Effects of marital discord on the school behavior of children of schizophrenic,affectively disordered,and normal parents

An association between children's school behavior and two family variables, marital discord and parental psychopathology, has been consistently reported in the literature. However, the joint effects of each of these two familial factors has not been closely examined. The present report provides a further examination of the interrelationships among these three variables with particular emphasis on the effects of marital discord on children's school behavior in families with behaviorally disturbed parents. Marital discord was found to account for much of the association between having a parent with bipolar disorder or unipolar depression and problematic school behavior, but the same variable did not explain the relationship between having a schizophrenic parent and problems in school. The implications of these findings for interventions with the children of disturbed parents and for high-risk research are discussed.This research was supported by Grant MH21145 from the National Institute of Mental Health.     

Progressive relaxation exercises and human gastric acid output—A study using telemetric measurements

The effect of progressive muscle relaxation exercises on human gastric acid output was examined using a modification of the Heidelburg Capsule pH telemetering equipment. Fourteen healthy subjects practiced the exercises eight times before the post-exercise acidity measures were compared with control periods in the same session. No mean difference in acidity was observed. It is suggested that gastric acid secretion is more related to cognitive rather than somatic activity. Eleven of the 14 subjects reported feeling physically relaxed yet 7 of these increased acidity. Gastric acid secretion is vagally mediated through the parasympathetic nervous system. Muscle relaxation is associated with lowered sympathetic arousal. It is possible that the relaxation exercises led to increased parasympathetic arousal concomitant with sympathetic lowering since the two systems frequently act antagonistically. Progressive relaxation training does not appear to be an effective method of decreasing gastric acid output.     

Peat Bogs,Sperm, and Family Values: Teaching Naturalism Charitably

Introductory courses dealing with sex, gender and sexuality often assign excerpts from Thomas Aquinas as an exemplar of the naturalist view. Given that most novice students tend to side against such naturalism uncritically, they need to be exposed to a more charitable account of the biological considerations motivating a stance like Aquinas.’ With that in mind, this article presents accessible arguments aimed at restoring deliberative balance in the classroom.     

On Adjoint and Brain Functors

There is some consensus among orthodox category theorists that the concept of adjoint functors is the most important concept contributed to mathematics by category theory. We give a heterodox treatment of adjoints using heteromorphisms (object-to-object morphisms between objects of different categories) that parses an adjunction into two separate parts (left and right representations of heteromorphisms). Then these separate parts can be recombined in a new way to define a cognate concept, the brain functor, to abstractly model the functions of perception and action of a brain. The treatment uses relatively simple category theory and is focused on the interpretation and application of the mathematical concepts.