To test the hypothesis that selective breeding for high voluntary wheel running negatively affects maternal performance in house mice, we observed maternal behavior and compared litter size and mass, in replicate lines of selected (N =4) and control (N=4) mice from generations 20 and 21 of an artificial selection experiment. At generation 21, selected-line females ran 2.8-times more revolutions per day than females from random-bred control lines, when tested at approximately 6 weeks of age as part of the normal selection protocol. After giving birth, dams from selected and control lines exhibited similar frequencies of maternal behaviors and also spent similar amounts of time in general locomotor activity at litter ages of both 9 and 16 days. Dams from selected lines also performed equally well as controls in repeated pup-retrieval trials. At first parturition, selected-line dams averaged 2.4 g smaller in body mass as compared with dams from the control lines; however, neither litter size nor litter mass at birth (generation 20) or at weaning (generation 21) differed significantly between selected and control lines. We conclude that, at least under the husbandry conditions employed, maternal behavior and reproductive output at first parturition are genetically independent of wheel-running behavior.

We report the results of a quasi-experimental study evaluating the effectiveness of the Mindfulness Education (ME) program. ME is a theoretically derived, teacher-taught universal preventive intervention that focuses on facilitating the development of social and emotional competence and positive emotions, and has as its cornerstone daily lessons in which students engage in mindful attention training (three times a day). Pre-and early adolescent students in the 4th to 7th grades (N=246) drawn from six ME program classrooms and six comparison classrooms (wait-list controls) completed pretest and posttest self-report measures assessing optimism, general and school self-concept, and positive and negative affect. Teachers rated pre-and early adolescents on dimensions of classroom social and emotional competence. Results revealed that pre-and early adolescents who participated in the ME program, compared to those who did not, showed significant increases in optimism from pretest to posttest. Similarly, improvements on dimensions of teacherrated classroom social competent behaviors were found favoring ME program students. Program effects also were found for self-concept, although the ME program demonstrated more positive benefits for preadolescents than for early adolescents. Teacher reports of implementation fidelity and dosage for the mindfulness activities were high and teachers reported that they were easily able to integrate the mindful attention exercises within their classrooms. Theoretical issues linking mindful attention awareness to social and emotional competence and implications for the development of school-based interventions are discussed.

Background: While resilience has been defined as resistance to illness, adaptation, and thriving, the ability to bounce back or recover from stress is closest to its original meaning. Previous resilience measures assess resources that may promote resilience rather than recovery, resistance, adaptation, or thriving. Purpose: To test a new brief resilience scale. Method: The brief resilience scale (BRS) was created to assess the ability to bounce back or recover from stress. Its psychometric characteristics were examined in four samples, including two student samples and samples with cardiac and chronic pain patients. Results: The BRS was reliable and measured as a unitary construct. It was predictably related to personal characteristics, social relations, coping, and health in all samples. It was negatively related to anxiety, depression, negative affect, and physical symptoms when other resilience measures and optimism, social support, and Type D personality (high negative affect and high social inhibition) were controlled. There were large differences in BRS scores between cardiac patients with and without Type D and women with and without fibromyalgia. Conclusion: The BRS is a reliable means of assessing resilience as the ability to bounce back or recover from stress and may provide unique and important information about people coping with health-related stressors.

To present athletic trainers with recommendations for safe weight loss and weight maintenance practices for athletes and active clients and to provide athletes, clients, coaches, and parents with safe guidelines that will allow athletes and clients to achieve and maintain weight and body composition goals.

The authors used structural equation modeling to examine associations among perceptions of negative affect, social support, and quality of sleep in a sample of caregivers (n ϭ 175) and noncaregiver control participants (n ϭ 169). The authors hypothesized that caregiver status would be related to sleep quality directly and also indirectly by way of negative affect and social support. This hypothesis was partially supported in that caregiving was found to be indirectly related to sleep quality. However, after accounting for the indirect effects of negative affect and social support, the direct effect of caregiving on sleep quality was no longer statistically significant. The structural model accounted for approximately 43% of the variance in sleep quality. The present findings may be useful in the development of successful sleep interventions for caregivers.

