bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Diagnostic and therapeutic approach to persistent or recurrent fevers of unknown origin in adult stem cell transplantation and haematological malignancy
Authors: Morrissey C. O. , Bardy P. G. , Slavin M. A. , Ananda‐Rajah M. R. , Chen S. C. , Kirsa S. W. , Ritchie D. S. , Upton A.
Published: June 2008

Persistent or recurrent fevers of unknown origin (PFUO) in neutropenic patients on broad‐spectrum antibiotics have traditionally been treated with empirical antifungal therapy (EAFT). The lack of survival benefit seen with the use of amphotericin B deoxycholate (AmB‐D) as EAFT has been attributed to its toxicities. More recently, newer, less toxic and more expensive antifungal agents such as the lipid formulations of AmB, the newer azoles (fluconazole, itraconazole and voriconazole) and caspofungin have been analysed in a number of EAFT trials. Compared with AmB‐D the newer agents have superior safety but are of equivalent efficacy. This lack of survival advantage is related to the fact that the trigger for commencement of EAFT is late and non‐specific. Thus, alternative approaches are required. New sensitive serological and molecular tests for the detection of Aspergillus antigens and genomic DNA have been developed and evaluated in accuracy studies. These tests have been incorporated into management strategies (i.e. pre‐emptive strategies) to direct antifungal therapy. The pre‐emptive approach has been shown to be safe and feasible but its impact on clinically important patient outcomes such as survival is less clear. Other advances include the introduction of effective, non‐toxic mould‐active antifungal prophylaxis and patient risk‐group stratification. In this paper we provide new evidence‐based algorithms for the diagnosis and treatment of PFUO in adult patients undergoing stem cell transplantation and chemotherapy for haematological malignancy which incorporate these newer diagnostic tests and are directed by the risk category of the patient and type of antifungal prophylaxis the patient is receiving.
Recommendations for the treatment of established fungal infections
Authors: Thursky K. A. , Playford E. G. , Seymour J. F. , Sorrell T. C. , Ellis D. H. , Guy S. D. , Gilroy N. , Chu J. , Shaw D. R.
Published: June 2008

Evidence‐based guidelines for the treatment of established fungal infections in the adult haematology/oncology setting were developed by a national consensus working group representing clinicians, pharmacists and microbiologists. These updated guidelines replace the previous guidelines published in the Internal Medicine Journal by Slavin et al. in 2004. The guidelines are pathogen‐specific and cover the treatment of the most common fungal infections including candidiasis, aspergillosis, cryptococcosis, zygomycosis, fusariosis, scedosporiosis, and dermatophytosis. Recommendations are provided for management of refractory disease or salvage therapies, and special sites of infections such as the cerebral nervous system and the eye. Because of the widespread use newer broad‐spectrum triazoles in prophylaxis and empiric therapy, these guidelines should be implemented in concert with the updated prophylaxis and empiric therapy guidelines published by this group.
Optimizing antifungal drug dosing and monitoring to avoid toxicity and improve outcomes in patients with haematological disorders
Authors: Worth L. J. , Blyth C. C. , Booth D. L. , Kong D. C. M. , Marriott D. , Cassumbhoy M. , Ray J. , Slavin M. A. , Wilkes J. R.
Published: June 2008

Antifungal prophylaxis, empirical therapy and treatment of established fungal infections in the haematology population may be associated with significant toxicity or drug interactions leading to sub‐therapeutic antifungal drug concentrations and poorer clinical outcomes. These risks may be minimised by clinical assessment, laboratory monitoring of biochemical or haematological indices, avoidance of particular drug combinations and dose modification in certain circumstances. Specific measures, such as the optimal timing of oral drug administration in relation to meals, use of pre‐hydration and electrolyte supplementation may also be required. For certain agents, therapeutic drug monitoring (TDM) is warranted where non‐compliance, non‐linear pharmacokinetics, a narrow therapeutic window, suspected drug interaction or unexpected toxicity are encountered. Pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics of clinical relevance to the haematology population are discussed for the azole, polyene and echinocandin classes of antifungal agents. The evidence supporting an association between TDM and enhanced treatment outcomes is presented for individual antifungal drugs, and recommendations for clinical practice are provided. Further randomised study of newer antifungal agents, such as posaconazole, is required to explore the potential for improved clinical outcomes in association with TDM.
Preventing invasive fungal infection during hospital building works
Authors: Chang C. C. , Athan E. , Morrissey C. O. , Slavin M. A.
Published: June 2008

Hospital building works increase the risk of invasive fungal infections. Nosocomial outbreaks have been reported. A pre‐emptive strategy for planned building works is paramount. The roles of HEPA filtration, air‐sampling and modulation of ‘routine’ antifungal prophylaxis practice are discussed in the context of pre‐emptive planning and outbreak management.
Gradients of coastal fish farm effluents and their effect on coral reef microbes
Authors: Garren Melissa , Smriga Steven , Azam Farooq
Published: June 2008

