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The Learning Ratio (LR) is a novel learning score examining the proportion of information learned over successive learning trials relative to information available to be learned. Validation is warranted to understand LR's sensitivity to Alzheimer's disease (AD) pathology. One-hundred twenty-three participants across the AD continuum underwent memory assessment, quantitative brain imaging, and genetic analysis. LR scores were calculated from the HVLT-R, BVMT-R, RBANS List Learning, and RBANS Story Memory, and compared to total hippocampal volumes

Convergent validation of a verbal incidental learning (IL) task from the WAIS-IV using neuroimaging biomarkers is warranted to understand its sensitivity to Alzheimer's disease (AD) pathology. Fifty-five memory clinic patients aged 59 to 87 years received neuropsychological assessment, and measures of IL and quantitative brain imaging. Worse IL-Total Score and IL-Similarities performances were significantly associated with smaller hemispheric hippocampal volumes. IL measures were not significantly correlated with cerebral β-amyloid burden, though a trend was present and effect sizes were mild. These hippocampal volume results suggest that this IL task may be sensitive to AD pathology along the AD continuum.

Since the establishment of the first fraternity Phi Beta Kappa in 1776, fraternities and sororities have had a 200-year-old history on college campuses in the United States. Fraternity and sorority life has become an important opportunity for students to get involved, gain leadership skills, and develop into global citizens. Despite a long standing history, the threat on the sustainability of these organizations has increased over the years. Hazing, alcohol abuse, and negative media attention have created challenges for Greek-letter organizations. The purpose of this article is to explore the historical context of fraternity and sorority life, the issues that are impacting the Greek community, and provide recommendations for student affairs professionals.

Changing executive leadership, reorganizations, new administrative positions, and shifting student demographics are some examples of how higher education is constantly transforming. Like all stewar...

A number of faculty who teach psychology courses opt out of addressing diversity-centered content out of discomfort or glaze over this material, ultimately creating content which does not relate to increasingly diverse student bodies (Boysen, 2011; Ocampo et al., 2003). The present study examines the effectiveness and impact of utilizing a pedagogy grounded in a theory of diversity/social justice with respect to learning outcomes. The study also explores whether faculty’s teaching experience impacts student’s understanding and application of diversity focused content. Three raters categorized and coded assignment data from two course sections, containing a total of 786 undergraduate respondents. Students applied more content from diversity-centered chapters to their papers and final project. Additionally, the rate at which students applied diversity-focused concepts to assignments did not differ by instructor’s teaching experience. Findings indicate that students overwhelming resonate with diversity centered content and choose to relay constructs which align with a diversity-centered, socially just pedagogy over general social psychology content. Our findings also suggest that a diversity-driven curriculum can be effectively implemented in the classroom and received by students, regardless of prior teaching experience or exposure.

The original synthesis of TNAZ (1,3,3-trinitroazetidine) was developed by T. G. Archibald in 1983 and was scaled up to produce several hundred kg of TNAZ for evaluation by the DoD. Although the synthesis method utilizes inexpensive starting materials, it is a multi-step process that gives less than 20% overall yields and produces significant chemical waste (over 1200 kg kg −1 of TNAZ), including large quantities of halogenated solvents. An alternative synthesis, which gives much higher yields of TNAZ and less waste than obtained from the original process, was developed at the Los Alamos National Laboratory. The technology was transferred to Aerojet, Sacramento, where it was scaled up to production-plant quantities to give TNAZ in 57% overall yield. The new process produced about 10% of the waste produced in the original process without recycle of solvents or reagents. It is estimated that recycle of solvents and reagents will reduce the chemical waste to 15.7 kg kg −1 of TNAZ. Further improvements in waste reduction have been demonstrated that may eventually lead to a process giving little more than 3.7 kg of chemical waste kg −1 of TNAZ in addition to the energy burden encountered with any industrial process.

Assessing long-term efficacy in psychiatric drugs involves a number of complex questions, and the priaority of these questions is different for different disorders and for different stakeholders. Therefore, it is essential that we not adopt a one-method-fits-all approach, but rather adapt the specific details of the designs and analysis of data from long-term trials to individual disease states. Randomized withdrawal (RW) designs, even though addressing a specific question of particular interest, face some difficult methodological and ethical challenges. A less common alternative design, termed the double-blind long-term efficacy (DBLE) design, is logistically similar to traditional responder extension designs. However, use of an analytic approach that includes all randomized patients rather than only the selected subset that continued beyond acute treatment avoids the major criticism of the extender design. The present paper illustrates the attributes of the RW and DBLE designs by analyzing data from trials adopting these designs. The RW and DBLE designs address different questions, and are thus not directly comparable. Potential benefits of the DBLE design include: (1) the parsimonious use of patients and the resultant reduced exposure to placebo as each patient can contribute to multiple developmental objectives; (2) the results are generalizable to actual clinical practice as the design matches treatment guidelines; and, (3) results of safety assessments are meaningful as they involve all randomized patients. Our case study suggests that the DBLE design can provide definitive answers to important questions and may be a useful design for assessing long-term treatment effects.

