Worry, problem elaboration and suppression of imagery: the role of concreteness

Both lay concept and scientific theory claim that worry may be helpful for defining and analyzing problems. Recent studies, however, indicate that worrisome problem elaborations are less concrete than worry-free problem elaborations. This challenges the problem solving view of worry because abstract problem analyses are unlikely to lead to concrete problem solutions. Instead the findings support the avoidance theory of worry which claims that worry suppresses aversive imagery. Following research findings in the dual-coding framework [Paivio, A. (1971). Imagery and verbal processes. New York: Holt, Rhinehart and Winston; Paivio, A. (1986). Mental representations: a dual coding approach. New York: Oxford University Press.], the present article proposes that reduced concreteness may play a central role in the understanding of worry. First, reduced concreteness can explain how worry reduces imagery. Second, it offers an explanation why worrisome problem analyses are unlikely to arrive at solutions. Third, it provides a key for the understanding of worry maintenance

An Exercise-Induced Improvement In Isolated Skeletal Muscle Contractility Does Not Affect The Performance-Enhancing Benefit Of 70 [Mu]M Caffeine Treatment.

This study aimed to examine the effects of exercise-induced increases in skeletal muscle contractile performance on isolated skeletal muscle caffeine sensitivity. 30-week old CD1 mice (n=28) either acted as controls or underwent eight weeks of voluntary wheel running. Following the treatment intervention, whole soleus (SOL) or a section of the costal diaphragm (DIA) was isolated from each mouse and tested to determine the effect of 70μM caffeine on work loop power output. Although caffeine elicited a significant increase in power of both the SOL and the DIA, relative to a non-caffeine control, the effect was not different between the experimental groups, despite the muscles of the trained group producing significantly greater muscle power. There was no significant relationship between training volume or baseline work loop power and the caffeine response. These results indicate that an exercise-induced increase in muscle performance did not influence the performance-enhancing effects of caffeine.N/

Reliability and validity of two widely-used worry questionnaires: self-report and self-peer convergence

The reliability and validity of the Penn State Worry Questionnaire (PSWQ) and the Worry Domains Questionnaire (WDQ) were examined with self-ratings from a non-clinical sample of 148 students in a test-retest design across four weeks. Ratings from three well-acquainted peers were also obtained. With internal consistencies and test-retest correlations of at least 0.85, the present study confirmed the high reliability of the questionnaires. Moreover, both measures demonstrated substantial convergent validity: Average agreement among peers was 0.42 (PSWQ) and 0.47 (WDQ) and aggregated self-peer agreement was 0.55 (PSWQ) and 0.49 (WDQ). Self-peer agreement was not biased by social desirability. These findings challenge views that worry is an unreliable and unobservable phenomenon

Adrenal insufficiency due to bilateral adrenal metastases - A systematic review and meta-analysis

Objective: Bilateral adrenal metastases may cause adrenal insufficiency (AI) but it is unclear if screening for AI in patients with bilateral adrenal metastases is justified, despite the potential for adrenal crises. Method: A search using PubMed/Medline, ScienceDirect and Cochrane Reviews was performed to collect all original research articles and all case reports from the past 50 years that describe AI in bilateral adrenal metastases. Results: Twenty studies were included with 6 original research articles, 13 case reports and one case series. The quality was generally poor. The prevalence of AI was 3–8%. Of all cases of AI (n ¼ 25) the mean pooled baseline cortisol was 318 237 nmol/L and stimulated 423 238 nmol/L. Hypotension was present in 69%, hyponatremia in 9% and hyperkalemia in 100%. Lung cancer was the cause in 35%, colorectal 20%, breast cancer 15% and lymphoma 10%. The size of the adrenal metastases was 5.5 2.8 cm (left) and 5.5 3.1 cm (right), respectively. There was no correlation between basal cortisol, stimulated cortisol concentration or ACTH with the size of adrenal metastases. The median time to death was 5.0 months (IQR 0.6–6.5). However, two cases were alive after 12–24 months. Conclusion: The prevalence of AI in patients with bilateral adrenal metastases was low. Prognosis was very poor. Due to the low prevalence of AI, screening is likely only indicated in patients with symptoms and signs suggestive of hypocortisolism

A perturbative approach to the reconstruction of the eigenvalue spectrum of a normal covariance matrix from a spherically truncated counterpart

In this paper we propose a perturbative method for the reconstruction of the covariance matrix of a multinormal distribution, under the assumption that the only available information amounts to the covariance matrix of a spherically truncated counterpart of the same distribution. We expand the relevant equations up to the fourth perturbative order and discuss the analytic properties of the first few perturbative terms. We finally compare the proposed approach with an exact iterative algorithm (presented in Palombi et al. (2017)) in the hypothesis that the spherically truncated covariance matrix is estimated from samples of various sizes.Comment: 39 pages, 7 figures. v2: version accepted for publication in J. Comp. Appl. Mat

