Protection of animal research subjects

The use of experimental animals, mostly rodents, in biomedical research and especially in oncology and immunology should be acknowledged with respect, recognizing the contribution of animal experimentation in the fascinating scientific progress in these disciplines of research. It is an obligation of the investigator to justify the scientific and ethical aspects of each study requiring the use of animals. The international guiding principles for using animals in biomedical research are well defined and have been distributed worldwide by the International Council for Laboratory Animal Science (ICLAS) since 1956, when this Organization was founded. In Poland the ICLAS philosophy and principles are highly respected and were implemented firstly by the members of the Commission on Biology of Experimental Animals appointed in 1962 by the Department of Medical Science of the Polish Academy of Science in Warsaw. Animal Protection Acts, first proclaimed in 1928 were gradually modified and improved. Actual legislation (enacted in 1997, 2003 and 2005) is consistent with EU Directives (86/609/EEC) and follows the internationally recommended principles that include ICLAS guidelines concerning animal welfare and care condition in biomedical research. The problem of “alternative methods” is briefly discussed. Dr. Donald Boisvert, CCAC — Canadian Council on Animal Care A lecture on the subject of this paper was presented at the 6th International Bioethics Conference entitled ‘The Responsible Conduct of Basic and Clinical Research’, held in Warsaw, Poland, 3–4 June 2005. The author is the National Representative of Polish Academy of Science to the International Council for Laboratory Animal Science (ICLAS) and a Member of the ICLAS Governing Board.     

Constructing something funny: levels of associative connection in Tom Swifties

In the present study, redundancy (low, medium, or high association between the adverb and sentence content) and contextual connection (presence vs. absence of a meaning-based connection between the adverb and other information in the sentence) were manipulated systematically in Tom Swifties (single-sentence wordplays in which a pun is based on the adverb at the end of the sentence). Sixty-nine university students provided ratings of each Swifty's humorousness, cleverness, and coherence and of their reactions to each (tendency to smile, laugh, and groan). Added context led to greater perceived coherence. In keeping with optimal level of arousal arising from resolution of incongruity, an inverted-U redundancy effect was obtained for all scales except "groan." The authors suggest that a social setting is a required but not a sufficient condition for a pun to evoke a groan. It also requires material of greater length that includes some build-up, as found in a fable or shaggy-dog story.     

Puns and near puns in fables

In previous research, (L. G. Lippman, K. Bennington, & I. L. Sucharski, 2002; L. G. Lippman & M. L. Dunn, 2000; L. G. Lippman, I. L. Sucharski, & K. Bennington, 2001), the body of the material (one-liners or fables) had been manipulated to increase its contextual connection to the final word or sentence. In the present study, the body of 6 fables remained constant, and only 1-3 words of the final sentences were manipulated. The pun version had dual connections to the story. Final sentences of 2 other versions had the same meaning, only a single connection to the story, but 1 was related acoustically to the pun. University students, instructed to pretend that someone was telling them each story, rated the fables and their reactions. Compared with its acoustic counterpart, the pun version provoked more reported humor reactions. For the nonpun versions, the one related acoustically to the pun yielded reliably greater reported inclination to smile, suggesting that participants may have inferred or created a pun. The groan, as a communication device, is discussed.     

Teasing: for superiority or solidarity?

Humor among friends is typically regarded as a means of strengthening friendships. However, there may be a side of humor that is used to compete rather than bond (R. D. Alexander, 1986; C. R. Gruner, 1997). In the present studies, the participants were asked to imagine that they were sitting with a group of mixed-sex peers. One of the group (a same-sex friend) made a comment about the participant. Different groups of participants were told that the remark did or did not involve teasing. While the participants imagined they were the target of the remark, they rated their emotional reactions as well as their perceived relationship with the teaser and the character traits attributed to the teaser. The outcomes from analyses of variance of perceived competitiveness, emotional responses, and expected social outcomes largely supported superiority perspectives of humor.     

Novel treatments for autistic spectrum disorders

In no area of developmental pediatric practice is there more controversy regarding the choice of treatment than related to children with autistic spectrum disorders (ASD). Complementary and alternative medical therapies (CAM) are often elected because they are perceived as treating the cause of symptoms rather than the symptoms themselves. CAM used for autism can be divided by proposed mechanism: immune modulation, gastrointestinal, supplements that affect neurotransmitter function, and nonbiologic intervention. Secretin as a therapy for autism is discussed as an example of how a clinical observation rapidly grew to a widespread treatment before well-designed studies demonstrated absence of effect. The plausibility for behavioral effect was not substantiated by clinical studies. CAM used for treatment of autism is examined in terms of rationale, evidence of efficacy, side effects, and additional commentary. Families and clinicians need access to well-designed clinical evidence to assist them in choice of therapies.     

Two temporal parameters of free operant discriminated avoidance in the rhesus monkey

Four monkeys were exposed to free operant discriminated avoidance (discriminated Sidman avoidance) in a parametric study of safe stimulus and warning stimulus duration. The safe stimulus was assigned values of 2, 5, 10, 20, and 40 sec, the warning stimulus values of 2, 5, and 20 sec. Rate of responding was a decreasing negatively accelerated function of safe stimulus duration, with a small effect attributable to warning stimulus duration. Control of response rate by safe stimulus duration was due to the predominance of responding in the presence of the warning stimulus. Responding during the safe stimulus was independent of the temporal parameters except at schedules combining short safe and short warning stimulus durations. Latencies of responses in the warning stimulus were analyzed, and mean latency was found to be a direct function of warning stimulus duration, with only one exception, resulting from the order in which the warning stimulus values were presented. Shock rate was not systematically related to either of the manipulated parameters.     

Information and the memory span

Messages differing in number of symbols and symbol information load were presented tachistoscopically to 4 adult Ss, The messages were constructed by random drawing with replacement from an alphabet of 8 black form symbols and an alphabet of 32 colored form symbols. The number of symbols recalled varied as a function of alphabet; however, the information in recall was constant for all conditions. The number of symbols recalled and the information in recall was independent of message length.     

Relational diagnosis: An essay review

A review ofHandbook of relational diagnosis and dysfunctional family patterns. Florence W. Kaslow, Ed. 566 pages. $55. Cloth. ISBN # 0471-08078-0. New York: John Wiley & Sons, 1996.     

Brief therapy in the Israeli kibbutz

Analysis of results of therapy in an unselected sample of 211 kibbutz patients seen over a three year period by the author in his capacity as kibbutz member and psychiatrist indicated that over 70% of the identified patients responded very satisfactorily to brief therapy. About one-third of the clients did not need more than a single comprehensive therapy session to achieve continuous improvement. In a minority of the cases more than 10 sessions were required. The results were significantly better in cases treated by brief therapy than in the sample treated by long-term therapy, where the pre-treatment severity was determined to be greater. The paper describes the unique aspects of brief therapy in the kibbutz setting, giving an outline of the author's model of intervention, using all components of the individual, family, and community ecosystem.