Impact of Institutional Review Boards on cancer research

The concepts of informed consent and surveillance of human research designed to protect human subjects is commendable. The regulations of the Institutional Review Board (IRB) are having a major impact on clinical cancer research. There is greater administrative time needed of the investigator, the mechanisms of patient care have become cumbersome and some patients reject optional medical management that could be life saving. IRB regulations must be flexible to meet the needs of human subjects as well as those of the clinical investigator.     

An analysis of some sensitizing agents in the pathogenesis of stress-induced gastric erosive disease

Prior surgical implantation of a venous catheter sensitized rats to coldimmobilization stress. Three of six catheterized females succumbed during the stress. The remaining rats fell into two groups in terms of their core temperature at the end of the stress period: Male uncatheterized rats had higher temperatures than rats in the other three groups. No relation was found between catheter patency and magnitude of hypothermia. Degree of gastric disease paralleled the core temperature findings in that the male uncatheterized rats had significantly fewer gastric erosions than the rats in the other three groups. Additionally, a robust effect of gender was found with uncatheterized females showing more hypothermia and more gastric disease than uncatheterized males. A subsequent experiment was conducted to evaluate whether anesthesia or wearing the protective spring was responsible in part for the sensitization seen. Here, the gender difference was less although females consistently averaged lower core temperatures after stress than did males. Despite similar core temperatures after stress, females that were prepared with the protective spring apparatus developed more gastric disease than female controls or similarly treated males. Thus, the additional sensitization exhibited by females in the first experiment may relate to the fact that both catheterization and the taping procedure were sensitizers while only catheterization was a sensitizer for males.     

Frames of reference in preschoolers’ perception of motion

Experiments 1 and 2 established children’s (mean age 3 years, 7 months) subject-relative and object-relative motion thresholds at 1°31.37′/sec and 1°9.33′/sec, respectively, speeds well above those found for adults. Experiment 3 established that preschoolers, like adults, attribute object-relative motion to the smaller of two objects, with the inducing properties of the larger stimulus greatest when it is surrounding rather than adjacent to a smaller stimulus. The inducing advantage of surroundedness was equivalent for a single-element square frame and a multielement six-dot frame.     

Prenatal maternal stress: Differential effects upon male and female offspring responses to restraint stress as adults

Pregnant primiparous rats were subjected to four days of light restraint stress on postconception days 7 through 10, inclusive, coincident with the development of the fetal gastrointestinal system. Twenty male and twenty female offspring from prenatally stressed and nonstressed rats were then subjected to two hours of supine cold-restraint as adults. Eighty percent of nonprenatally stressed offspring developed gastric lesions, while 47.5% of offspring of prenatally stressed mothers displayed lesions. A significant sex-stress interaction was detected, indicating that male offspring from prenatally stressed mothers display less severe gastric lesions in response to restraint stress as adults than do male offspring from nonprenatally stressed mothers. Female offspring from both prenatal stress conditions showed similar levels of stress-induced lesions.     

Tonal frequency shifts and gaps in acoustic stimulation as reflex-modifying events

When a relatively weak signal, such as a mild tone, precedes an intense reflex-eliciting stimulus by an appropriate interval (about 100 msec), the amplitude of the elicited reaction is often reduced. It was found that in student volunteers a brief gap in a steady pure tone that occurred 150 msec prior to a mild tap to the glabella (the flat region between the eyebrows) could inhibit the eyeblink elicited by the tap. It was also found that a shift in tonal frequency across a gap in a tone was more inhibitory than a gap with no frequency shift, but it was no more inhibitory than the onset of the short second tone alone. The final study determined the minimum amount of frequency shift required to produce an additional inhibitory effect above that of a gap alone. The findings are discussed in terms of various aspects of sensory processing.     

Measurement of social-evaluative anxiety in junior high school students

This paper provides some initial normative and validity data on the Social Avoidance and Distress (SAD) and the Fear of Negative Evaluation (FNE) scales for junior high school students. Findings indicated: the level of social-evaluative anxiety does not significantly vary during the junior high school years or between sexes, junior high school students report similar levels of FNE to college students but less SAD, a significant positive correlation between treatment subjects' SAD scores and peer sociometric ratings of social-evaluative anxiety, and subjects treated for social anxiety reported significantly less SAD and FNE at follow-up assessment. Recommendations for future research and clinical use of the SAD and FNE are offered.     

The end phase of analysis: indicators, functions, and tasks of termination

This paper considers the end phase of analysis. Beginning with a brief review of the literature on termination, specifically the indicators for initiating the termination process, we identify the structural attainments necessary for the patient to successfully complete the analysis and to maintain smooth post-analytic functioning. We stress in this regard the significance of self-analytic functions and the relative immutability of the transference neurosis. These points are illustrated with clinical examples. Our paper concludes with a discussion of the tasks and contributions of the analyst during the termination process. We make special reference to countertransference vulnerability resulting from the analyst's own termination experiences.     

Reciprocal Effects Between Locus of Control and Job Attributes

The purpose of this study was to examine the reciprocal relationships between locus of control and job attributes of a representative sample of 1383 employees in a large Australian city. It was predicted that employees with an internal locus of control would attain jobs higher on skill-utilization, influence and income than those attained by employees with an external locus of control. It was also predicted that jobs involving high skill-utlization, influence and income would induce greater internal control beliefs than those low on skill-utilization, influence and income. Locus of control was measured using Rotter's scale (Rotter, 1966). Reciprocal causation was assessed using two-stage least squares analysis. For the total sample, it was found that locus of control and job attributes were reciprocally determined. However, locus of control was not related to influence when skill-utilization and income were controlled. When the sample was split on the basis of gender and marital status, the predicted relationships between locus of control, skill-utilization and income were found for married men only. For married women, locus of control was neither a determinant of job attributes nor an outcome of job experience. These sub-group differences were interpreted in terms of differences in job tenure, work values and occupational opportunity.