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Triple-crossover randomized controlled intervention trial to test whether reduced exposure to household NO2 or fine particles results in reduced symptoms among children with persistent asthma. Children (n = 126) aged 5–11 years with persistent asthma living in homes with gas stoves and levels of NO2 15 ppb or greater recruited in Connecticut and Massachusetts (2015–2019) participated in an intervention involving three air cleaners configured for: (1) NO2 reduction: sham particle filtration and real NO2 scrubbing; (2) particle filtration: HEPA filter and sham NO2 scrubbing; (3) control: sham particle filtration and sham NO2 scrubbing. Air cleaners were randomly assigned for 5-week treatment periods using a three-arm crossover design. Outcome was number of asthma symptom-days during final 14 days of treatment. Treatment effects were assessed using repeated measures, linear mixed models. Measured NO2 was lower (by 4 ppb, p < .0001) for NO2-reducing compared to control or particle-reducing treatments. NO2-reducing treatment did not reduce asthma morbidity compared to control. In analysis controlling for measured NO2, there were 1.8 (95% CI −0.3 to 3.9, p = .10) fewer symptom days out of 14 in the particle-reducing treatment compared to control. It remains unknown if using an air cleaner alone can achieve levels of NO2 reduction large enough to observe reductions in asthma symptoms. We observed that in small, urban homes with gas stoves, modest reductions in asthma symptoms occurred using air cleaners that remove fine particles. An intervention targeting exposures to both NO2 and fine particles is complicated and further research is warranted. NCT02258893.

Introduction Trocar site hernia (TSH) is a complication of minimally invasive surgery that is often underestimated. These lesions cause patient discomfort and require surgery for their correction. Although there are some case reports for laparoscopic repair of TSH, there is data missing in the literature about this specific topic. The aim of this study is to evaluate safety and efficacy of the laparoscopic repair of TSH. Methods We collected data regarding 213 patients submitted to incisional hernia repair in the Department of General Surgery at Humanitas Mater Domini Clinical Institute in Italy since 2011 and 2019. We selected the patients submitted to laparoscopic repair of a TSH with an intraperitoenal mesh. We evaluated the clinical and surgical characteristics of the patients and the following outcomes: post-operative hospitalization, complications and long-term recurrences. Discussion Forty-two out of 213 patients were operated for a TSH. Forty out of 42 patients (95.2%) were treated with a laparoscopic approach. Follow up: 60 months. Study group: females (62.5%), mean BMI 29.1. According to EHS (European Hernia Society) classification, 35 patients had a midline defect. In 77.5% of cases a ePTFE/PP mesh was implanted. Mean hospitalization: 2 nights. The complication rate was low (1 surgical site infection, 1 seroma and 1 hematoma), without re-intervention. We observed 2 cases of recurrence (5%) developed after 5 months and 36 months, respectively. Conclusions Laparoscopic repair of TSH is a safe approach, in absence of specific contraindications. Our experience suggest that a laparoscopic approach could obtain satisfying results.

Health studies report associations between metrics of residential proximity to unconventional oil and gas (UOG) development and adverse health endpoints. We investigated whether exposure through household groundwater is captured by existing metrics and a newly developed metric incorporating groundwater flow paths. We compared metrics with detection frequencies/concentrations of 64 organic and inorganic UOG-related chemicals/groups in residential groundwater from 255 homes (Pennsylvania n = 94 and Ohio n = 161). Twenty-seven chemicals were detected in ≥20% of water samples at concentrations generally below U.S. Environmental Protection Agency standards. In Pennsylvania, two organic chemicals/groups had reduced odds of detection with increasing distance to the nearest well: 1,2-dichloroethene and benzene (Odds Ratio [OR]: 0.46, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.23–0.93) and m- and p-xylene (OR: 0.28, 95% CI: 0.10–0.80); results were consistent across metrics. In Ohio, the odds of detecting toluene increased with increasing distance to the nearest well (OR: 1.48, 95% CI: 1.12–1.95), also consistent across metrics. Correlations between inorganic chemicals and metrics were limited (all |ρ| ≤ 0.28). Limited associations between metrics and chemicals may indicate that UOG-related water contamination occurs rarely/episodically, more complex metrics may be needed to capture drinking water exposure, and/or spatial metrics in health studies may better reflect exposure to other stressors.

