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CASE: We present the case of a 73-year-old female with an acromioclavicular joint cyst associated with atypical, exquisite, progressive pain, and imaging findings concerning for neoplastic etiology. She underwent en bloc resection of the trapezium containing this cystic mass and distal clavicle. Surgical pathology demonstrated findings consistent with a large ganglion cyst without evidence of malignancy. CONCLUSION: Our case serves to emphasize the importance of stepwise evaluation and appropriate treatment of such cysts while utilizing appropriate principles of oncologic resection in cases where a neoplastic etiology is considered.

UNLABELLED: Concerns regarding the potential negative impacts of digital technology use on youth mental health and well-being are high. However, most studies have several methodological limitations: relying on cross-sectional designs and retrospective reports, assessing technology use as an omnibus construct, and focusing on between- instead of within-person comparisons. This study addresses these limitations by prospectively following young adolescents (n = 388) over a 14-day ecological momentary assessment study to test whether adolescents digital technology use is linked with self-reported emotional dysregulation and self-esteem and whether these relationships are stronger for adolescent girls than boys. We found no evidence that adolescents experienced higher emotional dysregulation (b = - .02; p = .07) and lower self-esteem (b = .004; p = .32) than they normally do on days where they use more technology than they normally do (within-person). Adolescents with higher average daily technology use over the study period did not experience lower levels of self-esteem (between-person, b = - .02; p = .13). Adolescents with higher average daily technology use across the two-week period did report higher levels of emotional dysregulation (p = .01), albeit the between-person relation was small (b = .08). There was no evidence that gender moderated the associations, both between and within adolescents (bs = - .02-.13, p = .06 - .55). Our findings contribute to the growing counter-narrative that technology use does not have as large of an impact on adolescents mental health and well-being as the public is concerned about. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s42761-024-00282-w.

This study examined the cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk profiles of male law enforcement officers (LEOs) and civilians. CVD risk profiles were based on data collected using traditional objective (e.g., resting BP, cholesterol), novel objective (e.g., ambulatory BP) and self-report measures (e.g., EMA social vigilance). A subset of male LEOs (n = 30, M age = 41.47, SD = 8.03) and male civilians (n = 120, M age = 40.73, SD = 13.52) from a larger study were included in analyses. Results indicated LEOs had significantly higher body mass index [BMI], 31.17 kg/m2 versus 28.87 kg/m2, and exhibited significantly higher trait and state social vigilance across multiple measures, whereas perceived stress was higher among civilians. Findings highlight the need for future research examining CVD risk associated with occupational health disparities, including attributes of individuals entering certain professions as well as experiential and environmental demands of the work.

The deficit narrative is a critical component of the white racial frame and attributes disparate outcomes to the racialized groups themselves rather than the policies and actions that create conditions that produce these disparities. Educational research that employs racialized groups as a variable in quantitative research holds potential to contribute to deficit narratives by attributing differences in educational outcomes to racialized groups rather than the educational interventions and/or systems under study. This paper examines the extent to which research published over a ten-year period presents findings in a manner that contributes to deficit narratives. The findings indicate nearly sixty percent of manuscripts employed language that creates or perpetuates deficit narratives specific to educational outcomes about people of Black African descent. Suggestions are presented for how findings can be presented in a manner that avoids deficit narratives and instead produce an anti-racist narrative.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Although dispositional optimism and pessimism have been prospectively associated with health outcomes, little is known about how these associations manifest in everyday life. This study examined how short-term optimistic and pessimistic expectations were associated with psychological and physiological stress processes. METHODS: A diverse sample of adults (N = 300) completed a 2-day/1-night ecological momentary assessment and ambulatory blood pressure (ABP) protocol at ∼45-minute intervals. RESULTS: Moments that were more optimistic than typical for a person were followed by moments with lower likelihood of reporting a stressor, higher positive affect (PA), lower negative affect (NA), and less subjective stress (SS). Moments that were more pessimistic than typical were not associated with any affective stress outcome at the following moment. Neither optimism nor pessimism were associated with ABP, and did not moderate associations between reporting a stressor and outcomes. DISCUSSION: These findings suggest that intraindividual fluctuations in optimistic and pessimistic expectations are associated with stressor appraisals.

