Patterns of Risk and Trajectories of Preschool Problem Behaviors: a Person-Oriented Analysis of Attachment in Context

A small proportion of children exhibit extreme and persistent conduct problems through childhood. The present study employed the multiple-domain model of Greenberg and colleagues as the framework for person-oriented analyses examining whether parents\u27 child attachment combines with parenting, family ecology, and child characteristics in particular configurations of risk that are linked to this problematic developmental pathway. Using prospective data from a community sample of adolescent mothers and their children, latent variable growth mixture modeling identified a normative trajectory with declining problem behaviors during the preschool period. Consistent with research on early-starter pathways, a distinct group of children featured a higher intercept and a positive slope, indicating an escalation in disruptive behaviors. Attachment security played a role in defining specific risk profiles associated with the probability of exhibiting this problem trajectory. Given particular patterns of risk exposure, secure attachment served a protective function. Avoidant, but not disorganized, attachment was associated with significantly higher likelihood of the disruptive problem trajectory. The results also indicated the general accumulation of risk was detrimental, but the particular configuration of risk made a difference. Overall, the findings suggest early attachment operates in conjunction with personal and contextual risk to distinguish the development of later problem behaviors

Possible experimental signature of octupole correlations in the 02+^+_2 states of the actinides

$J^{\pi}$= 0$^+$ states have been investigated in the actinide nucleus ${}^{240}$Pu up to an excitation energy of 3 MeV with a high-resolution (p,t) experiment at $E_{p}$= 24 MeV. To test the recently proposed $J^{\pi}$= 0$^+_2$ double-octupole structure, the phenomenological approach of the spdf-interacting boson model has been chosen. In addition, the total 0$^+$ strength distribution and the $0^+$ strength fragmentation have been compared to the model predictions as well as to the previously studied (p,t) reactions in the actinides. The results suggest that the structure of the 0$^+_2$ states in the actinides might be more complex than the usually discussed pairing isomers. Instead, the octupole degree of freedom might contribute significantly. The signature of two close-lying 0$^+$ states below the 2-quasiparticle energy is presented as a possible manifestation of strong octupole correlations in the structure of the 0$^+_2$ states in the actinides.Comment: 6 pages, 5 figures, published in Phys. Rev. C 88, 041303(R) (2013

Acute effect of nitroglycerin on cyclosporine-induced hypertension after cardiac transplantation

BACKGROUND: Cyclosporine represents a milestone in immunosuppression following organ transplantation. Its use, however, comes at the cost of significant side effects, such as arterial hypertension which is rarely controllable by currently available anti-hypertensive drugs. The aim was to investigate the effect of acute administration of nitroglycerin in heart-transplanted patients with cyclosporine-induced hypertension. METHODS: The sample included 18 cyclosporine-induced hypertensive patients (HTX group) scheduled for elective cardiac catheterization following heart transplantation, as well as 6-matched essential hypertensive patients (HT group). The blood pressure (BP) in the aorta and pulmonary artery, before and after administration of nitroglycerin, was measured simultaneously. RESULTS: After injection of 50 microg and 100 microg nitroglycerin, BP significantly decreased both in HTX (systolic (s) BP p = 0.0001; diastolic (d) BP p = 0.0001) and in controls (sBP p = 0.006; dBP p = 0.05). This reduction was more pronounced in HTX (sBP p = 0.022; dBP p = 0.018 for group-comparison). Following analysis of the data in relation to its individual baseline, a significantly higher reduction of the BP induced by 100 microg nitroglycerin was observed in the HTX group compared to the HT group (p = 0.02 for sBP and p = 0.03 for dBP). 8 +/- 3 minutes after the last nitrate infusion, BP remained significantly reduced compared to baseline in HTX (p <0.001), whereas it came back to baseline in controls. The reduction in sBP was correlated to cyclosporine A levels (p = 0.04 after 50microg nitroglycerin; p = 0.05 after 100 microg nitroglycerin). CONCLUSION: After application of nitroglycerin, sBP is reduced immediately in HTX with uncontrolled cyclosporine-induced hypertension. Further studies are needed to evaluate the long-term effect of nitrates in these patients

Octupole correlations in positive-parity states of rare-earth and actinide nuclei

In this contribution, further evidence of the importance of multiphonon-octupole excitations to describe experimental data in the rare earths and actinides will be presented. First, new results of a (p, t) experiment at the Q3D magnetic spectrograph in Munich will be discussed, which was performed to selectively excite J(pi) = 0(+) states in Pu-240. spd f interacting boson model (IBM) calculations suggest that the previously proposed double-octupole phonon nature of the J(pi) = 0(2)(+) state is not in conflict with its strong (p, t) population. Second, the framework of the IBM has been adopted for the description of experimental observables related to octupole excitations in the rare earths. Here, the IBM is able to describe the signature splitting for positive- and negative-parity states when multi-dipole and multi-octupole bosons are included. The present study might support the idea of octupole-phonon condensation at intermediate spin (J(pi) = 10(+)) leading to the change in yrast structure observed in Nd-146

Octupole correlations in positive-parity states of rare-earth and actinide nuclei