To preliminarily examine throughout pregnancy and 12 months postpartum: 1) the critical timings of abnormal gestational weight gain (GWG) among quitters and non-quitters; 2) the consequences of abnormal GWG on weight retention during postpartum; 3) the potential difference in GWG by timing of quitting (early vs. late).We included 59 pregnant smokers (49 quitters and 10 non-quitters) from two clinical pilot studies. Smoking status and weight were repeatedly measured throughout pregnancy and postpartum. Weight trajectories were analyzed using mixed models with smoking cessation status, pregnancy week or postpartum month, their interaction term, and potential confounders.At enrollment, mothers had a mean BMI of 28.7 (SD, 7.2) and mean age of 30.1 years (SD, 5.8). Both groups had a linear increase in GWG, but quitters had a much higher rate of GWG (0.87 vs. 0.22 pounds/week) than non-quitters throughout pregnancy. Before delivery, 63.3% of quitters and 20.0% of non-quitters had excessive total GWG, while 12.2% of quitters and 60.0% of non-quitters had inadequate total GWG (p-value=0.004). Early quitters (21 weeks) had a higher risk of excessive GWG (85.0%) than late quitters (≥21 weeks, 36.4%) (p-value=0.026). After delivery, quitters' weight remained stable following a rapid weight loss, whereas non-quitters' weight increased continuously.Non-quitters have a high risk of inadequate GWG, while quitters, especially early quitters, have a high risk of excessive GWG. The group difference in weight trajectories lasted from conception to postpartum.

Unconventional oil and gas development (UOGD) releases chemicals that have been linked to cancer and childhood leukemia. Studies of UOGD exposure and childhood leukemia are extremely limited.The objective of this study was to evaluate potential associations between residential proximity to UOGD and risk of acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL), the most common form of childhood leukemia, in a large regional sample using UOGD-specific metrics, including a novel metric to represent the water pathway.We conducted a registry-based case-control study of 405 children ages 2-7 y diagnosed with ALL in Pennsylvania between 2009-2017, and 2,080 controls matched on birth year. We used logistic regression to estimate odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) for the association between residential proximity to UOGD (including a new water pathway-specific proximity metric) and ALL in two exposure windows: a primary window (3 months preconception to 1 y prior to diagnosis/reference date) and a perinatal window (preconception to birth).Children with at least one UOG well withinOur study including a novel UOGD metric found UOGD to be a risk factor for childhood ALL. This work adds to mounting evidence of UOGD's impacts on children's health, providing additional support for limiting UOGD near residences. https://doi.org/10.1289/EHP11092.

The unavailability of fresh water is one of the main concerns for horticulture nowadays and it is supposed to get worse in the coming future. Some crops are more vulnerable than others to drought stress such as leafy vegetables. It is therefore essential to identify and select cultivars that can overcome this kind of abiotic stress with limited or no substantial reduction in final yield, and to do it in a fast and effective way. High throughput phenotyping combined with advances in genome sequences provide efficient and reproducible approaches that are facilitating the discovery of genes and cultivars with improved plant performance under sub-optimal conditions. Drought resistance of two different Salanova® cultivars, ‘Aquino’ (green butterhead) and ‘Barlach’ (red butterhead), was tested, by using PlantScreen™, a high-throughput non-invasive imaging platform developed at Photon Systems Instruments (PSI, Czech Republic). The two cultivars performed similarly in both control (70% soil water content) and mild drought stress conditions (40% soil water content). The results demonstrated that ‘Aquino’ grew faster in control conditions at early growth phase, while in later phase it is the red ‘Barlach’ that reached larger biomass. In drought conditions growth performance of both cultivars was rapidly compromised. However, ‘Barlach’ grew better and had improved biomass in both control and mild-drought stress conditions in comparison with ‘Aquino’. Light curve protocol was used to address light use efficiency of the two cultivars. Interestingly, we observed a rapid decline in PS II operating efficiency already three days upon mild drought stress initiation. Nevertheless, there was no obvious difference in the performances between the two cultivars. In conclusion, the results of quantitative analysis of plant growth and photosynthetic performance, allowed to set up a protocol for high-throughput image-based analysis of different morpho-physiological traits associated with the early phase of drought response.