A great number of research suggests that hardiness acts as a protective factor in stressful situations, especially in work context. In the present research the factor structure of Dispositional Resilience Scale (DRS; Bartone, Ursano, Wright, & Ingraham, 1989), and its factorial invariance across gender was examined. Furthermore, the relationships of hardiness to five-factor personality traits and several mental health outcomes (positive affect, negative affect and physical symptoms) were also explored. Research was carried out on the sample of 597 employees from different companies. Five hypotheses about the structure of this scale were tested by using confirmatory factor analysis. The results mostly supported one-factor structure of abridged version of DRS (12 items), from which three negatively oriented items originally aimed at measuring challenge were excluded. Regarding measurement invariance across gender, the results of multi-group confirmatory factor analysis show that facto...

Breast cancer radiotherapy can be an emotionally difficult experience. Despite this, few studies have examined the effectiveness of psychological interventions to reduce negative affect, and none to date have explicitly examined interventions to improve positive affect among breast cancer radiotherapy patients. The present study examined the effectiveness of a multimodal psychotherapeutic approach, combining cognitive-behavioral therapy and hypnosis (CBTH), to reduce negative affect and increase positive affect in 40 women undergoing breast cancer radiotherapy. Participants were randomly assigned to receive either CBTH or standard care. Participants completed weekly self-report measures of positive and negative affect. Repeated and univariate analyses of variance revealed that the CBTH approach reduced levels of negative affect [F(1, 38)=13.49; p=.0007, ω2=.56], and increased levels of positive affect [F(1, 38)=9.67; p=.0035, ω2=.48], during the course of radiotherapy. Additionally,...

Background: No universally accepted definition of multimorbidity (MM) exists, and implications of different definitions have not been explored. This study examined the performance of the count and cluster definitions of multimorbidity on the sociodemographic profile and health-related quality of life (HRQoL) in a general population. Methods: Data were derived from the nationally representative 2007 Australian National Survey of Mental Health and Wellbeing (n = 8841). The HRQoL scores were measured using the Assessment of Quality of Life (AQoL-4D) instrument. The simple count (2+ & 3+ conditions) and hierarchical cluster methods were used to define/identify clusters of multimorbidity. Linear regression was used to assess the associations between HRQoL and multimorbidity as defined by the different methods. Results: The assessment of multimorbidity, which was defined using the count method, resulting in the prevalence of 26% (MM2+) and 10.1% (MM3+). Statistically significant clusters identified through hierarchical cluster analysis included heart or circulatory conditions (CVD)/arthritis (cluster-1, 9%) and major depressive disorder (MDD)/anxiety (cluster-2, 4%). A sensitivity analysis suggested that the stability of the clusters resulted from hierarchical clustering. The sociodemographic profiles were similar between MM2+, MM3+ and cluster-1, but were different from cluster-2. HRQoL was negatively associated with MM2+ (β: −0.18, SE: −0.01, p < 0.001), MM3+ (β: −0.23, SE: −0.02, p < 0.001), cluster-1 (β: −0.10, SE: 0.01, p < 0.001) and cluster-2 (β: −0.36, SE: 0.01, p < 0.001). Conclusions: Our findings confirm the existence of an inverse relationship between multimorbidity and HRQoL in the Australian population and indicate that the hierarchical clustering approach is validated when the outcome of interest is HRQoL from this head-to-head comparison. Moreover, a simple count fails to identify if there are specific conditions of interest that are driving poorer HRQoL. Researchers should exercise caution when selecting a definition of multimorbidity because it may significantly influence the study outcomes.

We have tested the use of the free-living nematode Oncholaimus campylocercoides as a bioindicator of petroleum pollution. This was analysed using a polluted-reference sampling strategy for one year in Bizerte bay (Tunisia). We noted a decrease in body dimensions together with many biometric anomalies when organisms are exposed to petroleum compounds. The three first moults and the egg-production phase of specimens of O. campylocercoides from the polluted site TRIC (Tunisian Refining Industries Company) took longer. The egg volume was negatively affected by pollution and the development from egg to juveniles J1 in one side and from juveniles J4 to males from TRIC beach on another side seems to be faster. Our results demonstrated that biometry, life cycle and fecundity are useful indices to biomonitor hydrocarbon pollution in marine ecosystems. Juveniles of the second and third stage and gravid females of O. campylocercoides seem to be the most appropriate bioindicators.

