Newswise WASHINGTON, DC, May 16, 2012 Children in the United States and Great Britain share a number of common risk factors that increase the likelihood that they will have behavioral problemsand Britains broader social welfare programs dont appear to mitigate those risks, according to a new study in the June issue of the Journal of Health and Social Behavior (JHSB).

The researchersfrom North Carolina State University, California State University-Northridge, and the University of Illinois-Urbana-Champaignevaluated data from a 1994 study of children between the ages of five and 13 in the U.S. and a 1991 study of children in the same age range from England, Scotland, and Wales.

In both the U.S. and Great Britain, the JHSB study found that male children, children with health problems, and children with divorced mothers were more likely to have behavioral problems.

We also found that stronger home environmentsthose that are intellectually stimulating, nurturing, and physically safedecrease the likelihood of behavior problems in both the U.S. and Great Britain, said Dr. Toby Parcel, a professor of sociology at NC State and lead author of the JHSB study.

We wanted to see whether the role of parents was equally important in both societies because the argument has been made that more developed welfare statessuch as Great Britaincan make the role of parents less important, by providing additional supports that can help compensate for situations where households have more limited resources. This study tells us that parents are important in households, regardless of the strength of the welfare state.

While there were common risk factors for children in the U.S. and Great Britain, there were also some differences between these groups. For example, family structure effects were more pronounced in Great Britain. Family structure, in this context, refers to marital status and family size. In Great Britain, a child from a family with a single mother or multiple children was at a higher risk of having behavioral problems. Additionally, the more children in a British family, the greater the likelihood a child from that family had behavioral problems. These effects were absent in the U.S.

Titled, Childrens Behavior Problems in the United States and Great Britain, the study was co-authored by Dr. Lori Ann Campbell, of Cal State-Northridge, and Dr. Wenxuan Zhong, of University of Illinois, and was funded, in part, by the National Science Foundation.

The researchers are now looking to see how shared risk factors may influence child cognition and academic achievement across these two societies. Parcel and Campbell have previously shown that parents are critical to the creation of strong home environments in both the U.S. and Great Britain.

###

About the American Sociological Association and the Journal of Health and Social Behavior The American Sociological Association (www.asanet.org), founded in 1905, is a non-profit membership association dedicated to serving sociologists in their work, advancing sociology as a science and profession, and promoting the contributions to and use of sociology by society. The Journal of Health and Social Behavior is a quarterly, peer-reviewed journal of the ASA.

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Children in U.S., Great Britain Share Risk Factors For Behavioral Problems

available online at: http://www.psychologicalscience.org/index.php/news/releases/ psychological-science-convention-in-chicago-music-in-the-mind-mental-health-learning-and-more.html

Newswise WASHINGTON -- More than 4,000 psychological scientists, academics, clinicians, researchers, teachers, and administrators from 85 countries will gather in Chicago for the Association for Psychological Sciences 24th annual convention May 23-27, 2012 at the Sheraton Chicago.

Culture and ethnicity drive many human processes including science. (Section I, below.)

A concert with a former guitarist from the Black Eyed Peas and a five-time Grammy Award winning bassist will share the stage with musically talented scientists to discuss and explore music and the mind. (II)

Scientists will also present cutting-edge research on topics including: autism (III-A), ADHD(III-B) and learning(III-C); the newest clinical treatments for mental health disorders (IV) ; questions of incivility, ideology, and attitudes in politics (V); and the latest findings in decision-making science (VI).

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I. DIVERSE PERSPECTIVES IN SCIENCE The theme of the 2012 Convention is Diverse Perspectives, and in a concerted effort to call attention to the importance of diversity in psychological-science research, the Keynote Address and the Presidential Symposium will feature distinguished speakers who will discuss the role of race and culture in scientific inquiry.

Does Mental Health Differ Among Ethnic Groups? Keynote Address: The Masquerade of Racial Group Differences in Psychological Sciences Thursday, May 24, 6:00 PM 8:00 PM Chicago Ballroom VI &VII

Distinguished psychological scientist James S. Jackson from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor will open the convention with his keynote address. Jackson is well-known for his research on how culture influences our health during our lives, attitude changes, and social support. His research has also highlighted how racial discrimination can affect physical and mental health as well as treatments. His talk will focus on racial group disparities in psychological science research. These disparities are common, and widely accepted, but Jackson will discuss how researchers should take a closer look at these easy assumptions of racial group differences. He will use the Environmental Affordances Framework of Health Disparities to demonstrate that these racial disparities are fundamentally only a masquerade.

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Psychological Science Convention in Chicago: Music in the Mind, Mental Health, Learning and More

Public release date: 16-May-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ]

Contact: Daniel Fowler pubinfo@asanet.org 202-527-7885 American Sociological Association

WASHINGTON, DC, May 16, 2012 Children in the United States and Great Britain share a number of common risk factors that increase the likelihood that they will have behavioral problemsand Britain's broader social welfare programs don't appear to mitigate those risks, according to a new study in the June issue of the Journal of Health and Social Behavior (JHSB).

The researchersfrom North Carolina State University, California State University-Northridge, and the University of Illinois-Urbana-Champaignevaluated data from a 1994 study of children between the ages of five and 13 in the U.S. and a 1991 study of children in the same age range from England, Scotland, and Wales.