In this contribution, further evidence of the importance of multiphonon-octupole excitations to describe experimental data in the rare earths and actinides will be presented. First, new results of a (p, t) experiment at the Q3D magnetic spectrograph in Munich will be discussed, which was performed to selectively excite J(pi) = 0(+) states in Pu-240. spd f interacting boson model (IBM) calculations suggest that the previously proposed double-octupole phonon nature of the J(pi) = 0(2)(+) state is not in conflict with its strong (p, t) population. Second, the framework of the IBM has been adopted for the description of experimental observables related to octupole excitations in the rare earths. Here, the IBM is able to describe the signature splitting for positive- and negative-parity states when multi-dipole and multi-octupole bosons are included. The present study might support the idea of octupole-phonon condensation at intermediate spin (J(pi) = 10(+)) leading to the change in yrast structure observed in Nd-146

The {\eta}'-carbon potential at low meson momenta

The production of $\eta^\prime$ mesons in coincidence with forward-going protons has been studied in photon-induced reactions on $^{12}$C and on a liquid hydrogen (LH$_2$) target for incoming photon energies of 1.3-2.6 GeV at the electron accelerator ELSA. The $\eta^\prime$ mesons have been identified via the $\eta^\prime\rightarrow \pi^0 \pi^0\eta \rightarrow 6 \gamma$ decay registered with the CBELSA/TAPS detector system. Coincident protons have been identified in the MiniTAPS BaF$_2$ array at polar angles of $2^{\circ} \le \theta _{p} \le 11^{\circ}$. Under these kinematic constraints the $\eta^\prime$ mesons are produced with relatively low kinetic energy ($\approx$ 150 MeV) since the coincident protons take over most of the momentum of the incident-photon beam. For the C-target this allows the determination of the real part of the $\eta^\prime$-carbon potential at low meson momenta by comparing with collision model calculations of the $\eta^\prime$ kinetic energy distribution and excitation function. Fitting the latter data for $\eta^\prime$ mesons going backwards in the center-of-mass system yields a potential depth of V = $-$(44 $\pm$ 16(stat)$\pm$15(syst)) MeV, consistent with earlier determinations of the potential depth in inclusive measurements for average $\eta^\prime$ momenta of $\approx$ 1.1 GeV/$c$. Within the experimental uncertainties, there is no indication of a momentum dependence of the $\eta^\prime$-carbon potential. The LH$_2$ data, taken as a reference to check the data analysis and the model calculations, provide differential and integral cross sections in good agreement with previous results for $\eta^\prime$ photoproduction off the free proton.Comment: 9 pages, 13 figures. arXiv admin note: text overlap with arXiv:1608.0607

Two-neutron knockout as a probe of the composition of states in 22^{22}Mg, 23^{23}Al, and 24^{24}Si

Simpson and Tostevin proposed that the width and shape of exclusive parallel momentum distributions of the A-2 residue in direct two-nucleon knockout reactions carry a measurable sensitivity to the nucleon single-particle configurations and their couplings within the wave functions of exotic nuclei. We report here on the first benchmarks and use of this new spectroscopic tool. Exclusive parallel momentum distributions for states in the neutron-deficient nuclei $^{22}$Mg, $^{23}$Al, and $^{24}$Si populated in such direct two-neutron removal reactions were extracted and compared to predictions combining eikonal reaction theory and shell-model calculations. For the well-known $^{22}$Mg and $^{23}$Al nuclei, measurements and calculations were found to agree, supporting the dependence of the parallel momentum distribution width on the angular momentum composition of the shell-model two-neutron amplitudes. In $^{24}$Si, a level at 3439(9) keV, of relevance for the important $^{23}$Al(p,$\gamma$)$^{24}$Si astrophysical reaction rate, was confirmed to be the $2^+_2$ state, while the $4^+_1$ state, expected to be strongly populated in two-neutron knockout, was not observed. This puzzle is resolved by theoretical considerations of the Thomas-Ehrman shift, which also suggest that a previously reported 3471-keV state in $^{24}$Si is in fact the ($0^+_2$) level with one of the largest experimental mirror-energy shifts ever observed.Comment: Accepted for publication in Phys. Rev. C as a Rapid Communicatio

Investigation of octupole collectivity near the A=72A =72 shape-transitional point

Enhanced octupole collectivity is expected in the neutron-deficient Ge, Se and Kr isotopes with neutron number $N \approx 40$ and has indeed been observed for $^{70,72}$Ge. Shape coexistence and configuration mixing are, however, a notorious challenge for theoretical models trying to reliably predict octupole collectivity in this mass region, which is known to feature rapid shape changes with changing nucleon number and spin of the system. To further investigate the microscopic configurations causing the prolate-oblate-triaxial shape transition at $A \approx 72$ and their influence on octupole collectivity, the rare isotopes $^{72}$Se and $^{74,76}$Kr were studied via inelastic proton scattering in inverse kinematics. While significantly enhanced octupole strength of $\sim 32$ Weisskopf units (W.u.) was observed for $^{72}$Se, only strengths of $\sim 15$ W.u. were observed for $^{74,76}$Kr. In combination with existing data, the new data clearly question a simple origin of enhanced octupole strengths around $N = 40$. The present work establishes two regions of distinct octupole strengths with a sudden strength increase around the $A=72$ shape transitional point