BACKGROUND: Gamma sensory stimulation may reduce AD-specific pathology. Yet, the efficacy of alternating electrical current stimulation in animal models of AD is unknown, and prior research has not addressed intensity-dependent effects. METHODS: The intensity-dependent effect of gamma electrical stimulation (GES) with a sinusoidal alternating current at 40 Hz on Aβ clearance and microglia modulation were assessed in 5xFAD mouse hippocampus and cortex, as well as the behavioral performance of the animals with the Morris Water Maze. RESULTS: One hour of epidural GES delivered over a month significantly (1) reduced Aβ load in the AD brain, (2) increased microglia cell counts, decreased cell body size, increased length of cellular processes of the Iba1 + cells, and (3) improved behavioral performance (learning & memory). All these effects were most pronounced when a higher stimulation current was applied. CONCLUSION: The efficacy of GES on the reduction of AD pathology and the intensity-dependent feature provide guidance for the development of this promising therapeutic approach.

INTRODUCTION: Individuals with greater affect variability (i.e., moment-to-moment fluctuations possibly reflecting emotional dysregulation) are at risk for greater systemic inflammation, which is associated with cardiovascular disease. Some evidence suggests that affect variability is linked with poorer health indicators only among those with higher average levels of affect, particularly for positive affect (PA), and that associations may be non-linear. The present study sought to examine whether links between both PA and negative affect (NA) variability and inflammation are moderated by average level of affect. METHODS: Participants (N = 300, 50 % female, ages 21-70, 60 % non-Hispanic White, 19 % Hispanic, 15 % non-Hispanic Black) completed a lab assessment and provided a blood sample to measure systemic inflammation (i.e., TNF-α, IL-6, CRP). Affect was collected via a two-day ecological momentary assessment protocol where reports were collected about every 45-min during waking hours. Momentary affect ratings were averaged across both days (i.e., iM), separately for PA and NA, for each participant. Affect variability was calculated as the person-specific SD (i.e., iSD) of affect reports, separately for PA and NA. Linear and quadratic interactions were tested. Models included covariates for sex, race, and body mass index. RESULTS: There were significant interactions between NA iM and NA iSD predicting TNF-α (b = 6.54; p

Differential Item Functioning (DIF) is commonly employed to examine measurement bias of test scores. Current approaches to DIF compare item functioning separately for select demographic identities such as gender, racial stratification, and economic status. Examining potential item bias fails to recognize and capture the intersecting configurations of inequality (McCall, 2001) specific to a person's identify which impact item bias. The study presented here explores an intersectional approach to the flagging of items for content review using the standardized-D DIF method. The intersectional approach aims to capture the confounding/compounding impacts of intersectional configurations of inequality.

Just-in-time adaptive interventions (JITAIs) are time-varying adaptive interventions that use frequent opportunities for the intervention to be adapted-weekly, daily, or even many times a day. The microrandomized trial (MRT) has emerged for use in informing the construction of JITAIs. MRTs can be used to address research questions about whether and under what circumstances JITAI components are effective, with the ultimate objective of developing effective and efficient JITAI. The purpose of this article is to clarify why, when, and how to use MRTs; to highlight elements that must be considered when designing and implementing an MRT; and to review primary and secondary analyses methods for MRTs. We briefly review key elements of JITAIs and discuss a variety of considerations that go into planning and designing an MRT. We provide a definition of causal excursion effects suitable for use in primary and secondary analyses of MRT data to inform JITAI development. We review the weighted and centered least-squares (WCLS) estimator which provides consistent causal excursion effect estimators from MRT data. We describe how the WCLS estimator along with associated test statistics can be obtained using standard statistical software such as R (R Core Team, 2019). Throughout we illustrate the MRT design and analyses using the HeartSteps MRT, for developing a JITAI to increase physical activity among sedentary individuals. We supplement the HeartSteps MRT with two other MRTs, SARA and BariFit, each of which highlights different research questions that can be addressed using the MRT and experimental design considerations that might arise. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).

