Convergent Reliability and Validity of the Questions About Behavioral Function and the Motivation Assessment Scale: A Replication Study

This study compared key psychometric properties of the Motivation Assessment Scale (MAS) and the Questions About Behavioral Function (QABF) and explored their convergent validity. Twenty adults with mental retardation and problem behaviors (aggression, self-injury, or property destruction) and 31 respondents participated. Test–retest reliability of the subscales in both scales was good to excellent (Cicchetti, D. V., 1994, Psychol. Assess. 6: 284–290), and—except for 1 QABF subscale—internal consistency was good considering the small number of items and the purpose of the scale. Consistent with some earlier studies, interrater reliability was less satisfactory with both scales falling only into the fair to good range.Correlations between functionally equivalent subscales were statistically significant and were generally higher than correlations between nonequivalent subscales. The QABF and the MAS were found to be comparable in terms of the assessed reliabilities, and both instruments appear to be measuring very similar constructs.     

早期干预对高危儿在婴儿早期发育的影响

目的：探讨早期干预对高危儿在婴儿早期发育的影响。方法：采用自行设计的一套早期干预方法通过指导家长对实验组实施，分别在3个月、6个月时进行格体生长和行为发育的评估，另设对照组进行比较。结果：实验组和对照组在体重、身长、头围方面均无统计学差异，但实验组的5个能区行为发育商均值都高于对照组，除3个月的语言能区外，其余均有统计学差异。结论：早期干预在婴儿早期就能促进高危儿的行为发育，但对促进高危儿的体格生长无明显效果。     

Fos Expression in the Rat Brain Following Vaginal-Cervical Stimulation by Mating and Manual Probing

Vaginal-cervical stimulation (VCS), provided by mating or manual probing, induces many reproductive behavioral and endocrine changes in female rats. These changes include an increase in lordosis duration, heat termination and pseudopregnancy. Electro-physiological and [¹⁴C]2-deoxy-D-glucose studies collectively show that neurons in the medial preoptic area, ventromedial hypothalamus and midbrain central gray respond to manual VCS. In the present study we immunocytochemically labeled brain sections for Fos, the protein product of the immediate early gene c-fos, to detect VCS-responsive neurons in hormone-primed animals receiving VCS by mating or manual probing. In Experiment 1, females receiving mounts and intromissions were compared to: 1) vaginally-masked females receiving mounts but no VCS, 2) females exposed to an intact anesthetized male or 3) females not exposed to males or the testing arena. Those animals receiving VCS showed a dramatic increase in the number of Fos-immunoreactive cells in the medial preoptic area, posterodorsal portion of the medial amygdala and bed nucleus of the stria terminalis, as well as the dorsomedial hypothalamus, ventromedial hypothalamus and midbrain central gray. These effects of VCS were confirmed in Experiment 2 in animals receiving manual vaginal-cervical probing. These findings extend previous electrophysiological and [¹⁴C]2-deoxy-D-glucose studies by providing evidence that additional brain areas respond to VCS by mating, as well as manual probing.     

Motivated behavior and the estrous cycle in rats

(1) The estrous cycle in the rat may be used to study recurrent changes in motor behaviors and motivation which are strongly related to cyclic hormonal and CNS changes. (2) The peak in motivated behaviors occurs during a sharply defined period on the night between proestrus and estrus and is evident in facilitated wheel-running, lordosis, and intracranial self-stimulation. (3) Behaviors without a clearly motivated character do not show an estrous cyclicity. (4) The estrous cyclic variation in intracranial self-stimulation was observed at a specific locus — the pars campacta of the substantia nigra. (5) A neurochemical link between sexually motivated behavior, wheel running and intracranial self-stimulation is suggested. This link is in part dopaminergic but is probably also activated by many other systems.     