Sexsomnia is a non-rapid eye movement parasomnic behavior characterized by sexual activity during sleep. Recognized in the most recent editions of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders and the International Classification of Sleep Disorders, sexsomnia is likely to arise with increasing frequency in court as a potential explanation for sexual offending. The forensic psychiatrist has a unique role in the evaluation and management of sexsomnia. The psychosexual evaluation may elucidate the presence or absence of paraphilias and paraphilic disorders and identify any overlap between the alleged sexsomnic behavior and paraphilic interest. In addition, forensic psychiatrists may assess for malingered sexsomnia, provide an opinion regarding criminal responsibility, or evaluate the risk for committing future sexual offenses. Forensic psychiatrists should therefore understand basic information regarding the disorder, as well as how to conduct a psychosexual evaluation effectively in cases of alleged sexsomnia. This article describes the various considerations involved in the forensic evaluation of sexsomnia.

OBJECTIVE: To test the feasibility and effectiveness of a multifaceted intervention administered through school-based health centers (SBHCs) to improve asthma control for children in high poverty schools with not well controlled asthma. METHODS: Students 4–14 years old with persistent asthma were enrolled from 3 SBHCs. The centers’ advanced practice providers received training on evidence-based asthma guidelines. Students randomized to the intervention received directly observed therapy of their asthma controller medication, medication adjustments as needed by the centers’ providers, and daily self-management support. Students randomized to usual care were referred back to their primary care provider (PCP) for routine asthma care. RESULTS: We enrolled 29 students. Students in the intervention group received their controller medication 92% of days they were in school. Ninety-four percent of follow-up assessments were completed. During the study, 11 of 12 intervention students had a step-up in medication; 2 of 15 usual care students were stepped up by their PCP. Asthma Control Test scores did not differ between groups, although there were significant improvements from baseline to the 7 month follow-up within each group (both p

Supplemental Digital Content is available in the text., Background: In the WRAP-IT trial (Worldwide Randomized Antibiotic Envelope Infection Prevention), adjunctive use of an absorbable antibacterial envelope resulted in a 40% reduction of major cardiac implantable electronic device infection without increased risk of complication in 6983 patients undergoing cardiac implantable electronic device revision, replacement, upgrade, or initial cardiac resynchronization therapy defibrillator implant. There is limited information on the cost-effectiveness of this strategy. As a prespecified objective, we evaluated antibacterial envelope cost-effectiveness compared with standard-of-care infection prevention strategies in the US healthcare system. Methods: A decision tree model was used to compare costs and outcomes of antibacterial envelope (TYRX) use adjunctive to standard-of-care infection prevention versus standard-of-care alone over a lifelong time horizon. The analysis was performed from an integrated payer-provider network perspective. Infection rates, antibacterial envelope effectiveness, infection treatment costs and patterns, infection-related mortality, and utility estimates were obtained from the WRAP-IT trial. Life expectancy and long-term costs associated with device replacement, follow-up, and healthcare utilization were sourced from the literature. Costs and quality-adjusted life years were discounted at 3%. An upper willingness-to-pay threshold of $150 000 per quality-adjusted life year was used to determine cost-effectiveness, in alignment with the American College of Cardiology/American Heart Association practice guidelines and as supported by the World Health Organization and contemporary literature. Results: The base case incremental cost-effectiveness ratio of the antibacterial envelope compared with standard-of-care was $112 603/quality-adjusted life year. The incremental cost-effectiveness ratio remained lower than the willingness-to-pay threshold in 74% of iterations in the probabilistic sensitivity analysis and was most sensitive to the following model inputs: infection-related mortality, life expectancy, and infection cost. Conclusions: The absorbable antibacterial envelope was associated with a cost-effectiveness ratio below contemporary benchmarks in the WRAP-IT patient population, suggesting that the envelope provides value for the US healthcare system by reducing the incidence of cardiac implantable electronic device infection. Registration: URL: https://www.clinicaltrials.gov. Unique identifier: NCT02277990.

Detection and quantification of biomolecule carbonylation, a critical manifestation of oxidative stress, allows better understanding of associated disease states. Existing approaches for such analyses require further processing of cells and tissues, which leads to loss of both spatial and temporal information about carbonylated biomolecules in cells. Live cell detection of these species requires sensors that are non-toxic, sufficiently reactive with the biocarbonyl in the intracellular milieu, and detectable with commonly available instrumentation. Presented here is a new fluorescent sensor for biomolecule carbonyl detection: a hydrazine derivative of a benzocoumarin, 7-hydrazinyl-4-methyl-2H-benzo[h]chromen-2-one (BzCH), which meets these requirements. This probe is especially well suited for live cell studies. It can be excited by a laser line common to many fluorescence microscopes. The emission maximum of BzCH undergoes a substantial red shift upon hydrazone formation (from ~430 to ~550 nm), which is the result of fluorophore disaggregation. Additionally, the hydrazone exhibits an exceptionally large Stokes shift (~195 nm). The latter properties eliminate self-quenching of the probe and the need to remove unreacted fluorophore for reliable carbonyl detection. Thus, biomolecule carbonylation can be detected and quantified in cells and in cell extracts in a one-step procedure using this probe.

