Continuing dissemination of a school-based mental health program.

Reports survey findings based on the dissemination activities (1977–1981) of the Primary Mental Health Project, an innovative program model for early detection and prevention of school adjustment problems. Programs varied in professional and nonprofessional staffing patterns, screening procedures used, funding mechanisms, and day-to-day operating practices in ways that reflected districts' needs, populations served, and resources. The programs, however, shared 4 structural emphases: a focus on very young children, active early identification and screening, use of nonprofessional helpers to expand the reach of services, and development of new professional roles that catalyzed service delivery. (17 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Enhancement of Solubility, Dissolution Rate, and Oral Bioavailability of Rs-82856 by Complex Formation with Cyclodextrins

RS-82856 is a new inotropic agent for treatment of congestive heart failure. Oral bioavailability was found to be very poor likely due to insufficient aqueous solubility (∼ 4.4 mcg/ml) and slow dissolution rate. Inclusion complexes with cyclodextrins were shown to enhance the solubility, dissolution rate and thereby oral bioavailability of the drug. Maximum solubilities of the drug complexes with alpha-, beta-, and gamma-cyclodextrin were 14, 30 and 55 times, respectively, more soluble than the uncomplexed drug. Phase solubility studies revealed a 1:l complexation constant of 136.5, 370.4, and 64.7 for alpha -, beta - and gamma-cyclodextrin complexes, respectively . The complexation between beta-cyclodextrin and the drug is apparently the strongest among the three cyclodextrins. Dissolution profiles of the beta-cyclodextrin complex indicated a dramatic increase in dissolution rate compared to that of the drug. However,a physical mixture of the beta-cyclodextrin and the drug gave an identical dissolution profile to that of the drug.The beta-cyclodextrin complex of the drug dissolves 90% with in 20 minutes while the free based is solves 25% with in the same time interval in water. In an acidic medium (ph 1.5) the beta-cyclodextrin complex and the free based is solve 90% and 30% respectively within 10 minutes.In asingle dose cross-over study in three dogs,the bioavailability of the beta-cyclodextrin complex was found to improve greatly over that of the drug. An increased C_max (2.5 times),and an increased AUC (2.5 times) were observed with the beta-cyclodextrin complex compared to the drug.     

Depressive attributions: Selection of different causes or assignment of dimensional meanings?

Although attributional models of depression suggest that depression is associated with internal, stable, and global causal explanations of events, they do not specify whether the depressive attributional process involves the selection of certain causes, the assignment of dimensional meanings to those causes, or both. The extent of agreement between a priori and perceived dimensions of causes was examined in the present study, and the equivalence of the existing cause-rating method and 2 variants of the dimension-rating method were tested. 51 male and 45 female undergraduates were administered attribution and depression questionnaires. Findings indicate that the choice of causes did not reliably indicate the perceived dimensions and that there was poor convergence between existing methods that assess causes and those that assess dimensions. When causes and dimensions were each measured in a manner that avoided confounding by the other, each made a unique contribution to the prediction of depression scores. Cause ratings alone were significantly associated with depression scores, but the optimal prediction of depression included both causes and dimensions. (41 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Implicating the lexicon: Base-word frequency effects in pseudohomophone naming.

Ss named pseudohomophones (e.g., phocks) and nonpseudohomophones (e.g., snocks) under conditions in which words were or were not included in the stimulus lists. For Ss classified as fast responders, pseudohomophone advantages were not accompanied with base-word frequency effects. For slow responders, pseudohomophone naming was related to base-word frequency, but only when words were included in the stimulus lists. A dual-route model is proposed in which (1) lexical representations are frequency sensitive, (2) the relative use of nonlexical vs lexical information in phonological synthesis depends on strategic factors, and (3) overlapping lexical and nonlexical codes are assumed to lengthen processing time at the level of a phonological buffer. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Intimacy and identity status in young adults.

Intimacy status in 48 men and 44 women (aged 21–35 yrs) was investigated in relation to ego-identity status in occupation, religion, politics, and sex role. All Ss were college educated, and most were employed in professional or skilled occupations. An intimacy status measure developed by J. L. Orlofsky et al (1973) was modified for use with adults and expanded by the addition of the merger status, describing relationships in which one partner dominated the other. There were no significant sex differences in intimacy or identity status; and as predicted by E. H. Erikson's (1963) theory, intimacy status was generally related to identity status. This relationship was not observed for occupational identity in either sex. It is suggested that Erikson's theory regarding the pattern of identity and intimacy resolutions may be extended from men to women, at least for the type of sample studied in the present investigation. (25 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A psychophysical measure of pitch discrimination loss resulting from a frequency range constraint in European starlings (Sturnus vulgaris).

Earlier research by the 1st and 2nd authors (see record 1986-08273-001) revealed that a number of species of songbirds acquired a pitch discrimination between rising and falling sequences in an arbitrarily defined training range of frequencies but then failed to generalize the discrimination to new frequency ranges—a frequency range constraint. The present 2 experiments with 3 adult European starlings provide a psychophysical estimate of how pitch discrimination deteriorated in this species as sequences were stepped out from the training range. Results show that the gradient showing loss of discrimination was much sharper than would have been anticipated by stimulus generalization or the training procedures and appeared unaffected by the removal of rising and falling frequency information. It is concluded that the frequency range constraint and its psychophysical properties have implications both for the analysis of birdsong and the study of animal cognition. (25 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Carolyn Wood Sherif (1922-1982).

Presents an obituary for Carolyn Wood Sherif, who lived the issues that she studied as a social psychologist, explained as a teacher, and championed as an advocate of women's issues in psychology. She conducted research in the areas of the self-system, intergroup conflict and cooperation, and social judgment, and also assumed a leadership role in psychology, both nationally and internationally. Her commitment to social psychology and her enthusiasm for sharing that commitment with others made her a remarkable leader and teacher. Dr. Sherif received the Association for Women in Psychology's Distinguished Publication Award in 1981, and the APA's award for Distinguished Contribution to Education in Psychology in 1982, and in 1982 she became the editor of the Journal of Social Issues. She died after a brief illness on July 23, 1982. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Learning and Programming in Classifier Systems

Both symbolic and subsymbolic models contribute important insights to our understanding of intelligent systems. Classifier systems are low-level learning systems that are also capable of supporting representations at the symbolic level. In this paper, we explore in detail the issues surrounding the integration of programmed and learned knowledge in classifier-system representations, including comprehensibility, ease of expression, explanation, predictability, robustness, redundancy, stability, and the use of analogical representations. We also examine how these issues speak to the debate between symbolic and subsymbolic paradigms. We discuss several dimensions for examining the tradeoffs between programmed and learned representations, and we propose an optimization model for constructing hybrid systems that combine positive aspects of each paradigm.