In both the U.S. and Great Britain, the JHSB study found that male children, children with health problems, and children with divorced mothers were more likely to have behavioral problems.

"We also found that stronger home environmentsthose that are intellectually stimulating, nurturing, and physically safedecrease the likelihood of behavior problems in both the U.S. and Great Britain," said Dr. Toby Parcel, a professor of sociology at NC State and lead author of the JHSB study.

"We wanted to see whether the role of parents was equally important in both societies because the argument has been made that more developed welfare statessuch as Great Britaincan make the role of parents less important, by providing additional supports that can help compensate for situations where households have more limited resources. This study tells us that parents are important in households, regardless of the strength of the welfare state."

While there were common risk factors for children in the U.S. and Great Britain, there were also some differences between these groups. For example, "family structure" effects were more pronounced in Great Britain. Family structure, in this context, refers to marital status and family size. In Great Britain, a child from a family with a single mother or multiple children was at a higher risk of having behavioral problems. Additionally, the more children in a British family, the greater the likelihood a child from that family had behavioral problems. These effects were absent in the U.S.

Titled, "Children's Behavior Problems in the United States and Great Britain," the study was co-authored by Dr. Lori Ann Campbell, of Cal State-Northridge, and Dr. Wenxuan Zhong, of University of Illinois, and was funded, in part, by the National Science Foundation.

The researchers are now looking to see how shared risk factors may influence child cognition and academic achievement across these two societies. Parcel and Campbell have previously shown that parents are critical to the creation of strong home environments in both the U.S. and Great Britain.

Continue reading here:
Children in US, Great Britain share risk factors for behavioral problems

Newswise Bethesda, MD Nora D. Volkow, M.D., and Peter Agre, M.D., are this years featured guest speakers for the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences (USU) Research Days.

The annual two-day forum encompasses three events -- the USU Graduate School of Nursing research colloquium, graduate student colloquium, and the Faculty Senate Research Day and reflects the complementary roles that basic science, medicine, nursing, public health and behavioral science play in health promotion. Poster presentations, invited speakers and panels demonstrate USUs unique role in civilian, military and public health research initiatives across the health sciences.

On Monday, May 14, Volkow, the director of the National Institute of Drug Abuse, National Institutes of Health, since 2003, will present the Presidential Lecture, The Science of Addiction: What Do We Know? Volkow pioneered the use of brain imaging to investigate the toxic effects of drugs and their addictive properties. She has also made important contributions to the neurobiology of obesity, ADHD, and the behavioral changes that occur with aging. Volkow is a member of the Institute of Medicine. Time magazine recently named her one of the "Top 100 People Who Shape our World" and Newsweek magazine included her as one of 20 people to watch in 2007. She was listed in Washingtonian magazine's 2009 and 2011 "100 Most Powerful Women" feature, and named "Innovator of the Year" by U.S. News & World Report in 2000.

Agre will deliver the annual Bullard Lecture, named for former USU associate dean for Graduate and Continuing Education, Dr. John Bullard. Agres lecture, Aquaporin Water Channels: From Atomic Structure to Malaria, will be given on Thursday, May 15. Agre, a molecular biologist, professor of Medicine and director of the Johns Hopkins Malaria Research Institute in Baltimore, Maryland, was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 2003 for his discovery of aquaporins, water-channel proteins that move water molecules through the cell membrane. He is now using his basic science discoveries about aquaporins to understand the role the proteins play in the parasite that causes malaria.

---- The Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences (USU) is the nations federal health sciences university. USU students are primarily active-duty uniformed officers in the Army, Navy, Air Force and Public Health Service who have received specialized training in tropical and infectious diseases, preventive medicine, the neurosciences (to include TBI and PTSD), disaster response and humanitarian assistance, and acute trauma care. A large percentage of the universitys more than 4,700 physician and 500 advanced practice nursing alumni are supporting operations in Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere, offering their leadership and expertise. USU also has graduate programs in biomedical sciences and public health, open to civilian and military applicants committed to excellence in research, which have awarded more than 375 doctoral and 800 masters degrees to date. For more information, visit http://www.usuhs.mil.

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Volkow, Agre Featured Speakers for Research Days

Public release date: 14-May-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ]

Contact: Kim Mills kmills@apa.org 202-336-6048 American Psychological Association

WASHINGTON A drug that has been shown to prevent HIV infection in a significant number of cases must be combined with behavioral approaches if the U.S. health care establishment is to succeed in reducing the spread of the virus, according to the American Psychological Association.

"Exclusive reliance on a drug to prevent HIV or any sexually transmitted disease could actually result in a worse outcome if those at risk don't understand how their own behavior affects treatment," said Perry N. Halkitis, PhD, chair of APA's Committee on Psychology and AIDS. "We know that medical intervention depends on human behavior. The fact that only 28 percent of HIV-positive Americans in care achieve full viral suppression suggests very clearly that any medical intervention depends fully on behavioral as well as social and political factors."

A Food and Drug Administration panel recommended on May 10 that the FDA approve the drug Truvada to prevent HIV infection. APA has been monitoring the use of this and other drugs to prevent and treat HIV/AIDS. While heartened by the addition of Truvada to the treatment mix, APA believes HIV prevention treatment must include both medical and behavorial approaches in order to succeed. In February, APA passed a resolution emphasizing the need for prevention research that incorporates strategies to deal with mental health, and substance abuse issues, behavior change and adherence. Entitled "Combination Biomedical and Behavioral Approaches to Optimize HIV Prevention," the resolution calls upon Congress, the executive branch and other governmental and nongovernmental agencies to increase support for further research to identify and disseminate effective strategies to prevent and treat HIV and other sexually transmitted infections.

