父母教养方式对3～9岁儿童自尊的影响

目的:考察父母教养方式对3～9岁儿童自尊的影响。方法:采用3～9岁儿童自尊教师评定问卷和父母教养方式问卷对700名儿童进行调查。结果:(1)民主性教养方式与自尊总分呈显著正相关(r=0.687,P=0.000)。(2)父母在不一致性、溺爱性教养方式上的评分与儿童自尊总体(F=7.544,P=0.001;F=3.650,P=0.026)以及重要感(F=6.578,P=0.001;F=3.781,P=0.023)、外表感(F=4.418,P=0.012)、自我胜任感(F=6.132,P=0.002;F=4.989,P=0.007)维度存在显著差异。结论:民主性教养方式有助于儿童形成高自尊;相反,对儿童越溺爱、教育方式越不一致,则容易使儿童形成低自尊。     

Aging effects on spatial tuning of hippocampal place cells in mice

One reason the electrophysiological correlates of hippocampal neurons are of interest is the possibility that they reflect their representational properties, presumably spatial/relational ones. Stable spatial representations, based on activity of ensembles of hippocampal place cells, initially develop through a series of short-episodic spatial tunings. Hence these short-episodic spatial tunings are important for understanding the establishment of stable place fields. Studies of age-related changes in place cell activities traditionally focus on place fields. In the present study, we characterized the short-episodic spatial tunings (1-min bins) of hippocampal CA1 place cells of freely moving mice in a familiar cylinder arena, and compared these functions in young and old mice. Spatial tuning was expressed by spatial selectivity, which we found fluctuated across a 16-min recording session in both young and old mice. High spatial selectivity, which is mainly due to the low firing of a place cell out of the place field in young mice, was significantly higher in old mice. The high firing rate out of the place field was the main factor contributing to significantly lower spatial selectivity in old mice. In addition, young mice showed a broad peak in the spatial selectivity between 4 and 10 min. In contrast old mice showed no peak in the spatial selectivity during this time period. The stability of place fields after a 24-h interval was also lower in old mice than in young mice. The low spatial tuning and unstable place fields suggest that a hippocampal-based spatial representation was impaired in the old mice. Furthermore, we speculate that the age-related impairment in hippocampal inhibition system may be involved in the impaired spatial representation of hippocampal CA1 place cells in old mice. Electronic Publication     

Responses of calves to acute stress: individual consistency and relations between behavioral and physiological measures

The present study examined the consistency over time of individual differences in behavioral and physiological responsiveness of calves to intuitively alarming test situations as well as the relationships between behavioral and physiological measures. Twenty Holstein Friesian heifer calves were individually subjected to the same series of two behavioral and two hypothalamo-pituitary-adrenocortical (HPA) axis reactivity tests at 3, 13 and 26 weeks of age. Novel environment (open field, OF) and novel object (NO) tests involved measurement of behavioral, plasma cortisol and heart rate responses. Plasma ACTH and/or cortisol response profiles were determined after administration of exogenous CRH and ACTH, respectively, in the HPA axis reactivity tests. Principal component analysis (PCA) was used to condense correlated measures within ages into principal components reflecting independent dimensions underlying the calves' reactivity. Cortisol responses to the OF and NO tests were positively associated with the latency to contact and negatively related to the time spent in contact with the NO. Individual differences in scores of a principal component summarizing this pattern of inter-correlations, as well as differences in separate measures of adrenocortical and behavioral reactivity in the OF and NO tests proved highly consistent over time. The cardiac response to confinement in a start box prior to the OF test was positively associated with the cortisol responses to the OF and NO tests at 26 weeks of age. HPA axis reactivity to ACTH or CRH was unrelated to adrenocortical and behavioral responses to novelty. These findings strongly suggest that the responsiveness of calves was mediated by stable individual characteristics. Correlated adrenocortical and behavioral responses to novelty may reflect underlying fearfulness, defining the individual's susceptibility to the elicitation of fear. Other independent characteristics mediating reactivity may include activity or coping style (related to locomotion) and underlying sociality (associated with vocalization).     

Latent variable discovery in classification models

The naive Bayes model makes the often unrealistic assumption that the feature variables are mutually independent given the class variable. We interpret a violation of this assumption as an indication of the presence of latent variables, and we show how latent variables can be detected. Latent variable discovery is interesting, especially for medical applications, because it can lead to a better understanding of application domains. It can also improve classification accuracy and boost user confidence in classification models.     

重点理工科高校大一新生焦虑状况及相关因素的研究

目的探讨重点理工科学校大一新生焦虑状况及相关因素,为进行针对性的干预提供依据。方法以广东某重点理工高校2007级的大一学生为研究对象,采用自行设计一般项目调查表、状态-特质焦虑量表（STAI）、匹兹堡睡眠质量指数量表（PSQI）、应付方式问卷进行测评。结果测查学生不论男女状态焦虑、特质焦虑分均显著高于地方常模;19.29%的学生睡眠质量较差;高状态焦虑组和高特质焦虑组解决问题、求助应付因子分均显著低于低状态焦虑组和低特质焦虑组,而自责、幻想、退避应付因子分则显著高于低状态焦虑组和低特质焦虑组;多元逐步回归分析说明,学生如常采用解决问题应付方式,在一定程度上可避免焦虑的产生,而睡眠质量差、采用自责应对方式则可加重焦虑水平。结论采取有效的认知应对策略其意义是使学生改变应激源,以使其变得威胁较小或变成挑战,把情绪基调训练成兴奋、期待和征服。     

