A preventive intervention for enhancing resilience among highly stressed urban children

Describes the development and evaluation of a pilot 12-session, school-based preventive intervention designed to enhance resilience among inner-city children who have experienced major life stress. Thirty-six 4th–6th grade children participated in the intervention in groups of 5–8 co-led by school personnel. The curriculum focussed on understanding feelings in oneself and others, perspective-taking, social problem-solving, dealing with solvable and unsolvable problems, and building self-efficacy and esteem. Pre-post evaluation showed significant improvement among participants on teacher-rated indices of learning problems and task orientation and on child ratings of perceived self-efficacy, realistic control attributions and anxiety. Program limitations and factors that restrict generalization are considered and new directions for program development and research are proposed.     

Ambulatory Mental Health Treatment under Universal Coverage: Policy Insights from Israel

Untested assumptions concerning ambulatory treatment have shaped mental health policies for decades. Three opinions prevail: (1) all use is alike; (2) any use leads to high use; and (3) all high use is discretionary and therefore excessive. These assumptions were tested, using data from a nationwide survey of ambulatory utilizers in Israel, a country that has universal coverage. The findings, based on detailed clinical and treatment records, challenge all three assumptions. Moreover, they document a diversity of clinical needs while also verifying substantial variations in the type, frequency, and duration of treatment provided to meet those needs. In brief, Israeli data do not confirm continuing concerns by policy makers about uncontrollable use of services with expanded mental health coverage. Special policy limitations on mental health treatment should be reconsidered in light of empirical evidence from a system without the restrictions that exist in the United States.     

Top-down and bottom-up processes in the extrastriate cortex of cirrhotic patients: an ERP study.

OBJECTIVE: This study aims to evaluate the efficiency of top-down and bottom-up processes in the extrastriate cortex of cirrhotic patients without overt hepatic encephalopathy (HE). METHODS: Reaction times (RTs), accuracy and event-related potentials (ERPs) were recorded during the execution of a visual Simon task in 17 cirrhotic patients and 10 healthy controls. Amplitude and latency of the P1 and N1 (indexes of bottom-up processes) and of the N2pc (index of top-down processes) were measured. RESULTS: Patients were slower than controls, and patients with minimal HE (MHE) were slower than patients without MHE. The distribution analysis of RTs showed that the Simon effect decays with slower RTs in all the groups and that the shape of the distribution was different in MHE patients. No differences were found between cirrhotic patients and controls for P1 and N1 amplitude and latency. In contrast, N2pc latency was delayed in cirrhotic patients compared to controls independently of MHE. CONCLUSIONS: In the extrastriate cortex of cirrhotic patients without HE, top-down processes are altered whereas bottom-up processes are preserved. SIGNIFICANCE: The analysis of exogenous and endogenous visual components of ERPs provides a model to study the functional dissociation between top-down and bottom-up processes inside the extrastriate cortex.     

Wirkung des Äthylazetatextraktes von Chrysanthemum morifolium auf Plasmodium falciparumIn Vitro

Zusammenfassung Die Wirkung des ?thylazetatextraktes von Chrysanthemum morifolium auf P. falciparum wurde in vitro untersucht. W?hrend sich die Parasit?mie bei der Kontrollgruppe bis zu 10. 90 % entwickelte, wurde bei dem mit ?thylazetatextrakt in einer Konzentration von 100 μg/ml Medium am 5. Tag der Kultur eine signifikante Hemmwirkung auf die Parasiten beobachtet. Die Parasit?mie blieb bei 1. 00 %.

Diese Arbeit wurde durch die Stiftung von “National Nature Science Foundation of China” finanziert (No. 39260066)     

Effects of increasing osmolality on rat ileal smooth muscle

The effects of changing bathing medium osmolality on tension generation in smooth muscle were studied on potassium-depolarized segments of rat ileum. Increasing the tonicity of the medium evokes a transient relaxation of the smooth muscle; restoration of isotonicity evokes a transient contraction of similar amplitude and time course. While immersed in hypertonic media of less than 1.3 times normal tonicity, the smooth muscle slowly increases its isometric tension; in media of nearly twice normal tonicity, the smooth muscle loses tension. All of these effects occur whether the medium is made hypertonic with added NaCl or sucrose.     