Due to an error in production the members of SICE CoDIG (Colon Dx Italian Group) listed in the Acknowledgments were not tagged correctly as authors in the XML of this article. This listing is presented again here:.

While voting laws trend toward universal suffrage, there are still some who encounter barriers in exercising the right to vote. Citizens with mental illness or cognitive and emotional impairments are especially vulnerable to exclusion from the political process, contributing to disenfranchisement. Facilitating the process for hospitalized patients to vote can increase their agency and amplify their voices and concerns. Through exercising their civic responsibility, psychiatric patients can have a hand in shaping a community in which they feel valued. In this article we will review the literature about voting, the current voting laws, and our lessons learned facilitating voting by proxy at Cambridge Hospital in the 2016 U.S. Presidential election, as well as the obstacles encountered. We will also propose methods to improve implementation of voting by hospitalized psychiatric patients for upcoming elections.

When a patient with acute psychosis refuses antipsychotic medication despite a clear need for treatment, involuntary medication is often considered. When the patient is both pregnant and acutely unwell, an additional layer of analysis enters the picture. This analysis then also includes the health of the mother and fetus, rights of the mother and fetus, and whose rights take precedence when choosing treatment options in event of a conflict. Antipsychotic agents are frequently the medications prescribed as involuntary treatment. Typical and atypical antipsychotic agents are often used in both emergent and nonemergent situations during pregnancy. Despite a lack of randomized, double-blind, controlled, prospective studies in pregnancy, available data regarding the safety of antipsychotic agents in pregnancy are relatively reassuring. At the same time, the risks of untreated psychosis, for both the mother and the fetus, are not negligible. Such cases merit ethics-related and legal analyses. Forensic psychiatrists involved in such cases need to consider the patient's capacity to make medical decisions and be able to discuss the potential risks, benefits, and alternatives with patients and in court, as part of initiation of involuntary treatment.

Background Laparoscopic lavage was proposed in the 1990s to treat purulent peritonitis in patients with perforated acute diverticulitis. Prospective randomized trials had mixed results. The aim of this study was to determine the success rate of laparoscopic lavage in sepsis control and to identify a group of patients that could potentially benefit from this treatment. Methods This retrospective multicentre international study included consecutive patients from 24 centres who underwent laparoscopic lavage from 2005 to 2015. Results A total of 404 patients were included, 231 of whom had Hinchey III acute diverticulitis. Sepsis control was achieved in 172 patients (74·5 per cent), and was associated with lower Mannheim Peritonitis Index score and ASA grade, no evidence of free perforation, absence of extensive adhesiolysis and previous episodes of diverticulitis. The operation was immediately converted to open surgery in 19 patients. Among 212 patients who underwent laparoscopic lavage, the morbidity rate was 33·0 per cent; the reoperation rate was 13·7 per cent and the 30-day mortality rate 1·9 per cent. Twenty-one patients required readmission for early complications, of whom 11 underwent further surgery and one died. Of the 172 patients discharged uneventfully after laparoscopic lavage, a recurrent episode of acute diverticulitis was registered in 46 (26·7 per cent), at a mean of 11 (range 2–108) months. Relapse was associated with younger age, female sex and previous episodes of acute diverticulitis. Conclusion Laparoscopic lavage showed a high rate of successful sepsis control in selected patients with perforated Hinchey III acute diverticulitis affected by peritonitis, with low rates of operative mortality, reoperation and stoma formation.

Drones are nowadays becoming more and more common. This paper presents a way to improve their performance and increase their versatility based on a faster design and development of drone propellers. This process starts with the modeling of the blades and of the hub of the propeller, which are required to meet dimensional specifications. Afterward, an evaluation is performed with fluid dynamics simulation tools which allows one to predict the forces acting on the propeller and, in particular, its thrust. After being realized using 3D printing, the real propeller undergoes tests that are necessary to verify its resistance to the operating forces and speeds. Afterwards, the propeller is subject to other tests to measure the generated thrust and compare it with the one expected from the simulations. Finally, in this paper, a comparison was performed with the thrust produced by other propellers to understand the improvements that can be adopted.

