Validation of a simple body map to measure widespread pain in urologic chronic pelvic pain syndrome: A MAPP Research Network study.

PURPOSE: In patients with urologic chronic pelvic pain syndrome (UCPPS), the presence of widespread pain appears to identify a distinct phenotype, with a different symptom trajectory and potentially different response to treatment than patients with pelvic pain only. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A 76-site body map was administered four times, at weekly intervals, to 568 male and female UCPPS participants in the MAPP Network protocol. The 76 sites were classified into 13 regions (1 pelvic region and 12 nonpelvic regions). The degree of widespread pain was scored from 0 to 12 based on the number of reported nonpelvic pain regions. This continuous body map score was regressed over other measures of widespread pain, with UCPPS symptom severity, and with psychosocial variables to measure level of association. These models were repeated using an updated body map score (0-12) that incorporated a threshold of pain ≥ 4 at each site. RESULTS: Body map scores showed limited variability over the 4 weekly assessments, indicating that a single baseline assessment was sufficient. The widespread pain score correlated highly with other measures of widespread pain and correlated with worsened UCPPS symptom severity and psychosocial functioning. Incorporating a pain severity threshold ≥4 resulted in only marginal increases in these correlations. CONCLUSIONS: These results support the use of this 13-region body map in the baseline clinical assessment of UCPPS patients. It provides reliable data about the presence of widespread pain and does not require measurement of pain severity, making it relatively simple to use for clinical purposes.

Widespread Pain Phenotypes Impact Treatment Efficacy Results in Randomized Clinical Trials for Interstitial Cystitis/Bladder Pain Syndrome: A MAPP Network Study.

Clinical trials of pain are notoriously difficult and inefficient in demonstrating efficacy even for known efficacious treatments. Determining the appropriate pain phenotype to study can be problematic. Recent work has identified the extend of widespread pain as an important factor in the likelihood of response to therapy, but has not been tested in clinical trials. Using data from three previously published negative studies of the treatment of interstitial cystitis/ bladder pain with data on the extent of widespread pain, we examined the response of patients to different therapies base on the amount of pain beyond the pelvis. Participants with predominately local but not widespread pain responded to therapy targeting local symptoms. Participants with widespread and local pain responded to therapy targeting widespread pain. Differentiating patients with and without widespread pain phenotypes may be a key feature of designing future pain clinical trials to demonstrate treatments that are effective versus not.

Trait-specificity versus global positivity: A critical test of alternative sources of assumed similarity in personality judgments.

For decades, a recurring question in person perception research has been whether people's perceptions of others' personality traits are related to how they see themselves on these traits. Indeed, evidence for such "assumed similarity" effects has been found repeatedly, at least for certain characteristics. However, recent research suggests that these findings may be an artifact of individual differences in how positively or negatively perceivers see others in general, irrespective of trait-specific content. Overcoming the limitations of prior studies, the present work provides a critical test of trait-specificity versus global positivity as sources of assumed similarity in personality judgments. In two large studies (Ns = 2,287 and 3,563) with preregistered hypotheses and analyses, perceivers rated 10 targets (strangers) each on the honesty-humility, emotionality, extraversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, and openness to experience; HEXACO (Study 1) and Big Five (Study 2) dimensions to capture their perceptions of the "average other" (i.e., perceiver effects). We then computed "positivity-corrected" assumed similarity effects using trait-based and profile-based approaches. Although controlling for global positivity considerably reduced the strength of assumed similarity, perceiver effects were still positively related to self-reports. As predicted, these assumed similarity effects occurred foremostly for traits strongly linked to values. Specifically, in Study 1, positivity-corrected assumed similarity was observed only for honesty-humility and openness to experience, albeit meaningful effects merely occurred on one of the two self-report measures. In Study 2, traits' value-relatedness remained a unique moderator of assumed similarity after accounting for traits' positivity (i.e., social desirability). These findings demonstrate that assumed similarity is indeed, to some extent, trait-specific. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).

Reliability and Validity of Pain and Urinary Symptom Severity Assessment in Urological Chronic Pelvic Pain: A MAPP Network Analysis.