Investigating A Dose Response Relationship between High Fat Diet Consumption and the Contractile Performance of Isolated Mouse Soleus, EDL and Diaphragm Muscles

PurposeRecent evidence has demonstrated an obesity-induced, skeletal muscle-specific reduction in contractile performance. The extent and magnitude of these changes in relation to total dose of high-fat diet consumption remains unclear. This study aimed to examine the dose–response relationship between a high-fat diet and isolated skeletal muscle contractility.Methods120 female CD1 mice were randomly assigned to either control group or groups receiving 2, 4, 8 or 12 weeks of a high-calorie diet (N = 24). At 20 weeks, soleus, EDL or diaphragm muscle was isolated (n = 8 in each case) and isometric force, work loop power output and fatigue resistance were measured.ResultsWhen analysed with respect to feeding duration, there was no effect of diet on the measured parameters prior to 8 weeks of feeding. Compared to controls, 8-week feeding caused a reduction in normalised power of the soleus, and 8- and 12-week feeding caused reduced normalised isometric force, power and fatigue resistance of the EDL. Diaphragm from the 12-week group produced lower normalised power, whereas 8- and 12-week groups produced significantly lower normalised isometric force. Correlation statistics indicated that body fat accumulation and decline in contractility will be specific to the individual and independent of the feeding duration.ConclusionThe data indicate that a high-fat diet causes a decline in muscle quality with specific contractile parameters being affected in each muscle. We also uniquely demonstrate that the amount of fat gain, irrespective of feeding duration, may be the main factor in reducing contractile performance

The effect on survival of early detection of breast cancer in South Australia

Early detection of breast cancer is an important public health policy. Programs of regular screening examinations have been widely established in an attempt to detect the disease when the primary tumour diameter is small. In South Australia, BreastScreen SA suggests that women between the ages of 50 and 70 years be screened every 24 months. Our aim in this paper is to make assessments of various screening procedures by using statistical models with parameters estimated exclusively from South Australian data. We establish a relationship between primary tumour diameter and ultimate survival time. We estimate an advantage of 2.9 (.7) years in median survival time for those women detected with the disease by BreastScreen SA, compared with an unscreened population. We construct a computer model from which we determine the consequences of using a 12 month screening interval, and also the effect of beginning screening at the age of 40 rather than the current conventional commencement age of 50 years

Sediment and particulate carbon removal by pipe erosion increase over time in blanket peatlands as a consequence of land drainage

Land drainage is common in peatlands. Artificially drained blanket peat catchments have been shown to have a significantly greater soil pipe density than intact catchments. This paper investigates the role of surface land drains in the enhancement of soil piping in blanket peats. The density of piping was found to significantly increase in a linear fashion with the age of the drainage. Thirty-five years after drains were cut, slopes would be expected to have twice the density of soil piping than would an undrained blanket peat catchment. The rate of pipe erosion increases exponentially over time, so that particulate carbon loss from subsurface pipes is greatest where drains are oldest

Electrical fixing of 1000 angle-multiplexed holograms in SBN:75

We have demonstrated electrical fixing of 1000 angle-multiplexed holograms in a 1-cm^3 volume Ce-doped SBN:75 crystal. A revealing procedure yielded an average diffraction efficiency of 0.005% for each hologram, with approximately 20% variation. The erasure resistance of the fixed gratings was verified

Weekly assessment of worry: an adaptation of the Penn State Worry Questionnaire for monitoring changes during treatment

An adaptation of the Penn State Worry Questionnaire (PSWQ) [Meyer, T. J., Miller, M. L., Metzger, R. L. and Borkovec, T. D. (1990). Development and validation of the Penn State Worry Questionnaire. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 28, 487-495.] for weekly assessment of worry was evaluated in a brief treatment study. Cognitive restructuring techniques were taught to 28 nonclinical high-worriers, 14 of whom served as a control group in a lagged waiting-list design. Results showed that the Penn State Worry Questionnaire-Past Week (PSWQ-PW) was highly reliable and substantially valid in the assessment of both (a) weekly status of worry and (b) treatment-related changes in worry: average Cronbach's alpha was 0.91; average convergent correlation with a past-week adaptation of the Worry Domains Questionnaire [Tallis, F., Eysenck, M. W. and Mathews, A. (1992). A questionnaire for the measurement of nonpathological worry. Personality and Individual Differences, 13, 161-168.] was 0.63 and pre-post improvement on PSWQ-PW showed a 0.71 correlation with the Questionnaire of Changes in Experiencing and Behavior [Zielke, M. and Kopf-Mehnert, C. (1978). Veränderungsfragebogen des Erlebens und Verhaltens. Weinheim, Germany: Beltz Test Gesellschaft.]. It is concluded that the PSWQ-PW is a useful instrument for monitoring pathological worry in experimental and applied settings