Using Ecological Momentary Assessment, the within patient associations between drive for thinness, emotional states, momentary urge to be physically active and physical activity were studied in 32 inpatients with an eating disorder. Participants received an electronic device and had to indicate at nine random times a day during 1 week their momentary drive for thinness, positive and negative emotional states and their urge to be physically active and physical activity. Multilevel analyses indicated that patients with higher mean levels for urge to be physically active were characterized by lower body mass index (BMI) and chronically negative affect whereas patients with higher mean levels for physical activity were characterized by lower BMI and higher dispositions for drive for thinness. In addition, within patient relations between drive for thinness and urge to be physically active were moderated by BMI and chronically negative affect whereas within patient relations between drive for thinness and physical activity were moderated by BMI. Finally, also positive emotional states were significantly associated with physical activity within patients. By using a daily process design, characteristics of physical activity were revealed that have not been identified with assessment methods that have a lower time resolution. r

This study measured the economic impacts of climate change on crop and livestock farming in Africa based on a cross-sectional survey of over 8000 farming households from 11 countries in east, west, north and southern Africa. The response of net revenue from crop and livestock agriculture across various farm types and systems in Africa to changes in climate normals (i.e. mean rainfall and temperature) is analysed. The analyses controlled for effects of key socioeconomic, technology, soil and hydrological factors influencing agricultural production. Results show that net farm revenues are in general negatively affected by warmer and drier climates. The small-scale mixed crop and livestock system predominantly typical in Africa is the most tolerant whereas specialized crop production is the most vulnerable to warming and lower rainfall. These results have important policy implications, especially for the suitability of the increasing tendency toward large-scale mono-cropping strategies for agricultural development in Africa and other parts of the developing world in light of expected climate changes. Mixed crop and livestock farming and irrigation offered better adaptation options for farmers against further warming and drying predicted under various future climate scenarios.

Although socioeconomic status is a major contributing factor to health disparities, the mechanisms through which socioeconomic status influences health remain unclear. The purpose of the present study was to evaluate an a priori conceptual model of the pathways between socioeconomic status and modifiable health risk factors in a sample of 399 African Americans seeking smoking cessation treatment. A latent variable modeling approach was utilized to characterize the interrelationships among socioeconomic status, neighborhood disadvantage, social support, negative affect/perceived stress, and three specific modifiable risk factors (i.e., overweight/obesity, insufficient physical activity, at-risk drinking). Findings indicated that neighborhood disadvantage, social support, and negative affect/perceived stress function as pathways linking socioeconomic status and modifiable risk factors among African American smokers, and negative affect/perceived stress appears to play a key mediating role. Policy, community, and individual-level interventions may attenuate the impact of socioeconomic status on health by targeting intermediate psychosocial, environmental, and behavioral pathways.

We evaluated the effects of an enriched environment, based on a paired-choice preference assessment, on both rates of self-injurious behavior (SIB) and percentage of session intervals during which signs of negative affect were displayed by a woman with mental retardation and a mood disorder. Results suggested that SIB and signs of negative affect were highly correlated and that the enriched environment effectively reduced both.

Introduction: Sleep is an innate and essential part of human life. Various aspects of sleep are negatively affected by beta-blockers. We compared the impact of two beta-blockers, metoprolol succinate (extended release) and nebivolol, on sleep quality in patients with stage 1 hypertension. Methods: This was a prospective, randomized, open-label, parallel-group study. Eligible patients were administered the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) questionnaire by a blinded interviewer and were randomized to receive metoprolol (starting dose 25 mg) or nebivolol (starting dose 2.5 mg) once daily for 6 weeks. The first dose was administered before patients left the clinic. Visits were scheduled for 1, 2, 4, and 6 weeks after the initiation of therapy. At the end of the study, patients were readministered the PSQI questionnaire by the same interviewer, as before blinded to treatment allocation. Results: A total of 22 patients in the nebivolol group and 17 patients in the metoprolol group completed the study and were included in the data analysis (mean age of patients, 40.7 years). At study entry, systolic blood pressure

If energy security is defined as the availability of energy at all times in various forms, in sufficient quantities and at affordable prices, without unacceptable or irreversible impact on the economy and the environment, Japan is facing an energy security predicament. For a country that was already uneasy about energy security, the March 11, 2011 earthquake and tsunami, which caused a nuclear catastrophe in TEPCO&#x27;s Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, turned this unease into outright anxiety. With the temporary and/or permanent ...

