Master's level training in community psychology: Four examples

Four programs for master's level training in community psychology at George Peabody College for Teachers are described to exemplify four different roles in community psychology: (a) direct service provider, (b) systems consultant, (c) agency administrator, and (d) liaison worker.     

Measuring sense of community: A methodological interpretation of the factor structure debate

Instability in the factor structure of the Sense of Community Index (SCI) was tested as a methodological artifact. Confirmatory factor analyses, tested with two data sets, supported neither the proposed one‐factor nor the four‐factor (needs fulfillment, group membership, influence, and emotional connection) SCI. Results demonstrated that the SCI was best described by four factors in combination with two method factors (i.e., one factor including only positively worded items and another including only negatively worded items). Analyses comparing SCI and method factors showed that positively and negatively worded items correlated differently with measures of citizen participation, psychological empowerment, and health‐related quality of life. Results indicate that the SCI should be revised to exclude negatively worded items and new positively worded items should be developed and tested. The effects of method variance and alternative solutions to the psychometric issues in the SCI are discussed. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Measuring the specific activity of the CD45 protein tyrosine phosphatase

Many assays for protein tyrosine phosphatases (PTPs) rely on colorimetric substrates or more recently developed fluorescent substrates. Enzyme activity is measured but no assessment of specific activity is made, which is important since these enzymes can exist in an enzymatically inactive form. In this study, we have directly compared the relative sensitivity of assays using either colorimetric or fluorescent substrates and show the latter to be considerably more sensitive with as few as 0.2 x 10(6) cells required compared to 3 x 10(6) cells for the colorimetric method. We then describe a quick and sensitive protocol that measures both the phosphatase activity and amount of CD45, allowing the calculation of the specific activity. CD45 is captured from cell lysates using anti-CD45 monoclonal antibody coated onto a 96-well plate, and the phosphatase activity is measured using the substrate fluorescein diphosphate (FDP). The amount of CD45 protein bound in the wells is measured against a standard curve using an anti-CD45-HRP conjugate, and this value is used to derive the specific activity. We used this assay to demonstrate that exposure of Jurkat T cells, and primary CD4(+) T cells to H(2)O(2) decreases the specific activity of their CD45, mimicking the changes seen in some diseases. The assay is applicable to other cell types and phosphatases, and so its use may help to identify the presence of inactive but intact enzyme in cells, which may play an important regulatory role in vivo.     

Measuring cell adhesion forces with the atomic force microscope at the molecular level

In the past 25 years many techniques have been developed to characterize cell adhesion and to quantify adhesion forces. Atomic force microscopy (AFM) has been used to measure forces in the pico-newton range, an experimental technique known as force spectroscopy. We modified such an AFM to measure adhesion forces between live cells or between cells and surfaces. This strategy required functionalizing the surface of the sensors for immobilizing the cell. We used Dictyostelium discoideum cells which respond to starvation by surface expression of the adhesion molecule csA and consequent aggregation to measure the adhesion force of a single csA-csA bond. Relevant experimental parameters include the duration of contact between the interacting surfaces, the force against which this contact is maintained, the number and specificity of interacting adhesion molecules and the constituents of the medium in which the interaction occurs. This technology also permits the measurement of the viscoelastic properties of single cells or cell layers.     

Measuring sub-millisecond delays in spiking activity with millisecond time-bins

Recent evidence indicates that sub-millisecond delays in neuronal spiking activity may be relevant for neural coding. Estimates of these delays are usually made from cross-correlation histograms (CCH) binned to 1 ms. We investigated the degree to which it is possible to measure delays with sub-millisecond precision when one computes CCHs with bin sizes ≥1 ms. To this end, we introduced sub-millisecond shifts into spike trains recorded from cat visual cortex. The bin sizes of 1/2 to 2 ms were the most optimal for measuring the artificial shifts, even when detecting shifts smaller than 0.5 ms. The results suggest that preferably, one should use CCHs with 1 ms binning even when investigating differences in delays considerably smaller than 1 ms.     

