Intrahepatic gas formation without abscess after hepatic artery thrombosis in the setting of liver transplantation

This paper reports that lesions of the medial frontal cortex (MFC) caused behavioral deficit in rats and that this deficit could be attenuated by a well formulated treatment with Org2766, an analog of ACTH-(4-9). Wistar rats were distributed in 3 groups: MFC lesion treated with saline (M-N); MFC lesion treated with Org2766 (M-O); and sham-operation treated with saline (S). Repeated Org2766 or saline injection commenced from the day of surgery and lasted for 13 days. After surgery, the rats were trained in a passive avoidance task and then in an active avoidance task. MFC lesions were found to be strongly associated with behavioral deficits. The M-N group rats displayed poor retention of the passive avoidance response and showed much slower learning of the active avoidance task as compared to S group rats. The result showed that chronic Org2766 administration improved the behavioral performance of both tasks in MFC lesioned rats. The also revealed that the superoxide dismutase (SOD) activity was significantly increased in the M-O group as compared to the M-N group 15 days after surgery. The possible mechanisms related to the beneficial effect of Org2766 on cortex damage are discussed.     

Medical practice guidelines in malpractice litigation: an early retrospective

The role of practice guidelines in malpractice litigation has been discussed in some theoretical detail. Little information is available, however, on how courts use guidelines or on the effort of state legislatures to explicitly link guideline compliance with malpractice defenses. We review all relevant case law and legislative enactments to shed light on the influence of medical malpractice on guidelines. We also use data from a nationwide survey of malpractice attorneys to supplement our legal analysis. Although guidelines are being used for both inculpatory and exculpatory purposes in common-law litigation (a two-way street), legislatures are interested in applying them only for exculpatory purposes (a one-way street).     

Splitting the difference: the historical necessity of synthesis insoftware engineering

For the last quarter of a century, software technologists have worked to address the “software crisis” identified in the 1960s. Their efforts have focused on a number of different areas, but have often been marked by the search for singular “best” solutions. However, the fundamental nature of software-involving basic and poorly understood problem solving processes combined with unprecedented and multifaceted complexity-weighs heavily against the utility of singular approaches. Examination of the discourse of software technologists in a number of key professional and trade journals over the last 25 years illuminates various disputes central to the development of software engineering and highlights the necessity of a more pluralistic mind set revolving around synthesis and trade-offs     

A System Dynamics Model to Evaluate Temporary Water Transfers in the Mexican Conchos Basin

The flows of the Rio Conchos are of vital economic importance not only to the agricultural sector in the Mexican side of the Rio Grande basin but also for meeting Mexico’s obligation to deliver water to the United States. During the previous decade, a severe drought dramatically decreased the basin’s runoff, generating serious economic, social, and political problems in both countries. A System Dynamics (SD) model designed to serve as a decision-support system (DSS) for water managers has been created. This DSS is a lumped semi-distributed model operating on a monthly basis. This DSS incorporates the most important elements of the Conchos basin’s water resources system: main rivers, irrigation distribution canals, reservoirs, aquifer, and the three Irrigation Districts. The DSS simulates different short and long term scenarios combining inside and outside Irrigation Districts (IDs). Also, different short scenarios are implemented to investigate the benefits of water transfer from México to the United States. This study has prompted awareness with regards to the degree of complexity and uncertainty of the water right allocation process to different economic variables such as crop yield, production costs, crop prices, subsidies, and water distribution efficiencies.     

Hermeneutics and psychology: A review and dialectical model.

The authors encourage psychologists to transcend the simple but often made a contrast of quantitative and qualitative epistemologies by reissuing a call to consider a hermeneutical realist perspective. The authors recognize that such calls are not new and have largely gone unheeded in the past, perhaps because of how a more radical hermeneutical perspective has been conceptualized and communicated. Rooted in P. Ricoeur's (1981) philosophy of distanciation, the authors propose a dialectic of understanding and explanation that values both quantitative and qualitative methodologies by (a) tracing the philosophical development of hermeneutics as a paradigm for knowing, (b) demonstrating useful hermeneutical applications to psychology as a whole and to some specific subdisciplines, and (c) illustrating how a hermeneutic realist approach is beneficial to the multicultural study of virtue. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Standard and nonstandard Hawaiian English-speaking children: Comprehension of both dialects and teacher's evaluations.

28 5th graders, who were standard English and nonstandard Hawaiian English speakers, listened to stories in both standard English and nonstandard Hawaiian English and answered questions about the stories. Processing effort for comprehension in both dialects was assessed by a subsidiary reaction time (RT) task performed while listening to stories; slower RT was taken to indicate greater processing demands of comprehension. Teachers' evaluations of the Ss' language behaviors, academic performance, classroom behaviors, and future endeavors were also collected. The nonstandard Hawaiian English speakers' comprehension was easier and more accurate with the nonstandard than the standard English stories, and the standard English speakers' comprehension was easier and more accurate with the standard than the nonstandard English stories. Teachers' evaluations and expectations for the nonstandard Hawaiian English speakers were consistently worse than those for the standard English speakers. (42 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Role of context in performance on a random schedule in autoshaping.

In 3 experiments an autoshaping preparation was used to explore the role of the training context in performance to a randomly trained keylight tested elsewhere. A recent model of conditioned performance advanced by Miller and Schachtman (1985) holds that performance to a conditioned stimulus (CS) is inversely related to the updated value of its training context, regardless of the location of testing. A CS trained in a random relation to the unconditioned stimulus (US), therefore, might be expected to control either excitatory or inhibitory tendencies, depending on the value subsequently assigned to its training context. Experiment 1 revealed no evidence for such a prediction using keylight stimuli trained initially on a random schedule. Subsequent inflation or deflation of the training context endowed the stimuli with neither inhibitory nor excitatory properties. Exp 2 yielded similar results for a keylight given excitatory properties prior to being placed on a random schedule. Finally, Exp 3 produced similar evidence in a design using temporally discrete stimuli to model the functional role of the context in a random schedule. The implications of these results for other models of performance on random schedules (e.g., Gibbon & Balsam, 1981; Rescorla & Wagner, 1972) are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effect of social skills training groups and social skills bibliotherapy with psychiatric patients.

The effectiveness of a systematic social skills group training program was compared to both a bibliotherapy program group and a typical hospital treatment control group (10 18–56 yr old patients per group). Assessment instruments included self-report (Rathus Assertiveness Schedule), observational, and in vivo measures. Results on the observational measure show that the skills training group improved significantly more than the control group, and this difference was maintained at follow-up. The skills group also showed superior improvement on the self-report measure. Results fail to demonstrate the efficacy of bibliotherapy. Findings concerning generalization of social skills group treatment effectiveness were encouraging in that 2 of 3 measures employed to test for generalization showed significant effects. (3 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)