This research examined the contributions of active and passive coping for health problems, and meaning-based coping, to positive psychosocial functioning in a sample of 100 individuals in residential care with a mean age of 83.11 years old. Study participants resided in skilled care, intermediate care, or assisted living facilities. Based on interview data collected on site in participants&#x27; residential settings, hierarchical multiple regression analyses revealed that active and passive coping and meaning-based coping had separate influences on measures of positive psychosocial functioning. Active coping was correlated with higher positive affect, whereas passive coping was associated with higher negative affect and self-acceptance. Positive reappraisal, a meaning-based coping strategy, was uniquely associated with higher positive affect, positive social relations, and self-acceptance. Positive religious coping was not independently associated with positive psychosocial function...

Boreal flat bugs include a high proportion of species that are considered negatively affected by forestry. Knowledge on the biology and habitat demands of individual species is generally limited. We examined the influence on flat bugs of stand-age and clear-cutting, comparing five classes of spruce stands. The five classes were: clear-cut, unthinned, and thinned (all three products of current clear-cutting forestry), mature managed and oldgrowth stands (these two had never been clear-cut). We also compared unburned and recently burned mature pine forest. Fire, but not stand age, had a pronounced effect on species richness and total abundance. Aradus depressus showed a significant association with older forest stands. Aradus betulae occurred only in clear-cuts and burned forest indicating that this species is favored by disturbance in general. Aradus lugubris, Aradus crenaticollis and Aradus brevicollis were found only in the burned forest. Aradus brevicollis has not previously been shown to be associated with fire.

Organizations expenditure on Information technology (IT) related investments continue to rise in the face of the fierce competition in the various marketplaces. Nevertheless, the problem of evaluating such investments remains a challenge to managers due to the inability of the evaluation techniques to accommodate the indirect costs associated with IT investments. This negatively affects the accuracy of the justification process

Background The introduction of adjuvant imatinib in gastrointestinal stromal tumors (GISTs) raised debate over the accuracy of National Institutes of Health risk criteria and the significance of other prognostic factors in GIST. Methods Tumor aggressiveness and other clinicopathological factors influencing disease-free survival (DFS) were assessed in 335 patients with primary resectable CD117-immunopositive GISTs (median follow-up, 31 months after primary tumor resection) from a prospectively collected tumor registry. Results Overall median DFS was 37 months, and estimated 5-year DFS was 37.8 %. In univariate analysis, high or intermediate risk group (P < .000001), mitotic index >5/50 high-power field (P < .00001), primary tumor size >5 cm (P < .00001), nongastric primary location (P = .0001), male sex (P = .01), R1 resection/tumor rupture (P = .0003), and epithelioid cell or mixed cell pathological subtype (P = .05) negatively affected DFS. In multivariate analysis, statistically significant factors negatively influencing DFS for model 1 were mitotic index >5/50 high-power field (P = .004), primary tumor size >5 cm (P = .001), male sex (P = .003), R1 resection/tumor rupture (P = .04), and nongastric primary tumor location (P = .02), and for model 2 were high/intermediate risk primary tumor (P < .0001 and P = .008, respectively), male sex (P = .007), resection R1/tumor rupture (P = .01), and nongastric primary tumor location (P = .02). Five-year DFS for high, intermediate, and low/very low risk group was 20%, 54%, and 96%, respectively. Conclusions The risk criteria for assessing the natural course of primary GISTs were validated, but additional independent prognostic factors—primary tumor location and sex—were also identified.

Guided by H. theory of behavior and the transtheoretical model, the study purpose was to examine differences in psychosocial variables and external conditions by stage of mammography adoption. Sampled from a statewide population, participants (N ϭ 509) were women aged 51-80. They had been contacted by telephone, screened for eligibility (e.g., no history of cancer or recent mammogram), and interviewed 3-6 months later. Higher utility beliefs, social influences, and practitioner interactions about mammography were associated with improved stage of adoption, as were lower negative affect and external barriers regarding mammography. Higher decisional balance scores, with and without negative affect toward mammography, were associated with improved stage. Controlling for variables reflecting pros and cons, negative affect toward mammography further distinguished among stages. A richer set of pros and cons measures could explain screening more fully.

