An evaluation of the performance of cDNA microarrays for detecting changes in global mRNA expression.

The cDNA microarray is one technological approach that has the potential to accurately measure changes in global mRNA expression levels. We report an assessment of an optimized cDNA microarray platform to generate accurate, precise and reliable data consistent with the objective of using microarrays as an acquisition platform to populate gene expression databases. The study design consisted of two independent evaluations with 70 arrays from two different manufactured lots and used three human tissue sources as samples: placenta, brain and heart. Overall signal response was linear over three orders of magnitude and the sensitivity for any element was estimated to be 2 pg mRNA. The calculated coefficient of variation for differential expression for all non-differentiated elements was 12-14% across the entire signal range and did not vary with array batch or tissue source. The minimum detectable fold change for differential expression was 1.4. Accuracy, in terms of bias (observed minus expected differential expression ratio), was less than 1 part in 10 000 for all non-differentiated elements. The results presented in this report demonstrate the reproducible performance of the cDNA microarray technology platform and the methods provide a useful framework for evaluating other technologies that monitor changes in global mRNA expression.

Experienced obstetric nurses' decision-making in fetal risk situations.

OBJECTIVE: To determine which clinical factors experienced obstetric nurses consider most important in determining fetal risk during the intrapartum period. DESIGN: Ten dichotomized variables relevant to participants' clinical decision-making were manipulated in fractional factorial vignettes. Participants were asked to rate the severity of fetal risk on a Likert scale after reading the vignettes. SETTING: About 87% of the participants worked in institutions with 4,000 or fewer deliveries per year. More than 25% worked in tertiary level facilities, and the remainder were employed in primary or secondary level facilities. PARTICIPANTS: Participants (N = 573), randomly selected from a list of nurses certified in "inpatient obstetric nursing" by the National Certification Corporation, were mailed the vignettes. The average number of years of intrapartum nursing experience was 13. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE: Multiple regression analysis was used to determine the weights given to the 10 clinical factors by participants. RESULTS: Fetal scalp pH, maternal parity, amniotic fluid color, and long-term variability of the fetal heart rate were the most important predictors of nurses' fetal risk assessments. CONCLUSIONS: Long-term variability was the most important cardiotocographic factor in nurses' fetal risk assessments and the only cardiotocographic factor of the best 4 predictors of fetal risk. This indicated that participants were realistic about the limitations of electronic fetal monitoring (EFM).

A test of the Piagetian water-level task with Chinese students.

A sample of 486 children in Beijing, China, were tested on the water-level task (WLT; J. Piaget & B. Inhelder, 1948/1956). The participants were 256 boys and 230 girls from 4th, 5th, 6th, 8th, and 11th grades. Three levels of mastery of the WLT were found. Level 1 consisted of 4th and 5th graders, who averaged about 71% correct. Level 2 consisted of 6th and 8th graders, who averaged about 83% correct. Level 3 consisted of 11th graders, who averaged 97% correct. The results provide partial support for the Piagetian theory of age-related developmental differences in performance on the WLT. The findings depict an interactive relationship of maturation with culture and education in the development of the ability to solve the WLT.

Evidence in support of a model that predicts how biological and environmental factors interact to influence spatial skills.

It was proposed, based on M. Annett (1985), that individuals biologically predisposed to poorer spatial skills are less likely to capitalize on opportunities to develop these skills. Using an analysis of variance design assessing mental rotation skills in 2 cohorts of 8th graders (365 students), the authors found a significant 3-way interaction (Brothers x Family Handedness x Gender). For the girls with brothers, those from all right-handed families had lower mental rotation scores than did the other girls. For the 2nd cohort, among those children who participated in mental-rotation-type activities with their brothers, both boys and girls from all right-handed families performed more poorly on the mental rotation test than did the other children with brothers. Thus, compared with other children, the children from all right-handed families do not appear to be able to use their spatial experiences with male siblings to increase their spatial skills.

Writing Chinese characters and success on Mental Rotation Test.

Our recent study with Chinese and Chinese-American undergraduates indicated that writing Chinese characters was associated with better performance on the Piagetian Water-Level Task for Chinese-American men. The current study investigated whether the same effects would apply to the Vandenberg Mental Rotation Test. Two alternative hypotheses (bilingualism and birth place) were also tested. Participants were two groups of Chinese-American undergraduates: 48 writers of Chinese (21 men, 27 women) and 130 nonwriters of Chinese (58 men, 72 women). Analysis suggested that writing Chinese and birth in the USA contributed significantly to the success on Mental Rotation Test. Students who were born in the USA and able to write Chinese scored the highest on this test. Being bilingual was not associated with performance on the Mental Rotation Test. Men performed significantly better than women.

