Sexual cannibalism increases male material investment in offspring: quantifying terminal reproductive effort in a praying mantis.

Models of the evolution of sexual cannibalism argue that males may offset the cost of cannibalism if components of the male body are directly allocated to the eggs that they fertilize. We tested this idea in the praying mantid Tenodera sinensis Males and females were fed differently radiolabelled crickets and allowed to mate. Half of the pairs progressed to sexual cannibalism and we prevented cannibalism in the other half.

Microplastic contamination in the San Francisco Bay, California, USA.

Despite widespread detection of microplastic pollution in marine environments, data describing microplastic abundance in urban estuaries and microplastic discharge via treated municipal wastewater are limited. This study presents information on abundance, distribution, and composition of microplastic at nine sites in San Francisco Bay, California, USA. Also presented are characterizations of microplastic in final effluent from eight wastewater treatment plants, employing varying treatment technologies, that discharge to the Bay.

School Factors and Alcohol Use: The Moderating Effect of Nativity in a National Sample of Latino Adolescents.

Background: School is an important developmental context for adolescents and may be related to adolescent alcohol use. Less is known as to whether the relationships between school factors and alcohol use differ between Latino youth born outside of the United States versus those born in the United States.

Objective: The aim of this study is to test nativity as a moderator of the relationship between school factors and alcohol use among Latino adolescents.

Salivary alpha amylase and salivary cortisol response to fluid consumption in exercising athletes.

The objective of the study was to examine salivary biomarker response to fluid consumption in exercising athletes. Exercise induces stress on the body and salivary alpha amylase (sAA) and salivary cortisol are useful biomarkers for activity in the sympathoadrenal medullary system and the hypothalamic pituitary adrenal axis which are involved in the stress response. Fifteen college students were given 150 ml and 500 ml of water on different days and blinded to fluid condition.

Determining the Tsallis parameter via maximum entropy.

The nonextensive entropic measure proposed by Tsallis [C. Tsallis, J. Stat.

The association between personality traits and body mass index varies with nativity among individuals of Mexican origin.

Personality traits have been associated consistently with health-related outcomes, but less is known about how aspects of the sociocultural environment modify these associations. This study uses a sample of participants of Mexican origin (N = 1013) to test whether exposure to the United States, indexed by nativity (Mexicans living in Mexico, foreign-born Mexican Americans, and U.S.

Development and validation of the belief in Female Sexual Deceptiveness scale.

This article describes the development of a scale measuring the extent of men's belief in female sexual deceptiveness. This belief has been postulated as a component of hostile masculinity and a precursor to more serious sexual-assault-facilitating cognitions, though it has not yet been studied empirically. From a final pool of 22 items, the 14-item Belief in Female Sexual Deceptiveness (BFSD) scale was constructed.

Diet-induced obesity alters skeletal muscle fiber types of male but not female mice.

Skeletal muscles are highly plastic tissues capable dramatic remodeling in response to use, disuse, disease, and other factors. Growing evidence suggests that adipose tissues exert significant effects on the basic fiber-type composition of skeletal muscles. In the current study, we investigated the long-term effects of a high-fat diet and subsequent obesity on the muscle fiber types in C57 BLK/6J mice.

Optimal social support practices for health care professionals who treat patients managing eating disorders.

Research indicates that positive social support leads to positive results in the health of individuals managing eating disorders (e.g., Bertera [J Soc Pers Relat 22:33-48, 2005]).

"I learned that the aging population isn't that much different from me": the final outcomes of a Gero-Ed BEL Project.

This article describes a Council on Social Work Education (CSWE) Gero-Ed Center BEL Project's activities and reports its final outcomes. An oral history interview in paired human behavior and practice skills courses addressed gerontological social work competencies focused on assessing and addressing values and biases regarding aging, and the ability to relate concepts and theories of aging to practice. Significant increases in perceived proficiency in these competencies occurred, as did significant decreases in negative attitudes toward older people and working with older adults.

Simulation of multiple personalities: a review of research comparing diagnosed and simulated dissociative identity disorder.

Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID) has long been surrounded by controversy due to disagreement about its etiology and the validity of its associated phenomena. Researchers have conducted studies comparing people diagnosed with DID and people simulating DID in order to better understand the disorder. The current research presents a systematic review of this DID simulation research.

A review of published research on adult dissociative identity disorder: 2000-2010.

