食管癌研究的历史回顾和哲学思考

食管癌研究可分为病因学、发病机制和防治三个部分,涵盖了流行病学、生物化学、病理学、肿瘤学、分子生物学等多个学科。尽管两千多年前,我国学者以开始记载和描述食管癌,但直到近代特别是现代科学技术的进步才对食管癌有了系统的认识。回顾食管癌的研究史,不难看出,正确的研究方法和科学思路在揭示食管癌发病机制和控制食管癌发病率和死亡率中起关键的作用。辨证地剖析机体内部和外界环境之间的关系,人群研究和实验室研究,个体化局部治疗和全身综合治疗,基础和临床研究,传统方法和现代高科技的有机结合,国内外合作研究与小范围研究,研究者与食管癌患者之间的关系等方面的关系,是指导食管癌 研究的重要环节。     

The Siblings of Individuals with Mental Retardation: A Quantitative Integration of the Literature

The sibling relationship has recently become the focus of much research in developmental psychology. The family system perspective implies the presence of a sibling with mental retardation will impact on the psychological development and functioning of their typically developing siblings. Past reviews of the literature have found this impact to be negative but there is the suggestion of positive consequences to having a sibling with mental retardation. The present meta-analysis sought to quantitatively integrate 25 studies and 79 effect sizes from the literature on the siblings of individuals with mental retardation. A small negative effect for having a sibling with mental retardation was discovered that could not be attributed to a publication bias or some other artifact. This negative effect was greatest for direct observation measures, measures of psychological functioning, especially depression, and for children. Limitations to this meta-analysis and directions for future research are discussed.     

Choices in Life: A Clinical Tool for Facilitating Midlife Review

A critical developmental task of midlife involves reviewing one's past as well as preparing for one's future. The ability to identify past choices, task responsibility for them, and utilize developing patterns in future decision making is seen as a critical component of continued adult development. The Choicemap offers a structured clinical tool to guide such a midlife review. Engaging in this process assists adults in developing choicemaking skills, and provides a powerful clinical intervention.     

The Social Contextual Approach and Rural Adolescent Substance Use: Implications for Prevention in Rural Settings

Adolescents in rural areas use substances at rates comparable to urban adolescents; understanding causes of rural adolescent substance use is critical if prevention efforts are to succeed. The present review has three primary goals: (1) to define rural, (2) to evaluate the empirical evidence regarding correlates and causes of rural adolescent substance use from a social contextual framework (L. V. Scaramella, R. D. Conger, R. Spoth, & R. L. Simons, in press), and (3) to discuss the malleability of theoretically based risk or protective factors in rural settings. The review concludes with a discussion of the difficulties and challenges of implementing prevention programs in rural areas.     

Forgiveness: Who Does It and How Do They Do It?

Forgiveness is a suite of prosocial motivational changes that occurs after a person has incurred a transgression. People who are inclined to forgive their transgressors tend to be more agreeable, more emotionally stable, and, some research suggests, more spiritually or religiously inclined than people who do not tend to forgive their transgressors. Several psychological processes appear to foster or inhibit forgiveness. These processes include empathy for the transgressor, generous attributions and appraisals regarding the transgression and transgressor, and rumination about the transgression. Interpreting these findings in light of modern trait theory would help to create a more unified understanding of how personality might influence forgiveness.     

Sexual assault on college campuses: Is an ounce of prevention enough?

This article provides a construct-by-construct review of the effectiveness of sexual asault prevention programs in modifying sexual assault-related attitudes, cognitions, emotions, and behaviors. This article also discusses variables that may moderate program effectiveness, variables that may mediate program effectiveness, methodological issues, programs for special populations, and iatrogenic effects. In general, sexual assault prevention programs have been shown to be effective in producing short-term reductions in rape-supportive attitudes. There is insufficient evidence, however, to conclude that such programs are effective in reducing the incidence of sexual assault.     

Crisis Assessment and Psychiatric Hospitalization of Children and Adolescents in State Custody

We investigated the clinical characteristics and placement decisions among a group of children who were wards of the state and had been evaluated for a crisis assessment. The sample consisted of 383 children and adolescents (ages 2-20 years) who were wards of the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS). This study retrospectively reviewed the symptoms, risk factors, functioning and co-morbid variables, and placement or system characteristics of these children using a structured assessment tool, the Childhood Severity of Psychiatric Illness (CSPI). Results indicated that risk behaviors as rated on the CSPI, including suicidality, dangerousness, and runaway tendency, were significant predictors of psychiatric hospitalization. The importance of more widespread usage of standardized assessment tools in evaluating children's mental health needs is discussed.     

Peer review for journals: Evidence on quality control, fairness, and innovation

This paper reviews the published empirical evidence concerning journal peer review consisting of 68 papers, all but three published since 1975. Peer review improves quality, but its use to screen papers has met with limited success. Current procedures to assure quality and fairness seem to discourage scientific advancement, especially important innovations, because findings that conflict with current beliefs are often judged to have defects. Editors can use procedures to encourage the publication of papers with innovative findings such as invited papers, early-acceptance procedures, author nominations of reviewers, structured rating sheets, open peer review, results-blind review, and, in particular, electronic publication. Some journals are currently using these procedures. The basic principle behind the proposals is to change the decision from whether to publish a paper to how to publish it. The author, a professor of marketing at the Wharton School since 1968, was a founder editor of the Journal of Forecasting and the International Journal of Forecasting. This paper is based on a presentation at a workshop, “Advances in Peer Review Research”, American Association for the Advancement of Science Meeting, Baltimore, MD, February 9, 1996.