Changes in Specialists’ Perspectives on Cancer Genetic Testing,Prophylactic Surgery and Insurance Discrimination: Then and Now

We surveyed cancer genetics specialists in 1998 to learn what they would do if at 50 % risk to carry a BRCA or Lynch syndrome mutation. We chose to repeat our study 14 years later, to examine how perspectives have changed with the extensive data now available. In July 2012 we surveyed the National Society of Genetic Counselors (NSGC) Cancer Special Interest Group via an internet based survey. We found statistically significant increases in the percentage of specialists who: would undergo BRCA testing (p?=?0.0006), opt for prophylactic bilateral mastectomy (p =0.0001), opt for prophylactic removal of their uterus and ovaries for Lynch syndrome (p =0.0057 and P?=?0.0090, respectively), and bill testing to insurance (p >0.0001). There were also statistically significant decreases in the percentage of participants who would have their colon removed for Lynch syndrome (p?=?0.0002) and use an alias when pursuing testing (p?>?0.0001). Over the past 14 years there has been a major change in perspective amongst cancer genetic specialists regarding genetic testing, prophylactic surgery and insurance discrimination.     

A new viewpoint on the evolution of sexually dimorphic human faces

Human faces show marked sexual shape dimorphism, and this affects their attractiveness. Humans also show marked height dimorphism, which means that men typically view women's faces from slightly above and women typically view men's faces from slightly below. We tested the idea that this perspective difference may be the evolutionary origin of the face shape dimorphism by having males and females rate the masculinity/femininity and attractiveness of male and female faces that had been manipulated in pitch (forward or backward tilt), simulating viewing the face from slightly above or below. As predicted, tilting female faces upwards decreased their perceived femininity and attractiveness, whereas tilting them downwards increased their perceived femininity and attractiveness. Male faces tilted up were judged to be more masculine, and tilted down judged to be less masculine. This suggests that sexual selection may have embodied this viewpoint difference into the actual facial proportions of men and women.     

Reorientation in diamond-shaped environments: encoding of features and angles in enclosures versus arrays by adult humans and pigeons (Columbia livia)

Although geometric reorientation has been extensively studied in numerous species, most research has been conducted in enclosed environments and has focused on use of the geometric property of relative wall length. The current studies investigated how angular information is used by adult humans and pigeons to orient and find a goal in enclosures or arrays that did not provide relative wall length information. In enclosed conditions, the angles formed a diamond shape connected by walls, whereas in array conditions, free-standing angles defined the diamond shape. Adult humans and pigeons were trained to locate two geometrically equivalent corners, either the 60° or 120° angles. Blue feature panels were located in the goal corners so that participants could use either the features or the local angular information to orient. Subsequent tests in manipulated environments isolated the individual cues from training or placed them in conflict with one another. In both enclosed and array environments, humans and pigeons were able to orient when either the angles or the features from training were removed. On conflict tests, female, but not male, adult humans weighted features more heavily than angular geometry. For pigeons, angles were weighted more heavily than features for birds that were trained to go to acute corners, but no difference in weighting was seen for birds trained to go to obtuse corners. These conflict test results were not affected by environment type. A subsequent test with pigeons ruled out an interpretation based on exclusive use of a principal axis rather than angle. Overall, the results indicate that, for both adult humans and pigeons, angular amplitude is a salient orientation cue in both enclosures and arrays of free-standing angles.     

Development and validation of the Fat Talk Questionnaire

Fat talk refers to negative body-related conversations between girls or young women. This research aimed to use qualitative data from young women to guide development of a quantitative fat talk measure. In Study 1, a preliminary 62-item questionnaire was developed and administered to 200 female participants. Item analysis resulted in the elimination of items, yielding a final questionnaire with 14 items. Principal components analysis of this questionnaire indicated a single factor. In Study 2, 95 female participants completed the newly developed Fat Talk Questionnaire and theoretically related (e.g., body image) and unrelated (e.g., social desirability) constructs. Additionally, 49 male participants completed the questionnaire to examine known groups validity. In Study 3, 54 participants completed the Fat Talk Questionnaire on two occasions to assess temporal stability. The results showed that the Fat Talk Questionnaire is reliable and valid. The Fat Talk Questionnaire may have important utility in future research.     

Is Body Mass Index or Percent Body Fat a Stronger Predictor of Health-Related Quality of Life in Rural Hispanic Youth?

