Core Beliefs, Self-Perception, and Cognitive Organization in Depressed Adolescents

The relationships between cognitive products (e.g., self-perception) and cognitive structure (or organization) in clinically depressed adolescents and nonpsychiatric controls (average age = 14.68) were examined. Adolescents with major depressive disorder showed significantly higher scores than did controls on the Young Schema Questionnaire domains of Disconnection, Impaired Autonomy, and Impaired Limits. These individuals also demonstrated poorer self-concept than controls on scholastic abilities, social acceptance, athletic competence, physical appearance, job competence, behavioral conduct, and global self-worth, as well as perceptions of limited social networks. The organization of self-referent adjectives was more tightly interconnected for negative content and less interconnected for positive content in depressed adolescents than in nonpsychiatric controls. Specificity of cognitive organization to themes of interpersonal and achievement beliefs/self-perceptions was also found, particularly for positive content. Implications of the findings for the cognitive vulnerability model of depression and future directions are discussed

Study of the distribution of Malassezia species in patients with pityriasis versicolor and healthy individuals in Tehran, Iran

BACKGROUND: Pityriasis versicolor is a superficial infection of the stratum corneum which caused by a group of yeasts formerly named pityrosporium. The taxonomy of these lipophilic yeasts has recently been modified and includes seven species referred as Malassezia. The aim of this study is to compare the distribution of Malassezia species isolated from pityriasis versicolor lesions and those isolated from healthy skins. METHODS: Differentiation of all malassezia species performed using morphological features and physiological test including catalase reaction, Tween assimilation test and splitting of esculin. RESULTS: In pityriasis versicolor lesions, the most frequently isolated species was M. globosa (53.3%), followed by M. furfur (25.3%), M. sympodialis(9.3%), M. obtusa (8.1%) and M. slooffiae (4.0%). The most frequently isolated species in the skin of healthy individuals were M. globosa, M. sympodialis, M. furfur, M. sloofiae and M. restricta which respectively made up 41.7%, 25.0%, 23.3%, 6.7% and 3.3% of the isolated species. CONCLUSIONS: According to our data, M. globosa was the most prevalent species in the skin of healthy individuals which recovered only in the yeast form. However, the Mycelial form of M. globosa was isolated as the dominant species from pityriasis versicolor lesions. Therefore, the role of predisposing factors in the conversion of this yeast to mycelium and its subsequent involvement in pityriasis versicolor pathogenicity should be considered

Memory, slavery, and plantation museums: the River Road Project

Heritage tourism plays an increasingly important yet controversial role in interpreting the emotionally and politically charged memories and legacies of African enslavement. Antebellum plantation museums in the southeastern USA remain relatively underanalyzed by researchers, despite their tradition of ignoring and minimizing the contributions and struggles of the slave community. Yet, this neglect is being challenged somewhat by a growing number of plantations and counter-narrative sites that incorporate slavery into docent-led tours, promotional materials, exhibits, and preserved structures. Responding to a need for scholarship that can ferret out the nuances, complexities, and conflicts of producing and consuming heritage at these tourist sites, this special issue presents the results of a study of four plantations (Laura, Oak Alley, Houmas House, San Francisco) along Louisiana’s River Road. The issue’s editors and contributing authors address a central question: what factors, social actors, and interactions (social and spatial in nature) shape, facilitate, or even constrain the remembering of slavery at southern plantation museums, including those sites making seemingly significant progress in recovering the enslaved? River Road is a microcosm of the larger politics of reshaping southern and American heritage tourism and demonstrates the value of industry-engaged, multi-method examinations of different plantation landscapes within the same region