Proactive sensitizing effects of acute stress on acoustic startle responses and experimentally induced colitis in rats: relationship to corticosterone

In humans, some individuals develop a syndrome after trauma (post-traumatic stress disorder, PTSD) characterized by increased startle responses and lower than normal cortisol secretion. We explored a rat model using the acoustic startle response (ASR) as a behavioral indicator of the effect of a short series of shocks. Because gastrointestinal disorders have been associated with prior stress, we also studied the rats' vulnerability to a chemically-induced colitis. After initial blood sampling, 12 rats were exposed to ten 1 mA 5 s foot-shocks while 12 rats served as controls. Nineteen days later the rats were tested for ASR. Thirty trials (10 trials at each of 95, 105, and 115 dB, pseudo-randomized) were given. After exposure for 6 days to dextran sulphate sodium in their drinking water, the rats were killed and the colons examined for erosions. Shocked rats showed greater startle responses and more colonic erosion than unshocked rats, but the shock effects were significant only for animals with low initial plasma corticosterone levels. Shocked rats also showed higher levels of granulocyte marker protein (GMP) in their faeces. These results suggest that low corticosterone secretion may represent a marker for vulnerability to long term effects of shocks as indicated by increased startle responses and colonic pathology.     

Modeling and Testing Differential Item Functioning in Unidimensional Binary Item Response Models with a Single Continuous Covariate: A Functional Data Analysis Approach

Differential item functioning (DIF), referring to between-group variation in item characteristics above and beyond the group-level disparity in the latent variable of interest, has long been regarded as an important item-level diagnostic. The presence of DIF impairs the fit of the single-group item response model being used, and calls for either model modification or item deletion in practice, depending on the mode of analysis. Methods for testing DIF with continuous covariates, rather than categorical grouping variables, have been developed; however, they are restrictive in parametric forms, and thus are not sufficiently flexible to describe complex interaction among latent variables and covariates. In the current study, we formulate the probability of endorsing each test item as a general bivariate function of a unidimensional latent trait and a single covariate, which is then approximated by a two-dimensional smoothing spline. The accuracy and precision of the proposed procedure is evaluated via Monte Carlo simulations. If anchor items are available, we proposed an extended model that simultaneously estimates item characteristic functions (ICFs) for anchor items, ICFs conditional on the covariate for non-anchor items, and the latent variable density conditional on the covariate—all using regression splines. A permutation DIF test is developed, and its performance is compared to the conventional parametric approach in a simulation study. We also illustrate the proposed semiparametric DIF testing procedure with an empirical example.     

Book reviews

Religion and Gender Ursula King, ed., 1995 Oxford, UK & Cambridge, USA: Blackwell 324 pp., £13.99/US$21.95 (pb); £40.00/US$54.95 (hb) ISBN 0–631–19377–4 (pb); 0–631–19376–7 (hb)

Zur Erleuchtung unterwegs. Neo‐Sannyasin in Deutschland und ihre Religion Joachim Süss, 1994 Berlin: Dietrich Reimer Verlag 321 pp., DM 48.00 ISBN 3–496–02531‐X

The Odyssey of a New Religion: The Holy Order of MANS from New Age to Orthodoxy Phillip Charles Lucas, 1995 Bloomington and Indianapolis: Indiana University Press; Ballmoor, Buckingham: Open University Press 312 pp., £35.00 (hb) ISBN 0–253–33612–0

The Church, Medicine and the New Age James Watt, ed., 1995 London: The Churches’ Council for Health and Healing 148 pp., £9.95 ISBN 9–780950–699028

Visions of Creation Eileen Conn & James Stewart, 1995 Alresford: Godfield Press 160 pp., £9.99 ISBN 1–899434–60–7

Ultimate Vision: Reflections on the Religions We Choose Martin Forward, ed., 1995 Oxford: Oneworld Publications £9.95, 288 pp. ISBN 1–85168–100–0

True to this Earth: Global Challenges and Transforming Faith Alan Race & Roger Williamson, 1995 Oxford: Oneworld Publications 204pp., UK £9.95 US$ 14.95 Can. $ 19.99 (pb) ISBN 1–85168–099–3

The Universe Within: An Exploration of the Human Spirit Anjam Khursheed, 1995 Oxford: Oneworld Publications 192 pp., £7.95, US$ 11.95 ISBN 1–85168–075–6

Ecology & Liberation: A New Paradigm Leonardo Boff, 1995 Maryknoll: Orbis Books 187 pp., US$ 14.95 ISBN 0–88344–978–1

Promised Land: Base Christian Communities and the Struggle for the Amazon Madeleine Cousineau Adriance, 1995 Albany: State University of New York 202 pp., US$ 19.95 ISBN 0–7914–2650–5 (pb)

The Sense of God: Sociological, Psychological and Anthropological Approaches to the Origin of the Sense of God John Bowker, 1995 Oxford: Oneworld 237 pp. (including index), £9.95 (pb) ISBN 1–85168–093–4

Le Dieu Distribué: une anthropologie compareé des monothéismes Jean Lambert, 1995 Paris: Les Editions du Cerf 405 pp., FF 240 ISBN 2–204–04950–6

The Rise and Fall of Catholic Religious Orders: A Social Movement Perspective Patricia Wittberg, 1994 New York: The State University of New York Press xii + 423 pp., £54.50 (hb), £18.25 (pb) ISBN 0–7914–2229–1 (hb); ISBN 0–7914–2230–5 (pb)

