Self-report Differences Across Adolescent Family Structures: Stepfamilies Versus Intact Families

The present investigation attempted to: (1) increase understanding of stepfamily versus nuclear family normative self-report; (2) predict stepfamily member self-report of family functioning in the first year of remarriage on the basis of contextual, individual, dyadic, and family characteristics and ideals at the time of family formation; and (3) examine the predictive utility of perceived versus actual family member discrepancy scores.;Members of 25 well-functioning, newly formed stepfamilies and 26 demographically similar first marriage families with children between the ages of 12 to 16 were asked to rate family, dyadic, and individual functioning on standardized questionnaires. The Family Adaptability and Cohesion Evaluation Scales, the Family Sense of Coherence Scales, the Dyadic Adjustment Scale and the Parent Adolescent Communication Scale were completed by mother, father, and adolescent during two home visits over an 8 month period, with the first visit of stepfamilies occurring during the first year of family formation.;As predicted, all stepfamily members reported lower (but nonclinical) levels of family cohesion. Stepfamilies also indicated that they were less able to clarify problems as a family and to find meaning in the family unit. Marital relations did not differ in the two family types. Poorer communication between adolescents and their mothers and fathers was reported from both sides of the dyad in the stepfamilies. Eight months later scores changed little, although the biological parent-adolescent relationship no longer differed significantly across groups. Contrary to previous investigations which did not distinguish clinical and nonclinical stepfamilies, stepfamily members did not report dissatisfaction with their lowered levels of cohesion, possibly indicating a realistic expectation of stepfamily normative functioning. Marital, parent-adolescent, and family level variables were found to relate significantly. Concordance between family member report was high in both groups, with predictable intermember differences in mean scores. As predicted, mothers tended to perceive and desire the most family cohesion, adolescents the least. Family cohesion was not supplanted by a measure of personal autonomy and appears to have incremental utility in family study. Substantial prediction of reported family cohesion was achieved by accounting for familial stressors, dyadic relations within the family, and intermember consensus. (Abstract shortened by UMI.

Assessing Needs and Outcomes of Children and Youth Receiving Intensive Services

This study investigated whether children/youth in Ontario triaged to residential services showed a higher intensity of need than those referred to outpatient services, and whether residential treatment gains were sufficient for transition to community services. Participants included 2053 children/youth assessed at 23 diverse mental health agencies across Ontario using the interRAI™ Child and Youth Mental Health (ChYMH) instrument. Various presenting problems were examined utilizing scales including: Disruptive/Aggressive Behavior, Hyperactive/Distraction, Social Disengagement, Anxiety, and Sleep Difficulties. Analyses were conducted separately for boys and girls. Notable differences were found in the initial assessment, with residential boys scoring higher on all scales than outpatient boys, and residential girls scoring higher on the externalizing scales (Disruptive/Aggressive Behavior, Hyperactive/Distraction) than outpatient girls. Treatment gains at residential discharge included improvements in Anxiety, Social Disengagement, Hyperactive/Distraction and Sleep Difficulties for boys and girls to levels at or below the initial scores of outpatient peers. Disruptive/Aggressive Behavior is still a high need following residential services. The results highlight differences in severity of mental health presentation between children/youth receiving residential and outpatient services, and how multiple agencies in Ontario are providing services that successfully reduce the severity of mental health needs

Phenotypic impact of regulatory noise in cellular stress-response pathways

Recent studies indicate that intrinsic promoter-mediated gene expression noise can confer a selective advantage under acute environmental stress by providing beneficial phenotypic diversity within cell populations. To investigate how extrinsic gene expression noise impacts the fitness of cell populations under stress, we engineered two nearly isogenic budding yeast strains; one carrying a two-step regulatory cascade that allows for precise control of the noise transmitted from a transcriptional regulator to a downstream stress-inducing gene, and one carrying a network with low constant upstream noise. The fitness and gene expression of these strains were compared under acute and prolonged stress exposure. Using a phenomenological modeling approach, we predicted that increased noise should confer a fitness advantage under high stress conditions, but reciprocally reduce the resistance of the population to low stress. The model also predicted that extrinsic noise might serve as a basis for phenotypic plasticity whereby gene expression distributions are modulated in response to prolonged stress. Experimentally, we confirmed the predicted differential fitness advantage of extrinsic noise under acute stress, as well as the predicted modulation of gene expression under prolonged stress. However, contrary to model predictions, strains with low and high extrinsic noise showed very similar adaptive responses to prolonged stress. This suggests that while phenotypic heterogeneity generated by noise in regulatory signals can confer increased robustness to acute stress, it is not a requirement for the observed long-term phenotypic plasticity

Predicting patterns of service utilization within children\u27s mental health agencies

Background: Some children with mental health (MH) problems have been found to receive ongoing care, either continuously or episodically. We sought to replicate patterns of MH service use over extended time periods, and test predictors of these patterns. Methods: Latent class analyses were applied to 4 years of visit data from five MH agencies and nearly 6000 children, 4-to 13-years-old at their first visit. Results: Five patterns of service use were identified, replicating previous findings. Overall, 14% of cases had two or more episodes of care and 23% were involved for more than 2 years. Most children (53%) were seen for just a few visits within a few months. Two patterns represented cases with two or more episodes of care spanning multiple years. In the two remaining patterns, children tended to have just one episode of care, but the number of sessions and length of involvement varied. Using discriminant function analyses, we were able to predict with just over 50% accuracy children\u27s pattern of service use. Severe externalizing behaviors, high impairment, and high family burden predicted service use patterns with long durations of involvement and frequent visits. Conclusions: Optimal treatment approaches for children seen for repeated episodes of care or for care lasting multiple years need to be developed. Children with the highest level of need (severe pathology, impairment, and burden) are probably best served by providing high intensity services at the start of care