Although both content alignment and standard-setting procedures rely on content-expert panel judgements, only the latter employs discussion among panel members. This study employed a modified form of the Webb methodology to examine content alignment for twelve tests administered as part of the Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System (MCAS). This modification required panel members to discuss items for which there was no consensus regarding the item's depth of knowledge or targeted standard. After the discussion, panel members were allowed to change their original ratings. The number of changes that occurred were analyzed considering the number of items discussed and the size of the panel. Moreover, we evaluated the impact these changes had on the overall judgments of alignment as reported by Webb's Web Alignment Tool (WAT). Findings suggest that discussion among panel members between rating rounds positively increased agreement among panel members' ratings but had minimal effects on the overall judgments of content alignment for 11 of the 12 tests evaluated.

In recent years, issues of race, racism and social justice have garnered increased attention across the nation. Although some aspects of social justice, particularly cultural sensitivity and test bias, have received similar attention within the field of educational measurement, sharp focus of racism has alluded the field. This manuscript focuses narrowly on racism. Drawing on an expansive body of work in the field of sociology, several key theories of race and racism advanced over the past century are presented. Elements of these theories are then integrated into a model of systemic racism. This model is used to identify some of the ways in which educational measurement supports systemic racism as it operates in the United States. I then explore ways in which an anti-racist frame could be applied to combat the system of racism and reorient our work to support racial liberation.

The current study describes an individual participant data meta-analysis (IPDMA) testing the efficacy of a peer-network counseling (PNC) intervention for preventing substance use escalation in adolescents and young adults. PNC has shown efficacy in reducing substance use among adolescents and young adults across small-scale randomized controlled trials (RCTs). Identifying expected large-scale effects and moderators is an important next step in guiding use of PNC in practice. To this end, we combine three small-scale RCTs to test PNC intervention effects on substance use change in a combined sample of 421 adolescents and young adults (50% intervention, 55% female, 69% Black/African-American, M age [SD] = 17.3 [2.2] years). Our approach combines latent change score modeling in a structural equation modeling (SEM) framework with study-level fixed effects to obtain (a) a more generalizable PNC effect than we could obtain with each constituent sample and (b) greater power and precision for individual-level moderation of treatment effects. We found that although PNCg main effects on substance use outcomes (past 30-day cannabis, alcohol, tobacco, and drug use) were not significant, PNC effects were moderated by individual-level pre-intervention substance use frequency. PNC more strongly reduced drug use at the 1-month follow-up and cannabis use at the 3-month follow-up among participants who showed higher baseline use of these substances. Implications of our approach and findings for prevention researchers are discussed.

BackgroundNeurogenesis is significantly impaired in the brains of both human patients and experimental animal models of Alzheimer's disease (AD). Although deep brain stimulation promotes neurogenesis, it is an invasive technique that may damage neural circuitry along the path of the electrode. To circumvent this problem, we assessed whether intracranial electrical stimulation to the brain affects neurogenesis in a mouse model of Alzheimer's disease (5xFAD).Methods and resultsWe used Ki67, Nestin, and doublecortin (DCX) as markers and determined that neurogenesis in both the subventricular zone (SVZ) and hippocampus were significantly reduced in the brains of 4-month-old 5xFAD mice. Guided by a finite element method (FEM) computer simulation to approximately estimate current and electric field in the mouse brain, electrodes were positioned on the skull that were likely to deliver stimulation to the SVZ and hippocampus. After a 4-week program of 40-Hz intracranial alternating current stimulation (iACS), neurogenesis indicated by expression of Ki67, Nestin, and DCX in both the SVZ and hippocampus were significantly increased compared to 5xFAD mice who received sham stimulation. The magnitude of neurogenesis was close to the wild-type (WT) age-matched unmanipulated controls.ConclusionOur results suggest that iACS is a promising, less invasive technique capable of effectively stimulating the SVZ and hippocampus regions in the mouse brain. Importantly, iACS can significantly boost neurogenesis in the brain and offers a potential treatment for AD.

Although dispositional optimism and pessimism are associated with cardiovascular disease (CVD), their relative independence and unique contributions to CVD risk are unclear. This study addressed these issues by using multiple indicators of optimism and pessimism and linking them to objective risk factors for CVD. A diverse sample of adults (N = 300) completed baseline assessments (including global reports of optimism and pessimism), a 2-day/1-night EMA protocol with ambulatory blood pressure (BP) at 45-min intervals, and had inflammatory markers and carotid intima media imaging collected. EMA reports of momentary positive and negative expectations were averaged to form intraindividual (person) means of optimism and pessimism, respectively. Optimism and pessimism were only modestly correlated between- and within-assessment methods. Higher pessimism, regardless of assessment method, predicted both lower odds of whether BP dipping occurred and a smaller degree of dipping, but was unrelated to other biomarkers. Optimism was not uniquely predictive of CVD risk factors. Pessimism thus appears to exhibit stronger relative contribution to risk indicators of CVD than optimism.

