Uptake of Cardiac Screening and Genetic Testing Among Hypertrophic and Dilated Cardiomyopathy Families

Cardiomyopathy is a genetically and clinically heterogeneous, life threatening disease which affects people of all ages. Recent guidelines provide recommendations for cardiac screening and genetic testing in at-risk relatives, but the uptake and impact of these measures in the United States is unknown. This is a single institution retrospective study that characterizes the uptake of cardiac screening and genetic testing for relatives of a cohort of 57 probands with hypertrophic (HCM) and dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM) who underwent both clinical evaluation and genetic testing. Cardiac screening was indicated for 302 relatives. One hundred and seventy-three (57 %) completed cardiac screening. Forty of the 57 probands were mutation positive and genetic testing was indicated for 213 relatives. Eighty-four (39 %) completed genetic testing. The uptake of cardiac surveillance was greater than the uptake of genetic testing (p?<?0.0001) among relatives of mutation positive probands. Within the group of at-risk, asymptomatic relatives of probands, cardiac screening and genetic testing were positive in 25 % and 40 % of cases, respectively. These data demonstrate the important role and utility of cascade cardiac screening and genetic testing in the care of patients and families with HCM or DCM. The approach to cardiac screening and genetic testing should be family-specific and requires expertise in the genetics of cardiomyopathy.     

The cognitive advantage for one’s own name is not simply familiarity: An eye-tracking study

Eye-tracking technique and visual search task were employed to examine the cognitive advantage for one’s own name and the possible effect of familiarity on this advantage. The results showed that fewer saccades and an earlier start time of first fixations on the target were associated with trials in which participants were asked to search for their own name, as compared to search for personally familiar or famous names. In addition, the results also demonstrated faster response times and higher accuracy in the former kind of trials. Taken together, these findings provide important evidence that one’s own name has the potential to capture attention and that familiarity cannot account for this advantage.     

Ethical Considerations for Volunteer Recruitment of Visual Prosthesis Trials

With the development of visual prostheses research from the engineering phase to clinical trials, volunteer recruitment for the early visual prosthesis trials needs to be carefully considered. In this article, we mainly discuss several issues related to volunteer recruitment that had posed serious challenges to the visual prosthesis trials, such as low rates of participants, high expectations and underlying motivations to participate in the visual prosthesis trials as well as the importance of informed consent. When recruiting volunteers for visual prosthesis implants, it is critical that the visual prosthesis researchers should not only take into account the patient’s expectations and motivations, but also make the patients fully aware of the possible benefits and risks involved with their participation, and help patients establish realistic expectations for the early phase of visual prosthesis implantation. Based on these considerations to the challenges, eligible volunteers may be recruited in the preliminary stages of visual prosthesis trials.     

I can’t stop looking at them: Interactive effects of body mass index and weight dissatisfaction on attention towards body shape photographs

Although attentional biases toward body-related information contribute to the etiology and maintenance of body dissatisfaction (BD) and eating disorders (EDs), attentional disengagement in women with BD and EDs is not clear. The present study investigated the association between weight dissatisfaction and attentional disengagement from body-related pictures and the possible moderating effect of body mass index (BMI) on this relation. Two hundred and four undergraduate women engaged in an experiment using a pictorial spatial cueing paradigm including fat/thin bodies and neutral household photos. Partial correlations and simple slopes regression analyses were conducted with attentional disengagement index scores of each category of cues. Findings suggested that independent of BMI, weight dissatisfaction was directly associated with attentional disengagement from both fat and thin pictures. In addition, among women with low and medium BMIs, the more they were dissatisfied with their bodyweight, the more difficulty they had disengaging their attention from fat body pictures.     

Adolescent mental health in Japan and Russia: The role of body image,bullying victimisation and school environment

This study examined associations between self-reported mental health problems, body image, bullying victimisation and school safety in large adolescent samples in Japan and Russia, considering the effects of gender, culture and their interactions. In both Japan and Russia, girls reported a greater number of mental health problems, less bullying victimisation and much higher body dissatisfaction than boys did. Japanese adolescents rated themselves higher on total difficulties, reported less body dissatisfaction and bullying victimisation, and rated their school safety lower than that of Russian youths. Cross-cultural differences in total difficulties and body image were qualified by gender. Body dissatisfaction, bullying victimisation and school safety all independently contributed to adolescent mental health problems. The protective effect of school safety on total difficulties was larger for girls than for boys; the strength of the association between bullying victimisation and adolescent mental health problems differed across genders and cultures. The findings indicate a need for a cross-cultural approach and provide a strong basis for targeted interventions that seek to improve adolescent mental health.     

