Depression and Its Relationship to Physical Activity and Obesity

The rates of depression and obesity in the United States have both been steadily increasing in recent years. Decreased levels of physical activity may be associated with increases in both depression and obesity, leading to increases in health care costs. The purpose of this study is to identify whether incidence or severity of depression is related to frequency or intensity of physical activity and to identify whether there is a continuing trend in the relationship between depression and obesity. Depression data from the 2007-2008 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) (n = 5392) were analyzed to assess the relations among physical activity, obesity and depression. Moderate to severe depressive symptoms were established at Depression Screener (PHQ-9) scores ≥10. Physical activity was tabulated for the frequency (activities per week) and duration (minutes per week) of moderate, vigorous, sedentary, and total physical activity. Body mass index (BMI) was calculated from measured height and weight values (kg/m2). The average number of depressive symptoms for obese individuals was 3.53 compared to 2.84 for normal weight participants. Depressed individuals spent less time doing moderate (0.76 days, 12.99 minutes per day) and vigorous physical activity (0.28 days, 6.61 minutes per day) than those without depression (1.51 days, 31.43 minutes per day moderate activity, 0.88 days, 21.84 minutes per day vigorous activity). Mean BMI (30.3 kg/m2 with depression, 28.5 kg/m2 without depression) and waist circumference measures (110.2 cm with depression, 103.1 cm without depression) were found to be significantly higher with depression (p<0.001). These results support the need for further research to assess the effectiveness of exercise in the treatment of depression, particularly in conjunction with treatment for obesity.No embarg

Unseen Affective Faces Influence Person Perception Judgments in Schizophrenia.

To demonstrate the influence of unconscious affective processing on consciously processed information among people with and without schizophrenia, we used a continuous flash suppression (CFS) paradigm to examine whether early and rapid processing of affective information influences first impressions of structurally neutral faces. People with and without schizophrenia rated visible neutral faces as more or less trustworthy, warm, and competent when paired with unseen smiling or scowling faces compared to when paired with unseen neutral faces. Yet, people with schizophrenia also exhibited a deficit in explicit affect perception. These findings indicate that early processing of affective information is intact in schizophrenia but the integration of this information with semantic contexts is problematic. Furthermore, people with schizophrenia who were more influenced by smiling faces presented outside awareness reported experiencing more anticipatory pleasure, suggesting that the ability to rapidly process affective information is important for anticipation of future pleasurable events

Estimating the Capacity of Visual Short-Term Memory: A Transcranial Doppler Sonography Study

Estimates of the capacity of visuospatial short-term memory (VSTM) have ranged from less than 1 item to 4 +/- 1 items. The purpose of the present study was to find the capacity of VSTM by looking at the contribution of the other working memory systems (phonological loop and central executive) and determine the factor that limits VSTM capacity (either number of objects or object complexity). In this study, the psychophysiological measure of cerebral blood flow velocity also was incorporated to determine whether changes in cerebral blood flow velocity were indicative of VSTM performance and capacity. Both performance measures and cerebral blood flow velocity indicate that capacity for random polygons is approximately one object. Complexity of the objects affected capacity, such that simple objects had higher capacities and lower cerebral blood flow velocity than complex objects. Other working memory systems were not found to have an effect on performance

An analysis of the language needs of Social Science students at the University of the West Indies : implications for assessment and teaching

