Emoticons in computer-mediated communication: social motives and social context.

This study investigated the role of emoticons in computer-mediated communication (CMC). The study consisted of an online questionnaire about the social motives for emoticon use and an experimental part in which participants (N = 1,251) had to respond to short Internet chats. In these chats, the interaction partner (friend vs. stranger) and the valence of the context (positive vs. negative) were manipulated. Results showed that emoticons are mostly used to express emotion, to strengthen a message, and to express humor. Furthermore, more emoticons were used in communication with friends than in communication with strangers, and more emoticons were used in a positive context than in a negative context. Participants seem to use emoticons in a way similar to facial behavior in face-to-face communication with respect to social context and interaction partner.     

Exploring Connections of the Supervisors in Supervision

Four therapists have worked closely in a professional support group. More recently attention has been given to the group processes and internal experiences of the group itself. An observation of the four members of this group is that the group process has allowed for peer validation, fortuitously resulting in their professional identities shifting and evolving. They have become curious about the interface between and the integration of personal and professional facets of the therapist's self. A resulting discovery has been that the very mechanisms which disconnect the therapist out there may serve to promote connection in the support group.     

Stress related changes in immunological and psychological variables induced by the preparation and defense of a PhD-thesis

Abstract

Results are reported from a field study on 47 healthy subjects preparing and defending a PhD-thesis in the Netherlands. Measurements before, about and after thesis defense are used to quantify the temporal effects of this perceived stressor on immunological and psychological variables. Moreover, multivariate analysis of variance for repeated measurements was used to explore a potential causal relationship between changes in immune variables and changes in psychological variables. Significant temporal effects were observed for the immunological variables, percentage CD4 cells (p = 0.037), the proliferative response to pokeweed mitogen (p = 0.040), concanavalin A 10 μg/ml (p = 0.010) and concanavalin A 40 μg/ml (p = 0.005) and the psychological variables, average subjective distress (p = 0.002), highest subjective distress (p = 0.000) and the coping strategy depressive reaction pattern (p= 0.02). No evidence was obtained for a causal relation between the immunological and psychological variables.     

Phosphodiesterase type 5 (PDE5) inhibition improves object recognition memory: indications for central and peripheral mechanisms

A promising target for memory improvement is phosphodiesterase type 5 (PDE5), which selectively hydrolyzes cyclic guanosine monophosphate (cGMP). In rodents, PDE5 inhibitors (PDE5-Is) have been shown to improve memory performance in many behavioral paradigms. However, it is questioned whether the positive effects in animal studies result from PDE5 inhibition in the central nervous system or the periphery. Therefore, we studied the effects of PDE5 inhibition on memory and determined whether compound penetration of the blood-brain barrier (BBB) is required for this activity. Two selective PDE5-Is, vardenafil and UK-343,664, were tested in the object recognition task (ORT) in both a MK-801- and scopolamine-induced memory deficit model, and a time-delay model without pharmacological intervention. Compounds were dosed 30 min before the learning trial of the task. To determine if the PDE5-Is crossed the BBB, their concentrations were determined in plasma and brain tissue collected 30 min after oral administration. Vardenafil improved object recognition memory in all three variants of the ORT. UK-343,664 was ineffective at either preventing MK-801-induced memory disruption or time-dependent memory decay. However, UK-343,664 attenuated the memory impairment of scopolamine. Vardenafil crossed the BBB whereas UK-343,664 did not. Further, co-administration of UK-343,664 and scopolamine did not alter the brain partitioning of either molecule. This suggests that the positive effect of UK-343,664 on scopolamine-induced memory decay might arise from peripheral PDE5 inhibition. The results herein suggest that there may be multiple mechanisms that mediate the efficacy of PDE5 inhibition to improve memory performance in tasks such as the ORT and that these involve PDE5 located both within and outside of the brain. To further elucidate the underlying mechanisms, the cellular and subcellular localization of PDE5 needs to be determined.