Estimating the Accuracy of Anal Cytology in the Presence of an Imperfect Reference Standard

Background: The study aim is to estimate sensitivity and specificity of anal cytology for histologic HSIL in analyses adjusted for the imperfect biopsy reference standard. Methods and Principal Findings: Retrospective cohort study of an anal dysplasia screening program for HIV infected adults. We estimated the prevalence of histologic HSIL by concurrent cytology category and the associated cytology ROC area. Cytology operating characteristics for HSIL were estimated and adjusted for the imperfect reference standard by 3 methodologies. The study cohort included 261 patients with 3 available measures: (1) referral cytology; (2) HRA cytology; and (3) HRA directed biopsy. The prevalence of biopsy HSIL varied according to the concurrent HRA cytology result: 64.5

The Interpersonal Beginnings of Fandom: The Relation Between Attachment Style, Trust, and the Admiration of Celebrities

The purpose of this study was to examine the relation between people’s attraction to celebrities and their interpersonal trust and attachment style. Previous research suggests that individuals with different attachment styles are differentially attracted to celebrities. We predicted that securely attached participants who mistrust, rather than trust, others tend to have higher levels of benign celebrity attraction. We found only partial support for our hypothesis. Surprisingly, there were no significant differences between different attachment styles on either of the two measures of celebrity admiration. These findings contribute to the literature on trust and celebrity worship by providing new information about how different attachment styles may (or may not) affect the relationships that people have with their favorite celebrity

Social Psychology for Today’s World

Topics covered include: Why social psych beats common sense How to do research in social psychology Social cognition and social perception Understanding yourself and others Consistency and rationalization Attitudes and attitude change Conformity, obedience, and compliance Why people sometimes help and sometimes hurt others Group processes Prejudice and how to reduce it Social psychology, stress, and your health The authors describe and explain major theories in social psychology in ways that connect with contemporary college students

Are Celebrities Charged with Murder Likely to Be Acquitted?

College students served as mock jurors in a murder trial involving a movie star celebrity in one condition, a televangelist celebrity in another, and an office worker in a third. All three defendants were described as good-looking and were given first-rate legal representation. The trial transcript was manipulated in order to follow the advice of a famous lawyer who claims to have a formula for successfully defending celebrity clients (the Dubin defense). Results showed that the movie star was marginally more likely to be convicted than the other two, when their categories were combined. Those who scored high on the Celebrity Attitude Scale ( celebrity worshippers ) were less likely to convict the movie star than those who scored low on the Scale. No support for the Dubin defense was found

Encoding of aversion by dopamine and the nucleus accumbens

Adaptive motivated behavior requires rapid discrimination between beneficial and harmful stimuli. Such discrimination leads to the generation of either an approach or rejection response, as appropriate, and enables organisms to maximize reward and minimize punishment. Classically, the nucleus accumbens (NAc) and the dopamine projection to it are considered an integral part of the brain’s reward circuit, i.e., they direct approach and consumption behaviors and underlie positive reinforcement. This reward-centered framing ignores important evidence about the role of this system in encoding aversive events. One reason for bias toward reward is the difficulty in designing experiments in which animals repeatedly experience punishments; another is the challenge in dissociating the response to an aversive stimulus itself from the reward/relief experienced when an aversive stimulus is terminated. Here, we review studies that employ techniques with sufficient time resolution to measure responses in ventral tegmental area and NAc to aversive stimuli as they are delivered. We also present novel findings showing that the same stimulus – intra-oral infusion of sucrose – has differing effects on NAc shell dopamine release depending on the prior experience. Here, for some rats, sucrose was rendered aversive by explicitly pairing it with malaise in a conditioned taste aversion paradigm. Thereafter, sucrose infusions led to a suppression of dopamine with a similar magnitude and time course to intra-oral infusions of a bitter quinine solution. The results are discussed in the context of regional differences in dopamine signaling and the implications of a pause in phasic dopamine release within the NAc shell. Together with our data, the emerging literature suggests an important role for differential phasic dopamine signaling in aversion vs. reward

Pig Farmers' Conference 2012: Proceedings from the Teagasc National Pig Conferences

Proceedings of a Teagasc conferenceProceedings from the Teagasc National Pig Conferences which took place on 23 October in the Horse and Jockey Hotel, Tipperary and the 24 October in the Cavan Crystal Hotel, Cava

A Profile of the Structure and Impact of Nursing Management in Canadian Hospitals

The purpose of this study was to describe the profile of nursing leadership structures in Canada and to assess relationships among structures, processes and outcomes pertaining to nurse leaders\u27 work. Data were collected from nurse leaders in 28 academic health centres and 38 community hospitals in 10 Canadian provinces (n = 1,164). The results of this study revealed that the current contingent of nursing leaders in Canada see themselves as an empowered and influential group within their organizations. Despite very large spans of control, nurse leaders at all levels were positive about their work life and confident in their ability to provide effective leadership on nursing affairs within their organizations. Structural and process factors significantly affected nurse manager outcomes at all levels. Senior nurse leaders\u27 work-life factors had a significant effect on middle and first-line managers\u27 perceptions of patient care quality in the organization. Nurse leaders averaged 49 years of age highlighting the need for succession planning