"Truvada by itself is not a magic bullet," Halkitis said. "The research to date shows that individuals taking the drug have had challenges adhering to the need to take it every day. It's also important for anyone taking it as a preventive measure to continue to practice safe sex. These are all behaviors that need to be guided by multidisciplinary health care teams that include psychologists." APA President Suzanne Bennett Johnson, PhD, agreed, warning. "if people taking the drug are not fully adherent and then contract HIV, that could lead to drug resistance."

APA's resolution cites research that shows a combination of behavioral and biomedical approaches work best to prevent HIV and other sexually transmitted infections. It references a 2010 study that tested adherence to Truvada within a group of men at high risk for infection, which found that 91 percent of those who later tested positive for HIV showed no detectable levels of the drug in their bloodstream, meaning they were not taking the drug as prescribed.

The resolution also points out that drugs "may be out of reach for certain populations (e.g., human trafficking victims, sex workers, people living in poverty, children, etc.)." According to news reports, Truvada costs between $11,000 and $14,000 per year, making it inaccessible to many.

###

The American Psychological Association, in Washington, D.C., is the largest scientific and professional organization representing psychology in the United States and is the world's largest association of psychologists. APA's membership includes more than 137,000 researchers, educators, clinicians, consultants and students. Through its divisions in 54 subfields of psychology and affiliations with 60 state, territorial and Canadian provincial associations, APA works to advance psychology as a science, as a profession and as a means of promoting health, education and human welfare.

Continued here:
HIV prevention measures must include behavioral strategies to work, says APA

NEW HAVEN, Conn., May 10, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Prometheus Research, a leading provider of data management services for behavioral and biomedical research, announced today that it has been selected by Autism Speaks to develop an integrated data management system which will enable autism researchers to securely manage and share their data.The newly organized Autism Genetic Resource Exchange (AGRE) Data Coordinating Center (DCC) centralizes clinical, environmental, and biospecimen data from several Autism Speaks-funded programs and initiatives to better serve the research community.

Using their Research Exchange Database (RexDB) platform and best-of-breed electronic data capture system, ROADS, Prometheus empowers researchers to effectively manage and exchange interdisciplinary data while maintaining the flexibility to incorporate new significant results such as genetic, EEG, imaging data and additional studies.

"We're very excited to begin working with Autism Speaks, a premier autism research and advocacy organization.This project will enable wider integration of Autism Speaks' valuable research data and enable them to re-use the data in ways not possible before," said Dr. Leon Rozenblit, President and CEO of Prometheus Research.

Prometheus Research's domain expertise in autism and related disorders makes it an ideal partner for Autism Speaks.Prometheus has supported or collaborated on some of the largest and most ambitious autism research endeavors in the world, including the National Database for Autism Research (NDAR). The tools and processes they've helped develop in the areas of study governance, data collection, data curation, data distribution, and data persistence are now considered best practices for collaborative research, and are already in use at places like the Yale Child Study Center and the Marcus Autism Center.

"AGRE's dedication to collaboration and data sharing has accelerated the pace of autism research significantly over the last decade," said Autism Speaks Vice President of Clinical Programs Clara Lajonchere, Ph.D. "We strive to utilize technology that will meet the emerging needs of science and feel that the team at Prometheus Research has developed the tools that will help us achieve our goals."

About Autism SpeaksAutism Speaks is the world's leading autism science and advocacy organization. It is dedicated to funding research into the causes, prevention, treatments and a cure for autism; increasing awareness of autism spectrum disorders; and advocating for the needs of individuals with autism and their families.Autism Speaks was founded in February 2005 by Suzanne and Bob Wright, the grandparents of a child with autism. Mr. Wright is the former vice chairman of General Electric and chief executive officer of NBC and NBC Universal. Since its inception, Autism Speaks has committed over $180 million to research and developing innovative resources for families. Each year Walk Now for Autism Speaks events are held in more than 95 cities across North America. To learn more about Autism Speaks, please visit http://www.autismspeaks.org.

About Prometheus ResearchPrometheus Research provides data management services and web-native data-management software to biomedical researchers investigating autism and other neurodevelopmental disorders. Its team specializes in designing and building systems capable of accelerating complex interdisciplinary research and of multiplying the value of hard-won research data. Prometheus staff are consummate innovators, and Prometheus technology powers some of the most ambitious and important research endeavors in autism, including the Simons Foundation Autism Research Initiative (SFARI). Many of these innovations also are made available to the open source software community, most notably HTSQL, an instant Web interface for databases, and the Research Exchange Database, RexDB. To learn more about Prometheus Research, please visit http://www.prometheusresearch.com.

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Autism Speaks Selects Prometheus Research to Develop Integrated Data Management System

DALLAS, May 10, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Social media technologies have re-shaped how we interact. But do they help salespeople sell?

