The relationship between self-reported animal fear and ERP modulation: Evidence for enhanced processing and fear of harmless invertebrates in snake- and spider-fearful individuals

The present study used ERPs to compare processing of fear-relevant (FR) animals (snakes and spiders) and non-fear-relevant (NFR) animals similar in appearance (worms and beetles). EEG was recorded from 18 undergraduate participants (10 females) as they completed two animal-viewing tasks that required simple categorization decisions. Participants were divided on a post hoc basis into low snake/spider fear and high snake/spider fear groups. Overall, FR animals were rated higher on fear and elicited a larger LPC. However, individual differences qualified these effects. Participants in the low fear group showed clear differentiation between FR and NFR animals on subjective ratings of fear and LPC modulation. In contrast, participants in the high fear group did not show such differentiation between FR and NFR animals. These findings suggest that the salience of feared-FR animals may generalize on both a behavioural and electro-cortical level to other animals of similar appearance but of a non-harmful nature.     

A randomized controlled trial of mother–infant psychoanalytic treatment: I. Outcomes on self‐report questionnaires and external ratings

Mother–infant relationship disturbances occur in three domains: maternal distress, infant functional problems, and relationship difficulties. They constitute common clinical problems. In Sweden, they are usually handled by nurses as part of public Child Health Centre care. Severe cases are referred to child psychiatry services. This randomized controlled trial compared two groups of mother–infant dyads in a Stockholm sample. One received only Child Health Centre care (the “CHCC” group) while the other received mother–infant psychoanalytic treatment plus CHCC (the “MIP” group). Eighty dyads of mothers and infants under 1½ years of age where the mothers had serious concerns about themselves in their role as mothers, their infants' well‐being, or the mother–baby relationship were randomly selected for either the MIP or the CHCC group. The primary outcomes were mother‐reported depression, mother‐reported infant functional problems, and interviewer‐based relationship assessments, all at 6 months after joining the project. Secondary outcomes were mother‐reported stress and general psychic distress, externally rated video‐recorded interactions, and the consumption of healthcare at the CHC, again all after 6 months. Intent‐to‐treat analyses of Treatment × Time effects significantly favored MIP treatment for maternal depression, mother–infant relationships, and maternal sensitivity. Effects were nearly significant on maternal stress, but nonsignificant on mother‐reported infant functional problems, general psychic distress, maternal interactive structuring and nonintrusiveness, infant responsiveness and involvement, and healthcare consumption. MIP treatment improved mother–infant relationships and maternal sensitivity and depression, all of which are known to influence child development. If effects persist and are reproduced, MIP treatment holds promise for more widespread use.     

Diagnosing fatigue in gait patterns by support vector machines and self-organizing maps

The aim of the study was to train and test support vector machines (SVM) and self-organizing maps (SOM) to correctly classify gait patterns before, during and after complete leg exhaustion by isokinetic leg exercises. Ground reaction forces were derived for 18 gait cycles on 9 adult participants. Immediately before the trials 7–12, participants were required to completely exhaust their calves with the aid of additional weights (44.4 ± 8.8 kg). Data were analyzed using: (a) the time courses directly and (b) only the deviations from each individual’s calculated average gait pattern. On an inter-individual level the person recognition of the gait patterns was 100% realizable. Fatigue recognition was also highly probable at 98.1%. Additionally, applied SOMs allowed an alternative visualization of the development of fatigue in the gait patterns over the progressive fatiguing exercise regimen.     

Affect in the aftermath: how goal pursuit influences implicit evaluations

Previous research has shown that the activation of a goal leads to more implicit positivity toward goal-relevant stimuli. We examined how the actual pursuit of a goal influences subsequent implicit positivity toward such stimuli. Participants were consciously or non-consciously primed with a goal, or not, and then completed a goal-relevant task on which they succeeded or failed. We then measured their goal-relevant implicit attitudes. Those who were primed with the goal (consciously or non-consciously) and experienced success exhibited more implicit positivity toward the goal, compared with the no-goal condition. Experiencing failure in the goal priming conditions reduced implicit positivity toward the goal, indicating disengagement from the goal. We discuss the theoretical implications for understanding the role of implicit attitudes in self-regulation.     

“[No] Doctor but My Master”: Health Reform and Antislavery Rhetoric in Harriet Jacobs’s Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl

This essay examines Harriet Jacobs’s Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl (1861) in light of new archival findings on the medical practices of Dr. James Norcom (Dr. Flint in the narrative). While critics have sharply defined the feminist politics of Jacobs’s sexual victimization and resistance, they have overlooked her medical experience in slavery and her participation in reform after escape. I argue that Jacobs uses the rhetoric of a woman-led health reform movement underway during the 1850s to persuade her readers to end slavery. This essay reconstructs both contexts, revealing that Jacobs links enslaved women’s physical and sexual vulnerability with her female readers’ fears of male doctors’ threats to modesty and of their standard bleed-and-purge treatments. Jacobs illustrates that slavery damages women’s health as much as heroic medicine, and thus merits the political activism of her readers. Specifically, Jacobs dramatizes her conflicts with the rapacious physician-master at moments that are crucial to women’s health: marriage, pregnancy, childbirth, and motherhood. Ultimately, this essay advances a new understanding of the role of health reform in social change: it galvanized other movements such as women’s rights and abolition, particularly around issues of bodily autonomy for women and African Americans.     