We review the risk and protective factors for child physical abuse (CPA). An etiological model based on moderate to strongly supported risk factors would begin with distal perpetrator variables of being abused as a child/teen and receiving less family social support as a child. Next might come current family variables such as parents' youth, father's drinking, and family's living in a community that is impoverished and/or has a lower percentage of two parent families. More proximal variables that increase the probability of parents, especially mothers, employing severe or abusive physical tactics could include mothers' dysphoria (e.g., unhappiness, emotional distress, anxiety, loneliness and isolation, depression, somatic complaints, interpersonal problems, feelings of incompetence as a parent, a tendency toward becoming upset and angry), and stress (more stressful life events, including parenting and other family stresses) and coping (most likely a protective factor, including problem solving and social support). Finally, risk factors that are proximal to abuse could include mothers' high reactivity (impulsivity, high negative affect and autonomic nervous system arousal), high-risk parenting (harsh discipline strategies, verbal aggression, yelling), and negative attributions, and children's behavior problems (e.g., socialized aggression, attention deficits, and internalizing and externalizing problems).

This study examined the modulatory function of Duchenne and non-Duchenne smiles on subjective and autonomic components of emotion. Participants were asked to hold a pencil in their mouth to either facilitate or inhibit smiles and were not instructed to contract specific muscles. Five conditions-namely lips pressing, low-level non-Duchenne smiling, high-level non-Duchenne smiling, Duchenne smiling, and control-were produced while participants watched videoclips that were evocative of positive or negative affect. Participants who displayed Duchenne smiles reported more positive experience when pleasant scenes and humorous cartoons were presented. Furthermore, they tended to exhibit different patterns of autonomic arousal when viewing positive scenes. These results support the facial feedback hypothesis and suggest that facial feedback has more powerful effects when facial configurations represent valid analogs of basic emotional expressions. I thank Nathalie Fontaine for her assistance in the data collection. I am grateful to Patrick Mollaret for helpful comments concerning the design of this research. I also thank Paul Gendreau, Benoist Schaal, and Rita Compatangelo for valuable comments on an earlier version of this article.

With regard to the high mortality of silver fir (Abies alba Mill.) in Italy, pathological and climatic causes are considered crucial, while soil properties are usually neglected. Two of the largest Tuscan forests of this species, the one of Vallombrosa and the other of Mount Amiata, are seriously affected byHeter obasidion annosum, a fungus causing root rot. However, in spite of the same provenance of firs and intersterile group of the fungus, the tree death is different at the two sites. In one case, firs quickly died standing, while in the other they were uprooted after a slow course of the illness. A study was conducted on the two localities to perceive the role of soil properties in this connection. In the light of our results, pedological conditions are important, negatively affecting the plants either “directly” — limiting deep rooting and preventing the trees to achieve sufficient anchorage in the ground — and “indirectly” — favouring the spread and the virulence ofH. annosum. Mit Blick auf die hohe Sterblichkeit der Weiß-Tanne (Abies alba Mill.) in Italien werden pathologische und klimatische Gründe als entscheidend betrachtet, Bodeneigenschaften jedoch gewöhnlich vernachlässigt. Zwei der ausgedehntesten toskanischen Wälder dieser Gattung, der eine in Vallombrosa, der andere am Amiata-Berg, sind schwer vonHeterobasidion annosum betroffen, einem Pilz, der Wurzelfäulnis auslöst. Trotz derselben Herkunft der Tannen und der intersterilen Gruppe des verläuft der Baumtod an beiden Standorten verschieden. Im einen Fall starben die Tannen rasch und blieben stehen, während sie im anderen Fall nach langsamem Krankheitsverlauf entwurzelt wurden. An beiden Standorten wurde eine Studie durchgeführt, um in diesem Zusammenhang die Rolle der Bodenbeschaffenheit herauszufinden. In Anbetracht unserer Ergebnisse sind pädologische (pedological) Bedingungen wichtig und beeinträchtigen die Pflanzen sowohl „direkt“ — indem sie tiefe Verwurzelung einschränken und die Bäume am Erreichen ausreichender Bodenverankerung hindern — als auch „indirekt“ — indem sie Ausbreitung und Virulenz vonH. annosum begünstigen.

Using nationally representative data from the NLSY97 and a simultaneous equations model, this paper analyzes the financial motivations for and the effects of employment on U.S. college students’ academic performance. The data confirm the predictions of the theoretical model that lower parental transfers and greater costs of attending college increase the number of hours students work while in school, although students are not very responsive to these financial motivations. They also provide some evidence that greater hours of work lead to lower grade point averages (GPAs).

