Relationships Among Temperament Characteristics of Adolescents Born Prematurely and Maternal Temperament Characteristics

Abstract available through the Developmental Psychobiology

The DURATIONS randomised trial design: Estimation targets, analysis methods and operating characteristics

Background. Designing trials to reduce treatment duration is important in several therapeutic areas, including TB and antibiotics. We recently proposed a new randomised trial design to overcome some of the limitations of standard two-arm non-inferiority trials. This DURATIONS design involves randomising patients to a number of duration arms, and modelling the so-called duration-response curve. This article investigates the operating characteristics (type-1 and type-2 errors) of different statistical methods of drawing inference from the estimated curve. Methods. Our first estimation target is the shortest duration non-inferior to the control (maximum) duration within a specific risk difference margin. We compare different methods of estimating this quantity, including using model confidence bands, the delta method and bootstrap. We then explore the generalisability of results to estimation targets which focus on absolute event rates, risk ratio and gradient of the curve. Results. We show through simulations that, in most scenarios and for most of the estimation targets, using the bootstrap to estimate variability around the target duration leads to good results for DURATIONS design-appropriate quantities analogous to power and type-1 error. Using model confidence bands is not recommended, while the delta method leads to inflated type-1 error in some scenarios, particularly when the optimal duration is very close to one of the randomised durations. Conclusions. Using the bootstrap to estimate the optimal duration in a DURATIONS design has good operating characteristics in a wide range of scenarios, and can be used with confidence by researchers wishing to design a DURATIONS trial to reduce treatment duration. Uncertainty around several different targets can be estimated with this bootstrap approach

Temperament, Distraction, and Learning in Toddlerhood

The word- and nonword-learning abilities of toddlers were tested under various conditions of environmental distraction, and evaluated with respect to children\u27s temperamental attentional focus. Thirty-nine children and their mothers visited the lab at child age 21-months, where children were exposed to fast-mapping word-learning trials and nonlinguistic sequential learning trials. It was found that both word- and nonword-learning were adversely affected by the presentation of environmental distractions. But it was also found that the effect of the distractions sometimes depended on children\u27s level of attentional focus. Specifically, children high in attentional focus were less affected by environmental distractions than children low in attentional focus when attempting to learn from a model, whereas children low in attentional focus demonstrated little learning from the model. Translationally, these results may be of use to child health-care providers investigating possible sources of cognitive and language delay

The Scope of the Eighth Amendment Does Not Include a Per Se Bar to the Use of Victim Impact Evidence in the Sentencing Phase of a Capital Trial.

In Payne v. Tennessee, the United States Supreme Court held the scope of the Eighth Amendment does not include a per se bar to the use of victim impact evidence in the sentencing phase of a capital trial. As a result of Payne, the realm of information admissible during the sentencing phase of a capital trial now includes victim impact evidence. The use of victim impact evidence improperly diverts the sentencer’s attention away from the defendant’s moral blameworthiness to the victim’s character and reputation. Although advocates of victim’s rights may see this decision as a victory, the reasoning of the Court and the implications on the criminal justice system indicate the decision was erroneous. Specifically, the decision goes against the capital sentencing goals of proportionality and non-arbitrariness. The decision in Payne will likely weigh heavily against criminal defendants. Thus, the majority’s opinion marks a significant step backward in the pursuit of a capital sentencing scheme free of arbitrariness. Although societal values do factor into Eighth Amendment analysis when determining cruel and unusual punishments, the Court should not bind itself to this concern at the expense of other overriding concerns such as reliability in sentencing. The scope of significant factors in death penalty decisions will now include the victim’s ability to express grief persuasively enough to earn the sentencer’s sympathy. Prosecutors will take advantage of this new weapon by tailoring their arguments to jurors who are most susceptible to an emotional display by the victims. Sentencers will therefore view evidence which does not reflect the criminal defendant’s culpability and can consider that evidence in deciding his ultimate fate

Limiting Punitive Damages: A Placebo for America\u27s Ailing Competitiveness.

This Comment will discuss Vice President Dan Quayle’s proposed legislation by reviewing the history of punitive damages and providing an overview of current state legislation. Thereafter, this Comment debunks the theory of an unruly punitive damage system and analyzes the impact of a punitive damages cap on competitiveness, quality, safety and the doctrine’s underlying goals. On August 13, 1991, Vice President Quayle, as head of the President’s Council on Competitiveness (the Council), addressed the American Bar Association’s annual meeting. He announced a fifty-point proposal designed to improve the civil justice system. Vice President Quayle proposed, inter alia, a cap on the amount of recoverable punitive damages not to exceed the amount of compensatory, or actual, damages. The Vice President’s recommendation came in response to the decline in America’s international competitiveness. Vice President Quayle argued punitive damage caps would allow businesses to research and create products without fear of excessive liability. The devastating impact of caps on punitive damages awards outweighs any potentially beneficial aspects of such limitations. Punitive damages caps dilute, if not eliminate, the essential and long-standing goals of punitive damages—punishment and deterrence. Additionally, such limitations encourage companies to make unscrupulous decisions between the safety and quality of their products and the potential cost of liability. In the area most likely to affect international competitiveness—products liability—studies show punitive damages awards remain infrequent and insignificant. Punitive damages are intended to punish and deter only the most egregious conduct. Therefore, companies have little to fear if they observe the necessary precautions when manufacturing a product. Punitive damages enhance competition by encouraging companies to manufacture products of a higher quality. If punitive damages hinder the development of products which have the potential for disastrous results, the doctrine served its purpose

