Neuropsychology of mildly disabled patients with relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis

Previous papers have mainly demonstrated the presence of cognitive impairment in patients with multiple sclerosis (MS), these changes have been traditionally associated with the later stages of the disease. In the current study, a comprehensive neuropsychological battery was administered to 216 relapsing-remitting MS patients with mild clinical disability (EDSS相似文献   

Research misconduct among clinical trial staff

Between 1993 and 2002, 39 clinical trial staff were investigated for scientific misconduct by the Office of Research Integrity (ORI). Analysis of ORI case records reveals practices regarding workload, training and supervision that enable misconduct. Considering the potential effects on human subjects protection, quality and reliability of data, and the trustworthiness of the clinical research enterprise, regulations or guidance on use of clinical trial staff ought to be available. Current ORI regulations do not hold investigators or institutions responsible for supervision and training of clinical trial staff. Given the important issues at stake, the definition of research misconduct should encompass the intentional or negligent mismanagement of scientific projects. Individual institutions and professional associations not only can but should adopt stricter standards of conduct than those reflected in federal regulations.     

Revealing language deficits following stroke: the cost of doing two things at once

The costs of doing two things were assessed for a group of healthy older adults and older adults who were tested at least 6 months after a stroke. A baseline language sample was compared to language samples collected while the participants were performing concurrent motor tasks or selective ignoring tasks. Whereas the healthy older adults showed few costs due to the concurrent task demands, the language samples from the stroke survivors were disrupted by the demands of doing two things at once. The dual task measures reveal long-lasting effects of strokes that were not evident when stroke survivors were assessed using standard clinical tools.     

Enhanced discrimination between flavor stimuli: roles of salience modulation and inhibition

Rats were given intermixed preexposure to the compound flavors AX and BX and to the compound CX in a separate block of trials (4 presentations of each compound). In Experiment 1, rats showed less generalization of conditioned aversion from AX to BX than from CX to BX, a perceptual learning effect. Experiment 2 showed that the formation of an excitatory association proceeded more readily between A and B than between C and B, suggesting that intermixed preexposure maintains the effective salience of A and B and does not establish inhibition between them, a process that would require prolonged preexposure. According to this analysis, salience modulation and associative inhibition may contribute to perceptual learning at different stages of preexposure.     

The necessities and luxuries of mate preferences: testing the tradeoffs

Social exchange and evolutionary models of mate selection incorporate economic assumptions but have not considered a key distinction between necessities and luxuries. This distinction can clarify an apparent paradox: Status and attractiveness, though emphasized by many researchers, are not typically rated highly by research participants. Three studies supported the hypothesis that women and men first ensure sufficient levels of necessities in potential mates before considering many other characteristics rated as more important in prior surveys. In Studies 1 and 2, participants designed ideal long-term mates, purchasing various characteristics with 3 different budgets. Study 3 used a mate-screening paradigm and showed that people inquire 1st about hypothesized necessities. Physical attractiveness was a necessity to men, status and resources were necessities to women, and kindness and intelligence were necessities to both.     

Assessment of quality of life in a multicultural cancer patient population

Quality of life (QOL) is increasingly assessed in cancer patients. In this article, the authors examined the psychometric performance of a commonly used QOL questionnaire, the Quality of Life Questionnaire--Cancer 30 (QLQ-C30; N. K. Aaronson et al., 1993), in multiethnic cancer patients. Content validation studies in patients and clinicians identified possible new items. Multiple-group confirmatory factor analysis supported equivalent structure across ethnic groups (Caucasians and Asian/Pacific Islanders [APIs]). A higher order QOL factor appeared to directly affect functioning scales and symptom count. Exploratory factor analysis examined effects of new items. Ten factors were extracted, 6 consistent with the original instrument and 4 reflecting potentially new aspects of QOL: Positive Social Support, Coping, Existential Well-Being, and Sexuality/Intimacy. The QLQ-C30 appears appropriate for use in API cancer patients. Further work needs to ensure that it includes all important domains.     

Definitions of Gender and Sex: The Subtleties of Meaning

Definitions of the word gender were collected from 137 participants, who also completed questionnaires designed to determine aspects of the usage of the words gender and sex. The majority of participants were European American (86.9%), followed by Latino/a (3.6%), Asian/Asian American (2.9%), African American (2.2%), Native American (1.5%), and West Indian (1.5%). Most participants (70.9%) had attended at least some college and occupations included students (43%), professionals (27.8%), health care workers (4.3%), technical workers (5%), sales and service workers (9.4%), maintenance workers (1.4%), and business owners (1.4%). Data were examined to see which common themes emerged from the free form define gender question, the amount of interchangeability of sex and gender in a sentence completion task, and the varieties of beliefs about the relation between the terms gender and sex. Results indicate a variety of understandings and beliefs about gender that range from the common response that gender is the same as sex to some less common responses that associate gender with females or discrimination. Implications of the ambiguous meaning of gender are discussed with an emphasis on the responsibility of researchers to clarify their own understanding of the terms when they discuss gender or sex in their research and publications.