Not according to the results of two surveys presented at the 2012 annual convention of the Southwestern Psychological Association in Oklahoma, City. The surveys, reported by behavioral scientists, Trelitha R. Bryant and George W. Dudley at Behavioral Sciences Research Press in Dallas, Texas, were presented April 13, 2012. Bryant and Dudley asked 4,768 salespeople (67% men, 33% women, average age 40) in more than 1,000 U.S. companies which form of client communication is most helpful for generating new sales. The salespeople were surveyed as part of a standard assessment protocol for sales professionals which included the Sales Preference Questionnaire (SPQ*GOLD), a psychological test used worldwide to detect emotional discomfort associated with prospecting for new business. Almost 70% (+/-1%) said established forms of communication (face-to-face and telephone contact) were most helpful generating new sales. Only 10% (+/-.14%) claimed email was most effective and less than 10% said other forms of computer-mediated communication were most effective. Results were not age-related.

"Further analyses uncovered another relationship," Dudley said. "Salespeople claiming social media is most effective might be struggling with sales call reluctance, an emotional impediment to production characterized by apprehension, conflict, hesitation or avoidance specifically associated with sales prospecting. They had elevated prospecting distress scores on eleven of the twelve forms of sales call reluctance measured by the test."

To confirm their results, the research team conducted a follow-up study of 1,512 additional salespeople (64%male; 36% female, average age 40). The outcome was essentially the same (68% said conventional, 2.8% computer-mediated). "The second study confirmed what we learned in the first," Bryant said, "including the link with sales call reluctance.Computer-mediated social media may help find a date, keep tabs on old friends or support a political campaign. But most salespeople don't think it's as helpful as conventional person-to-person contact for generating new sales."

About Behavioral Sciences Research Press Behavioral Sciences Research Press (BSRP) has been advancing the science of selecting salespeople since 1979. The Dallas, Texas based organization is known worldwide for applications based on rigorous scientific development and field-tested effectiveness. BSRP's pioneering research on how fear influences the behavior of sales and sales management personnel is considered "the definitive work on the subject". http://www.bsrpmediaroom.org

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Does Social Media Help Salespeople Sell?

Feature Articles | Mind & Brain See Inside

The caustic imprint of a traumatic memory may fade or vanish with new drug and behavioral therapies

By Jerry Adler | May 10, 2012|

Image: Fredrik Broden

The rat is on a carousel with clear plastic sides, rotating slowly in a small room. As it looks out through the plastic, it sees markings on the walls of the room from which it can determine its position. At a certain location it receives a foot shockor, in experimenters jargon, a negative reinforcement. When that happens, the rat turns sharply around and walks tirelessly in the opposite direction, so it never reaches that same place in the room again. It will do this to the point of exhaustion.

Question: How do you get the rat to stop walking? Note that just turning off the shock will not suffice, because the rat will not allow itself to enter the danger zone. The rat needs an intervention that helps it forget its fear or that overrides its response with a competing signal of safety.

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Erasing Painful Memories: Drug and Behavioral Therapies Will Help Us Forget Toxic Thoughts (preview)

FORT WORTH, Texas--(BUSINESS WIRE)--

Despite recent government assurances that the proposed overhaul of the military retirement system wont affect current servicemembers, men and women in uniform continue to worry about their future benefits.

Recent survey findings from the First Command Financial Behaviors Index reveal that the majority of middle-class military families (senior NCOs and commissioned officers in pay grades E-6 and above with household incomes of at least $50,000)are not persuaded by statements from DoD leaders and federal lawmakers that they are committed to keeping current service members under the traditional retirement plan and only change it for new personnel. When asked how discussions about grandfathering current service members has affected their feelings, 54 percent of survey respondents said they feel no change. Just 31 percent said they feel less nervous, and 15 percent said they feel more nervous.

The Index reveals that 73 percent of survey respondents feel nervous about potential changes to the traditional military retirement system, which would phase out the 20-year cliff vesting system that has defined military careers for generations. Thats about the same level of concern reported in the July Index survey.

Many middle-class military families say they will respond to the proposed changes by saving more and cutting debt. The Index reveals that 42 percent will increase the amount they put into savings. Also, 42 percent say they will work to decrease their debt levels.

As the federal government pursues defense downsizing and military budget cuts, military families will work to change their own money behaviors for the better, said Scott Spiker, CEO of First Command Financial Services, Inc. We expect saving more and paying down debt will be among the key fiscal strategies pursued by active-duty households during this period of transition and uncertainty.

About the First Command Financial Behaviors Index

Compiled by Sentient Decision Science, Inc., the First Command Financial Behaviors Index assesses trends among the American publics financial behaviors, attitudes and intentions through a monthly survey of approximately 530 U.S. consumers aged 25 to 70 with annual household incomes of at least $50,000. Results are reported quarterly. The margin of error is +/- 4.3 percent with a 95 percent level of confidence. http://www.firstcommand.com/research

About Sentient Decision Science, Inc.

Sentient Decision Science was commissioned by First Command to compile the Financial Behaviors Index. SDS is a behavioral science and consumer psychology consulting firm with special vertical expertise within the financial services industry. SDS specializes in advanced research methods and statistical analysis of behavioral and attitudinal data.

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Government Assurances Fail to Ease Retirement Worries in Military Families, First Command Reports

By Ferris Jabr*

Part 2 of a series

In the offices of psychiatrists and psychologists across the country you can find a rather hefty tome called the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual for Mental Disorders (DSM).

