Children's representations of multiple family relationships: Organizational structure and development in early childhood.

The authors examine mutual family influence processes at the level of children's representations of multiple family relationships, as well as the structure of those representations. From a community sample with 3 waves, each spaced 1 year apart, kindergarten-age children (105 boys and 127 girls) completed a story-stem completion task, tapping representations of multiple family relationships. Structural equation modeling with autoregressive controls indicated that representational processes involving different family relationships were interrelated over time, including links between children's representations of marital conflict and reactions to conflict, between representations of security about marital conflict and parent-child relationships, and between representations of security in father-child and mother-child relationships. Mixed support was found for notions of increasing stability in representations during this developmental period. Results are discussed in terms of notions of transactional family dynamics, including family-wide perspectives on mutual influence processes attributable to multiple family relationships. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A genetically informed study of associations between family functioning and child psychosocial adjustment.

Research has documented associations between family functioning and offspring psychosocial adjustment, but questions remain regarding whether these associations are partly due to confounding genetic factors and other environmental factors. The current study used a genetically informed approach, the Children of Twins design, to explore the associations between family functioning (family conflict, marital quality, and agreement about parenting) and offspring psychopathology. Participants were 867 twin pairs (388 monozygotic; 479 dizygotic) from the Twin and Offspring Study in Sweden, their spouses, and children (51.7% female; M = 15.75 years). The results suggested associations between exposure to family conflict (assessed by the mother, father, and child) and child adjustment were independent of genetic factors and other environmental factors. However, when family conflict was assessed using only children's reports, the results indicated that genetic factors also influenced these associations. In addition, the analyses indicated that exposure to low marital quality and agreement about parenting was associated with children's internalizing and externalizing problems and that genetic factors also contributed to the associations of marital quality and agreement about parenting with offspring externalizing problems. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Pituitary adenylate cyclase-activating peptide, carbachol, and glucose stimulate insulin release in the absence of an increase in intracellular Ca2+

Insulin secretion from the pancreatic beta cell line HIT-T15 was examined under conditions in which the elevation of intracellular free Ca2+ concentration ([Ca2+]i) was inhibited by nitrendipine or diazoxide or by severe Ca2+ deprivation. Glucose-induced insulin release was completely abolished under these conditions. However, in the presence of 12-O-tetradecanoyl-phorbol-13-acetate or forskolin, 10 mM glucose significantly enhanced insulin release, even in the presence of 5 microM nitrendipine or 150 microM diazoxide. The [Ca2+]i was not increased under these conditions. Even under Ca(2+)-deprived conditions, achieved by 60-min preincubation in Ca(2+)-free buffer containing 1 mM ethylene glycol bis-(beta-aminoethyl ether)-N,N,N',N'-tetraacetic acid (EGTA), glucose in the complete absence of extracellular Ca2+ significantly enhanced insulin release when the cells were treated also with 12-O-tetradecanoylphorbol-13-acetate and forskolin. Because of these findings, additional studies were performed with pituitary adenylate cyclase-activating peptide (PACAP) and carbachol to see whether physiological stimulation via receptor activation could stimulate insulin release in the absence of a rise in [Ca2+]i. Under normal Ca(2+)-containing conditions, PACAP and carbachol stimulated insulin release and markedly potentiated glucose-stimulated release. In the presence of nitrendipine and thapsigargin, glucose failed to stimulate insulin release. Also, neither glucose in combination with PACAP nor glucose with carbachol was able to stimulate release. However, under the same conditions, the combination of glucose, PACAP, and carbachol did stimulate release while being unable to elevate [Ca2+]i. Thus, simultaneous activation of the beta cell by PACAP, carbachol, and glucose can stimulate insulin release even when [Ca2+]i is not elevated.     

Two signaling pathways, from the upper glycolytic flux and from the mitochondria, converge to potentiate insulin release

In the rat pancreatic beta cell, low concentrations of glucose potentiate D-glyceraldehyde (GA)-induced insulin release without any potentiation of the triose-induced elevation of cytosolic free Ca2+ concentration. Namely, 2-3 mM glucose strongly potentiates 5 mM GA-induced insulin release, and the combination of stimulatory concentration of glucose (10 mM) and 5 mM GA elicits far more than additive insulin release: this glucose action is independent of ATP-sensitive K+ channel closure because it can be seen in the presence of diazoxide, an opener of the K+ channel. The triose-induced elevation of cytosolic free Ca2+ concentration was not potentiated by the presence of 3 mM glucose, and oxidation of labeled GA by the islet cells was not enhanced by the presence of glucose. The glucose action can be mimicked by mannose, but not by galactose, and was suppressed by inhibition of glucose phosphorylation with mannoheptulose or 2-deoxyglucose. Glucose also potentiates 2-ketoisocaproate-induced insulin release. In contrast, a combination of GA and 2-ketoisocaproate elicits only additive insulin release. Strikingly, 3 mM glucose does not potentiate insulin release in response to a depolarizing concentration of K+. Therefore, at least two signal pathways, one from upper glycolytic flux and one from mitochondrial metabolism, must converge to provide the potentiation of insulin release. We conclude that the upper glycolytic flux, acting at a site unrelated to the elevation of cytosolic free Ca2+, potentiates insulin release triggered by triose and mitochondrial fuels.     

