Feasibility and Acceptability of a Program to Promote Positive Affect, Well-Being and Gender Empowerment in Black Women Living with HIV.

While programs and interventions intended to increase positive affect among people living with HIV (PLWH) and other chronic diseases have been associated with improved health outcomes, including decreased depression, programs have not been tailored specifically for Black women. We tailored a program designed to increase positive affect and to decrease depressive symptoms in PLWH to a group format for Black WLWH. We also added skills to increase gender empowerment. We then tested the acceptability and feasibility of this program with 8 Black WLWH. The program was acceptable and relatively feasible, as assessed by women's participation and feedback about program clarity and helpfulness, which women rated above 9 on a 10-point scale. A few women suggested that optimal delivery point for some skills taught would be shortly after HIV diagnosis. A proof-of-concept program intended to bolster positive emotions and gender empowerment and decrease depression can be tailored for Black WLWH and is relatively feasible and acceptable. A randomized controlled trial is needed to assess the preliminary efficacy of this program on positive affect, depression, and other health outcomes for WLWH.

pH-induced effects on median frequency and conduction velocity of the myoelectric signal.

H+ accumulation at the sarcolemma is believed to play a key role in determining the electrophysiological correlates of fatigue. This paper describes an in vitro method to externally manipulate muscle pH while measuring the resultant effect on surface-detected median frequency (MDF) and conduction velocity (CV) parameters. Hamster muscle diaphragm strips (n = 8) were isolated with the phrenic nerve intact and placed in an oxygenated Krebs bath (26 degrees C). The muscle was clamped to a noncompliant load cell to measure isometric contractile tension. Tetanic contraction was developed via 40-Hz supermaximal stimulation of the phrenic nerve. Differential signals were recorded from three electromyogram (EMG) detection surfaces for computation of CV (via the phase shift in the EMG signals) and MDF. Repeated trials were conducted at bath pHs of 7.4, 7.0, and 6.6. Bath pH was altered by aerating predetermined concentrations of O2 and CO2 into the bath. Decreases in bath pH resulted in decreases in both initial MDF and initial CV. The differences in initial MDF and initial CV were significant (P less than 0.001) for each of the bath pH conditions. In general, the change in bath pH resulted in an equal percent change in initial MDF and initial CV. This suggests that the change in bath pH caused a decrease in CV without significantly altering the fundamental shape of the M wave. In contrast, the EMG was altered differently during stimulated contractions. During stimulation, the rate of decay of CV was 65% of the rate of decay of MDF.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Visual short-term cued recall memory in infancy.

The visual short-term cued recall memory of 8-, 12-, and 16-month-old infants was assessed in 2 experiments using an operant indirect delayed-reaction procedure. Infants were first trained to touch a discriminative stimulus (a light) which appeared randomly in 1 of 2 locations for 3 sec. When infants reached a criterion performance of 5 consecutive correct responses, delay varying in duration were introduced between the offset of the light and the infant's touching response to the location at which it had appeared. In experiment 1, 8-month-olds and 12-month-olds were tested, using 250-msec and 3-, 6-, and 9-sec delays. Results indicated that the location of the discriminative stimulus could be recalled by 8-month-olds at 250-msec delays; and by 12-month-olds at 250-msec and 3-, 6-, and 9-sec delays. In experiment 2, 8-, 12-, and 16-month-olds performed better than chance, while 8-month-olds did not. The amount of visual attention was not related to the correctness of a response and was not used as a mediating strategy. Results are discussed with reference to previous research on the development of recall memory.