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Ozone, along with other air pollutants, has been measured for two years from a monitoring station placed on a cruise ship that follows a regular track in the Western Mediterranean between April and October. Conditions favoring high ozone levels have been studied by analysis of weather maps and back trajectories. This analysis was focused on a transect over the open sea in the South Western Mediterranean between Tunis and Palma de Mallorca. High ozone levels were found in situations with an anticyclonic circulation over the Western Mediterranean when subsidence brings air masses down from altitudes between 1000 and 3500ma.s.l. Analysis of composite meteorological maps suggest a relevant contribution of breeze circulation to subsidence during events with high surface ozone concentrations; this points to an important contribution from local ozone formation. A detailed back trajectory analysis of the origin of air masses with high ozone concentrations was carried out for two "hot spots" for ozone pollution, found along the coast south of Genova and between Napoli and Palermo, respectively. While it was found that the influence of plumes from areas with high pollutant levels might explain most episodes in the Northwestern transect, such "local" influences appeared to be of minor importance within the Napoli-Palermo transect. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aerosol physical properties were measured at the Monte Cimone Observatory (Italy) from 1 June till 6 July 2000. The measurement site is located in the transition zone between continental boundary layer and the free troposphere (FT), at the border between the Mediterranean area and Central Europe, and is exposed to a variety of air masses. Sub-micrometer number size distributions, aerosol hygroscopicity at 90% RH, refractory size distribution at 270°C and black carbon mass were continuously measured. Number size distributions and hygroscopic properties indicate that the site is exposed to aged continental air masses, however during daytime it is also affected by upslope winds. The mixing of this transported polluted boundary layer air masses with relatively clean FT air leads to frequent nucleation events around local noon. Night-time size distributions including fine and coarse fractions for each air mass episode have been parameterized by a 3-modal lognormal distribution. Number and volume concentrations in the sub-micrometer modes are strongly affected by the air mass origin, with highest levels in NW-European air masses, versus very clean air in the "Arctic" episode. During the dust episode, the coarse mode is clearly enhanced. The observed hygroscopic behavior of the aerosol is consistent with the chemical composition described by Putaud et al. (2004a), but no closure could be made because the hygroscopic properties of the water-soluble organic matter is not known. The data suggest that WSOM is slightly-to-moderately hygroscopic, and that this property may well depend on the air mass origin and history. Although externally mixing is observed in all air masses, the occurrence of "less" hygroscopic particles has mostly such a low occurrence rate that the average growth factor distribution mostly appears as a single mode. This is not the case for the dust episode, where the external mixing between less hygroscopic and more hygroscopic particles is very prominent, and indicating clearly the occurrence of a dust accumulation mode, extending down to 50 nm particles, along with an anthropogenic pollution mode. The presented physical measurements finally allow us to provide a partitioning of the sub-µm aerosol in four non-overlapping fractions (soluble + volatile, non-soluble + volatile, refractory + non-BC, BC) which can be roughly associated with separate groups of chemical compounds (ions, organic matter, dust, BC). For what concerns the relative contributions of the fractions, all air masses except the free-tropospheric (FT) and Dust Episodes show a similar composition within the uncertainty of the data. The latter two have a significantly higher refractory fraction, which in the FT air mass is attributed to carbonaceous particles, and in the dust episode to a sub-µm accumulation mode of dust. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

OBJECTIVE: Previous studies suggest that reduced autobiographical memory specificity might serve as a way of regulating affect. This study examined the relationship between autobiographical memory specificity and avoidant coping. METHOD: Sixty students completed the Autobiographical Memory Test (AMT). Different types of avoidant coping were assessed using questionnaires: the Acceptance and Action Questionnaire, the Cognitive-Behavioural Avoidance Scale and the White Bear Suppression Inventory. RESULTS: For all questionnaires, a significant correlation was observed between the number of specific responses on the AMT and an avoidant coping style. More avoidance was associated with fewer specific answers. These correlations remained when corrected for number of omissions. CONCLUSION: The results provide further evidence for the affect-regulating quality of autobiographical memory specificity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective. Examined the relationship between trauma and memory specificity and the importance in this of level of support received. Method. Fifty-two female undergraduates completed the Autobiographical Memory Test (AMT; Williams & Broadbent, 1986), assessing memory specificity and the Traumatic Experiences Checklist (TEC; Nijenhuis, Van der Hart, & Vanderlinden, 1999), assessing qualitative aspects of trauma. Results. In low-specific students, those who reported emotional abuse were less specific in their memory. The scores of students who had not received any support for the abuse showed a trend towards retrieval of less specific memories, as compared with those who had received support. Conclusion. Results provide evidence for an association between trauma (emotional abuse) and reduced memory specificity, and suggest that receiving support following the abuse might protect individuals from developing over-general memory. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Overgeneral memory (OGM) refers to the failure to recall memories of specific personally experienced events, which occurs in various psychiatric disorders. One pathway through which OGM is theorized to develop is the avoidance of thinking of negative experiences, whereby cumulative avoidance may maladaptively generalize to autobiographical memory (AM) more broadly. We tested this, predicting that negative experiences would interact with avoidance to predict AM specificity. In Study 1 (N = 281), negative life events (over six months) and daily hassles (over one month) were not related to AM specificity, nor was avoidance, and no interaction was found. In Study 2 (N = 318), we revised our measurements and used an increased timeframe of 12 months for both negative life events and daily hassles. The results showed no interaction effect for negative life events, but they did show an interaction for daily hassles, whereby increased hassles and higher avoidance of thinking about them were associated with reduced AM specificity, independent of general cognitive avoidance and depressive symptoms. No evidence was found that cognitive avoidance or AM specificity moderated the effect of negative experiences on depressive symptoms. Our findings suggest that life events over 6-12 months are not associated with AM specificity, but chronic daily hassles over 12 months predict reduced AM specificity when individuals avoid thinking about them. The findings provide evidence for the functional-avoidance hypothesis of OGM development and future directions for longitudinal studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Improving future thinking, such as characteristics of specificity, detail, and use of mental imagery, may be one means to reduce anhedonia, particularly in a Major Depressive Episode (MDE) in which future thinking is impaired. The current study aimed to test this using a validated program, Future Event Specificity Training (FEST). Methods: Participants (N = 177; 80.8% women; M age = 43.7, SD = 11.8) with a current depressive episode with anhedonia and high symptom severity were randomized to FEST or no FEST. Future thinking, anhedonia-related variables, and other clinical outcomes were assessed at baseline, one- and three-month follow-up. Results: Relative to the control group, FEST was associated with significantly improved future thinking characteristics, a reduced likelihood of anhedonia (35.1% vs. 61.1%, p =.015), improvements on other anhedonia-related variables such as anticipatory (d = 0.63, p =.004) and anticipated pleasure for future events (d = 0.77, p <.001), and desirable clinical outcomes such as less people meeting criteria for an MDE (37.8% vs. 64.8%, p =.011), higher behavioural activation (d = 0.71, p =.001) and improved global functioning (d = 0.52, p =.017). Changes in future thinking were found to mediate the effect of FEST on anhedonia. Conclusion: The quality of future thinking can be enhanced in Major Depression, and this leads to a substantially reduced likelihood of anhedonia, other significant clinical effects, and functional gains. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]