The Female Social Role and How It Causes Higher Rates of Depression in Women Versus Men

In 1972, psychologist Phyllis Chesler wrote that there was “a consistently large female involvement with psychiatry in America, an involvement that has been increasing rather dramatically since 1964.” (Chesler, p. 119) Unfortunately, this involvement has been increasing still since Chesler published her book. According to the National Institute of Health’s website, updated in September of 2010, more than 20 million people in today’s American society are suffering from depression and, more specifically, the number of women suffering from depression is twice that of men. The social role projected onto females in the United States makes women more vulnerable to depression and thus causes the rates of depression in women to be double that of men

Acquitted or Confined: The impact of jury instruction, biological sex of mock-juror, and defendant mental illness on insanity defense attitudes and verdict outcomes

Approximately 20% of incarcerated individuals in jails and 15% of those in state prisons have been diagnosed with a serious mental illness, meaning that there are approximately 356,000 incarcerated persons with serious mental illness in jails and prisons alone (Torrey et al., 2014). Today, mental health stigma is widely prevalent amongst society and particularly there is a strong stigma associated with mental illness and criminality (Maeder & Mossière, 2015). Thus, when mental illness is present in criminal court cases, there is the potentiality of those stigmatic views impacting verdict outcomes accommodating for mental illness (e.g., Not Guilty by Reason of Insanity and Guilty but Mentally Ill). Moreover, society typically perceives verdicts associated with insanity/mental illness as an alternative for not wanting to take responsibility for one’s actions and as a “loop-hole” to get out of serving time (Hans & Slater, 1983). These misconceptions can generate biases and stereotypes in regard to the insanity defense and accused individuals diagnosed with mental illness. The present study aimed to address these biases and stereotypes by examining what factors impact mock-jurors’ attitudes toward the insanity defense and potentially elicit verdict outcomes. Participants were recruited via the internet using Amazon Mechanical Turk (MTurk). A variety of scales assessing mental health stigma, insanity defense attitudes, and several self-constructed questionnaires/ vignettes designed by the researchers were employed in the survey. Participants were also asked to complete a demographic questionnaire assessing basic demographic information as well as previous juror and criminal history, and exposure to mental health. The findings from this study imply that several juror demographics, as well as other factors, do impact verdict outcomes, however, there was a lack of significance when assessing insanity defense attitudes. Future directions, implications, and limitations are discussed

How are high-quality relationships created with dark leaders? An examination of leader and follower dark triad traits and leader-member exchanges

This study examines whether follower Dark Triad (DT) traits impact the quality of leader-member exchanges. Data was collected from 328 individuals who completed the Short Dark Triad instrument (SD3) for themselves and their supervisor, and the Leader-member Exchange instrument (LMX-7) to determine the quality of their relationship with their supervisor. A factorial ANOVA was performed to determine the impact of leader and follower DT traits on the quality of the leader-follower relationship. A simultaneous regression tested if the quality of the leader-follower relationship could be predicted from DT traits of follower and DT traits of leader. Results suggested that narcissistic and psychopathic DT traits of the follower, as well as the leader, did significantly impact the quality of the leader-follower relationship. Moreover, results from the regression determined 24% of the variance in the quality of a leader-follower relationship can be explained by DT traits of the leader and follower

Faculty Perceptions of the Essential Elements Of Leadership Across Generations and Sex

This exploratory quantitative study, whose population consisted of full-time faculty at a Midwestern state university, measures perceptions of the degree of essentiality of ten elements of effective leadership, and whether or not those perceptions were significantly different across generational cohort (baby boomer, GenX, and millennial) and/or biological sex (male, female). Current literature on generational cohort/gender and perceptions of effective leadership is equivocal at best. This study attempted to fill gaps in existing literature, as applied to faculty in higher education contexts. The essential elements of leadership identified for this study were: influence, promoting teamwork, change facilitation, authority, collaborative dialogue, risk-taking, followership, emotional intelligence, ethical behavior, and self-awareness. A survey of full-time faculty members (n=105) at a state comprehensive university revealed self-awareness, ethical behavior, and promoting teamwork as being most essential, while risk-taking, use of authority, and influence were identified as least essential. Additionally, the only element that produced a significant interaction effect was influence. These findings suggest that generational cohort and biological sex have an extraordinarily minor impact on faculty perceptions of the essential elements of leadership, which is counter to existing literature and suggests a trend towards broad congruence in perceptions about leadership across sex and generations

