Consumer Preferences for the Predictive Genetic Test for Alzheimer Disease

The purpose of this study was to assess consumer preferences for predictive genetic testing for Alzheimer disease in the United States. A rating conjoint analysis was conducted using an anonymous online survey distributed by Qualtrics® to a general population panel in April 2011 in the United States. The study design included three attributes: Accuracy (40 %, 80 %, and 100 %), Treatment Availability (Cure is available/Drug for symptom relief but no cure), and Anonymity (Anonymous/Not anonymous). A total of 12 scenarios were used to elicit people’s preference, assessed by an 11-point scale. The respondents also indicated their highest willingness-to-pay (WTP) for each scenario through open-ended questions. A total of 295 responses were collected over 4 days. The most important attribute for the aggregate model was Accuracy, contributing 64.73 % to the preference rating. Treatment Availability and Anonymity contributed 20.72 % and 14.59 %, respectively, to the preference rating. The median WTP for the highest-rating scenario (Accuracy 100 %, a cure is available, test result is anonymous) was $100 (mean?=?$276). The median WTP for the lowest-rating scenario (40 % accuracy, no cure but drugs for symptom relief, not anonymous) was zero (mean?=?$34). The results of this study highlight attributes people find important when making the hypothetical decision to obtain an AD genetic test. These results should be of interests to policy makers, genetic test developers and health care providers.     

Youth with Oppositional Defiant Disorder at Entry into Home-Based Treatment,Foster Care,and Residential Treatment

We explored and compared rates of youth diagnosed with oppositional defiant disorder (ODD) at entry into three broad program types, home-based care, foster care, and residential care. We also explored factors other than an ODD diagnosis that could be associated with program placement, and compared the presence of these factors in youth with and without an ODD diagnosis. Analyses were conducted using data from an ongoing, private-agency led, outcome measurement project. Programs were grouped into low (home-based), moderate (foster), or high (residential) categories, based upon levels of supervision and structure provided. A sample of 9,564 youth admitted into care between years 2005 and 2007 was used. Results suggested the following rates of ODD: 14.2 % overall; 7.9 % for low level programs; 5.3 % for moderate level programs; 21.1 % for high level programs. Rates were significantly different by program level (p ≤ 0.001). Sixty of 65 additional risk factors were also significantly associated with placement by level of program. No risk factors were unique to youth with ODD. Of the significant factors for youth with ODD, 4 were particularly strong: Classification as a child in need of services (CHINS), history of neglect, verbal aggression, and truancy. Youth classified as CHINS and with substantiated or suspected neglect were more likely placed into a moderate level program. Youth with verbal aggression or truancy were more likely placed into a high level program. Results suggested many factors are considered at program entry. Given the potential for poor prognosis and social costs of ODD, results support an individualized approach to placement determinations, with increased attention to symptoms of ODD and associated features at program entry.     

Cyber Victimization and Internalizing Difficulties: The Mediating Roles of Coping Self-Efficacy and Emotion Dysregulation

Cyber victimization has consistently been associated with internalizing difficulties in adolescents. However, the underlying psychological mechanisms linking this relationship have not been adequately examined. The present study aimed to investigate the mediational roles of coping self-efficacy and emotion dysregulation in the relationships between cyber victimization with depression and social anxiety. Participants were 459 students (199 girls) from independent middle-class schools in grades 8 (M _age ?=?13 years 9 months) and 10 (M _age ?=?15 years 7 months). They completed a self-report questionnaire about cyberbullying participation, internalizing symptoms, coping self-efficacy, and emotion dysregulation. Structural equation modeling revealed that most domains of coping self-efficacy and emotion dysregulation partially mediated the relationship between cyber victimization and depression, and fully mediated the relationship between cyber victimization and social anxiety. The results highlight the importance of targeting these mediating factors in intervention programs to reduce the negative impact of cyber victimization on adolescents.     

Distinguished Lecture: Social structure,narrative and explanation

Recent work on social injustice has focused on implicit bias as an important factor in explaining persistent injustice in spite of achievements on civil rights. In this paper, I argue that because of its individualism, implicit bias explanation, taken alone, is inadequate to explain ongoing injustice; and, more importantly, it fails to call attention to what is morally at stake. An adequate account of how implicit bias functions must situate it within a broader theory of social structures and structural injustice; changing structures is often a precondition for changing patterns of thought and action and is certainly required for durable change.     

