The psychobiological effects of cognitive experiential therapy, hypnosis, cognitive restructuring, and attention placebo control in the treatment of essential hypertension.

Examines the psychobiological effects of cognitive experiential therapy (CET) or what was previously referred to as rational stage directed hypnotherapy on essential hypertension. CET combines cognitive restructuring, hypnosis, and developmental staging. 39 Ss were assigned to 1 of 4 conditions: CET, hypnosis only, cognitive restructuring, or an attention placebo control group. The overall multivariate model consisting of all experimental conditions over time yielded a significant interaction effect with respect to 9 psychobiological outcome measures. Discriminant analysis revealed a stronger overall effect over time for CET when compared with its major components (i.e., hypnosis, cognitive restructuring, and attention control). (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Signatures of Incoherence in a Quantum Information Processor

Incoherent noise is manifest in measurements of expectation values when the underlying ensemble evolves under a classical distribution of unitary processes. While many incoherent processes appear decoherent, there are important differences. The distribution functions underlying incoherent processes are either static or slowly varying with respect to control operations and so the errors introduced by these distributions are refocusable. The observation and control of incoherence in small Hilbert spaces is well known. Here we explore incoherence during an entangling operation, such as is relevant in quantum information processing. As expected, it is more difficult to separate incoherence and decoherence over such processes. However, by studying the fidelity decay under a cyclic entangling map we are able to identify distinctive experimental signatures of incoherence. This is demonstrated both through numerical simulations and experimentally in a three qubit nuclear magnetic resonance implementation.      

Couple-oriented education and support intervention: Effects on individuals with osteoarthritis and their spouses.

Objective: To determine whether a couple-oriented intervention for osteoarthritis (OA) was more efficacious than a patient-oriented intervention and whether each intervention was more efficacious than usual medical care. Research Design: 242 older adults with OA and their spouses were randomly assigned to patient-oriented education and support, couple-oriented education and support, or usual care. Results: Intent-to-treat analyses indicated no significant differences between the 3 study conditions in outcomes for individuals with OA or their spouses. Completers analyses showed that at the 6-month follow-up, contrary to prediction, individuals with OA who received the patient-oriented intervention reported greater reductions in pain and improvements in physical function than those who received the couple-oriented intervention. At the postintervention assessment, spouses who received the coupleoriented intervention reported greater reductions in stress and a trend toward less critical attitudes than spouses of individuals with OA who received the patient-oriented intervention. Moderator analyses indicated that female spouses and spouses with high marital satisfaction who received the couple-oriented intervention also experienced better outcomes in terms of depressive symptoms and caregiver mastery. Conclusions: A couples approach to education and support for OA may offer no advantage for individuals with OA but may prove helpful for spouses, thereby indirectly benefiting individuals with OA over time. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Heart-surface reconstruction and ECG electrodes localization using fluoroscopy, epipolar geometry and stereovision: application to noninvasive imaging of cardiac electrical activity

To date there is no imaging modality for cardiac arrhythmias which remain the leading cause of sudden death in the United States (> 300000/yr.). Electrocardiographic imaging (ECGI), a noninvasive modality that images cardiac arrhythmias from body surface potentials, requires the geometrical relationship between the heart surface and the positions of body surface ECG electrodes. A photographic method was validated in a mannequin and used to determine the three-dimensional coordinates of body surface ECG electrodes to within 1 mm of their actual positions. Since fluoroscopy is available in the cardiac electrophysiology (EP) laboratory where diagnosis and treatment of cardiac arrhythmias is conducted, a fluoroscopic method to determine the heart surface geometry was developed based on projective geometry, epipolar geometry, point reconstruction, b-spline interpolation and visualization. Fluoroscopy-reconstructed hearts in a phantom and a human subject were validated using high-resolution computed tomography (CT) imaging. The mean absolute distance error for the fluoroscopy-reconstructed heart relative to the CT heart was 4 mm (phantom) and 10 mm (human). In the human, ECGI images of normal cardiac electrical activity on the fluoroscopy-reconstructed heart showed close correlation with those obtained on the CT heart. Results demonstrate the feasibility of this approach for clinical noninvasive imaging of cardiac arrhythmias in the interventional EP laboratory.     