PURPOSE: We assessed the reliability and validity of an efficient severity assessment for pelvic pain and urinary symptoms in urological chronic pelvic pain syndrome, which consists of interstitial cystitis/bladder pain syndrome and chronic prostatitis/chronic pelvic pain syndrome. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A total of 578 patients were assessed using brief, empirically derived self-report scales for pelvic pain severity (PPS) and urinary symptom severity (USS) 4 times during a 1-month period and baseline clinic visit that included urological, pain and illness-impact measures. Mild, moderate and severe categories on each dimension were examined for measurement stability and construct validity. RESULTS: PPS and USS severity categories had adequate reliability and both discriminant validity (differential relationships with specific clinical and self-report measures) and convergent validity (common association with nonurological somatic symptoms). For example, increasing PPS was associated with pelvic tenderness and widespread pelvic pain, whereas USS was associated with urgency during a bladder filling test and increased sensory sensitivity. PPS and USS categories were independently associated with nonurological pain and emotional distress. A descriptive analysis identified higher likelihood characteristics associated with having moderate to severe PPS or USS or both. Lack of sex interactions indicated that the measures are comparable in interstitial cystitis/bladder pain syndrome and chronic prostatitis/chronic pelvic pain syndrome. CONCLUSIONS: Women and men with urological chronic pelvic pain syndrome can be reliably subgrouped using brief self-report measures of mild, moderate or severe pelvic pain and urinary symptoms. Comparisons with a broad range of clinical variables demonstrate the validity and potential clinical utility of these classifications, including use in clinical trials, health services and biological research.

An efficient and accurate distributed learning algorithm for modeling multi-site zero-inflated count outcomes.

Clinical research networks (CRNs), made up of multiple healthcare systems each with patient data from several care sites, are beneficial for studying rare outcomes and increasing generalizability of results. While CRNs encourage sharing aggregate data across healthcare systems, individual systems within CRNs often cannot share patient-level data due to privacy regulations, prohibiting multi-site regression which requires an analyst to access all individual patient data pooled together. Meta-analysis is commonly used to model data stored at multiple institutions within a CRN but can result in biased estimation, most notably in rare-event contexts. We present a communication-efficient, privacy-preserving algorithm for modeling multi-site zero-inflated count outcomes within a CRN. Our method, a one-shot distributed algorithm for performing hurdle regression (ODAH), models zero-inflated count data stored in multiple sites without sharing patient-level data across sites, resulting in estimates closely approximating those that would be obtained in a pooled patient-level data analysis. We evaluate our method through extensive simulations and two real-world data applications using electronic health records: examining risk factors associated with pediatric avoidable hospitalization and modeling serious adverse event frequency associated with a colorectal cancer therapy. In simulations, ODAH produced bias less than 0.1% across all settings explored while meta-analysis estimates exhibited bias up to 12.7%, with meta-analysis performing worst in settings with high zero-inflation or low event rates. Across both applied analyses, ODAH estimates had less than 10% bias for 18 of 20 coefficients estimated, while meta-analysis estimates exhibited substantially higher bias. Relative to existing methods for distributed data analysis, ODAH offers a highly accurate, computationally efficient method for modeling multi-site zero-inflated count data.

Development and Validation of a Circumplex Measure of the Interpersonal Culture in Work Teams and Organizations.

Interpersonal circumplex (IPC) inventories assess a range of dispositions but can condense and compare their findings within a circular model defined by two factors: agency and communion. Whereas other IPC inventories assess individuals, the current research introduces IPC inventories assessing the interpersonal culture (interaction and communication norms) characterizing an entire organization or team-namely, the Circumplex Culture Scan (CCS) and Circumplex Team Scan (CTS). Across an initial development sample (n = 1676), online validation sample (CCS, n = 808; CTS, n = 832), and onsite validation sample (CCS, n = 516 respondents from 21 organizations; CTS, n = 347 respondents from 38 teams), the eight 8-item CCS/CTS octant scales demonstrated good internal consistencies, circumplex properties, reliable within-group agreement and between-group variance (thus justifying aggregation across an organization/team), and convergent, discriminant, and incremental validity in relation to other measures. According to their members, the organizations/teams with the most satisfied members and customers/clients were organizations/teams with considerably stronger communal (e.g., being open and respectful) than uncommunal (e.g., being rude and guarded) norms and somewhat stronger agentic (e.g., being eager and assertive) than unagentic (e.g., being cautious and quiet) norms. The CCS/CTS complements existing IPC and organizational culture measures and helps bridge the IPC and organizational literatures.

