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The need for sexual health information: perceptions and desires of young adults.

PURPOSE: To ascertain young adults perceptions of previously received sexual health information and describe what types of information they would like to receive. STUDY DESIGN AND METHODS: In individual interviews, 55 young adults were asked questions regarding their perceptions of previously received sexual health information as well as their interests in receiving future information. Content analysis was used to categorize responses and identify categories. RESULTS: The majority of participants remember receiving information about sexually transmitted infections (STIs) primarily from classes in middle and high school. Less than half remembered receiving information about contraception or how to prevent STIs. The majority of participants did not feel that (or were uncertain about whether) past information influenced their current sexual practices. Of those who felt past education influenced them in changing sexual practices, an increase in awareness of their risk was the category most often cited. One-third of the participants responded that a culture of abstinence in the US explained why current educational programs failed. When asked to describe an ideal sexual health program, the most common answers were wanting a comfortable, "not scared" person to teach them more "nitty-gritty" information about STIs with "more details," what they could do to protect themselves, "how to get birth control," and "how the reproductive system works." CLINICAL IMPLICATIONS: Young adults have specific needs and interests when it comes to sexual health information. Research is necessary to see if development of specific interventions requested by young adults would result in higher levels of recall and ability to avoid dangerous sexual practices.

Adolescent↗

Behavior of juvenile lizards (Iguana iguana) in a conflict between temperature regulation and palatable food.

Juvenile green iguanas were placed in a situation of conflict between two motivations: a thermoregulatory drive and the attraction of a palatable bait. To be able to reach the bait (lettuce), they had to leave a warm refuge, provided with standard food, and venture into a cold environment. In experiment 1 the time interval between sessions with bait, ranging from 1 to 8 days, had no effect on the duration of stay on the bait. This result shows that the lettuce was not a necessary food, deprivation of which would have had to be compensated for. In experiment 2 as the ambient temperature at the bait decreased the lizards spent less time feeding on lettuce, and they visited the bait less frequently. This result shows that the lizards traded off the palatability of the bait with the disadvantage of the cold. These findings support the hypothesis that a common currency makes it possible for lizards to compare two sensory modalities.

Animals↗

Siagoside selectively attenuates morphological and functional striatal impairments induced by transient forebrain ischemia in rats.

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: Transient forebrain ischemia induced in rats by the four-vessel occlusion method is known to produce severe neural damage in the hippocampus and striatum and a behavioral syndrome the major symptom of which is a working memory deficit. Recent evidence suggests that monosialogangliosides can ameliorate postischemic symptoms. Our purpose was to study the effect of siagoside, the inner ester of GM1 ganglioside, on some behavioral and morphological impairments induced by four-vessel occlusion in rats. METHODS: Rats were injected daily with 5 mg/kg i.p. siagoside starting 4 hours after the cerebral ischemia. After 14 days the rats were tested for working memory in a water T maze or scored for apomorphine-induced stereotypy. The rats were killed 21 days after the cerebral ischemia. Histological and computer-assisted morphometric analyses were performed on cresyl violet-stained brain sections, which were graded according to a neuropathologic score, and on sections stained with a monoclonal antiserum against dopamine and cyclic adenosine-3',5'-monophosphate-regulated phosphoprotein, a marker for striatal dopaminoceptive neurons. RESULTS: Siagoside treatment reduced the stereotypy score induced by low doses of apomorphine and the extent of striatal lesions but did not affect the working memory deficit or the extent of hippocampal lesions. CONCLUSION: Daily siagoside treatment after acute cerebral ischemia attenuates some morphological and functional deficits related to striatal damage. These effects can be interpreted as a selective protective action on striatal neural populations or as a modulatory action on neural systems involved in striatal control. These data are consistent with preliminary clinical reports showing that monosialogangliosides enhance motor recovery after acute ischemic stroke.

Animals↗

Assessment of a response bias for aggression over functionally equivalent appropriate behavior.

We evaluated the effects of a dense (fixed-ratio 1) schedule of reinforcement for an 11-year-old boy's mands for toys while aggression produced the same toys on various schedules chosen on the basis of a progressive-ratio probe. Based on the probe session data, we accurately predicted that aggression would be more probable than mands when the schedules were equal or slightly discrepant, but that mands would be more probable when the schedule discrepancy was large.

Aggression↗

Self-control and the preference for delayed reinforcement an example in brain injury.

We investigated the effects of a concurrent physical therapy activity (keeping the hand open) during delays to reinforcement in an adult man with acquired brain injuries. Once a relatively stable level of hand-open behavior was obtained, the participant was asked to choose between a small immediate reinforcer and a larger delayed reinforcer contingent on keeping the hand open at greater-than-baseline duration. Afterwards, the participant was asked to select between a larger delayed reinforcer with no hand-open requirement and the identical larger delayed reinforcer with a progressively increasing hand-open requirement. Results suggest a shift in preference to larger delayed reinforcers and an eventual preference for the hand-open requirement option.

Adult↗

Second-order schedules of token reinforcement with pigeons: implications for unit price.

Four pigeons were exposed to second-order schedules of token reinforcement, with stimulus lights serving as token reinforcers. Tokens were earned according to a fixed-ratio (token-production) schedule, with the opportunity to exchange tokens for food (exchange period) occurring after a fixed number had been produced (exchange-production ratio). The token-production and exchange-production ratios were manipulated systematically across conditions. Response rates varied inversely with the token-production ratio at each exchange-production ratio. Response rates also varied inversely with the exchange-production ratio at each token-production ratio, particularly at the higher token-production ratios. At higher token-production and exchange-production ratios, response rates increased in token-production segments closer to exchange periods and food. Some conditions were conducted in a closed economy, in which the pigeons earned all their daily ration of food within the session. Relative to comparable open-economy conditions, response rates in the closed economy were less affected by changes in token-production ratio, resulting in higher levels of food intake and body weight. Some of the results are consistent with the economic concept of unit price, a cost-benefit ratio comprised of responses per unit of food delivery, but most are well accounted for by a consideration of the number of responses required to produce exchange periods, without regard to the amount of reinforcement available during those exchange periods.