The objective of the present study was to assess whether Body Mass Index or percent body fat was a stronger predictor of health-related quality of life in a community sample of rural Hispanic youth. The sample consisted of 219 Hispanic children and adolescents ages 8–19 years (54.8 % female). Multiple linear regression analysis was conducted with demographics and obesity indicators (BMI, percent body fat) entered as independent variables. Each subscale and summary score of the PedsQL 4.0 Generic Core Scales was a separate dependent variable. Greater percent body fat was associated with lower social functioning in our sample of rural Hispanic youth. BMI percentile was not significantly associated with any of the PedsQL domains. These findings indicate that percent body fat may be more strongly associated with psychosocial functioning than BMI percentile in rural Hispanic youth.     

fMRI responses to Jung's Word Association Test: implications for theory,treatment and research

Jung's Word Association Test was performed under fMRI conditions by 12 normal subjects. Pooled complexed responses were contrasted against pooled neutral ones. The fMRI activation pattern of this generic ‘complexed response’ was very strong (corrected Z scores ranging from 4.90 to 5.69). The activation pattern in each hemisphere includes mirror neurone areas that track ‘otherness’ (perspectival empathy), anterior insula (both self‐awareness and emotional empathy), and cingulated gyrus (self‐awareness and conflict‐monitoring). These are the sites described by Siegel and colleagues as the ‘resonance circuitry’ in the brain which is central to mindfulness (awareness of self) and empathy (sense of the other), negotiations between self awareness and the ‘internal other’. But there is also an interhemispheric dialogue. Within 3 seconds, the left hemisphere over‐rides the right (at least in our normal subjects). Mindfulness and empathy are central to good psychotherapy, and complexes can be windows of opportunity if left‐brain hegemony is resisted. This study sets foundations for further research: (i) QEEG studies (with their finer temporal resolution) of complexed responses in normal subjects (ii) QEEG and fMRI studies of complexed responses in other conditions, like schizophrenia, PTSD, disorders of self organization.     

Emergence of Joint Attention: Relationships Between Gaze Following,Social Referencing,Imitation, and Naming in Infancy

The authors investigated the extent to which the joint-attention behaviors of gaze following, social referencing, and object-directed imitation were related to each other and to infants' vocabulary development in a sample of 60 infants between the ages of 8 and 14 months. Joint-attention skills and vocabulary development were assessed in a laboratory setting. Split-half reliability analyses on the joint-attention measures indicated that the tasks reliably assessed infants' capabilities. In the main analysis, no significant correlations were found among the joint-attention behaviors except for a significant relationship between gaze following and the number of names in infants' productive vocabularies. The overall pattern of results did not replicate results of previous studies (e.g., M. Carpenter, K. Nagell, & M. Tomasello, 1998) that found relationships between various emerging joint-attention behaviors.     

Physical recovery in Arthroscopic knee surgery: unique contributions of coping behaviors to clinical outcomes and stress reactivity

Few studies have examined whether certain coping behaviors are associated with physical outcomes following surgery. This prospective, longitudinal study investigated the effect of active and avoidant coping behaviors on two physical outcomes over time, pain and knee function, in a group of patients experiencing knee arthroscopic surgery (n = 81). Structured interviews and physician clinical assessments were conducted preoperatively and at 3 and 24 weeks postoperatively. Coping behavior was assessed during the preoperative interview, and patients were divided into high and low avoidant and active coping groups. Using repeated measures MANCOVA/ANCOVA, avoidant coping was significantly associated with knee pain and active coping was associated with knee function. Serum cortisol levels were available for a patient subset (n = 16); higher cortisol was related to both avoidant coping and poorer functioning during early recovery. Results suggest that these divergent coping behaviors are differentially associated with stress reactivity and physical outcomes in healthy patients undergoing minor knee surgery.     

The kotel: Toward an ethnographic portrait

An ethnographic portrait of the ‘Western Wall’ (kotel) in Jerusalem, is presented. The kotel is viewed as a pilgrimage site, a ‘place of memory’, and a location linked to a story. Most discussions of the kotel stress its history and archaeology, while this study utilizes ethnography to understand the meanings of the site to a range of social categories. The challenge faced by ethnography is that the social context of the kotel is constituted by Jewish groups all over the world and by cultural distillates stemming from millennia of history. By providing both an overview of kotel activities, and a more detailed examination of several kotel occasions, the paper points to the potential contribution of ethnography to understanding national‐religious shrines.