Validity of Three Measures of Communication for Predicting Relationship Adjustment and Stability Among a Sample of Young Couples.

The goal of this study was to examine whether data from 3 different measures of communication (i.e., self-report, quasi-observational, and observational) can predict relationship adjustment and stability 1 year later when used conjointly in a sample of 62 young couples. The 3 measures of communication were the Communication Skills Test-Revised (CST-R), the Communication Box (CB), and the Demand/Withdraw Pattern Questionnaire (DWPQ). Through hierarchical multiple regression analyses, results revealed that the CST-R and the DWPQ predict both genders' relationship adjustment 1 year later when used conjointly. Logistic regression analyses revealed that none of the measures of communication significantly predicted relationship stability. In conclusion, the combination of the CST-R and the DWPQ appears to be useful for longitudinally predicting relationship adjustment. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Validation chez les adolescents d'une version francophone d'un instrument de mesure de la peur du jugement négatif d'autrui.

The popularity of the Fear of Negative Evaluation scale (FNE; Watson & Friend, 1969) stems from the centrality of this construct in personality, social and clinical psychology. In order to meet the needs of the Francophone researchers community, Kéroack, Boisvert, and Prévost (1987) traduced the short version of this instrument. Since social anxiety is most salient in adolescence, there is a need for normative and psychometric data for this population. This research aims at documenting the psychometric properties and norms for Francophone adolescents. Five hundred and seventy-eight participants aged from 14 to 19 years completed the French versions of the short FNE and the Social Avoidance and Distress scale. The factorial structure, the internal consistency and the convergent validity analyses confirm the traduction's quality and the questionnaire's validity. Norms are presented separately for females and males. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Evaluation of hydroxypropyl methylcellulose phthalate 50 as film forming polymer from aqueous dispersion systems

Hydroxypropyl methylcelluose phthalate 50 (HPMCP 50) was evaluated as a film forming polymer from aqueous dispersion systems. The influence of plasticizer type and level on the elasticity of HPMCP 50 free films prepared by the casting method was studied by measuring Young's modulus using an Instron Material Testing System. The release of a water soluble drug in various dissolution media from pellets coated with HPMCP 50 with 30% plasticizer containing various levels of hydroxypropyl cellulose (HPC) or hydroxypropyl methylcellulose (HPMC) was also studied. The influence of coating level on drug release from pellets was also investigated. Results showed that HPMCP 50 alone without a plasticizer does not form a film. However, when a plasticizer was added HPMCP 50 did form a film. Also, as the concentration of the plasticizer triethyl citrate was increased the elasticity of HPMCP 50 films was increased. Similar results were obtained with the plasticizer diethyl phthalate. For pellets a high coating level was required to achieve adequate protection in 0.06 N HCl. Drug release from coated pellets was found to be dependent upon the type and the level of the water soluble polymer incorporated with HPMCP 50. Drug release was increased as the percentage of HPC was increased. Higher release rates were obtained with HPMC compared to HPC. Coating level significantly influenced drug release in 0.06 N HCl; however, less of an effect was observed at pH 5.5.     

Measuring the financial risks of New York dairy producers

The financial risks of a group of New York dairy producers were measured from 1988 through 1997 and were decomposed by source of risk by two procedures. Decomposition of the variance suggested major contributors to variability in returns to New York dairy farms were variabilities in purchased feed quantities and milk production; milk price variability contributed substantially less. Similarly, decomposing the Gini measure of income dispersion indicated that milk revenues and purchased feed expenditures contributed most to farm return inequality over time. Controlling feed costs and maintaining high and stable milk production appear to be the principal approaches that dairy producers can use to control their financial risks.     

Three-dimensional human shape inference from silhouettes: reconstruction and validation

Silhouettes are robust image features that provide considerable evidence about the three-dimensional (3D) shape of a human body. The information they provide is, however, incomplete and prior knowledge has to be integrated to reconstruction algorithms in order to obtain realistic body models. This paper presents a method that integrates both geometric and statistical priors to reconstruct the shape of a subject assuming a standardized posture from a frontal and a lateral silhouette. The method is comprised of three successive steps. First, a non-linear function that connects the silhouette appearances and the body shapes is learnt and used to create a first approximation. Then, the body shape is deformed globally along the principal directions of the population (obtained by performing principal component analysis over 359 subjects) to follow the contours of the silhouettes. Finally, the body shape is deformed locally to ensure it fits the input silhouettes as well as possible. Experimental results showed a mean absolute 3D error of 8 mm with ideal silhouettes extraction. Furthermore, experiments on body measurements (circumferences or distances between two points on the body) resulted in a mean error of 11 mm.     

Le pouvoir conjugal et l'évitement des conflits chez les hommes.

Three hypotheses have been advanced to explain sex differences in withdraw behavior during conflictual marital interactions: the greater physiological reactivity of men during conflict situations, the differential socialization of men and women, and the differential power assigned to men and women. The main objective of this study was to examine the hypothesis that marital power is a good predictor of husbands' withdrawal. 132 couples completed a series of questionnaires, including the Marital Adjustment Test, a communication questionnaire, and 2 measures of marital power. Results show that marital adjustment predicted 44% of husbands' withdrawal, while marital power did not account for a significant proportion of the variance. These results are discussed in the light of the suggested hypotheses accounting for the differences in husbands and wives behavior during marital conflict. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A leukocyte homologue of the IL-8 receptor CXCR-2 mediates the accumulation of macrophages in atherosclerotic lesions of LDL receptor-deficient mice