The current edition of the DSM, the DSM-IV, is something like a field guide to mental disorders: the book pairs each illness with a checklist of symptoms, just as a naturalists guide describes the distinctive physical features of different birds. These lists of symptoms, known as diagnostic criteria, help psychiatrists choose a disorder that most closely matches what they observe in their patients. Every few decades, the American Psychiatric Association (APA) revises the diagnostic criteria and publishes a brand new version of the DSM. The idea is to make the criteria more accurate, drawing on what psychologists and psychiatrists have learned about mental illness since the manuals last update.

The fat volume on top is still skinny on the science. Courtesy of Ferris Jabr.

In May 2013, the APA plans to publish the fifth and newest edition of the DSM, which it has been preparing for more than 11 years. On its DSM-5 Development website, the APA states that the motivation for the ongoing revisions was an agreement to expand the scientific basis for psychiatric diagnosis and classification. The website further states that over the past two decades, there has been a wealth of new information in neurology, genetics and the behavioral sciences that dramatically expands our understanding of mental illness.

In other words, the APA intended to make the DSM-5 the most scientific edition of its reference guide yet, which would be a real boon for a book that has been routinely lambasted as fiction borne out of convenience, rather than a solid clinical text grounded in research. Now, only one year away from the planned publication of the DSM-5, most psychiatrists have accepted that the APAs initial optimism about informing revisions with cutting edge science is well intentioned, but premature. Most of the proposed revisions to current DSM criteriamany of which are genuine improvementsare based not on insights from genetics and neuroscience, but rather on clinical experience, prevalence studies and plain old common sense. Indeed, many of these changes could have been made years ago. (For more on these changes, see Psychiatrys Bible Gets an Overhaul, by Ferris Jabr, Scientific American Mind, May/June 2012.)

Cutting and Collapsing Categories

Consider, for example, that the DSM-IV organizes schizophrenia into six types, all of which the APA proposes eliminating from the DSM-5. Why? Because these archaic subcategories were never grounded in empirical research in the first place; they were just what sounded good to the DSM authors of yore. In truth, these ostensible types of schizophrenia probably do not exist. Similarly, the APA is nixing three of the 10 current personality disorders, essentially acknowledging that these were never legitimate illnesses in the first place. So many people fit the criteria for more than one personality disorder simultaneously that 10 varieties become superfluous.

Likewise, the DSM-5 collapses four of the five current pervasive developmental disordersincluding autistic disorder and Aspergersinto a single category called autism spectrum disorders, because there is so much overlap in their respective criteria. None of these revisions are founded on recent revelations from genetics and neuroimaging research. Study after study has failed to discover a set of genes or unusual brain structures that reliably identifies major mental disorders. Rather, these are changes that many psychiatrists have been advocating for the past two decades based on their everyday clinical experience, studies of illness prevalence and the sense that some of the current criteria do not make sense. Despite awareness of these flaws, the APA did not get around to updating the DSM until now, the first substantial revision in 30 years.

Originally posted here:
Science Remains a Stranger to Psychiatry's New Bible

60-Second Science | Mind & Brain

A socially awkward or inappropriate person can make others feel physically colder. Amy Kraft reports

May 7, 2012|

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Jack Nicholson, playing the crazed caretaker in The Shining, makes me reach for a blanket. Now a study finds that people we find, well, creepy can actually make us feel colder. The research will be published in the journal Psychological Science. [N. Pontus Leander, Tanya L. Chartrand and John A. Bargh, "You Give Me the Chills: Embodied Reactions to Inappropriate Amounts of Behavioral Mimicry"]

Researchers interviewed 40 college undergraduates. During each interaction, the experimenter was either chummy with the student or very stiff and professional. The investigator also alternated between mimicking students posturea signal of rapportand not doing anything at all.

Participants then completed a questionnaire designed to find out how hot or cold they felt. The results showed that the subjects actually felt colder when the investigator acted inappropriately or sent mixed signals.

The researchers conjecture that because the brain tries to interpret social cues and purely physical ones simultaneously, people unconsciously associate icy stares and chilly interactions with actual physical coldness.

So the next time you have to visit your doctor with the creepy receptionist, bring a sweater.

Amy Kraft

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Creepy People Leave You Cold

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1 What evil lurks in the hearts of scientists? Behavioral ecologist Daniele Fanelli knows. In a meta-analysis of 18 surveys of researchers, he found only 2 percent fessed up to falsifying or manipulating data...but 14 percent said they knew a colleague who had.

2 After studying retracted biology papers published between 2000 and 2010, neurobiologist R. Grant Steen claimed that Americans were significantly more prone to commit fraud than scientists from other nations.

3 But when two curious bloggers reanalyzed Steens data, they found that Americans arent so shifty after all.

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4Chinese scientists were actually three times as likely as Americans to commit fraud. (French researchers were least likely to misbehave.)

5If caught stealing someone elses ideas, scientists have a handy defense: cryptomnesia, the idea that a person can experience a memory as a new, original thought.

6 But theres no shortage of excuses. In the 1970s the FDA investigated Francois Savery, a doctor who submitted identical data to two drug companies, claiming that they were from two different studies. When confronted, he explained that he was forced to re-create his data sets because he took the original research with him on a lake picnic and lost it when his rowboat capsized.

7 Government authorities later learned that Savery never conducted the studies in the first placeor received a medical degree.

