Brain structure abnormalities in young women who presented conduct disorder in childhood/adolescence

The phenotype and genotype of antisocial behavior among females are different from those among males. Previous studies have documented structural brain alterations in males with antisocial behavior, yet little is known about the neural correlates of female antisocial behavior. The present study examined young women who had presented conduct disorder (CDW) prior to age 15 to determine whether brain abnormalities are present in adulthood and whether the observed abnormalities are associated with comorbid disorders or maltreatment that typically characterize this population. Using magnetic resonance imaging and voxel-based morphometry, we compared gray matter volumes (GMV) of 31 women who presented CD by midadolescence and 25 healthy women (HW), age, on average, 23 years. Participants completed structured, validated interviews to diagnose mental disorders, and validated questionnaires to document physical and sexual abuse. Relative to HW, CDW presented increased GMV in the left superior temporal gyrus that was associated with past alcohol and drug dependence, current use of alcohol and drugs, and current anxiety and depression symptoms and maltreatment. Additionally, CDW displayed reduced GMV in lingual gyrus, hippocampus, and anterior cingulate cortex that was associated with past comorbid disorders, current alcohol and drugs use, current anxiety and depression symptoms, and maltreatment. The CDW also presented reduced total GMV that was associated with past comorbid disorders and current anxiety/depression symptoms. Alterations of brain structure were observed among young adult females with prior CD, relative to HW, all of which were associated with internalizing and externalizing disorders and maltreatment that typically accompany CD.     

Clinical Cancer Genetics Disparities among Latinos

The three major hereditary cancer syndromes in Latinos (Hereditary Breast and Ovarian Cancer, Familial Adenomatous Polyposis and Lynch Syndrome) have been shown to exhibit geographic disparities by country of origin suggesting admixture-based disparities. A solid infrastructure of clinical genetics geared towards diagnosis and prevention could aid in reducing the mortality of these cancer syndromes in Latinos. Currently, clinical cancer genetic services in Latin America are scarce. Moreover, limited studies have investigated the mutational spectrum of these cancer syndromes in Latinos resulting in gaps in personalized medicine affecting diagnosis, treatment and prevention. The following commentary discusses available genotype and clinical information on hereditary cancer in Latinos and highlights the limited access for cancer genetic services in Latin America including barriers to genetic testing and alternatives for providing better access to genetic services. In this review, we discuss the status of clinical genetic cancer services for both US Latinos and those Latinos living in Latin America.     

Grammatical priming effects between pronouns and inflected verb forms

Summary Deciding on the lexical status of a word can be facilitated by a preceding, semantically related word. Three experiments are reported demonstrating a different kind of facilitation due to the grammatical relation between function words and content words in Serbo-Croatian. A pronoun facilitated or inhibited the lexical decision on a following verb depending on whether the person of the verb, as represented by its inflected ending, agreed with the person of the pronoun. Also, verbs primed subsequent pronouns but the pattern of results for the verbal priming of pronouns was markedly different from that for the pronominal priming of verbs. The results suggest that the organization of the internal lexicon is sensitive to grammatical relations as well as semantical relations between words.     

Electrocortical Responses to ecologically relevant visual stimuli among professional drivers with and without cardiovascular disease

Electrocortical responses were assessed using two simulated aspects of visual signals encountered in traffic: the Glare Pressor Test (GPT) and Event-Related Potential Avoidance Task (ERPAT) among four groups of male professional drivers: 12 with ischemic heart disease (IHD), 12 hypertensives, 10 borderline hypertensives, 34 who were apparently healthy and 23 nonprofessional driver healthy control subjects. The blood pressure (BP) responses immediately after the ERPAT were also measured. There was a significant between groups effect for the amplitude of the target N2 component in the ERPAT (p=0.02), with the lowest means among the drivers with IHD and the highest among those with hypertension. Drivers with IHD also showed the highest diastolic BP reactivity to the ERPAT. Significantly more than the expected number of drivers with IHD failed to recover alpha activity after the first glare impulse of the GPT. Professional drivers who failed to recover baseline levels of alpha activity after the GPT showed a significantly smaller N2 amplitude compared to those who recovered (p=0.01). There was a positive correlation between abundance of alpha activity at rest with P300 amplitude (p=0.02). An inverse relation was found between number of work hours behind the wheel and the amplitude of the target P300 (p=0.04). Results are interpreted in light of recent advances concerning integrative mechanisms of defence versus vigilance response patterns. The findings in this study justify further applications of these psychophysiologic methods to assess the relationship between simulated signals of the work environment and mechanisms of cardiac risk in this occupational group.     

An Ethical Issue Scale for Community Pharmacy Setting (EISP): Development and Validation

Many problems that arise when providing pharmacy services may contain some ethical components and the aims of this study were to develop and validate a scale that could assess difficulties of ethical issues, as well as the frequency of those occurrences in everyday practice of community pharmacists. Development and validation of the scale was conducted in three phases: (1) generating items for the initial survey instrument after qualitative analysis; (2) defining the design and format of the instrument; (3) validation of the instrument. The constructed Ethical Issue scale for community pharmacy setting has two parts containing the same 16 items for assessing the difficulty and frequency thereof. The results of the 171 completely filled out scales were analyzed (response rate 74.89 %). The Cronbach’s α value of the part of the instrument that examines difficulties of the ethical situations was 0.83 and for the part of the instrument that examined frequency of the ethical situations was 0.84. Test–retest reliability for both parts of the instrument was satisfactory with all Interclass correlation coefficient (ICC) values above 0.6, (for the part that examines severity ICC = 0.809, for the part that examines frequency ICC = 0.929). The 16-item scale, as a self assessment tool, demonstrated a high degree of content, criterion, and construct validity and test–retest reliability. The results support its use as a research tool to asses difficulty and frequency of ethical issues in community pharmacy setting. The validated scale needs to be further employed on a larger sample of pharmacists.     

“Is it me or should my friends take the credit?” The role of social networks and social identity in recovery from addiction

This study explored the role of social network and social identity factors in recovery from addiction. The sample consisted of 537 individuals who completed a survey about their experiences of recovery. Results indicated that the transition from addiction to recovery was characterized by an increase in social connectedness and changes in social network composition coupled with the emergence of a “recovery” identity. These factors accounted for 14% of the variance in quality of life when controlling for known predictors, accounting for a greater proportion of variance than substance use variables. Results suggest that recovery from addiction can be understood as a socially mediated transition characterized by social network and social identity change, which drive broader improvements in quality of life.