Anxiety problems in young people with Asperger syndrome: a case series

It is now well established that the prevalence of mental health difficulties in individuals with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) is considerably higher than in the general population. With recent estimates of the prevalence of autism spectrum disorders being as high as one percent, increasing numbers of children and young people are presenting to local and specialist services with mental health problems in addition to a diagnosis of ASD. Many families report that the impact of the mental health problems can be as or more impairing than the autism spectrum difficulties themselves. Clinical services are frequently called upon to treat these difficulties; however, there is limited evidence for the effectiveness of treatments in this population. This paper reports a case series of children and adolescents with ASD and an anxiety disorder who were treated with a standard cognitive behaviour therapy (CBT) rationale adapted to take account of the neuropsychological features of ASD. Common features of the presentation of the disorders and also treatment processes are discussed

Results from new fungus-tolerant grapevine varieties for Organic Viticulture

Two red and three white new fungus-tolerant grape varieties were tested within a period of five years. REGENT, RONDO, JOHANNITER and Gf 48-12 show a better wine quality than PINOT NOIR or SILVANER and can be recommended for Organic Viticulture as well as for the conventional viticulture to reduce copper and fungicide applications

The devil in the deep: Expanding the known habitat of a rare and protected fish

The accepted geographic range of a species is related to both opportunity and effort in sampling that range. In deepwater ecosystems where human access is limited, the geographic ranges of many marine species are likely to be underestimated. A chance recording from baited cameras deployed on deep uncharted reef revealed an eastern blue devil fish (Paraplesiops bleekeri) at a depth of 51 m and more than 2 km further down the continental shelf slope than previously observed. This is the first verifiable observation of eastern blue devil fish, a protected and endemic southeastern Australian temperate reef species, at depths greater than the typically accepted depth range of 30 m. Knowledge on the ecology of this and many other reef species is indeed often limited to shallow coastal reefs, which are easily accessible by divers and researchers. Suitable habitat for many reef species appears to exist on deeper offshore reefs but is likely being overlooked due to the logistics of conducting research on these often uncharted habitats. On the basis of our observation at a depth of 51 m and observations by recreational fishers catching eastern blue devil fishes on deep offshore reefs, we suggest that the current depth range of eastern blue devil fish is being underestimated at 30 m. We also observed several common reef species well outside of their accepted depth range. Notably, immaculate damsel (Mecaenichthys immaculatus), red morwong (Cheilodactylus fuscus), mado (Atypichthys strigatus), white-ear (Parma microlepis) and silver sweep (Scorpis lineolata) were abundant and recorded in a number of locations at up to a depth of at least 55 m. This underestimation of depth potentially represents a large area of deep offshore reefs and micro habitats out on the continental shelf that could contribute to the resilience of eastern blue devil fish to extinction risk and contribute to the resilience of many reef species to climate change

Calcium binding activity of the epidermal growth factor-like domains of the apicomplexan microneme protein EtMIC4

Microneme proteins are secreted from apicomplexan parasites during invasion of host cells and they play crucial roles in parasite-host cell adhesion. EtMIC4 is a 240 kDa transmembrane protein from Eimeria tenella that contains 31 tandemly arranged epidermal growth factor (EGF), like repeats within its extracellular domain. The majority of these repeats have calcium binding (cb) consensus sequences. Little is known about cbEGFs in apicomplexan parasites but their presence in microneme proteins suggests that they may contribute to parasite-host interactions. To investigate the potential role of cbEGFs we have expressed and correctly refolded a cbEGF triplet from EtMIC4 (cbEGF7-9) and demonstrated that this triplet binds calcium. Circular dichroism spectroscopic analysis of cbEGF7-9 demonstrates that the molecule undergoes a gradual change in conformation with increasing levels of calcium. In the presence of calcium, the triplet becomes resistant to proteolytic degradation by a variety of proteases, a characteristic feature of cbEGF repeats from higher eukaryotic proteins, such as fibrillin, suggesting that calcium binding induces the formation of a rigid conformation. Moreover, mass spectrometric mapping of the cleavage sites that are protected by calcium shows that these sites are located both close to and distant from the calcium binding sites, indicating that protection is not due to steric hindrance by calcium ions, but rather due to the overall conformation adopted by the triplet in the presence of calcium. Thus, the tandemly-arranged cbEGF repeats within EtMIC4 provide a mechanism whereby, in the calcium-rich extracellular environment, the molecule could adopt a protease-resistant, rigid structure that could favour its interaction with host cell ligands

More Than a Feeling: The Role of Self-Compassion on the Affective Response to Negative Events in the Workplace

Affective reactions and employee emotions have been studied since the days of the Hawthorne studies (Roethlisberger & Dickson, 1939). According to Affective Events Theory (Weiss & Cropanzano, 1996), people react affectively to events in the workplace, and these reactions have consequences for the individual, the team, and the organization. For instance, negative events may lead to negative affect, which may mean decreased job attitudes for the individual (Judge & Larsen, 2001). These reactions may also be moderated by dispositional characteristics such as personality (Weiss & Kurek, 2003) and self-esteem (Ilies, De Pater, & Judge, 2007). The following dissertation focused on how one moderating dispositional characteristic, self-compassion, influenced the affective reactions to negative events in the workplace by people with visual impairments or blindness. Self-compassion is made up of three sub-facets: self-kindness, common humanity, and mindfulness (Neff, 2003a). Self-compassion is often referred to as compassion turned inward (Neff, 2003a). It has been widely studied in the counseling and clinical realm (e.g., Neff, 2012), with virtually no research in the industrial-organizational psychology literature. The results indicate that self-compassion did not act as a moderator in this case, nor did any of its subcomponents predict negative affect, except for mindfulness. The subcomponents of self-compassion also did not predict organizational outcomes such as affective commitment and turnover intentions. However, the results do indicate that affective commitment partially mediates the relationship between affective reactions and turnover intentions for people with significant visual impairment. This is important because people with disabilities, and more specifically people with significant visual impairments, are already exposed to many challenges in the workplace, such as discrimination and lack of basic resources (Wolffe & Candela, 2002). Being widely understudied in both the industrialorganizational psychology literature and the self-compassion literature, there is a gap in the research when it comes to their unique experiences. This dissertation adds to the literature by providing insight into how people with visual impairments or blindness cope with some of these challenges in the workplace, specifically negative events

Return on Involvement: The True ROI

In recent years, there has been a much larger emphasis placed upon the importance of student involvement to achieve success, especially at the collegiate level. Research has shown that involvement not only helps students to practice better time management skills, but also allows them to connect with and learn from other students who share similar interests and passions. At the college level, students who become involved often feel connected to the school and as if they can actually make a difference. I am hoping to explore this topic through my Senior Honors Project to further understand the effects that student involvement has on a student’s college experience. I chose to select this topic after becoming involved at the University of Rhode Island throughout my four-year college journey. I can certainly explain the effects that student involvement has had on my college experience as a marketing major in the College of Business Administration; however, this project allowed me to further understand how student involvement affects other URI students studying business that are different than myself