Children from lower-income households are at increased risk for poor health, educational failure, and behavioral problems. This social gradient is one of the most reproduced findings in health and social science. How people view their position in social hierarchies also signals poor health. However, when adolescents' views of their social position begin to independently relate to well-being is currently unknown. A cotwin design was leveraged to test whether adolescents with identical family backgrounds, but who viewed their family's social status as higher than their same-aged and sex sibling, experienced better well-being in early and late adolescence. Participants were members of the Environmental Risk Longitudinal Twin Study, a representative cohort of British twins (n = 2,232) followed across the first 2 decades of life. By late adolescence, perceptions of subjective family social status (SFSS) robustly correlated with multiple indicators of health and well-being, including depression; anxiety; conduct problems; marijuana use; optimism; not in education, employment, or training (NEET) status; and crime. Findings held controlling for objective socioeconomic status both statistically and by cotwin design after accounting for measures of childhood intelligence (IQ), negative affect, and prior mental health risk and when self-report, informant report, and administrative data were used. Little support was found for the biological embedding of adolescents' perceptions of familial social status as indexed by inflammatory biomarkers or cognitive tests in late adolescence or for SFSS in early adolescence as a robust correlate of well-being or predictor of future problems. Future experimental studies are required to test whether altering adolescents' subjective social status will lead to improved well-being and social mobility.

BackgroundThe natural integration of mobile phones into the daily routines of families provides novel opportunities to study and support family functioning and the quality of interactions between family members in real time.ObjectiveThis study aimed to examine user experiences of feasibility, acceptability, and reactivity (ie, changes in awareness and behaviors) of using a smartphone app for self-monitoring of family functioning with 36 participants across 15 family dyads and triads of young adolescents aged 10 to 14 years and their parents.MethodsParticipants were recruited from 2 family wellness centers in a middle-to-upper income shopping area and a low-income school site. Participants were instructed and prompted by alarms to complete ecological momentary assessments (EMAs) by using a smartphone app over 2 weeks 4 times daily (upon waking in the morning, afternoon, early evening, and end of day at bedtime). The domains assessed included parental monitoring and positive parenting, parent involvement and discipline, parent-child conflict and resolution, positive interactions and support, positive and negative affect, sleep, stress, family meals, and general child and family functioning. Qualitative interviews assessed user experiences generally and with prompts for positive and negative feedback.ResultsThe participants were primarily white and Latino of mixed-income- and education levels. Children were aged 10 to 14 years, and parents had a mean age of 45 years (range 37-50). EMA response rates were high (95% to over 100%), likely because of cash incentives for EMA completion, engaging content per user feedback, and motivated sample from recruitment sites focused on social-emotional programs for family wellness. Some participants responded for up to 19 days, consistent with some user experience interview feedback of desires to continue participation for up to 3 or 4 weeks. Over 80% (25/31) of participants reported increased awareness of their families' daily routines and functioning of their families. Most also reported positive behavior changes in the following domains: decision making, parental monitoring, quantity and quality of time together, communication, self-regulation of stress and conflict, discipline, and sleep.ConclusionsThe results of this study support the feasibility and acceptability of using smartphone EMA by young adolescents and parents for assessing and self-monitoring family daily routines and interactions. The findings also suggest that smartphone self-monitoring may be a useful tool to support improvement in family functioning through functions of reflection on antecedents and consequences of situations, prompting positive and negative alternatives, seeding goals, and reinforcement by self-tracking for self-correction and self-rewards. Future studies should include larger samples with more diverse and higher-risk populations, longer study durations, the inclusion of passive phone sensors and peripheral biometric devices, and integration with counseling and parenting interventions and programs.