D1 Dopamine receptor-mediated substance P depletion in the striatonigral neurons of rats subjected to neonatal dopaminergic denervation: implications for self-injurious behavior

The present study examined the influences of dopamine (DA) receptor stimulation on enkephalin (Met5-enkephalin; ME) and tachykinin (substance P; SP) systems of basal ganglia of Sprague-Dawley rats, lesioned as neonates with 6-hydroxydopamine (6-OHDA). It has been proposed that the neonatal 6-OHDA-lesioned rat could serve as a model for the DA deficiency and self-injurious behavior (SIB) observed in the childhood neurological disorder. Lesch-Nyhan syndrome. In agreement with earlier work, the present study found that the neonatal 6-OHDA treatment at 3 days of age, reduced DA and caused an increase in ME and a decrease in SP content in the striatum and substantia nigra, when tested as adults. Administration of the DA precursor, L-dihydroxyphenylalanine (L-DOPA), to lesioned animals, induced SIB; increased DA and DOPAC levels; produced a greater decrease (-64%) in SP levels in the striatum and substantia nigra than was observed with lesion alone (-28%). The L-DOPA-induced decrease in SP levels and the SIB observed in the lesioned animals were blocked by pretreatment with the D1 receptor antagonist, SCH-23390. Moreover, administration of the D1 receptor agonist, SKF-38393, but not the D2 agonist, LY-171555, to lesioned animals mimicked the L-DOPA responses in all respects, except that the agonists did not alter DA or DOPAC levels. None of the DA agonists or antagonists treatments affected lesion-induced increase in ME levels in the striatum. These results indicate for the first time, that SIB precipitated by DA agonists in neonatal dopaminergic denervated animals, is associated with a marked and selective decrease in SP in the striatonigral SP neurons. This process has two components: (a) a retarded development of the SP system due to neonatal dopaminergic denervation: and (b) a depletion of the remaining SP, presumably by enhanced release due to D1 DA receptor-mediated activation of striatonigral SP neurons.     

Differential mechanisms involved in the anticonflict action of benzodiazepines injected into the central amygdala and mammillary body

The present study was designed to clarify the mechanism of action of benzodiazepines (BDZ) injected into the central amygdala (ACE) and mammillary body (MB). When gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) at doses of 30 and 70 micrograms, muscimol (0.01 and 0.03 microgram), valproate (200 micrograms), atropine (20 micrograms) and cyproheptadine (3 micrograms) were bilaterally injected into ACE, a significant and marked increase in the punished responses of conflict schedule was observed. These drugs injected into MB failed to increase the punished responses. In MB, only noradrenaline (NA, 20 micrograms) showed the anticonflict action. NA 20 micrograms also produced the anticonflict action in ACE. These results suggest that the mechanism of anticonflict action of BDZ is different in brain areas. The GABA-ergic, cholinergic, serotonergic and NA-ergic systems seem to be involved in the mechanism of anticonflict action of BDZ in ACE. While the NA-ergic system appears to be operative in MB.     

8—2岁市区学龄儿童感觉统合失调与不良行为及家庭因素调查分析

目的：调查本市区小学儿童感觉统合失调现状与不良行为及家庭因素的关系。方法：用感觉统合诊断量表和自制儿童生长发育调查表对1775名学龄儿童进行心理行为问题调查。结果：感觉统合轻度失调23．4％，重度失调13．5％，男童失调发和率（42．86％）明显高于女童（31．36％）P＜0．0），前庭功能失衡发生率最高（21．30％）；统合失调组儿童不良行为发生率高达64．38％明显高于统合正常组（31．11％）P＜0．01，失调组不良行为各因子的发生率亦明显高于统合正常组P＜0．01；学习能力不足儿童与父母文化程度和不同职业有关P＜0．01。结论：儿童感觉纺合失调现状易成为成人心理障碍的潜在因素，应引起重视。     

Sex effects in defensive behavior: Baseline differences and drug interactions

Female rats consistently show a pattern of differences in defensive behaviors compared to males which parallel the effects of exposure to a nonpainful threat stimulus (cat or cat odor) in the same tests and measures. These indications of greater defensiveness for females are particularly common in situations involving potential, as opposed to actual and present, threat, a factor which probably also reflects ceiling or floor effects in situations involving very intense defensiveness. In addition, pharmacological studies indicate sex differences in the effects of selective serotonin (5-HT) receptor agonists and antagonists on defensive responding. These findings indicate that sex effects must be considered in studies of the pharmacological control of defensive behaviors, and suggest that responsivity to sex effects may be an additional criterion for the suitability of animal models of anxiety.