ENHANZE® drug delivery technology: a novel approach to subcutaneous administration using recombinant human hyaluronidase PH20

ENHANZE® drug delivery technology is based on the proprietary recombinant human hyaluronidase PH20 enzyme (rHuPH20; Halozyme Therapeutics, Inc.) that facilitates the subcutaneous (SC) delivery of co-administered therapeutics. rHuPH20 works by degrading the glycosaminoglycan hyaluronan (HA), which plays a role in resistance to bulk fluid flow in the SC space, limiting large volume SC drug delivery, dispersion, and absorption. Co-administration of rHuPH20 with partner therapies can overcome administration time and volume barriers associated with existing SC therapeutic formulations, and has been shown to reduce the burden on patients and healthcare providers compared with intravenous formulations. rHuPH20 (as HYLENEX® recombinant) is currently FDA-approved for subcutaneous fluid administration for achieving hydration, to increase the dispersion and absorption of other injected drugs, and in subcutaneous urography for improving resorption of radiopaque agents. rHuPH20 is also co-formulated with two anticancer therapies, trastuzumab (i.e. Herceptin® SC) and rituximab (i.e. RITUXAN HYCELA®/RITUXAN® SC/MabThera® SC) and dosed sequentially with human immunoglobin to treat primary immunodeficiency (i.e. HyQvia®/HYQVIA®). This article reviews pharmaceutical properties of rHuPH20, its current applications with approved therapeutics, and the potential for future developments.

Cross-situational consistency of trait expressions and injunctive norms among Asian Canadian and European Canadian undergraduates.

OBJECTIVE: In the current paper, we sought to clarify when and why Asian Americans/Canadians and European Americans/Canadians differ in self-consistency (the consistency of personality traits across situations). METHOD: European Canadian (n = 220) and second-generation Asian Canadian (n = 166) undergraduates (Mage = 19 years) described the traits they expressed and the traits others wanted them to express (i.e., injunctive norms, or injunctions) in four different social situations (i.e., with parents, with friends, with siblings, and with professors). RESULTS: Self-consistency was greater among European Canadians than Asian Canadians, but only when comparing behavior with parents versus with peers (i.e., friends and siblings). The same pattern was found for injunctive consistency (cross-situational consistency of trait injunctions). Injunctions strongly predicted the behavior of both Asian and European Canadians, but because the injunctions from parents versus peers diverged more for Asian Canadians, so did their behaviors. Controlling for the effect of inconsistent injunctions across situations eliminated the ethnic difference in self-consistency. Finally, Asian Canadians who perceived their immigrant parents as embracing a Canadian identity were as cross-situationally consistent as European Canadians because they tended to behave-and believe their parents approved of their behaving-with parents similarly to how they behaved with peers (e.g., more carefree and outspoken). CONCLUSION: Contrary to previous theorizing, cultural influences on broad cognitive or motivational dispositions (e.g., dialecticism, collectivism) alone cannot explain the observed pattern of ethnic differences in consistency. To understand when bicultural individuals are less consistent across situations also requires an understanding of the specific situations across which they tend to encounter divergent social norms. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved).

Interpersonal Self-Efficacy, Goals, and Problems of Persistently Depressed Outpatients: Prototypical Circumplex Profiles and Distinctive Subgroups.

Severely and persistently depressed outpatients ( n = 138) completed interpersonal circumplex measures of self-efficacy, problems, and values/goals. Compared with normative samples, patients showed deficits in agency: They reported less self-efficacy, especially for being assertive, tough, and influential; stronger goals, especially to avoid conflict or humiliation; and more problems, especially with being too timid, inhibited, and accommodating. Circular and structural summary indices suggested greater variability among patients in goal profiles than in efficacy or problem profiles; nonetheless, latent profile analyses identified coherent subgroups of patients with distinct patterns of efficacy (e.g., lacking confidence for speaking up vs. setting boundaries) and problems (e.g., being overly inhibited vs. self-sacrificing) as well as goals (e.g., to be included vs. unobtrusive). Women and those with more severe symptoms were overrepresented in the least agentic groups. The results show how observing patients through multiple circumplex surfaces simultaneously can help clarify their interpersonal dispositions and inform interventions.

Dynamic longitudinal relations between binge eating symptoms and severity and style of interpersonal problems.