ObjectiveTo examine the cross-sectional associations between young adolescents' access, use, and perceived impairments related to digital technologies and their academic, psychological, and physical well-being.Study designThere were 2104 adolescents (ages 10-15 years), representative of the North Carolina Public School population, who completed questionnaires in 2015. Administrative educational records were linked with parental consent.ResultsNearly all young adolescents (95%) had Internet access, 67% owned a mobile phone, and 68% had a social media account. Mobile phone ownership was not associated with any indicators of well-being (math and reading test scores, school belonging, psychological distress, conduct problems, or physical health) after controlling for demographic factors. Having a social media account and frequency of social media use were only robustly associated with conduct problems (explaining ∼3% of the variation in conduct problems). Despite the lack of strong associations, 91% of adolescents reported at least 1 perceived technology-related impairment and 29% of adolescents reported online-to-offline spillover of negative experiences. Economically disadvantaged adolescents reported similar access, but greater online-to-offline spillover and stronger associations between social media account ownership and poor psychological well-being compared with their more affluent peers.ConclusionsAt the population level, there was little evidence that digital technology access and use is negatively associated with young adolescents' well-being. Youth from economically disadvantaged families were equally likely to have access to digital technologies, but were more likely than their more affluent peers to report negative online experiences. Closing the digital divide requires prioritizing equity in experiences and opportunities, as well as in access.

Recent research provides evidence that an intersectional approach to defining reference and focal groups results in a higher percentage of comparisons flagged for potential DIF. The study presented here examined the generalizability of this pattern across methods for examining DIF. While the level of DIF detection differed among the four methods examined, the pattern in which the intersectional approach yielded a substantially larger percentage of flagged comparisons compared to the traditional approach was consistent across three of the four methods. The study explores implications that an intersectional approach to examining differential item functioning has for use by large-scale test development programs and identifies further research needed to support the adoption of an intersectional approach to DIF analyses.

Despite agreement about the central importance of validity for educational and psychological testing, consensus regarding the definition of validity remains elusive. Differences in the definition of validity are examined and reveals that a potential cause of disagreement stems from differences in word use and meanings given to key terms commonly employed when discussing validity. A proposal for the meaning and use of specific terms is offered and a framework that divides issues associated with validity is presented. Specifically, the framework divides what Messick termed "an integrated evaluative judgment" into three components: Instrument Validity, Verification of Interpretation and Decision, and Utility of Actions.

This study examines whether adolescents' digital technology use is associated with mental health symptoms (N=388) during early to mid-adolescence. Adolescents completed an initial Time 1 (T1) assessment in 2015, followed by a 14-day ecological momentary assessment (EMA) via mobile phone in 2016-2017 which yielded 13,017 total observations over 5270 study days. Adolescents' T1 technology use did not predict later mental health symptoms. Adolescents' reported mental health was also not worse on days when they reported spending more versus less time on technology. Little was found to support daily quadratic associations (whereby adolescent mental health was worse on days with little or excessive use). Adolescents at higher risk for mental health problems also exhibited no signs of increased risk for mental health problems on higher technology use days. Findings from this EMA study do not support the narrative that young adolescents' digital technology usage is associated with elevated mental health symptoms.

Commercially available wearable devices are marketed as a means of objectively capturing daily sleep easily and inexpensively outside of the laboratory. Two ecological momentary assessment studies-with 120 older adolescents (aged 18-19) and 395 younger adolescents (aged 10-16)-captured nightly self-reported and wearable (Jawbone) recorded sleep duration. Self-reported and wearable recorded daily sleep duration were moderately correlated (r ~ .50), associations which were stronger on weekdays and among young adolescent boys. Older adolescents self-reported sleep duration closely corresponded with estimates from the wearable device, but younger adolescents reported having an hour more of sleep, on average, compared to device estimates. Self-reported, but not wearable-recorded, sleep duration and quality were consistently associated with daily well-being measures. Suggestions for the integration of commercially available wearable devices into future daily research with adolescents are provided.

