Eating-related Intrusive Thoughts Inventory: exploring the dimensionality of eating disorder symptoms

The aims of this study were, first, to examine the structure and validity of the Eating-related Intrusive Thoughts Inventory (INPIAS), a self-report questionnaire designed to assess eating disorders related to intrusive thoughts (EDITs), and second, to explore the existence of a continuum ranging from normal to abnormal thought intrusions related to eating, weight, and shape. Participants were 574 (408 women) nonclinical community individuals. Analyses revealed that EDITs can be clustered into three sets: appearance-dieting, need to exercise, and thoughts-impulses related to eating disorders. EDITs' consequences showed a two-factor structure: emotional consequences/personal meaning and thought-action fusion responsibility; and four factors of strategies: "anxiety," suppression, obsessive-compulsive rituals, and distraction. The sample was then divided according to reported restrained eating. The High dietary restraint group reported a higher frequency of EDITs, whereas differences in the other factors were mediated by depression, anxiety, and obsessionality. The results suggest that eating disorder-related cognitions are experienced by nonclinical individuals, and distributed on a continuum.     

Why are psychological treatments prolonged? Predictors of a longer duration of treatment and analysis of the differences between long- and short-term cases

The purpose of this study was to identify variables that may explain a longer psychological treatment and to analyze differences between short- and long-term cases. Data from 419 patients of the University Clinic of Psychology at the Complutense University of Madrid were analyzed. Number of intervention techniques, comorbidity, previous treatments, and a primary diagnosis of mood disorder or eating disorder were the factors that explained longer treatment duration. Significant differences were observed between short- and long-term cases in number of intervention techniques, number of therapeutic objectives, and also in some clinical variables (diagnostic group, comorbidity, previous treatment) and demographics (age and educational level). Results are discussed and some lines of intervention and/ or reflection are proposed.     

‘Most of Us Guys are Raring to Go Anytime, Anyplace, Anywhere’: Male and Female Sexuality in Cleo and Cosmo

Women’s magazines are a popular site for analysis of socio-cultural messages about gender, sex, and sexuality. We analyzed six consecutive issues of Cosmopolitan and Cleo to identify the ways in which they construct and represent male and female sexuality. Overall, male sexuality was prioritised, ‘real’ heterosex was depicted as penetrative, and orgasm was given precedence. Two main accounts of male and female sexuality were identified. Men’s need for (great) sex positioned men as easily aroused and sexually satisfied, but women as needing to develop ‘great’ sexual skills to keep their men from ‘straying.’ Accounts of pleasure, performance, and the male ego represented men as concerned about women’s pleasure, about their own sexual performance and as sensitive about suggested sexual ‘inadequacies.’ We discuss the implications of these constructions for women’s gendered (sexual) subjectivity, sexual practices, and identities.     

Location,Location, Location: Effects of Cross-Religious Primes on Prosocial Behavior

Priming with religious concepts is known to have a positive effect on prosocial behavior; however, the effects of religious primes associated with outgroups remain unknown. To explore this, we conducted a field experiment in a multicultural, multireligious setting (the island of Mauritius). Our design used naturally occurring, ecologically relevant contextual primes pertinent to everyday religious and secular life while maintaining full experimental control. We found that both ingroup and outgroup religious contexts increased generosity as measured by a donation task. In accordance with previous research, we also found an interaction between individual religiosity and the efficacy of the religious primes. We discuss these findings and their interpretation, and we suggest potential avenues for further research.     

Combining the representational and the relational view

Philosophical Studies - This paper tries to meet the three basic constraints in the metaphysics of perception—that, following Schellenberg (Philos Stud 149:19–48, 2010), I call here the...     

