War-related mental health problems of today's veterans: new clinical awareness

1. Veterans of the military conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan may have been exposed to significant psychological stressors, resulting in mental and emotional disorders. 2. Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is characterized by symptoms in three domains: reexperiencing the trauma, avoiding stimuli associated with the trauma, and symptoms of increased autonomic arousal. 3. Treatment of PTSD often requires both psychological and pharmacological interventions. 4. In addition to PTSD, other mental disorders may be precipitated or worsened by exposure to combat, including depression, anxiety, psychosis, and substance abuse.     

Results from a strategic planning process: Benefits for a nonprofit organization

A nonprofit professional organization in education undertook a strategic planning process to address challenges, refine its mission and principles statement, and obtain feedback from the members in order to better meet their needs and move the organization forward in a cohesive and purposeful manner. Three key planning tools were used to collect data informing development of the new strategic plan. This article describes the design and implementation of these tools and reports key findings for each. We explain how we used the findings to inform revision of the mission statement and development of the strategic plan and discuss benefits of the process and implications for the future.     

1992 MSSA presidential address: Structural paradoxes and leisure

This article examines the suspension of activity in two different contexts—private and public social isolation. Drawing on Mihalyi Csikszentmihalyi's theory of “flow” and Randall Collins' theory of emotional energy, we explore the link between the absence of social exchanges and the capacity to acquire emotional energy. Qualitative reports drawn from 248 participants reveal a distinct architecture to the experiences of both private and public isolation.     

A statistical signalling model for use in surveillance of adverse drug reaction data

SUMMARY This paper presents a statistically superior lag-adjusted model for detecting increased frequency of reports of adverse drug event (ADE) rates. The effect of a significant lag time between ADE occurrence and report dates is studied. The approach in this paper to analyzing ADE data of this nature involves proposing a statistical model that utilizes a lag density function. The statistical method proposed was the development of an 'exact' procedure to monitor drugs that have a low incidence of ADEs. The approach determines statistically whether a change in the frequency of a specific ADE exists between two predetermined time intervals. There exist immense public health implications associated with the early detection of serious ADEs. The reduced risk of unfavorable outcomes associated with medication therapy is the goal of all involved. Simulated illustrations and discussion are provided, along with a detailed FORTRAN program used to implement the newly suggested lag-adjusted procedure.     

Control of type 1 error in a hybrid complete two‐period vaccine efficacy trial

A complete two‐period experimental design has been defined as one in which subjects are randomized to treatment, observed for the occurrence of an event of interest, re‐randomized, and observed again for the event in a second period. A 4‐year vaccine efficacy trial was planned to compare a high‐dose vaccine with a standard dose vaccine. Subjects would be randomized each year, and subjects who had participated in a previous year would be allowed to re‐enroll in a subsequent year and would be re‐randomized. A question of interest is whether positive correlation between observations on subjects who re‐enrolled would inflate the variance of test statistics. The effect of re‐enrollment and correlation on type 1 error in a 4‐year trial is investigated by simulation. As conducted, the trial met its power requirements after two years. Subjects therefore included some who participated for a single year and others who participated in both years. Those who participated in both years constituted a complete two‐period design. An algebraic expression for the variance of the treatment difference in a complete two‐period design is derived. It is shown that under a ‘no difference’ null, correlation does not result in variance inflation in this design. When there is a treatment difference, there is variance inflation but it is small. In the vaccine efficacy trial, the effect of correlation on the statistical inference was negligible. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

SOCIAL DENSITY AND PUBLIC RITUAL IN NON-INDUSTRIAL COMMUNITIES

An implication of Durkheimian theory—that different types of rites and the elaborateness of public rituals are determined by social density—is empirically tested, using data available for 183 non-industrial communities derived from Murdock's Standard Cross-Cultural Sample. Support for the hypothesis is sustained even when alternative predicting variables are added. Contrary to social evolutionist theory, an increase in the division of labor does not appear to suppress ritual activity. This reaffirms the interest of some contemporary sociologists in ferreting out the forms and functions of ritual in modern societies.     

Female Clerical Workers in Academic Settings: An Empirical Test of the Gender Model

The purpose of this paper is to report the findings of an empirical study designed to test the gender model of work on a sample of 374 female clerical workers in academic settings. In the gender model of work, personal/family variables are given primacy in terms of explaining work attitudes and behavior. Independent variables selected for study were sex role orientation, education, having a blue-collar husband, and having three or more children. Dependent variables were perceived occupational stress, occupational satisfaction, perceived power, thwarted mobility, and work aspirations. Six hypotheses were tested; three were confirmed. The authors conclude that non-traditional sex role orientation is positively related to perceived powerlessness, low occupational satisfaction, and high work aspirations. Low Pearson's r for each confirmed hypothesis suggests the inadequacy of the gender model for this particular population.     

SSRIs & the risk of abnormal bleeding

Considerable research is needed to fully understand the interactions of SSRIs and hematological functioning. Adequate studies of platelet function in patients taking SSRIs are lacking. The risk of bleeding with SSRI treatment appears to be low, and the occurrence of bleeding is usually minor when it does occur. However, the risk does exist and must be considered in any patient taking SSRIs who develops abnormal bleeding or bruising not otherwise explained by an appropriate assessment to determine the etiology. Routine monitoring of patients taking SSRIs should probably include questions about bruising or bleeding, particularly in patients with blood dyscrasias and in older patients taking medications that affect platelet function. Caution should be exercised before starting patients with preexisting bleeding risks on SSRIs, including patients taking NSAIDs, aspirin, or other drugs that may impair coagulation.