Beyond Death: Theological and Philosophical Reflections on Life after Death Dan Cohn‐Sherbok & Christopher Lewis, eds., 1995 Basingstoke: Macmillan 219 pp., £14.99 ISBN 0–333–63074–2

Mahdism in West Africa. The Ijebu Mahdiyya Movement Peter B. Clarke, 1995 London: Luzoc Oriental 225 pp., £30.00 ISBN 1–898942–06–4

African American Islam Aminah Beverly McCloud, 1995 New York: Routledge viii + 213 pp., £37.30 (hb); £12.99 (pb) ISBN 0–415–90785–3 (hb)

Religious Freedom and the Position of Islam in Western Europe: Opportunities and Obstacles in the Acquisition of Equal Rights (with an Extensive Bibliography) W. A. R. Shadid & P. S. van Koningsveld, 1995 Kampen: Kok Pharos Publishing House 229 pp., Dfl. 64,90 ISBN 90–393–0065–4

Religious Liberty: Principles for Judicial Interpretation of the Religious Clauses Jesse H. Choper, 1995 Chicago: University of Chicago Press xiii +198 pp., £19.95 ISBN 0–226–10445102

Schools of Reconciliation: Issues in Joint Roman Catholic‐Anglican Education Priscilla Chadwick, 1994 London: Cassell 229 pp., £35.00 (hb); £14.99 (pb) ISBN 0–304–33142–2     

‘Preparedness’ and ‘arousability’ as determinants of electrodermal conditioning

‘Arousability’, as defined through spontaneous electrodermal responses, has been empirically linked to anxiety, phobic symptoms and outcome of systematic desensitization. Previous data from our laboratory indicate that ‘preparedness’, as defined through potentially phobic vs. fear-irrelevant or ‘neutral’ conditioned stimuh, is an important determinant of electrodermal conditioning. The present experiment compared groups selected to be high or low in spontaneous responding during differential conditioning to potentially phobic or neutral stimuh. It was found that the effects of these two factors were essentially additive, i.e. conditioning and resistance to extinction were better for phobic stimuli and for high-arousal groups. The high-aroused group with phobic stimuh showed diffuse responding during acquisition, not differentiating between reinforced and unreinforced cues. However, it was the only group that failed to extinguish during 20 trials, which indicates that high arousal gives superior resistance to extinction particularly for phobic stimuli.     

Profile of the American CEO: Comparing Inc. and fortune executives

Given the documented differences between entrepreneurial and traditional organizations in their structure and climate, a well as the predicted escalation of competition in global markets in the upcoming decade, the present study focused on the following questions. First, do chief executive officers (CEOs) from different corporate environments differ in the attributes, skills, and abilities they possess, and second, what meaning do these differences have for CEOs in confronting immediate and future challenges in small growth companies and large corporations. A sample of 35Fortune 500 CEOs and 35Inc. 500 CEOs was assessed on the London House STEP battery in order to identify differences between these groups. It was hypothesized that although there would be some overlap, the pattern of strengths and weaknesses would differ between the CEO groups. Specifically, it was expected thatInc. CEOs would be more creative whileFortune CEOs would exhibit a better balance in their breadth of managerial and executive skills. Results showed that these hypotheses were confirmed. Both groups were, not surprisingly, high in their potential for success and were not significantly different from one another in this overall dimension. However,Inc. CEOs were significantly higher in creativity, ability to work under pressure, and developing technical ideas, whileFortune CEOs excelled in the interpersonal skills of communications, developing teamwork, supervisory practices, developing employee potential and in the areas of leadership experience and financial responsibility. Findings are discussed in terms of developmental and strategic suggestions for current and aspiring CEOs.Paper presented at the Annual Conference of the Academy of Management, Washington, D.C., August, 1989.     

The place of Buddhism in Santayana's moral philosophy

Within the moral philosophy of the Spanish‐American philosopher George San‐tayana (1863–1952), reference to Buddhism becomes an essential feature in his formulation of the notion of post‐rational morality, which is that ‘phase’ of morality which involves an effort to subordinate all precepts to one that points to some single eventual good. Post‐rational morality is synonymous with the spiritual life, an essential feature of which is detachment; and this is why the Buddhists can be said to be the ‘true masters’ of the subject. Santayana's claim that Buddhism “suffers from a fundamental contradiction” can also be seen as an opportunity for us to deepen our own understanding of that philosophy.     

THE SUSCEPTIBILITY OF INTELLECTUAL FUNCTIONS TO A DEPRESSANT DRUG

F rankenhaeuser , M., and B eckman , M. The susceptibility of intellectual functions to a depressant drug. Scand. J. Psychol ., 1961, 2 , 93–99.—The performance of 32 subjects in tests on four intellectual factors (verbal, numerical, inductive and spatial) during the inhalation of nitrous oxide (30 per cent N₂O and 70 per cent O₂) and a control mixture (30 per cent N₂ and 70 per cent O₂) were compared . The drug caused a highly significant deterioration in the performance of all four tests. Both speed and accuracy of performance were impaired. The problem of a possible differential susceptibility to the drug of the various intellectual functions wag attacked by a statistical analysis of the differences between the tests with regard to changes in performance during drug inhalation. No reliable differences in extent of impairment between the four tests could be demonstrated.