Reactivity, Coping, and Adjustment after Bereavement

Despite the relatively common occurrence of bereavement, or experiencing the death of a loved one, there is considerable variability in individuals\u27 responses to that experience. In the present study, individuals\u27 responses to bereavement were investigated using the Stress and Coping Model (Lazarus, 1966; Lazarus & Cohen, 1977; Lazarus & Folkman, 1984) as a framework. Data from 436 individuals who were bereaved for 24 or fewer months prior to participation in the study were used to investigate associations between age, gender, emotion reactivity, coping, history of depression, grief, and adjustment (in terms of both positive and negative well-being) using a structural equation model (chi2 (50) = 165.143, p \u3c .001, chi2/df = 3.30, CFI = .939, GFI = .944, RMSEA = .075). The model revealed that older participants, women, and those who reported using more avoidant/involuntary coping strategies reported more grief; that those who reported using more avoidant/involuntary coping, those who reported experiencing more grief, and those who reported having a history of depression reported more negative well-being; and that women, those who reported being less emotionally reactive, those who reported using fewer active engagement coping strategies, those who reported using more avoidant/involuntary coping, those who reported experiencing more grief, and those who reported having a history of depression reported lower positive well-being. Results are discussed in terms utility in identifying who may need more assistance after the death of a loved one and differences between the current sample and samples used in other bereavement research

Religiousness, future time perspective, and death anxiety among adults

The present study examined relations of death anxiety to age, gender, trait anxiety, future time perspective, religiousness, spirituality, and religious doubt. The primary goals of the investigation were to test for a curvilinear relation between religious meaning and death anxiety and to test whether the relations of age and gender with death anxiety were mediated by trait anxiety, future time perspective, religiousness, spirituality, and religious doubt. Participants were adults (18 to 89 years of age, M = 38.28 years, SD = 19.30, 79.1% female, 93.8% Caucasian) who completed the pertinent questionnaires online. Results indicated that there was indeed a curvilinear relation between religious meaning and death anxiety using one measure of death anxiety, the Death Anxiety Scale-Extended (Templer et al., 2006), but not another measure of death anxiety, the Death Anxiety Inventory (Tomas-Sabado & Gomez-Benito, 2005). Additionally, while the relations of age and gender with death anxiety were only partially mediated by the variables of interest, religious belief and religious doubt were unique significant predictors of death anxiety, even with the inclusion of the demographic variables (age and gender) and the personality variable (trait anxiety). The results are discussed in terms of the roles of religious belief and religious doubt in death anxiety and how Socioemotional Selectivity Theory (Carstensen, 1992; Carstensen, Isaacowitz, & Charles, 1999) and Terror Management Theory (Greenburg, Pyszczynski, & Solomon, 1986) might approach those relations

Etiology of Teen Dating Violence among Adolescent Children of Alcoholics

Family processes in early life have been impli- cated in adolescent involvement in teen dating violence, yet the developmental pathways through which this occurs are not well understood. In this study, etiological pathways from parental psychopathology and marital conflict in infancy to involvement in dating violence in late adoles- cence were examined in a sample of children at high-risk due to parental alcohol problems. Families (N = 227) recruited when the child was 12 months of age were assessed at 12-, 24-, 36-months, kindergarten, 6th, 8th, and 12th grades. Slightly more than half of the children were female (51%) and the majority were of European American descent (91%). Parental psychopathology in infancy was indirectly associated with teen dating violence in late adolescence via low maternal warmth and self-regulation in early childhood, externalizing behavior from kindergarten to early adolescence, and sibling problems in middle childhood. Marital conflict was also indirectly associated with teen dating violence via child externalizing behavior. Maternal warmth and sensitivity in early childhood emerged as an important protective factor and was associated with reduced marital conflict and increased child self-regulation in the preschool years as well as increased parental monitoring in middle childhood and early adolescence. Family processes occurring in the preschool years and in middle childhood appear to be critical periods for creating condi- tions that contribute to dating violence risk in late adoles- cence. These findings underscore the need for early intervention and prevention with at-risk families