The impact of war on the mental health of children: a Salvadoran study.

OBJECTIVE: This ecologically conceptualized, intensive study assesses the mental health impact of the Salvadoran Civil War on 54 12-year-olds, born into the war, exposed to different levels of war violence. METHODS: Half of the students came from a repopulated country village and half from an industrial neighborhood near the capital city. Children, their mothers or caretakers, and their teachers responded to interviews and some instruments. RESULTS: Children from the repopulated village reported higher war experience and lower mental health. The personal/social impact of the war was more important than family togetherness or war intensity in determining the mental health of the children. Children's intelligence was highly related to surviving with higher mental health. Higher socioeconomic status (SES) and education of parents was related to better mental health. Controlling for intelligence, children who experienced the highest personal-social impact of war showed the poorest mental health. Children with high war experience were most likely to have difficulty in imagining the future. CONCLUSIONS: Intelligence and the foreshortening of future vision are variables that should be controlled for and investigated in outcome studies of trauma. Treatment for survivors should include aid in planning for the future.

Mediators of gender differences in mathematics college entrance test scores: a comparison of spatial skills with internalized beliefs and anxieties.

This study was designed to investigate whether spatial skill, math anxiety, and math self-confidence functioned as mediators of a significant gender difference in the Mathematics Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT-M) among the top third of a college-bound sample. Using path analytic techniques, the decomposition of the significant gender-SAT-M correlation into direct and indirect effects indicated that there were no direct effects of gender on SAT-M. Mental rotation and math self-confidence showed indirect effects, mediating the gender-SAT-M relationship; math anxiety did not. Of these indirect effects, 36% was mediated by math self-confidence; 64% by mental rotation. For both these variables, most of the mediational effects of the gender-SAT-M relationship did not occur by way of the causal pathway leading through geometry grades. Thus, the mediational effects cannot simply be attributed to the presence of geometry items on the SAT-M or to math self-confidence acquired during prior geometry coursework.

Attitudes of pediatric nurses facing HIV risk.

The purpose of this study was to examine health related attitudes, including willingness to provide care, of health care professionals toward HIV-infected patients. To control for attitudes toward people who may have engaged in high risk behaviors for HIV infection, such as intravenous drug use or homosexual behavior, attitudes of pediatric nurses were studied since children with HIV almost never acquire the infection through these behaviors. The research population consisted of 517 pediatric nurses (46% response rate) from twenty states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico. The major findings were that those pediatric nurses with more experience caring for HIV-infected patients were more willing to care for these patients, and respondents reported more favorable attitudes after caring for people infected with HIV. Very few nurses would refuse to care for these children, although most acknowledged moderate fear of acquiring HIV from their patients. The level of experience caring for people with HIV was uncorrelated with reported likelihood of incidents of occupational HIV exposure risk. Greater occupational exposure risk was associated with less positive attitudes and less willingness to provide care. Implications of this study include that attitudes, including willingness to provide care, are more favorable with less suspected risk of infection and after more experience with such patients. In this study, where the sample of clients was adjusted to remove other biases, health caregivers were generally positive toward caring for HIV-infected patients.

As the twig is bent: the biology and socialization of gender roles in women.

The present study supports the view that biological predisposition interacts with perceived parental influences to affect cross-gender role identity. Geschwind and colleagues have identified two patterns of brain organization (anomalous and standard dominance) assessed through individual and familial handedness. Anomalous dominant women who perceived their parents as definitely giving them permission for cross-gender behavior demonstrated high masculine/low feminine characteristics on the Bem Sex Role Inventory. The cross-gender role identity in this group differed significantly from the traditional gender role identity found in all other groups of females (including anomalous dominant women whose parents were perceived as less permissive and the women with standard dominance reporting both styles of parenting.

Spatial ability as a predictor of math achievement: the importance of sex and handedness patterns.