Coastal milkfish (Chanos chanos) farming may be a source of organic matter enrichment for coral reefs in Bolinao, Republic of the Philippines. Interactions among microbial communities associated with the water column, corals and milkfish feces can provide insight into the ecosystem's response to enrichment. Samples were collected at sites along a transect that extended from suspended milkfish pens into the coral reef. Water was characterized by steep gradients in the concentrations of dissolved organic carbon (70–160 μM), total dissolved nitrogen (7–40 μM), chlorophyll a (0.25–10 μg l−1), particulate matter (106–832 μg l−1), bacteria (5 × 105−1 × 106 cells ml−1) and viruses (1–7 × 107 ml−1) that correlated with distance from the fish cages. Particle‐attached bacteria, which were observed by scanning laser confocal microscopy, increased across the gradient from < 0.1% to 5.6% of total bacteria at the fish pens. Analyses of 16S rRNA genes by denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis and environmental clone libraries revealed distinct microbial communities for each sample type. Coral libraries had the greatest number of phyla represented (range: 6–8) while fish feces contained the lowest number (3). Coral libraries also had the greatest number of ‘novel’ sequences (defined as < 93% similar to any sequence in the NCBI nt database; 29% compared with 3% and 5% in the feces and seawater libraries respectively). Despite the differences in microbial community composition, some 16S rRNA sequences co‐occurred across sample types including Acinetobacter sp. and Ralstonia sp. Such patterns raise the question of whether bacteria might be transported from the fish pens to corals or if microenvironments at the fish pens and on the corals select for the same phylotypes. Understanding the underlying mechanisms of effluent–coral interactions will help predict the ability of coral reef ecosystems to resist and rebound from organic matter enrichment.
Measurements of accumulation and displacement at the single cell cluster level in Pseudomonas aeruginosa biofilms
Authors: Klayman Benjamin J. , Klapper Isaac , Stewart Philip S. , Camper Anne K.
Published: June 2008

Quantitative descriptions of biofilm growth and dynamics at the individual cell level are largely missing from the literature. To fill this gap, research was done to describe growth, accumulation and displacement patterns in developing Pseudomonas aeruginosa biofilms. A parent strain of PAO1 was labelled with either a cyan or yellow fluorescent protein. These were then grown in a flow cell biofilm together so that pockets of dividing cells could be identified and their accumulation and displacement tracked. This analysis revealed a pattern of exponential accumulation for all clusters followed by a stationary accumulation phase. A background ‘carpet’ layer of cells uniformly colonizing the surface exhibited zero net accumulation of bio‐volume. The individual clusters were found to have a mean accumulation rate of 0.34 h−1 with a range of 0.28–0.41 h−1. Cluster accumulation rates were negatively correlated with cluster size; larger clusters accumulated volume at a slower rate (P < 0.001). Pockets of cells on the inside of clusters initially accumulated at a comparable rate to the cluster within which they resided, but later invariably exhibited zero to slightly negative accumulation despite continued exponential (positive) accumulation of the cluster. Expanding clusters were able to displace neighbouring cells from the surface, and larger clusters displaced smaller clusters. This work provides a more detailed quantitative experimental observation of biofilm behaviour than has been described previously.
A large gene cluster encoding peptide synthetases and polyketide synthases is involved in production of siderophores and oxidative stress response in the cyanobacterium Anabaena sp. strain PCC 7120
Authors: Jeanjean Robert , Talla Emmanuel , Latifi Amel , Havaux Michel , Janicki Annick , Zhang Cheng‐Cai
Published: June 2008

Non‐ribosomal peptide synthetases (NRPSs) and polyketide synthases (PKSs) are necessary for the production of a variety of secondary metabolites, such as siderophores involved in iron acquisition. In response to iron limitation, the cyanobacterium Anabaena sp. strain PCC 7120 synthesizes several siderophores. The chromosome of this organism contains a large gene cluster of 76 kb with 24 open‐reading frames from all2658 to all2635, including those that encode seven NRPSs and two PKSs. The function of this gene cluster was unknown, and one possibility could be the synthesis of siderophores. These genes were indeed activated under conditions of iron limitation. One mutant, MΔ41–49, bearing a large deletion of 43.4 kb in this gene cluster, synthesized considerably less siderophores and contained less iron as compared with the wild type. Its growth rate was similar to the wild type in the presence of iron, but was reduced when iron became limiting. Two other mutants, MΔ44–45 and MΔ47–49, lacking either all2644 and all2645, or all2647, all2648 and all2649 respectively, produced more siderophores than MΔ41–49, but less than the wild type. These genes were also activated under oxidative stress conditions to which MΔ41–49 was highly sensitive, consistent with the importance of iron in oxidative stress response. We propose that this gene cluster is involved in the synthesis of siderophores in Anabaena sp. PCC 7120 and plays an important role in defence against oxidative stress.
Positive Health
Authors: Seligman Martin E.P.
Published: June 2008

I propose a new field: positive health. Positive health describes a state beyond the mere absence of disease and is definable and measurable. Positive health can be operationalised by a combination of excellent status on biological, subjective, and functional measures. By mining existing longitudinal studies, we can test the hypothesis that positive health predicts increased longevity (correcting for quality of life), decreased health costs, better mental health in aging, and better prognosis when illness strikes. Those aspects of positive health which specifically predict these outcomes then become targets for new interventions and refinements of protocol. I propose that the field of positive health has direct parallels to the field of positive psychology, parallels that suggest that a focus on health rather than illness will be cost saving and life saving. Finally, I suggest a different mode of science, the Copenhagen‐Medici model, used to found positive psychology, as an appropriate way of beginning the flagship explorations for positive health.

