The Revised Commitment Inventory: Psychometrics and Use with Unmarried Couples

The Commitment Inventory (Stanley & Markman, 1992) measures interpersonal commitment (dedication) and constraint commitment. Since it was first published, substantial revisions have been made, but there are no published data on the psychometric properties of the new version. Further, little information is available on measuring commitment for unmarried couples. This study examined the psychometric properties of the Commitment Inventory in 320 premarital or cohabiting couples (N = 640). Dyadic confirmatory factor analyses revealed that the hypothesized factor structure of six constraint subscales and one dedication subscale fit the data well for both men and women. Internal consistency coefficients were within acceptable range for most subscales. Within-couple correlations as well as correlations among subscales and with relationship quality, negative communication, and religiosity are presented. Implications for future research are discussed.     

Screening for Cardiovascular Disease in the Young

America's youth have been screened for cardiovascular disorders for nearly a century. Initial efforts to detect rheumatic heart disease in schoolchildren have gradually shifted to the detection of congenital heart disease in the fetus and newborn, and to the prevention of sudden cardiac death in older children, especially athletes. Proposed screening programs need to consider sensitivity and specificity, cost, resource availability, and the potential for adverse effects of the screening process.     

Effect of transmurally heterogeneous myocyte excitation–contraction coupling on canine left ventricular electromechanics

The excitation–contraction coupling properties of cardiac myocytes isolated from different regions of the mammalian left ventricular wall have been shown to vary considerably, with uncertain effects on ventricular function. We embedded a cell-level excitation–contraction coupling model with region-dependent parameters within a simple finite element model of left ventricular geometry to study effects of electromechanical heterogeneity on local myocardial mechanics and global haemodynamics. This model was compared with one in which heterogeneous myocyte parameters were assigned randomly throughout the mesh while preserving the total amount of each cell subtype. The two models displayed nearly identical transmural patterns of fibre and cross-fibre strains at end-systole, but showed clear differences in fibre strains at earlier points during systole. Haemodynamic function, including peak left ventricular pressure, maximal rate of left ventricular pressure development and stroke volume, were essentially identical in the two models. These results suggest that in the intact ventricle heterogeneously distributed myocyte subtypes primarily impact local deformation of the myocardium, and that these effects are greatest during early systole.     

Language disorders in stroke syndromes of the dominant capsulostriatum—a clinical review

Abstract

Stroke syndromes of the dominant (left) capsulostriatal region have been reported recently to cause a variety of aphasia-like language disturbances. Etiologically, these syndromes include both ischaemic and haemorrhagic strokes. Anatomically, several lesion patterns have been described. Linguistically, both fluent and non-fluent aphasias, often associated with dysarthria, have been reported. The present paper reviews the neuroanatomical, clinical, and behavioural aspects of dominant (left) capsulostriatal stroke syndromes, with discussion of possible pathophysiological mechanisms.     

Winnicott and Sullivan in the Brief Psychotherapy Clinic Part I

The theoretical and historical rationales for the use of the couch in psychoanalysis are reviewed. This is followed by a consideration of both conservative and radical critiques of its use. Given the contextual and intersubjective vantage points inherent to a contemporary relational perspective, and recent findings from neuroscience research, the author argues that justifications for the use of the couch have been stretched to their theoretical and clinical limits. Clinical examples are used to illustrate the author's ideas.     

Mitochondrial ribonuclease P structure provides insight into the evolution of catalytic strategies for precursor-tRNA 5′ processing

Ribonuclease P (RNase P) catalyzes the maturation of the 5′ end of tRNA precursors. Typically these enzymes are ribonucleoproteins with a conserved RNA component responsible for catalysis. However, protein-only RNase P (PRORP) enzymes process precursor tRNAs in human mitochondria and in all tRNA-using compartments of Arabidopsis thaliana. PRORP enzymes are nuclear encoded and conserved among many eukaryotes, having evolved recently as yeast mitochondrial genomes encode an RNase P RNA. Here we report the crystal structure of PRORP1 from A. thaliana at 1.75 Å resolution, revealing a prototypical metallonuclease domain tethered to a pentatricopeptide repeat (PPR) domain by a structural zinc-binding domain. The metallonuclease domain is a unique high-resolution structure of a Nedd4-BP1, YacP Nucleases (NYN) domain that is a member of the PIN domain-like fold superfamily, including the FLAP nuclease family. The structural similarity between PRORP1 and the FLAP nuclease family suggests that they evolved from a common ancestor. Biochemical data reveal that conserved aspartate residues in PRORP1 are important for catalytic activity and metal binding and that the PPR domain also enhances activity, likely through an interaction with pre-tRNA. These results provide a foundation for understanding tRNA maturation in organelles. Furthermore, these studies allow for a molecular-level comparison of the catalytic strategies used by the only known naturally evolved protein and RNA-based catalysts that perform the same biological function, pre-tRNA maturation, thereby providing insight into the differences between the prebiotic RNA world and the present protein-dominated world.