Sometimes you need a reminder: The effects of prompting self-regulation on regulatory processes, learning, and attrition.

Prompting self-regulation involves asking trainees reflective questions to stimulate self-regulatory engagement. Research has found positive effects for prompting self-regulation on learning, but a scarcity of evidence exists regarding whether self-regulatory processes mediate the effect of prompting self-regulation, whether the intervention reduces attrition, and the optimal timing of implementing the intervention. Using a longitudinal design, we found that prompting self-regulation throughout training increased learning and reduced attrition, relative to the control condition. Moreover, the effect on learning was fully mediated by time on task. The intervention also moderated the effect of learning on subsequent self-regulatory activity and attrition. Learning performance had less of a positive effect on subsequent self-regulatory activity and less of a negative effect on subsequent attrition when trainees were prompted to self-regulate. These results highlight the importance of adopting a longitudinal design to examine how self-regulatory interventions affect the cyclical relationships among self-regulatory processes, learning, and attrition. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Toxoplasma gondii: dithiol-induced Ca2+ flux causes egress of parasites from the parasitophorous vacuole

Ca2+ is an essential activator of motility in the obligate intracellular parasite Toxoplasma gondii. Ca2+ ionophore A23187 and intracellular microinjection of Ca2+ initiate motility of parasites residing in parasitophorous vacuoles (PV). The source of Ca2+ and the mechanism by which it activates motility in vivo remain uncertain. Exposure of the parasites to dithiothreitol (DTT) can activate egress of previously nonmotile intravacuolar parasites within 60 sec. DTT is also known to activate both isoforms of the highly concentrated nucleoside triphosphate hydrolase (NTPase) produced by T. gondii. Using an adherent cell analysis system (ACAS) for Ca2+ imaging, a brief 15-50% increase in intra-PV fluorescence ratio was observed after exposure of infected fibroblasts to 5 mM DTT. Chelation of intracellular Ca2+ with BAPTA-AM and extracellular Ca2+ with EGTA blocked the DTT effect; however, this chelation did not prevent the activation of parasites nor the Ca2+ response to the Ca2+ ionophore ionomycin, suggesting that the Ca2+ that activates motility may reside near or within the parasite itself. This result demonstrates that an increase in Ca2+ within the vacuole precedes the onset of motility and the correlation of the DTT effect on motility and tachyzoite NTPase suggests that NTPase activation may be involved in the Ca2+ flux.     

Russian family practice training program: a single step on a long journey

SETTING: The outcome of tuberculosis treatment is often not assessed in low-incidence countries such as Switzerland. In economically developed countries, private practitioners do not have the final responsibility for ensuring the completion of adequate tuberculosis treatment, and public health officers have little or no legal means of intervening if they are not specifically requested to do so. Furthermore, the reluctance of private practitioners to follow official guidelines may be an obstacle to the implementation of a regular surveillance policy. OBJECTIVE: To assess the results of treatment in patients with culture-positive pulmonary tuberculosis and to identify the risk factors for non-adherence to treatment. DESIGN: Retrospective study of all cases notified between 1988 and 1992 in Vaud County, and mainly treated by independent practitioners. RESULTS: Among 133 patients notified with culture-positive pulmonary tuberculosis, complete information about treatment outcome was available for 120. Treatment success (cure or completed adequate treatment) was observed in 84 patients (70%), 17 died (14%) and 19 (16%) were considered as defaulters. The default rate was higher among immigrants, alcoholics, intravenous drug users and male patients. Among non-adherent patients, 4/19 (21%) relapsed within 3 years, compared with 3/84 (4%) among adherent patients. CONCLUSION: The outcome of treatment in this group of patients does not correspond to the expected standards: the treatment completion rate was too low, and the default rate was too high. Better education of medical staff and health-care workers, use of directly-observed treatment, and regular surveillance of treatment outcome will be necessary to improve the results.     

Cross-cultural differences in resolving union-management conflict through negotiations.

