Continuous measurement of reactive oxygen species inside and outside of a residential house during summer

Reactive oxygen species (ROS) are an important contributor to adverse health effects associated with ambient air pollution. Despite infiltration of ROS from outdoors, and possible indoor sources (eg, combustion), there are limited data available on indoor ROS. In this study, part of the second phase of Air Composition and Reactivity from Outdoor aNd Indoor Mixing campaign (ACRONIM-2), we constructed and deployed an online, continuous, system to measure extracellular gas- and particle-phase ROS during summer in an unoccupied residence in St. Louis, MO, USA. Over a period of one week, we observed that the non-denuded outdoor ROS (representing particle-phase ROS and some gas-phase ROS) concentration ranged from 1 to 4 nmol/m³ (as H₂O₂). Outdoor concentrations were highest in the afternoon, coincident with peak photochemistry periods. The indoor concentrations of particle-phase ROS were nearly equal to outdoor concentrations, regardless of window-opening status or air exchange rates. The indoor/outdoor ratio of non-denuded ROS (I/O_ROS) was significantly less than 1 with windows open and even lower with windows closed. Combined, these observations suggest that gas-phase ROS are efficiently removed by interior building surfaces and that there may be an indoor source of particle-phase ROS.     

Iatrogenic Effects of Group Treatment for Antisocial Youths.

It has been argued that group treatment of antisocial adolescents may increase rather than decrease conduct problems. One mechanism that has been suggested to underlie this effect is "deviancy training," wherein during group sessions deviant peers reinforce each other's antisocial actions and words. These 2 hypotheses have important implications and warrant close review at conceptual and empirical levels. In this article, the authors present such a review. Conceptually, deviancy training potential of treatment sessions appears less significant than the more extensive peer influences outside treatment. Empirical findings previously cited in support of iatrogenic effects appear on close examination to provide little support. Finally, 17 of 18 new meta-analytic tests produced results not supportive of iatrogenic or deviancy training effects. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Thinkorama

Thinkorama is a special section devised for this issue dedicated to ideas, thinking about ideas, writing about and making ideas. Full credit for the title must go to champion and first lady of architectural ideas, director of the Canadian Centre for Architecture, Phyllis Lambert, who coined the phrase on the eve of a presentation of Cedric Price's ‘Potteries Thinkbelt’ in November 2003 at the University of Westminster. The event, called ‘SuperCrit’, was endorsed by Price, but his untimely death in the summer of that year prevented him from presenting the project himself. It was therefore handed to a group of friends and associates to argue the profundity of this great architectural work-on-paper. As for now … Price would have us remember, it is up to all to keep on thinking. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Selective Interference With the Use of Visual Images in the Symbolic Distance Paradigm.

Eight experiments investigated the effects of visual, spatial, auditory, and executive interference on the symbolic comparison of animal size and ferocity, semantic goodness of words, and numbers. Dynamic visual noise (DVN) and the reading of visually presented stimulus items were shown to selectively interfere with response times on the animal size comparison task, though the slope of the symbolic distance function remained unchanged. Increased change of DVN significantly increased interference, but interference was reduced by equiluminant DVN. Spatial tracking reduced the slope of the symbolic distance function in contrast to an executive task that only increased mean latency and errors for all comparisons. Results suggest that the generation of an image is necessary for size comparison, but neither imagery nor executive function is responsible for the frequently observed distance-time function. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)