2,368 research outputs found

    Interpersonal Behavior in Couple Therapy: Concurrent and Prospective Associations with Depressive Symptoms and Relationship Distress

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    Objective: This study investigated associations between couples’ interpersonal behavior, depressive symptoms, and relationship distress over the course of couple psychotherapy. Method: After every other session of Integrative Systemic Therapy (M = 13 sessions), N = 100 individuals within 50 couples rated their in-session affiliation and autonomy behavior using the circumplex-based Structural Analysis of Social Behavior Intrex. Concurrent and prospective associations of interpersonal behavior with depressive symptoms and relationship distress were evaluated via multivariate multilevel modeling using the Actor-Partner Interdependence Model. Results: An individual’s hostility, as well as the partner’s hostility, positively predicted an individual’s concurrent depressive symptoms and relationship distress, as well as his or her relationship distress at the following session. Partner hostility during one session predicted an individual’s subsequent depressive symptoms. During sessions in which individuals controlled the partner, and separated themselves from the partner, they reported more concurrent depressive symptoms and relationship distress, and more subsequent relationship distress. When partners separated themselves, individuals reported more concurrent depressive symptoms and relationship distress, and more subsequent relationship distress. Conclusions: Results underscore the importance of couples’ in-session affiliation and autonomy behavior in the treatment of depressive symptoms and relationship distress within couple therapy

    Electricity Governance and the Western Energy Imbalance Market in the United States: The Necessity of Interorganizational Collaboration

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    In the Western United States, widespread growth of wind and solar resources is putting pressure on state policy makers, electricity system operators, and utilities to integrate renewable resources into the grid, while maintaining reliability, affordability, and improving efficiency. These resources are creating new challenges because their variability can contribute to transmission constraints and system imbalances. This paper examines a recent initiative to make energy imbalance market services available throughout the Western Interconnection and provides insight into evolving electricity system governance. Drawing on boundary organization and interorganizational collaboration literature, this research explores the processes and practices used to create a new interorganizational collaboration. The research supports theoretical claims that facilitating policy innovation requires discursive formation of a collective identity

    General Acid–Base Catalysis Mediated by Nucleobases in the Hairpin Ribozyme

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    The catalytic mechanism by which the hairpin ribozyme accelerates cleavage or ligation of the phosphodiester backbone of RNA has been incompletely understood. There is experimental evidence for an important role for an adenine (A38) and a guanine (G8), and it has been proposed that these act in general acid-base catalysis. In this work we show that a large reduction in cleavage rate on substitution of A38 by purine (A38P) can be reversed by replacement of the 5′-oxygen atom at the scissile phosphate by sulfur (5′-PS), which is a much better leaving group. This is consistent with A38 acting as the general acid in the unmodified ribozyme. The rate of cleavage of the 5′-PS substrate by the A38P ribozyme increases with pH log-linearly, indicative of a requirement for a deprotonated base with a relatively high pK(a). On substitution of G8 by diaminopurine, the 5′-PS substrate cleavage rate at first increases with pH and then remains at a plateau, exhibiting an apparent pK(a) consistent with this nucleotide acting in general base catalysis. Alternative explanations for the pH dependence of hairpin ribozyme reactivity are discussed, from which we conclude that general acid-base catalysis by A38 and G8 is the simplest and most probable explanation consistent with all the experimental data

    Hydrological and seasonal controls of phosphorus in Northern Great Plains agricultural streams

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    PostprintControls on nutrient transport in cold, low relief agricultural regions vary dramatically among seasons. The spring snowmelt is often the dominant runoff and nutrient loading event of the year. However, climate change may increase the proportion of runoff occurring with rainfall and there is an urgent need to understand seasonal controls on nutrient transport in order to understand how patterns may change in the future. In this study, we assess patterns and drivers of total phosphorus (TP) dynamics in eight streams draining agriculturally-dominated watersheds, located in southern Manitoba, Canada. Data from three years of monitoring revealed highly coherent patterns of TP concentrations in streams, with pronounced peaks in the spring and mid- summer across the region. This coherent pattern was in spite of considerable interannual variability in the magnitude and timing of discharge; in particular, a major storm event occurred in summer 2014, which resulted in more discharge than the preceding spring melt. Concentration-discharge model fits were generally poor or not significant, suggesting that runoff generation is not the primary driver of TP dynamics in the majority of streams. Seasonal patterns of conductivity and stream temperature suggest mechanisms controlling TP vary by season; a spring TP concentration maximum may be related to surface runoff over frozen soils while the summer TP maximum may be related to temperature-driven biogeochemical processes, which are not well-represented in current conceptual or predictive models. These findings suggest that controls on stream TP concentrations are dynamic through the year, and responses to increases in dormant and non-dormant season temperatures may depend on seasonally-variable processes

    Leukotriene antagonists as first-line or add-on asthma controller therapy

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    Most randomized trials of treatment for asthma study highly selected patients under idealized conditions. METHODS: We conducted two parallel, multicenter, pragmatic trials to evaluate the real-world effectiveness of a leukotriene-receptor antagonist (LTRA) as compared with either an inhaled glucocorticoid for first-line asthma-controller therapy or a long-acting beta(2)-agonist (LABA) as add-on therapy in patients already receiving inhaled glucocorticoid therapy. Eligible primary care patients 12 to 80 years of age had impaired asthma-related quality of life (Mini Asthma Quality of Life Questionnaire [MiniAQLQ] score =6) or inadequate asthma control (Asthma Control Questionnaire [ACQ] score =1). We randomly assigned patients to 2 years of open-label therapy, under the care of their usual physician, with LTRA (148 patients) or an inhaled glucocorticoid (158 patients) in the first-line controller therapy trial and LTRA (170 patients) or LABA (182 patients) added to an inhaled glucocorticoid in the add-on therapy trial. RESULTS: Mean MiniAQLQ scores increased by 0.8 to 1.0 point over a period of 2 years in both trials. At 2 months, differences in the MiniAQLQ scores between the two treatment groups met our definition of equivalence (95% confidence interval [CI] for an adjusted mean difference, -0.3 to 0.3). At 2 years, mean MiniAQLQ scores approached equivalence, with an adjusted mean difference between treatment groups of -0.11 (95% CI, -0.35 to 0.13) in the first-line controller therapy trial and of -0.11 (95% CI, -0.32 to 0.11) in the add-on therapy trial. Exacerbation rates and ACQ scores did not differ significantly between the two groups. CONCLUSIONS: Study results at 2 months suggest that LTRA was equivalent to an inhaled glucocorticoid as first-line controller therapy and to LABA as add-on therapy for diverse primary care patients. Equivalence was not proved at 2 years. The interpretation of results of pragmatic research may be limited by the crossover between treatment groups and lack of a placebo group
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