The ideal treatment of perforated diverticulitis and the indications for elective colon resection remain controversial. Considering the significant morbidity and mortality rates related to traditional resection, efforts have been made to reduce the invasiveness of surgery in recent decades. Laparoscopic peritoneal lavage has emerged as an effective alternative option. We retrospectively investigated the effectiveness of laparoscopic peritoneal lavage for perforated diverticulitis and the possibility that it could be a definitive treatment.We included patients treated with laparoscopic peritoneal lavage for perforated diverticulitis. The inclusion criteria were all emergency patients with generalized peritonitis due to Hinchey III perforated diverticulitis and some cases of Hinchey II and IV.Sixty-three patients were treated with laparoscopic peritoneal lavage. Six patients (9.5 %) had Hinchey II diverticulitis; 54 patients (85.7 %) had Hinchey III; and three patients (4.8 %) had Hinchey IV. The mean operative time was 87.3 min (±25.4 min), and the overall morbidity rate was 14.3 %. One patient died because of pulmonary embolism, and there were six early reinterventions because of treatment failure. Delayed colon resection was performed in four of the remaining 57 patients (7 %) because of recurrent diverticulitis. In the other 53 patients (93 %), we saw no recurrence of diverticulitis and no intervention was performed after a median follow-up period of 54 months (interquartile range 27-98 months).Laparoscopic peritoneal lavage for perforated diverticulitis can be considered a safe and effective alternative to traditional surgical resection, and using this approach, most elective colon resection might be avoided.

We extend investigations of the impact of the content of video contact with an individual with schizophrenia on stigma reduction. We examine whether differential impacts persist over a 2-week period and the extent to which they are mediated by perceived similarity and feelings of empathy and/or sympathy. We used a randomized control trial wherein participants were exposed to a video in which an individual described his recovery from schizophrenia, or the same person described acute symptoms of schizophrenia, or a no-video control condition. Outcomes included impressions of and preferred social distance to the person in the video and people in general with schizophrenia and well as perceptions of similarity and feelings of sympathy and empathy. We also measured an overt behaviour, seating distance, at 2-week follow-up. The recovery-focused material was generally more effective in improving impressions and reducing preferred level of social distance. Although the symptom-focused video resulted in great sympathy for the person, this did not translate into positive impressions or reduced social distance. Mediational analyses yielded findings consistent with the benefits of the recovery video being mediated by increased perceptions of similarity and lower feelings of sympathy. Exposure to the recovery-focused video resulted in less anxiety in anticipation of meeting the person in the video relative to the control condition. Video contact emphasizing potential for recovery from schizophrenia was more effective in reducing stigmatizing responses than contact highlighting acute symptoms. Increased sympathy does not necessarily translate into reductions in stigma.

191 participants either watched a video of a person with schizophrenia who discussed his recovery or the symptoms he experienced when acutely ill. Participants were asked to focus either on similarities or differences between themselves and the person depicted. Uncertainty orientation, the extent to which people prefer to resolve uncertainty (uncertainty-orientated) or avoid it in order to main certainty (certainty-orientated) was assessed for each participant. Results showed that for explicit attitudes, the recovery video and uncertainty orientation were significantly associated with more positive responses. The similarity manipulation interacted with video content and uncertainty orientation in influencing implicit attitudes. As expected, compared to those who are uncertainty-oriented, participants who are certainty-oriented were more likely to hold positive implicit attitudes after watching the recovery than symptoms video, particularly when attending to similarities.

In this manuscript, the origin of studying human motivation from a personality by situation perspective is discussed. It follows a thread from Galileo to Newton to Lewin to Atkinson to our own research and theory. Its major emphasis is that theories of motivation may benefit by looking at exceptions to the rule, mainly those who may not conform to a theory’s dictates. As with Galileo, by looking at these exceptions, the true rule may emerge. Using our own research, and that of our predecessors, as examples, we illustrate how many theories in social psychology may hold only for a small segment of the population and arguments are presented to explain why person by situation interactions could alter these theories. A cursory examination of current research on personality or situation versus personality and situation is then presented. The manuscript ends by showing that even personality by situation interactions may be moderated by yet another exception to the rule: culture.