Measuring adaptive expertise: development and validation of an instrument

Individuals with adaptive expertise possess the skills to deal with novel problems. Whereas this concept has been around since the mid-1980s, no instrument exists that provides a good operationalization of the theoretical construct. This inhibits the further development of research on adaptive expertise and the evaluation of employees’ adaptive expertise levels. Adaptive expertise has been unanimously described as a composition of domain-specific and innovative skills. Some researchers argue that metacognitive skills are also crucial. This study aimed to establish whether an instrument measuring adaptive expertise is composed of these three dimensions. In addition, it was tested whether such an instrument is influenced by task variety and work experience, as previously reported in literature. A sample of 383 professionals and graduates were used to test the Adaptive Expertise Inventory. Through exploratory factor analysis (EFA), (E/CFA), and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA), the quality of the instrument was evaluated. Good model fit was achieved. The final instrument consisted of two dimensions—i.e., domain-specific and innovative skills—with five items each. Regression analysis showed that not work experience, but task variety is related to level of adaptive expertise. The Adaptive Expertise Inventory proved to be a valid instrument for measuring adaptive expertise.     

Effects of NGF, b-FGF, and cerebrolysin on water maze performance and on motor activity of rats: short- and long-term study

The effects of 14-day treatments with nerve growth factor (NGF), basic fibroblast growth factor (b-FGF), or the peptidergic drug Cerebrolysin on postlesion acquisition of a water maze task and on motor activity were evaluated. Rats were tested in the Morris water maze 14 days (early test) and 7 to 8 months (delayed test) after a bilateral lesion of the frontoparietal (sensorimotor) cortex. Only the rats treated with Cerebrolysin performed the water maze task at the level of the nonlesioned controls in the early test. No short-term effect of NGF (6.5 ng/14 days; 38 ng/ml) or b-FGF (17 ng/14 days; 100 ng/ml) treatment was found. The delayed test revealed that water maze performance was restored in rats treated with b-FGF in comparison with intact controls. The data showed that b-FGF can support or initiate processes in the CNS that lead to a delayed functional amelioration and/or compensation for a water maze performance deficit. NGF did not influence the acquisition impairment caused by a sensorimotor cortical lesion. Two-week administration of Cerebrolysin had a time-dependent influence: it attenuated the acquisition deficit and increased the motor activity of rats, both effects declined to the level of lesioned controls within 8 months.     

Psychosocial sources of stress and burnout in the construction sector: a structural equation model

This study develops and tests a structural equation model of social stress factors in the construction industry. Leadership behaviours, role conflict and mobbing behaviours are considered exogenous sources of stress; the experience of tension and burnout are considered mediator variables; and psychological well-being, propensity to quit and perceived quality are the final dependent variables. A sample of Spanish construction workers participated voluntarily and anonymously in the study. After considering the indices of modification, leadership showed direct effects on the propensity to quit and perceived quality. The overall fit of the model is adequate (chi2 (13)= 10.69, p = .637, GFI= .975, AGFI= .93, RMR= .230, NFI= .969, TLI= 1.016, CFI= 1.000, RMSEA= .329). Construction has been considered a sector characterized more by high physical risks than socially-related risks. In this context, these findings about the effects of social sources of stress in construction raise new questions about the organizational characteristics of the sector and their psychosocial risks.     

Affect and depression in the elderly

Depression is considered one of the most complex mental disorders in the elderly. The diagnostic difficulties due to comorbidity, especially, with somatic diseases, have cast doubt on the use of diagnostic instruments for the elderly. In the present study, we try to determine the existence of differences in affect of third-age depression with respect to adult-age depression. For this purpose, the PANAS-X scale was administered to 120 subjects (30 depressive patients over 65 years old, 30 depressive patients between 25 and 50, and two control groups of 30 people each). The data allow us to establish two major differences of depression in the elderly compared to depression in adults: a lower intensity of negative affect and a lower intensity in the affects of fear, hostility and guilt. We can also conclude that sadness is not a differentiating element between both depressive groups.     

No reduction of spindle neuron number in frontoinsular cortex in autism

It has been suggested that spindle neurons, an evolutionarily unique type of neuron, might be involved in higher-order social, emotional, and cognitive functions. As such, it was hypothesized that these neurons may be particularly important to the pathophysiology of autism, a disease characterized in part by disruption of higher-order social and emotional processing. Therefore, we conducted the first stereological investigation of the number of spindle neurons in autism, using the optical fractionator technique. Our results did not provide evidence of a reduction in spindle neuron number in frontoinsular cortex in autism. However, this study provides the first quantitative stereological data on spindle neuron number in autism. Future postmortem studies with larger sample sizes will likely be critical in elucidating the spared and defective neural systems underlying the autistic phenotype.