Knowledge of Breast Cancer Genetics Among Breast Cancer Patients and First-Degree Relatives of Affected Individuals

The cloning of BRCA1, a susceptibility gene for inherited breast cancer, has made genetic screening possible for individuals and families whose medical histories are suggestive of an inherited predisposition to breast cancer. To date, few systematic attempts have been made to determine the level of knowledge about breast cancer genetics among women who are likely to seek BRCA1 screening when it becomes widely available. The present study attempted to assess the general knowledge about BRCA1 mutations in two groups: (1) first-degree relatives (FDRs) of breast cancer patients; and (2) women with a previous diagnosis of breast cancer. A self-administered, thirty-item questionnaire was developed through a pilot study. Ten of the items were objective, factual questions about breast cancer genetics. Responses to these questions were used to generate an overall knowledge score for each respondent. The study population was moderately knowledgeable about breast cancer genetics, with an average score of 5.35 out of 10. Counselors should not underestimate the importance of evaluating each counselee's existing knowledge about breast cancer, which can affect the provision and reception of genetic information. In particular, specific areas of knowledge that may be confusing or misunderstood were identified and these topics are discussed in detail.     

人性观对心理学理论与研究的影响

心理学的基本理论,尤其是人格理论,通常都蕴含着对人性的假设。人性观的差异常常导致其理论建构的差异。而且人性观影响心理学研究的方式、方法,影响对心理成因的认识、对心理疾病的理解、及对异常矫正策略的选择。     

教育因素对认知功能年老化过程的影响

应用言语－操作和人机对话两种方式共１２项作业,完成年龄和教育因素对认知功能影响的研究,被试共７３４人,４６－７５岁．结果表明：（１）年龄和教育因素对认知成绩的影响因作业而异,分别为年龄影响明显（图象自由回忆和无意义图形再认）、教育因素影响明显（卡片分类、图象分类和矩阵填图）、年龄和教育因素影响均明显（符号数字、词对联想学习、听觉和视觉数字广度）或均不明显（心算）．（２）四项非词语性作业速度明显受年龄和教育因素的双重影响．     

Resistance and adherence to the norms of genetic counseling

Genetic counseling for women of advanced maternal age who are considering prenatal testing continues to be based on a principle of nondirectiveness. We interviewed 11 genetic counseling students and four counselors about how they experience and manage, in practice, the tensions between the ideology of nondirectiveness and the acknowledged reality that one can never be truly nondirective. We found that our respondents creatively resolve this tension—simultaneously resisting and adhering to the values of nondirectiveness and information-giving—in individual and situation-specific ways. This resolution is facilitated by the extent to which information given to counselees is fluid, mobile and context-dependent, but these very features of information also have critical implications for both the norms and the practice of genetic counseling.     

A compensatory approach to optimal selection with mastery scores

A Bayesian approach for simultaneous optimization of test-based decisions is presented using the example of a selection decision for a treatment followed by a mastery decision. A distinction is made between weak and strong rules where, as opposed to strong rules, weak rules use prior test scores as collateral data. Conditions for monotonicity of optimal weak and strong rules are presented. It is shown that under mild conditions on the test score distributions and utility functions, weak rules are always compensatory by nature. The authors are indebted to Wilbert Kallenberg for his valuable comments and to Jan Gulmans for providing the data for the empirical example. The names of the authors are alphabetical; they are equally responsible for the contents of this paper.     

A note on analyzing ordered alternatives

A general method of devising stepwise multiple testing procedures with fixed experimentwise error is applied to the problem of non-parametric randomized block design with ordered alternatives. In addition, the method is applied to other models with ordered alternatives.The author wishes to thank the referees for helpful suggestions.     

Reliability of multiple classifications

Cohen's kappa index is reformulated for multiple classifications based on exchangeable random variables. It is found that kappa is between 0 and 1 inclusive. Two characterizations for kappa are stated in terms of the relationship between such random variables. Within the normal test score model, kappa increases with test reliability and test length. Furthermore, when based on binary classifications, kappa is an inverse U-shaped function of the cutoff score. These trends also hold for the beta-binomial test score model.Paper read at the Spring meeting of the Psychometric Society, Bell Laboratories (Murray Hill, New Jersey), March 1976.The editorial assistance and helpful comments of Leonard S. Feldt, Sarah P. Seaman-Huynh, and the three referees are gratefully acknowledged.     

Kindergarten attendance in relation to educational level and intelligence in adulthood: A geographical analysis

Level of school education and performance on an intelligence test were analysed for 32 557 Danish young adult males as a function of the geographical region in which they were reared. Positive associations were found between both educational levels and test scores on the one hand, and the proportion of infants attending kindergartens in the given regions (according to official statistics) on the other. Adults who were reared in regions where kindergarten attendance had been high tended to have higher educational levels and test scores, although the data do not permit a precise estimate of the magnitude of this effect. The relationship between kindergarten attendance and intelligence test score appears to have been mediated by educational level. Kindergarten attendance was more common in regions with high population density and high average incomes but the relationship of kindergarten attendance to educational level was significantly independent of these associations. These findings are consistent with the hypothesis that kindergarten attendance can have long-term educational benefits, and might therefore partially explain the upward trend in intelligence test scores over the last few decades.     

What is educational theory and how to make it?

An analysis is provided detailing the conditions for the appropriate theoretical study of the object of educational science: pedagogy.