Despite wide recognition of the importance of interpersonal problems in binge eating disorder (BED), the nature of this association remains unclear. Examining the direction of this longitudinal relationship is necessary to clarify the role that interpersonal problems play in the course of binge eating problems, and thus to specify treatment targets and mechanisms. This study aimed to articulate the bidirectional, longitudinal associations between BED and both the general severity of interpersonal problems as well as warm and dominant interpersonal styles. Severity and styles of interpersonal problems and BED symptoms were measured at baseline, 12 weeks, 24 weeks, and 36 weeks in a sample of 107 women in treatment for BED. Results from bivariate latent change score models indicated that interpersonal problem severity and BED symptoms are associated longitudinally but do not directly influence each other. The results indicated a bidirectional interrelation between binge eating symptoms and dominance such that less dominance predicted greater decreases in binge eating problems, and less binge eating symptoms predicted greater increases in dominance. We also found that binge eating symptoms positively predicted changes in warmth (i.e., less binge eating symptoms predicted less increases or more decreases in warmth). These findings highlight the importance of using dynamic models to examine directionality and delineate the distinct roles of interpersonal severity and styles in BED trajectories. (PsycINFO Database Record

Communal and Agentic Interpersonal and Intergroup Motives Predict Preferences for Status Versus Power.

Seven studies involving 1,343 participants showed how circumplex models of social motives can help explain individual differences in preferences for status (having others' admiration) versus power (controlling valuable resources). Studies 1 to 3 and 7 concerned interpersonal motives in workplace contexts, and found that stronger communal motives (to have mutual trust, support, and cooperation) predicted being more attracted to status (but not power) and achieving more workplace status, while stronger agentic motives (to be firm, decisive, and influential) predicted being more attracted to and achieving more workplace power, and experiencing a stronger connection between workplace power and job satisfaction. Studies 4 to 6 found similar effects for intergroup motives: Stronger communal motives predicted wanting one's ingroup (e.g., country) to have status-but not power-relative to other groups. Finally, most people preferred status over power, and this was especially true for women, which was partially explained by women having stronger communal motives.

Cross-Situational Self-Consistency in Nine Cultures: The Importance of Separating Influences of Social Norms and Distinctive Dispositions.

We assessed self-consistency (expressing similar traits in different situations) by having undergraduates in the United States ( n = 230), Australia ( n = 220), Canada ( n = 240), Ecuador ( n = 101), Mexico ( n = 209), Venezuela ( n = 209), Japan ( n = 178), Malaysia ( n = 254), and the Philippines ( n = 241) report the traits they expressed in four different social situations. Self-consistency was positively associated with age, well-being, living in Latin America, and not living in Japan; however, each of these variables showed a unique pattern of associations with various psychologically distinct sources of raw self-consistency, including cross-situationally consistent social norms and injunctions. For example, low consistency between injunctive norms and trait expressions fully explained the low self-consistency in Japan. In accord with trait theory, after removing normative and injunctive sources of consistency, there remained robust distinctive noninjunctive self-consistency (reflecting individuating personality dispositions) in every country, including Japan. The results highlight how clarifying the determinants and implications of self-consistency requires differentiating its distinctive, injunctive, and noninjunctive components.

Interpersonal Circumplex Profiles Of Persistent Depression: Goals, Self-Efficacy, Problems, And Effects Of Group Therapy.

OBJECTIVES: We assessed severely and persistently depressed patients' interpersonal self-efficacy, problems, and goals, plus changes in interpersonal functioning and depression during 20 weeks of group therapy. METHOD: Outpatients (32 female, 26 male, mean age = 45 years) completed interpersonal circumplex measures of goals, efficacy, and problems before completing 20 weeks of manualized group therapy, during which we regularly assessed depression and interpersonal style. RESULTS: Compared to normative samples, patients lacked interpersonal agency, including less self-efficacy for expressive/assertive actions; stronger motives to avoid conflict, scorn, and humiliation; and more problems with being too submissive, inhibited, and accommodating. Behavioral Activation and especially Cognitive Behavioral Analysis System of Psychotherapy interventions produced improvements in depression and interpersonal agency, with increases in "agentic and communal" efficacy predicting subsequent decreases in depression. CONCLUSIONS: While severely and persistently depressed patients were prone to express maladaptive interpersonal dispositions, over the course of group therapy, they showed increasingly agentic and beneficial patterns of cognitions, motives, and behaviors.

Discovery and Preclinical Evaluation of BMS-711939, an Oxybenzylglycine Based PPARα Selective Agonist.

BMS-711939 (3) is a potent and selective peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor (PPAR) α agonist, with an EC50 of 4 nM for human PPARα and >1000-fold selectivity vs human PPARγ (EC50 = 4.5 µM) and PPARδ (EC50 > 100 µM) in PPAR-GAL4 transactivation assays. Compound 3 also demonstrated excellent in vivo efficacy and safety profiles in preclinical studies and thus was chosen for further preclinical evaluation. The synthesis, structure-activity relationship (SAR) studies, and in vivo pharmacology of 3 in preclinical animal models as well as its ADME profile are described.

