Environmentalism among nation-states

This article attempts to offer a better understanding of international environmental cooperation by measuring state environmentalism. We examine whether there is a structural response by nation-states to various international agreements on the environment. Using alpha and theta reliability scaling, we create an environmental scale that measures the propensity of a nation-state to take political action in support of the environment, as indicated by the ratification of key international treaties. Our work suggests that environmentalism is, in fact, a structural characteristic of nation-states that leads them to respond in a patterned way to environmental policies.     

Isolated housewives and complex maternal worlds – The significance of social contacts between women with young children in industrial societies*

This article reconsiders the picture of the mother of young children in industrialised societies as the ‘isolated housewife’, suggesting this notion is by no means straightforward. We suggest there is considerable evidence for the existence of mothers' social contacts and their significance both as ‘work’ and ‘friendship’ in industrial societies. A pre-occupation with the notion of the ‘isolation’ of ‘housewives’ has led social researchers to neglect sustained examination of the social relationships within which many/most mothers are involved on a day-to-day basis. Complexities of interpretation, for example what ‘isolation’ can actually mean, need to be drawn out from the existing literature. Evidence presented from two recent ethnographic studies shows patterned opportunities/constraints occurring in relation to mothers' social contacts within localised settings, whether through organised groups or other personal ties. The complex nature of individual women's social contacts is thus brought out. Some key questions are raised for the importance to sociology, anthropology and social policy of these apparently insignificant or invisible women's networks.     

Coping with self and academic talent

This study tested a possible explanatory framework of the coping and adaptation of 159 academically able seventh graders by exploring their strengths and vulnerabilities in coping with their differences, their peer relationship styles, and their patterns of achievement motivation. All of the youth in this sample scored in the 97th percentile on grade-level standardized tests with one fourth scoring at the mean of college-bound seniors on the SAT, an above-grade-level test for this age group. The range of responses included a bifurcated distribution pattern of strengths and vulnerabilities in values related to achievement motivation and normal distribution patterns in coping with self and academic ability and peer relationship style. The findings support use of structured self-reports in obtaining academically able youths' perspectives on self-in-context and as a supplement in psychosocial assessment.     

Do infants express discrete emotions? Adult judgments of facial,vocal, and body actions

Adult judges were presented with videotape segments showing an infant displaying facial configurations hypothesized to express discomfort/pain, anger, or sadness according to differential emotions theory (Izard, Dougherty, & Hembree, 1983). The segments also included the infant's nonfacial behavior and aspects of the situational context. Judges rated the segments using a set of emotion terms or a set of activity terms. Results showed that judges perceived the discomfort/pain and anger segments as involving one or more negative emotions not predicted by differential emotions theory. The sadness segments were perceived as involving relatively little emotion overall. Body activity accompanying the discomfort/pain and anger configurations was judged to be more jerky and active than body activity accompanying the sadness configurations. The sadness segments were accompanied by relatively little body movement overall. The results thus fail to conform to the predictions of differential emotions theory but provide information that may contribute to the development of a theory of infant expressive behavior.This article is based on the second author's master's thesis. The authors thank Dennis Ross for his expert assistance in the data analyses.     

Living with Dementia: Lay Definitions of Alzheimer's Disease among African American Caregivers and Sufferers

While the medical world aggressively pursues scientific knowledge about Alzheimer's disease, sufferers and caregivers live with this ailment, not as patients, but as people going about their lives, needing and providing care. This article reports explanations of Alzheimer's from the perspectives of African American family caregivers and sufferers. Data were collected from thirty‐six families using participant observation and focus group interviews. Although caregivers sought and used medical expertise, their explanations of Alzheimer's were not only nonmedical, but not necessarily explanations of illness per se. Alzheimer's was presented instead as a way of being, predominantly characterized by views of the sufferer as childlike and by issues of continuity/discontinuity, though some saw Alzheimer's as part of a larger picture.     

The Impact of Cytochrome P450 2E1-Dependent Metabolic Variance on a Risk-Relevant Pharmacokinetic Outcome in Humans

Risk assessments include assumptions about sensitive subpopulations, such as the fraction of the general population that is sensitive and the extent that biochemical or physiological attributes influence sensitivity. Uncertainty factors (UF) account for both pharmacokinetic (PK) and pharmacodynamic (PD) components, allowing the inclusion of risk-relevant information to replace default assumptions about PK and PD variance (uncertainty). Large numbers of human organ donor samples and recent advances in methods to extrapolate in vitro enzyme expression and activity data to the intact human enable the investigation of the impact of PK variability on human susceptibility. The hepatotoxicity of trichloroethylene (TCE) is mediated by acid metabolites formed by cytochrome P450 2E1 (CYP2E1) oxidation, and differences in the CYP2E1 expression are hypothesized to affect susceptibility to TCE's liver injury. This study was designed specifically to examine the contribution of statistically quantified variance in enzyme content and activity on the risk of hepatotoxic injury among adult humans. We combined data sets describing (1) the microsomal protein content of human liver, (2) the CYP2E1 content of human liver microsomal protein, and (3) the in vitro Vmax for TCE oxidation by humans. The 5th and 95th percentiles of the resulting distribution (TCE oxidized per minute per gram liver) differed by approximately sixfold. These values were converted to mg TCE oxidized/h/kg body mass and incorporated in a human PBPK model. Simulations of 8-hour inhalation exposure to 50 ppm and oral exposure to 5 micro g TCE/L in 2 L drinking water showed that the amount of TCE oxidized in the liver differs by 2% or less under extreme values of CYP2E1 expression and activity (here, selected as the 5th and 95th percentiles of the resulting distribution). This indicates that differences in enzyme expression and TCE oxidation among the central 90% of the adult human population account for approximately 2% of the difference in production of the risk-relevant PK outcome for TCE-mediated liver injury. Integration of in vitro metabolism information into physiological models may reduce the uncertainties associated with risk contributions of differences in enzyme expression and the UF that represent PK variability.     

An overview of current clinical issues in separation and placement

This article reviews a wide range of literature and the knowledge base that is necessary for effective treatment of children in foster and adoptive homes. The pitfalls in clinical work with placed children are identified. In addition to the psychological effects of placement on children, there is review of knowledge affecting both foster and adoptive parents. Treatment approaches and tools that are presented in the literature are summarized.     

Therapeutic interventions with families with psychotic young children

Mahler's theory of infantile psychosis focuses on the distortion or omission of the symbiotic relationship between mother and child. The child's defective utilization of the mother, often a result of constitutional vulnerability, prevents internalization of the mother's functions, ego development, and differentiation of self. The child's deficiency may also exacerbate the mother's vulnerabilities, causing her to respond in ways which further inhibit the child's development. This article presents the treatment of two families, each with a child suffering from infantile psychosis.