Mothers' Attachment Representations and Children's Brain Structure.

Ample research demonstrates that parents' experience-based mental representations of attachment-cognitive models of close relationships-relate to their children's social-emotional development. However, no research to date has examined how parents' attachment representations relate to another crucial domain of children's development: The present study is the first to integrate the separate literatures on attachment and developmental social cognitive neuroscience to examine the link between mothers' attachment representations and 3- to 8-year-old children's brain structure. We hypothesized that mothers' attachment representations would relate to individual differences in children's brain structures involved in stress regulation-specifically, amygdala and hippocampal volumes-in part via mothers' responses to children's distress.

Attachment and attitudes toward children: effects of security priming in parents and non-parents.

The present two-study investigation is the first to examine whether experimentally boosting attachment security (security priming) affects attitudes in the parenting domain for both parents and non-parents. Mothers (n = 72) and childless undergraduates (n = 82) were randomly assigned to a neutral or a secure prime condition and then completed measures of implicit attitudes (a child-focused version of the Go/No-Go Association Task) and explicit attitudes (self-reported) toward children. Following the priming manipulation, mothers in the secure prime condition had more positive implicit attitudes toward their child compared to mothers in the neutral prime condition.

Awareness of emergency contraception: a follow-up report.

Background And Methodology: This study aimed to ascertain whether recent campaigns aimed at increasing awareness and use of progestogen-only emergency contraception (POEC) have been effective, by comparing the understanding and awareness of POEC in those attending the termination of pregnancy (TOP) clinic in 2006 to an earlier cohort studied in 2003. Questionnaires were handed to all women attending the TOP clinic during a 4-week period in September/October 2006. Questionnaires were collected before women left the clinic.

Randomised controlled trial of a short course of traditional acupuncture compared with usual care for persistent non-specific low back pain.

Objective: To determine whether a short course of traditional acupuncture improves longer term outcomes for patients with persistent non-specific low back pain in primary care.

Design: Pragmatic, open, randomised controlled trial.

Setting: Three private acupuncture clinics and 18 general practices in York, England.

Longer term clinical and economic benefits of offering acupuncture care to patients with chronic low back pain.

Objectives: To test whether patients with persistent non-specific low back pain, when offered access to traditional acupuncture care alongside conventional primary care, gained more long-term relief from pain than those offered conventional care only, for equal or less cost. Safety and acceptability of acupuncture care to patients, and the heterogeneity of outcomes were also tested.

Design: A pragmatic, two parallel group, randomised controlled trial.

A prospective survey of adverse events and treatment reactions following 34,000 consultations with professional acupuncturists.

The paper describes the type and frequency of adverse events and transicnt reactions following consultations with professional acupuncturists. In a postal survey, involving 1,848 professional acupuncturists, all of whom were members of the British Acupuncture Council and practising in the UK, details of adverse events and transient reactions following treatment were recorded on standardised self-report forms. A sample size of 30,000 treatments was sought, and piloting indicated that a four-week period was required.

Longer-term clinical and economic benefits of offering acupuncture to patients with chronic low back pain assessed as suitable for primary care management.

This paper presents the research protocol for a pragmatic study of the benefits of providing an acupuncture service to patients in primary care with chronic low back pain. The proposal was written in response to a call for bids from the NHS Executive's centrally funded research programme for Health Technology Assessment (HTA). The research question posed was 'Does acupuncture have long-term effectiveness in the management of pain in primary care?' The present study was designed as a collaboration between an interdisciplinary team drawn from health services researchers at the University of Sheffield, acupuncture researchers from the Foundation for Traditional Chinese Medicine in York, and practitioners from general practice and acupuncture in York.

Acupuncture for low back pain: results of a pilot study for a randomized controlled trial.

Objectives: To pilot procedures to be used in a randomized controlled trial of acupuncture for low back pain.

Design: Uncontrolled clinical trial.

Setting: Primary care and acupuncture clinics in York, England.

Patients' views on health screening in general practice.

This paper describes the reactions of 159 patients to the way in which they were invited to participate in a health screening programme and their views on the screening appointment itself. It was found that those invited by letter, rather than opportunistically during a routine consultation, thought their appointment time harder to keep. A group of patients identified as relatively infrequent consulters were less likely to believe that the invite showed the practice to be interested in their health.