Examined cross-cultural behavioral differences in a conflict resolution situation in Denmark, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom. A union-management negotiation exercise was the basis for the data provided by 260 managers in the 5 countries. The effect of cultural differences on strategy development, negotiating behavior and outcomes, and role perception was examined. Findings point to a relationship between the countries' economic and social environment and behavior in conflict situations. With increase in economic level, an increase in emphasis on welfare benefits and in time needed to resolve the conflict is noticed. Differences between the countries advise against collapsing of samples of geographic proximity or assumed cultural similarities. (22 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Specific heats (C v) of saturated and compressed liquid and vapor carbon dioxide

Specific heats of saturated liquid carbon dioxide (C _sat) have been measured in the temperature range 220 to 303 K. Specific heats at constant volume (C _v) have been measured at 12 densities ranging from 0.2 to 2.5 times the critical density in the temperature range 233 to 330 K, with pressures varying from 3.4 to 32 MPa. The measurements have been conducted in an adiabatic constant-volume calorimeter of conventional design. Uncertainty of the specific heats is estimated to not exceed 2.0%. Comparisons are made with an extended Benedict-Webb-Rubin equation of state and with the results of other workers.     

Development of an Extended Corresponding States Principle Method for Volumetric Property Predictions Based on a Lee–Kesler Reference Fluid

The corresponding states principle (CSP) and the extended CSP have proven to be valuable tools in the prediction of properties of fluids and fluid mixtures. However, the accuracy of the application of these principles to property prediction is crucially dependent on the accuracy of the equation of state of the reference fluid or fluids involved. In this work, a new methodology of property prediction is developed and discussed. The revised extended corresponding states method, as developed by Marrucho and Ely, is combined with a reformulated (Teja-like) Lee–Kesler approach. The reformulated Lee–Kesler method is used to generate a pseudo-reference fluid, specific to each target fluid, which allows better mapping characteristics with any specified target fluid. This methodology is tested for the prediction of bulk volumetric properties of non-polar as well as polar fluids (specifically, alternative refrigerants). The results with different pseudo-reference fluids are compared with those of the original Lee–Kesler model and those obtained with n-propane as a single reference fluid. In the case of polar fluids, the prediction of properties is improved if the Taylor series expansion of the compressibility factor in the Lee–Kesler approach is affected in terms of the dipole moment rather than the acentric factor. The details of the combined reformulated Lee–Kesler extended corresponding states methodology are elucidated.     

A battle of wills: Self-verification versus behavioral confirmation.

Investigated whose viewpoint triumphs when a perceiver forms an expectancy about a target individual that is discrepant with that target's self-conception. Although research on behavioral confirmation argues that perceivers will "win" by causing targets to confirm the expectancy, research on self-verification argues that targets will win by bringing perceivers to treat them in a manner that confirms their self-conceptions. In the present study with 128 undergraduate women, perceivers first formed relatively certain or uncertain expectancies about targets that were inconsistent with targets' self-conceptions. They then interacted with targets, who possessed relatively certain or uncertain self-conceptions, in a series of 3 successive interview sessions. Analyses of the behavior of targets indicated that self-verification always occurred when targets were certain of their self-conceptions. Self-verification also tended to occur when both perceivers and targets were uncertain of their beliefs. Behavioral confirmation tended to occur only when perceivers were certain of their expectancies and targets were uncertain of their self-conceptions. At the end of the experiment, perceivers had generally abandoned their expectancies, but targets revealed no self-rating change. (67 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Alcohol's Dissociation of Implicit and Explicit Memory Processes: Implications of a Parallel Distributed Processing Model of Semantic Priming.

Alcohol's dissociation of implicit (unintentional) and explicit (intentional) memory processes in social drinkers was examined. It was hypothesized that an alcohol challenge would lower the percentage of words recalled and result in more retroactive interference in explicit recall tasks but would not lengthen reaction time in an implicit semantic priming task involving highly semantically similar words. Men and women completed all memory tasks in each of 2 counterbalanced sessions (alcohol challenge vs. no-alcohol) separated by 1 week. Alcohol significantly degraded processing in both explicit memory tasks, yet implicit semantic priming remained intact. A parallel distributed processing model that simulates semantic memory is presented. When this system is strongly activated, it does not appear to be altered during moderate alcohol intoxication. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)