Je propose de créer un nouveau domaine d’investigations: la santé positive. La santé positive désigne une condition définissable et mesurable qui se situe au‐delà de la simple absence de maladie. Elle peut être opérationnalisée par une combinaison de scores excellents sur les dimensions biologiques, subjectives et fonctionnelles. On peut, sur la base des études longitudinales existantes, mettre à l’épreuve l’hypothèse que la santé positive annonce une longévité accrue (ce qui renvoie à la qualité de vie), une réduction des coûts liés à la santé, une meilleure santé mentale lors du vieillissement et un pronostic plus favorable en cas de maladie. Ces facettes de la santé positive qui prédisent spécifiquement de telles conséquences deviennent des objectifs pour de nouvelles interventions et une amélioration du protocole. Je pense que le domaine de la santé positive est en liaison directe avec celui de la psychologie positive, liens qui suggèrent que le fait de se focaliser sur la santé plutôt que sur la maladie réduira les coûts tout en allongeant la vie. J’introduis en dernière analyse un nouveau type de connaissance, le modèle Copenhague‐Médicis, utilisé pour fonder la psychologie positive, comme outil pertinent pour initier des travaux majeurs pour la promotion de la santé positive.
Group Well‐Being: Morale from a Positive Psychology Perspective
Authors: Peterson Christopher , Park Nansook , Sweeney Patrick J.
Published: June 2008

What makes life most worth living? The simplest summary of findings from the new field of positive psychology is that other people matter. It is within groups that we live, work, love, and play, and groups should therefore be a primary focus of researchers interested in health and well‐being. In the present article, we propose morale as an important indicator of group well‐being. We survey what is known about overall morale across a variety of groups: its meaning, measurement, enabling factors, and putative consequences. We sketch a future research agenda that would examine morale in multidimensional terms at both the individual and group levels and would pay particular attention to the positive outcomes associated with morale.

Qu’est‐ce qui fait que la vie vaut le plus la peine d’être vécue? Réduire à leur plus simple expression les résultats de ce nouveau domaine qu’est la psychologie positive revient à mentionner l’importance d’autrui. C’est dans des groupes que nous vivons, travaillons, aimons et jouons, et les groupes devraient donc être une préoccupation première pour les chercheurs concernés par la santé et le bien‐être. Dans cet article, on avance l’idée que le moral est un indicateur majeur du bien‐être des groupes. On recense ce qui est connu sur le moral en général dans divers types de groupes: sa signification, sa mesure, ses antécédents et ses conséquences supposées. On esquisse un futur programme de recherche qui appréhenderait le moral de façon multidimensionnelle aux niveaux à la fois individuel et groupal et accorderait une attention particulière aux retombées positives relevant du moral.
Positive Psychology and the Illness Ideology: Toward a Positive Clinical Psychology
Authors: Maddux James E.
Published: June 2008

This article challenges traditional views of the proper subject matter of clinical psychology, the nature of psychological adjustment and maladjustment, and the roles and functions of clinical psychologists. Toward this end, the article discusses clinical psychologists’conceptions of psychological adjustment and maladjustment and of the difference between psychological adjustment and maladjustment. It describes and challenges the illness ideology that has prevailed in clinical psychology for the past century—an ideology that has been socially constructed rather than scientifically constructed. This ideology consists of not only a set of assumptions about the nature of psychological adjustment and the “territory” of clinical psychology but also a language that influences the way clinical psychologists and others think about the field. It then offers a statement of a new mission for and vision of clinical psychology based on the values of positive psychology.

Cet article interroge l’approche traditionnelle des questions spécifiques à la psychologie clinique, la nature de l’adaptation et de l’inadaptation psychologiques, et les rôles et fonctions des psychologues cliniciens. A cette fin, on examine les conceptions des cliniciens concernant l’adaptation et l’inadaptation psychologiques, ainsi que la différence entre ces deux notions. On décrit et conteste l’idéologie de la maladie qui a prévalu en psychologie clinique au cours du dernier siècle, une idéologie qui a étéélaborée socialement plutôt que scientifiquement. Cette idéologie renvoie non seulement à une série d’affirmations sur la nature de l’adaptation psychologique et le « territoire » de la psychologie clinique, mais aussi à un langage qui influence la façon dont les psychologues cliniciens (et d’autres aussi) abordent ce domaine. On propose ensuite, à partir des valeurs de la psychologie positive, une vision de la psychologie clinique débouchant pour elle sur une nouvelle mission.
The Role of Social Approach and Avoidance Motives for Subjective Well‐Being and the Successful Transition to Adulthood
Authors: Nikitin Jana , Freund Alexandra M.
Published: June 2008