BACKGROUND The natural integration of mobile phones into the daily routines of families provides novel opportunities to study and support family functioning and the quality of interactions between family members in real time. OBJECTIVE This study aimed to examine user experiences of feasibility, acceptability, and reactivity (ie, changes in awareness and behaviors) of using a smartphone app for self-monitoring of family functioning with 36 participants across 15 family dyads and triads of young adolescents aged 10 to 14 years and their parents. METHODS Participants were recruited from 2 family wellness centers in a middle-to-upper income shopping area and a low-income school site. Participants were instructed and prompted by alarms to complete ecological momentary assessments (EMAs) by using a smartphone app over 2 weeks 4 times daily (upon waking in the morning, afternoon, early evening, and end of day at bedtime). The domains assessed included parental monitoring and positive parenting, parent involvement and discipline, parent-child conflict and resolution, positive interactions and support, positive and negative affect, sleep, stress, family meals, and general child and family functioning. Qualitative interviews assessed user experiences generally and with prompts for positive and negative feedback. RESULTS The participants were primarily white and Latino of mixed-income- and education levels. Children were aged 10 to 14 years, and parents had a mean age of 45 years (range 37-50). EMA response rates were high (95% to over 100%), likely because of cash incentives for EMA completion, engaging content per user feedback, and motivated sample from recruitment sites focused on social-emotional programs for family wellness. Some participants responded for up to 19 days, consistent with some user experience interview feedback of desires to continue participation for up to 3 or 4 weeks. Over 80% (25/31) of participants reported increased awareness of their families’ daily routines and functioning of their families. Most also reported positive behavior changes in the following domains: decision making, parental monitoring, quantity and quality of time together, communication, self-regulation of stress and conflict, discipline, and sleep. CONCLUSIONS The results of this study support the feasibility and acceptability of using smartphone EMA by young adolescents and parents for assessing and self-monitoring family daily routines and interactions. The findings also suggest that smartphone self-monitoring may be a useful tool to support improvement in family functioning through functions of reflection on antecedents and consequences of situations, prompting positive and negative alternatives, seeding goals, and reinforcement by self-tracking for self-correction and self-rewards. Future studies should include larger samples with more diverse and higher-risk populations, longer study durations, the inclusion of passive phone sensors and peripheral biometric devices, and integration with counseling and parenting interventions and programs.

Adolescents in the United States live amid high levels of concentrated poverty and increasing income inequality. Poverty is robustly linked to adolescents' mental health problems; however, less is known about how perceptions of their social status and exposure to local area income inequality relate to mental health. Participants consisted of a population-representative sample of over 2,100 adolescents (ages 10-16), 395 of whom completed a 14-day ecological momentary assessment (EMA) study. Participants' subjective social status (SSS) was assessed at the start of the EMA, and mental health symptoms were measured both at baseline for the entire sample and daily in the EMA sample. Adolescents' SSS tracked family, school, and neighborhood economic indicators (|r| ranging from .12 to .30), and associations did not differ by age, race, or gender. SSS was independently associated with mental health, with stronger associations among older (ages 14-16) versus younger (ages 10-13) adolescents. Adolescents with lower SSS reported higher psychological distress and inattention problems, as well as more conduct problems, in daily life. Those living in areas with higher income inequality reported significantly lower subjective social status, but this association was explained by family and neighborhood income. Findings illustrate that adolescents' SSS is correlated with both internalizing and externalizing mental health problems, and that by age 14 it becomes a unique predictor of mental health problems. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved).