Indices of marital discord and mother-child affective processes were used to predict levels of negativity children displayed with unfamiliar peers. Thirty-nine mothers and their 5-year-olds were observed with 5-7 other mother-child dyads during a 30-minute free play session. Mother and child negativity were coded and two types of marital discord were assessed via mother self-report: affiliative discord (e.g., distress due to the lack of affiliative behaviors in the marriage) and instrumental discord (e.g., disagreements about the accomplishment of marital tasks, such as finances, time management, and goal setting). Affiliative discord was found to relate to the child's negativity with unfamiliar peers, but instrumental discord was not. Furthermore, maternal negativity moderated the link between marital discord and child's negativity with peers, such that high levels of affiliative discord combined with heightened maternal negativity was associated with child negativity. Practical implications are discussed.

Mandated reporting of child abuse by Family Therapists (FTs) has been examined by the authors in two previous studies. The first study found that mandated reporting issues negatively affected FTs' abilities to maintain a systemic focus. The second study surveyed types and frequencies of negative experiences of FTs with mandated reporting. A 46-item questionnaire was administered to 101 FTs. Results were significant for four of the items. The respondents also provided 116 comments related to mandated reporting experiences. This study provides a qualitative analysis of the written comments of the respondents regarding their xexperiences with mandated reporting of child abuse.

We charted daily variations in intrusive thoughts to gain access to adult age differences in affective reactivity to daily stressors. On 100 days, 101 younger and 103 older adults reported stressors, intrusive thoughts, and negative affect. Although increments in intrusive thoughts were similar in both age groups on days with stressors, older adults' negative affect increased less than younger adults' on such days. In addition, (a) levels of intrusive thoughts and negative affect across study time were positively associated; (b) days with increased thoughts were days with increased negative affect; and (c) experiencing above-average intrusive thoughts about stressors strengthened affective reactions to stress. Relative to younger adults, all three associations were reduced in older adults. We tentatively conclude that normal aging dampens the stress-induced link between intrusive thoughts and affect. This dampening may contribute to preserved affective well-being and reduced affective reactivity to daily stress in old age.

The current study evaluated whether difficulties regulating emotions explained unique variance in binge eating and examined which types of emotion regulation difficulties are most strongly associated with binge eating. The Eating Disorders Diagnostic Scale and the Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale were completed by 695 undergraduates. Hierarchical regression results indicated that difficulties regulating emotions accounted for a significant amount of the variance in binge eating over and above sex, food restriction, and over-evaluation of weight and shape. Results also indicated that greater difficulty identifying and making sense of emotional states, and limited access to emotion regulation strategies were primarily responsible for the link between emotion regulation difficulties and binge eating. This supports a model of binge eating that includes emotional vulnerability and a deficit of skills to functionally modulate negative moods.

Power trends for data center facilities continue to grow at an alarming rate. In response to this, data center operators are now implementing various practices such as adding blanking plates, hot aisle/cold aisle containment, etc. Also, in response to ASHRAE's expanded thermal guidelines [1], many data center operators are now raising the supply air temperature in an effort to further conserve energy. However, airflow in a high-density thermal environment is a complex phenomenon and requires an appropriate engineering analysis to understand all of the factors. Improperly implementing such practices, which are now known as "Industry Standard Practices", may result in overheating of IT equipment and thus negatively affect data center operations. In the following scenarios, Cooling Path Management (CPM) is used to understand the airflow / thermal environment of the facility. ASHRAE thermal guidelines are then followed to increase the average temperature of the room. In later scenarios it is shown that with proper airflow management, ASHRAE recommendations can be implemented using a full engineering analysis. Results from the final scenario show that the CRAH unit set point can be increased by 23.8ºF from the baseline scenario and 5.5 kW of stranded capacity can be regained. Results also show that "Industry Standard Practices" only enable the CRAH unit set point to be increased by 13.4ºF. Following the CPM method and ASHRAE thermal guidelines will enable operators to make tangible changes to their data center using objective data.