8Even geniuses succumb to temptation. Researchers have found that Isaac Newton fudged numbers in his Principia, generally considered the greatest physics text ever written.

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20 Things You Didn't Know About... Science Fraud | DISCOVER

30-04-2012 05:08 Editor-in-Chief, Joseph Ciarrochi, University of Western Sydney, talks about the Journal of Contextual Behavioral Science. More information about this journal can be found at You may also be interested in watching the video from Steve Hayes, Nevada Foundation Professor at the Department of Psychology, University of Nevada - see

Link:
Editor-in-Chief on the Journal of Contextual Behavioral Science - Video

CHICAGO, May 1, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Insight Psychological Centers, treatment center for eating, mood and anxiety disorders, announced today the opening of a new eating disorders program designed specifically for adolescents and their families.

Using a clinically innovative approach of Multi-Family Dialectical Behavioral Therapy (DBT), Insight is at the cutting edge of behavioral science. Led by Ellen Astrachan-Fletcher, Ph.D., Associate Professor in Northwestern University's Feinberg School of Medicine, Insight's Adolescent Program uses the latest techniques developed in academia to treat teens.

Dr. Astrachan-Fletcher, founder of the eating disorders clinic at the University of Illinois at Chicago and co-author of The Dialectical Behavior Therapy Skills Workbook for Bulimia: Using DBT to Break the Cycle and Regain Control of Your Life, is a prominent figure in the science of DBT. The DBT program is one of the most effective treatment methods for helping people recover from anorexia, bulimia and binge eating.[1] Helping patients view and interact with the world in a different way, DBT is a holistic, safe approach to imparting life skills. "Treating adolescents involves treating the whole family when possible," says Astrachan-Fletcher. "Multi-family DBT harnesses the power of peer families. We are seeing excellent results when the whole family learns to replace emotion-minded behaviors with more useful ways of interacting with the world."

Insight's adolescent family programs are currently offered in its loop location and are planned for launch in Northbrook, Evanston and west suburbs later in the year.

Delivering awareness and recovery 7 days a week, Insight Psychological Centers is managed by Northwestern University faculty, Drs. Susan McClanahan and Jenny Conviser. Insight's specialty is using intensive programs to improve health in people who suffer from depression, mood, anxiety and eating disorders. For more information visit http://www.insightforeating.com or call 312-540-9955.

Contact Laura Adams, Director of Business Development, 773-546-8447

[1] Varchol, L & Cooper, H. Psychotherapy approaches for adolescents with eating disorders, Current Opinion in Pediatrics, 2009;21:457-464.

Originally posted here:
Insight Psychological Centers Announces a New Treatment Program for Adolescents with Eating Disorders in Downtown ...

An experimental drug has been found to ease two of the core behavioral symptoms of autism spectrum disorders in mice, a new study shows.

A single injection of the compound curbed repetitive behaviors and improved sociability, researchers report inScience Translational Medicine.

Despite the success of the experiments by the US National Institutes of Health, treatments which work in mice frequently fail in humans and potential medication would be years away, the BBC wrote.

There is no cure for Autism spectrum disorder, thought to affect around 1 percent of children ad one out of every 88 American children, according to CBS.

Instead, autism is mainly treated with specialist education, speech and behavioral therapies.

Behavioral displays include social problems, delayed language and repetitive movements such as hand tapping.

For the experiment, the NIH researchers bred a strain of mice to display autism-like behaviors the mice did not interact and communicate with each other and spent an inordinate amount of time engaging in repetitive behavior in this case self-grooming according to CBS.

More from GlobalPost:Study: Autism linked to gene mutations and father's age

The predominant theory on autism is that any problems are be "hardwired" into the brain, however the researchers said there was evidence that in some cases autism could stem from the way cells in the brain communicated with each other at synapses, the gaps between individual brain cells.

They administered the drug, GRN-529, which targets glutamate, a major neurotransmitter found throughout the brain that's involved with activating neurons, or brain cells, HealthDay News reported.

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New drug curbs autistic behavior in mice, US researchers say

Image: mediaphotos/iStockphoto

Shree Bose, who won the grand prize at this year's Google Global Science Fair, credits her love of science to her big brother, Pinaki. As a child, he had a habit of teaching her what he'd just learned in science class. How atoms work, for example.

"He'd spend an hour trying to explain the concept," she said. "He'd gesture wildly with his hands. He was trying to get my brain to wrap around the idea that everything we see and touch is made up of tiny, tiny parts. He had so much passion and enthusiasm for it." She was 6 then; he was 8.

Now 18 and a senior in Fort Worth Texas, Bose swept the prestigious national competition - and scored $50,000 -- for tackling ovarian cancer. She discovered a protein that keeps cells from growing resistant to the chemotherapy drug cisplatin. Among the five finalists in her age group, she was the only female.

Consider these numbers: In 2008, 41 percent of college freshman men planned to major in science and engineering, compared to 30 percent of women, according to the National Science Foundation's Women, Minorities, and Persons with Disabilities in Science and Engineering report. Some areas of science do attract more women than men, such as biology and social and behavioral sciences. But computer science, physics and engineering are overwhelmingly male.

Nowhere is that disparity more pronounced than in engineering, with computer science close behind. More than twice as many men than women attend graduate school for computer science fields, and more than four times as many men are enrolled in engineering, according to the report.