Animals↗

Modifications and influences of tactual preferences for shape and texture.

The effects of pretraining on tactual preferences for shape and texture and the effects of the preferences on discrimination learning were investigated in three experiments using kindergarten and third grade children. The pretraining experience significantly affected the dimensional preferences in both age groups, while an unexpected significant sex difference indicated a stronger texture preference in girls. Children tended to learn faster when the dimension they preferred was relevant to the task, but girls were affected more strongly than boys. In all experiments, the girls' behavior closely resembled that predicted for younger children.

Behavior Therapy↗

An indirect technique for establishing preferences for categories of reinforcement for severely and profoundly retarded individuals.

The development of a reinforcement survey hierarchy is described for programming severely and profundly retarded individuals. The survey identifies reinforcement preferences of severely and profoundly retarded individuals by means of an indirect categorical technique. The categorical technique views reinforcement as being educationally, environmentally, and developmentally characteristic of severely and profoundly retarded individuals. The survey is a preliminary step to more direct approaches to reinforcement, such as sampling or use of multiple reinforcements. Field data are discussed.

Adolescent↗

Androgen and the development of human sex-typical behavior: rough-and-tumble play and sex of preferred playmates in children with congenital adrenal hyperplasia (CAH).

We hypothesized that girls with congenital adrenal hyperplasia (CAH), who experience higher than normal levels of androgens prenatally, would show masculinization of behaviors that show sex differences. Therefore, we examined rough-and-tumble play and sex of preferred playmates in 3-8-year-old children with CAH and in unaffected 3-8-year-old male and female relatives. The hypothesized sex differences in rough-and-tumble play were seen, with unaffected boys showing more rough-and-tumble play than unaffected girls. However, CAH girls were similar to unaffected girls. Additionally, CAH boys showed reduced rough-and-tumble play. In contrast, sex of preferred playmates showed the hypothesized pattern of results. There were sex differences, with unaffected boys preferring boys and unaffected girls preferring girls. In addition, the preferences of girls with CAH were masculinized compared to those of unaffected girls. Results are discussed in terms of possible influences of social, hormonal, and illness factors.

Adrenal Hyperplasia, Congenital↗

Oral intake of morphine in selectively bred rats.

Oral intake of morphine was investigated in selectively bred strains of rats. It was possible to induce all the five genetic lines to consume morphine in distilled water. Withdrawal of morphine resulted in significant decrease in the body weights of all the genetic lines in both the experiments. Significant drug-preference behavior was found only in three genetic lines with a common characteristic of relatively high emotional reactivity as compared to the two lines not showing such a behavior.

Animals↗

Behavioral and computational models of spatial attention.

Pigeons pecked for food in a spatially cued choice reaction time (RT) task. A brief (50-ms) white light appeared on a left or right key and probabilistically predicted the location (on either the left or right key) of a subsequent target stimulus. The time between cue and target onset (stimulus onset asynchrony), the base rate of left cues, and the probability that the cue correctly predicted the target (cue validity) were experimentally varied. The mean RT to respond to the target key was faster on correctly cued trials (defining a validity effect), decreased for both valid and invalid trials as stimulus onset asynchrony increased (defining an alerting effect), showed a variety of base-rate effects, and did not depend on cue validity. It is shown with a computational-processing model that dynamic interactions of short-term and associative memory processes are sufficient to produce these attentionlike empirical phenomena.

Animals↗

Nicotine transdermal systems.

OBJECTIVE: To review the role of transdermal nicotine as an aid to smoking cessation. DATA SOURCES: A MEDLINE search was performed that included clinical studies published in English involving transdermal nicotine; references used in those articles were screened for additional published information. STUDY SELECTION: Published clinical trials were reviewed with particular emphasis on controlled trials that evaluated safety and efficacy. DATA SYNTHESIS: Transdermal nicotine therapy has been shown to be a safe and effective pharmacologic aid in a smoking cessation program when used in conjunction with a psychologic or behavior support system. Habitrol, Nicoderm, Nicotrol, and PROSTEP differ in some characteristics (i.e., delivery systems, total nicotine content and amount absorbed, rate of delivery, recommended duration of application); however, the clinical implication of these differences has not been determined. CONCLUSIONS: Transdermal nicotine is effective for patients who are motivated to quit smoking and receive concomitant behavior support.

Administration, Cutaneous↗

Genetic similarity shared by best friends among adolescents.

Two observations suggest a genetic similarity among close friends: (1) the observed similarity among friends in certain traits and behaviors; (2) the evidence that many of these traits and behaviors have a genetic component. This hypothesis is tested using monozygotic (MZ) twins, dizygotic (DZ) twins, full biological siblings, and their best friends from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (Add Health). Whether the resemblance between MZ twins' friends is larger than that between friends of DZ twins and full siblings is investigated with respect to 4 individual traits or behaviors: grade point average (GPA), AHPVT (the version Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test [PPVT] designed for Add Health), aggressive behavior, and depression. Our hypothesis is supported in analyses among same-sex friends (not among different-sex friends) for GPA, aggressive behavior, and AHPVT.

Adolescent↗