La littérature qui existe sur l'analyse des besoins de langue indique que ces études devraient constituer la base du développement des programmes dans les contextes académiques où l'anglais est enseigné. En outre, la recherche sur la situation jamaïcaine souligne les besoins particuliers des locuteurs du créole jamaïcain. Les étudiants entrent dans l'enseignement de l'anglais standard de la Jamaïque dans des contextes d'enseignement supérieur. Le but de cette recherche est d’analyser les besoins des étudiants en sciences sociales de l’Université des West Indies, Mona, Jamaïque, afin de réviser le test d’entrée de l’université et le développement des cours. Les questions de recherche abordent les besoins en compétences de ces étudiants du point de vue de diverses parties prenantes et comme illustré dans les plans de cours. En plus, ils prennent en compte si le test d'entrée reflète ces besoins. L'étude a également exploré dans quelle mesure les besoins variaient selon les départements et les facteurs sociolinguistiques. Dans cette étude à méthodes mixtes, les données ont été collectées par de questionnaires et d'entrevues; les programmes de cours et le test de langue d’entrée ont également été obtenus pour l’analyse des documents. Les participants comprenaient 302 étudiants, 5 professeurs de langues, 8 professeurs de cours de contenu, et 7 membres de l’administration. Les données ont été analysées à l’aide du modèle de caractéristiques des tâches de Bachman et Palmer (2010) ainsi qu’un modèle d’analyse des besoins, axé sur la situation actuelle, la situation cible et l’analyse des écarts. Une analyse MANOVA a été réalisée pour faire un calcul des moyens des besoins linguistiques déclarés des élèves et pour déterminer la relation entre les besoins des élèves et des facteurs tels que le département, l'âge, le sexe, la situation géographique, et le statut socio-économique. Les résultats de l’étude ont indiqué que la lecture était la compétence la plus importante pour la réussite scolaire des étudiants et que la majorité des étudiants jugeaient leurs compétences inférieures aux attentes de l’université à leur égard. Les résultats ont également montré qu'il y avait une inadéquation entre le test d'entrée et la situation cible en termes de validité et un manque entre les attentes les professeurs de la langue et de sciences sociales. D’ailleurs, les besoins des étudiants variaient en fonction de leur département; les étudiants en tourisme ayant le plus grand écart entre leurs compétences et leurs attentes perçues par rapport aux exigences de l’université. Le sexe, la situation géographique, et le statut socioéconomique peuvent prédire la compétence de l’élève dans certaines habilites linguistiques. Sur la base de ces résultats, nous recommandons qu'un test soit développé qui reflète plus précisément les besoins de la situation cible, ce qui peut être réalisé grâce à la collaboration du département de langue et de la faculté des sciences sociales.The existing literature on needs analysis indicates that these studies should form the basis of curriculum development in contexts where English for Academic Purposes is taught. In addition, the literature on the Jamaican language situation underscores the particular needs of Jamaica Creole speakers entering Jamaica Standard English-medium instruction in higher education contexts. The purpose of this research is to analyze the needs of the Social students at the University of the West Indies, Mona, Jamaica in order to inform the university’s entrance test and course development. The research questions address the skills-based needs of these students from the perspectives of various stakeholders and also as reflected in the course syllabi. Additionally, they take into account whether the language entrance test reflects those needs. The study also explored to what extent needs varied according to departments and sociolinguistic factors. In this mixed-method study, data was collected using questionnaires and interviews; course curricula and the university’s entrance language test were also obtained for document analysis. The participants included 302 students, 5 language teachers, 8 faculty-specific teachers and 7 administrators. Data was analyzed using Bachman and Palmer’s (2010) task characteristics model as well as a needs analysis model, which focused on the present situation, target situation and gap analysis. A MANOVA analysis was carried out to do a means analysis of the reported language needs of the students and to determine the relationship between student needs and factors such as department, age, gender, geographical location and socioeconomic status. The results of the study indicated that reading was the most important skill for the students’ academic success and that the majority of the students rated their competences as being lower than the university’s expectations of them. The findings also showed there was a mismatch between the entrance test and the target situation in terms of its construct validity and also a mismatch between the expectations of the language and the Social Science teachers. Additionally, the needs of the students varied according to their department with the tourism students having the largest gap between their competences and their perceived expectations of the university’s requirements. Gender, geographical location and socioeconomic status were also predictors of the students’ competence in certain language skills. Based on these results, we recommend that a test is developed that more accurately reflects the needs of the target situation, which can be achieved through the collaboration of the department of language and the faculty of Social Science

Biography of Ann Mary Dussault

https://digitalcommons.mtech.edu/crucible_bios/1003/thumbnail.jp

Kristian Sloan Barrett and Catherine Ann Daniel in a Senior Voice Recital

This is the program for the senior voice recital of mezzo-soprano, Kristian Sloan Barrett, accompanied by pianist John Turner, and Catherine Ann Daniel, accompanied by pianist Krisie Holmes. The recital was held on September 27, 1990, in the Mabee Fine Arts Center Recital Hall

The relation of perceptual factors and speed of handwriting to spelling ability.

Thesis (Ed.M.)--Boston Universit