Prenatal Testing for Adult-Onset Conditions: the Position of the National Society of Genetic Counselors

Advances in genetic testing and the availability of such testing in pregnancy allows prospective parents to test their future child for adult-onset conditions. This ability raises several complex ethical issues. Prospective parents have reproductive rights to obtain information about their fetus. This information may or may not alter pregnancy management. These rights can be in conflict with the rights of the future individual, who will be denied the right to elect or decline testing. This paper highlights the complexity of these issues, details discussions that went into the National Society of Genetic Counselors (NSGC) Public Policy Task Force’s development of the Prenatal testing for Adult-Onset Conditions position statement adopted in November 2014, and cites relevant literature on this topic through December 2015. Issues addressed include parental rights and autonomy, rights of the future child, the right not to know, possible adverse effects on childhood and the need for genetic counseling. This paper will serve as a reference to genetic counselors and healthcare professionals when faced with this situation in clinical practice.     

Examination of the Association Among Personality Traits,Anxiety Sensitivity,and Cannabis Use Motives in a Community Sample

Personality factors, such as neuroticism, are important for understanding motives for cannabis use; however, few studies have examined the role of neuroticism in the context of other personality factors, or possible mechanisms accounting for an association between neuroticism and motives for use. The present study examined concurrent associations between personality traits (i.e., conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness, and neuroticism) and cannabis use motives, and the role of anxiety sensitivity (AS) in the association between neuroticism and coping cannabis use motives. Seventy young adults endorsing past-month cannabis use (58.6 % female, M _age = 20.91) completed self-report measures. Linear regressions were conducted to examine the concurrent associations between personality factors and cannabis use motives. Higher levels of neuroticism, but no other personality traits, were significantly associated with greater coping (β = 45, p < .01) and expansion (β = 0.29, p = <.05) motives. Bootstrap analysis (10,000 re-samples) revealed that a significant portion of the relationship between neuroticism and coping motives was explained by AS (point estimate = 0.029, PB 95 % CI: 0.0089 to 0.0615). Greater neuroticism may result in heightened sensitivity to arousal, which may then increase motivation to use cannabis to alleviate such arousal.     

Learning By Tracing Worked Examples

Cognitive load theorists have only recently begun to test the role of the body in learning. Tracing the index finger over the surface of instructions while reading, an embodied pedagogy based on Montessori's sandpaper letters, may hold substantial promise for learning by reducing cognitive load. Two experiments tested whether students who traced their index fingers against paper‐based worked example instructions in triangle geometry (Experiment 1; N = 52) and order of operations (Experiment 2; N = 54) would perform better on a subsequent test than students who only studied the materials visually. Students in the tracing condition outperformed the non‐tracing condition on transfer problems in both Experiment 1 (d = .78) and Experiment 1 (d = .50), but hypotheses regarding self‐reports of cognitive load during testing were not supported. Implications for research and practice are discussed. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

An ecological assessment of community-based interventions for prevention and health promotion: Approaches to measuring community coalitions

Presented an ecological assessment of a community coalition to prevent alcohol, tobacco, and other drug abuse, and related risks. Ecological assessment is defined as occurring at multiple social levels and along a continuum of stages of coalition readiness. The assessment is aided by the triangulation, or combining of assessment methods and strategies. Measures used to assess the coalition's formation, implementation of community initiatives, and production of community impacts are described, along with the triangulation strategies used to enhance the assessment findings. We thank our evaluation team members including Erica Adams, Simon Choi, Cindy Crusto, Katie Davino, David delaCruz, Pamela Goodman, Maury Nation, and Diana Seybolt. We also thank the members of the community coalitions for substance abuse prevention and especially the project directors: James Bown, Dian Crain, Johneta Davis, Kelli Kenninson, Paul Pittman, Greg Sparkman, Sheryl Taylor, and Kenneth Wright.     

