Enriched environment exposure accelerates rodent driving skills.

Although rarely used, long-term behavioral training protocols provide opportunities to shape complex skills in rodent laboratory investigations that incorporate cognitive, motor, visuospatial and temporal functions to achieve desired goals. In the current study, following preliminary research establishing that rats could be taught to drive a rodent operated vehicle (ROV) in a forward direction, as well as steer in more complex navigational patterns, male rats housed in an enriched environment were exposed to the rodent driving regime. Compared to standard-housed rats, enriched-housed rats demonstrated more robust learning in driving performance and their interest in the ROV persisted through extinction trials. Dehydroepiandrosterone/corticosterone (DHEA/CORT) metabolite ratios in fecal samples increased in accordance with training in all animals, suggesting that driving training, regardless of housing group, enhanced markers of emotional resilience. These results confirm the importance of enriched environments in preparing animals to engage in complex behavioral tasks. Further, behavioral models that include trained motor skills enable researchers to assess subtle alterations in motivation and behavioral response patterns that are relevant for translational research related to neurodegenerative disease and psychiatric illness.

A continuous common-source outbreak of campylobacteriosis associated with changes to the preparation of chicken liver pâté.

In December 2006 an outbreak of Campylobacter infection occurred in Forth Valley, Scotland, affecting 48 people over a 3-week period. All cases dined at restaurant A. We conducted a cohort study in a party of 30 who ate lunch at restaurant A on 21 December to identify the vehicle of infection. Of 29 respondents, the attack rate in those who ate chicken liver pâté was 86% (6/7) compared to 0% (0/22) for those who did not. Between 1 December and 1.30 p.m. on 21 December the restaurant had used a different method of cooking the pâté. No cases reported dining at the restaurant after this time. The outbreak's duration suggested a continuous source. This is the first continuous source outbreak of Campylobacter documented in Scotland. Chicken liver pâté was the most likely vehicle of infection. This outbreak illustrates the hazards associated with undercooking Campylobacter-contaminated food.

The healing power of intercessory prayer

Arising from an emerging world view in philosophy, it is argued that the mind can function beyond the individual and is not constrained by time and distance; it is in fact non-local. Prayer is cited as an example of non-local manifestation of consciousness. Dossey describes three distinct eras of medicine. The hallmark of Era 3 is the non-local mind and unexplained discoveries of distant healing and intercessory prayer. In researching the medical literature, Dossey discovered 130 studies dealing with the efficacy of prayer as a healing treatment. Those studies disclosed that prayer had a remarkable effect not only on human beings, but also on many other things including bacteria, germinating seeds and animals. Some cases of distant manifestation of consciousness on non-humans are discussed en passant, but the focus of this paper is the healing power of intercessory prayer on humans. Two case studies are offered in support of the evidence for non-local healing and the question is asked whether there is no place in medicine for a multiple approach to healing. Further, if these reported studies of prayer therapies are meaningful, are physicians not using these additional treatments withholding something curative from their patients?

The healing power of intercessory prayer.

Arising from an emerging world view in philosophy, it is argued that the mind can function beyond the individual and is not constrained by time and distance; it is in fact non-local. Prayer is cited as an example of non-local manifestation of consciousness. Dossey describes three distinct eras of medicine. The hallmark of Era 3 is the non-local mind and unexplained discoveries of distant healing and intercessory prayer. In researching the medical literature, Dossey discovered 130 studies dealing with the efficacy of prayer as a healing treatment. Those studies disclosed that prayer had a remarkable effect not only on human beings, but also on many other things including bacteria, germinating seeds and animals. Some cases of distant manifestation of consciousness on non-humans are discussed en passant, but the focus of this paper is the healing power of intercessory prayer on humans. Two case studies are offered in support of the evidence for non-local healing and the question is asked whether there is no place in medicine for a multiple approach to healing. Further, if these reported studies of prayer therapies are meaningful, are physicians not using these additional treatments withholding something curative from their patients?

Attributional style and depression in pregnant teenagers.

OBJECTIVE: Study 1 evaluated whether pregnancy is a stressful life event for teenagers and is associated with depression for teenagers with a pessimistic attributional style but not for those with an optimistic attributional style. Study 2 replicated unexpected findings from study 1. Study 3 evaluated whether pregnant teenagers with a pessimistic attributional style will be more depressed after childbirth than optimistic pregnant teenagers. METHOD: In study 1, 122 pregnant and 96 nonpregnant teenagers completed questionnaires assessing depression and attributional style. In study 2, 43 pregnant teenagers and 49 nonpregnant teenagers completed the same questionnaires. In study 3, subjects from studies 1 and 2 were contacted by mail and asked to complete the same questionnaires; 63 (38%) did so. RESULTS: In studies 1 and 2, pregnant teenagers with a pessimistic attributional style were less depressed than those with an optimistic attributional style and the nonpregnant group. In study 3, pessimistic teenagers experienced a higher level of depression than nonpessimistic adolescents following childbirth. CONCLUSIONS: Pregnancy may serve to protect pessimistic teenagers from experiencing depression. The subsequent demands of motherhood may remove any protection from depression afforded by the pregnancy. The experience of depression being relieved by another pregnancy may be a previously unidentified risk factor for repeated pregnancies in teenagers.

PIP: The association between attributional style and depression was explored in three studies of pregnant and nonpregnant adolescents recruited from clinics at the University of Texas (Galveston) Medical Branch. The first study examined the hypothesis that the stress of pregnancy would trigger depression in teenagers with a negative (pessimistic) attributional style but not in those with a positive (optimistic) attributional style. The Children's Attributional Style Questionnaire and the Beck Depression Inventory were administered to 122 pregnant and 96 nonpregnant adolescents 13-18 years old. Unexpectedly, both pregnant and nonpregnant teens with a pessimistic attributional style were less depressed than their counterparts with an optimistic style. The second study repeated the methodology of the first study in a sample of 43 pregnant and 49 nonpregnant teens and obtained the same result. The third study investigated the hypothesis that pregnant teens with a negative attributional style would be more depressed than optimistic pregnant teens after the birth of their infant. 63 of the pregnant teens who participated in the first two studies were enrolled. As expected, pessimistic teens experienced a higher level of depression than optimistic teens after childbirth. This finding suggests that, while pregnancy may temporarily mask depression in teenagers with a negative attributional style, the demands of motherhood remove this protection. The drive to escape depression may be a previously unidentified risk factor for repeat adolescent pregnancy.