We compared the ability of models based on evolutionary economic theory and Life History (LH) Theory to explain relations among self-reported negative affect, mate value, and mating effort. Method: Two hundred thirty-eight undergraduates provided multiple measures of these latent constructs, permitting us to test a priori predictions based on . We compared the fit of the initial model to the fit of five alternative theory-driven models using nested model comparisons of Structural Equations Models. Rejecting less parsimonious and explanatory models eliminated the original model. Two equally parsimonious models explained the data pattern well. The first, based on evolutionary economic theory, specified that Negative Affect increases both Personal Mate Value and Mating Effort via the direct effects specified in the original model. The second, based on LH Theory, specified that Negative Affect, Personal Mate Value, and Mating Effort relate spuriously through a common latent construct, the LH Factor. The primary limitation of the present study is generalizability. We used self-reports taken from a young, university-based sample that included a spectrum of affective states. We cannot know how well these models generalize to an older population or to actual behavior. Both models predict the presence of a rich pattern of mate acquisition and retention behaviors, including an alarming set of behavioral tactics often not considered or targeted during treatment. Moreover, each model suggests a unique set of problems may arise after an effective intervention. We describe several ways to distinguish these models empirically.

Sleep deprivation (SD) negatively affects various cognitive performances, but surprisingly evidence about a specific impact of sleep loss on subjective evaluation of emotional stimuli remains sparse. In the present study, we assessed the effect of SD on the emotional rating of standardized visual stimuli selected from the International Affective Picture System. Forty university students were assigned to the sleep group (n = 20), tested before and after one night of undisturbed sleep at home, or to the deprivation group, tested before and after one night of total SD. One-hundred and eighty pictures (90 test, 90 retest) were selected and categorized as pleasant, neutral and unpleasant. Participants were asked to judge their emotional reactions while viewing pictures by means of the Self-Assessment Manikin. Subjective mood ratings were also obtained by means of Visual Analog Scales. No significant effect of SD was observed on the evaluation of pleasant and unpleasant stimuli. On the contrary, SD subjects perceived the neutral pictures more negatively and showed an increase of negative mood and a decrease of subjective alertness compared to non-deprived subjects. Finally, an analysis of covariance on mean valence ratings of neutral pictures using negative mood as covariate confirmed the effect of SD. Our results indicate that sleep is involved in regulating emotional evaluation. The emotional labeling of neutral stimuli biased toward negative responses was not mediated by the increase of negative mood. This effect can be interpreted as an adaptive reaction supporting the "better safe than sorry" principle. It may also have applied implications for healthcare workers, military and law-enforcement personnel.

Background Patients receiving intensive chemotherapy can experience increased distressed related to both the cancer diagnosis and treatment isolation. If not addressed, distress can lead to anxiety, depression, and post-traumatic stress disorder. The purpose of this study was to determine the feasibility and possible benefits of a music imagery intervention for patients hospitalized in a protective environment for the treatment of acute leukemia or highgrade non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. Materials and methods Adults receiving intensive myelosuppressive chemotherapy in a protective environment were randomized to standard care or standard care plus music imagery. The music imagery sessions occurred twice weekly for up to eight sessions. Patients were encouraged to use the music imagery daily. Results The principal criteria of feasibility were rate of consent, rate of completion of scheduled sessions, and rate of questionnaire completion. Forty-nine out of 78 patients consented, a 63% consent rate. Seventy-two percent of all scheduled music imagery sessions were completed. The rate of questionnaire completion was 60% with missing data because of illness severity and early discharge. The principal outcomes of benefit (e.g., efficacy) were positive and negative affects, fatigue, and anxiety. Both groups improved over time on all outcomes (all p < 0.001). However, a subgroup of individuals with low baseline negative affect who received the intervention reported significantly less anxiety at discharge than individuals with low baseline negative affect who did not receive the intervention. Conclusions Music imagery is feasible for adults with acute leukemia in protected environments. Patients with lower initial distress may benefit from a music imagery program in terms of reduced anxiety at discharge.

Initial evidence suggests that the employment of self-handicapping strategies has a beneficial effect on negative affective states associated with the perceived threat of evaluative contexts (Harris & Snyder, 1986; Leary, 1986). The present study sought to describe the type of self-handicapping behaviors demonstrated by youth athletes (N=238) as well as to assess the stress-buffering role of athlete self-handicapping on indices of competitive state anxiety. Specifically, it was hypothesized that among high trait-handicapping athletes, those who report a greater degree of performance-debilitating obstacles prior to competition would demonstrate lowered cognitive and somatic state anxiety as well as greater state self-confidence than nonhandicapping athletes. However, MANOVA results indicated that both high trait and situational self-handicappers demonstrate elevated state anxiety immediately prior to competition. Results are discussed in relation to the possible role of state anxiety as a salient self-handicapping strategy within competitive sport.