Social affiliation appears to be a central human need. Taking a developmental perspective, we discuss whether and how the desire to belong (approach motivation) and the fear of being rejected (avoidance motivation) might be of central importance for understanding success or failure in transitional phases, especially in the transition from adolescence into adulthood. Cognitive, emotional, and behavioral consequences of social motives (approach, avoidance, and their co‐occurrence) are reviewed. We argue that both tendencies need to be taken into account for understanding affiliation motivation and behavior and its significance for life satisfaction and well‐being. A predominant social approach motivation has positive consequences for cognition, behavior, emotion, and well‐being, whereas the opposite pattern holds for a predominant avoidance motivation. Co‐occurrence of both is characterised by ambivalent cognitions and emotions, and unstable behavior. Taking a developmental perspective, however, and considering social development in the transition to adulthood, co‐occurrence might be more beneficial than a predominant avoidance motivation.

Il est clair que l’affiliation est un besoin humain fondamental. On se demande, dans une perspective développementale, si et comment le désir d’être accueilli (motivation à l’approche) et la crainte d’être rejeté (motivation à l’évitement) pourraient être d’une importance majeure dans l’explication du succès ou de l’échec des périodes de transition, en particulier lors du passage de l’adolescence à l’âge adulte. On passe en revue les prolongements cognitifs, émotionnels et comportementaux des motivations sociales (approche, évitement et leurs corollaires). On soutient que les deux tendances doivent être prises en compte pour comprendre la motivation à l’affiliation et les comportements qui s’ensuivent, ainsi que leur portée pour le bien‐être et le bonheur de vivre. Etre prioritairement motivé par les contacts sociaux a des retombées positives sur la cognition, le comportement, les émotions et le bien‐être, tandis que le schéma inverse renvoie à une motivation dominante pour l’évitement. La co‐occurrence de ces deux motivations provoque des cognitions et des émotions ambivalentes et un comportement instable. Toutefois, d’un point de vue développemental, et pour ce qui est de la maturation sociale lors du passage vers l’âge adulte, la co‐occurrence pourrait se révéler plus bénéfique que la seule motivation à l’évitement.
Engagement and Emotional Exhaustion in Teachers: Does the School Context Make a Difference?
Authors: Klusmann Uta , Kunter Mareike , Trautwein Ulrich , Lüdtke Oliver , Baumert Jürgen
Published: June 2008

Focusing on the teaching profession, this study examines the association between school‐specific demands and resources, on the one hand, and engagement and exhaustion, on the other. Individual‐level data obtained from 1,939 secondary teachers as well as school‐level data from their principals and students, based on 198 German schools, were subjected to multilevel analysis. School‐level characteristics accounted for only a small amount of the variance in teachers’ emotional exhaustion. In contrast, teachers’ engagement differed considerably between schools. For the two outcome variables, engagement and exhaustion, specific patterns of predictive effects were observed at the school level: when controlling for individual teacher characteristics, the principal's support in educational matters predicted higher levels of engagement, whereas disciplinary problems in the classroom predicted higher emotional exhaustion. Although school‐level data were associated with engagement and exhaustion, results suggest paying particular attention to individual differences between teachers that might predispose them to develop either more engagement or emotional exhaustion.

Axée sur la profession enseignante, cette étude examine le lien entre les exigences et les ressources propres à l’école d’une part, et l’engagement et l’épuisement d’autre part. Des données individuelles obtenues auprès de 1939 enseignants du secondaire ainsi que des données scolaires provenant des proviseurs et élèves de 198 écoles allemandes, ont été soumises à une analyse multi‐niveau. Les données scolaires expliquent seulement une petite partie de la variance relative à l’épuisement émotionnel des enseignants. En revanche, l’engagement des enseignants diffère considérablement selon les écoles. Pour les variables dépendantes, engagement et épuisement, les données scolaires permettent de prédire des types spécifiques d’effets: quand on contrôle les caractéristiques individuelles des enseignants, le soutien du proviseur sur des questions éducatives implique un niveau d’engagement plus important, alors que des problèmes de discipline en classe prédisent un épuisement émotionnel plus grand. Bien que les données scolaires soient liées à l’engagement et à l’épuisement, les résultats suggèrent d’accorder une attention particulière aux différences individuelles entre les enseignants qui peuvent les prédisposer à développer soit plus d’engagement, soit plus d’épuisement émotionnel.
Perceived Teacher Self‐Efficacy as a Predictor of Job Stress and Burnout: Mediation Analyses
Authors: Schwarzer Ralf , Hallum Suhair
Published: June 2008

Teacher self‐efficacy is studied as a personal resource factor that may protect from the experience of job strain and, thus, make the escalation of burnout less likely. The article examines the relationships between self‐efficacy, job stress, and burnout, focusing on mediation (self‐efficacy → job stress → burnout). Moreover, it questions whether such a mediation, if found, would be dependent on the levels of other variables (moderated mediation). Study I, with two samples of teachers (N= 1,203), examined this putative mechanism cross‐sectionally and found such an effect, in particular for younger teachers and those with low general self‐efficacy. Study II, with 458 teachers, replicated the results longitudinally over a period of one year by employing structural equation models. In a cross‐lagged panel design, low self‐efficacy preceded burnout. Further research should study these mechanisms by interventions that aim at strengthening teacher self‐efficacy as a protective resource factor.

