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Are pretrial commitments for forensic evaluation used to control nuisance behavior?

The shift to dangerousness-oriented civil commitment criteria has led to speculation that mentally ill persons who do not meet those criteria are being hospitalized under criminal commitment statutes. Using data on patients' psychiatric symptoms at admission to a state hospital in Massachusetts, the authors retrospectively assessed whether patients charged with minor criminal offenses who were committed for evaluation of competence to stand trial would have met civil commitment criteria. The data suggest that most mentally ill patients who were criminally committed could have been civilly committed. However, a relatively greater proportion of persons with substance abuse, mental retardation, or other conditions who did not meet civil commitment criteria for mental illness were committed for pretrial evaluation.

Adult

Can short-range intentions predict physical activity participation.

This study examined the issue of proximity of intention in the physical activity domain by employing both short-range (2 and 3 days) and longer range (4 weeks) intentions in the prediction of participation in physical activity. Subjects were 42 undergraduate students who completed intention and physical activity assessments every class (Monday, Wednesday, and Friday) for six weeks and also a single assessment four weeks apart. Analysis indicated that short-range intention is a better predictor of physical activity than is the longer range intention; however, even the short-range intention-physical activity correlations were only of modest magnitude. Interpretation of the results focused on the potential nonvolitional nature of physical activity and the possible role of perceived behavioral control and behavioral expectation.

Adult

Micropatterned substratum adhesiveness: a model for morphogenetic cues controlling cell behavior.

It is generally considered that tracks of cell adhesiveness are important in controlling cell migration during the development and regeneration of many tissues. In order to investigate this experimentally, a number of techniques have in the past been employed to make patterns of differential adhesiveness for in vitro studies. However, practical limitations on patterning resolution and the introduction of residual topography to the experimental substrata have restricted their usefulness. Here we describe a simplified photolithographic technique for patterning cell adhesiveness which allows a high degree of flexibility and precision. We have quantified, using adhesion and spreading characteristics of BHK cells, the differential adhesiveness that can be created on patterned surfaces, how this alters with the duration of exposure to serum proteins, and how this, in turn, relates to the persistence of cell patterning despite increases in cell density. We believe that this technique will prove extremely useful for the detailed in vitro examination of the mechanisms controlling cell behavior as it offers a degree of precision and ease of fabrication that has previously been unavailable.

Adhesiveness

Psychosocial correlates of physical activity among fifth and eighth graders.

BACKGROUND: Identification of the factors that influence children's participation in vigorous activity is essential to the development of effective intervention strategies aimed at the prevention of cardiovascular disease and obesity. METHODS: Correlates of intent to participate in vigorous activity were assessed among 310 fifth and eighth graders in Cambridge, Massachusetts, through the development and administration of a questionnaire based on the Theory of Planned Behavior, an extension of the Theory of Reasoned Action, which includes the domain of perceived behavioral control (how easy or difficult it is to engage in vigorous activity). Heights and weights were measured and questionnaires were completed during physical education classes. RESULTS: Perceived behavioral control and attitude predicted children's intent to participate. How much a child agreed s/he was good at doing vigorous activity predicted perceived behavioral control. In each grade, girls reported being less good at vigorous activity than did boys. Eighth-grade girls reported significantly fewer hours of vigorous activity than did eighth-grade boys. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings suggest that gender differences related to intent to participate in vigorous activity, perceived behavioral control, and sense of competency are evident in eighth grade and may begin in fifth grade. These gender differences in perception therefore precede the gender difference in participation in vigorous activity demonstrated among ninth graders in the 1990 Youth Risk Behavior Survey. Promotion of activities children enjoy, and in which they feel a sense of competency, is likely to sustain participation in vigorous activity throughout adolescence and possibly reduce the prevalence of obesity.

Adolescent

Prepuberal social rearing conditions and sexual behavior in control and neonatally castrated male rats.

Male and female sexual behaviors were assessed in control and neonatally castrated male rats that had been housed with a female, a control male, or a neonatally castrated male from day 16 until adulthood. Prepuberal housing conditions had no differential effect on lordosis or ejaculatory potentials of neonatally castrated males tested as adults. A smaller percentage of control males raised with a neonatal castrate ejaculated than did animals housed with a female or a control male. However, a greater proportion of control males caged with a female showed lordosis than did those living with another control male or with a neonatal castrate. The data demonstrate the modulating effects which specific types of social stimulation experienced during early life have on sexual behaviors displayed in adulthood.

Androgens

Health locus of control and behaviors related to pregnancy.