Position Statement: The position of the Society regarding nutrient timing and the intake of carbohydrates, proteins, and fats in reference to healthy, exercising individuals is summarized by the following eight points: 1.) Maximal endogenous glycogen stores are best promoted by following a high-glycemic, high-carbohydrate (CHO) diet (600 -1000 grams CHO or ~8 -10 g CHO/kg/d), and ingestion of free amino acids and protein (PRO) alone or in combination with CHO before resistance exercise can maximally stimulate protein synthesis. 2.) During exercise, CHO should be consumed at a rate of 30 -60 grams of CHO/hour in a 6 -8% CHO solution (8 -16 fluid ounces) every 10 -15 minutes. Adding PRO to create a CHO:PRO ratio of 3 -4:1 may increase endurance performance and maximally promotes glycogen re-synthesis during acute and subsequent bouts of endurance exercise. 3.) Ingesting CHO alone or in combination with PRO during resistance exercise increases muscle glycogen, offsets muscle damage, and facilitates greater training adaptations after either acute or prolonged periods of supplementation with resistance training. 4.) Post-exercise (within 30 minutes) consumption of CHO at high dosages (8 -10 g CHO/kg/day) have been shown to stimulate muscle glycogen re-synthesis, while adding PRO (0.2 g -0.5 g PRO/ kg/day) to CHO at a ratio of 3 -4:1 (CHO: PRO) may further enhance glycogen re-synthesis. 5.) Post-exercise ingestion (immediately to 3 h post) of amino acids, primarily essential amino acids, has been shown to stimulate robust increases in muscle protein synthesis, while the addition of CHO may stimulate even greater levels of protein synthesis. Additionally, pre-exercise consumption of a CHO + PRO supplement may result in peak levels of protein synthesis. 6.) During (page number not for citation purposes) consistent, prolonged resistance training, post-exercise consumption of varying doses of CHO + PRO supplements in varying dosages have been shown to stimulate improvements in strength and body composition when compared to control or placebo conditions. 7.) The addition of creatine (Cr) (0.1 g Cr/kg/day) to a CHO + PRO supplement may facilitate even greater adaptations to resistance training. 8.) Nutrient timing incorporates the use of methodical planning and eating of whole foods, nutrients extracted from food, and other sources. The timing of the energy intake and the ratio of certain ingested macronutrients are likely the attributes which allow for enhanced recovery and tissue repair following high-volume exercise, augmented muscle protein synthesis, and improved mood states when compared with unplanned or traditional strategies of nutrient intake.

The life events scale for students is a checklist measure of life events intended for use with undergraduate populations. The report describes the validation of the scale for use with British undergraduates. Ratings for the events on the scale were obtained from a sample of 191 undergraduates. A second analysis using a sample of 40 undergraduates showed that scores on the scale were predictive of elevated levels of psychopathology. Furthermore, this relationship was largely independent of negative affectivity or repression-sensitization. The Life Events Scale for Students provides a suitable measure for use in stress research using undergraduate populations.

To flour tortillas formulations containing 25 g/100 g of pinto bean flour, 0.5 g/100 g and 0.75 g/100 g of guar gum and sodium carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC) were added and their shelf stability was studied at 4 and 25 C over 7 days. Texture, determined instrumentally, rollability, and water holding capacity were the main parameters studied. Selected samples were evaluated by 55 participants to determine consumer acceptability. Firmness and cohesiveness were negatively affected by the addition of bean flour, however, this effect was partially overcome by the addition of hydrocolloids. Guar gum had a positive significant influence on water holding capacity and texture over time (P < 0.001), while CMC had no positive effects. Despite the instrumental texture data, which showed that bean tortillas had inferior attributes than the wheat control, consumers found the overall texture and acceptability of bean tortillas with and without guar gum on the range of ''like very much'' and ''like moderately'', which was significantly higher than the wheat control (P < 0.01). Based on physical and sensorial properties it would appear that these foods are industrially feasible and highly acceptable by health-conscious consumers.