Hepatic DNA adduct dosimetry in rats fed tamoxifen: a comparison of methods

Liver homogenates from rats fed tamoxifen (TAM) in the diet were shared among four different laboratories. TAM-DNA adducts were assayed by high pressure liquid chromatography-electrospray tandem mass spectrometry (HPLC-ES-MS/MS), TAM-DNA chemiluminescence immunoassay (TAM-DNA CIA), and (32)P-postlabeling with either thin layer ((32)P-P-TLC) or liquid chromatography ((32)P-P-HPLC) separation. In the first study, rats were fed a diet containing 500 p.p.m. TAM for 2 months, and the values for measurements of the (E)-alpha-(deoxyguanosin-N(2)-yl)-tamoxifen (dG-N(2)-TAM) adduct in replicate rat livers varied by 3.5-fold when quantified using 'in house' TAM-DNA standards, or other approaches where appropriate. In the second study, rats were fed 0, 50, 250 or 500 p.p.m. TAM for 2 months, and TAM-DNA values were quantified using both 'in house' approaches as well as a newly synthesized [N-methyl-(3)H]TAM-DNA standard that was shared among all the participating groups. In the second study, the total TAM-DNA adduct values varied by 2-fold, while values for the dG-N(2)-TAM varied by 2.5-fold. Ratios of dG-N(2)-TAM:(E)-alpha-(deoxyguanosin-N(2)-yl)-N-desmethyltamoxifen (dG-N(2)-N-desmethyl-TAM) in the second study were approximately 1:1 over the range of doses examined. The study demonstrated a remarkably good agreement for TAM-DNA adduct measurements among the diverse methods employed.     

Inherited partial duplication of chromosome No. 15

A boy with unusual facial appearance and mental retardation was found to have duplication for the distal half of the long arm of chromosome No. 15 and possibly deficiency for the distal end of the long arm of No. 21. The chromosome abnormality was inherited from his mother, who had a translocation involving chromosomes Nos. 15 and 21. Giemsa-banding localized the break point in chromosome No. 15 just distal to the intense band at the midportion of the long arm. The break point in chromosome No. 21 appeared to be at the distal end of the long arm. The difficulty encountered in cytogenetic analysis of the propositus with conventional staining, the importance of chromosome analysis of the parents, and the application of differential staining techniques are also presented.     

Human herpesvirus 8 infection among various population groups in southern Israel

OBJECTIVE: To compare the prevalence of antibodies to human herpesvirus 8 (HHV-8) or Kaposi sarcoma-associated herpesvirus among Israeli and Ethiopian subjects. METHODS: Serum samples were obtained from 98 Israeli Jewish students aged 18-30 years, 100 HIV-1-seronegative Ethiopian immigrants to Israel of the same age, and 100 HIV-1-seronegative Ethiopian children 1-12 years old upon their arrival in southern Israel. Plasma samples were obtained from 3 hospitalized patients with multicentric Castleman disease (MCD) as positive controls. All serum samples were tested for antibodies to both latent and lytic antigens. Antibodies to the lytic antigens and the latency-associated nuclear antigen (LANA) of HHV-8 were detected by enzyme linked immunosorbent assay and by immunofluorescence assay. HHV-8 DNA from serum or plasma samples was detected by polymerase chain reaction analysis. RESULTS: Antibodies to HHV-8 LANA were detected in 2.9% of the Israeli subjects aged 18-30 years and in 26% of the Ethiopian subjects from both age groups tested. Antibodies to the lytic antigens were detected in all 3 MCD patients, in 4% of the Ethiopian children, and in 2% of the 18- to 30-year-old Ethiopians. No antibodies to the lytic antigens were detected in the Israeli students. HHV-8 DNA was detected in all 3 MCD patients and in 2 of 4 of the Ethiopian children positive for the lytic antigens. CONCLUSIONS: HHV-8 is highly prevalent in Ethiopian immigrants to Israel as compared with Israeli students. Antibodies to HHV-8 in Ethiopia are acquired before puberty. The results of this study indicate the association of HHV-8 with MCD, as has been documented by many other researchers.     

A test of the assumptions of the transtheoretical model in a post-traumatic stress disorder population

Prior reports suggest an ambivalence regarding treatment in individuals with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). A model that accommodates such ambivalence is the Transtheoretical Model of Behavior Change (TTM, also known as the Stages-of-Change Model). Fifty veterans presenting for treatment completed self-report measures (94% response rate) that assessed disorder variables and constructs relating to the TTM. While the relationships between the components of each specific construct were found to be consistent with the findings of other studies and a number of predicted relationships between variables were confirmed, many results were inconsistent with the TTM. Notwithstanding questions about the suitability of the self-report measures, the unique characteristics of the veteran sample and the small sample size, the results suggest that the assumptions of the TTM were not met in veterans with PTSD. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.