Single Nucleotide Polymorphism Typing of Bacillus anthracis from Sverdlovsk Tissue

A small number of conserved canonical single nucleotide polymorphisms (canSNP) that define major phylogenetic branches for Bacillus anthracis were used to place a Sverdlovsk patient’s B. anthracis genotype into 1 of 12 subgroups. Reconstruction of the pagA gene also showed a unique SNP that defines a new lineage for B. anthracis

Non-Instrumental Movement Inhibition (NIMI) differentially suppresses head and thigh movements during screenic engagement: dependence on interaction

BACKGROUND: Estimating engagement levels from postural micromovements has been summarized by some researchers as: increased proximity to the screen is a marker for engagement, while increased postural movement is a signal for disengagement or negative affect. However, these findings are inconclusive: the movement hypothesis challenges other findings of dyadic interaction in humans, and experiments on the positional hypothesis diverge from it. HYPOTHESES: (1) Under controlled conditions, adding a relevant visual stimulus to an auditory stimulus will preferentially result in Non-Instrumental Movement Inhibition (NIMI) of the head. (2) When instrumental movements are eliminated and computer-interaction rate is held constant, for two identically-structured stimuli, cognitive engagement (i.e., interest) will result in measurable NIMI of the body generally. METHODS: Twenty-seven healthy participants were seated in front of a computer monitor and speakers. Discrete 3-min stimuli were presented with interactions mediated via a handheld trackball without any keyboard, to minimize instrumental movements of the participant's body. Music videos and audio-only music were used to test hypothesis (1). Time-sensitive, highly interactive stimuli were used to test hypothesis (2). Subjective responses were assessed via visual analog scales. The computer users' movements were quantified using video motion tracking from the lateral aspect. Repeated measures ANOVAs with Tukey post hoc comparisons were performed. RESULTS: For two equivalently-engaging music videos, eliminating the visual content elicited significantly increased non-instrumental movements of the head (while also decreasing subjective engagement); a highly engaging user-selected piece of favorite music led to further increased non-instrumental movement. For two comparable reading tasks, the more engaging reading significantly inhibited (42%) movement of the head and thigh; however, when a highly engaging video game was compared to the boring reading, even though the reading task and the game had similar levels of interaction (trackball clicks), only thigh movement was significantly inhibited, not head movement. CONCLUSIONS: NIMI can be elicited by adding a relevant visual accompaniment to an audio-only stimulus or by making a stimulus cognitively engaging. However, these results presume that all other factors are held constant, because total movement rates can be affected by cognitive engagement, instrumental movements, visual requirements, and the time-sensitivity of the stimulus

Lipidomics Reveals Multiple Pathway Effects of a Multi-Components Preparation on Lipid Biochemistry in ApoE*3Leiden.CETP Mice

Background: Causes and consequences of the complex changes in lipids occurring in the metabolic syndrome are only partly understood. Several interconnected processes are deteriorating, which implies that multi-target approaches might be more successful than strategies based on a limited number of surrogate markers. Preparations from Chinese Medicine (CM) systems have been handed down with documented clinical features similar as metabolic syndrome, which might help developing new intervention for metabolic syndrome. The progress in systems biology and specific animal models created possibilities to assess the effects of such preparations. Here we report the plasma and liver lipidomics results of the intervention effects of a preparation SUB885C in apolipoprotein E3 Leiden cholesteryl ester transfer protein (ApoE*3Leiden.CETP) mice. SUB885C was developed according to the principles of CM for treatment of metabolic syndrome. The cannabinoid receptor type 1 blocker rimonabant was included as a general control for the evaluation of weight and metabolic responses. Methodology/Principal Findings: ApoE*3Leiden.CETP mice with mild hypercholesterolemia were divided into SUB885C-, rimonabant- and non-treated control groups. SUB885C caused no weight loss, but significantly reduced plasma cholesterol (-49%, p <0.001), CETP levels (-31%,

