Satisfaction with the Health Care Provider and Regimen Adherence in Minority Youth with Type 1 Diabetes

To assess whether satisfaction with the health-care provider is related to regimen adherence among primarily minority youth with type 1 diabetes. Youth with type 1 diabetes (n = 169; M age = 13.88; 52 % female; 70 % Hispanic) and their parents completed questionnaires that assessed their own satisfaction with the health-care provider and youths’ adherence to diabetes self-care behaviors. Higher youth and parent patient-provider relationship satisfaction was associated with higher regimen adherence. Gender affected the relationship between satisfaction and regimen adherence, such that for girls, greater satisfaction was associated with better adherence; this was not the case for boys. Patient satisfaction with the health care provider is important for regimen adherence among primarily minority youth with type 1 diabetes, particularly for girls. Future research might focus on improving youths’ relationships with their health care providers as a potential pathway to improve regimen adherence.     

Estimating distance in real and virtual environments: Does order make a difference?

In this investigation, we examined how the order in which people experience real and virtual environments influences their distance estimates. Participants made two sets of distance estimates in one of the following conditions: (1) real environment first, virtual environment second; (2) virtual environment first, real environment second; (3) real environment first, real environment second; or (4) virtual environment first, virtual environment second. In Experiment 1, the participants imagined how long it would take to walk to targets in real and virtual environments. The participants’ first estimates were significantly more accurate in the real than in the virtual environment. When the second environment was the same as the first environment (real-real and virtual-virtual), the participants’ second estimates were also more accurate in the real than in the virtual environment. When the second environment differed from the first environment (real-virtual and virtual-real), however, the participants’ second estimates did not differ significantly across the two environments. A second experiment, in which the participants walked blindfolded to targets in the real environment and imagined how long it would take to walk to targets in the virtual environment, replicated these results. These subtle yet persistent order effects suggest that memory can play an important role in distance perception.     

Familienfunktionalität und Therapieerfolg

Background

Even though it is a treatment standard of child psychotherapy to involve the parents, hardly any research has been carried out about the impact of family functioning on treatment outcome. Aims of the present study were to investigate the change in and the prognostic power of family functioning on treatment outcome of short-term psychodynamic psychotherapy in children and adolescents.

Patients and methods

The sample consisted of 54 children and adolescents undergoing outpatient short-term psychodynamic psychotherapy. To assess family functioning, their parents were asked to complete the Family Assessment Measure (FAM).

Results

Patients from families with high levels of functioning in task accomplishment, communication and affective expression were more often treated successfully. Improvement in levels of functioning in role performance, emotionality and control were only found in the group of successfully treated patients.

Conclusion

Family functioning is a decisive factor in the differential indication of psychotherapeutic treatment in children and adolescents.     

A comparison of conflict of interest policies at peer-reviewed journals in different scientific disciplines

Scientific journals can promote ethical publication practices through policies on conflicts of interest. However, the prevalence of conflict of interest policies and the definition of conflict of interest appear to vary across scientific disciplines. This survey of high-impact, peer-reviewed journals in 12 different scientific disciplines was conducted to assess these variations. The survey identified published conflict of interest policies in 28 of 84 journals (33%). However, when representatives of 49 of the 84 journals (58%) completed a Web-based survey about journal conflict of interest policies, 39 (80%) reported having such a policy. Frequency of policies (including those not published) varied by discipline, from 100% among general medical journals to none among physics journals. Financial interests were most frequently addressed with relation to authors; policies for reviewers most often addressed non-financial conflicts. Twenty-two of the 39 journals with policies (56%) had policies about editors’ conflicts. The highest impact journals in each category were most likely to have a published policy, and the frequency of policies fell linearly with rank; for example, policies were published by 58% of journals ranked 1 in their category, 42% of journals ranked third, and 8% of journals ranked seventh (test for trend, p = 0.003). Having a conflict of interest policy was also associated with a self-reported history of problems with conflict of interest. The prevalence of published conflict of interest policies was higher than that reported in a 1997 study, an increase that might be attributable to heightened awareness of conflict of interest issues. However, many of the journals with policies do not make them readily available and many of those policies that were available lacked clear definitions of conflict of interest or details about how disclosures would be managed during peer review and publication.     

Atypical epigenesis

It is becoming increasingly clear that little in development is predetermined or permanently fixed. Rather, gene expression is activity dependent, and epigenesis is probabilistic. So, the study of genetic disorders needs to change from the still widely held view that developmental disorders can be accounted for in terms of intact versus impaired modules, to one which takes serious account of the fact that the infant cortex passes from an initial state of high regional interconnectivity to a subsequent state of increasing specialization and localization of function. With such early interconnectivity in mind, developmental neuroscientists must consider the possibility that an early deficit in one part of the brain may have subtle effects on other parts of the developing brain, even when scores fall 'in the normal range'. In studying developmental disorders, it is thus crucial to examine not only domains of clear-cut deficit, but also domains of behavioural proficiency. Atypical epigenesis may often involve a lack of specialization and localization of brain function over developmental time, even in cases of behavioural proficiency.     

Acute nicotine reinforcement, but not chronic tolerance, predicts withdrawal and relapse after quitting smoking.

Little research has examined the association of tobacco dependence with nicotine tolerance or reinforcement in a clinical sample. Smokers preparing to quit smoking participated in laboratory sessions to assess nicotine tolerance on subjective, cardiovascular, and performance measures and to assess nicotine reinforcement using a choice procedure. Participants were then provided with individual counseling (but no medication), made a quit attempt, and were followed for 1 year to determine clinical outcome, as determined by postquit withdrawal and days to relapse. Nicotine tolerance was unrelated to either withdrawal or relapse. However, acute nicotine reinforcement was significantly related to both greater withdrawal and faster relapse. Results challenge the common assumption that nicotine tolerance is closely related to dependence but suggest that nicotine reinforcement may have theoretical and clinical significance for dependence.     

Will Buckingham,Levinas, Storytelling and Anti-Storytelling

How do we read Levinas？ What does it mean to us to read Levinas？ Will Buckingham--novelist and lecturer at De Montfort University, Leicester--starts by telling us his own story of encountering Levinas. Having been awarded British Academy funding to undertake research in China for his novel A Book of Changes that explores the Chinese classic of Yijing （易经） as a ＂literature machine,＂ Buckingham draws from a broad understanding of narratives and storytelling.