A review of common sleep disorders

What should clinicians know about sleep disorders? This article briefly introduces the reader to sleep medicine and succinctly reviews common sleep disorders. First, the authors describe the diagnostic tools unique to sleep medicine: the over-night polysomnogram and the multiple sleep latency test. Next, the authors review essential features of a subset of the sleep, described in the International Classification of Sleep Disorders-Revised, that sleep disorder specialists commonly evaluate, diagnose, and treat. The disorders reviewed include the intrinsic and circadian rhythm subsets of the dyssomnias group and the parasomnia group of sleep disorders. The authors identify the core signs and symptoms, polysomnogram findings, multiple sleep latency test findings, and treatment of these disorders.     

What was yours is (for now) mine: Prior user knowledge reduces product satisfaction but can improve experiential satisfaction in access-based consumption

With the rise of the sharing economy, more consumers than ever are thinking about products not in terms of ownership, but in terms of access necessary to facilitate experiences. In this paper, we build on prior literature, which distinguished product from experiential satisfaction to explore the role that knowledge of a prior user plays in shaping these two types of satisfaction in access-based consumption experiences. Across three studies, we demonstrate that product and experiential satisfaction can be affected differently when consumers are provided with information about previous users of products. We find that information about the previous user of a product consistently negatively impacts product satisfaction. However, we find that when the previous user has positive and experientially relevant traits, experiential satisfaction is increased. When the information about the previous user is negative or experientially irrelevant, experiential satisfaction is decreased. In cases in which we find a positive effect of prior user information on experiential satisfaction, we find it is mediated by transfer of the previous user's traits and that the effectiveness of this mechanism depends on the relevance of traits and the stability of the self-concept of the consumer.     

Sin,shame, and the subject

In this chapter I revisit construals of sin and shame, beginning with a moment of auto-investigation. I then set this data in conversation with historical, theological, and philosophical configurations of shame to reconceive sin and shame. I describe sin as curvatus ex carne (turning from the flesh) to signal sin as a refusal of both our embodied existence and a commodification of the land on which it lives. I then use a carnal hermeneutic to argue for a positive understanding of discerning shame as a resource for an ethical life that contrasts with shame of disgrace.     

Impact evaluation of the family expectations program and moderation by sociodemographic disadvantage

The federal government, through the Administration for Children and Families (ACF), has funded community-based relationship education programs for couples, individuals, and families, with a strong focus on serving economically disadvantaged and racially diverse families. This study evaluated the impact of a 36-hour, workshop-based couple relationship education program that was funded by ACF using a randomized controlled trial (RCT) design and intent-to-treat (ITT) analyses. Participants were 1320 couples who were either expecting a baby or had a baby within the past 3 months, at the time of enrollment. Follow-up surveys were administered 12 months later. Analyses evaluated program impacts on relationship stability, constructive communication, and destructive conflict compared to a no-treatment control group. Analyses showed a statistically significant impact of the program on destructive conflict (d = 0.10) but not on constructive communication (d = 0.06) or stability (d_Cox = 0.10). Based on findings from previous evaluations, we also examined whether participants’ levels of sociodemographic disadvantage moderated these effects. There was significant moderation by sociodemographic disadvantage on constructive communication and destructive conflict, but not on stability. Effects were observed for those at higher levels of sociodemographic disadvantage.     

Relation of intelligence to ego functioning in an adult psychiatric population

Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale-Revised (WAIS-R) IQs and clinical ratings of 10 ego functions in a diagnostically heterogeneous sample of 60 adult psychiatric inpatients were correlated. With severity of pathology statistically controlled, higher intelligence was associated with more adequate ego functioning in several spheres: primary autonomous functions, thought processes, object relations, and mastery-competence. There were also some clinically meaningful differences between the Verbal and Performance IQs in the pattern of correlations. Extending Hartmann's original views, the authors employ an ethological framework to conceptualize intelligence in relation to the ego's role in adaptation, emphasizing that intelligence is an important-albeit neglected-aspect of ego functioning.     

Management of extended-wear contact lenses in infant rhesus monkeys

Infant rhesus monkeys were fitted with extended-wear contact lenses (EWCLs) to correct surgically induced aphakia. The protocol that produced the most favorable experimental outcome, including good lens-wear compliance, involved: (1) custom-made EWCLs with parameters adjusted for each animal, (2) selection for study of neonates who seemed to tolerate EWCLs most naturally, (3) individual housing of monkeys, (4) lens check at 2-h intervals around the clock by trained personnel, (5) a large inventory of EWCLs for each animal, (6) periodic ophthalmologic examinations, and (7) darkroom housing of monkeys during treatment of lens-wear-related incidents. The EWCL is a new tool for studies of the visual system and is a useful complement to existing experimental techniques.     

Rhythmic-movement facilitation of learning in working-class Afro-American children

In this study, we examined whether the cognitive performance of working-class Afro-American children could be enhanced based upon a presumed knowledge of the Black cultural experience. Children (6 and 9 years old) learned to match each of 12 pairs of pictures via a rhythmic movement-coordinated procedure accompanied by a musical beat or through a rote recitation procedure. It was expected and found that subsequent retention of the picture matches was superior in the rhythmic movement condition. Moreover, for the younger children, the effect was stronger for those who came from homes providing high stimulation and who had high levels of movement expressiveness.     

The effect of therapist interventions on the therapeutic alliance with borderline patients

The authors draw attention to the problems of establishing and maintaining a therapeutic alliance in the psychotherapy of the borderline patient. They elaborate an extensive methodology designed to study the manner in which shifts in collaboration occur in response to therapist interventions. This report demonstrates how one particular borderline patient increased his ability to collaborate with the therapist in response to a transference focus in the psychotherapy. Methodological problems are noted as are directions for future research. Only a series of patients studied with this or with similar methodology will allow for a sophisticated and empirical rationale for choosing a particular form of psychotherapy for a particular kind of borderline patient.     

Advance directives and the personal identity problem

The value and authority of advance directives such as the living will and the durable power of attorney are discussed, as well as the dangers of loss of personal identity and psychological continuity that these directives present. Differing theories of the degree of psychological continuity necessary for the preservation of personal identity are examined, concluding with the author's "compromise position" that cases of permanent unconsciousness and neurological dementia destroy some of the preconditions for personhood and thereby negate the choice between respecting the wishes of the formerly competent person and the new, different person's life because such beings are not persons at all.     

The acquisition of spatial knowledge under conditions of temporospatial discontinuity

Summary Three experiments were conducted to examine the effect of temporospatial discontinuity on route learning. Discontinuity was created by showing subjects in a route-learning task a set of environmental scenes comprising a route in scrambled, rather than logically sequenced, order. Results from Experiments 1 and 2 indicated that discontinuity during learning affected the accuracy and the quantity of the route knowledge acquired, but suggested that the processes underlying acquisition were relatively robust. Results from Experiment 3 suggested that learning routes under conditions of discontinuity leads to a greater exaggeration of distance between route segments than is the case without discontinuity.