Health beliefs and promotion of HIV-preventive intentions among teenagers: A Scottish perspective.

Examined beliefs concerning the spread of the HIV and preventive behaviors in 194 female and 154 male sexually active Scottish teenagers (aged 16–18 yrs). A postal questionnaire, including measures of variables specified by the health belief model (HBM) and preventive intentions, was employed. Analyses showed that measures of health beliefs, gender, age, sexual experience, and previous condom use accounted for 17.8–24.3% of the variance in reported preventive intentions. Perceived barriers to preventive behaviors were found to be important predictors. However, results raised questions concerning the adequacy of the HBM model to determine HIV-preventive intentions. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Stress, coping, and psychological adjustment of adults with sickle cell disease.

Examined a transactional model of psychological adjustment to chronic illness with 109 African-American adults with sickle cell disease (SCD). Good psychological adjustment was associated with lower levels of perceived daily stress and stress regarding SCD illness tasks, higher efficacy expectations, less use of palliative coping methods, less use of negative thinking/passive adherence pain-coping strategies, and family functioning characterized by high levels of support and low levels of conflict and control. Overall, the underlying stress and coping conceptual model accounted for 44–50% of the variance in psychological adjustment. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Cue exposure with coping skills treatment for male alcoholics: A preliminary investigation.

Although early investigations were promising, no controlled follow-up studies have investigated the effectiveness of cue exposure treatment for alcoholics. In this study, inpatient alcoholics received either cue exposure integrated with urge coping skills training (CET; n?=?22) or a contrast condition (CC) involving daily contact with assessment only (n?=?18) in addition to standard treatment. Comprehensive assessment measures were used to investigate change in process and outcome variables. In the 2nd 3 mo after treatment, the CET group included more patients who were completely abstinent, had a higher percentage of abstinent days, and tended to report fewer drinks per day than did patients in the contrast condition. The significantly greater use of coping skills during follow-up by the CET group and the significant relationship of these coping skills to decreased drinking suggest that treatment effects were due, at least in part, to the coping skills training, consistent with recent formulations. Theoretical and treatment implications are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Increased saliva cotinine concentrations in smokers during rapid weight loss.

Although the effect of smoking cessation on weight gain is well-documented, little is known about the effect of weight loss on smoking. The association between saliva cotinine levels and weight loss was examined in a group of 9 obese female smokers during participation in a protein-sparing modified fast (Optifast). For the 1st 3 mo of treatment, Ss consumed only the protein-sparing supplement; for the next 3 mo, food was gradually reintroduced. Body mass index and saliva cotinine concentration were assessed at study entry and at 3 and 6 mo. A significant weight loss was noted at 3 and 6 mo, yet the cotinine level increased significantly over this time. It is unclear whether the cotinine increase is due to metabolic changes or an actual increase in nicotine intake. The results suggest that smoking-related health risks may increase during periods of significant weight loss. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Independence of interaction and interpersonal attraction in a psychiatric hospital population.

Investigated correlates of amount of liking, actual amount of interaction, and subjectively perceived amount of interaction in 38 patients (mean age, 39 yrs) on 2 state psychiatric hospital wards. Liking and actual amount of interaction were not correlated with each other. Measures of both perceived and actual physical attractiveness, familiarity, reciprocity of liking, personality similarity (MMPI), and attitude similarity were obtained. Perceived measures of all of these variables correlated highly with liking and somewhat less highly with perceived interaction. With the exception of perceived familiarity, none of them were consistently correlated with actual interaction. Actual measures of the variables were not correlated with liking, perceived interaction, or actual interaction. The implications of the results for theories of interpersonal attraction are discussed. (15 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Thrombocytopenia in dogs induced by granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor: increased destruction of circulating platelets

Administration of recombinant canine granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor (rcGM-CSF) to normal dogs in previous studies induced an increase in peripheral blood neutrophils and a dose-dependent decrease in platelet counts. In six dogs that received the highest tested dose of rcGM-CSF (50 micrograms/kg/d) for a minimum of 12 days, the mean nadir of the platelet count was 46,000/microL (range, 4,000 to 91,000/microL) on day 9 +/- 1.1 after starting therapy, compared with a mean baseline platelet count of 398,000/microL (range, 240,000 to 555,000/microL). In three dogs, survival of autologous 111In-labeled platelets was reduced from a mean of 4.9 days to 1.3 days during the administration of rcGM-CSF. Biodistribution studies with gamma camera imaging indicated that there was an increase in mean hepatic uptake during the administration of rcGM-CSF, from 15% to 44% of the total injected 111In-labeled platelets at 2 hours, whereas splenic uptake was not significantly changed. In contrast, in two evaluable dogs who were recipients of 111In-labeled platelets from matched allogeneic donors receiving rcGM-CSF, platelet survival was not reduced and no increased hepatic uptake was noted. A third dog became alloimmunized to the matched donor platelets and was not evaluable. Immunohistologic studies of liver and spleen were performed with monoclonal antibodies specific for canine gpIIb/IIIa and P-selectin in dogs treated with rcGM-CSF and compared with untreated controls. On treatment, a marked reduction of platelets in the red pulp of the spleen was evident, and in general, the presence of platelet antigen in the liver was unchanged. Therefore, platelets were not being sequestered, but destroyed in the liver and spleen. The platelet antigens, P-selectin and gpIIb/IIIa, were identified in association with Kupffer cells in the liver, but no difference in the number of distribution of these Kupffer cells was found between controls and rcGM-CSF-treated dogs. In the spleen during rcGM-CSF treatment, most platelet antigens were associated with large mononuclear cells in the marginal zone. During administration of rcGM-CSF, CD1c and CD11c expression was increased on Kupffer cells. Platelet P-selectin expression and binding of leukocytes to circulating platelets were unchanged from baseline studies with rcGM-CSF treatment. In conclusion, during the administration of rcGM-CSF to dogs, a local process in the liver and spleen is induced resulting in thrombocytopenia.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)     

Striving for correctness

In developing information technology, you want assurance that systems are secure and reliable, but you cannot have assurance or security without correctness. We discuss methods used to achieve correctness, focusing on weaknesses and approaches that management might take to increase belief in correctness. Formal methods, simulation, testing, and process modeling are addressed in detail. Structured programming, life-cycle modeling like the spiral model, use of CASE tools, use of formal methods, object-oriented design, reuse of existing code are also mentioned. Reliance on these methods involves some element of belief since no validated metrics on the effectiveness of these methods exist. Suggestions for using these methods as the basis for managerial decisions conclude the paper.     

Word perception and misperception in context.

When reading lists of words and nonwords at 100 msec/word, Ss reported words accurately but frequently converted nonwords such as dack into similarly spelled words such as duck or deck. In sentences, both nonwords and anomalous words were misread as appropriate words, but the bias was greater for nonwords. Word associations in lists (e.g., sailor–dack–vessel) produced a similar bias, but when sentence meaning was pitted against such associations the lexical effect was largely overridden. Sentences in which biasing context appeared only after the critical item reduced but did not eliminate the context effect, suggesting that multiple word candidates remained active while at least the next 3 words were processed. These results support a 2-stage modular interactive model: The 1st stage is stimulus driven and emits multiple weighted candidates that are combined interactively with contextual information in a 2nd stage. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)