汉字形码和音码的整体性对部件识别的影响

本实验从分析汉字整体知觉的具体表现形式入手,通过三个实验探讨字的整体知觉对部件知觉的影响。实验一以分解方式为变量,考查字形整体知觉对部件识别的影响,发现识别不同结构的字的部件之活动受知觉分解路线(如顺读或逆读)的影响。作者认为这种分解方式效应很可能跟部位有关。实验二证实了这一分析,并进而认为部位效应又跟部位与字形整体知觉的紧密程度有关。实验三以语音码为变量,发现成字部件的字音与整体字语音一致者(形声字),其分解知觉成绩比不一致者(非形声字)有明显的优势。这意味着,整体字音知觉的单一性对部件知觉的作用。最后,本研究还考查了部件识别法的有效性,并认为在研究知觉的整体与部分关系问题时,该法不失为一种新的实验范型。     

影响视觉复合刺激中整体和局部性质加工的几种因素

文章研究了视知觉组织,空间位置不确定性和视野位置等因素对复合刺激中整体和局部性质加工的影响。实验发现,（１）当复合刺激呈现在白背景上时,反应时和干扰作用都表明复复合刺激中大图的加工优于小图,刺激位置的不确定削弱大图对小图的干扰作用;而当复合刺激呈现在由“＋”组成的背影或时,小图的加工优于大图,刺激位置的不确定延长分辩小图的ＲＴ;（２）与周国刺激相比,分辨视野中央的复合刺激的ＲＴ较短,这种影响对分辨     

Managerial Stress in Greater China: The Direct and Moderator Effects of Coping Strategies and Work Locus of Control

La présente étude examine les effets directs et modérateurs des stratégies de défense (contrôle et support) et de la perception de contrôle au travail (extérieure) sur des relations stresseur-tension entre des gestionnaires de la grande Chine (la République populaire de Chine, Hong Kong, et Taiwan). Les données ont été recueillies, via un questionnaire autoadministré, auprès de 876 gestionnaires soit 249 (164 hommes, 85 femmes) en République populaire de Chine, 280 à Hong Kong (159 hommes, 120 femmes, 1 non classifié), et 347 (191 hommes, 151 femmes, 5 non classifiés) au Taiwan. Des effets directs et modérateurs pour les stratégies de défense et pour la perception de contrôle ont été démontrés pour quelques relations stresseur-tension dans les divers échantillons étudiés.
The present study aims at examining the direct and moderator effects of coping strategies (control and support coping) and work locus of control (externality) on the stressor-strain relationships among managers in Greater China (the People's Republic of China [PRC], Hong Kong, and Taiwan). A self-administered survey method was employed to collect data from 249 (164 male, 85 female) managers in the PRC, 280 (159 male, 120 female, 1 unclassified) managers in Hong Kong, and 347 (191 male, 151 female, 5 unclassified) managers in Taiwan. The direct and moderator effects of control coping, support coping, and work locus of control on some stressor-strain relationships were demonstrated in the studied samples.     

学习不良儿童社会信息加工的特点

设置儿童与同伴、成人相互作用的三类情景,每类情景又分为模糊情景和清晰情景两种情况,通过对51名小学生进行结构性访谈,比较了学习不良儿童与一般儿童在信息加工各阶段的差异。结果发现,无论是模糊情景还是意义清晰情景,学习不良儿童和一般儿童在对权威社会情景进行编码时存在显著差异,学习不良儿童的编码准确性和全面性显著低于一般儿童;在模糊同伴情景下,学习不良儿童的反应数量显著多于一般儿童,其消极或侵犯性的反应也多于一般儿童。     

基因工程药物发展的历史及启示

基因工程诞生20余年,运用于医药行业,研制和开发工程药物,已取得长足进展,迄今为止,已有近100个基因工程新药上市,并有数百种正在研制和开发中,可以预计,基因工程药物的发展具有无比强大的生命力。就基因工程药物发展史进行概述,会从中得到许多启示。