This research investigates whether individual differences in uncertainty orientation affect classroom behavior for Chinese and Canadian children. Uncertainty orientation distinguishes between uncertainty-oriented individuals, or those who attempt to attain clarity by finding out for themselves, and certainty-oriented individuals, or those who attempt to maintain clarity by adhering to predictable environments. Although uncertainty orientation is considered an informational variable, uncertainty-oriented children in both countries had higher self-ratings, ratings by other students and ratings by their teachers than certainty-oriented children on a variety of social and achievement behaviours. These results suggest that encouraging a discovery learning style of uncertainty regulation in “UO-centric” cultures may be beneficial.

Bane, Susan/0000-0002-4270-6314 WOS:000376689000005 PubMed: 33343091 Bioorthogonal site-specific chemical reaction to label biomolecules in vitro and in living cells is one of the most powerful and convenient tools in chemical biology. Reactive pairs frequently used for chemical conjugation are aldehydes/ketones with hydrazines/hydrazides/hydroxylamines. Although the reaction is generally specific for the two components, even in a cellular environment, the reaction is very slow under physiological conditions. Addition of a phosphate group at the ortho position of an aromatic aldehyde increases the reaction rate by an order of magnitude and enhances the aqueous solubility of the reagent and the product. We have synthesized phosphate-substituted aldehyde synthetic models to study kinetics of their reactions with hydrazines and hydrazides that contain a fluorophore. This rapid bioorthogonal reaction should therefore be potentially a very useful reaction for routine site-specific chemical ligations to study and image complex cellular processes in biological systems. NIHUnited States Department of Health & Human ServicesNational Institutes of Health (NIH) - USA [R15 GM-102867]; Harpur College Dean's office; Starzak Award; NSFNational Science Foundation (NSF) [CHE-0922815] We gratefully acknowledge NIH Grant R15 GM-102867 for financial support. Mr. Sorrentino thanks the Harpur College Dean's office and the Starzak Award for additional support. The Regional NMR Facility (600 MHz instrument) at Binghamton University is supported by NSF (CHE-0922815).

In a field study involving university students from Canada and Japan, we tested hypotheses from the theory of uncertainty orientation (Sorrentino and Roney in The uncertain mind: Individual differences in facing the unknown. Psychology Press, Philadelphia 2000). Consistent with previous research, those possessing an uncertainty orientation that matched their culture’s predominant style of uncertainty regulation perceived a better student-classroom fit than those who did not match their culture’s predominant style of uncertainty regulation. More importantly, we predicted and found that actual course grades varied as a function of the culture’s style of uncertainty regulation in interaction with the participant’s uncertainty orientation and achievement-related motives. Implications of these findings and applied relevance are discussed.

My coauthors and I (RMS) have been very interested in the research program put forward by Van den Bos and his colleagues. I was one of the anonymous reviewers for their manuscript for the Journal o...

Previous research has suggested that implicit self-esteem might be universally positive. In the present study implicit self-esteem, as measured by the implicit association test (IAT), was found to be positive in both Japanese and Canadian participants. However, contrary to prior research, Japanese participants were found to have significantly lower implicit self-esteem than Canadians. Japanese participants also had lower scores on an exploratory measure of collective implicit self-esteem. In general, the results of the present study point to the complexities in the study of implicit self-esteem across cultures. Inconsistencies between the present and previous research might reflect divergent methodologies used in the IAT. The applicability of the IAT in a cross-cultural setting is discussed.

There is evidence that personal value priorities may influence prejudicial behaviors. In particular, it has been hypothesized that those who place a high priority on values such as equality, benevolence and social justice may be less likely to express any prejudicial personal attitudes in behavior. In the present study, we tested this hypothesis in the context of physical distance with reference to a person with schizophrenia. Self-transcendent value priorities and attitudes toward a young woman described as having schizophrenia were assessed in 95 university students. They were then led to anticipate meeting the person and the distance they sat from the expected location of the ill person was assessed.Women sat closer to the anticipated seat of the person with schizophrenia. In addition, there was a significant interaction between priority placed on self-transcendent values and attitude toward the person in predicting seating distance. There was a significant relationship between favorability of attitudes and sitting closer for those who were low in self-transcendent values, but attitudes did not predict physical proximity for those with high self-transcendent values.The impact of attitudes toward an individual with schizophrenia and subtle aspects of behavior such as physical proximity appear to be moderated by self-transcendent personal values. The role of implicit in comparison to explicit attitudes in explaining these results is worthy for further investigation.

