Physical symptoms and illness attributions in agoraphobia and panic.

The cognitive model of panic disorder proposes that panic patients interpret physical symptoms in a catastrophic way, thus precipitating panic attacks. This study describes the development of a questionnaire measure designed to assess beliefs about the health implications of various symptoms. Two groups, agoraphobics and normals, were compared on a variety of measures. Agoraphobics showed much higher panic frequency, fear of anxiety, and prevalence of frightening cognitions when anxious, but did not score higher than normals when assessing seriousness of symptoms. The implications of these results are considered.     

Dyskinesias differentiate autistic disorder from catatonia

Autistic disorder and catatonia are neuropsychiatric syndromes defined by impairments in social interaction, communication, and restricted, stereotypical motor routines. Assessments of children with these disorders are typically restricted in scope by the patients' limited ability to comprehend directions. The authors performed systematic assessments of dyskinesias on six prepubertal boys with autistic disorder and mental retardation and on one adolescent male with catatonia to determine if this type of information could be routinely obtained. The boys with autistic disorder had more stereotypies and tics, a greater degree of akathisia and hyperactivity, and more compulsions than the adolescent with catatonia. Catatonia was associated with catalepsy and dystonic postures. The authors conclude that the diagnostic accuracy and specificity of neuropsychiatric syndromes may be enhanced by the systematic assessment of the dyskinesias associated with each condition.     

Suicidal attempt and psychiatric disorders in Iran

This study is part of broader research aimed to determine the lifetime prevalence and pattern of comorbidity on self-reported suicidal attempts in the general population of Iran. Overall, 25,180 subjects were interviewed, face-to-face, at home; the lifetime prevalence was 1.4% (0.9% males and 2% females). The majority of attempters were 26-55 years of age, married, more highly educated, female, retired, and lived in urban areas. Many of the attempters (45.3%) reported at least one psychiatric disorder during their lifetime; major depressive disorder (22%), panic disorder (6.3%), and obsessive compulsive disorder (6%) was the most common. Because less than half of suicidal attempters reported a psychiatric disorder, the existence of other pathways to suicide may be important foci for prevention. Many of the demographic correlates of suicidal behavior in Iran are very similar to those seen in Western cutlures; however, the sociodemographic factors such as few working women and very low levels of divorce is quite different to that of Western populations.     

Integrating Hip‐Hop Culture and Rap Music Into Social Justice Counseling With Black Males

In this article, the author suggests that Hip‐Hop culture and rap music, in particular, can be integrated into individual counseling interactions with Black male clients to discuss the social injustices (e.g., hypercriminalization) they face. Literature examining the history of Hip‐Hop culture and how rap music has been used therapeutically with Black males is presented. The article concludes with a vignette illustrating how Elligan's ( 2000 ) rap therapy framework can help explore experiences Black male clients encounter.     

Immune responses to lipopolysaccharide challenge in a tropical rodent (Funambulus pennanti): photoperiod entrainment and sex differences

Annual variation in day length (photoperiod) triggers changes in the immune system of seasonal breeders. The rationale behind this study was to delineate any sex differences in immune responses of photoperiodically entrained animals challenged against lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced inflammatory stress. We observed that photoperiodically entrained [short day, SD, 10?h light (L):14?h dark (D); long day, LD, 16?h L:8?h D; and natural day length, NDL, 12?h L:12?h D] male and female Indian palm squirrels, Funambulus pennanti, presented sexual dimorphism in immune status after LPS-induced stress. Females presented high humoral (anti-keyhole limpet hemocyanin immunoglobulin) and cellular immunity (lymphocyte proliferation) compared with the males of all photoperiodic conditions. Female squirrels showed reduced pro-inflammatory cytokine levels (interleukin-1β, interleukin-6, and tumor necrosis factor-α) than the males suggesting their high efficiency to recover from LPS-induced inflammatory stress. Increased duration of melatonin secretion and corticosterone concentration in squirrels experiencing SD evidently supported survival of squirrels as compared with control (NDL) and LD squirrels of both sexes. Decreased immune status in both sexes under LD condition might be due to a short melatonin signal mimicking the LDs of summer. Thus, we infer that photoperiodic entrainment via the levels of melatonin and corticosterone synergistically supported more the survival of female squirrels under LPS-induced stress.     

