Examining the implications of contextual stress and maternal sensitivity for infants' cortisol responses to the still face paradigm.

Infants' hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenocortical (HPA) axis responses to acute stressors are theorized to be shaped by parents' sensitive responsiveness to infants' cues. The strength and direction of the association between maternal sensitivity and infants' HPA responses may depend on the context in which maternal sensitivity is observed and on broader environmental sources of stress and support. In this preregistered study, we used data from 105 mothers and their 7-month-old infants to examine whether two empirically identified forms of contextual stress-poor maternal psychosocial wellbeing and family socioeconomic hardship-moderate the association between maternal sensitivity and infants' cortisol responses to the Still-Face Paradigm (SFP).

Social Plasticity Enhances Signal-Preference Codivergence.

AbstractThe social environment is often the most dynamic and fitness-relevant environment animals experience. Here we tested whether plasticity arising from variation in social environments can promote signal-preference divergence-a key prediction of recent speciation theory but one that has proven difficult to test in natural systems. Interactions in mixed social aggregations could reduce, create, or enhance signal-preference differences.

Pregnant women's autonomic responses to an infant cry predict young infants' behavioral avoidance during the still-face paradigm.

Research suggests that women's autonomic nervous system responses to infant cries capture processes that affect their parenting behaviors. The aim of this study was to build on prior work by testing whether pregnant women's autonomic responses to an unfamiliar infant crying also predict their infants' emerging regulation abilities. Participants included 97 women in their third trimester of pregnancy, located in the United States.

Examining implications of the developmental timing of maternal trauma for prenatal and newborn outcomes.

Separate literatures have demonstrated that mothers' experiences with trauma during childhood or pregnancy are associated with maternal prenatal health risks, adverse childbirth outcomes, and offspring internalizing and externalizing disorders. These literatures largely align with the intergenerational transmission or fetal programming frameworks, respectively. However, few studies have tested the effects of maternal childhood and prenatal trauma simultaneously on mothers' and infants' health outcomes, and no studies have examined these effects on newborn neurobehavioral outcomes.

Developmental foundations of physiological dynamics among mother-infant dyads: The role of newborn neurobehavior.

This study tested whether newborn attention and arousal provide a foundation for the dynamics of respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA) in mother-infant dyads. Participants were 106 mothers (M  = 29.54) and their 7-month-old infants (55 males and 58 White and non-Hispanic).

An integrative review of adolescent trust in the healthcare provider relationship.

Aim: To conduct an integrative review of empirical studies examining factors affecting trust in the healthcare provider (HCP) relationship among adolescents.

Design: An integrative review was conducted.

Data Sources: The keywords adolescent, trust, healthcare provider and related words were searched in multiple online research databases.

Combinatorial Signal Processing in an Insect.

AbstractHuman language is combinatorial: phonemes are grouped into syllables, syllables are grouped into words, and so on. The capacity for combinatorial processing is present, in different degrees, in some mammals and birds. We used vibrational insects, treehoppers, to test the hypothesis of basic combinatorial processing against two competing hypotheses: beginning rule (where the early signal portions play a stronger role in acceptability) and no ordering rule (where the order of signal elements plays no role in signal acceptability).

The relationship between a combinatorial processing rule and a continuous mate preference function in an insect.

Mate choice involves processing signals that can reach high levels of complexity and feature multiple components, even in small animals with tiny brains. This raises the question of whether and how such organisms deal with this complexity. One solution involves combinatorial processing, whereby different signal elements are processed as single units.

Signalling interactions during ontogeny are a cause of social plasticity in Enchenopa treehoppers (Hemiptera: Membracidae).

We recently discovered that there is a social ontogeny of signals and preferences in Enchenopa treehoppers. Nymphs signalled throughout their development; some signal features changed gradually and in sexually dimorphic ways throughout ontogeny; and some adult male signal features and female mate preferences differed between individuals reared in isolation or groups. In this paper, we investigate whether signalling interactions during ontogeny are a cause of plasticity in mating signals and preferences.

Diminished Trust of Healthcare Providers, Risky Lifestyle Behaviors, and Low Use of Health Services: A Descriptive Study of Rural Adolescents.

The purpose of our study was to determine the extent to which individual characteristic variables predict trust of healthcare provider (HCP), lifestyle behaviors, and use of health services among adolescents attending public high school in rural Indiana. The sample included 224 individuals surveyed in 9th grade or 12th grade required courses. Trust of HCP and lifestyle behaviors were predicted using hierarchical multiple regression; number of HCP visits and emergency department (ED) visits in the past 12 months were predicted using negative binomial regression.

Treatment of FBSS Low Back Pain with a Novel Percutaneous DRG Wireless Stimulator: Pilot and Feasibility Study.

Objectives: Test a miniaturized neurostimulator transforaminally placed at the dorsal root ganglion (DRG) and evaluate the device's safety and efficacy in treating failed back surgery syndrome (FBSS) low back pain.