Every day for two weeks, participants at four sites (2 in the US, 1 in Canada, and 1 in Japan) described their self-esteem and affect and they described the events that occurred each day. Multilevel random coefficient modeling analyses found that the self_esteem of Japanese participants changed more in reaction to daily social events (both positive and negative) than it did for North American participants. For positive social events, the Japanese were more reactive in terms of positive affect than North Americans. For negative social events, the Japanese were more reactive in terms of depressed mood (ND) and deactive positive affect (PD) than North Americans. In contrast, the Japanese were less reactive to negative achievement events than North Americans in terms of PA and anxious mood. The Japanese were more reactive than North Americans to positive achievement events in terms of PA and ND. The results highlight the greater sensitivity of the Japanese to social concerns compared to North Americans, and the greater affective sensitivity of North Americans to failure in achievement domains.

The purpose of this study was to examine uncertainty orientation and its relations with school and psychological adjustment in Chinese children. A sample of elementary school children in P.R. China, aged 10 to 12 years, participated in the study. Data concerning uncertainty orientation, academic performance and socio-emotional adjustment were obtained from multiple sources including projective assessments, teacher ratings and self-reports. It was found that children in grade 6 had higher scores on uncertainty orientation than those in grades 4 and 5. Uncertainty orientation was positively associated with school-related competence, academic achievement and self-perceptions of competence, and negatively associated with learning problems and loneliness. The results suggest that uncertainty orientation is an adaptive characteristic in Chinese children.

This study examined whether people with the same self-regulatory style of coping with uncertainty differed in their affective experiences as a function of what may be the dominant coping style of their culture. Two hundred twenty men and women from universities in Japan and Canada described the extent to which they experienced various emotions. Consistent with their expectations, the authors found that participants whose uncertainty orientation matched that of their country (i.e., uncertainty-oriented students in Canada, certainty-oriented students in Japan) experienced more active emotions than mismatched participants (i.e., certainty-oriented students in Canada, uncertainty-oriented students in Japan), who experienced more passive emotions. Moreover, those who matched their country's coping style also reported experiencing more positive and fewer negative emotions than mismatched students. These results suggest that the theory of uncertainty orientation has important implications for research on affective experiences within and across cultures.

The present study investigated whether predictions made by optimal distinctiveness theory (Brewer, 1991) could be moderated by individual differences in uncertainty orientation, and whether optimal distinctiveness has implications for how people perceive their values relative to comparison groups. It was hypothesized that certainty-oriented persons, compared to uncertainty-oriented ones, should place greater importance on and see themselves as more similar in values to relevant comparison groups, when the need for assimilation is aroused but not necessarily when the need for differentiation is activated. One hundred five men and women, pre-assessed for their level of uncertainty orientation, were asked to describe two situations where they felt too immersed in or too apart from others around them. They then rated the importance of several reference groups and the importance of 10 value types for the self, their ethnic group, and other students at their university. The results supported the hypotheses.

The present research examined the impact of temporal framing on two forms of self–reflection: counterfactual thinking and temporal self–appraisal. The possible moderating role of individual difference variables on these processes was also investigated. Participants recalled either a positive or a negative event from their past, which was then temporally framed to seem either psychologically recent or distant. Thinking about a negative event was expected to produce more upward counterfactual thoughts and more derogation of the past self than thinking about a positive event, especially when the event was framed as recent. The results supported these predictions, but individual differences in uncertainty orientation and achievement motivation moderated the findings. Only uncertainty–oriented or failure–threatened participants exhibited heightened generation of upward counterfactual thoughts and greater derogation of the past self following a negative event framed as recent. The findings document the link bet...

