Childhood sexual abuse and abnormal personality: a population-based study

BACKGROUND: Childhood sexual abuse (CSA) has been shown to be a risk factor for personality disorder (PD). However, no previous studies have examined whether associations exist between sexual abuse and abnormal personality as measured both categorically and dimensionally. Such enquiry would more fully illuminate the impact of CSA on adult personality. METHOD: Using a large nationally representative sample, we set out to examine associations between CSA and categorically defined PD. We also examined associations between CSA and the five dimensions of personality (openness to experience, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness and neuroticism). A total of 1520 young adults were interviewed to determine the prevalence of sexual abuse occurring before age 16 years. A dimensional measure of personality was completed by 1469 participants, and 1145 had an informant-based PD assessment. RESULTS: PD was independently associated with repeated CSA [fully adjusted odds ratio (OR) 1.9, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.1-3.4]. Repeated sexual abuse was also associated with higher neuroticism and lower agreeableness (p values for both <0.001). Adjusting for the effects of potential confounders and mediators, including earlier symptoms of anxiety and depression, had little impact on the strength of associations. CONCLUSIONS: We conclude that repeated CSA is independently associated with categorically defined PD, and also with higher neuroticism and lower agreeableness. Our findings suggest that if a dimensional classification of PDs is adopted in future classification systems, there might be meaningful continuity with previous aetiological research conducted using the current categorical system

Optimal, reliable estimation of quantum states

Accurately inferring the state of a quantum device from the results of measurements is a crucial task in building quantum information processing hardware. The predominant state estimation procedure, maximum likelihood estimation (MLE), generally reports an estimate with zero eigenvalues. These cannot be justified. Furthermore, the MLE estimate is incompatible with error bars, so conclusions drawn from it are suspect. I propose an alternative procedure, Bayesian mean estimation (BME). BME never yields zero eigenvalues, its eigenvalues provide a bound on their own uncertainties, and it is the most accurate procedure possible. I show how to implement BME numerically, and how to obtain natural error bars that are compatible with the estimate. Finally, I briefly discuss the differences between Bayesian and frequentist estimation techniques.Comment: RevTeX; 14 pages, 2 embedded figures. Comments enthusiastically welcomed

Native American families in the city: American Indian socialization to urban life-final report.

This report, sponsored by the Minority Studies Center of the National Institute of Mental Health, was conceived, researched and written by Native Americans. To answer questions about the problems young Native American families were facing raising children, the authors conducted a three-year study of 120 families who resided primarily in Oakland, California, and the surrounding area. Some areas of interest in the study include Indian identity, experiences of Native American parents and children in the city, the urbanization process, and social policy recommendations

Parent initiated prednisolone for acute asthma in children of school age: randomised controlled crossover trial

Objective To evaluate the efficacy of a short course of parent initiated oral prednisolone for acute asthma in children of school age

EXCITATION of COUPLED STELLAR MOTIONS in the GALACTIC DISK by ORBITING SATELLITES

We use a set of high-resolution N-body simulations of the Galactic disk to study its interactions with the population of cosmologically predicted satellites. One simulation illustrates that multiple passages of massive satellites with different velocities through the disk generate a wobble, which has the appearance of rings in face-on projections of the stellar disk. They also produce flares in the outer disk parts and gradually heat the disk through bending waves. A different numerical experiment shows that an individual satellite as massive as the Sagittarius dwarf galaxy passing through the disk will drive coupled horizontal and vertical oscillations of stars in underdense regions with small associated heating. This experiment shows that vertical excursions of stars in these low-density regions can exceed 1 kpc in the Solar neighborhood, resembling the recently locally detected coherent vertical oscillations. They can also induce non-zero vertical streaming motions as large as 10-20 km s-1, which is consistent with recent observations in the Galactic disk. This phenomenon appears as a local ring with modest associated disk heating. © 2016. The American Astronomical Society. All rights reserved

Estimating the changing nature of Scotland's health inequalities using a multivariate spatiotemporal model

Health inequalities are the unfair and avoidable differences in people's health between different social groups. These inequalities have a huge influence on people's lives, particularly those who live at the poorer end of the socio‐economic spectrum, as they result in prolonged ill health and shorter lives. Most studies estimate health inequalities for a single disease, but this will give an incomplete picture of the overall inequality in population health. Here we propose a novel multivariate spatiotemporal model for quantifying health inequalities in Scotland across multiple diseases, which will enable us to understand better how these inequalities vary across disease and have changed over time. In developing this model we are interested in estimating health inequalities between Scotland's 14 regional health boards, who are responsible for the protection and improvement of their population's health. The methodology is applied to hospital admissions data for cerebrovascular disease, coronary heart disease and respiratory disease, which are three of the leading causes of death, from 2003 to 2012 across Scotland

Structural and Magnetic Properties of [(CH₃)₃NH] CuCl₃2H₂O

The crystal structure at room temperature and the low-temperature heat capacity and magnetic susceptibilities of single crystals of [(CH3)3 NH]CuCl3 2H2O are reported. The monoclinic crystals belong to the space group P21c with a=7.479(10), b=7.864(11), c=16.730(23), =91.98(3)°, and Z=4. The structure consists of chains of edge-sharing [CuCl4(OH2)2] octahedra running along the a axis. Each copper atom is coordinated in a square plane by two water molecules and two chlorine atoms, with two more chlorine atoms at a longer distance. The susceptibility data can be fitted adequately between 1.5 and 20°K by a CurieWeiss law [ga=2.080.01, gb=2.020.01; gc=2.110.01; a=(0.380.03)°K, b=(0.360.03)°K, c=(0.410.03)°K], but the susceptibility parallel to the chain can be better fitted as an Ising linear chain. Measurements perpendicular to the chain are not as well fitted by the Ising model. The heat capacity, which consists primarily of a lattice contribution above 3°K, begins to rise as the temperature falls below 3°K, but long-range order does not set in above 1°K, the lowest temperature attained in this work. Both Ising and Heisenberg linear-chain models fit the low-temperature data with |Jk| \u3c1°K. The results are compared with those reported for the compounds CuCl2 2H2O and CuCl2 2NC5H5. © 1972 The American Physical Society

Moving Towards the Post p < 0.05 Era via the Analysis of Credibility

It is now widely accepted that the techniques of null hypothesis significance testing (NHST) are routinely misused and misinterpreted by researchers seeking insight from data. There is, however, no consensus on acceptable alternatives, leaving researchers with little choice but to continue using NHST, regardless of its failings. I examine the potential for the Analysis of Credibility (AnCred) to resolve this impasse. Using real-life examples, I assess the ability of AnCred to provide researchers with a simple but robust framework for assessing study findings that goes beyond the standard dichotomy of statistical significance/nonsignificance. By extracting more insight from standard summary statistics while offering more protection against inferential fallacies, AnCred may encourage researchers to move toward the post p < 0.05 era