Childhood depression: an overlooked problem in family practice.

To investigate the incidence and correlates of childhood depression in a family practice clinic, Kovacs Childhood Depression Inventory (CDI) was administered to 64 patients, aged 6 to 12 years. Accompanying parents completed the short form of Beck's Depression Inventory (BDI) and reported on the children's behavior problems. One half of the children studied scored within the depressed range on the CDI. Thirty-nine percent of the parents scored at least mildly depressed on the BDI. Depression appeared to cluster in families. Every parent who scored in the severe depression range was accompanying a child who rated himself or herself as depressed. All parents who scored above the cutoff for mild depression rated their children as having behavior problems. Children's self-reported depression was also related to negative parental rating of the children's behavior.

Relaxation training tapes: preferences and effects of gender and background.

Relaxation training tapes vary in voice gender and background, but little has been published regarding the preferences and effects of these parameters. Four classes, totalling 40 male and 36 female undergraduates, listened to parts of two commercially available sets of relaxation tapes. Both sets offered progressive relaxation and autogenic training in a choice of a male or a female voice. One set also provided a musical and environmental background. Tape segments were randomly assigned to the classes and balanced for gender and background. Subjects indicated a preference for the female voices. In addition, there was a significant association between sex of subject and voice gender preference, with males preferring female voices and females preferring male voices. However, the choices of the "best" tapes and actual ratings of relaxation indicated no significant voice-gender preferences associations. Preferences for the facilitating effects of the tapes with musical and environmental backgrounds were reflected in significant preferences for tape sets, tape choices, and relaxation ratings. The clinical implications and limitations of these findings were discussed.

Comparison of response formats for the Depression Adjective Check Lists.

Studied potential checking and response bias on the Depression Adjective Check Lists (DACL) by comparing the scores of 144 college students on three administration formats: True-false, forced-choice, and standard format. The DACL scores on the three formats were interrelated significantly with one another as well as with an independent measure of state depression of college students (CID). Correlations between the number of depressive adjectives checked and the depression score were significant in the true-false format, but not in the standard format. This argues against the use of the true-false format of the DACL. However, in demonstrating only a weak social desirability response bias, and in failing to reveal the existence of a checking bias, the results give further credence to the use of the standard format.

Alteration in the immunochemical dominance of determinants following the chemical modification of ox insulins: implications for the structure of the ox insulin monomer in solution.

Insulins of differing species, together with chemically modified insulins, were used in cross-reactivity experiments employing selected antisera raised to ox insulin in the Harley guinea-pig. The immunogen had been administered as a water-in-oil emulsion, using H. pertussis vaccine as adjuvant. Antibody was generated by determinants in the C-terminus of the B chain plus the adjacent N-terminus of the A chain, in the central core of the A chain (A8-A14 region) and in its anti-parallel N-terminus of the B chain. From this antibody pool chemically modified ox insulin selected antibody to unaltered determinants. The immunochemical data were compatible with monomeric ox insulin being immunogenic, the immunogen perhaps being recognized by the immune system in the form of the Molecule-II rather than the Molecule-I of the dimer pair (as originally suggested by X-ray crystallographic data).

Haptenic antibody induced by N-phthaloylated ox insulin in the Hartley guinea-pig.

Female Hartley guinea-pigs were immunized with N-phthaloylated ox insulin (96% NA1,NB1,NB29-triphthaloyl ox insulin) using H. pertussis as adjuvant. Haptenic antibody, which was found in antisera taken 20 days after secondary immunization, was assessed for cross-reaction with a series of N-acylated ox insulins. Cross-reaction readily occurred between haptenic antibody and the partial hapten-bearing antigens, NA1-monophthaloyl and NB1-monophthaloyl ox insulins. The immunochemical data suggested that the NA1-glycyl hapten and the NB1-phenylalanyl hapten were both acting as immune determinants for B-lymphocytes, and the determinant competition was taking place between contralateral facets of the principal immunogen, NA1,NB1,NB29-triphthaloyl ox insulin. The data was also consistent with the view that the overall tertiary structure of N-acylated insulins may be very similar to that of their native insulin, the addition of hapten groups having produced only localized areas of structural perturbation.