Attributions for Rejection and Acceptance in Young Adults with Borderline and Avoidant Personality Features

Individuals with borderline and avoidant personality disorders show interpersonal dysfunction that includes maladaptive responses to rejection and reduced emotional benefits from acceptance. To identify the attributional styles that may underlie these difficulties, we examined causal attributions for rejection and acceptance among undergraduates high in features of each disorder and a healthy comparison group. In Study 1, participants rated how likely they were to attribute hypothetical rejection and acceptance experiences to positive and negative qualities of the self and others, as well as external circumstances. In Study 2, we examined these same attributions in daily diary assessments of real rejection and acceptance experiences. Although the two studies showed some differences in results, they both linked borderline personality features with suspicious, selfbolstering responses and avoidant personality features with perceived inferiority. Distinct attributional styles may contribute to the distinct interpersonal problems characteristic of these conditions

Quantifying interictal intracranial EEG to predict focal epilepsy

Intracranial EEG (IEEG) is used for 2 main purposes, to determine: (1) if epileptic networks are amenable to focal treatment and (2) where to intervene. Currently these questions are answered qualitatively and sometimes differently across centers. There is a need for objective, standardized methods to guide surgical decision making and to enable large scale data analysis across centers and prospective clinical trials. We analyzed interictal data from 101 patients with drug resistant epilepsy who underwent presurgical evaluation with IEEG. We chose interictal data because of its potential to reduce the morbidity and cost associated with ictal recording. 65 patients had unifocal seizure onset on IEEG, and 36 were non-focal or multi-focal. We quantified the spatial dispersion of implanted electrodes and interictal IEEG abnormalities for each patient. We compared these measures against the 5 Sense Score (5SS), a pre-implant estimate of the likelihood of focal seizure onset, and assessed their ability to predict the clinicians choice of therapeutic intervention and the patient outcome. The spatial dispersion of IEEG electrodes predicted network focality with precision similar to the 5SS (AUC = 0.67), indicating that electrode placement accurately reflected pre-implant information. A cross-validated model combining the 5SS and the spatial dispersion of interictal IEEG abnormalities significantly improved this prediction (AUC = 0.79; p<0.05). The combined model predicted ultimate treatment strategy (surgery vs. device) with an AUC of 0.81 and post-surgical outcome at 2 years with an AUC of 0.70. The 5SS, interictal IEEG, and electrode placement were not correlated and provided complementary information. Quantitative, interictal IEEG significantly improved upon pre-implant estimates of network focality and predicted treatment with precision approaching that of clinical experts.Comment: 25 pages, 4 Figures, 1 tabl

LSST: from Science Drivers to Reference Design and Anticipated Data Products

(Abridged) We describe here the most ambitious survey currently planned in the optical, the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope (LSST). A vast array of science will be enabled by a single wide-deep-fast sky survey, and LSST will have unique survey capability in the faint time domain. The LSST design is driven by four main science themes: probing dark energy and dark matter, taking an inventory of the Solar System, exploring the transient optical sky, and mapping the Milky Way. LSST will be a wide-field ground-based system sited at Cerro Pach\'{o}n in northern Chile. The telescope will have an 8.4 m (6.5 m effective) primary mirror, a 9.6 deg$^2$ field of view, and a 3.2 Gigapixel camera. The standard observing sequence will consist of pairs of 15-second exposures in a given field, with two such visits in each pointing in a given night. With these repeats, the LSST system is capable of imaging about 10,000 square degrees of sky in a single filter in three nights. The typical 5$\sigma$ point-source depth in a single visit in $r$ will be $\sim 24.5$ (AB). The project is in the construction phase and will begin regular survey operations by 2022. The survey area will be contained within 30,000 deg$^2$ with $\delta<+34.5^\circ$, and will be imaged multiple times in six bands, $ugrizy$, covering the wavelength range 320--1050 nm. About 90\% of the observing time will be devoted to a deep-wide-fast survey mode which will uniformly observe a 18,000 deg$^2$ region about 800 times (summed over all six bands) during the anticipated 10 years of operations, and yield a coadded map to $r\sim27.5$. The remaining 10\% of the observing time will be allocated to projects such as a Very Deep and Fast time domain survey. The goal is to make LSST data products, including a relational database of about 32 trillion observations of 40 billion objects, available to the public and scientists around the world.Comment: 57 pages, 32 color figures, version with high-resolution figures available from https://www.lsst.org/overvie

Smoking and survival after breast cancer diagnosis: a prospective observational study and systematic review.