Le Forum, Vol. 42 No. 4

https://digitalcommons.library.umaine.edu/francoamericain_forum/1097/thumbnail.jp

Penilaian Kinerja Keuangan Koperasi di Kabupaten Pelalawan

This paper describe development and financial performance of cooperative in District Pelalawan among 2007 - 2008. Studies on primary and secondary cooperative in 12 sub-districts. Method in this stady use performance measuring of productivity, efficiency, growth, liquidity, and solvability of cooperative. Productivity of cooperative in Pelalawan was highly but efficiency still low. Profit and income were highly, even liquidity of cooperative very high, and solvability was good

Juxtaposing BTE and ATE – on the role of the European insurance industry in funding civil litigation

One of the ways in which legal services are financed, and indeed shaped, is through private insurance arrangement. Two contrasting types of legal expenses insurance contracts (LEI) seem to dominate in Europe: before the event (BTE) and after the event (ATE) legal expenses insurance. Notwithstanding institutional differences between different legal systems, BTE and ATE insurance arrangements may be instrumental if government policy is geared towards strengthening a market-oriented system of financing access to justice for individuals and business. At the same time, emphasizing the role of a private industry as a keeper of the gates to justice raises issues of accountability and transparency, not readily reconcilable with demands of competition. Moreover, multiple actors (clients, lawyers, courts, insurers) are involved, causing behavioural dynamics which are not easily predicted or influenced. Against this background, this paper looks into BTE and ATE arrangements by analysing the particularities of BTE and ATE arrangements currently available in some European jurisdictions and by painting a picture of their respective markets and legal contexts. This allows for some reflection on the performance of BTE and ATE providers as both financiers and keepers. Two issues emerge from the analysis that are worthy of some further reflection. Firstly, there is the problematic long-term sustainability of some ATE products. Secondly, the challenges faced by policymakers that would like to nudge consumers into voluntarily taking out BTE LEI

Severe early onset preeclampsia: short and long term clinical, psychosocial and biochemical aspects

Preeclampsia is a pregnancy specific disorder commonly defined as de novo hypertension and proteinuria after 20 weeks gestational age. It occurs in approximately 3-5% of pregnancies and it is still a major cause of both foetal and maternal morbidity and mortality worldwide1. As extensive research has not yet elucidated the aetiology of preeclampsia, there are no rational preventive or therapeutic interventions available. The only rational treatment is delivery, which benefits the mother but is not in the interest of the foetus, if remote from term. Early onset preeclampsia (<32 weeks’ gestational age) occurs in less than 1% of pregnancies. It is, however often associated with maternal morbidity as the risk of progression to severe maternal disease is inversely related with gestational age at onset2. Resulting prematurity is therefore the main cause of neonatal mortality and morbidity in patients with severe preeclampsia3. Although the discussion is ongoing, perinatal survival is suggested to be increased in patients with preterm preeclampsia by expectant, non-interventional management. This temporising treatment option to lengthen pregnancy includes the use of antihypertensive medication to control hypertension, magnesium sulphate to prevent eclampsia and corticosteroids to enhance foetal lung maturity4. With optimal maternal haemodynamic status and reassuring foetal condition this results on average in an extension of 2 weeks. Prolongation of these pregnancies is a great challenge for clinicians to balance between potential maternal risks on one the eve hand and possible foetal benefits on the other. Clinical controversies regarding prolongation of preterm preeclamptic pregnancies still exist – also taking into account that preeclampsia is the leading cause of maternal mortality in the Netherlands5 - a debate which is even more pronounced in very preterm pregnancies with questionable foetal viability6-9. Do maternal risks of prolongation of these very early pregnancies outweigh the chances of neonatal survival? Counselling of women with very early onset preeclampsia not only comprises of knowledge of the outcome of those particular pregnancies, but also knowledge of outcomes of future pregnancies of these women is of major clinical importance. This thesis opens with a review of the literature on identifiable risk factors of preeclampsia

Search for stop and higgsino production using diphoton Higgs boson decays

Results are presented of a search for a "natural" supersymmetry scenario with gauge mediated symmetry breaking. It is assumed that only the supersymmetric partners of the top-quark (stop) and the Higgs boson (higgsino) are accessible. Events are examined in which there are two photons forming a Higgs boson candidate, and at least two b-quark jets. In 19.7 inverse femtobarns of proton-proton collision data at sqrt(s) = 8 TeV, recorded in the CMS experiment, no evidence of a signal is found and lower limits at the 95% confidence level are set, excluding the stop mass below 360 to 410 GeV, depending on the higgsino mass

New genetic loci link adipose and insulin biology to body fat distribution.

Body fat distribution is a heritable trait and a well-established predictor of adverse metabolic outcomes, independent of overall adiposity. To increase our understanding of the genetic basis of body fat distribution and its molecular links to cardiometabolic traits, here we conduct genome-wide association meta-analyses of traits related to waist and hip circumferences in up to 224,459 individuals. We identify 49 loci (33 new) associated with waist-to-hip ratio adjusted for body mass index (BMI), and an additional 19 loci newly associated with related waist and hip circumference measures (P < 5 × 10(-8)). In total, 20 of the 49 waist-to-hip ratio adjusted for BMI loci show significant sexual dimorphism, 19 of which display a stronger effect in women. The identified loci were enriched for genes expressed in adipose tissue and for putative regulatory elements in adipocytes. Pathway analyses implicated adipogenesis, angiogenesis, transcriptional regulation and insulin resistance as processes affecting fat distribution, providing insight into potential pathophysiological mechanisms