Measuring sense of community in the military: cross‐cultural evidence for the validity of the brief sense of community scale and its underlying theory

In this article, the authors present a German Sense of Community (SOC) Scale for use in military settings. The scale is based on the translation and field‐testing of an existing U.S.‐based measure of neighborhood SOC (Peterson, Speer, & McMillan, 2008 ). The methodological intricacies underlying cross‐cultural scale development are highlighted, as are the strategies used to overcome them. Administered in a navy context (n=270), the newly developed German measure improves the psychometric credentials of the existing scale by confirming the principal theory of SOC and its applicability across borders and contexts. Future research is encouraged to build on the strength and flexibility of the existing U.S. instrument for further cross‐cultural scale development, thus enabling SOC theory to attain its full international potential. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Examining the community consequences of arrests for low-level criminal activity

This study was designed to examine the effects of arrests for low-level criminal activity on key features of police–community relations and the capacity of the neighborhood to regulate behavior of residents. Multilevel mixed-effects modeling was used with residents (N = 826) living in police beats (N = 51) in Chicago to test the hypotheses that higher arrest rates were associated with less police legitimacy, less willingness to work with the police and less neighborhood informal social control. The results indicated that more aggressive enforcement was associated with less capacity for informal social control. The findings also suggested that higher arrest rates were directly related to more legitimacy and indirectly related to less legitimacy through residents’ negative experiences with police. For residents affected by crime and disorder but not burdened by aggressive enforcement, the use of arrests to reduce incivilities may be viewed positively and related to stronger beliefs about legitimacy. In contrast, trust and confidence in police may be reduced for those residents who experience the costs associated with low-level arrests. Regardless of the short-term effects, if aggressive low-level policing undermines the effectiveness of social control systems in the neighborhood, communities will be less safe in the long term.     

Measuring psychiatric disorder in the community: a standardized assessment for use by lay interviewers.

Many of the standardized interviews currently used in psychiatry require the interviewer to use expert psychiatric judgements in deciding upon the presence or absence of psychopathology. However, when case definitions are standardized it is customary for clinical judgements to be replaced with rules. The Clinical Interview Schedule was therefore revised, in order to increase standardization, and to make it suitable for use by 'lay' interviewers in assessing minor psychiatric disorder in community, general hospital, occupational and primary care research. Two reliability studies of the revised Clinical Interview Schedule (CIS-R) were conducted in primary health care clinics in London and Santiago, Chile. Both studies compared psychiatrically trained interviewer(s) with lay interviewer(s). Estimates of the reliability of the CIS-R compared favourably with the results of studies of other standardized interviews. In addition, the lay interviewers were as reliable as the psychiatrists and did not show any bias in their use of the CIS-R. Confirmatory factor analysis models were also used to estimate the reliabilities of the CIS-R and self-administered questionnaires and indicated that traditional measures of reliability are probably overestimates.     

Heart rate indicators for assessing physical activity level in the field

The reliability and validity of heart rate (HR) indicators for assessing physical activity level (PAL) was examined in 16 male and female farmers in northeast Thailand. For each subject, daytime HRs were monitored for 12 days, 4 days each in three agricultural seasons in a year. At the group level, the percentage of time when HR exceeded flex-HR (%Flex) had the highest reliability as an indicator of PAL even in the season of lowest activity (r > 0.91 in males and r > 0.89 in females). Regarding the reliability of each subject's %Flex for assessing PAL, regression analyses revealed coefficients of determination of 0.73–0.97 in males and 0.62–0.97 in all females except one. Analyses of covariance (ANCOVA), with %Flex as a covariate, showed that the difference among the slopes of PAL of different subjects was not significant in females, but was in males (P = 0.003). Comparison of measured PAL values and corresponding PAL values estimated by a regression equation for all subjects showed that 75% were within ±0.2; further, PAL values tended to be underestimated in cases when they exceeded 2.0 for males. The results for these Thai-Lao subjects are consistent with previous studies on other populations; thus, it may be concluded that %Flex is reliable and valid for assessing PAL for a group of subjects and for assessing intraindividual variability of PAL. Am. J. Hum. Biol. 11:647–657, 1999. © 1999 Wiley-Liss, Inc.     

Correlation between the level of motor activity on the small intestine and hexokinase activity in its muscular layer

Correlation between the motor activity of the small intestine and the intensity of energy formation in its muscular layer was studied. Significantly higher hexokinase activity was observed in the muscles of the duodenum than of the jejunum and ileum. Statistically significant differences in hexokinase activity were not found between the jejunum and ileum. Hexokinase activity was found to vary considerably and to correlate directly with the level of motor activity of the muscular layer, which forms the contractile system of the intestine.Academician K. M. Bykov Department of Physiology of Visceral Systems and Laboratory of Cytology, Institute of Experimental Medicine, Academy of Medical Sciences of the USSR, Leningrad. (Presented by Academician of the Academy of Medical Sciences of the USSR S. V. Anichkov.) Translated from Byulleten' Éksperimental'noi Biologii i Meditsiny, Vol. 85, No. 3, pp. 260–263, March, 1978.     

Measuring disease activity and response to treatment in rheumatoid arthritis

Introduction: Effective treatment of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) requires suppression of the underlying inflammation. Measurement of such inflammation, the disease activity, is mandatory to target treatment and maximize outcomes. However, this is not as straightforward as it may seem.