Purple sea urchins (Strongylocentrotus purpuratus) profoundly impact nearshore rocky coasts through their feeding habits. Their intense grazing sculpts substrates through bioerosion using their teeth and spines and controls the alternative stable state dynamic between kelp bed and urchin barrens. These states have contrasting food availability for sea urchins, with abundant food in kelp beds and scarce food in barren grounds. However, the relationship between food availability and bioerosion is unknown. We predicted that when kelp is available, it would ameliorate the action of teeth on the substrate. Our 11-week long, 2 × 2 factorial experiment, crossed community state (kelp present vs absent) and rock type (sandstone vs mudstone). We also quantified the contribution of spine abrasion to bioerosion on the two rock types. The bioerosion rates did not differ between treatments with and without kelp. Although there was no significant difference in net bioerosion between the rock types, there was a large difference between the proportion of bioerosion from teeth vs spine abrasion. Approximately a third of the sandstone bioerosion was from spines whereas less than 2% of mudstone bioerosion could be attributed to spines. As anticipated, growth of sea urchins fed kelp ad-libitum was higher than food-limited sea urchins. Surprisingly, sea urchins on mudstone (which has a higher organic component) grew faster than sea urchins on sandstone. Although bioerosion rates may not differ on a per-urchin basis between community states, the sea urchin population densities between kelp beds and urchin barrens likely causes a difference in net bioerosion between these communities. Our results point to the importance of lithology on the mechanics of sea urchin bioerosion. Differences in texture, grain size, and hardness of rock substrates undoubtedly contribute to bioerosion rates and dynamics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Differential Item Function (DIF) analysis is commonly employed to examine potential bias produced by a test item. Since its introduction DIF analyses have focused on potential bias related to broad categories of oppression, including gender, racial stratification, economic class, and ableness. More recently, efforts to examine the effects of oppression on valued life-outcomes have employed an intersectional approach to more fully represent a person's identity and capture the multiple, and often compound, impacts of oppression. The study presented here replicated an intersectional approach to DIF analyses to examine whether findings from a previous study that focused on a single grade-level achievement test generalized to other subject areas and grade levels. Findings indicate that the use of an intersectional approach is more sensitive to detecting potential item bias and that this increased sensitivity holds across the subject areas and grade levels examined.

Given the association between child maltreatment and a host of negative behavioral consequences, there remains a need to continue to identify mechanisms underlying this association as a means of improving intervention efforts. The present study examined one potential mechanism, namely, disengagement coping. We asked 6- to 17-year-old maltreated ( n = 249) and comparison ( n = 133) youth questions about emotional experiences that induced sadness and anger, strategies they used to cope with those emotions, and behavioral functioning (i.e., behavioral problems and aggression). Maltreated adolescents reported higher levels of behavioral problems and aggression relative to comparison adolescents, and adolescents who disengaged from emotional situations reported more behavioral problems relative to those who did not disengage. Tests of mediation suggested that, for adolescent-age youth, part of the association between maltreatment status and behavioral problems was explained by disengagement. In children, maltreatment was not associated with disengagement or behavioral problems. Results have implications for understanding age-related differences in the emotional and behavioral consequences of maltreatment.

Recent measurements of methane (CH4) by the Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) now confront us with robust data that demand interpretation. Thus far, the MSL data have revealed a baseline level of CH4 (∼0.4 parts per billion by volume [ppbv]), with seasonal variations, as well as greatly enhanced spikes of CH4 with peak abundances of ∼7 ppbv. What do these CH4 revelations with drastically different abundances and temporal signatures represent in terms of interior geochemical processes, or is martian CH4 a biosignature? Discerning how CH4 generation occurs on Mars may shed light on the potential habitability of Mars. There is no evidence of life on the surface of Mars today, but microbes might reside beneath the surface. In this case, the carbon flux represented by CH4 would serve as a link between a putative subterranean biosphere on Mars and what we can measure above the surface. Alternatively, CH4 records modern geochemical activity. Here we ask the fundamental question: how active is Mars, geochemically and/or biologically? In this article, we examine geological, geochemical, and biogeochemical processes related to our overarching question. The martian atmosphere and surface are an overwhelmingly oxidizing environment, and life requires pairing of electron donors and electron acceptors, that is, redox gradients, as an essential source of energy. Therefore, a fundamental and critical question regarding the possibility of life on Mars is, "Where can we find redox gradients as energy sources for life on Mars?" Hence, regardless of the pathway that generates CH4 on Mars, the presence of CH4, a reduced species in an oxidant-rich environment, suggests the possibility of redox gradients supporting life and habitability on Mars. Recent missions such as ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter may provide mapping of the global distribution of CH4. To discriminate between abiotic and biotic sources of CH4 on Mars, future studies should use a series of diagnostic geochemical analyses, preferably performed below the ground or at the ground/atmosphere interface, including measurements of CH4 isotopes, methane/ethane ratios, H2 gas concentration, and species such as acetic acid. Advances in the fields of Mars exploration and instrumentation will be driven, augmented, and supported by an improved understanding of atmospheric chemistry and dynamics, deep subsurface biogeochemistry, astrobiology, planetary geology, and geophysics. Future Mars exploration programs will have to expand the integration of complementary areas of expertise to generate synergistic and innovative ideas to realize breakthroughs in advancing our understanding of the potential of life and habitable conditions having existed on Mars. In this spirit, we conducted a set of interdisciplinary workshops. From this series has emerged a vision of technological, theoretical, and methodological innovations to explore the martian subsurface and to enhance spatial tracking of key volatiles, such as CH4.

