Health care utilisation in patients with non-cardiac chest pain: A longitudinal analysis of chest pain,anxiety and interoceptive fear

Chest pain can be a frightening experience that leads many to seek medical evaluation. The symptom results in costly health care utilisation. Over half of patients referred for cardiac evaluations of chest pain do not obtain definitive medical explanations for their symptoms; these cases are described as non-cardiac chest pain (NCCP). Some patients with NCCP are not reassured after being informed their chest pain is non-cardiac in origin and seek repeated medical evaluation. Co-morbid anxiety and mood disorders often coexist with NCCP and are associated with health care utilisation. The current study examined chest pain, general anxiety, interoceptive fear and health care utilisation in a sample of 196 chest pain patients near the time of cardiac evaluation (Time 1), and 70 of these patients one year later (Time 2). Results indicate that anxiety and interoceptive fear were significantly associated with health care utilisation at Time 1, and only interoceptive fear (at Time 1) predicted health care utilisation at Time 2. This study develops research in this area by examining the relation of anxiety and health care utilisation longitudinally in patients with NCCP.     

Neuropsychologic Deficits in Children with Sickle Cell Disease and Cerebral Infarction: Role of Lesion Site and Volume

Little is known about the correlation between the location and size of cerebral infarction in children and neuropsychologic deficits. We related lesion location and volume on magnetic resonance exams to neuropsychologic performance in 28 children with cerebral infarcts due to sickle cell disease. Seventeen healthy siblings served as a comparison group. Children with anterior cerebral infarcts (n = 7) showed deficits in attention and executive skills, whereas children with more widespread cerebral infarcts (n = 18) showed additional deficits in spatial skills. The volume of cerebral infarction was associated with spatial and language performance, but minimally related to performance in other cognitive domains. The location and volume of cerebral infarction are both important for defining the type and magnitude of cognitive sequelae in childhood stroke.     

Single mothers raising children with "male-positive" attitudes

Among the challenges facing single mothers, a particularly difficult one is how to help children develop "male-positive" attitudes in situations when the parents have broken up and children have no active relationship with the father. Despite a large academic literature on single mothering, there is strikingly little discussion on this topic. Using symbolic interactionism and family systems theory, we offer psychoeducational messages for single mothers who want to raise their children with male-positive attitudes. We also call for a new cultural conversation on an issue ignored for too long.     

The Impact of Conflict Issues on Fixed-Pie Perceptions, Problem Solving, and Integrative Outcomes in Negotiation

It is argued that a negotiator's fixed-pie perception, cooperative motivation, problem-solving behavior, and integrative outcomes are influenced by the content of the negotiation—the conflict issue. Negotiation involves conflicting interests, conflicting ideas about intellective problems, or conflicting ideas about evaluative problems. Study 1 showed that individuals in a negotiation about interests have a stronger fixed-pie perception and have a lower cooperative motivation than individuals in an evaluative negotiation, with intellective negotiations taking an intermediate position. Study 2 showed that individuals in a negotiation about interests made more trade-offs and reached higher joint outcomes than individuals in an intellective or evaluative negotiation. Study 3 replicated this finding in a field study. The studies bridge insights from negotiation research and decision-making research and show that the conflict issue has important effects on the negotiation process.     

Negative affect and barriers to exercise among early stage breast cancer patients.

OBJECTIVE: To assess the relative frequency of and barriers to exercise among women with breast cancer while controlling for cancer-relevant and demographic factors. DESIGN: The present study employed concurrent samples, correlational research design. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Exercise frequency and its association with negative affect and barriers to exercise, independent of cancer treatment, among women (N=176) with Stage I or II breast cancer who were 3, 6, and 12 months postsurgery. RESULTS: After accounting for cancer-relevant and control variables, degree of negative affect and frequency of perceived barriers were significantly inversely associated with exercise. CONCLUSION: These findings suggest that attention to both emotional factors and psychosocial barriers to exercise may be warranted to further understand exercise among women with early stage breast cancer.     

Effect of various discriminative stimuli on choice behavior in male siamese fighting fish (Betta splendens)

The current experiment was an exploratory study empirically comparing three discrimination methodologies proposed for use in choice preparations with food rewards. Subjects were thirty-five, healthy, adult male Siamese fighting fish (Betta splendens). Subjects were randomly assigned to one of three discrimination groups: a Direction group (using left or right as discriminative stimuli), a Color group (using red or green as discriminative stimuli), and a Bubble group (using the presence or absence of air bubbles as discriminative stimuli). For all three discrimination groups, subjects chose between one or three food pellets in a submerged T-maze. The results from the experiment indicated a statistically significant preference for the three pellets of food over one pellet of food only for the Bubble group. Of particular note is the effect size and observed power obtained for the Bubble group, which was the only group which supported a reasonably powerful test for discrimination, given a sample size of 12 subjects and 0.94 effect size.