Amnesic effects of bilateral lesions placed in the hyperstriatum ventrale of the chick after imprinting

Summary The purpose of this study was to investigate whether bilateral lesions to a part of the hyperstriatum ventrale (IMHV) impair retention if they are placed after chicks have been imprinted. Domestic chicks were hatched and reared in darkness and exposed to an imprinting (training) stimulus for 2 h commencing 22 h post hatch. The chicks were then anaesthetised and bilateral lesions placed in IMHV (N = 16) birds, hyperstriatum accessorium (HA; N = 16) or the lateral part of the cerebral hemispheres (LCA; N = 16). Forty-eight sham-operated chicks served as controls. Chicks were returned to the dark incubator, and, 15–20 h after the operation, their approach towards the training stimulus and to a second novel stimulus was measured. The controls and the chicks with lesions in HA and LCA showed a strong preference for the training stimulus and hence a high level of retention. The preferences of these three experimental groups did not differ significantly from one another. The mean preference of chicks with lesions in IMHV was significantly less than that of the sham-operated controls (P<0.01) and of chicks lesioned in HA (P<0.05). Bilateral lesions to IMHV therefore selectively impair retention of a preference acquired through imprinting. This impairment is unlikely to be a non-specific consequence of defective sensory processing or motor performance because the four groups did not differ from each other in (i) the time taken accurately to peck a rocking bead, (ii) the accuracy of pecking millet seeds and (iii) the performance of a simultaneous visual discrimination task involving heat reinforcement.Supported by grants from the Science Research Council, the Leverhulme Trust, the Wellcome Trust and FAPESP (Brazil)     

单细胞凝胶电泳在遗传学损伤检测中的应用

单细胞凝胶电泳或彗星试验是在暴露人群中评价遗传学损伤的新式方法。这种分析可以快速的探测单一细胞中不同形式的DNA损伤，因此适于在暴露人群分析应用。本文将对彗星试验在临床研究及监测职业、环境、合理饮食、生活方式等对DNA损伤的危险性，以及在DNA损伤与修复研究中的应用等方面进行综述。     

Learning and retention of a shock avoidance task by rat using deafferented hind limb

Learning and retention of a shock avoidance task were studied in the absence of proprioceptive or other topographic feedback. Rats with a deafferented hind limb were trained using the instrumental shock avoidance and retention paradigm of Horridge. Rats received shock whenever they lowered an electrode attached to a deafferented hind foot into an electrolyte bath; yoked-control rats received the shocks to a deafferented hind food along with the experimental animals. Experimental animals consistently held their feet above the electrolyte (p<0.01). During the early minutes of the second phase (a testing situation, in which the experimental and control animals were both shocked for leg lowering) the experimentals received fewer shocks than the controls (p<0.001); the controls eventually withheld their feet (p<0.001). These results indicate that rats with deafferented hind limbs provide a simple system for the study of learning and retention in the absence of proprioceptive or other topographic feedback.     

An investigation of depotentiation of long-term potentiation in the CA1 region of the hippocampus

We have investigated long-term synaptic depression in the CA1 region of rat hippocampal slices. Prolonged low-frequency stimulation (LFS; 900 stimuli delivered at 2 Hz) of the Schaffer collateral-commissural pathway in naïve slices did not induce long-term depression (LTD) of synaptic transmission. However, if long-term potentiation (LTP) was firstly induced in the pathway then LFS generated an LTD-like effect (i.e. depotentiation of LTP). Depotentiation could be induced 2 h (the longest time studied) after the induction of LTP and was stable for the duration of the experiment (followed for up to 40 min). The induction of depotentiation was not blocked by the N-methyl-d-aspartate receptor antagonist d-2-amino-5-phosphonopentanoate, the L-type voltage-gated Ca²⁺ channel blocker nimodipine or the nitric oxide synthase inhibitor N-nitro-l-arginine. However, the magnitude of depotentiation was reversibly reduced, in a stereoselective manner, by the specific metabotropic glutamate receptor (mGluR) antagonist (+)--methyl-4-carboxyphenylglycine. These results show that prolonged low frequency stimulation can result in an mGluR-dependent depotentiation of LTP.     

The human force:velocity relationship; activity in the knee flexor and extensor muscles before and after eccentric practice

The human voluntary force:velocity relationship frequently fails to demonstrate the expected high eccentric forces. Possible explanations include unique activation strategies which might be affected by neural learning mechanisms. We investigated the effect of practicing eccentric contractions on (1) the force: velocity relationship of the human knee extensor muscles and (2) the extent of agonist and antagonist muscle activity. Eight healthy adults [seven women, group mean age 31 (SEM 5) years ± ] practised twice a week for 4 weeks using their non-dominant legs. Each session comprised three isokinetic concentric and eccentric maximal voluntary contractions (MVC) at randomised angular velocities of 100, 200 and 300° · s⁻¹. Before and after, the force:velocity relationship was determined bilaterally (angular velocities 0–300° · s⁻¹). There were no significant differences in the forces generated or relative electromyogram (EMG) activity after practice, although there was a trend for dynamic forces to increase. Beforehand, the bilateral eccentric MVC forces were lower than isometric (P < 0.0025); afterwards they were broadly similar. The agonist EMG was similar during isometric and eccentric contractions, but lower during concentric (P < 0.03). Antagonist EMG activity showed considerable individual variation, was similar during all contraction types and tended to be greater during dynamic contractions. These data indicate that neither central learning mechanisms nor total muscle activation strategies underlie the human failure to produce the expected high eccentric voluntary forces in humans. Accepted: 19 September 2000