The Importance of Ethics in Modern Universities of Technology

Science and Engineering Ethics -     

Ethnic differences in clinical presentation of depression in adult women

This study examined ethnic differences in self-report and interviewer-rated depressive symptoms and estimated the contributions of sociodemographic and psychosocial factors in predicting severity of depression. One hundred twenty-five clinically depressed African American (n = 46), Caucasian (n = 36), and Latina (n = 43) women were recruited. After controlling for differences in socioeconomic status, African American women reported more symptoms of distress and Latinas were rated as significantly more depressed than the other groups. However, these ethnic differences were not moderated by either education or employment. Finally, hierarchical regression analysis indicated that severity of depression was predicted by low education, being single, being Latina, high perceived stress, and feelings of hopelessness. Additional research is needed to validate these results and to investigate their clinical significance.     

Why is a verb like an inanimate object? Grammatical category and semantic category deficits

Semantic category effects, such as difficulties in naming animate things relative to inanimate objects, have been explained in terms of the relative weightings of perceptual and functional features within the semantic representations of these concepts. We argue that grammatical category deficits, such as difficulties in naming nouns relative to verbs, can be explained within the same framework. We hypothesize that verb concepts are richer in functional than sensory features and present a model of the semantic representations of animate nouns, inanimate nouns, and verbs. The model demonstrates that sensory feature damage results in a deficit for naming living things but spares verb naming, and functional feature damage results in a deficit for naming inanimate objects and verbs. We then report the assessment results of two patient groups. In accordance with the model's predictions, the "verb spared" patients were consistently worse at naming living things than inanimate objects, and their definitions of both living and nonliving items were lacking in sensory information. We conclude that damage to sensory features in semantic representations causes difficulties in naming concrete nouns relative to action verbs, and within the grammatical category of nouns, animate items will be more severely affected. Imageability was shown to be a strong predictor of naming performance in the "verb deficit" patients, and when this variable was controlled no class effect remained. Production of definitions revealed no differential damage to sensory or functional features, and no consistent effect of animacy in naming was shown. While the model suggests that verb deficits might occur in patients for whom functional features are damaged relative to sensory features, we conclude that the "verb deficit" shown in our patients (and potentially in many previously reported cases) was an artifact of the lower imageability of verbs in confrontation naming tasks.     

Spatial memory for food hidden by rats (Rattus norvegicus) on the radial maze: studies of memory for where,what, and when

Rats (Rattus norvegicus) were allowed to hide food items on an 8-arm radial maze by carrying the items from the center to boxes at the end of each arm. Retrieval tests given after rats had hidden 4 items showed that they selectively returned to the maze arms where food had been hidden (Experiments 1 and 2). When rats were allowed to hide pieces of cheese (refed food) and pretzels (less preferred food) on different arms, they both hid and retrieved cheese before pretzels (Experiments 2-5). In Experiment 6, rats chose between arms where cheese and pretzels were hidden,with cheese degraded at one delay interval but not the other. Together, these experiments indicate memory for what and where but not when.     

Family or friends: who plays a greater supportive role for Latino college students?

This study compared the relative contribution of perceived family and friend support to psychological well-being and distress and examined whether family or friend support moderated the effects of stress on psychological adjustment in 338 Latino (228 Mexican American, 110 Central American) college students from a predominantly Latino university. Two multiple regressions, controlling for gender, socioeconomic level, acculturation level, and stresses (generic college, acculturative, and minority status), showed that friend support made a slightly greater contribution to well-being than family support, and friend support and not family support protected against psychological distress. Neither family nor friend support moderated the effects of stress on psychological adjustment. Further examination of these variables that assess common-specific stresses within a culture-specific theoretical framework is recommended.     

Relationship Between Specific Adverse Life Events and Psychiatric Disorders

This study examines whether certain psychiatric disorders are associated more closely with adverse life events than other disorders are, and whether some adverse life events are associated with a specific group of disorders (e.g., depressive disorders), but not with other disorders (e.g., anxiety disorders). A probability sample of youth aged 9–17 at 4 sites is used (N = 1,285). Univariate and multivariate logistic regressions identify specific relationships between 25 adverse life events and 9 common child and adolescent psychiatric disorders, measured by the Diagnostic Interview Schedule for Children. Conduct Disorder, Oppositional Defiant Disorder, Major Depressive Disorder, and Dysthymia are significantly associated with many of the adverse life events examined, whereas Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder, Agoraphobia, and Social Phobia are related to very few. This study suggests that certain psychiatric disorders may be more closely associated with adverse life events than other psychiatric disorders are, and that some adverse life events seem to be related to specific types of disorders.     

Noun-verb differences? a question of semantics: a response to shapiro and caramazza

We presented a new model using the sensory/functional theory of semantic category deficits to explain noun/verb deficits in aphasia. The predictions arising from this model were tested on a small number of patients exhibiting grammatical and/or semantic category specific deficits in picture naming. The results lent support for the theory presented. Shapiro and Caramazza (this issue) raised several objections to this theory (which they call the "extended sensory functional theory," or ESFT). In this article we address their concerns about the validity of the ESFT and conclude that it is indeed a useful model that provides a parsimonious explanation for many diverse patterns of deficits.