A shortened form of the 18-item multidimensional health locus of control scale was used in a study of locus of control and health-related behaviors during pregnancy in a population based cohort of 255 postpartum women. A powerful other locus of control orientation was found to be associated strongly with a variety of social and demographic characteristics, and with several health-related behaviors during pregnancy. No strong associations were found between fate locus of control or internal locus of control and behaviors that facilitate health during pregnancy.

Female

Neither too sweet nor too sour: problem peers, maternal control, and problem behavior in African American adolescents.

This study examined whether maternal control protects African American adolescents from the negative influence of problem peers. Two forms of control were examined, behavioral control and psychological control. It was hypothesized that there would be a curvilinear relation between control and adolescent problem behavior, with the strength of the relationship and the amount of control optimal for adolescent development varying by the level of peer problem behavior. In general, data supported this model, particularly in regard to behavioral control, where the predicted curvilinear interaction occurred even after controlling for initial levels of problem behavior. The predicted curvilinear interaction between psychological control and peer problem behavior was statistically significant if initial levels of problem behavior were not controlled for but was not significant after controlling for initial problem behavior. These findings suggest that high-quality parenting can play a modest but critical role in the face of environmental adversity.

Adolescent

Appearance changes associated with participation in a behavioral weight control program.

Relationships among objectively-measured weight changes, perceived changes in weight, and perceived changes in attractiveness of participants in a behavioral weight control program were examined. Participants in the program were weighed and photographed before and after treatment and at a six-month follow-up session. These photographs were then rated on the dimensions of perceived weight and perceived attractiveness by the same participants, who were kept blind to the times at which the photographs were taken. Correlational analyses indicated that there was little correspondence between objectively-measured weight change and perceived weight changes or between objectively-measured weight change and perceived change in attractiveness. Perceptions of weight change and perceptions of attractiveness change were, however, strongly related.

Adult

Examination and prediction of elementary school teachers' intentions to teach HIV/AIDS education.

Although studies have looked at school teachers' beliefs and attitudes toward AIDS and students with HIV/AIDS, none have specifically addressed teachers' intentions and attitudes toward teaching HIV/AIDS education. This study examines and predicts elementary school teachers' intentions to teach their students about HIV/AIDS. The postulates of the theories of reasoned action and planned behavior provided the framework for the examination of teachers' beliefs, attitudes, subjective norms, and perceived behavioral control regarding AIDS education. A sample of 198 elementary school teachers employed in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts completed self-administered questionnaires. Multiple regression analysis was used to predict intentions to teach HIV/AIDS, and to identify the determinants of intentions. Attitude, subjective norm, and perceived behavioral control, the variables of the theory of planned behavior, explained 64% of the variance in teachers' intentions; perceived behavioral control contributed the greatest weight to the prediction. Significant variance was additionally explained by three variables external to the theory of planned behavior: in-service training, grade taught, and past HIV/AIDS teaching behavior.

Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome

Localization and synthesis of monoamines in regions of Limax CNS controlling feeding behavior.

Localization and synthesis of dopamine and serotonin in the cerebral and buccal ganglia of Limax maximus were studied. A combination of fluorescence histochemistry, immunocytochemistry, and microchemical analysis showed that both amines were localized to particular cell groups and fiber tracts within and between the two sets of ganglia. Since these ganglia control feeding behavior, which is readily modified by associative learning, these studies have direct bearing on analysis of both motor control and learning mechanisms.

Animals

Nutrient intake of obese children in a family-based behavioral weight control program.

The caloric and nutrient intakes, weight, percent overweight and growth of obese and lean children aged 8-12 were compared at baseline and after the obese children participated in a six month family-based behavioral weight control program. At baseline there were no significant differences in the caloric, fat, calcium, iron, vitamin A, vitamin C, thiamin, and riboflavin intakes, or height percentiles of the obese and lean children. After six months the obese children significantly decreased their calorie, protein, fat, and carbohydrate intake, while the lean children significantly increased their protein intake. The percent overweight of the obese children decreased significantly (-18.3 percent), with no changes in percent overweight of the lean children (-0.1 percent). Both the obese (+4.3 cm) and lean (+3.8 cm) children grew significantly over six months, with no significant changes in height percentiles. At baseline and six months both groups exceeded at least two-thirds of the RDA for all nutrients studied.

Age Factors

Schedule-controlled operant behavior of rats following oral administration of perchloroethylene: time course and relationship to blood and brain solvent levels.