Attrition is a ubiquitous problem in randomized controlled clinical trials (RCT) of psychotropic agents that can cause biased estimates of the treatment effect, reduce statistical power, and restrict the generalizability of results. The extent of the problem of attrition in central nervous system (CNS) trials is considered here and its consequences are examined. The taxonomy of missingness mechanisms is then briefly reviewed in order to introduce issues underlying the choice of data analytic strategies appropriate for RCTs with various forms of incomplete data. The convention of using last observation carried forward to accommodate attrition is discouraged because its assumptions are typically inappropriate for CNS RCTs, whereas multiple imputation strategies are more appropriate. Mixed-effects models often provide a useful data analytic strategy for attrition as do the pattern-mixture and propensity adjustments. Finally, investigators are encouraged to consider asking participants, at each assessment session, the likelihood of attendance at the subsequent assessment session. This information can be used to eliminate some of the very obstacles that lead to attrition, and can be incorporated in data analyses to reduce bias, but it will not eliminate all attrition bias.

The time-dependent diffusion of 3 He atoms perpendicular to the axis of a single macroscopically large cylindrical pore is studied using a steady (or constant) gradient-recalled echo sequence. Measurements of the effective 3 He diffusion coefficient extending from the free-diffusion regime to the motionally averaged regime are presented, and are well-described by analytic solutions to the Bloch–Torrey equation based on the gaussian phase approximation. Our data yield the value 0.140(6) m 2 /s for the self diffusion coefficient of 3 He at a temperature of 296 K and a pressure of 1.00 Torr. Adaptations of these methods should enable the study of complex pore geometries as model systems.

Aripiprazole is a novel atypical antipsychotic for the treatment of schizophrenia. It is a D2 receptor partial agonist with partial agonist activity at 5-HT1A receptors and antagonist activity at 5-HT2A receptors. The long-term efficacy and safety of aripiprazole (30 mg/d) relative to haloperidol (10 mg/d) were investigated in two 52-wk, randomized, double-blind, multicentre studies (using similar protocols which were prospectively identified to be pooled for analysis) in 1294 patients in acute relapse with a diagnosis of chronic schizophrenia and who had previously responded to antipsychotic medications. Aripiprazole demonstrated long-term efficacy that was comparable or superior to haloperidol across all symptoms measures, including significantly greater improvements for PANSS negative subscale scores and MADRS total score (p

La 3 Ga 5.5 Ta 0.5 O 14 shows promise for high temperature, high frequency crystal resonator applications. We report on two methods for thinning wafers of this material. Using wet chemical etching, we found that HCl- or HF-based solutions produced etching at room temperature, while HNO 3 and H 3 PO 4 produced practical rates at ≥70°C. In all of these solutions, the etching was reaction-limited with activation energies >14 kcal·mol −1 . Some degree of surface smoothing was achieved with HCl etching at elevated temperatures. The near-surface stoichiometry was unaffected by the wet etch treatments. Using dry etching, we found that Cl 2 -based discharges produced rates −1 under all conditions, with Cl 2 /Ar maintaining the best surface morphology.

Women are at increased risk for torsades de pointes associated with a variety of drugs that prolong ventricular repolarization, but few data exist regarding possible sex differences in extent of repolarization changes with these medications.We sought to compare JTc interval responses in women and men during treatment with d,l-sotalol. The study cohort consisted of 1,897 patients (26% women) with available baseline and ≥1 on-drug electrocardiogram from a database involving patients exposed to oral d,l-sotalol without developing torsades de pointes. The mean lowest and highest daily d,l-sotalol dose, normalized for weight, was not significantly different between sexes. At each dosing extreme, on-drug JTc was significantly longer in women (p ≤0.0002). Statistically independent predictors of on-drug JTc included gender (p = 0.003), baseline JTc (p = 0.0001), dose (p = 0.0001), serum creatinine (p ≤0.03), and history of sustained ventricular tachyarrhythmias (p = 0.01). In both men and women, as baseline JTc increased, the drug-induced increment in JTc became progressively smaller. Thus, in response to d,l-sotalol, JTc intervals become longer in women than in men. This sex difference is independent of dose and not solely attributable to the known gender disparity in baseline JTc. The greater propensity of women to drug-induced torsades de pointes may represent the most extreme expression of a basic sex difference in the response to medications that prolong ventricular repolarization.

The synthesis of TNDAZ in four steps by starting with N-t-butyl-3-hydroxymethyl-3-nitroazetidine is described. The structures of TNDAZ and of a precursor, N-t-butyl-3-nitro-3-(N'-t-butyl-3′-nitroazetidin-3′-yl) azetidine, have been established unequivocally via application of single crystal x-ray crystallographic techniques. Thermal properties of TNDAZ, TNAZ and admixtures thereof are presented. A binary phase diagram has been predicted computationally and confirmed experimentally by using differential scanning calorimetry and hot stage microscopy. The thermal data support the existence of more than one polymorph for TNDAZ and for TNAZ.