In accordance with major theories of handedness and brain organization, differential predictors for math achievement were found as a function of sex and handedness subgroups among eighth graders. Although there was no difference in absolute levels of performance as a function of either sex or handedness, predictive structures did differ. Regression analyses showed that spatial ability predicts math achievement for: (1) girls with anomalous dominance (non-right-handers and right-handers with non-right-handed relatives), and (2) all boys (independent of handedness group). In contrast, for the standard dominance girls who are right-handed with all right-handed relatives (considered strongly left-hemisphere dominant for language), spatial ability did not predict for math achievement. These findings occurred, even when scholastic aptitude and verbal achievement factors were controlled. It was concluded that further studies of sex differences in math achievement should consider subgroup differences within the sexes, based on handedness patterns.

Differences in feminine and masculine characteristics in women as a function of handedness: support for the Geschwind/Galaburda theory of brain organization.

The Geschwind/Galaburda testosterone theory successfully predicted differences in feminine sex role identification and behavior between women with anomalous dominance and standard dominance. The women with anomalous dominance (consisting of left-handed and ambidextrous as well as right-handed women with first-degree non-right-handed relatives) were compared to women with standard dominance (right-handed women with all right-handed first-degree relatives) on the Bem Test of Sex Role Identity and a tomboy scale. Across three samples, handedness classifications were related to both tomboy characteristics and sex role identification. In addition, the study showed that the anomalous dominance women had a higher masculine sex role identification as compared to the college normative sample for the Bem, while the standard dominance women had a higher feminine identification than the normative sample.

Parental correlates of drug use among young Puerto Rican adults.

A study was conducted by interview with 635 young Puerto Rican adults in Puerto Rico. Half of the sample were selected as high risk of heroin involvement, half as low risk. Parent-child relationships and parental usage of alcohol and cigarettes were related to five indices of heroin involvement. For boys, maternal acceptance was negatively associated with having ever tried heroin. Higher levels of maternal control were associated with lesser heroin use, never having tried heroin, less knowledge of heroin-related vocabulary, and fewer friends who had used heroin. Being the mother's favorite child was associated with less approval of heroin use. For boys, paternal acceptance was related to less knowledge of heroin vocabulary. Higher levels of paternal control went with less heroin use, less knowledge of heroin vocabulary, never having tried heroin, and few friends who used heroin. Paternal discipline was related to fewer friends using heroin. For girls, maternal control was associated with less knowledge of heroin vocabulary, maternal discipline with fewer friends using heroin, and being the mother's favorite child went with low heroin use, low approval for heroin use, and few friends using heroin. For girls, paternal acceptance and paternal discipline were associated with fewer friends using heroin. Maternal smoking and drinking were associated with increased usage of heroin for her son.

The Enthalpy of Formation of MoF6(ℓ) by Solution Calorimetry.

Enthalpies of reaction of MoF6(ℓ) in NaOH solutions, of MoO3(cr) in NaOH solutions, of NaF(cr) in MoO3-NaOH solutions, and of NaF(cr) in H2O(ℓ) were measured to obtain the enthalpy of reaction of MoF6(ℓ) in infinitely dilute NaOH solution: MoF 6 ( ℓ ) + 6 OH - ( aq ) = MoO 3 ( cr ) + 6 F - ( aq ) + 3 H 2 O ( ℓ ) Δ H ∘ ( 298.15 K ) = ( - 641.23 + 1.8 , - 4.0 ) kJ mol - 1 From this were calculated ΔHf°[MoF6(ℓ)] = (-1593.3 + 5.6, -4.3) kJ mol-1, ΔHf°[F-(aq)] = (-334.05 + 0.34, -0.69) kJ mol-1. From the measurements of NaF(cr) in H2O, values for apparent molal enthalpy, ϕ L , were tabulated at concentrations from 0 to 0.2 mol · kg-1. ΔH°soln (298.15 K) = (937 ± 36) J · mol-1.

Assessing adolescent mental health needs: the views of consumers, providers, and others.

The perceived mental health needs of adolescents were measured by questionnaire to groups of teenagers, parents, community child guidance personnel, self-help groups, police and court related people, school personnel, mental health administrators and area board members. Alcohol abuse and unemployment were seen as the first and second priority problems by most groups. Regarding specific services and facilities needed, residential facilities of various types were the most critical concern. Alcohol abuse programs, employment counseling, and family therapy and counseling were also major needs. There was considerable consensus as to needs among both consumers and providers. However, consumers tended to see as higher priority those problems affecting large numbers of adolescents while providers worried more about the seriously disturbed few.