Learning basic principles of probability in student dyads: A cross-age comparison.

Explored the effectiveness of the learning cell, or student dyad, for the acquisition of principles of probability in 46 5th graders, 35 9th graders, and 40 college undergraduates. Ss read about probability, then prepared study questions which they discussed with partners in 2 class periods. Scores on objective tests increased significantly for all age groups following reading and again following discussion. The learning cell was enjoyed most by 5th graders and least by 9th-grade boys, as measured by an evaluation questionnaire. Multiple regression analysis indicated that Ss' evaluations of the learning cell and of their discussion partners were unrelated to achievement. (23 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Determination of leucogentian violet in chicken fat by liquid chromatography with electrochemical and ultraviolet detection: interlaboratory study

A laboratory trial was completed for a liquid chromatographic method that can quantitate leucogentian violet (LGV) in chicken fat at 10 ppb. With this method, LGV is isolated from the fat matrix by a series of liquid-liquid extractions. This trial evaluated 2 detection systems: electrochemical (EC) and ultraviolet (UV). The participating laboratories determined incurred residues at 2 levels as well as fat samples fortified at 5, 10, and 20 ppb. Using UV detection, the 3 laboratories reported the following range of recoveries: 71.0-89.6% at 5 ppb, 74.7-83.9% at 10 ppb, and 77.2-79.0% at 20 ppb. When these same samples were chromatographed with EC detection, the 2 reporting laboratories obtained the following average recoveries: 79.0 and 92.5% at 5 ppb, 75.9 and 85.4% at 10 ppb, and 77.3 and 79.8% at 20 ppb. The average concentrations found for the first level of incurred sample were 6.3, 6.3, and 5.4 ppb with coefficients of variation (CVs) of 2.4, 7.6, and 33.7%, respectively, when UV detection was used. Samples chromatographed with EC detection averaged 6.3 and 6.4 ppb with CVs of 4.0 and 8.2%, respectively. The second level of incurred sample gave average concentrations of 27.6, 29.0, and 10.9 ppb with CVs of 11.0, 5.0, and 42.8%, respectively, when the UV detection system was used. With the EC detector, the concentrations averaged 27.2 and 30.7 ppb with CVs of 15.7 and 3.5%, respectively.     

Developmental family processes and interparental conflict: Patterns of microlevel influences.

Although there are frequent calls for the study of effects of children on families and mutual influence processes within families, little empirical progress has been made. We address these questions at the level of microprocesses during marital conflict, including children's influence on marital conflict and parents' influence on each other. Participants were 111 cohabiting couples with a child (55 male, 56 female) age 8–16 years. Data were drawn from parents' diary reports of interparental conflict over 15 days and were analyzed with dynamic systems modeling tools. Child emotions and behavior during conflicts were associated with interparental positivity, negativity, and resolution at the end of the same conflicts. For example, children's agentic behavior was associated with more marital conflict resolution, whereas child negativity was linked with more marital negativity. Regarding parents' influence on each other, among the findings, husbands' and wives' influence on themselves from one conflict to the next was indicated, and total number of conflicts predicted greater influence of wives' positivity on husbands' positivity. Contributions of these findings to the understanding of developmental family processes are discussed, including implications for advanced understanding of interrelations between child and adult functioning and development. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Walkers and their Staffs: O’odham Walking Sticks by Way of Calendar Sticks and Scraping Sticks

As archaeologist J. Andrew Darling and Akimel O’odham traditional singer and cultural preservation officer Barnaby V. Lewis have previously shown, scraping sticks encode geographical knowledge, while calendar sticks encode historical knowledge. Like these other sticks, the staffs of O’odham “walkers,” or pilgrims, to Magdalena, Sonora, Mexico, similarly contain both geographical and historical knowledge, evoking memories of past journeys in the present and the presence of Magdalena. Moreover, these staffs are spoken of and treated as people, or at least as an extension of O’odham walkers. For O’odham walkers with their staffs, or walking sticks, Magdalena, Saint Francis, and all of the blessings associated with them are never too far away. And the memories of these journeys that they have taken with their sticks and the stories that they together tell, inextricably link walkers and their sticks, sticks and stories, people and places, as well as the past and the present. Thus, Magdalena is palpably present in the everyday lives of the walkers who cannot help but be transported by their sticks to stories—whether told or untold—and memories made along the road to Magdalena as well as dreams of future journeys.