Areas covered: The many tools developed to measure disease activity in RA, from composite scores and patient-reported outcomes, to laboratory markers and imaging are discussed, with a focus on their utility in guiding therapy and assessing response. The complex issues in measuring disease activity in RA, whether in clinical trials or normal clinical practice, and in the context of national guidelines and recommendations, available time, and resources are considered.

Expert commentary: The key to effective management of RA is the rapid suppression of inflammation, ideally to remission, with maintenance of such remission. The aim is to prevent disability and maximize quality of life. Central to this is the ability to determine disease activity (potentially open to suppression) as opposed to damage (irreversible). A variety of measures are currently available, allowing better assessment of response to treatment. In the future, the development of predictive biomarkers allowing targeting of drugs may revolutionize this field and render the tools of today redundant.     

Arousal level and blink activity]

The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between arousal level and blink activity; blink rate, blink amplitude and blink duration. Blink activity was examined under two different tasks in which arousal level was manipulated. One was a vigilance task (Experiment 1) for comparatively high arousal level. The other was a simple counting task in a dark and quiet room (Experiment 2) for extremely lower arousal level. Results indicated that blink rates and blink durations tended to increase as arousal level got lower in the monotonous vigilance task situations, meanwhile, blink rates and blink amplitudes decreased as a function of negative arousal level in the pre-sleep situation.     

High frequency of multiresistant respiratory tract pathogens at community level in South India

Objective: To describe the patterns of antibiotic susceptibility of outpatient strains of Streptococcus pneumoniae, Haemophilus influenzae and Moraxella catarrhalis in the district of Pondicherry in South India.
Methods: The antibiotic susceptibilities of 94 S. pneumoniae , 97 H. influenzae and 104 M. catarrhalis strains, collected from outpatients with respiratory tract infections, were determined by disk diffusion and Etest.
Results: Resistance or reduced susceptibility to trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole was found in 67% of S. pneumoniae , 53% of H. influenzae and 24% of M. catarrhalis strains. Thirty-seven per cent of S. pneumoniae and 39% of H. influenzae strains were resistant or showed reduced susceptibility to tetracycline. Reduced susceptibility to penicillin was found in 6% of S. pneumoniae strains. Overall, 10% of S. pneumoniae and 38% of H. influenzae strains showed reduced susceptibility to ≥3 antibiotics. Comparisons between the antibiotic susceptibility patterns of the Indian strains and a corresponding collection of strains from Sweden indicate that the susceptibility of the native susceptible population is independent of geographic origin.
Conclusions: The findings indicate high consumption of tetracycline and trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole in the area, which emphasizes the need for surveillance of the pattern of antibiotic susceptibility among respiratory tract pathogens at community level in developing countries and for the implementation of local guidelines for rational use of antibiotics.     

Measuring receptor/ligand interaction at the single-bond level: experimental and interpretative issues

There is increased interest in measuring kinetic rates, lifetimes, and rupture forces of single receptor/ligand bonds. Valuable insights have been obtained from previous experiments attempting such measurements. However, it remains difficult to know with sufficient certainty that single bonds were indeed measured. Using exemplifying data, evidence supporting single-bond observation is examined and caveats in the experimental design and data interpretation are identified. Critical issues preventing definitive proof and disproof of single-bond observation include complex binding schemes, multimeric interactions, clustering, and heterogeneous surfaces. It is concluded that no single criterion is sufficient to ensure that single bonds are actually observed. However, a cumulative body of evidence may provide reasonable confidence. © 2002 Biomedical Engineering Society. PAC2002: 8715Kg, 8715By, 8716-b     

Marine resource development: An application of the community development process at the state level

The Marine Resource Development Project with the goals of developing educational and economic opportunity in marine resources at the state level was evaluated according to Tripodi's (171) model of different evaluation. The evaluation unmasked two major problems which parmeated all phases of program development. Lack of participation on the part of fisherman and minimal cooperation among segments of the fishing industry prevented full implementation of project objectives. Further research disigned to determine the mature of cooperation among arganizations within the fisheries resource is recommended.     

Role of level of serotonin activity in the “shock lung” syndrome

Experiments on rats showed that the level of serotonin activity influences the formation of the shock lung syndrome. In hypoactivity tachyhypopnea is observed and the lung shows a pathomorphological picture characterized by numerous atelectases; in hyperactivity there is a corresponding tachyhyperpnea and a very small number of atelectases.Kazan' Research Institute of Traumatology and Orthopedics. (Presented by Academician of the Academy of Medical Sciences of the USSR P. N. Veselkin.) Translated from Byulleten' Éksperimental'noi Biologii i Meditsiny, Vol. 82, No. 10, pp. 1181–1183, October, 1976.