Decision-Making About Reproductive Choices Among Individuals At-Risk for Huntington's Disease

We explored how individuals at-risk for HD who have or have not been tested make reproductive decisions and what factors are involved. We interviewed 21 individuals (8 with and 4 without the mutation, and 9 un-tested) in-depth for 2 hours each. At-risk individuals faced a difficult series of dilemmas of whether to: get pregnant and deliver, have fetal testing, have pre-implantation genetic diagnosis, adopt, or have no children. These individuals weighed competing desires and concerns: their own desires vs. those of spouses vs. broader moral concerns (e.g., to end the disease; and/or follow dictates against abortion) vs. perceptions of the interests of current or future offspring. Quandaries arose of how much and to whom to feel responsible. Some changed their perspectives over time (e.g., first “gambling,” then being more cautious). These data have critical implications for genetic counselors and other health care workers and future research, particularly as more genetic tests become available.     

低收入女性的生活史特质与繁衍策略的关系

本研究探讨了单一性伙伴（n = 222）、两个以上性伙伴（n = 145）与无性伙伴（n = 106）三组低收入女性的长期配偶偏好、人生阅历、生活史特质与个人特征的关系。研究结果显示三组女性的配偶偏好趋于一致,繁衍策略的组别差异与人生阅历和所处环境具有较高相关,三组女性并不偏好特定类型的配偶。路径分析显示首次生育年龄直接预测配偶数量,受教育水平和初次性交时间对配偶数量与首次生育年龄之间的关系具有显著调节作用;女儿与父亲相处的时间可以预测初次性交年龄。研究结果显示父亲投资影响青少年性行为发展的时间表,人类繁衍的长期进化是性行为变化的根源     

Gender,Employment Status,and Abortion: A Longitudinal Analysis

Building upon extant literature, we examine the influence gender and employment status exert on abortion attitudes among the mass public. Specifically, we assess if men, employed women, and homemaker women view the abortion issue differently and if the same factors account for variation in each group's attitudes toward abortion. Analysis of General Social Survey data from 1973 to 2000 indicates that although homemaker women tend to be more pro-life than do men or working women, the attitudes of all 3 groups exhibit similar changes over time. In addition, our results suggest that the same variables account for variation in abortion attitudes for all 3 groups. Our results suggest that the causes and effects of abortion attitudes do not appear to be gender-specific, but rather are relatively uniform across genders and employment statuses.     

Acceptance of Tinnitus: Validation of the Tinnitus Acceptance Questionnaire

Internet‐based interventions with therapist support have proven effective for treating a range of mental health conditions. This study examined whether frequency of therapist contact affected treatment outcomes. Fifty‐seven people with panic disorder (including 32 with agoraphobia) were randomly allocated to an 8‐week Internet‐based cognitive behavioural treatment intervention (Panic Online) with either frequent (three e‐mails per week) or infrequent (one e‐mail per week) support from a psychologist. Posttreatment, intention‐to‐treat analyses revealed that both treatments were effective at improving panic disorder and agoraphobia severity ratings, panic‐related cognitions, negative affect, and psychological and physical quality of life domains, with no differences between conditions. High end‐state functioning was achieved by 28.6% of the frequent and infrequent participants, respectively. Therapist alliance, treatment credibility, and satisfaction also did not differ between groups, despite significantly greater therapist time invested in the frequent contact condition. The results provide evidence that the effectiveness of Internet‐based mental health interventions may be independent of the frequency of therapist support and may, therefore, be more cost‐effective than previously reported.     

Patterns of Mother-Infant Contact: The Significance of Lateral Preference

The use of assisted reproductive technology is increasing rapidly. Research, although sparse, has resulted in inconsistent findings as to the developmental prognosis for infants conceived by assisted reproductive techniques such as in vitro fertilization and the use of fertility drugs. In the present study, the authors compared twins who were spontaneously conceived with those who were conceived through assisted reproductive technology. The authors found differences in birth weight and gestational age. Infants conceived by assisted reproductive technology fared worse than did those who were spontaneously conceived. The authors found no differences between the groups in mental development at 24 months of age, but they found evidence of differences in physical development. Implications of the findings are discussed.     

Perception of risk in genetic counseling

Abstract

Genetic counseling is a psychological process of communicating and perceiving information about risks. As such, it is important to assess how information is understood by counselees and how psychological factors affect risk perception. Subjects were 76 patients at a genetic clinic whose understanding of genetic counseling was assessed, along with their motivation and way of thinking about risks. Results indicated that subjective interpretations of recurrence risks are better predictors of their reproductive intentions than the “objective” risks. Also, specific cognitive and motivational factors appear to explain much of the variance in risk perception in genetic counseling. The results have important implications for how counseling is conducted, as well as for theoretical issues about cognitive processes.     

Human pelvis motions when walking and when riding a therapeutic horse

A prevailing rationale for equine assisted therapies is that the motion of a horse can provide sensory stimulus and movement patterns that mimic those of natural human activities such as walking. The purpose of this study was to quantitatively measure and compare human pelvis motions when walking to those when riding a horse. Six able-bodied children (inexperienced riders, 8–12 years old) participated in over-ground trials of self-paced walking and leader-paced riding on four different horses. Five kinematic measures were extracted from three-dimensional pelvis motion data: anteroposterior, superoinferior, and mediolateral translations, list angle about the anteroposterior axis, and twist angle about the superoinferior axis. There was generally as much or more variability in motion range observed between riding on the different horses as between riding and walking. Pelvis trajectories exhibited many similar features between walking and riding, including distorted lemniscate patterns in the transverse and frontal planes. In the sagittal plane the pelvis trajectory during walking exhibited a somewhat circular pattern whereas during riding it exhibited a more diagonal pattern. This study shows that riding on a horse can generate movement patterns in the human pelvis that emulate many, but not all, characteristics of those during natural walking.     

Leveraging social media content to support engagement in positive interventions

A key challenge for positive psychology interventions is promoting sustained engagement to improve long-term outcomes. One way to increase engagement is to introduce variety to reduce hedonic adaptation. Here, we propose supplementing intervention prompts with items from a person’s social media archive to add variety. Through a one-week pilot study of six positive psychology activities via a Facebook application, we explore whether Facebook content is useful to keep people engaged in activities and what attributes of content make it most useful. A total of 260 participants used our application, and analysis of usage showed that displaying content is engaging. By looking at which content was marked as useful by participants, we find that useful content is in itself meaningful and engaging (photos, longer texts, and content about close friends). We also find that certain intervention activities are more engaging and better suited for making use of Facebook content than others.     

辅助生殖技术的现代性反思——基于传统儒家文化的视角

在现代性语境中,对辅助生殖技术引发的医学现代性危机进行反思无疑具有重要意义.从本质上而言,辅助生殖技术所产生的一系列问题与挑战,深刻地反映出人与自然、人与人、人与社会之间内在的冲突与矛盾.基于传统儒家文化的视角,寻求现代生命技术与传统儒家文化之间相互冲突、交汇、融合、嵌入的对接点,并有针对性地提出应战机制,从而进一步探讨现代性与传统之间的绵延不断的相互作用,深入挖掘传统中蕴含的现代性因素,现代性中间的传统,以更为开放包容的心灵,重视传统与现代性的结合,让科技为人类造福.