Fundamental Beliefs,Origin Explanations and Perceived Effectiveness of Protection Measures: Exploring Laypersons' Chains of Reasoning About Influenza

Laypersons' chains of reasoning in explaining recent influenza outbreaks are investigated. Drawing on social representations theory, fundamental worldviews, that is, the belief in a dangerous world (BDW), are postulated to anchor explanations of disease origins, which in turn affect perceived effectiveness of protection measures. Our study, based on a longitudinal survey among the general public in Switzerland, showed that the lower people's BDW scores, the more they appeal to natural origins to explain outbreaks and the more they perceive official protection measures as effective. The higher people's BDW scores, the more they explain outbreaks via hygienic origins, which are linked with out‐group discrimination measures, and conspiracy origins, which are linked with lower perceived effectiveness of aid intervention measures. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Building a Committed Hospice Volunteer Workforce—Do Variables at the Experience Stage Matter?

Volunteers are crucial to the survival of non‐profit organisations, who therefore have a fundamental interest in sustaining voluntary engagement over time. A central variable regarding sustained voluntary engagement is volunteers' organisational commitment, which has so far been a neglected research issue. The study at hand therefore explicitly focuses on hospice volunteers' commitment. Starting from the assumption that variables at the experience stage of volunteerism may be relevant in predicting volunteer commitment, questionnaire data on volunteers' motives, motive fulfilment and role identity were collected in a sample of hospice volunteers (N = 276). Results of multiple regression analyses show positive relationships between altruistic motive fulfilment and a volunteer role identity on the one hand and volunteer commitment on the other. Observed interaction effects imply that altruistic motive fulfilment is of importance both at the initial phase of volunteering and for long‐term volunteers. Moreover, interaction effects provide evidence that the fulfilment of egoistic motives is of particular importance amongst volunteers to whom egoistic motives are central. Thus, the fulfilment of altruistic motives and facilitating the development of a volunteer role identity should be permanent concerns in building a committed workforce. Egoistic motive fulfilment in contrast is of special relevance, when egoistic motives for volunteering are strong. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Clinical Utility of Chromosomal Microarray Analysis of DNA from Buccal Cells: Detection of Mosaicism in Three Patients

Mosaic chromosomal abnormalities are relatively common. However, mosaicism may be missed due to multiple factors including failure to recognize clinical indications and order appropriate testing, technical limitations of diagnostic assays, or sampling tissue (s) in which mosaicism is either not present, or present at very low levels. Blood leukocytes have long been the “gold standard” sample for cytogenetic analysis; however, the culturing process for routine chromosome analysis can complicate detection of mosaicism since the normal cell line may have a growth advantage in culture, or may not be present in the cells that produce metaphases (the lymphocytes). Buccal cells are becoming increasingly utilized for clinical analyses and are proving to have many advantages. Buccal swabs allow for simple and noninvasive DNA collection. When coupled with a chromosomal microarray that contains single nucleotide polymorphic probes, analysis of buccal cells can maximize a clinician’s opportunity to detect cytogenetic mosaicism. We present three cases of improved diagnosis of mosaic aberrations using buccal specimens for chromosomal microarray analysis. In each case, the aberration was either undetectable in blood or present at such a low level it likely could have gone undetected. These cases highlight the limitations of certain laboratory methodologies for identifying mosaicism. We also present practice implications for genetic counselors, including clinic workflow changes and counseling approaches based on increasing use of buccal samples.     

A Review of Recent FDA Drug Safety Communications for Pediatric Psychotropics

To alert professionals and consumers about safety risks associated with approved drugs, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) periodically issues Drug Safety Communications, or DSCs (previously known as advisories, warnings, and health care professional letters). This review consolidates balanced information from 22 DSCs issued over the last 15 years by the FDA for drugs with pediatric indications (for any disorder) that are used to treat pediatric emotional and behavioral disorders (ADHD drugs, antipsychotics, antidepressants, and antiepileptics/anticonvulsants). A single-source document of pediatric DSCs for these drugs was needed because none existed previously; finding DSC information on the FDA website can be challenging; and other information sources (e.g., manufacturer or advocacy websites, blogs, other media reports) may lack the objectivity or accuracy that the FDA is charged to maintain. This consolidation is intended to enable better informed risk-benefit analysis around treatment selection and drug safety monitoring. For the 22 DSCs, we summarize the safety concerns, the populations affected, and when available from the FDA, the incidence of the adverse events, precursors, and factors that may increase or mitigate the risk of these very serious (e.g., sudden death, life-threatening rash, liver failure), but typically low incidence (<1 %) adverse events (cardiometabolic complications with atypical antipsychotics and suicidality with antidepressants are more common). This review does not address the far more common, but usually less serious, side effects that also accompany these drugs. Implications of this review for research and practice are discussed.