious mental illness, were randomly assigned to either the AASE, or the GA, which included a minimum of 4 mo prevocational training. Data were obtained on indicators of vocational outcomes over 2 yrs, and for a limited number of Ss (n=36), during the 4th yr of inception into the program. Initially, only 5% of Ss preferred prevocational training. After 1 yr, AASE Ss showed better outcomes for a range of indicators, including achievement of competitive employment, duration of employment and mean earnings. During the 4th yr, 59% of these Ss were competitively employed, as compared to only 6% of GA Ss. Rehabilitation is more effective using AASE than GA. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)