L’auto‐efficacité des enseignants est étudiée comme une ressource personnelle pouvant les protéger de l’expérience de la contrainte professionnelle et rendre l’escalade dans le burnout moins probable. Cet article examine les liens entre l’auto‐efficacité, le stress au travail et le burnout, en se focalisant sur la médiation (auto‐efficacité→ stress au travail → burnout). En outre, il questionne la façon dont une telle médiation, si elle est avérée, pourrait être dépendante du niveau des autres variables (médiation modérée). La recherche 1 comprend deux échantillons d’enseignants (N= 1,203). Elle examine ce mécanisme croisé supposé et révèle un tel effet, en particulier pour les enseignants les plus jeunes et ceux ayant une auto‐efficacité générale basse. L’étude 2 effectuée auprès de 458 enseignants confirme ces résultats, obtenus cette fois de façon longitudinale sur une période d’un an en employant des modèles àéquation structurale. Ainsi, une auto‐efficacité basse précède le burnout. Des recherches plus poussées pourraient étudier les mécanismes par lesquels des interventions renforcent ou non l’auto‐efficacité des enseignants comme source de protection.
Differentiation and integration: guiding principles for analyzing cognitive change
Authors: Siegler Robert S. , Chen Zhe
Published: June 2008

Differentiation and integration played large roles within classic developmental theories but have been relegated to obscurity within contemporary theories. However, they may have a useful role to play in modern theories as well, if conceptualized as guiding principles for analyzing change rather than as real‐time mechanisms. In the present study, we used this perspective to examine which rules children use, the order in which the rules emerge, and the effectiveness of instruction on water displacement problems. We found that children used systematic rules to solve such problems, and that the rules progress from undifferentiated to differentiated forms and toward increasingly accurate integration of the differentiated variables. Asking children to explain both why correct answers were correct and why incorrect answers were incorrect proved more effective than only requesting explanations of correct answers, which was more effective than just receiving feedback on the correctness of answers. Requests for explanations appeared to operate through helping children notice potential explanatory variables, formulate more advanced rules, and generalize the rules to novel problems.
Acquisition of mental state language in Spanish children: a longitudinal study of the relationship between the production of mental verbs and linguistic development
Authors: Pascual Belén , Aguado Gerardo , Sotillo María , Masdeu Jose C.
Published: June 2008

The development of language indicating the emergence of thinking about the thoughts of self and others has been scarcely studied in Spanish‐speaking children. For this reason, we studied the development of mental state language and various indicators of language development in 25 Spanish‐speaking children assessed at 3, 3, 4, 4, and 5 years of age. We coded and categorized the 40,250 utterances children produced during the five time points, 1202 (3.01%) of which had mental terms. In this sample, mental state language in Spanish children developed with a similar timeline and patterns as described in English‐speaking children. However, several findings were novel for studies of mental state language. The general indexes of syntactic development did not correlate with the production of mental terms. The Index of Lexical Diversity was associated with the frequency of references to verbs of desire. The results of regression analyses suggest that not only the development of subordinate sentences with complement is associated with genuine mental references to desires and beliefs, but the development of lexical skills as well.
Lying in the name of the collective good: a developmental study
Authors: Fu Genyue , Evans Angela D. , Wang Lingfeng , Lee Kang
Published: June 2008

The present study examined the developmental origin of ‘blue lies’, a pervasive form of lying in the adult world that is told purportedly to benefit a collective. Seven, 9‐, and 11‐year‐old Chinese children were surreptitiously placed in a real‐life situation where they decided whether to lie to conceal their group's cheating behavior. Children were also assessed in terms of their willingness in hypothetical situations to endorse lying or truth‐telling that benefits a collective but at the same time harms an individual. Results showed that as age increased, children became more inclined to endorse lying in the name of the collective good, and to tell lies for their group themselves. Furthermore, children's endorsement about blue lies in hypothetical situations predicted their actual lying behavior.
Conflicting cues in a dynamic search task are reflected in children's eye movements and search errors
Authors: Haddad Jeffrey M. , Kloos Heidi , Keen Rachel
Published: June 2008