Behavioral theories of choice as a framework for studying drinking behavior.

54 male college students were placed in a choice situation with 2 behavioral alternatives: One produced access to alcohol consumption, and one produced access to money. Any alcohol chosen was available during the session, and constraints on access to it were held constant. Two independent variables involving constraints on access to money were manipulated in a 2?×?3 factorial design: (a) amount of money available (either 2 or 10 cents per unit or behavioral allocation) and (b) delay in receipt of the money (either no delay, a 2-wk delay, or an 8-wk delay). The primary dependent measures were the proportion of responses allocated to gain access to alcohol, response-outcome expectations, and mood state. Results show that Ss' preference for alcohol varied negatively with amount of money and positively with delay. Expectations and mood states were not related to Ss' choice behavior. Results support a formulation regarding the determinants of drinking that is developed from the perspective of behavioral theories of choice. (37 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The crystal structures of Hf3N2 and Hf4N3

The crystal structures of ε-Hf₃N₂ and ζ-Hf₄N₃ were determined from X-ray powder photographs. The structure of both phases is trigonal, space group D ₅ ^3d -R?3m, with unit cells ofa _R = 7.972Å, α= 23 deg 12 min (hexagonal axes:a = 3.206Å,c = 23.26Å) for ε-H₃H₂, and a_R= 10.54Å, α = 17 deg 32 min (hexagonal axes:a = 3.214Å,c = 31.12Å) for ζ-Hf₄N₃. The nine close packed metal layers in ε-Hf₃N₂ are stacked according to (hhc)₃, or ABABCBCAC. The structure of ζ-Hf₄sN₃, isomorphous with ζ-V₄C₃,¹ consists of twelve close-packed metal layers in a stacking sequence (hhcc)₃. The nitrogen atoms occupy octahedral interstices in the metal lattice. The experimentally observed compositions, Hf₃N₁.₆₉ and Hf₄N₂.₅₆, shows both phases to be substantially deficient in nitrogen. ε-Hf₃N₂ is unstable above 2000°C, and ζ-Hf₄N₃ above 2300°C.     

Systematic examination in the rat of brain sites sensitive to the direct application of morphine: observation of differential effects within the periaqueductal gray

An extensive mapping of the rat brain (403 sites) ranging from AP +8 to AP -3 revealed that the region showing maximum sensitivity to the intracerebral administration of morphine in the elevation of the nociceptive threshold lay within the periaqueductal gray. Analysis of the distribution of responsive sites indicated that the most active sites, those having the shortest latency of effect, were located within the ventrolateral aspect of the caudal periaqueductal gray. These antinociceptive actions of morphine were observed to be both dose-dependent and reversible by the administration of naloxone. We observed that microinjections of morphine could produce changes in the pinch withdrawal response which were distributed in a crude somatotopic fashion. Injections into the rostral aspect of the periaqueductal gray yielded a block of the pinch response in the rostral portions of the body, whereas such injections into the caudal periaqueductal gray always yielded a whole body analgesia. In the rostral sites, transient ipsilateral blocks of the pinch response were occasionally seen. A pinch block limited to the hind paws alone was never observed. It is suggested that morphine acting through the periaqueductal gray may actuate a potent supraspinal modulatory system related to the transmission of information derived from behaviorally aversive stimuli.     

Improving the Accuracy of Geochemical Rock Modelling for Acid Rock Drainage Prevention in Coal Mine

Abstract.   The results of static tests are used to geochemically model the distribution of potentially acid and non-acid forming materials and plan mining excavation and overburden dumping to prevent or minimize the generation of acid rock drainage (ARD). The accuracy of the model depends very much on the amount and validity of the available pre-mine data and how the data is interpreted in both lateral and vertical directions. This results of such modelling was compared with subsequent overburden information provided by analysis of blast hole drill cuttings. We found that the model overestimated the amount of potentially acid forming material, but that it was still useful in ARD prevention.