A study of passive intermodulation in coaxial cable connectors

The central theme of this dissertation is the study of passive nonlinearities in electromagnetic transmit/receive systems such as radar sensing and wireless communications systems. Passive intermodulation (PIM) is a form of nonlinear distortion that is caused by the electromagnetic nonlinearity of passive wireless system components. The vast majority of passive components are normally considered to have a linear electrical response under small excitation values. However, these passive components have trace levels of nonlinearity which cause a small amount of intermodulation distortion in high-power transmit/receive systems. This distortion can, in certain cases, fall into a transmitting device’s receive band. This causes significant interference and limits the sensitivity and range of the system. The results of our study have given a better understanding of the causes and behavior of passive intermodulation in wireless systems and components, particularly coaxial connectors. Theoretical advances we have made toward this end include a point-source model of PIM sources, as well as a circuit-level model of the interaction between the passive nonlinearity and the surrounding linear impedances in a circuit. Both of these models achieve much higher agreement with experiment than has previously been attained and grant deep insights into the nature of the underlying nonlinear mechanisms that generate PIM distortion. On the more practical side, we have developed two new methods of mitigating PIM distortion: one in which the nonlinear distortion is cancelled by a specially engineered source of PIM distortion, and the other (specific for ferromagnetic nonlinearities) which relies on the imposition of an external magnetic field

Unit Consumptive use of Water Studies in the Ashley and Ferron Valleys of Utah for the 1950 Growing Season

For the past 2 years a project has been carried on by the Utah Agricultural Experiment Station and the United States Department of Agriculture, Soil Conservation Service, in cooperation with the Utah State Engineer, in the Ashley and Ferron valleys of Utah to determine the consumptive use of water in these areas. This report is the preliminary part of the third year of study. It includes a determination of unit consumptive use .. values for the major agricultural crops. These values will later be used by the Soil Conservation Service and Experiment Station in determining the valley consumptive use by the integration method. This will be compared with the valley consumptive use as determined by the inflow-outflow metho

Pioneer personal history questionnaire, James Henrie

Typescript of answers by James Henrie for a questionnaire filled out for Utah Works Progress Administration's "Pioneer personal history" survey by his daughter Ane Excell. He was born in Ohio in 1827, and he came to Utah in 1849, and lived at Bountiful, Panaca, and Panguitch. Two versions of answers filled out by Don Orton in 194

Etiology of Teen Dating Violence among Adolescent Children of Alcoholics

Family processes in early life have been impli- cated in adolescent involvement in teen dating violence, yet the developmental pathways through which this occurs are not well understood. In this study, etiological pathways from parental psychopathology and marital conflict in infancy to involvement in dating violence in late adoles- cence were examined in a sample of children at high-risk due to parental alcohol problems. Families (N = 227) recruited when the child was 12 months of age were assessed at 12-, 24-, 36-months, kindergarten, 6th, 8th, and 12th grades. Slightly more than half of the children were female (51%) and the majority were of European American descent (91%). Parental psychopathology in infancy was indirectly associated with teen dating violence in late adolescence via low maternal warmth and self-regulation in early childhood, externalizing behavior from kindergarten to early adolescence, and sibling problems in middle childhood. Marital conflict was also indirectly associated with teen dating violence via child externalizing behavior. Maternal warmth and sensitivity in early childhood emerged as an important protective factor and was associated with reduced marital conflict and increased child self-regulation in the preschool years as well as increased parental monitoring in middle childhood and early adolescence. Family processes occurring in the preschool years and in middle childhood appear to be critical periods for creating condi- tions that contribute to dating violence risk in late adoles- cence. These findings underscore the need for early intervention and prevention with at-risk families