Three‐year‐olds were given a search task with conflicting cues about the target's location. A ball rolled behind a transparent screen and stopped behind one of four opaque doors mounted into the screen. A wall that protruded above one door provided a visible cue of blockage in the ball's path, while the transparent screen allowed visual tracking of the ball's progress to its last disappearance. On some trials these cues agreed and on others they conflicted. One group saw the ball appear to pass through the wall, violating its solidity, and another group saw the ball stop early, behind a door before the visual wall. Children's eye movements were recorded with an Applied Science Laboratories eye tracker during these real object events. On congruent trials, children tended to track the ball to the visible barrier and select that door. During conflict trials, children's eye movements and reaching errors reflected the type of conflict they experienced. Our data support Scholl and Leslie's (1999) hypotheses that spatio‐temporal and contact mechanical knowledge are based on two separate, distinct mechanisms.
Do children with autism ‘switch off’ to speech sounds? An investigation using event‐related potentials
Authors: Whitehouse Andrew J.O. , Bishop Dorothy V.M.
Published: June 2008

Autism is a disorder characterized by a core impairment in social behaviour. A prominent component of this social deficit is poor orienting to speech. It is unclear whether this deficit involves an impairment in allocating attention to speech sounds, or a sensory impairment in processing phonetic information. In this study, event‐related potentials of 15 children with high functioning autism (mean nonverbal IQ = 109.87) and 15 typically developing children (mean nonverbal IQ = 115.73) were recorded in response to sounds in two oddball conditions. Participants heard two stimulus types: vowels and complex tones. In each condition, repetitive ‘standard’ sounds (condition 1: vowel; condition 2: complex tone) were replaced by a within stimulus‐type ‘deviant’ sound and a between stimulus‐type ‘novel’ sound. Participants’ level of attention was also varied between conditions. Children with autism had significantly diminished obligatory components in response to the repetitive speech sound, but not to the repetitive nonspeech sound. This difference disappeared when participants were required to allocate attention to the sound stream. Furthermore, the children with autism showed reduced orienting to novel tones presented in a sequence of speech sounds, but not to novel speech sounds presented in a sequence of tones. These findings indicate that high functioning children with autism can allocate attention to novel speech sounds. However, they use top‐down inhibition to attenuate responses to repeated streams of speech. This suggests that problems with speech processing in this population involve efferent pathways.
Move it! Visual feedback enhances validity of preferential looking as a measure of individual differences in vocabulary in toddlers
Authors: Killing Sarah E.A. , Bishop Dorothy V.M.
Published: June 2008

Forty toddlers aged 20 to 24 months were presented with 32 pairs of images with the auditory stimulus Look followed by the name of the target image (e.g. Look . . . tree) in an intermodal preferential looking (IPL) paradigm. The same series of 16 items was presented first with one image as target and then with the other member of the pair as target. Half the children were given feedback, in the form of movement of the target image at the end of the trial, while the other half were presented with static images. IPL performance was quantified in terms of number of words showing at least 15% increase in proportion of looking time in the post‐naming interval. Looking preference for the named item was correlated with parental report of vocabulary, this effect being stronger for those receiving feedback. The correlation with parental report of vocabulary comprehension was .65 for those receiving feedback, but only .37 for those with no feedback. It is concluded that the preferential looking task, which has been widely used in group studies, has the potential to act as a reliable index of comprehension level in individual children, especially when movement feedback is used to maintain attention.
The referential communication skills of children with imaginary companions
Authors: Roby Anna C. , Kidd Evan
Published: June 2008

The present study investigated the referential communication skills of children with imaginary companions (ICs). Twenty‐two children with ICs aged between 4 and 6 years were compared to 22 children without ICs (NICs). The children were matched for age, gender, birth order, number of siblings, and parental education. All children completed the Test of Referential Communication (Camaioni, Ercolani & Lloyd, 1995). The results showed that the children with ICs performed better than the children without ICs on the speaker component of the task. In particular, the IC children were better able to identify a specific referent to their interlocutor than were the NIC children. Furthermore, the IC children described less redundant features of the target picture than did the NIC children. The children did not differ in the listening comprehension component of the task. Overall, the results suggest that the IC children had a better understanding of their interlocutor's information requirements in conversation. The role of pretend play in the development of communicative competence is discussed in light of these results.
Effect of partial occlusion on newborns’ face preference and recognition
Authors: Gava Lucia , Valenza Eloisa , Turati Chiara , Schonen Scania de
Published: June 2008

Many studies have shown that newborns prefer (e.g.

Goren, Sarty & Wu, 1975
; Valenza, Simion, Macchi Cassia & Umiltà, 1996) and recognize (e.g. Bushnell, Say & Mullin, 1989; Pascalis & de Schonen, 1994) faces. However, it is not known whether, at birth, faces are still preferred and recognized when some of their parts are not visible because hindered by other configurations, that is when faces are partly occluded. Also, it is not known whether newborns’ preference for an upright over an inverted face and newborns’ face recognition are differentially affected depending on the salience of the occluded face features. Seventy‐seven newborns (mean age of 43.5 hrs) were tested using the preferential looking (Experiment 1) and the habituation techniques (Experiment 2). Results demonstrated that newborns prefer and recognize occluded faces even if some portions of them are not available, at least when the hindered features are not salient. On the contrary, these abilities are affected by obscuring high salience facial features (i.e. eyes). However, while in the case of face detection, eyes occlusion completely prevented newborns’ face detection, in the case of face recognition an analogous stimulus manipulation heavily impaired, but did not totally preclude, newborns’ recognition performance. The data collected improve our comprehension of newborns’ way of processing and encoding information to detect and recognize faces.
Developmental changes in the weighting of prosodic cues
Authors: Seidl Amanda , Cristià Alejandrina
Published: June 2008