Supporting the Student Service Member and Veteran Population as Learners: An Exploratory Study of Academic Motivation and Best Practices in Student Services at a State Comprehensive University

This article explores best practices in student services for Student Service Members and Veterans (SSM/V) learners at a Midwestern state comprehensive university (SCU.) The Military Learner Academic Success Perception Survey (MLASPS) was administered to a small but targeted cohort population of SSM/V’s enrolled in a customized Associate of Applied Science (AAS) program through the institution’s new centralized student support center for SSM/V’s. The research team collected data related to the enrolled students’ perceived academic preparedness, student service needs, and academic motivation. Results informed the center about how to best serve SSM/V’s in persisting through graduation. Results may also be valuable for other universities in the early phases of launching military-student initiatives and partnerships. Additionally, this research contributes to the literature surrounding academic motivation and retention/persistence of the SSM/V population and adds to the literature on the Academic Motivation Scale – College Version AMS-C28 survey instrument

Caregiver Well-Being and Burden: Variations by Race/Ethnicity and Care Recipient Nativity Status

Background and Objectives: Despite growing diversity among the aging population and extensive previous research on racial/ethnic minority caregivers, little research has been conducted on the potentially unique experiences and outcomes of informal caregivers of foreign-born care recipients. Using nationally representative data and the Stress Process Model, the current study examined the differences in caregiver outcomes (care burden, psychological well-being, and self-rated health) by care recipient nativity status (U.S.-born vs. foreign-born) and the extent to which caregiver outcomes vary by care recipient nativity status and caregiver race/ethnicity (non-Hispanic white, non-Hispanic black, Hispanic, and Others). Research Design and Methods: The current study used Round 5 of the National Health and Aging Trends Study and the National Study of Caregiving (N = 1,436). We conducted ordinary least squares regression to analyze the differences in caregiver’s outcomes by care recipient nativity status and caregiver race/ethnicity and to investigate the impacts of the inclusion of caregiving factors (background factors, primary stressors, secondary stressors, and resources). Results: Regression analyses showed that only care burden significantly varied by care recipient nativity status after controlling for covariates. Caregivers of foreign-born care recipients reported a higher burden. However, when interactions of care recipient nativity status × caregiver race/ethnicity were introduced, non-Hispanic black and Hispanic caregivers of foreign-born care recipients were more likely to report better psychological well-being and self-rated health compared to their counterparts. Across caregiver groups, better caregiver–care recipient relationship quality and less caregiver chronic conditions were associated with less burden and better caregiver psychological well-being and self-rated health. Discussion and Implications: Care recipient nativity status and caregiver race/ethnicity may have complex effects on caregiving experiences. Given the observed significant interaction effects for caregiver psychological well-being and self-rated health, cultural factors may affect the extent to which these caregivers appraise their caregiving. Future research should delve into the appropriate ways to assess care stress as well as resilience among each caregiver group. Our results indicate the need for research, education, and practice that assess cultural and within-group differences among caregivers and inform needed changes to structural barriers

Quantification of both the area-at-risk and acute myocardial infarct size in ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction using T1-mapping