The association of smoking with outcomes following breast cancer prognosis is not well understood. In a cohort study called Life After Cancer Epidemiology (LACE), 2,265 women diagnosed with breast cancer were followed for a median of 12 years. We used multivariable proportional-hazards models to determine whether smoking, assessed approximately two years post-diagnosis, was associated with risk of death among these women. We also undertook a systematic review of all cohort studies to date that have examined the association between smoking and breast cancer mortality. Compared with never smokers, women who were current smokers had a twofold higher rate of dying from breast cancer [hazard ratio (HR) = 2.01, 95 % confidence interval (CI) 1.27-3.18] and an approximately fourfold higher rate of dying from competing (non-breast cancer) causes (HR = 3.84, 95 % CI 2.50-5.89). Among seven studies that met the inclusion criteria in the systematic review, three studies and our own reported significantly increased risk of breast cancer death with current smoking. We found little evidence of an association between former smoking and breast cancer mortality (HR = 1.24, 95 % CI 0.94-1.64). Consistent with findings from our prospective observational study, the systematic review of seven additional studies indicates positive association of current smoking with breast cancer mortality, but weak association with former smoking. Women who smoke following breast cancer diagnosis and treatment are at higher risk of death both from breast cancer and other causes

Smoking and survival after breast cancer diagnosis: a prospective observational study and systematic review.

The association of smoking with outcomes following breast cancer prognosis is not well understood. In a cohort study called Life After Cancer Epidemiology (LACE), 2,265 women diagnosed with breast cancer were followed for a median of 12 years. We used multivariable proportional-hazards models to determine whether smoking, assessed approximately two years post-diagnosis, was associated with risk of death among these women. We also undertook a systematic review of all cohort studies to date that have examined the association between smoking and breast cancer mortality. Compared with never smokers, women who were current smokers had a twofold higher rate of dying from breast cancer [hazard ratio (HR) = 2.01, 95 % confidence interval (CI) 1.27-3.18] and an approximately fourfold higher rate of dying from competing (non-breast cancer) causes (HR = 3.84, 95 % CI 2.50-5.89). Among seven studies that met the inclusion criteria in the systematic review, three studies and our own reported significantly increased risk of breast cancer death with current smoking. We found little evidence of an association between former smoking and breast cancer mortality (HR = 1.24, 95 % CI 0.94-1.64). Consistent with findings from our prospective observational study, the systematic review of seven additional studies indicates positive association of current smoking with breast cancer mortality, but weak association with former smoking. Women who smoke following breast cancer diagnosis and treatment are at higher risk of death both from breast cancer and other causes

Novel copolymers of vinyl acetate. 4. Halogen ring-substituted ethyl 2-cyano-3-phenyl-2-propenoates

Novel copolymers of vinyl acetate and halogen ring-substituted ethyl 2-cyano-3-phenyl-2-propenoates, RPhCH=C(CN)CO2C2H5 (where R is 2-Br, 3-Br, 4-Br, 2-Cl, 3-Cl, 4-Cl, 2-F, 3-F, 4-F, 2,3-dichloro, 2,4-dichloro, 2,6-dichloro, 3,4-dichloro, 2,4-difluoro, 2-bromo-3,4-dimethoxy) were prepared in solution with radical initiation at 70C. The propenoates were synthesized by the piperidine catalyzed Knoevenagel condensation of halogen ring-substituted benzaldehydes and ethyl cyanoacetate, and characterized by CHN analysis, IR, 1H and 13C-NMR. The compositions of the copolymers were calculated from nitrogen analysis and the structures were analyzed by IR, 1H and 13C-NMR. Thermal behavior of the copolymers was studied by DSC (Tg) and TGA. Decomposition of the copolymers in nitrogen occurred in two steps, first in the 159-500ºC range with residue (8.8-15.2 wt%), which then decomposed in the 500-650ºC range

Using HIV Surveillance Registry Data to Re-Link Persons to Care: The RSVP Project in San Francisco

BackgroundPersons with unsuppressed HIV viral load (VL) who disengage from care may experience poor clinical outcomes and potentially transmit HIV. We assessed the feasibility and yield of using the San Francisco Department of Public Health (SFDPH) enhanced HIV surveillance system (eHARS) to identify and re-engage such persons in care.MethodsUsing SFDPH eHARS data as of 4/20/2012 (index date), we selected HIV-infected adults who were alive, had no reported VL or CD4 cell count results in the past nine months (proxy for "out-of-care") and a VL >200 copies/mL drawn nine to 15 months earlier. We prioritized cases residing locally for investigation, and used information from eHARS and medical and public health databases to contact them for interview and referral to the SFDPH linkage services (LINCS). Twelve months later, we matched-back to eHARS data to assess how HIV laboratory reporting delays affected original eligibility, and if persons had any HIV laboratory results performed and reported within 12 months after index date ('new labs').ResultsAmong 434 eligible persons, 282 were prioritized for investigation, of whom 75 (27%) were interviewed, 79 (28%) could not be located, and 48 (17%) were located out of the area. Among the interviewed, 54 (72%) persons accepted referral to LINCS. Upon match-back to eHARS data, 324 (75%) in total were confirmed as eligible, including 221 (78%) of the investigated; most had new labs.ConclusionsAmong the investigated persons presumed out-of-care, we interviewed and offered LINCS referral to about one-quarter, demonstrating the feasibility but limited yield of our project. Matching to updated surveillance data revealed that a substantial minority did not disengage from care and that most re-engaged in HIV care. Verifying persons' HIV care status with medical providers and improving timeliness of transfer and cross-jurisdictional sharing of HIV laboratory data may aid future efforts