Examining the Process of Responding to Circumplex Scales of Interpersonal Values Items: Should Ideal Point Scoring Methods Be Considered?

The Circumplex Scales of Interpersonal Values (CSIV) is a 64-item self-report measure of goals from each octant of the interpersonal circumplex. We used item response theory methods to compare whether dominance models or ideal point models best described how people respond to CSIV items. Specifically, we fit a polytomous dominance model called the generalized partial credit model and an ideal point model of similar complexity called the generalized graded unfolding model to the responses of 1,893 college students. The results of both graphical comparisons of item characteristic curves and statistical comparisons of model fit suggested that an ideal point model best describes the process of responding to CSIV items. The different models produced different rank orderings of high-scoring respondents, but overall the models did not differ in their prediction of criterion variables (agentic and communal interpersonal traits and implicit motives).

Quantifying the Association of Self-Enhancement Bias With Self-Ratings of Personality and Life Satisfaction.

Kwan, John, Kenny, Bond, and Robins conceptualize self-enhancement as a favorable comparison of self-judgments with judgments of and by others. Applying a modified version of Kwan et al.'s approach to behavior observation data, we show that the resulting measure of self-enhancement bias is highly reliable, predicts self-ratings of intelligence as well as does actual intelligence, interacts with item desirability in predicting responses to questionnaire items, and also predicts general life satisfaction. Consistent with previous research, however, self-ratings of intelligence did not become more valid when controlling for self-enhancement bias. We also show that common personality scales like the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale reflect self-enhancement at least as strongly as do scales that were designed particularly for that purpose (i.e., "social desirability scales"). The relevance of these findings in regard to the validity and utility of social desirability scales is discussed.

Synthesis and biological evaluation of novel pyrrolidine acid analogs as potent dual PPARα/γ agonists.

The design, synthesis and structure-activity relationships of a novel series of 3,4-disubstituted pyrrolidine acid analogs as PPAR ligands is outlined. In both the 1,3- and 1,4-oxybenzyl pyrrolidine acid series, the preferred stereochemistry was shown to be the cis-3R,4S isomer, as exemplified by the potent dual PPARα/γ agonists 3k and 4i. The N-4-trifluoromethyl-pyrimidinyl pyrrolidine acid analog 4i was efficacious in lowering fasting glucose and triglyceride levels in diabetic db/db mice.

Lay beliefs about autism spectrum disorder among the general public and childcare providers.

We conducted a survey of beliefs about autism among the general public in the United States and Canada (n = 823) and among individuals working in childcare facilities in the state of Idaho (n = 176). Results included the following. Almost all respondents correctly believed that autism's primary causes are genetic and neurological (not parenting, drugs, or current diet), that it can be identified in early childhood, and that helpful interventions exist. Respondents generally distinguished diagnostic from non-diagnostic traits, but approximately half incorrectly labeled constant squirming as diagnostic and difficulties in making friends as non-diagnostic. College graduates and childcare workers were more likely to have learned about autism in professional/academic settings and to correctly recognize diagnostic traits. Of concern, 10% of respondents considered vaccinations to be among the two main causes of autism. Accurate public understanding of autism spectrum disorders can facilitate early identification and effective intervention; our results suggest that efficient channels for conveying accurate information include broadcast and online media (from which the general public, especially members of ethnic minority groups, were most likely to learn about autism), and professional development courses for childcare providers.

Circumplex Scales of Intergroup Goals: an interpersonal circle model of goals for interactions between groups.

Six studies (N = 1,682) used the Circumplex Scales of Intergroup Goals (CSIG)--an inventory based on the interpersonal circle-to assess individuals' agentic and communal goals for interactions between groups (nations in Studies 1-4, organizations in Study 5, political parties in Study 6). Noteworthy findings included the following: People with stronger unagentic-and-uncommunal goals perceived other groups as dangers, were wary of intergroup negotiations, and sanctioned authoritarianism and inequality. People with stronger agentic-and-uncommunal goals proudly identified with their country and compatriots, disapproved of nations unlike their own, and preferred the conservative candidate in a national election. People with stronger communal-and-unagentic goals identified with people beyond their ingroup, and wanted their group to resolve intergroup conflicts by behaving cooperatively rather than competitively or aggressively. By providing an encompassing framework capable of organizing and integrating these types of diverse findings, the circumplex model can facilitate cumulative scientific progress.