Changes in Perceived Social Support and Socioemotional Adjustment Across the Elementary to Junior High School Transition

One of the most fundamental factors related to psychological well being across the lifespan is whether a person perceives social support from important others in his or her life. The current study explored changes in and relationships among perceived social support (SS) and socioemotional adjustment (SEA) across the 1-year transition from elementary to junior high school. Two cohorts of students (N = 140) participated in the current study that took place across a 3-year time span. Analyses of the transition data for boys and girls together reveal declines in perceived total support and teacher support as well as an increase in self-reported school problems. When considering the sexes separately, girls?? perceived total support, close friend support and school support declined while boy??s self-reported school problems increased across the transition. Although social support did not emerge as a mediator or predictor for any of the socioemotional variables in the current study, results reveal that, in general, perceived social support and socioemotional functioning at the end of the last year of elementary school predicts perceived social support and socioemotional functioning at the end of the first year of junior high school. Study limitations and implications for research and practice are discussed.     

Discrimination and Mexican-Origin Adolescents’ Adjustment: The Moderating Roles of Adolescents’, Mothers’, and Fathers’ Cultural Orientations and Values

Drawing on García Coll et al.’s integrative framework and the risk and resilience model, this study examined the relationships between adolescents’ perceived discrimination and psychosocial adjustment and the moderating roles of adolescents’, mothers’, and fathers’ cultural orientations and values, and adolescent gender in a sample of 246 Mexican-origin families. Using multilevel modeling with data from mothers, fathers, seventh graders (M _age = 12.8 years; SD = .57 year) and older siblings (M _age = 15.7 years; SD = 1.5 years), findings revealed that perceived discrimination was positively related to depression, risky behaviors, and deviant peer affiliations. In addition, parents’ cultural orientations and values and adolescent gender moderated the relationships between perceived discrimination and some indicators of adjustment. These findings suggest that parents’ cultural orientations and values can serve as protective and vulnerability factors in the associations between Mexican-origin adolescents’ perceived discrimination and their psychosocial adjustment.     

Sudden death owing to right atrial hemangioma

Primary cardiac tumors are rare, with an autopsy incidence of 0.03%. Seventy-nine percent to 85% of primary cardiac tumors are benign, and of the benign tumors, cardiac hemangiomas account for 5-10% of cases. Most cardiac hemangiomas are asymptomatic and are discovered incidentally at autopsy, or by echocardiography, computerized tomography, or magnetic resonance imaging. We report a case of sudden death owing to cardiac hemangioma in a 22-year-old woman who collapsed while shopping and became unresponsive. The autopsy revealed a hemorrhagic mass on the surface of the right atrium which was infiltrating and replacing the wall of the right atrium; histopathological examination confirmed the tumor was a cavernous hemangioma. Fewer than 20 cases of right atrial cavernous hemangiomas have been reported in English literature, emphasizing the rarity of our case.     

Visualization of latent fingermark corrosion of brass, climatic influence in a comparison between the U.K. and Iraq

Through a comparison of fingermark sweat corrosion of α phase brass in both the U.K. and Iraq, we show how samples from Iraq have improved fingermark corrosion over U.K. samples that require no additional enhancement prior to visualization. Over 50% of Iraqi samples produced fingermark corrosion with full ridge detail compared with 0% from the U.K. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy analysis of the fingermark corrosion products showed that Iraqi samples exhibit more dezincification with the Zn:Cu ratio averaging 1:1.82 compared with 1:3.07 for U.K. samples. Auger spectroscopy showed the presence of both zinc oxide and copper (I) oxide. No copper (II) was observed on the surface of the corroded brass. Opportunities to exploit the optical properties of these thin film oxides to enhance the visualization of fingermark corrosion are considered, and the potential to use fingermark corrosion of metal as a means of visualizing fingerprints in war zones is discussed.     

Extraction of lambda-cyhalothrin from aqueous dioxan solutions

The results of extraction of lambda-cigalotrin from dioxan aqueous solutions by hydrophobic organic solvents are presented. It is shown that the degree of extraction depends on the nature of the extractant, the water to dioxan ratio, and saturation of the water-dioxan layer with the electrolyte. The highest efficiency of lambda-cigalotrin extraction was achieved using chlorophorm as a solvent under desalination conditions. The extraction factor was calculated necessary to obtain the desired amount of lambda-cigalotrin from the water-dioxan solution (4:1) with the help of the extractants being used.     

The comparative assessment of the practical value of the currently employed methods for the recognition and species specificity of the blood

The objective of the present study was to evaluate sensitivity and specificity of the HemDirect method on test-plates (Seratec) for detecting human hemoglobin (HHb). These characteristics were compared with those of other widely used methods designed for the detection of blood traces, viz. thin layer chromatography, hemotest, spectrofluorimetry, and identification of blood species specificity (by countercurrent immunoelectrophoresis in agar and on the acetate-cellulose film). It was shown that the HemDirect test is highly specific and far more sensitive than other techniques used for the same purpose in the practical work. It can be recommended as the method of choice for the detection of blood microtraces.     

Dynamics of postmortem autolysis of cardiomyocytes

Dynamics of postmortem autolysis of cardiocytes was evaluated using cells and tissues obtained from the patients who died from acute forms of ischemic heart disease, such as acute coronary insufficiency and acute myocardial infarction in the pre-necrotic phase. The studies were carried out at a temperature of 7, 20, and 37 degrees C. It was shown that autolysis of cardiac muscular fibers proceeds through three successive stages. A rise in temperature from 7 to 20 degrees C accelerated autolysis by one third while further elevation of the temperature up to 37 degrees C was associated with a 9-fold decrease in the duration of autolysis.     

Freedom in paradise: quality of conditional release reports submitted to the Hawaii judiciary

Annually thousands of insanity acquitees are released from mental hospitals when they are no longer determined to be dangerous. This research examined quality of post-acquittal Conditional Release (CR) reports submitted to the Hawaii Judiciary. Hawaii utilizes a “three panel” system for assessing trial felony competency, criminal responsibility, and conditional release, where typically two psychologists (one Department of Health and one community-based) and one community-based psychiatrist submit independent reports to the Court. One hundred fifty CR reports were rated using a 44-item report quality measure. Interrater reliability trials indicated good to excellent agreement between quality ratings. Overall level of report quality was poor regardless of examiners' professional discipline, employer, or board certification status. Concordance rates for CR opinions were poor. Level of agreement between the judicial determination and majority recommendations was also poor. Reasons for the poor quality and level of agreement are discussed with recommendations for report quality improvement, including standardization of procedures and use of forensic risk assessment instruments.     

Gender, social support, and depression in criminal justice-involved adolescents

Knowing where criminal justice-involved teens look for support and whether those supports reduce depression has important and possibly gender-specific treatment implications for this vulnerable population. This study examines the relationships between social support and depression in a mixed-gender sample of 198 incarcerated adolescents. Greater support from families and overall and greater satisfaction with supports predicted lower depression for boys and girls. Support from siblings and extended family strongly predicted lower depression; support from parents and from friends was either not related or only weakly related to depression. Girls reported higher levels of depression, more support from friends and extended family, and less support from parents than did boys. Family, sibling, and overall support were stronger predictors of depression for girls than for boys. Results suggest that nonparent family members, especially siblings and extended family, provide important emotional resources for teens in the criminal justice system.