Alcoholism and morphologic findings of the nervous system in autopsy cases

154 autopsy cases of alcoholics (120 men and 34 women) were investigated from a neuropathological viewpoint. In only 19 cases could typical diseases of the nervous system caused by alcoholism be found (Wernicke's encephalopathy, central pontine myelinolysis, Marchiafava-Bignami's disease and disorders of the peripheral nerves and muscles). In comparison liver diseases occurred almost five times more frequently in our own material. Diseases caused by alcoholism of the nervous system, the question of brain shrinkage and its partial reversibility, the up to now not completely known effects on the neurophil and cortical cytoarchitectonic are discussed according to the literature.     

Mood profiles of Masters track and field athletes

In several studies attributing positive health benefits to running, the benefits include reduced depression, fatigue, anger, and increased vigor. Until now, little research has focused on Masters track and field athletes. The present study reports on 587 men and women Masters who participated in a mailed survey measuring mood states using the Profile of Mood States. In comparison to other groups of athletes, these Masters tend to be less depressed, less angry, and less fatigued. Attribution to lifestyle and maturity with their sport is discussed.     

Stressed vowel perception in word recognition

The purpose of this study was to measure subjects' ability to detect deliberate stressed, front-vowel misarticulations embedded in two-syllable words. Reaction times to words with various vowel-height misarticulations were examined for 25 women to assess the effect of a specific vowel height change on listeners' ability to recognize a word. Statistical analysis indicated no significant differences between reaction times to initial, stressed vowel changes along the height dimension, suggesting that subjects responded similarly to all vowel errors on the detection task. This finding provides further evidence that stressed-vowel information may serve as a perceptual anchor in guiding a listener during word recognition.     

Effect of click rate and delay on breakdown of the precedence effect

The precedence effect was tested as a function of echo-click delay and click rate after an abrupt switch in location between leading and lagging clicks. Click trains at three rates, 1/sec, 2/sec, and 4/sec, with delays ranging between 2 and 20 msec, were presented to subjects in an anechoic chamber. Duration of the click train after the switch in location was 12 sec, and echo click perceptibility was assessed throughout this period. The number of echo clicks heard was an increasing monotonic function of delay. The subjects reported a "fade-out" of echo clicks after a set number of clicks at each delay, regardless of rate. This result was interpreted as a buildup in inhibition of echoes produced by the ongoing click train. Suppression of echoes was stronger when the leading click originated from the right side than from the left side.     

Initial experiences with cognitive therapy of schizophrenic patients

Based on earlier experiences of various groups of authors, we developed and modified a programme of cognitive therapy for schizophrenic patients. The aim of the application of the therapeutic programme to subacute patients was to decrease subjectively perceptible basic disorders and to improve the functions of performance. The present results and experiences with 4 groups consisting of a total of 31 patients encourage us to continue applying cognitive procedures of therapy. Problems of the ascertainment of measuring values and fundamental questions of therapeutic efficacy are discussed.     

Effects of preshot routine on free-throw shooting

The effect of prohibiting the use of a preshot routine on free-throw shooting in competitive situations was investigated. 25 male high school basketball players were instructed to attempt 50 free throws alternating in blocks of 10 between the use of their preshot routine and shooting without it. To make the situation competitive, subjects were run in groups of five and their performance was recorded on a large easel placed to the side of the free-throw line. A significantly larger number of baskets were made in the preshot routine condition than without the routine. A competitive situation led to a greater decrement in baskets than had been reported in 1986 by Lobmeyer and Wassermen during noncompetitive free-throw shooting.     

Helping the child with cancer: what school personnel want to know

As more children with cancer survive, the importance of facilitating school reintegration as a part of maximizing the quality of life has become evident. Workshops have been presented to school personnel to acquaint them with the issues facing cancer patients and their families, but there are gaps in our knowledge of what school personnel really need or want to know. In this study, 18 teachers of children with cancer and 15 teachers with no prior contact with students with cancer completed a questionnaire designed to assess needs, beliefs, and priorities with regard to working with cancer patients in the classroom. Significant findings included: (a) a consensus that a certain core of information about medical/psychological issues would be useful, and presentation of such information by psychologists and medical personnel working with such families would be optimal; (b) teachers having cancer patients as students were less likely to see the adaptation of siblings as an important issue; (c) teachers associated working with a student with cancer with less stress and demands on their time than predictable from previous studies; and (d) cancer patients as a whole were rated as having fewer behavioral, emotional, and learning problems than randomly selected students without a major illness, suggesting a "halo effect" or contradiction of some literature. Preliminary findings are detailed and implications are discussed for those attempting to help teachers facilitate students' adjustment to school following diagnosis and treatment of cancer.     

A quasi-nonmetric method for multidimensional scaling VIA an extended euclidean model

An Extended Two-Way Euclidean Multidimensional Scaling (MDS) model which assumes both common and specific dimensions is described and contrasted with the standard (Two-Way) MDS model. In this Extended Two-Way Euclidean model then stimuli (or other objects) are assumed to be characterized by coordinates onR common dimensions. In addition each stimulus is assumed to have a dimension (or dimensions) specific to it alone. The overall distance between objecti and objectj then is defined as the square root of the ordinary squared Euclidean distance plus terms denoting the specificity of each object. The specificity,s _j , can be thought of as the sum of squares of coordinates on those dimensions specific to objecti, all of which have nonzero coordinatesonly for objecti. (In practice, we may think of there being just one such specific dimension for each object, as this situation is mathematically indistinguishable from the case in which there are more than one.)We further assume that _ij =F(d _ij ) +e _ij where _ij is the proximity value (e.g., similarity or dissimilarity) of objectsi andj,d _ij is the extended Euclidean distance defined above, whilee _ij is an error term assumed i.i.d.N(0, ²).F is assumed either a linear function (in the metric case) or a monotone spline of specified form (in the quasi-nonmetric case). A numerical procedure alternating a modified Newton-Raphson algorithm with an algorithm for fitting an optimal monotone spline (or linear function) is used to secure maximum likelihood estimates of the paramstatistics) can be used to test hypotheses about the number of common dimensions, and/or the existence of specific (in addition toR common) dimensions.This approach is illustrated with applications to both artificial data and real data on judged similarity of nations.     

Contributions of a supportive work environment to parents' well-being and orientation to work

Examined the joint and unique contributions of informal social support in the workplace and formal, family-responsive benefits and policies provided by employers to the job-related attitudes and personal well-being of employed parents with a young child. Eighty married men, 169 married women, and 72 single women with a preschool child completed a survey concerning social support from co-workers and supervisor, utilization of family-responsive benefits and policies, readiness to leave the employer for additional benefits, job satisfaction, organizational commitment, role strain, and health symptoms. Among the findings: (a) Fathers and mothers expressed equal levels of job satisfaction and organizational commitment, but mothers reported more role strain and health symptoms; (b) nearly 48% of married women's organizational commitment was accounted for by measures of support in the workplace; (c) informal social support at work was significantly more important to men's well-being than that of women; and (d) formal, family-responsive policies appeared more consequential for the prediction of women's role strain, perhaps because of women's greater responsibility for adjusting work life to meet the demands of family roles.