Social meanings in Christmas consumption: an exploratory study of UK celebrants' consumption rituals

• Although much has been written about the celebration of Christmas from a variety of perspectives, limited attention has been paid in the consumer behaviour literature to understanding the behaviours of consumers surrounding this event. Apart from insights gained from prior work on consumption rituals and meanings of festivities, our knowledge of meaning creation through Christmas consumption is partial, and written mainly from a North American perspective. Since consumer behaviour is shaped by cultural and social contexts, understanding the relationship between consumption objects and the social meanings that consumers ascribe to them is a research imperative. This paper explores the ways in which the British Christmas is consumed as a shared consumption experience, by bringing together two different approaches taken by consumer researchers and sociologists to analysing social consumption patterns. These are drawn from structuralist and post‐structuralist thinking. The findings of an exploratory qualitative study are used to demonstrate how an enhanced understanding of consumption meanings associated with this particular cultural context can lead to new insights into how consumers create social meanings through special, as well as ordinary, behaviours.

Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Amygdalectomy and responsiveness to novelty in rhesus monkeys (Macaca mulatta): generality and individual consistency of effects

Rhesus monkeys (Macaca mulatta) with bilateral ibotenic acid-produced lesions of the amygdala were compared with controls in several novel situations, including exposures to metal objects, toy animals, and a person. Early in testing, the monkeys with lesions showed reduced inhibitions on responsiveness compared with controls. With continuing exposures, differences between groups diminished sharply as inhibitions waned in the controls. This outcome is consistent with the hypothesis that the amygdala mediates caution in initial reactions to ambiguous or threatening novel situations, which, in the absence of adverse consequences, diminishes with repetition. Consistency of individual responsiveness across different situations, including pairing with other monkeys, was substantial in lesioned and normal monkeys, suggesting that stable qualities of temperament influenced the results in both groups.     

Finding a face in the crowd: testing the anger superiority effect in Asperger Syndrome

Social threat captures attention and is processed rapidly and efficiently, with many lines of research showing involvement of the amygdala. Visual search paradigms looking at social threat have shown angry faces 'pop-out' in a crowd, compared to happy faces. Autism and Asperger Syndrome (AS) are neurodevelopmental conditions characterised by social deficits, abnormal face processing, and amygdala dysfunction. We tested adults with high-functioning autism (HFA) and AS using a facial visual search paradigm with schematic neutral and emotional faces. We found, contrary to predictions, that people with HFA/AS performed similarly to controls in many conditions. However, the effect was reduced in the HFA/AS group when using widely varying crowd sizes and when faces were inverted, suggesting a difference in face-processing style may be evident even with simple schematic faces. We conclude there are intact threat detection mechanisms in AS, under simple and predictable conditions, but that like other face-perception tasks, the visual search of threat faces task reveals atypical face-processing in HFA/AS.     

fMRI of parents of children with Asperger Syndrome: a pilot study

BACKGROUND: People with autism or Asperger Syndrome (AS) show altered patterns of brain activity during visual search and emotion recognition tasks. Autism and AS are genetic conditions and parents may show the 'broader autism phenotype.' AIMS: (1) To test if parents of children with AS show atypical brain activity during a visual search and an empathy task; (2) to test for sex differences during these tasks at the neural level; (3) to test if parents of children with autism are hyper-masculinized, as might be predicted by the 'extreme male brain' theory. METHOD: We used fMRI during a visual search task (the Embedded Figures Test (EFT)) and an emotion recognition test (the 'Reading the Mind in the Eyes' (or Eyes) test). SAMPLE: Twelve parents of children with AS, vs. 12 sex-matched controls. DESIGN: Factorial analysis was used to map main effects of sex, group (parents vs. controls), and sexxgroup interaction on brain function. An ordinal ANOVA also tested for regions of brain activity where females>males>fathers=mothers, to test for parental hyper-masculinization. RESULTS ON EFT TASK: Female controls showed more activity in extrastriate cortex than male controls, and both mothers and fathers showed even less activity in this area than sex-matched controls. There were no differences in group activation between mothers and fathers of children with AS. The ordinal ANOVA identified two specific regions in visual cortex (right and left, respectively) that showed the pattern Females>Males>Fathers=Mothers, both in BA 19. RESULTS ON EYES TASK: Male controls showed more activity in the left inferior frontal gyrus than female controls, and both mothers and fathers showed even more activity in this area compared to sex-matched controls. Female controls showed greater bilateral inferior frontal activation than males. This was not seen when comparing mothers to males, or mothers to fathers. The ordinal ANOVA identified two specific regions that showed the pattern Females>Males>Mothers=Fathers: left medial temporal gyrus (BA 21) and left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (BA 44). CONCLUSIONS: Parents of children with AS show atypical brain function during both visual search and emotion recognition, in the direction of hyper-masculinization of the brain. Because of the small sample size, and lack of age-matching between parents and controls, such results constitute a pilot study that needs replicating with larger samples.