Previous research has shown that the weighting of, or attention to, acoustic cues at the level of the segment changes over the course of development (

Nittrouer & Miller, 1997
; Nittrouer, Manning & Meyer, 1993). In this paper we examined changes over the course of development in weighting of acoustic cues at the suprasegmental level. Specifically, we tested English‐learning 4‐month‐olds’ performance on a clause segmentation task when each of three acoustic cues to clausal units was neutralized and contrasted it with performance on a Baseline condition where no cues were manipulated. Comparison with the reported performance of 6‐month‐olds on the same task (Seidl, 2007) reveals that 4‐month‐olds weight prosodic cues to clausal boundaries differently than 6‐month‐olds, relying more heavily on all three correlates of clausal boundaries (pause, pitch and vowel duration) than 6‐month‐olds do, who rely primarily on pitch. We interpret this as evidence that 4‐month‐olds use a holistic processing strategy, while 6‐month‐olds may already be able to attend separately to isolated cues in the input stream and may, furthermore, be able to exploit a language‐specific cue weighting. Thus, in a way similar to that in other cognitive domains, infants begin as holistic auditory scene processors and are only later able to process individual auditory cues.
Fitting the child's mind to the world: adaptive norm‐based coding of facial identity in 8‐year‐olds
Authors: Nishimura Mayu , Maurer Daphne , Jeffery Linda , Pellicano Elizabeth , Rhodes Gillian
Published: June 2008

In adults, facial identity is coded by opponent processes relative to an average face or norm, as evidenced by the face identity aftereffect: adapting to a face biases perception towards the opposite identity, so that a previously neutral face (e.g. the average) resembles the identity of the computationally opposite face. We investigated whether children as young as 8 use adaptive norm‐based coding to represent faces, a question of interest because 8‐year‐olds are less accurate than adults at recognizing faces and do not show the adult neural markers of face expertise. We found comparable face identity aftereffects in 8‐year‐olds and adults: perception of identity in both groups shifted in the direction predicted by norm‐based coding. This finding suggests that, by 8 years of age, the adaptive computational mechanisms used to code facial identity are like those of adults and hence that children's immaturities in face processing arise from another source.
Speed-Dating
Authors: Finkel Eli J. , Eastwick Paul W.
Published: June 2008

Scholars have recently begun to harness the immense power of speed-dating procedures to achieve important and novel insights into the dynamics of romantic attraction. Speed-dating procedures allow researchers to study romantic dynamics dyadically, with regard to potentially meaningful relationships, and with strong external validity. This article highlights the strengths and promise of speed-dating procedures, reviews some of their most exciting contributions to our understanding of the social psyche, and illustrates how scholars can employ speed-dating and its straightforward variants to study topics relevant to diverse subfields of psychological science.
Categories and Dimensions
Authors: Ruscio John , Ruscio Ayelet Meron
Published: June 2008

The distinction between categories and dimensions has important consequences for basic and applied science in many areas of psychological research. Decisions as to whether individuals should be assigned to groups or located along one or more continua often are based on personal preferences or discipline-specific measurement traditions, which can lead to the creation, use, or reification of spurious categories or dimensions. Methods for evaluating the latent structure of psychological constructs, using powerful and informative tests between competing models, are available. Rather than choosing on a priori grounds, investigators can perform structural research to evaluate the strength and consistency with which results tease apart categorical and dimensional models. Here, we review why researchers should make this distinction empirically, briefly discuss methods available for doing so, and describe the breadth of areas ripe for exploiting the largely untapped potential of structural research.
Merely Activating the Concept of Money Changes Personal and Interpersonal Behavior
Authors: Vohs Kathleen D. , Mead Nicole L. , Goode Miranda R.
Published: June 2008

Money plays a significant role in people's lives, and yet little experimental attention has been given to the psychological underpinnings of money. We systematically varied whether and to what extent the concept of money was activated in participants' minds using methods that minimized participants' conscious awareness of the money cues. On the one hand, participants reminded of money were less helpful than were participants not reminded of money, and they also preferred solitary activities and less physical intimacy. On the other hand, reminders of money prompted participants to work harder on challenging tasks and led to desires to take on more work as compared to participants not reminded of money. In short, even subtle reminders of money elicit big changes in human behavior.
The Role of Neurobiological Deficits in Childhood Antisocial Behavior
Authors: van Goozen Stephanie H.M. , Fairchild Graeme , Harold Gordon T.
Published: June 2008