Adolescents are spending an unprecedented amount of time using digital technologies (especially mobile technologies), and there are concerns that adolescents' constant connectivity is associated with poor mental health, particularly among at-risk adolescents. Participants included 151 adolescents at risk for mental health problems (Mage  = 13.1) who completed a baseline assessment, 30-day ecological momentary assessment, and 18 month follow-up assessment. Results from multilevel regression models showed that daily reports of both time spent using digital technologies and the number of text messages sent were associated with increased same-day attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and conduct disorder (CD) symptoms. Adolescents' reported digital technology usage and text messaging across the ecological momentary assessment (EMA) period was also associated with poorer self-regulation and increases in conduct problem symptoms between the baseline and follow-up assessments.

BackgroundYoung people exposed to violence are at increased risk for mental health and behavioral problems. However, very little is known about the immediate, or same-day, associations between violence exposure and adolescents' mental health symptoms or whether daily symptom or behavioral reactivity marks future problems.MethodsYoung adolescents were assessed three times a day for 30 consecutive days using mobile-phone-based Ecological Momentary Assessment (EMA) (N = 151 adolescents). Over 12,500 assessments and 4,329 person days were obtained via the EMA. Adolescents were recruited from low-income neighborhoods based on parent-reported risk for externalizing symptoms. Mental health symptoms were assessed via parent and child report at baseline, multiple times per day via EMA assessments of the adolescents, and again 18 months later when 93% of the adolescents were reinterviewed.ResultsResults from multilevel models illustrated that young adolescents were more likely to experience symptoms of anger (OR = 1.74, CI: 1.31-2.30), depression (OR = 1.66, CI: 1.26-2.19), and conduct problems (OR = 2.63, CI: 1.71-4.04) on days that they were exposed versus not exposed to violence. Increases in depressive symptoms were also observed on days following violence exposure (OR = 1.46, CI: 1.09-1.97). Adolescents with the highest levels of violence exposure across the 30-day EMA were less behaviorally reactive to violence exposures in daily life, and heightened behavioral reactivity predicted increased risk for substance use across early adolescence.ConclusionsFindings support the need to focus on both the immediate and long-term associations between violence exposure and adolescents' mental health and behavior. Results also suggest that heightened behavioral reactivity during early adolescence may signal emerging substance use problems.

ObjectiveTo test whether exposure to violence is associated with same-day increases in obesogenic behaviors among young adolescents, including unhealthy food and beverage consumption, poor quality sleep, and lack of physical activity.MethodsYoung at-risk adolescents between 12 and 15 years of age were recruited via telephone screening from low-income neighborhoods. Adolescents and their parents completed in-person assessments, followed by Ecological Momentary Assessment (EMA) delivered to 151 adolescents' mobile phones three times a day for 30 days (4329 person days). Three obesogenic behaviors - unhealthy food consumption, poor sleep quality, and lack of physical activity - and violence exposure were assessed daily. Adolescents' body mass index (BMI) was assessed prior to the EMA and 18 months later. A replication was performed among 395 adolescents from a population-representative sample (with 5276 EMA person days).ResultsOn days that at-risk adolescents were exposed versus not exposed to violence, they were more likely to consume unhealthy foods and beverages (b = 0.12, p = 0.01), report feeling tired the next morning (OR = 1.58, p

Limited migration of neural stem cells in adult brain is a roadblock for the use of stem cell therapies to treat brain diseases and injuries. Here, we report a strategy that mobilizes and guides migration of stem cells in the brain in vivo. We developed a safe stimulation paradigm to deliver directional currents in the brain. Tracking cells expressing GFP demonstrated electrical mobilization and guidance of migration of human neural stem cells, even against co-existing intrinsic cues in the rostral migration stream. Transplanted cells were observed at 3 weeks and 4 months after stimulation in areas guided by the stimulation currents, and with indications of differentiation. Electrical stimulation thus may provide a potential approach to facilitate brain stem cell therapies.