Interpersonal, affective and compulsive features of driven exercise in anorexia nervosa.

BACKGROUND: This preregistered (https://osf.io/g9ajb) analysis sought to integrate the current literature on trait compulsivity into maintenance models of driven exercise in anorexia nervosa (AN). We tested whether compulsivity increases the likelihood of driven exercise via interpersonal and affect-regulatory pathways. METHODS: We used multilevel structural equation modeling to test the hypothesis that trait compulsivity predicts a stronger within-person link between affect-regulatory difficulties or interpersonal sensitivity and driven exercise in female adolescents and adults with AN. We used data from five assessments across inpatient treatment and 6-months follow-up of 207 adult and adolescent patients with AN (1035 datapoints). RESULTS: In line with our hypotheses, patients who generally experienced more affect-regulatory difficulties or stronger interpersonal sensitivity tended to engage in driven exercise more strongly. Moreover, high levels of trait compulsivity amplified the effect of interpersonal sensitivity on driven exercise across time. Contrary to our hypotheses, the link between affect regulation and driven exercise was not moderated by compulsivity. Similar effects on general eating disorder psychopathology were found, but no cross-level moderation effect of compulsivity. LIMITATIONS: Due to sample size, potential AN subtype-dependent effects were not analyzed. CONCLUSION: Our results suggest that driven exercise coincides with self-reported experiences of interpersonal sensitivity and that this link varies as a function of compulsivity such that the within-person coupling is stronger among those scoring high on compulsivity. To derive clinically useful functional models of driven exercise, future studies might use intensive longitudinal data to investigate its momentary associations with affect and interpersonal sensitivity in the context of compulsive traits.

Gradual cold acclimation induces cardioprotection without affecting ß-adrenergic receptor-mediated adenylyl cyclase signaling.

Novel strategies are needed that can stimulate endogenous signaling pathways to protect the heart from myocardial infarction. The present study tested the hypothesis that appropriate regimen of cold acclimation (CA) may provide a promising approach for improving myocardial resistance to ischemia/reperfusion (I/R) injury without negative side effects. We evaluated myocardial I/R injury, mitochondrial swelling, and ß-adrenergic receptor (ß-AR)-adenylyl cyclase-mediated signaling. Male Wistar rats were exposed to CA (8°C, 8 h/day for a week, followed by 4 wk at 8°C for 24 h/day), while the recovery group (CAR) was kept at 24°C for an additional 2 wk. The myocardial infarction induced by coronary occlusion for 20 min followed by 3-h reperfusion was reduced from 56% in controls to 30% and 23% after CA and CAR, respectively. In line, the rate of mitochondrial swelling at 200 µM Ca2+ was decreased in both groups. Acute administration of metoprolol decreased infarction in control group and did not affect the CA-elicited cardiprotection. Accordingly, neither ß1-AR-Gsα-adenylyl cyclase signaling, stimulated with specific ligands, nor p-PKA/PKA ratios were affected after CA or CAR. Importantly, Western blot and immunofluorescence analyses revealed ß2- and ß3-AR protein enrichment in membranes in both experimental groups. We conclude that gradual cold acclimation results in a persisting increase of myocardial resistance to I/R injury without hypertension and hypertrophy. The cardioprotective phenotype is associated with unaltered adenylyl cyclase signaling and increased mitochondrial resistance to Ca2+-overload. The potential role of upregulated ß2/ß3-AR pathways remains to be elucidated.NEW & NOTEWORTHY We present a new model of mild gradual cold acclimation increasing tolerance to myocardial ischemia/reperfusion injury without hypertension and hypertrophy. Cardioprotective phenotype is accompanied by unaltered adenylyl cyclase signaling and increased mitochondrial resistance to Ca2+-overload. The potential role of upregulated ß2/ß3-adrenoreceptor activation is considered. These findings may stimulate the development of novel preventive and therapeutic strategies against myocardial ischemia/reperfusion injury.

Comparing the accuracy of personality judgements by the self and knowledgeable others.

In this article we compare the accuracy of personality judgements by the self and by knowledgeable others. Self- and acquaintance judgements of general personality attributes were used to predict general, videotaped behavioral criteria. Results slightly favored the predictive validity of personality judgements made by single acquaintances over self-judgements, and significantly favored the aggregated personality judgements of two acquaintances over self-judgements. These findings imply that the most valid source for personality judgements that are relevant to patterns of overt behavior may not be self-reports but the consensus of the judgement of the community of one's peers.

Agreement among judges of personality: interpersonal relations, similarity, and acquaintanceship.

Personality judgments of 184 targets were provided by the self, college acquaintances, hometown acquaintances, parents, and strangers. Study 1 found that knowing the target in the same context enhanced but was not necessary for interjudge agreement and that acquaintances who had never met agreed with each other as well as those who had met. Study 2 found that personality judgements by acquaintances manifested much better interjudge and self-other agreement than did judgments by strangers. Acquaintances were not more similar to their targets than were strangers, and their accuracy derived more from their distinctive judgment of the target than from assumed similarity. These results rule out overlap, communication, and assumed similarity as necessary bases of interjudge agreement and thereby support the simpler hypothesis that interjudge agreement stems from mutual accuracy.