Childhood-onset antisocial behavior is an important predictor of chronic and serious forms of antisocial behavior in later life. Both biological and social factors are involved in the development of abnormal behavior. We examine the underlying role of stress-response systems in the link between early social adversity and juvenile antisocial behavior, and propose that children with genetically and/or perinatally based neurobiological deficits have problems in activating these systems and therefore experience difficulties in regulating affect and behavior. Underactivity or attenuated reactivity of the stress-response systems may predispose antisocial individuals to seek out stimulation or take risks, and thereby explain deficits in learning and socialization. Further investigations of neurobiological functioning in antisocial children might not only indicate which children are more likely to persist in behaving antisocially but also guide the development of new interventions.
Theoretical Speculations on the Evolutionary Origins of Hemispheric Specialization
Authors: Hopkins William D. , Cantalupo Claudio
Published: June 2008

Hemispheric specialization has long been considered a uniquely human trait associated with the evolution of language and handedness. Recent studies in a host of vertebrate species have reported evidence of population-level behavioral and brain asymmetries, challenging the claims for the uniqueness of hemispheric specialization to the human species. Here we summarize the findings in nonhuman species and discuss the adaptive significance and potential costs of lateralization of function.
The Iberian Imprint on Medieval Southern Italy
Authors: OLDFIELD PAUL
Published: June 2008

This article explores the Iberian influence on medieval southern Italy from the mid‐eleventh to the mid‐thirteenth century. While a great deal of historical research has uncovered the impact of many other regions on southern Italy that of Iberia has often been overlooked, at least before the famous Sicilian Vespers. Yet, both regions had notable commonalities and a variety of connections throughout the central middle ages. South Italian rulers demonstrated an enduring interest in the western Mediterranean (particularly in the Balearic Islands) and the security of its seas. King Roger II, William I and Frederick II all married Iberian princesses, each of whom played an important role in south Italian politics. These marriages maintained lines of communication between both regions and brought other Iberians to southern Italy. There is also evidence of contact through the development of scholarly courts and the emergence of centres of learning and translation in southern Italy and Iberia. Underpinning all of these relationships was the Mediterranean itself, which allowed for ease of movement, and on which thriving commercial activity connected the two regions. Finally, faith and pilgrimage offered another outlet for south Italians and Iberians of all denominations to interact with one another.
If the Armada Had Landed: A Reappraisal of England's Defences in 1588
Authors: YOUNGER NEIL
Published: June 2008

The defeat of the Spanish Armada in 1588 stands as one of the greatest triumphs of Elizabeth I's reign, but, the success of the navy notwithstanding, received wisdom presents the land defences as woefully inadequate. This article shows that the existing picture of the English preparations is flawed in several ways and that they were better organized, more efficient and more willing than has been recognized. The privy council was called upon to deploy limited forces to defend a long coastline against an unpredictable attacker, and the evidence shows that they contrived to maximize the effectiveness of the available resources whilst balancing the calls of military practicality, financial necessity and political constraints. An assessment is also made of the response from the counties, using the mobilization as a test case of the structures put in place by the Elizabethan regime to deal with such an emergency.
Religious Toleration in the Wake of Revolution: Scotland on the Eve of Enlightenment (1688–1710s)
Authors: FRACE RYAN K.
Published: June 2008

This article demonstrates that a vital transformation occurred within Scottish Presbyterianism following the ‘Glorious Revolution’ of 1688–9 when the Episcopalian Church was overturned for the third and last time. This development held important implications for the subsequent Enlightenment, in which the Presbyterian Church – which had formerly been a byword for intolerance and insularity – played an integral role. After briefly describing the composite nature of the recently re‐established Church, the second section of the article delineates the strands of argument that Presbyterians put forth for religious toleration and ecumenicalism. This discourse privileged the national interests of socio‐economic amelioration in defiance of traditional arguments for the divine right of church government and the state's right to enforce religious uniformity. The European context is also considered, as intellectual currents circulating in Holland, in addition to examples being set elsewhere on the continent, influenced these arguments. The third section explains how a precariously ascendant group of Presbyterian moderates successfully stemmed their rivals’ influence, despite being heavily outnumbered. By relying on the political patronage of William III and his Scottish statesmen, they were able to control the General Assembly and mitigate, whenever possible, persecution in the provinces. Although intolerance remained a vibrant tradition, their combined efforts ended the age of armed religious conflict that had marred Scotland's social and political landscape in the preceding two centuries.
Gendering Mobility: Women, Work and Automobility in the United States
Authors: WALSH MARGARET
Published: June 2008

This article examines women's relationship with car driving in the United States. The growth of American ‘automobility’ increased throughout the twentieth century, but most historians have ignored its relationship with women. They have assumed that the motor car was a masculine vehicle in terms of both its technology and use. Even those who recognized the motor car as a machine for changing lifestyles and interpersonal relationships considered that the male head of household had authority over choosing and driving the family vehicle. Some women, however, always drove. Though their numbers were relatively small in the years before the Second World War, they quickly seized the opportunity to get behind the wheel in succeeding years as more and more cars were produced in the United States and imported vehicles became popular. Women needed to drive to manage their unpaid work in the home efficiently and, when they entered the paid labour force in increasing numbers, they needed to run their households and to travel to their paid work. By the end of the twentieth century American women were as likely to drive as their male counterparts, though their patterns of driving were different. In the process, the automobile had become a sex neutral vehicle.