20,324 research outputs found
The classification of substance and behavioural addictions: A preliminary investigation
The term addiction has been used to refer to impaired control over substance use for several centuries however recently there has been a shift toward using this term in the context of non-substance use disorders, such as pathological gambling. A preliminary investigation was conducted in an attempt to clarify the most appropriate classification of 'behavioural addictions'. Participants with alcohol dependence (AD, n = 24), pathological gambling (PG, n = 20) and compulsive buying disorder (CBD, n = 14) completed an Addictive Disorder Questionnaire (ADQ); the Symptom Checklist 90 Revised (SCL-90R); Barratt Impulsivity Scale II; and substance specific adaptations of the Yale-Brown Obsessive Compulsive Scale (Y-BOCS). Although the AD group reported more severe addiction symptoms and had higher levels of depression and anxiety, there were broad similarities across the three disorders in relation to cravings, dyscontrol, impulsivity and obsessions. Despite the small sample size and the different recruitment strategies used across the groups, the findings from this preliminary study provide support for broadening addiction diagnostic definitions to include non-substance related disorders which in turn may contribute to the development of more efficacious treatments
Diagnostic value of the Dutch version of the MCclean Screening instrument for BPD (MSI-BPD)
Borderline personality disorder (BPD) often goes unrecognized, and therefore a short but accurate screening tool is desired. The present study investigated the psychometric properties of the 10-item McLean Screening Instrument for BPD (MSI-BPD) in 159 well-diagnosed female participants. The MSI-BPD showed excellent internal consistency (alpha = .90). When compared to BPD diagnoses based on a structured clinical interview (SCID-II), the MSI-BPD showed substantial congruent validity (receiver operating characteristic area under the curve = 0.96). The cutoff point proposed by the developers of the MSI-BPD (7 or more) showed high specificity (.96) and good sensitivity (.71). The optimal cutoff point in the present study (5 or more) showed somewhat lower specificity (.86), but importantly better sensitivity (.94). Taken together, the Dutch version of the MSI-BPD demonstrated good psychometric properties for a screening tool
Hyposplenism in gastro-intestinal disease
The hazards of living without a spleen were recognised by the paediatricians in the early 1960’s when they focussed attention on the syndrome of fulminant sepsis, often due to pneumococcal infection, occurring in young children within the first two years of splenectomy. The danger of post-splenectomy sepsis (PSS) extends into adult life and splenectomised patients remain at risk 10, 20 and even 30 years after the operation. Problems following splenectomy may just be the tip of the iceberg. It is clear that many other diseases are associated with impaired splenic function in the presence of intact spleens.peer-reviewe
Blockholder dispersion and firm value
This paper analyzes the impact of blockownership dispersion on firm value. Blockholdings by multiple blockholders is a widespread phenomenon in the U.S. market. It is not clear, however, whether dispersion among blockholder is preferable to having a more concentrated ownership structure. To test for the direction of the effect, we use a large dataset of U.S. firms that combines blockholder information, shareholder rights information, debt ratings, accounting information, and financial markets information. We find that a large fraction of aggregated block ownership negatively affects Tobin’s Q. The negative impact is larger if blockowners are more dispersed, suggesting that a concentrated ownership structure is to be preferred on average. Results are robust to controlling for blockholder type as well as proxies for shareholder rights. Our empirical findings are also confirmed if we study the impact of ownership dispersion on firm debt ratings rather than Tobin’s Q. JEL Classification: G3, G3
Radiative cooling of swept up gas in AGN-driven galactic winds and its implications for molecular outflows
We recently used hydro-chemical simulations to demonstrate that molecular
outflows observed in luminous quasars can be explained by molecule formation
within the AGN wind. However, these simulations cover a limited parameter
space, due to their computational cost. We have therefore developed an analytic
model to follow cooling in the shocked ISM layer of an AGN wind. We explore
different ambient densities (), density profile
slopes (), AGN luminosities (), and metallicities (). The swept up gas
mostly cools within ~1 Myr. Based on our previous simulations, we predict that
this gas would produce observable molecular outflows. The instantaneous
momentum boost initially increases as the outflow decelerates. However, it
reaches a maximum of 20, due to work done against the gravitational
potential. The predicted time-averaged observational estimate of the molecular
outflow momentum boost reaches a maximum of , partly due to our
assumed molecular fraction, 0.2, but also because the instantaneous and
observational, time-averaged definitions are not equivalent. Thus recent
observational estimates of order unity momentum boosts do not necessarily rule
out energy-driven outflows. Finally, we find that dust grains are likely to
re-form by accretion of metals after the shocked ISM layer has cooled, assuming
that a small fraction of dust grains swept up after this layer has cooled are
able to mix into the cool phase, and assuming that grain growth remains
efficient in the presence of the strong AGN radiation field. This would enable
rapid molecule formation, as assumed in our models.Comment: 22 pages, 16 figures (including appendices). Accepted for publication
in MNRA
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