Lower extremity strength and hopping and jumping ground reaction forces in children with neurofibromatosis type 1

The purpose of this study was to (1) extend the research findings of decreased muscular force production in grip strength to the lower extremity strength of children with NF1 and (2) to determine if there was a relationship between isometric strength and functional activities in children with NF1. Force production was assessed using a hand held dynamometer (HHD) and a functional task (hopping and jumping) on a force plate. Data from twenty-six children with NF1 were compared to data from 48 typically developing children of similar sex, weight and height. Children with NF1 demonstrated statistically significant lower force production with HHD (p<0.01) during hip extension, but similar force production for knee extension and ankle plantar flexion compared to the control group. A relationship existed between the ground reaction forces at take-off from both hopping and jumping and the force generated from knee extensor strength in the NF1 group. The addition of a functional task to hand held dynamometry is useful for determining a relationship between common clinical measures and functional activities.     

The brain's hemispheres and controlled search of the lexicon: evidence from fixated words and pseudowords

Difference between the brain's hemispheres in efficiency of intentional search of the mental lexicon with phonological, orthographic, and semantic strategies was investigated. Letter strings for lexical decision were presented at fixation, with a lateralized distractor to the LVF or RVF. Word results revealed that both hemispheres were capable of using each of the three strategies, but the right hemisphere had better baseline processing of orthography and was better at processing semantics. Pseudoword results supported the right hemisphere advantage for orthography and showed a left hemisphere advantage for phonology and assessment of possible semantic relationships. Taken together, the data support the idea that the right hemisphere uses orthography to make efficient decisions about novelty of an item, while the left engages in grapheme-to-phoneme conversion to test hypotheses about unfamiliar items. The convergence of data with previous research reveals that the procedure, as well as analyses of pseudowords, inform laterality research.     

The role of Jahoda's latent and financial benefits for work involvement: A longitudinal study

This study examined the role of the latent and financial benefits of work as defined by Marie Jahoda (1982) in explaining a person's work involvement. Drawing upon theoretical frameworks on work commitment and work motivation, the latent benefits were expected to have a positive, whereas the financial benefits were expected to have a negative impact on work involvement. The results of longitudinal cross-lagged structural equation modeling using 4 waves of data from a sample of 260 employees provided strong support for the positive impact of the latent benefits on a person's work involvement. The negative effect of the financial benefits was not significant. The findings suggest that social institutions can contribute to a person's work involvement by the amount of access to the latent benefits they provide.     

The shape of action

How do people understand the everyday, yet intricate, behaviors that unfold around them? In the present research, we explored this by presenting viewers with self-paced slideshows of everyday activities and recording looking times, subjective segmentation (breakpoints) into action units, and slide-to-slide physical change. A detailed comparison of the joint time courses of these variables showed that looking time and physical change were locally maximal at breakpoints and greater for higher level action units than for lower level units. Even when slideshows were scrambled, breakpoints were regarded longer and were more physically different from ordinary moments, showing that breakpoints are distinct even out of context. Breakpoints are bridges: from one action to another, from one level to another, and from perception to conception.     

Training assessors in Therapeutic Assessment

This article focuses on the use of the comprehensive Therapeutic Assessment training model (Finn, 2007) with a child and his mother. The mother observed the child's testing sessions and was actively involved in a family intervention session as a way of translating assessment results into practice. One psychologist administered the psychological tests with the child, and 2 other clinicians worked with the mother throughout the process. We offer ideas about learning and training in the context of our case in Therapeutic Assessment. We investigate the parallel process between the way in which parents learn about their child's perspective and the way in which clinicians learn about the family's perspective. We discuss our discoveries in the context of planning case interventions. We explore the impact of trauma and ways of holding and containing this difficult work within our community and with each other.     

Desensitization to media violence: links with habitual media violence exposure, aggressive cognitions, and aggressive behavior

This study examined the links between desensitization to violent media stimuli and habitual media violence exposure as a predictor and aggressive cognitions and behavior as outcome variables. Two weeks after completing measures of habitual media violence exposure, trait aggression, trait arousability, and normative beliefs about aggression, undergraduates (N = 303) saw a violent film clip and a sad or a funny comparison clip. Skin conductance level (SCL) was measured continuously, and ratings of anxious and pleasant arousal were obtained after each clip. Following the clips, participants completed a lexical decision task to measure accessibility of aggressive cognitions and a competitive reaction time task to measure aggressive behavior. Habitual media violence exposure correlated negatively with SCL during violent clips and positively with pleasant arousal, response times for aggressive words, and trait aggression, but it was unrelated to anxious arousal and aggressive responding during the reaction time task. In path analyses controlling for trait aggression, normative beliefs, and trait arousability, habitual media violence exposure predicted faster accessibility of aggressive cognitions, partly mediated by higher pleasant arousal. Unprovoked aggression during the reaction time task was predicted by lower anxious arousal. Neither habitual media violence usage nor anxious or pleasant arousal predicted provoked aggression during the laboratory task, and SCL was unrelated to aggressive cognitions and behavior. No relations were found between habitual media violence viewing and arousal in response to the sad and funny film clips, and arousal in response to the sad and funny clips did not predict aggressive cognitions or aggressive behavior on the laboratory task. This suggests that the observed desensitization effects are specific to violent content.     