The potential and limitations of opportunistic screening: data from a computer simulation of a general practice screening programme.

Given the continuing emphasis on preventive medicine in general practice, there is considerable interest in the relative effectiveness of different ways of inviting patients to attend for screening. Recently, opportunistic methods have been advocated as being particularly useful but these methods often fail to reach a high proportion of the target population. Many patients do not consult and when they do they are not always invited to attend for screening.

General practitioners' subjective experience of surgery workload.

General practitioners (GPs) in the U.K. frequently cite heavy workload as a major source of work-related stress.

Characterization of monoclonal antibodies to protoplast membranes of Nicotiana tabacum identified by an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay.

Murine monoclonal antibodies to protoplast membrne antigens were generated using mouse myelomas and spleen cells from mice immunized with Nicotiana tabacum L. leaf protoplasts. For selecting antibody-secreting clones, a sensitive and rapid enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) for monoclonal antibody binding to immobilized cellular membrane preparations or immobilized protoplasts was developed.

Identification of somatic hybrids in plant protoplast fusions with monoclonal antibodies to plasma-membrane antigens.

Monoclonal antibodies generated by immunization with a plasma-membrane preparation from suspension-cultured cells of Nicotiana glutinosa L. were used in combination with fluoresceinor rhodamine-labeled goat anti-mouse immunoglobulins to identify heterokaryons in protoplast fusion procedures. Antibody labeling did not inhibit callus formation nor plantlet regeneration.

An interactive computerized protocol for the management of hypertension: effects on the general practitioner's clinical behaviour.

This paper reports an experimental study of general practitioners' use of an interactive computerized protocol for the management of hypertension, focussing particularly on the protocol's effects on doctors' clinical behaviour. Prior to its computerization a paper-based version of the protocol was used enabling a comparison of the alternative forms. Doctors' delivery of care was assessed from video recordings of 89 consultations and from the records made during these consultations.

Monoclonal antibodies to plant plasma-membrane antigens.

Murine monoclonal antibodies to membrane antigens were generated by immunization with a crude cellular membrane preparation from suspension-cultured cells of Nicotiana glutinosa L. From a panel of thirteen monoclonal antibodies, seven were found to be directed against antigens present on the plasma-membrane by immunofluorescence visualization of antibody binding to the surface of isolated protoplasts. The corresponding set of plasma-membrane antigen(s) were present in root, shoot and leaf tissue and some but not all of these antigens were of wide species distribution, being found in Nicotiana tabacum L.

Computers and audit.

A computerized information system was installed in a large group practice. This paper describes how the computer system was used for the systematic auditing of clinical activities, and also demonstrates how it acted as a catalyst for the review and changes of administrative and management procedures. An analysis of the issues that arose in an audit group is used to identify how the objectives and activities of the group evolved with experience.

Mature phenotype in Hemerocallis plantlets fortuitously generated in vitro.

Daylily plantlets generated on semi-solid media from morphogenetically competent cells or morphogenetically competent cells regenerated from protoplasts can give rise in aseptic culture to plantlets with a mature phenotype. The individual leaves of these plantlets open to the extreme base so that no encircling leaf sheath is present. This permits the overlapping bases and leaves to assume an open fan-like arrangement.

Consultation use of a computer by general practitioners.

Reporting on an experimental field study of computer use by general practitioners during consultations, this paper focuses particularly on the experiences of the doctors in their efforts to communicate concurrently with a patient and a computer. Through the analysis of logs of computer use, video recordings of consultations and interviews with doctors, the authors report on the uptake of the computer facilities, the impact of such use on information handling during the consultation, the doctors' views about using the system, and finally the relationship between doctors' ;natural' consulting styles and their uptake and views of the system.

Susceptibility of zoopathogenic fungi to phytoalexins.

Phytoalexins are a group of low-molecular-weight antibiotics produced by higher plants in response to infection by relatively avirulent microorganisms. They are of relatively low toxicity for mammalian cells and have been reported to possess a broad spectrum of antimicrobial activity against bacteria and phytopathogenic fungi. Employing a broth dilution technique, we have found the zoopathogens Petriellidium boydii, Aspergillus flavus, A.