BACKGROUND: A comprehensive cardiovascular magnetic resonance (CMR) in reperfused ST-segment myocardial infarction (STEMI) patients can be challenging to perform and can be time-consuming. We aimed to investigate whether native T1-mapping can accurately delineate the edema-based area-at-risk (AAR) and post-contrast T1-mapping and synthetic late gadolinium (LGE) images can quantify MI size at 1.5 T. Conventional LGE imaging and T2-mapping could then be omitted, thereby shortening the scan duration. METHODS: Twenty-eight STEMI patients underwent a CMR scan at 1.5 T, 3 ± 1 days following primary percutaneous coronary intervention. The AAR was quantified using both native T1 and T2-mapping. MI size was quantified using conventional LGE, post-contrast T1-mapping and synthetic magnitude-reconstructed inversion recovery (MagIR) LGE and synthetic phase-sensitive inversion recovery (PSIR) LGE, derived from the post-contrast T1 maps. RESULTS: Native T1-mapping performed as well as T2-mapping in delineating the AAR (41.6 ± 11.9% of the left ventricle [% LV] versus 41.7 ± 12.2% LV, P = 0.72; R(2) 0.97; ICC 0.986 (0.969-0.993); bias -0.1 ± 4.2% LV). There were excellent correlation and inter-method agreement with no bias, between MI size by conventional LGE, synthetic MagIR LGE (bias 0.2 ± 2.2%LV, P = 0.35), synthetic PSIR LGE (bias 0.4 ± 2.2% LV, P = 0.060) and post-contrast T1-mapping (bias 0.3 ± 1.8% LV, P = 0.10). The mean scan duration was 58 ± 4 min. Not performing T2 mapping (6 ± 1 min) and conventional LGE (10 ± 1 min) would shorten the CMR study by 15-20 min. CONCLUSIONS: T1-mapping can accurately quantify both the edema-based AAR (using native T1 maps) and acute MI size (using post-contrast T1 maps) in STEMI patients without major cardiovascular risk factors. This approach would shorten the duration of a comprehensive CMR study without significantly compromising on data acquisition and would obviate the need to perform T2 maps and LGE imaging

Dimethyl fumarate attenuates reactive microglia and long-term memory deficits following systemic immune challenge

BACKGROUND: Systemic inflammation is associated with increased cognitive decline and risk for Alzheimer's disease. Microglia (MG) activated during systemic inflammation can cause exaggerated neuroinflammatory responses and trigger progressive neurodegeneration. Dimethyl fumarate (DMF) is a FDA-approved therapy for multiple sclerosis. The immunomodulatory and anti-oxidant properties of DMF prompted us to investigate whether DMF has translational potential for the treatment of cognitive impairment associated with systemic inflammation. METHODS: Primary murine MG cultures were stimulated with lipopolysaccharide (LPS) in the absence or presence of DMF. MG cultured from nuclear factor (erythroid-derived 2)-like 2-deficient (Nrf2 -/- ) mice were used to examine mechanisms of DMF actions. Conditioned media generated from LPS-primed MG were used to treat hippocampal neuron cultures. Adult C57BL/6 and Nrf2 -/- mice were subjected to peripheral LPS challenge. Acute neuroinflammation, long-term memory function, and reactive astrogliosis were examined to assess therapeutic effects of DMF. RESULTS: DMF suppressed inflammatory activation of MG induced by LPS. DMF suppressed NF-κB activity through Nrf2-depedent and Nrf2-independent mechanisms in MG. DMF treatment reduced MG-mediated toxicity towards neurons. DMF suppressed brain-derived inflammatory cytokines in mice following peripheral LPS challenge. The suppressive effect of DMF on neuroinflammation was blunted in Nrf2 -/- mice. Importantly, DMF treatment alleviated long-term memory deficits and sustained reactive astrogliosis induced by peripheral LPS challenge. DMF might mitigate neurotoxic astrocytes associated with neuroinflammation. CONCLUSIONS: DMF treatment might protect neurons against toxic microenvironments produced by reactive MG and astrocytes associated with systemic inflammation

Search for Neutral Higgs Bosons in Events with Multiple Bottom Quarks at the Tevatron

The combination of searches performed by the CDF and D0 collaborations at the Fermilab Tevatron Collider for neutral Higgs bosons produced in association with b quarks is reported. The data, corresponding to 2.6 fb-1 of integrated luminosity at CDF and 5.2 fb-1 at D0, have been collected in final states containing three or more b jets. Upper limits are set on the cross section multiplied by the branching ratio varying between 44 pb and 0.7 pb in the Higgs boson mass range 90 to 300 GeV, assuming production of a narrow scalar boson. Significant enhancements to the production of Higgs bosons can be found in theories beyond the standard model, for example in supersymmetry. The results are interpreted as upper limits in the parameter space of the minimal supersymmetric standard model in a benchmark scenario favoring this decay mode.Comment: 10 pages, 2 figure