Contour entropy: a new determinant of perceiving ground or a hole

Figure-ground perception is typically described as seeing one surface occluding another. Figure properties, not ground properties, are considered the significant factors. In scenes, however, a near surface will often occlude multiple contours and surfaces, often at different depths, producing alignments that are improbable except under conditions of occlusion. We thus hypothesized that unrelated (high entropy) lines would tend to appear as ground in a figure-ground paradigm more often than similarly aligned ordered (low entropy) lines. We further hypothesized that for lines spanning a closed area, high line entropy should increase the hole-like appearance of that area. These predictions were confirmed in three experiments. The probability that patterned rectangles were seen as ground when alternated with blank rectangles increased with pattern entropy. A single rectangular shape appeared more hole-like when the entropy of the enclosed contours increased. Furthermore, these same contours, with the outline shape removed, gave rise to bounding illusory contours whose strength increased with contour entropy. We conclude that figure-ground and hole perception can be determined by properties of ground in the absence of any figural shape, or surround, factors.     

Marcus Borg's Emerging Paradigm for Christianity: The Interplay of GLBT Readers,Religious Text,and Social Environment

This study considered how participants affiliated with a Christian church responded to and socially constructed information while reading and discussing Marcus Borg's book The Heart of Christianity: Rediscovering a Life of Faith. Borg argues that the traditional paradigm of American Christianity must be replayed with a more progressive Christianity. This church serves a largely (but not exclusively) gay, lesbian, bi-sexual, transgender congregation (GLBT). The entire reading church cohort consisted of twelve groups with 96 participants and an outside comparison group of six readers. Group 10 of the church groups was studied using a field-based, research-participant approach. Members of Reading Group 10 reacted positively to Borg and appeared to have personally accepted levels of social constructionism. Other reading groups reacted more negatively to Borg. Pastoral assessments of the effectiveness are also offered.     

Stakeholders’ Opinions on the Implementation of Pediatric Whole Exome Sequencing: Implications for Informed Consent

Advances in whole genome and whole exome sequencing (WGS/WES) technologies have led to increased availability in clinical settings. Currently, there are few guidelines relating to the process and content of informed consent for WGS/WES, nor to which results should be returned to families. To address this gap, we conducted focus groups to assess the views of professionals, parents, and adolescents for the future implementation of WES. The discussions assessed understanding of the risks and benefits of WES, preferences for the informed consent discussion, process for return of results, and the decision-making role of the pediatric patient. Professional focus group participants included bioethicists, physicians, laboratory directors, and genetic counselors. Parent focus groups included individuals with children who could be offered sequencing due to a potential genetic cause of the child’s condition. On-line discussion groups were conducted with adolescents aged 13–17 who had a possible genetic disorder. We identified discrepancies between professionals and patient groups regarding the process and content of informed consent, preference for return of results, and the role of the child in decision-making. Professional groups were concerned with the uncertainty regarding professional obligations, changing interpretation in genomic medicine, and practical concerns of returning results over time. Parent and adolescent groups focused on patient choice and personal utility of sequencing results. Each group expressed different views on the role of the child in decision-making and return of results. These discrepancies represent potential barriers to informed consent and a challenge for genetic counselors regarding the involvement of pediatric patients in decision-making and return of results discussions.     

Youth’s Help-Seeking Intentions for ADHD and Depression: Findings from a National Survey

This study investigates the role that youth-level factors play in predicting help-seeking intentions in a nationally representative sample. Eleven help-seeking intentions were examined separately by target conditions (ADHD and depression), gender, race/ethnicity, and self-reported diagnosed/non-diagnosed in respect to the target conditions, and interaction effects were tested. Using factor analysis, a traditional help-seeking scale was created, which captured four help-seeking items, and predictive power of youth-level factors in accounting for traditional help-seeking was tested. Study findings provide practitioners and researchers with fresh evidence on what youth-level factors are associated with which help-seeking intentions, and illustrate the challenges involved in better understanding the complexity of the help-seeking process among youth in the context of ADHD/Depression. With increased understanding of youth’s perceptions and the complexity of their help-seeking behavior, community-based efforts to develop effective strategies that support active help-seeking behavior and eliminate barriers to appropriate care can have a greater likelihood of success.