Intersensory Redundancy Enhances Memory in Bobwhite Quail Embryos

Information presented concurrently and redundantly to 2 or more senses (intersensory redundancy) has been shown to recruit attention and promote perceptual learning of amodal stimulus properties in animal embryos and human infants. This study examined whether the facilitative effect of intersensory redundancy also extends to the domain of memory. We assessed bobwhite quail chicks' ability to remember and prefer an individual maternal call presented either unimodally or redundantly and synchronously with patterned light during the period prior to hatching. Embryos provided with unimodal auditory exposure failed to prefer the familiar call over a novel maternal call postnatally at 48 hr and 72 hr following exposure. In contrast, embryos provided with redundant, synchronous audiovisual stimulation significantly preferred the familiar call at 48 hr following exposure, but not at 72 hr. A second experiment provided chicks with a single 10‐min refamiliarization with the familiar call at either 48 hr or 72 hr following hatching. Chicks given only unimodal auditory exposure prior to hatching did not appear to benefit from this brief postnatal refamiliarization, showing no preference for the familiar call at either 72 or 96 hr. Chicks that received redundant audiovisual stimulation prenatally showed a significant preference for the familiar call (following the brief reexpo sure 24 hr earlier) at both 72 and 96 hr of age. These results are the first to demonstrate that redundantly specified information is remembered longer and reactivated more easily than the same information presented unimodally. These findings provide further evidence of the salience of intersensory redundancy in guiding selective attention and perceptual learning during early development.     

CALGARY FAMILY INTERVENTION MODEL: ONE WAY TO THINK ABOUT CHANGE

This article defines and describes the Calgary Family Intervention Model (CFIM). CFIM is an organizing framework conceptualizing the intersect between a particular domain (i.e., cognitive, affective, or behavioral) of family functioning and a specific intervention offered by a health professional. Examples and discussion of interventions such as storying the illness experience, encouraging respite, and asking interventive questions are presented. CFIM is one way that health professionals can conceptualize about change.     

Child custody issues and co‐occurrence of intimate partner violence and child maltreatment: controversies and points of agreement amongst practitioners

The situation of families undergoing separation in a context of co‐occurrence of intimate partner violence (IPV) and child maltreatment raises certain issues related to child custody. The results presented in this paper were collected and analysed within the framework of a qualitative study aiming to identify the principal points of agreement and the main controversies amongst practitioners in several different types of organizations. Focus groups were held with a total of 43 practitioners from six different settings concerned with child custody in cases of co‐occurrence of IPV and child maltreatment. Although they agreed on the importance of ensuring the safety of victims of violence, their views diverged on three points: (1) the importance of preserving the father–child relationship; (2) collaboration between voluntary organizations and semi‐voluntary or legal agencies; and (3) consideration of cultural differences.     

Effects of Africentric Socialization on Psychosocial Outcomes in Black Girls: The Critical Role of Gender

African American social work scholars recommend rigorous research and evaluation of Africentric interventions as one approach to building culturally appropriate, evidence-based treatments for the Black community. Following this approach, this pilot study evaluates the Imani Rites of Passage program, a 15-week Africentric curriculum with 10 Black adolescent females (mean age = 12.40), comparing their pre- and post-intervention data to that of a no-intervention group of 13 Black males (mean age = 12.08). The program evaluation is based on the degree of correspondence between theory and the measurement model spelled out by the cognitive-cultural view of African-American identity. The findings for Black females were consistent with the cognitive-cultural model in some ways but not in others, and they were more complex than the predictions. Future Africentric interventions guided by the cognitive-cultural model must consider gender differences in the outcomes. Implications for social work research and practice are discussed.     

Evaluating risk: global fees and episodic care

In 1999, two articles in The Physician Executive -- "Part I: Global Theory and the Nature of Risk (July-August)." and "Part II: Towards a Choice-Based Model of Managed Care (October-November)" -- outlined the flaws of orthodox managed care theory and highlighted the unique advantages of moving to a genuinely market-based model, which included the concept of direct contracting for integrated episodes of care. This follow-up focuses on comparing an episode contracting system to a traditional capitated program and outlines the features that make this approach much more attractive to physicians, payers, and most importantly patients.     

A Bayesian approach for generalized linear models with explanatory biomarker measurement variables subject to detection limit: an application to acute lung injury

Biomarkers have the potential to improve our understanding of disease diagnosis and prognosis. Biomarker levels that fall below the assay detection limits (DLs), however, compromise the application of biomarkers in research and practice. Most existing methods to handle non-detects focus on a scenario in which the response variable is subject to the DL; only a few methods consider explanatory variables when dealing with DLs. We propose a Bayesian approach for generalized linear models with explanatory variables subject to lower, upper, or interval DLs. In simulation studies, we compared the proposed Bayesian approach to four commonly used methods in a logistic regression model with explanatory variable measurements subject to the DL. We also applied the Bayesian approach and other four methods in a real study, in which a panel of cytokine biomarkers was studied for their association with acute lung injury (ALI). We found that IL8 was associated with a moderate increase in risk for ALI in the model based on the proposed Bayesian approach.     

Sexual Assault Risks Among Gay and Bisexual Men

The goal of this study was to examine lifetime patterns of sexual assault and associated risks among a purposive sample of gay and bisexual men (N = 183; 18 to 35 years old, M = 24.3). Cross-sectional data were collected via written, self-administered questionnaires and face-to-face, event-based qualitative interviews. Alcohol severity scores indicated high rates of hazardous drinking (53.0%) and possible dependence (14.2%) among participants. One-half of men (50.8%) reported childhood sexual abuse (CSA), and 67.2% reported adult sexual assault (ASA). Average age at most recent ASA was 21 years. Most perpetrators (83.9%) of recent ASA incidents were male; 67.0% of participants reported consuming alcohol and/or drugs prior to the most recent incident. Regression findings indicated more severe CSA experiences and past alcohol-related problems predicted recent severe ASA. Although we found similarities between gay and bisexual men in lifetime sexual assault history, we found some distinct differences in ASA risk factors. Bisexual men reported higher alcohol severity scores, more female ASA perpetrators, higher internalized homophobia scores, and fewer male sexual partners than gay men. Findings suggest the need for interventions that reduce ASA risk among sexual minority men—and the potential benefits of focusing on alcohol consumption in risk reduction efforts.