Young Indigenous Australians' Sexually Transmitted Infection Prevention Practices: A Community‐based Participatory Research Project

National surveillance data indicate marked differences between Indigenous and other Australians in the prevalence of many sexually transmitted infections (STIs). Young Indigenous people bear a particularly high burden of these infections. A collaboration of university researchers, Indigenous health workers and young Indigenous people conducted 45 field interviews to examine how young Indigenous Australians keep themselves healthy and protected against STIs. Our findings emphasise the complexity of health behaviours, where individuals are rarely always ‘risky’ or always ‘safe’, as well as subtle gender differences in health practices. Preventive strategies employed by the young people were contingent on beliefs and knowledge about sexual partners, the type of relationship, the context of the sexual encounter and access to condoms. Tangible strengths such as young Indigenous people's commitments to condoms and STI screening should be celebrated and bolstered to enhance their ability to protect themselves against adverse health outcomes and enhance their resilience against STIs. Focusing on strengths helps to counter the deficit model of health commonly deployed in Indigenous health research and draws attention to health issues facing young Indigenous people and their communities, without reinforcing negative stereotypes or focusing solely on individual risk behaviour. We provide concrete recommendations for health promotion and education. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The beliefs that underlie autonomy-supportive and controlling teaching: A multinational investigation

We investigated the role of three beliefs in predicting teachers’ motivating style toward students—namely, how effective, how normative, and how easy-to-implement autonomy-supportive and controlling teaching were each believed to be. We further examined national collectivism–individualism as a predictor of individual teachers’ motivating style and beliefs about motivating style, as we expected that a collectivistic perspective would tend teachers toward the controlling style and toward positive beliefs about that style. Participants were 815 full-time PreK-12 public school teachers from eight different nations that varied in collectivism–individualism. All three teacher beliefs explained independent and substantial variance in teachers’ self-described motivating styles. Believed effectiveness was a particularly strong predictor of self-described motivating style. Collectivism–individualism predicted which teachers were most likely to self-describe a controlling motivating style, and a mediation analysis showed that teachers in collectivistic nations self-described a controlling style because they believed it to be culturally normative classroom practice. These findings enhance the literature on the antecedents of teachers’ motivating styles by showing that teacher beliefs strongly predict motivating style, and that culture informs one of these beliefs—namely, normalcy.     

The effectiveness of three strategies to reduce the influence of bias in evaluations of female leaders

This study tests the effectiveness of three strategies [structured free recall (SFR), source monitoring, and error management] to reduce the impact of raters' stereotypes on evaluations of female leaders. Results reveal several three‐way interactions indicating that that the strategies became more effective as raters' implicit bias decreased. Findings show that the source monitoring and SFR methods were more effective than the error management strategy. The results have implications for improving opportunities for women to advance through the leadership ranks. This study adds to the literature by comparing multiple strategies to reduce the influence of individuals' biases in evaluations of women in leadership positions and revealing the importance of considering raters' implicit gender biases in evaluations.     

Orthographic directionality and thematic role illustration in English and Arabic

This study tested the hypotheses that people had a bias for drawing agents on the left of a picture when given a verb stimulus targeting an active or passive event (e.g., "kicked" or "is kicked") and that orthographic directionality would influence the way events were illustrated. Monolingual English speakers, who read and write left-to-right, and Arabic speakers, who read and write right-to-left, drew agents and patients in response to verb stimuli. We found no significant orthographic directionality effects and no preference for positioning agents on the left of pictures in either group or sentence type. Instead, participants drew agents on the right regardless of language or sentence type, and this was exaggerated in English speakers illustrating passive verbs. These findings support the existence of a preference for placing agents in the right hemispace that may result from asymmetrical hemispheric (i.e., left>right) activation induced by language processing. Our results are consistent with findings that people prefer pictures in which focus is on the right, a preference strongest in pictures with no implicit directionality of movement. This suggests that the methodology of the current study encouraged a static rather than dynamic interpretation of the verb in most participants.     

Studies on Interfaith Relations: Latest Input for Authority Management Review (AMR) in Malaysia

Malaysia is a multi-religious society with 28.3 million people. The country had succeeded in managing religious diversity for almost fifty-seven years. This includes the promotion of interfaith relationships granted under the right to religious freedom, which is protected by the State. There are, however, emerging interfaith challenges, including conversion from one faith to another and reversion back to the original faith, these types of challenges appearing especially in the early millennium. This article reviews the ten latest research studies on interfaith issues in Malaysia and identifies useful themes for authority in exercising management review. Using the content analysis method, this study found that there are several important managerial aspects to be taken into serious consideration, including setting clear parameters for freedom of religion in Malaysia, clear procedures for managing religious conflict, managing faith with respect, and effectively promoting media advocacy. The findings also give insights on the development of interfaith studies in Malaysia.