Este artigo enfatiza a importância de incorporar a cidadania como a dimensao fundamental do Programa Escolas Sustentaveis do governo federal, que atualmente conta com as dimensoes gestao, curriculo e espacos fisicos. Para tanto, o trabalho apresenta o relato e a analise de tres experiencias com processos educadores ambientalistas em espacos formais, ocorridas em 2011 e 2012 em Piracicaba (SP), Americana (SP) e Suzano (SP). Como referencial teorico assumimos a cidadania compreendida dentro de uma perspectiva de construcao de processos educadores ambientalistas. Assim, problematiza-se a maneira consensual como o tema e incorporado pela escola, alinhado ao proprio contexto de imaturidade democratica do Estado brasileiro. Defendemos a urgencia de firmar uma educacao democratica, politica, cidada e planetaria no ensino formal. As experiencias relatadas apresentam como potenciais comuns: a preocupacao em se construir os processos formativos na caminhada coletiva, respeitando as particularidades de cada territorio; o desejo e esforco para envolver toda a comunidade local para alem dos muros das escolas; e a inclusao dos sonhos e utopias dos(as) participantes. Como dificuldades recorrentes, ha o enfraquecimento das parcerias ao longo do processo e a baixa institucionalizacao, dificultando a permanencia e (re)construcao continua de processos educadores ambientalistas.

This article describes a pilot academic mentoring program carried out over 1 semester in the SEEK Program at the College of Staten Island, CUNY. The program was utilized to provide a resource for students whose overall grade point average was below 2.5, placing them at risk for academic dismissal. A goal-setting approach was used to aid the students in identifying and overcoming the obstacles to their academic success, in an effort to enhance the students' retention. Sixty-three students participated in 1 of 3 groups; the 3 groups consisted of a mentoring program combined with tutoring, a tutoring-only group, and a control group. Data collected in both the qualitative and quantitative formats supported the effectiveness of the SEEK Mentor Program. The program motivated the students to action, thus increasing the students' grade point average and retention rates.

Indices of ventilatory efficiency have proven useful in assessing patients with heart and lung disease. One of these indices is the slope of the ventilation (V(E)) versus carbon dioxide output (VCO(2)) relationship during cardiopulmonary exercise testing (CPET) for work rates where the relationship is linear. However, this relationship is defined not only by the slope but also by the y-intercept. To examine whether this relationship is dependent on the speed of the CPET protocol, 30 healthy subjects (16 males) were administered a rapid CPET with 1-min increment duration (1-min CPET) to the limit of tolerance and a slow CPET with 4-min increment duration (4-min CPET) to the lactate threshold. Ventilation and the gas fractions for oxygen and CO(2) were measured with a Vacumed metabolic cart. The average increment size of both protocols for both sexes was not significantly different (P>0.05). For the males, the mean (SD) slope for the 1- and 4-min CPET was 20.12 (2.61) and 20.37 (2.41), respectively. The corresponding values for the y-intercept were 4..89 (2.08) and 5..10 (2.00) l min(-1). For the females, the mean (SD) slope for the 1- and 4-min CPET was 23.90 (2.38) and 24.16 (2.55), respectively. The corresponding values for the y-intercept were 3.93 (0.39) and 3.77 (0.71) l min(-1). Paired t-test analysis demonstrated for both sexes that the slopes and y-intercepts were not different for the two protocols (P>0.05). The results of this study demonstrate that the V(E) versus VCO(2) relationship is not dependent on the speed of the CPET protocol.

Ventilatory efficiency is commonly defined as the level of ventilation V(E) at a given carbon dioxide output (V(CO(2) )). The slope of the V(E) versus V(CO(2) ) relationship and the lowest V(E)/V(CO(2) ) are two ventilatory efficiency indices that can be measured during cardiopulmonary exercise testing (CPET). A possible CPET mode dependency for these indices was evaluated in healthy men and women. Also evaluated was the relationship between these two indices as, in theory, V(E)/V(CO(2) ) falls hyperbolically towards an asymptote that numerically equals the V(E) versus V(CO(2) ) slope at exercise levels below the ones that cause respiratory compensation for metabolic acidosis. Twenty-eight healthy subjects (14 men) underwent treadmill and cycle ergometer CPET on different days. Ventilation and the gas fractions for oxygen and CO(2) were measured with a vacumed metabolic cart. In men, paired t-test analysis failed to find a mode difference for either ventilatory efficiency index but the opposite was true in the women as each woman had higher values for both indices on the treadmill. For men, the lowest V(E)/V(CO(2) ) was larger than the V(E) versus V(CO(2) ) slope by 1.3 on the treadmill and 0.8 on the cycle ergometer. The corresponding values for women were 1.7 and 1.4. We conclude that in healthy subjects, women, but not men, demonstrate a mode dependency for the two ventilatory efficiency indices investigated in this study. Furthermore, our results are consistent with the theoretical expectation that the lowest V(E)/V(CO(2) ) has a numerical value just above the asymptote of the V(E)/V(CO(2) ) versus V(CO(2) ) relationship.