(It should be noted that America as a whole has been outpaced by competitors for years now when it comes to science and math education. In a 2009 math and science exam given to students all over the world, U.S. students placed 25th in math and 17th in science, compared to other countries.)

It's not all bad news in engineering. While master's degrees awarded to women hovered at 22.6 percent in 2010, a slight dip from 2008 and 2009 levels, bachelor's degrees among women climbed to 18.1 percent, and more engineering doctorates - 22.9 percent - were awarded to women than any time in the past, according to the American Society for Engineering Education.

Angela Bielefeldt* is a professor of civil and environmental engineering at the University of Colorado Boulder. The percentage of women in her classes is dismal, she said. Of the 60 to 80 students that take her freshman civil engineering class, only 10 to 12 are generally women.

"In civil engineering, it's really pathetic," she said. "In environmental engineering, it's closer to 40 percent. Right off the bat, if you're a woman, you look around, and there aren't a lot of women who look like you."

Read this article:
Why the Engineering, Computer Science Gender Gap Persists

In mice, compound curbs repetitive behaviors and improves sociability

Web edition : Thursday, April 26th, 2012

In adult mice, an experimental drug eases two of the core behavioral symptoms of autism spectrum disorders, a new study shows. A single injection of the compound curbed repetitive behaviors and improved sociability, researchers report in the April 25 Science Translational Medicine.

Although its too soon to say whether the drug will work in people with autism, similar medicines are already being tested in humans for a related neurological condition known as fragile X syndrome. This may be a case where you have a mouse finding that can actually lead to human studies in a fairly short amount of time, says psychiatrist and molecular neuroscientist Jeremy Veenstra-VanderWeele of Vanderbilt University in Nashville.

No currently available drugs treat the core features of autism spectrum disorders impaired social interactions, communication problems and repetitive behaviors, says study coauthor Jill Silverman of the National Institute of Mental Health in Bethesda, Md. This is really exciting and worth investigating further because there are no available medicines out there, she says.

Silverman and her colleagues focused on two kinds of inbred mice with unusual behaviors. One kind of mouse, a strain called BTBR, repetitively grooms, doesnt interact with other mice normally and squeaks less than others. The second, called C58, jumps again and again, up to 50 times a minute.

About half an hour after receiving a dose of the compound, known as GRN-529, the animals pathological grooming and jumping lessened, the team found. Some signs of abnormal social behavior improved, too. Coauthors at Pfizer saw the same results in tests in their lab at Groton, Conn. For the repetitive behaviors, it was a really strong finding, Silverman says. For the social behaviors, it was a more mild effect.

To Veenstra-VanderWeele, the effects on repetitive behavior are particularly exciting. We dont have great treatments for these types of repetitive behaviors, which often lead to significant distress, he says.

The drug works by interfering with a protein in nerve cells called mGluR5, which detects the brain chemical glutamate. Researchers are becoming increasingly interested in drugs that target mGluR5.

Three companies Novartis, Roche and Seaside Therapeutics are testing related compounds in people with fragile X syndrome. About a third of people with the condition have behavioral deficits that meet the criteria for autism spectrum disorders.

Original post:
Test drug eases behavioral symptoms seen in autism

Behavioral economists have documented the all too many ways that humans are predictably irrational. Emotions and biases often just get the better of us. In a new study inPsychologicalScience, however,psychologists found that people forced to think in a foreign language made more rational decisions. Cest vrai!

Psychologists took classic scenarios from behavioral economics and posed them to students in their native and foreign languages. Heres an example of one:

Theres a disease epidemic sweeping through the country, and without medicine, 600,000 people will die. You have to choose one of two medicines to make:

If you choose medicine A, 200,000 people will be saved. If you choose medicine B, there is a 1/3 chance of saving 600,000 people and a 2/3 of saving no one. Which medicine do you choose?

Most people would go with A, the less risky bet, because were risk-averse when the choice is framed as a gainas in saving people. But what if we framed the question a little differently in this second scenario?

If you choose medicine A, 400,000 people will die. If you choose medicine B, there is a 1/3 chance of saving 600,000 people and a 2/3 of saving no one. Which medicine do you choose?

Suddenly, with this glass-half-empty wording, medicine A seems like a less palatable option. Although the two scenarios are exactly the same (200,000 saved and 400,000 dead are the same thing if you have 600,000 people), people become more risk-seeking in the second scenario, when medicine A is framed as a loss of life,and go with medicine B. The researchers asked this question to three different groups of studentsAmericans learning Japanese, Koreans learning English, and Americans learning Frenchand in each case the risk-framing effect disappeared when students had to think in their foreign language. They acted rationally.

Even when we understand a foreign language, what should be emotionally charged phrases, such swears or expressions of love, just dont register the same emotional effect. The researchers think thats why the participants were able to make more rational decisions in a foreign language. Humans are very loss-aversethe pain of losing $10 is generally worse than the joy of winning $10but this emotional aspect gets filtered out when thinking in a non-native tongue. A second experiment in the study asked students to make bets on a coin toss, and American students made bets more rationally in Spanish.

As anyone who has tried learning a new language knows, thinking in a foreign language is hard. Usually when were faced with this extra layer of difficultywhat psychologists call cognitive loadwe start relying on mental shortcuts rather than considering the problem rationally. Thats one reason this result about thinking in foreign languages is a little surprising, and also kind of heartening: We can find relatively easy ways to engage our rational faculties if necessary.