Previous studies have indicated that human exposure to perchloroethylene (PCE) produces subtle behavioral changes and other neurological effects at concentration at or below the current occupational exposure limit. Since comparable effects in animals may be reflected by changes in schedule-controlled operant behavior, the ability of orally administered PCE to alter fixed-ratio (FR) responding for a food reward was investigated in male Sprague-Dawley rats. Furthermore, since behavioral effects of solvents are likely to be more closely related to blood or target tissue (i.e, brain) concentrations than administered dose, the relationship between the pharmacokinetic distribution of PCE and its effects on operant responding was also evaluated. Rats trained to lever-press for evaporated milk on an FR-40 reinforcement schedule were gavaged with 160 or 480 mg/kg PCE and immediately placed in an operant test cage for 90 min. Separate animals gavaged with equivalent doses of PCE were used to determine profiles of blood and brain concentrations versus time. Perchloroethylene produced changes in responding that varied not only with dose but also among animals receiving the same dose. Changes in the response rates of rats receiving 160 mg/kg PCE were either not readily apparent, restricted to the first 5 min of the operant session, or attributable to gavage stress and the dosing vehicle. However, 480 mg/kg produced either an immediate suppression of responding for 15-30 min before a rapid recovery to control rates or a complete elimination of lever-pressing for the majority of the operant session. Although the two doses of PCE produced markedly different effects on operant behavior during the first 30 min of exposure, differences in brain concentrations of PCE were minimal. Furthermore, the majority of animals receiving 480 mg/kg PCE fully recovered from response suppression while blood and brain levels of the solvent continued to rise. Thus, relationships between blood and brain PCE levels and performance impairment were not discernible over the monitored time course. Since the rapid onset of response suppression suggests that the precipitating event occurs within the first few minutes of exposure, it is possible that altered responding is related to the rate of increase in blood or brain concentrations rather than the absolute solvent concentrations themselves. The relationship between the pharmacokinetic distribution of solvents and their effects on the central nervous system is obviously complex and may involve acute neuronal adaptation as well as the dynamics of solvent distribution among the various body compartments.

Administration, Oral

[The ontogenetic dynamics of hemispheric asymmetry in controlling the behavior of rats of either sex].

Dynamics of behavioural control in the open field was studied in Wistar rats of different sexes in the course of postnatal ontogenesis. Ethological analysis of behaviour in the open field was used combined with the temporary inactivation of the hemisphere cortex by means of spreading depression. Two main types of the ontogenetic dynamics of asymmetry were established. The first one was characterized by the right-left-right pattern of asymmetry, the second one by the left-right-left pattern. The first type of asymmetry dynamics prevailed in females, the second type was dominant in males. During different periods of ontogenesis, asymmetry of hemisphere control over the same behavioural acts in rats of opposite sexes could be both counterphasic and synphasic. The first type of the asymmetry dynamics is supposed to be connected with hemisphere control of avoidance behaviour, whereas the second one seems to be involved in exploratory behaviour. In males the open field behaviour is more determined by the exploration component, whereas in females avoidance component prevails.

Aging

Microcomputer control of behavior and the acquisition of digital and analog data.

Advances in technology and decreasing costs are enabling microcomputers to displace more traditional devices in the scientific laboratory. The availability of various approaches to software-system development for the use of microcomputers in the on-line control of experiments has contributed to the trend. This report describes a software system developed to control conditioned behavior during schedules of reinforcement while simultaneously accumulating behavioral data and physiological (analog) data using a hardware system base on the Radio Shack TRS-80 Model I microcomputer. The software utilizes a high-level interpretive language (Microsoft BASIC), assembly language and compiled BASIC to attain an acceptable execution speed and ease of programming.

Animals

Validation studies of a multifactor cognitive-behavioral Anger Control Inventory.

Two studies are reported on a new Anger Control Inventory based on a cognitive-behavioral person-situation interaction model. In Study 1, the inventory responses of 118 clinical subjects and 190 normal subjects were correlated with an anger problem criterion based on observable signs. Factor analyses were conducted to clarify the construct base of the inventory. In Study 2, comparisons were made between the inventory responses of 100 spouse batterers and 96 normal subjects. Significant differences between the pretreatment and posttreatment scores of 65 batterers given treatment in anger control were obtained on the inventory scales, which were found to be correlated with the problem criterion and discriminating between the clinical and normal groups. The construct validity and clinical utility of the Anger Control Inventory are discussed.

Adaptation, Psychological

A TRS-80-based system for the control of behavioral experiments.

A TRS-80-based system is described for controlling and recording events from operant chambers. The system features a TRS-80 microprocessor with 32 K RAM, a floppy disk drive, an LVB optical interface, a printer, and a user-oriented program (Operant Protocol System, OPS). The LVB interface system is capable of up to 128 independent input/output operations for each of up to 8 boxes. The system uses assembly language routines for real-time control and event recording of up to 8 boxes simultaneously. BASIC is used to obtain user input and deliver data output in an interactive fashion. Advantages include dependable hardware, extensively documented and tested software, relative inexpensiveness, and standard-deviation-based variable schedules.

Animals