The use of different coping strategies, measured by the Ways of Coping Questionnaire was investigated among 1157 women (18 to 30 years), randomly selected from the general population of Sweden as part of a longitudinal study. Subjects were clustered into five groups: subjects with past or current eating disorders (ED), and subjects with no ED but with past, current, or no history of dieting. Subjects with past or current ED reported significantly higher levels of escape avoidance and lower levels of seeking social support and purposeful problem solving compared with subjects with neither ED nor dieting. These group comparisons were then reanalyzed with sum of depressive symptoms as a covariate in covariate analyses. The only significant difference between the groups concerned the use of escape avoidance. The significant differences in the use of escape-avoidance strategies may motivate more extensive training in coping in the context of prevention and treatment of ED and maladaptive dieting.
Norwegian scabies is highly contagious and presents with a psoriasiform dermatosis. It afflicts particularly the elderly and patients with immunosuppression. Two weeks after the admission of an index case of Norwegian scabies to a geriatric ward, 13 and 25 patients and 6 of 18 ward nurses developed scabies. Despite comprehensive treatment, the ward epidemic recurred 6 weeks later probably as a result of inadequate treatment of the index case. This diagnosis should be considered when patients from high-risk groups present with an undiagnosed rash.
Four published genome screens have identified a number of markers with increased sharing in multiple sclerosis (MS) families, although none has reached statistical significance. One hundred and five markers previously identified as showing increased sharing in Canadian, British, Finnish, and American genome screens were genotyped in 219 sibling pairs ascertained from the database of the Canadian Collaborative Project on Genetic Susceptibility to MS (CCPGSMS). No markers examined met criteria for significant linkage. Markers located at 5p14 and 17q22 were analyzed in a total of 333 sibling pairs and attained mlod scores of 2.27 and 1.14, respectively. The known HLA Class II DRB1 association with MS was confirmed (P
Long-term monitoring is critical to determine stability and sustainability of wildlife populations, and if change has occurred, why. We have followed population density changes in the small mammal community in the boreal forest of the southern Yukon for 46 years with density estimates by live trapping on 3-5 unmanipulated grids in spring and autumn. This community consists of 10 species and was responsible for 9% of the energy flow in the herbivore component of this ecosystem from 1986-96, but this increased to 38% from 2003-2014. Small mammals, although small in size, are large in the transfer of energy from plants to predators and decomposers. Four species form the bulk of the biomass. There was shift in the dominant species from the 1970s to the 2000s, with Myodes rutilus increasing in relative abundance by 22% and Peromyscus maniculatus decreasing by 22%. From 2007 to 2018 Myodes comprised 63% of the catch, Peromyscus 20%, and Microtus species 17%. Possible causes of these changes involve climate change which is increasing primary production in this boreal forest and an associated increase in the abundance of three rodent predators, marten (Martes americana), ermine (Mustela erminea), and coyotes (Canis latrans). Following and understanding these and potential future changes will require long-term monitoring studies on a large scale to measure metapopulation dynamics. The small mammal community in northern Canada is being affected by climate change and cannot remain stable. Changes will be critically dependent on food-web interactions that are species specific. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.
Measuring the negative mood component of stress experiences: description and psychometric properties of a short adjective check-list of stress responses.
Negative Mood (NM) is a 19-items adjective check-list developed to assess negative mood and stress responses. The items of the scale reflect dimensions such as depressed mood, anxiety, anger and time urgency. The data were collected from four different samples, two random population samples and two smaller selective samples. The psychometric properties of the NM showed high internal consistency (Cronbach's Alpha). When analysed with principal components analysis, three factors emerged, anxiety/depression, time pressure, and anger. The factors emerged in all four samples, within samples and between gender. The NM factors were tested for convergent and discriminative validity by correlating them with other more established measures of different aspects of negative mood. The results showed high convergent and discriminative validity for two of the NM factors, i.e., anxiety/depression, and anger, whereas the results for the third factor, time pressure, were more ambiguous. This scale has proven to be useful in capturing some vital dimensions of negative affect across different kinds of populations.
In a nation-wide investigation, covering all the hearing centres in Sweden, a study was made of adaptation processes, subjective discomfort from tinnitus, subjective loudness of tinnitus and psychological complaints in 3372 subjects by means of a questionnaire. The most important predictors of discomfort from and adaptation to tinnitus were found to be the controllability and the degree of maskability by external sounds, i.e. the subject's coping abilities or internal-external locus of control. Increased control and masking effects from the environment imply a decrease in discomfort and better adaptation. The most important predictor of worsened subjective loudness of tinnitus was the duration of the tinnitus. That is, subjects who had had tinnitus for a longer time perceived the loudness as more intense. The psychosomatic factors which most strongly predicted increased discomfort from and decreased tolerance to tinnitus were depression and insomnia. These findings have theoretical and practical implications for the management and treatment of tinnitus.
The identification of Harris lines through radiographic analysis has been well-established since their discovery in the late nineteenth century. Most commonly associated with stress, the study of Harris lines has been fraught with inconsistent identification standards, high levels of intra- and interobserver error, and the inevitability of skeletal remodelling. Despite these methodological challenges, the use of Harris lines remains an important contributor to studies of health in archaeological populations. This research explores the radiographic process, specifically orientation and how Harris lines are initially captured for study. Using the Black Friars (13th-mid 17th centuries) skeletal sample from Denmark, 157 individuals (134 adults; 23 subadults) were radiographically analyzed in both an anterior-posterior (A-P) and medial-lateral (M-L) view for the left and right radii and tibiae. Based on the current methodological standards within the literature, it was hypothesized that the A-P view would provide the best resolution and visualization of Harris lines. The results, however, show that the number of lines visible in the M-L view were significantly higher than those visible in the A-P view; inferring that the M-L view is superior for the study of Harris lines.
