Numerical taxonomy of aphasia

Two hundred consecutively seen aphasics, 142 of them with infarcts, were examined by tests of fluency, comprehension, repetition, naming, and information content. The language scores were subjected to a minimum variance clustering algorithm separately for the total and for the infarct groups. The latter generated 10 clusters on a dendrogram. Attribute analysis of each cluster provided a clinically meaningful profile of language performance for these groups. The degree of correlation of most computer generated clusters with clinically recognized groups was high, and the homogeneity of some of the clusters is striking. An exception appears to be “conduction aphasia,” which is bimodally distributed. One of these clusters, with high fluency and low comprehension scores, was renamed “afferent conduction” aphasia, and the other, with lower fluency and higher comprehension, was renamed “efferent conduction” aphasia. The Principal Components Analysis was used to evaluate the discriminatory value of language characteristics, and the Nearest Neighbor Network Analysis was used to evaluate the significance of clustering. The dendrogram for all aphasics showed a less specific and less homogenous six clusters.     

医疗社会工作：现实意义和发展趋向

医疗社会工作是社会工作专业的重要实务领域之一,在西方发达国家的医疗事业中扮演着不可替代的角色,具有解决患者及其家属问题、处理医患关系,并促进公共卫生政策的改善等多种功能。从我国目前的发展来看,尚处于起步阶段,还有诸多需要努力的方面,包括完善相关政策、提高服务质量、修正教育模式、突出中国特色等。     

A common representational system governed by Weber's law: nonverbal numerical similarity judgments in 6-year-olds and rhesus macaques

This study compared nonverbal numerical processing in 6-year-olds with that in nonhuman animals using a numerical bisection task. In the study, 16 children were trained on a delayed match-to-sample paradigm to match exemplars of two anchor numerosities. Children were then required to indicate whether a sample intermediate to the anchor values was closer to the small anchor value or the large anchor value. For two sets of anchor values with the same ratio, the probability of choosing the larger anchor value increased systematically with sample number, and the psychometric functions superimposed when plotted on a logarithmic scale. The psychometric functions produced by the children also superimposed with the psychometric functions produced by rhesus monkeys in an analogous previous experiment. These examples of superimposition demonstrate that nonverbal number representations, even in children who have acquired the verbal counting system, are modulated by Weber's law.     

Gender-role attitude and psychological well-being of middle-aged men: Focusing on employment patterns of their wives

Abstract:  In this study, the relationships between husbands' attitudes towards gender roles and their psychological well-being were examined in 244 middle-aged men who had a working wife. Employment patterns of the wives were separated into full-time employment and part-time employment, and a model showing relationships among factors, such as attitudes towards gender roles, workplace satisfaction, and subjective well-being of the husbands, was created and analyzed using a structural equation model. Attitudes towards gender roles comprised gender conception and the view on gender-based division of work. Husbands with a wife employed part-time that held a stronger gender conception had a lower subjective well-being, mediated by their lower workplace satisfaction. However, the view of husbands with a wife employed full-time on gender-based division of work was directly related to subjective well-being. That is, the husband's subjective well-being was lower when support of gender-based division of work was stronger.     

Motivational Predictors of Change in Oral Health: An Experimental Test of Self-Determination Theory

We tested the hypothesis that a psychosocial dental intervention formulated in terms of self-determination theory would increase patients’ perceived competence and autonomous motivation for dental care and would decrease their plaque and gingivitis over a seven month period, compared to standard dental treatment. We also tested a process model in which the intervention was expected to increase perceived dental competence and autonomous motivation, that they would be positively associated with oral health behaviors (i.e., brushing and flossing), which was expected to decrease plaque and, in turn, decrease gingivitis. We also examined whether: changes in perceived competence and autonomous motivation would mediate the effect of the intervention on dental-health behaviors; dental-health behaviors would mediate the links from changes in perceived competence and autonomous motivation to change in plaque; and change in plaque would mediate the relation of dental health behaviors to change in gingivitis. Finally, we examined the fit of the overall model with structural equation modelling. Results supported all predictions.

Norme de motivation intrinsèque et utilité sociale : recherches dans le champ organisationnel

Numerous theoretical models have been proposed to explain motivation in organizational settings. Several authors such as Herzberg, Deci and Ryan distinguish between intrinsic and extrinsic motivation. A new approach to intrinsic motivation (François, 2003) is now developping in France. It consists of considering that “intrinsic motivation” is a social norm. We have tested the normativity of intrinsic motivation in two field studies using the judge's paradigm. The first study was conducted on 52 recruiters, the second was conducted on 25 experts evaluating a project concerning the creation of an organization. Results show that evaluators prefered intrinsically motivated than extrinsically motivated candidates in both studies. Finally evaluators used utilitarians traits to describe intrinsically motivated candidates. This result gives force to a normative interpretation of intrinsic motivation.     

What Do Women Want? A New View of Women’s Sexual Problems

Recent attempts to medicalize women’s sexual “dysfunction” are critiqued and a “New View” of women’s sexual problems is introduced. The author argues for a female-centered perspective on women’s sexual desires and problems, based on a review of the literature on women’s sexuality and her observations of young women’s sexual experiences from 25 years of teaching Human Sexuality to undergraduate women. The review suggests that a pill or a patch cannot adequately address the sexual problems commonly experienced by US women.     

A Qualitative Study of Health Professionals' Views Regarding Provision of Information About Health-Protective Behaviors During Genetic Consultation for Breast Cancer

This study aimed to explore health professionals' views and practice regarding the provision of information about health-protective behaviors (e.g., exercise, alcohol consumption, diet) during genetic consultation for breast cancer. Ten genetic counselors participated in three focus groups, and seven medical specialists were interviewed in a focus group or individually. Data was analyzed using the constant comparative method. Findings suggested that health professionals held differing, often opposing, views about the value of health-protective behaviors for women at increased risk of breast cancer. The content and extent of information provided about health-protective behaviors varied widely, and participants expressed a need to form consensus regarding information provision both within and across clinics. The main barriers to providing information regarding health-protective behaviors included the lack of research evidence regarding the impact of these factors and higher priority of other information need to be provided in the limited consultation time. Participants generally did not consider it their role to promote health-protective behaviors, and were concerned about the psychological impact of providing information about behavioral risk factors during genetic consultations.     

Neural modeling and imaging of the cortical interactions underlying syllable production

This paper describes a neural model of speech acquisition and production that accounts for a wide range of acoustic, kinematic, and neuroimaging data concerning the control of speech movements. The model is a neural network whose components correspond to regions of the cerebral cortex and cerebellum, including premotor, motor, auditory, and somatosensory cortical areas. Computer simulations of the model verify its ability to account for compensation to lip and jaw perturbations during speech. Specific anatomical locations of the model's components are estimated, and these estimates are used to simulate fMRI experiments of simple syllable production.