The purpose of this study was to assess the scientific and etiological status of dissociative identity disorder (DID) by examining cases published from 2000 to 2010. In terms of scientific status, DID is a small but ongoing field of study. The review yielded 21 case studies and 80 empirical studies, presenting data on 1171 new cases of DID.

Health Belief Model deterrents of social support seeking among people coping with eating disorders.

Background: Eating disorders have the highest mortality rates of any psychiatric diagnosis (Sullivan, 1995). Understanding what prevents people from seeking or accessing that which can help them manage these disorders is critical to improving eating disorder outcomes. This study identifies specific barriers and deterrents individuals living with eating disorders perceive when deciding if and when they will seek eating disorder-specific social support.

Treatment of metaphor interpretation deficits subsequent to traumatic brain injury.

Objective: To improve oral interpretation of metaphors by patients with traumatic brain injury (TBI).

Design: Both single subject experimental design and group analysis.

Setting: Patients' homes.

Low mate encounter rate increases male risk taking in a sexually cannibalistic praying mantis.

Male praying mantises are forced into the ultimate trade-off of mating versus complete loss of future reproduction if they fall prey to a female. The balance of this trade-off will depend both on (1) the level of predatory risk imposed by females and (2) the frequency of mating opportunities for males. We report the results of a set of experiments that examine the effects of these two variables on male risk-taking behavior and the frequency of sexual cannibalism in the praying mantis Tenodera sinensis.

Do actions speak louder than words? A comparative perspective on implicit versus explicit meta-cognition and theory of mind.

Research in non-human animal (hereafter, animal) cognition has found strong evidence that some animal species are capable of meta-cognitively monitoring their mental states. They know when they know and when they do not know. In contrast, animals have generally not shown robust theory of mind (ToM) capabilities.

Speech rate treatments for individuals with dysarthria: a tutorial.

Research confirms the long-standing clinical observation that patients with dysarthria exhibit variability in speech rate. Thus, modifying speech rate has been documented as one of the best treatment options for these patients. In this tutorial, several published rate control interventions for dysarthric speakers are presented.

Embryonic rotational behaviour in the pond snail Lymnaea stagnalis: influences of environmental oxygen and development stage.

Responses of freshwater organisms to environmental oxygen tensions (PO(2)) have focused on adult (i.e. late developmental) stages, yet responses of embryonic stages to changes in environmental PO(2) must also have implications for organismal biology.

Participant evaluations of rate and communication efficacy of an AAC application using natural language processing.

This research explores the efficacy of an AAC application, Converser, that uses natural language processing to assist in communication. Converser uses speech recognition of the speaking partner to predict contextually appropriate utterances. This article reports on the subjective data gathered from an experimental evaluation of Converser's efficacy (see Wisenburn and Higginbotham, 2008 for a full description of Converser and the objective results).

What are the active ingredients in cognitive and behavioral psychotherapy for anxious and depressed children? A meta-analytic review.

Prior meta-analytic reviews have indicated that cognitive and behavioral treatments are efficacious in treating child and adolescent depression and anxiety. Further, a meta-analysis has suggested that behavioral treatments are superior to nonbehavioral treatments for treating anxiety and depression in youth. However, the prior meta-analysis did not examine direct comparisons between cognitive and behavioral treatments (CBT) and non-CBT treatments, leaving open the possibility that their results were artifactual.

A comparative meta-analysis of Clinical Global Impressions change in antidepressant trials.

Two scales of the Clinical Global Impressions (CGI) Scale are frequently used in antidepressant trials. No research has systematically addressed how CGI change compares to change on established measures such as the Hamilton Depression Rating Scale (HAM-D), Montgomery-Asberg Depression Rating Scale, or Beck Depression Inventory. The current meta-analysis examined 75 antidepressant trials in which the CGI was used along with at least one other popular depression measure.

No evidence that polyandry benefits females in Drosophila melanogaster.

Understanding the evolution of polyandry (mating with multiple males) is a major issue in the study of animal breeding systems. We examined the adaptive significance of polyandry in Drosophila melanogaster, a species with well-documented costs of mating in which males generally cannot force copulations. We found no direct fitness advantages of polyandry.

An interactive introduction to protein structure.

To improve student understanding of protein structure and the significance of noncovalent interactions in protein structure and function, students are assigned a project to write a paper complemented with computer-generated images. The assignment provides an opportunity for students to select a protein structure that is of interest and detail three to five noncovalent interactions important for protein structure and/or function. The assignment is designed to provide a hands-on learning experience for students in a moderately large introductory biochemistry class.