See the original post here:
Want to Make Rational Decisions? Think About Them In a Foreign Language. | 80beats

GARDEN CITY, NY--(Marketwire -04/19/12)- Over 400 high school students from across Long Island, New York will compete in The WAC Lighting Annual Invitational Science Fair, which will be held on Sunday, April 22nd from 9:30 AM to 3:30 PM, at Commack High School.

The Science Fair features projects in eight major categories with winners selected in Senior (grade 12) and Junior Divisions (grades 9-11). Awards and scholarships will be presented to winners of First, Second and Third Places, as well as honorable mentions. Categories include Environmental Science, Prototype Engineering; Biochemistry; General Biology; Behavioral Science; Chemistry; Physical Science; and Computer Science.

For 14 years, students have presented their research experience to esteemed judges from universities, hospitals, private practices and industries from the New York Metropolitan area. Participating students have spent months or even years in their high school or local university labs exploring the nature of cancer or inexpensive methods to produce alternative fuels. Everything is open for exploration; from astronomy to biotechnology, to basic research and theoretical studies, to projects focused on the practical.

Organized by The Research Association, the fair is a consortium of 13 Long Island, NY high schools represented by teachers dedicated to the importance of science education that understand that future leaders in science, technology and business begin focusing their skills in today's classrooms. The 13 high schools include: Commack, Great Neck North, Great Neck South, Herricks, Jericho, Locust Valley, Manhasset, North Shore Hebrew Academy, Paul D. Schreiber, Roslyn, South Side, Syosset, and The Wheatley School.

Participating students have gone on to pursue advanced studies at MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology), SUNY at Stony Brook, Harvard, Yale University, Brown, Johns Hopkins, Stanford, Rochester University and others. Many have become medical doctors and other highly respected professionals.

Judges include over 120 academicians and professionals affiliated with Brookhaven National Laboratory, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, Columbia University, Long Island University, New York University, North Shore University Hospital-LIJ Medical Center, Wiell Cornell Medical College, Hofstra University, Mount Sinai Medical Center, and other prestigious institutions.

The Science Fair is sponsored by WAC Lighting, a Garden City, New York-based global manufacturer of task and decorative lighting.

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WAC Lighting Invitational Science Fair to Be Held at Commack High School on Sunday, April 22nd

A new study reveals that childhood exposure to lead dust is linked to violence. The research pointed out issues with exposure to leaded gasoline and acts of violence up to 20 years after the exposure.

According to the new findings, which are published in the journal Environment International and written by toxicologist Howard W. Mielke, childhood exposure to lead dust is associated with long-lasting physical and behavioral effects, said Science Daily. Lead dust, says Mielke, has been connected to aggravated assaults two decades after exposure. Mielke, a research professor at the Department of Pharmacology at the Tulane University School of Medicine, collaborated with Sammy Zahran, a demographer at the Center for Disaster and Risk Analysis at Colorado State University.

According to the researchers, vehicles that used leaded gasolinebest known for its air contaminationhave led to increases in aggravated assaults in urban areas, said Science Daily.

The study reviewed lead releases in Atlanta, Georgia; Chicago, Illinois; Indianapolis, Indiana; Minneapolis, Minnesota; New Orleans, Louisiana; and San Diego, California from 1950 to 1985, said Science Daily. Increases in airborne lead dust exposure seen during this time frame were attributed to leaded gasoline, wrote Science Daily; correlative spikes were seen in aggravated assault rates about 20 years later, after exposed children were grown.

After controlling for other potential causes, including community and household income, education, policing efforts, and incarceration rates, Mielke and Zahran revealed that for every 1% increase in tonnage of environmental lead released 22 years prior, the present aggravated assault rate increased by 0.46%, said Science Daily.

Children are extremely sensitive to lead dust, and lead exposure has latent neuroanatomical effects that severely impact future societal behavior and welfare, says Mielke. Up to 90% of the variation in aggravated assault across the cities is explained by the amount of lead dust released 22 years earlier, Mielke added, said Science Daily. Tons of lead dust were released in the years from 1950 to 1985 in urban areas by vehicles that ran on gasoline, said Science Daily. Also, the improper handling of lead-based paint contributed to lead contamination.

As weve long written, exposure to lead in children and unborn children can cause brain and nervous system damage, behavioral and learning problems, slowed growth, hearing problems, headaches, mental and physical retardation, and behavioral and other health problems. Lead is also known to cause cancer and reproductive harm and, in adults, can damage the nervous system. The developing brain is of particular concern over negative influences known to have long-lasting effects that can continue well into puberty and beyond. Once poisoned, no organ system is immune.

Children with lead poisoning may experience irritability, sleeplessness or excess lethargy, poor appetite, headaches, abdominal pain with or without vomitinggenerally without diarrheaand constipation, and changes in activity level. A child with lead toxicity can be iron deficient and pale because of anemia and can be either hyperactive or lethargic. In adults there may be motor problems and an increase in depressive disorders, aggressive behavior, and other maladaptive affective disorders, as well as problems with sexual performance, impotence and infertility, and increased fecal wastage and sleep disorders. Lead poisoning can also result in oversleeping or difficulty falling asleep.

Originally posted here:
Lead Dust Exposure Linked to Violence