Design: Pilot, two-phase study.

Subjects: Eleven subjects with chronic intractable neuropathic trunk and/or lower limbs pain were included.

Psychosocial determinants of physical activity in children attending afterschool programs: a path analysis.

Background: Physical activity (PA) is important for controlling childhood obesity, but a comprehensive PA model for school-aged children is lacking.

Objectives: Guided by the youth PA promotion (YPAP) model, this study estimated the direct and indirect effects of self-efficacy, enjoyment, parental influence, and environment on self-reported PA and pedometer steps. A secondary purpose was to explore the association between self-reported PA and pedometer steps.

Preliminary assessment of a school-based healthy lifestyle intervention among rural elementary school children.

Background: Childhood obesity has become a national public health crisis in America. Physical inactivity and unhealthy eating behaviors may contribute to the childhood obesity epidemic. School-based healthy lifestyle interventions play a promising role in preventing and controlling childhood obesity.

Understanding systems and rhythms for minority recruitment in intervention research.

We describe one approach for recruitment and retention of minority individuals in intervention research using a systematic environmental perspective based on Bronfenbrenner's ecological systems (BES) model and the construct of temporality. An exemplar in a physical activity intervention study with low-income and primarily African American women is presented. The exemplar illustrates application of BES and temporality to enhance recruitment and retention in research focused on understanding and accommodating environmental influences.

An environmental intervention aimed at increasing physical activity levels in low-income women.

Background: Regular physical activity is a health promotion and disease prevention behavior. Of all demographic groups, low-income women report the lowest levels of physical activity.

Research Objective: The purpose of this study was to test an intervention aimed at reducing community environmental barriers to physical activity in low-income women.

Self-reported physical activity validated by pedometer: a pilot study.

Objective: The objective was to validate self-reported physical activity based on a daily activity record (DAR) with concurrent pedometer and 7-day physical activity-recall questionnaire data.

Design: The design was a one-group descriptive correlational study.

Sample: The sample consisted of 25 working women with a mean age of 39.

Maintaining regular physical activity in women: evidence to date.

Physical activity is well established as a primary health promotion and cardiovascular disease prevention behavior, yet over 60% of the population does not participate in regular physical activity. Maintenance of regular physical activity is a complex behavior influenced by variables from several domains. This review includes studies of the relationship between physical activity in women and psychological, social environmental, demographic, physiologic, health status, and physical activity variables.

Undergraduate community health in the first semester: opportunities and challenges.

In the current health care environment, there is a trend for care to move from acute hospital settings to community settings. The Pew Health Professions Commission and the American Association of Colleges of Nursing identified a need to modify health care professional education to meet the needs of the changing health care system and diverse demographics in the United States. In traditional baccalaureate nursing programs, the community health nursing course typically is taken in the last year, after students have completed medical-surgical nursing courses.

From exercise to physical activity.

Recommendations for regular exercise have been evident in the nursing literature since the early 1900s. Health professionals and popular media have promoted vigorous exercise for positive health benefits since the 1960s. The concept of exercise as it appeared in the nursing literature during the early part of the 20th century is closer to the concept of physical activity of today--regular, moderate-intensity activities that become part of one's lifestyle.

Effects of a minimal intervention to increase physical activity in women: daily activity records.

Background: Effective interventions to increase physical activity levels are critical in a nation where inactivity is a national public health problem.

Objective: This pilot study examined whether a minimal intervention (daily records of physical activity) increased activity levels in a community sample of working women.

Methods: In a longitudinal, pretest-posttest design, 49 working women were randomly assigned at the work site level to the control (n = 25) or intervention group (n = 24).

A food frequency questionnaire for youth: psychometric analysis and summary of eating habits in adolescents.

Purpose: To examine the reliability and validity of the Eating Habits Questionnaire (EHQ) for adolescents and assess eating habits in the context of the Food Pyramid.

Methods: Subjects were 446 students (81.2% female) attending three middle schools (sixth to eighth grades).

T-cell depletion of bone marrow transplants for leukemia from donors other than HLA-identical siblings: advantage of T-cell antibodies with narrow specificities.

T-cell depletion of donor marrow decreases graft-versus-host disease resulting from transplants from unrelated and human leukocyte antigen (HLA)-mismatched related donors. However, there are diverse strategies for T-cell-depleted transplantation, and it is uncertain whether any improve leukemia-free survival (LFS). To compare strategies for T-cell-depleted alternative donor transplants and to compare T-cell depleted with non-T-cell-depleted transplants, we studied 870 patients with leukemia who received T-cell-depleted transplants from unrelated or HLA-mismatched related donors from 1982 to 1994.

Treatment of solid tumors following allogeneic bone marrow transplantation.

Second solid tumors are well known late complications after bone marrow transplantation. Treatment strategies are ill defined. We retrospectively evaluated treatment and outcome in a single institution.