The mother's psychophysiological reactions to contrasting affective expressions by her own and an unfamiliar infant.

Investigated mothers' autonomic reactions to their own infants' emotional states. 17 mothers of 5-mo-olds viewed 2 landscape scenes and 4 types of videotaped segments depicting their own baby and an unfamiliar baby smiling or crying. Each episode was presented for 3 consecutive 10-sec trials, and order of stimulation was varied systematically. Initial presentations of Ss' own infants evoked cardiac acceleration and large skin conductance responses (SCRs), whereas cardiac deceleration and smaller SCRs were evoked by the unfamiliar infant crying. Episodes displaying the strange infant smiling and landscapes yielded nonsignificant trends toward cardiac deceleration and still smaller SCRs. Results indicate that mothers react with excitement to images of their own child and with patterns characteristic of environmental intake or orientation when viewing unfamiliar infants. Because parent–child relations are considered transactional, physiological indices of maternal responsiveness to infant behaviors are useful as potential predictors of developmental outcome. Hence, it is concluded that the findings that mothers display differential physiological reactions to their own and unfamiliar infants are especially promising. (25 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Methylphenidate reduces abnormalities of stimulus classification in adolescents with attention deficit disorder.

48 adolescents with attention deficit disorder (ADD) received placebo and methylphenidate (M?=?35.21 mg/day) for 3 consecutive weeks each. ADD patients who received placebo in the 1st phase of treatment were compared with unmedicated normal adolescents. ADD and normal adolescents did not differ in slope of reaction time (RT) as a function of memory load in S. Sternberg's (1969) memory task. These results may be interpreted as reflecting normal rates of memory search in ADD. However, in comparison with normal Ss, ADD Ss made disproportionately more errors to targets and lacked faster latencies of the P3b component of event-related potentials for targets than nontargets. These findings suggest abnormalities in stimulus classification. Methylphenidate did not affect ADD patients' rates of memory search, but it did reduce misclassification of targets at high memory loads. The drug also evoked the normal pattern of slower P3b latencies for nontargets by shortening latencies for targets. Thus, the stimulant reduced ADD adolescents' abnormalities in stimulus classification. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Methylphenidate does not modify the impact of response frequency or stimulus sequence on performance and event-related potentials of children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder

Nephrogenic ascites is an entity that manifests as refractory ascites in patients with end-stage renal disease, where portal hypertensive, infectious, and malignant processes have been excluded. Most of these patients are undergoing hemodialysis. Hypoalbuminemia may predispose these uremic patients to ascites formation. The characteristics of the ascitic fluid suggest that the pathogenesis of the ascites is an alteration in peritoneal membrane permeability or impaired resorption due to peritoneal lymphatic channel obstruction. The ascitic fluid has a high protein content, low serum-ascites albumin gradient (SAAG), and low leukocyte count. Daily hemodialysis should be the initial therapy and is successful in one-third to three-fourths of patients within 3 weeks. Continuous ambulatory peritoneal dialysis or insertion of a peritoneovenous shunt are alternative treatments. Other therapies include instillation of intraperitoneal corticosteroids and binephrectomy, which have less predictable outcomes. Renal transplantation is the definitive treatment for nephrogenic ascites. Control of ascites reverses the progressive cachexia associated with uncontrolled disease, resulting in improved quality of life and survival approaching that of end-stage renal disease patients without ascites.     

Effects of methylphenidate on attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder with and without aggressive/noncompliant features.

This study compared the impact of methylphenidate on patients with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) with and without aggressive/noncompliant features. Methylphenidate (0.3 mg/Kg twice daily) and placebo were administered double-blind for 14 days each to 24 ADHD/nonaggressive, 19 ADHD/aggressive, and 20 borderline ADHD children. In general, the following benefits of methylphenidate were comparable for ADHD subgroups: (a) behavioral improvement observed by parents and teachers, (b) increases in accuracy and speed on two versions of the Continuous Performance Test (CPT), and (c) enlargement of the P3b wave of event-related potentials in the more difficult of the two CPTs. Thus, stimulant therapy had comparable benefits for ADHD patients with and without aggression/noncompliance. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Stress, memory, and emotion: developmental considerations from the study of child maltreatment

Emotion and memory are examined within a developmental framework. The point of departure for this discussion is the study of maltreated children whose traumatic experiences have been linked to difficulties in emotional development. It is suggested that cognitive processes such as memory and attention serve to link experience with emotion and emotion with psychopathology. Thus, an information processing approach is used to explain the development of maltreated children's adaptive and maladaptive coping responses. It is argued that maltreated children's association of affective stimuli with traumatic experiences and memories selectively alters the meaning of emotions for these children. More generally, the role of experience and learning as a component of emotional development is emphasized.     

Effects of methylphenidate on normal children's mood, event-related potentials, and performance in memory scanning and vigilance.

Investigated the effects of 0.3 mg/kg methylphenidate on 18 8–14 yr old normal children. Results show that the drug produced effects similar to those for normal adults and attention deficit disorder (ADD) patients. Results suggest that for normal children, methylphenidate enhances the quality of stimulus evaluation and, in vigilance tasks, the speed of response processes. Because these reactions parallel those of ADD patients and normal adults, they contradict the hypothesis that stimulants have a paradoxical effect on ADD. (67 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Clinical and cognitive effects of methylphenidate on children with attention deficit disorder as a function of aggression/oppositionality and age.

Children (aged 5.6–11.9 yrs) diagnosed with attention deficit disorder (ADD [n?=?44]), ADD plus aggression/oppositionality (ADD/O [n?=?34]), and as not meeting ADD criteria (NC [n?=?29]) received methylphenidate and placebo for 21 consecutive days each. Parents and teachers rated all groups improved under medication, but teachers reported less improvement for NC than for ADD/O children. Methylphenidate and chronological age had generally similar effects in a Sternberg task: greater accuracy and speed (especially for nontargets at low memory loads), larger P3b waves of event-related potentials, more pronounced slowing of P3b latency by memory load, and a greater trend of earlier peaks for targets than for nontargets. Both methylphenidate and maturation promoted more efficient strategies involving differentiated evaluation of targets and nontargets. These results were comparable among ADD groups. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Facial, autonomic, and subjective components of emotion: The facial feedback hypothesis versus the externalizer–internalizer distinction.

Evaluated the facial feedback hypothesis (facial expressions regulate affective experience) and the externalizer–internalizer distinction (expressive behavior and autonomic responses are negatively related) by manipulating facial expressiveness and measuring blood volume, skin conductance, and heart rate, as well as self-reports of emotion, in 108 undergraduates. Ss were subjected to 6 stimuli in the form of videotaped scenes and were filmed reacting with expressions of suppression, spontaneous behavior, or exaggeration. Higher levels of facial expressiveness were accompanied by higher levels of autonomic activity and subjective reports of affective experience. This relationship was obtained in comparisons among experimental conditions as well as correlational analyses within conditions. (50 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)