K band Spectroscopy of Ultraluminous Infrared Galaxies: The 2 Jy Sample

We present near-infrared spectroscopy for a complete sample of 33 ultraluminous infrared galaxies at a resolution of R\approx 1000. Most of the wavelength range from 1.80-2.20 microns in the rest frame is covered, including the Pa-alpha and Br-gamma hydrogen recombination lines, and the molecular hydrogen vibration-rotation 1-0 S(1) and S(3) lines. Other species, such as He I, [Fe II], and [Si VI] appear in the spectra as well, in addition to a number of weaker molecular hydrogen lines. Nuclear extractions for each of the individual galaxies are presented here, along with spectra of secondary nuclei, where available. The Pa-alpha emission is seen to be highly concentrated on the nuclei, typically with very little emision extending beyond a radius of 1 kpc. Signatures of active nuclei are rare in the present sample, occurring in only two of the 33 galaxies. It is found that visual extinctions to the nuclei via the Pa-alpha/Br-gamma line ratio in excess of 10 magnitudes are relatively common among ULIRGs, and that visual extinctions greater than 25 mag are necessary to conceal a QSO emitting half the total bolometric luminosity. The vibration-rotation lines of molecular hydrogen appear to be predominantly thermal in origin, with effective temperatures generally around 2200 K. The relative nuclear velocities between double nucleus ULIRGs are investigated, through which it is inferred that the maximum deprojected velocity difference is about 200 km/s. This figure is lower than the velocities predicted by physical models of strong interactions/mergers of large, gas-rich galaxies.Comment: 52 pages (19 with just figures), 9 figures, accepted for publication in the Astronomical Journal; Table 3 not formatted properly on astro-ph: get source and print Murphy.tab3.p

Analysis of normal and osteoarthritic canine cartilage mRNA expression by quantitative polymerase chain reaction

The molecular basis to mammalian osteoarthritis (OA) is unknown. We hypothesised that the expression of selected proteases, matrix molecules, and collagens believed to have a role in the pathogenesis of OA would be changed in naturally occurring canine OA cartilage when compared to normal articular cartilage. Quantitative (real-time) reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction assays were designed measuring the expression of selected matrix molecules (collagens and small leucine-rich proteoglycans), key mediators of the proteolytic degradation of articular cartilage (metalloproteinases, cathepsins), and their inhibitors (tissue inhibitors of matrix metalloproteinases). All data were normalised using a geometric mean of three housekeeping genes, and the results subjected to power calculations and corrections for multiple hypothesis testing. We detected increases in the expression of BGN, COL1A2, COL2A1, COL3A1, COL5A1, CSPG2, CTSB, CTSD, LUM, MMP13, TIMP1, and TNC in naturally occurring canine OA. The expression of TIMP2 and TIMP4 was significantly reduced in canine OA cartilage. The patterns of gene expression change observed in naturally occurring canine OA were similar to those reported in naturally occurring human OA and experimental canine OA. We conclude that the expression profiles of matrix-associated molecules in end-stage mammalian OA may be comparable but that the precise aetiologies of OA affecting specific joints in different species are presently unknown

The role of insulin receptor substrate 2 in hypothalamic and beta cell function

Insulin receptor substrate 2 (Irs2) plays complex roles in energy homeostasis. We generated mice lacking Irs2 in beta cells and a population of hypothalamic neurons (RIPCreIrs2KO), in all neurons (NesCreIrs2KO), and in proopiomelanocortin neurons (POMCCreIrs2KO) to determine the role of Irs2 in the CNS and beta cell. RIPCreIrs2KO mice displayed impaired glucose tolerance and reduced P cell mass. Overt diabetes did not ensue, because beta cells escaping Cre-mediated recombination progressively populated islets. RIPCreIrs2KO and NesCreIrs2KO mice displayed hyperphagia, obesity, and increased body length, which suggests altered melanocortin action. POMCCreIrs2KO mice did not display this phenotype. RIPCreIrs2KO and NesCreIrs2KO mice retained leptin sensitivity, which suggests that CNS Irs2 pathways are not required for leptin action. NesCreIrs2KO and POMCCreIrs2KO mice did not display reduced beta cell mass, but NesCreIrs2KO mice displayed mild abnormalities of glucose homeostasis. RIPCre neurons did not express POMC or neuropeptide Y. Insulin and a melanocortin agonist depolarized RIPCre neurons, whereas leptin was ineffective. Insulin hyperpolarized and leptin depolarized POMC neurons. Our findings demonstrate a critical role for IRS2 in beta cell and hypothalamic function and provide insights into the role of RIPCre neurons, a distinct hypothalamic neuronal population, in growth and energy homeostasis