Reliability of the Halstead-Reitan Battery in individuals displaying acutely psychotic behavior

The purpose of the present study is to examine the test-retest reliability of the Halstead-Reitan Battery (HRB) in an acutely psychotic population. Ten acutely psychotic patients, initially tested upon admission to an inpatient unit of the Austin State Hospital, were selected for retesting on the basis of showing the most complete remission of psychotic symptoms of all patients tested over the 14-month period from June 1978 to August 1979. Only patients showing good remission were selected in order to maximize the potential for changes in test performance to occur and, thus, provide a conservative estimate of test-retest reliability. The average retest interval was 10.4 weeks (SD=6.67), with retest being completed just prior to discharge. Reliability was examined for each HRB subtest across subjects, as well as for each subject across subtest. While the patients generally showed an improved performance at retest, the reliability of the HRB was relatively high.     

Hemisphere size asymmetry predicts relative verbal and nonverbal intelligence differently in the sexes: An MRI study of structure—Function relations

Hemispheric size asymmetry differences as assessed from MRIs of 39 healthy college students were correlated with prorated WAIS-R Verbal IQ minus Performance IQ and Vocabulary minus Block Design scores within subjects. In men, a relatively larger left hemisphere predicted better verbal than nonverbal ability, whereas in women a larger left hemisphere predicted relatively better nonverbal than verbal ability. The results were interpreted as providing evidence for sex differences in brain organization.     

AIDS: ethics, justice and social policy

ABSTRACT Principles of justice and equality demand that HIV seropositive individuals and those with AIDS should not be discriminated against in any area of social provision. If social policy on AIDS is constructed in terms of reciprocal obligations, that is if obligations to the HIV seropositive individual and obligations of the HIV seropositive individual are given equal weight, the civil rights of HIV seropositive individuals may be secured and this may create a climate in which HIV seropositive individuals will more readily notify partners, and others at risk of infection, of their HIV status. It is conceivable that such a climate could facilitate greater control of the spread of HIV/AIDS.     

Reliability of the Wraparound Observation Form: An Instrument to Measure the Wraparound Process

Within the past decade, the wraparound approach has gained significant popularity in providing services to children with challenging social and family needs. While a plethora of wraparound programs have been developed and studies have been conducted to assess their effectiveness, the need to develop instruments that measure the implementation of wraparound services is clear. The purpose of the present study was to evaluate the reliability of a scale that measures wraparound services. In this study, the Wraparound Observation Form (WOF), was developed to evaluate the implementation of the wraparound process in treatment planning meetings. The WOF includes 34 closed-ended items that requires the respondent to note the occurrence or non-occurrence of specific events or behaviors at treatment planning meetings. In the present study, two data collectors attended planning meetings and independently completed the WOF. The inter-rater reliability was 95%. The WOF appears to be a reliable instrument and be appropriate in evaluating wraparound services.     

Investigating Relationships Among Distress Tolerance,PTSD Symptom Severity,and Alcohol Use

Journal of Psychopathology and Behavioral Assessment - Exposure to trauma (particularly interpersonal trauma), post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms, and low distress tolerance (DT; the...     

Dominance of persistence over adaptation in forward masking

Persistence of excitation and neural adaptation are competing theories proposed to explain the mechanisms underlying psychophysical forward masking. Previous research has been directed towards finding models that accurately describe the phenomenon but cannot account for the underlying explanation. The current study was designed to determine which theory best accounts for results obtained from behavioral gap duration adjustment tasks. Thirteen adults adjusted the gap within asymmetrical noise markers to be subjectively equal to the gap within equal-intensity-noise markers. The duration of the perceived gap between the asymmetrical markers is expected to vary depending on which theory dominates perception. The persistence of excitation mechanism would lead to longer duration gaps when the second noise marker is lower in intensity than the preceding. Neural adaptation would result in matched gaps that are shorter in duration when the second noise marker was lower in level. The outcome of our data analysis is consistent with the persistence of excitation as a dominant mechanism in forward masking.