Suprachiasmatic injection of a vasopressin antagonist modifies the circadian rhythm of food intake

To study the effect on the circadian feeding rhythm, injections of AVP and its antagonist were made into the suprachiasmatic nuclei (SCN) of rats after implanting cannulae into the bilateral SCN. Injections of arginine vasopressin (AVP) antagonist at the beginning of the light and dark phases disrupted the circadian rhythm of food intake while injections of AVP during the beginning of the light or dark phase did not disrupt the circadian rhythm. It may be concluded that endogenous vasopressin has a modulatory role in the mediation of the circadian feeding rhythm at SCN.     

An assessment of teratology training provided by masters level genetic counseling programs

The increasing demand in the clinical genetics setting for information about teratogen exposures has created a need for genetic counselors to have the capabilities to appropriately address patient concerns. In order to assess how training in teratogen counseling is currently being conducted, the GLaRGG Teratogen Subcommittee surveyed all 17 genetic counseling training programs in North America in September 1993. Information was obtained from training programs about coursework, resources, and clinical training. In addition, each training program was asked to provide information about how their teratogen training needs could better be met. While all programs responded that some information in their coursework applicable to teratogen counseling was provided, there was wide variation in the amount of time devoted to this topic. The programs also greatly differed in the provision of clinical training in teratogen counseling. For both coursework and clinical work, genetic counselors were the main trainers in teratogen counseling. In spite of this, fewer than 25% of training programs have a defined teratogen clinical rotation. Data from the survey are discussed and recommendations presented.     

Association between polymorphisms in the dopamine transporter gene and depression: evidence for a gene-environment interaction in a sample of juvenile detainees

Previous research has generated examples of how genetic and environmental factors can interact to create risk for psychopathology. Using a gene-by-environment (G x E) interaction design, we tested whether three polymorphisms in the dopamine transporter gene (DAT1, also referred to as SLC6A3, located at 5p15.33) interacted with maternal parenting style to predict first-onset episodes of depression. Participants were male adolescents (N= 176) recruited from a juvenile detention center in northern Russia. As hypothesized, one of the polymorphisms (rs40184) moderated the effect of perceived maternal rejection on the onset of major depressive disorder, as well as on suicidal ideation. Further, this G x E interaction was specific to depression; it did not predict clinically significant anxiety. These results highlight the need for further research investigating the moderating effects of dopaminergic genes on depression.     

Chicago Urban Resiliency Building (CURB): An Internet-Based Depression-Prevention Intervention for Urban African-American and Latino Adolescents

Early preventive interventions for depressive disorders in racial/ethnic minorities may help to reduce lifetime depression outcome disparities by improving developmental trajectories and social outcomes. We describe the development process, intervention and evaluation plan for a culturally adapted, low-cost, primary care/Internet-based depression-prevention intervention (CURB, Chicago Urban Resiliency Building). CURB is culturally adapted for socio-economically disadvantaged African-American and Latino adolescents according to the PEN-3 model of health promotion programs (Airhihenbuwa in Health and culture: beyond the Western paradigm, Sage Publishers, Thousand Oaks, 1995). Based on the idea that health behavior is rooted in culture, the PEN-3 model contains three interdependent dimensions that influence health beliefs and behaviors. Within each dimension are factors (using the acronym PEN) that must be considered about the target culture. Application of the PEN-3 model occurred in 3 phases. In each phase, a dimension of the model was explored and subsequent changes were made to the intervention so as to be more culturally suitable. In the CURB clinical trial, adolescents ages 13–17 will be recruited from wait-lists for mental health services at community health care provider organizations and screened for risk of future depressive disorder in the primary care sites. Adolescents screening positive for persistent depressed mood will be randomly assigned to either the CURB intervention group or the wait-list control group. The study aims are to determine if participants in the CURB intervention group will have lower levels of depressive symptoms and/or a lower cumulative incidence of depressive episodes.     

Individual Differences in Various Parameters of Motor Learning

60 Ss practiced 6 days on the stabilometer. No reminiscence or warm-up decrement was found; loss of skill occurred from 1-day layoffs which lessened as learning progressed. A 3-component exponential equation fitted the learning trend (including relearning). Both individual differences and intra-individual variations decreased exponentially with practice, but the ratio of individual differences to mean score increased. Practice had little influence on adjacent trial rs. Between scores in any particular pair of separated trials, r decreased when increasing number of trials separated them. Averaging 8 initial and 8 final trials gave optimum learning score reliability (r = .95). Individual rates of learning were not appreciably correlated with amounts of learning (r = .23). Final performance levels could only be predicted 50% from initial skill and cumulated amounts of learning unless more than half of the total practice (i.e., more than 90% of the potential learning) had been accomplished. The pattern of zero order rs between amount of learning and initial and final skill levels differed markedly from that previously observed in learning the ladder climb.     

Depression impairs the ability to ignore the emotional aspects of facial expressions: Evidence from the Garner task

We assessed dysphoric and clinically distressed individuals' ability to ignore the emotional aspects of facial expressions using the Garner speeded‐classification task. Garner's paradigm tests the ability to selectively focus on a single relevant dimension while ignoring variations on other, irrelevant, ones. In the present task, the stimuli were faces of men and women expressing happy, angry, and neutral emotions. In Experiments 1 and 2, dysphoric and nondysphoric participants performed the Garner task, focusing on gender and ignoring emotion (Experiment 1) and focusing on emotion and ignoring gender (Experiment 2). Results suggest that dysphoric individuals exhibited more difficulty ignoring the emotional dimension of social stimuli even under specific instructions to do so than nondysphoric individuals. In Experiments 3 and 4, we replicated these results in clinically distressed and nondistressed individuals. The results of Experiment 3 further suggested that depression was more closely associated with the inability to selectively ignore emotion than was social anxiety. Experiment 4 confirmed that this failure of selective attention was specific to processing emotional, and not gender features. The implications of these findings for cognitive and interpersonal theories of depression are discussed.     

Building Interorganizational Relationships That Build Nations

This paper describes relationship building among nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) in a civil society effort. It presents the results of an interorganizational network analysis of 17 Croatian civil society organizations that participated in the 2000 parliamentary election campaign. The research analyzes network relationships including density, structural holes, and centrality, considering the nature of these relationships as a function of choice of communication channels and strength of ties. The results of this study describe the communication roles of various organizations during the transformation from a totalitarian state to a fledgling civil society.     

The Evolutionary Role of Interorganizational Communication: Modeling Social Capital in Disaster Contexts

Employing a community ecology perspective, this study examines how interorganizational (IO) communication and social capital (SC) facilitated organizational recovery after Hurricane Katrina. In‐depth interviews with 56 New Orleans organizations enabled longitudinal analysis and a grounded theory model that illustrates how communication differentiated four phases of recovery: personal emergency, professional emergency, transition, rebuilding. Communicative action taking place across phases corresponds with the evolutionary mechanisms. Most organizations did not turn to interorganizational relationships (IORs) until the transitional phase, during which indirect ties were critical and incoming versus outgoing communication was substantively different. Organizations did not consistently use IO SC until the last phase. This study underlines the fact that organizations and their systems are fundamentally human and (re)constructed through communicative action.