Cancer complicating pregnancy is uncommon, with an incidence of approximately 1 in 1000 pregnancies. The obstetrician attending 250 deliveries per year would need to accumulate 40 years of clinical experience to encounter two to three cases of PABC. The increases in the size, weight, vascularity, and density of the breasts associated with pregnancy make the detection of mass lesions difficult both clinically and mammographically. Most of the benign lesions seen in pregnancy are the same ones seen in the nongravid state. Most cases of PABC present as painless masses, and as many as 90% of these masses are detected by breast self-examination. Women with PABC generally have more advanced disease with larger tumors, a higher percentage of inoperable lesions, and a higher percentage of nodal involvement. Because most PABC presents with a palpable mass, the role of imaging modalities in the evaluation of these patients remains limited. Fine-needle aspiration cytology is the initial procedure of choice for evaluating breast masses during pregnancy and lactation. Therapeutic abortion does not improve survival. The general principle is to treat the cancer and to allow the pregnancy to proceed. No studies have shown an adverse effect of a subsequent pregnancy even in patients with positive axillary nodes and patients in whom pregnancy occurs earlier than 2 years after treatment.     

Perioperative ischaemia in aortic surgery: combined epidural/general anaesthesia and epidural analgesia vs general anaesthesia and i.v. analgesia

PURPOSE: The goal of this randomized study was to determine whether combined general and epidural anaesthesia with postoperative epidural analgesia, compared with general anaesthesia and postoperative intravenous analgesia, reduced the incidence of perioperative myocardial ischaemia in patients undergoing elective aortic surgery. METHOD: Patients were randomly assigned to one of two groups. One group (EPI, n = 48) received combined general and epidural anaesthesia and postoperative epidural analgesia for 48 hrs. The other group (GA, n = 51) received general anaesthesia followed by postoperative intravenous analgesia. Anaesthetic goals were to maintain haemodynamic stability (+/- 20% of preoperative values), and a stroke volume > 1 ml.kg-1. A Holter monitor was attached to each patient the day before surgery. Leads 11, V2, and V5 were monitored. Myocardial ischaemia was defined as ST segment depression > 1 mm measured at 80 millisec beyond the J point or an elevation of 2 mm 60 millisec beyond the J point which lasted > 60 sec. An event that lasted > 60 sec but returned to the baseline for > 60 sec and then recurred, was counted as two separate events. The Holter tapes were reviewed by a cardiologist blind to the patient's group. RESULTS: There were no demographic differences between the two groups. Myocardial ischaemia was common; it occurred in 55% of patients. In hospital, preoperative ischaemia was uncommon (GA = 3, EPI = 8). Intraoperative ischaemia was common (GA = 18, EPI = 25). Mesenteric traction produced the largest number of ischaemic (GA = 11, EPI = 11) events. Postoperative ischaemia was most common on the day of surgery. Termination of epidural analgesia produced a burst of ischaemia (60 events in 9 patients). CONCLUSION: Combined general and epidural anaesthesia and postoperative epidural analgesia do not reduce the incidence of myocardial ischaemia or morbidity compared with general anaesthesia and postoperative intravenous analgesia.     

Reactions of late transition metal complexes with molecular oxygen

Limited natural resources, high energy consumption, economic considerations, and environmental concerns demand that we develop new technologies for the sustainable production of chemicals and fuels. New methods that combine the selective activation of C-H bonds of hydrocarbons with oxidation by a green oxidant such as molecular oxygen would represent huge advances toward this goal. The spectacular selectivity of transition metals in cleaving C-H bonds offers the potential for the direct use of hydrocarbons in the production of value-added organics such as alcohols. However, the use of oxygen, which is abundant, environmentally benign, and inexpensive (particularly from air), has proven challenging, and more expensive and less green oxidants are often employed in transition-metal-catalyzed reactions. Advances in the use of oxygen as an oxidant in transition-metal-catalyzed transformations of hydrocarbons will require a better understanding of how oxygen reacts with transition metal alkyl and hydride complexes. For alkane oxidations, researchers will need to comprehend and predict how metals that have shown particularly high activity and selectivity in C-H bond activation (e.g. Pt, Pd, Rh, Ir) will react with oxygen. In this Account, we present our studies of reactions of late metal alkyls and hydrides with molecular oxygen, emphasizing the mechanistic insights that have emerged from this work. Our studies have unraveled some of the general mechanistic features of how molecular oxygen inserts into late metal hydride and alkyl bonds along with a nascent understanding of the scope and limitations of these reactions. We present examples of the formation of metal hydroperoxide species M-OOH by insertion of dioxygen into Pt(IV)-H and Pd(II)-H bonds and show evidence that these reactions proceed by radical chain and hydrogen abstraction pathways, respectively. Comparisons with recent reports of insertion of oxygen into other Pd(II)-H complexes, and also into Ir(III)-H and Rh(III)-H complexes, point to potentially general mechanisms for this type of reaction. Additionally, we observed oxygen-promoted C-H and H-H reductive elimination reactions from five-coordinate Ir(III) alkyl hydride and dihydride complexes, respectively. Further, when Pd(II)Me(2) and Pt(II)Me(2) complexes were exposed to oxygen, insertion processes generated M-OOMe complexes. Mechanistic studies for these reactions are consistent with radical chain homolytic substitution pathways involving five-coordinate M(III) intermediates. Due to the remarkable ability of Pt(II) and Pd(II) to activate the C-H bonds of hydrocarbons (RH) and form M-R species, this reactivity is especially exciting for the development of partial alkane-oxidation processes that utilize molecular oxygen. Our understanding of how late transition metal alkyls and hydrides react with molecular oxygen is growing rapidly and will soon approach our knowledge of how other small molecules such as olefins and carbon monoxide react with these species. Just as advances in understanding olefin and CO insertion reactions have shaped important industrial processes, key insight into oxygen insertion should lead to significant gains in sustainable commercial selective oxidation catalysis.