Sequential analysis of child pain behavior and maternal responses: an observational study.

This laboratory-based study examined lagged associations between child pain behavior and maternal responses as a function of maternal catastrophizing (CAT). Mothers completed the parent version of the Pain Catastrophizing Scale. Children participated in a validated water ingestion procedure to induce abdominal discomfort with mothers present. Video recordings of their interactions were edited into 30-second segments and coded by 2 raters for presence of child pain behavior, maternal solicitousness, and nontask conversation. Kappa reliabilities ranged from 0.83 to 0.95. Maternal CAT was positively associated with child pain behavior and maternal solicitousness, P values <0.05. In lagged analyses, child pain behavior during a given segment (T) was positively associated with child pain behavior during the subsequent segment (T + 1), P <0.05. Maternal CAT moderated the association between (1) child pain behavior at T and maternal solicitousness at T + 1, and (2) solicitousness at T and child pain behavior at T + 1, P values <0.05. Mothers higher in CAT responded solicitously at T + 1 irrespective of their child's preceding pain behavior, and their children exhibited pain behavior at T + 1 irrespective of the mother's preceding solicitousness. Mothers lower in CAT were more likely to respond solicitously at T + 1 after child pain behavior, and their children were more likely to exhibit pain behavior at T + 1 after maternal solicitousness. These findings indicate that high CAT mothers and their children exhibit inflexible patterns of maternal solicitousness and child pain behavior, and that such families may benefit from interventions to decrease CAT and develop more adaptive responses.

Pain catastrophizing predicts verbal expression among children with chronic pain and their mothers.

This study examined intra- and inter-personal associations between pain catastrophizing and verbal expression in 70 children with recurrent abdominal pain and their mothers. Participants independently completed the Pain Catastrophizing Scale. Mothers and children then talked about the child's pain. Speech was categorized using a linguistic analysis program. Catastrophizing was positively associated with the use of negative emotion words by both mothers and children. In addition, mothers' catastrophizing was positively associated with both mothers' and children's anger word usage, whereas children's catastrophizing was inversely associated with mothers' anger word usage. Findings extend the literature on behavioral and interpersonal aspects of catastrophizing.

A peroxiredoxin promotes H2O2 signaling and oxidative stress resistance by oxidizing a thioredoxin family protein.

H2O2 can cause oxidative damage associated with age-related diseases such as diabetes and cancer but is also used to initiate diverse responses, including increased antioxidant gene expression. Despite significant interest, H2O2-signaling mechanisms remain poorly understood. Here, we present a mechanism for the propagation of an H2O2 signal that is vital for the adaptation of the model yeast, Schizosaccharomyces pombe, to oxidative stress. Peroxiredoxins are abundant peroxidases with conserved antiaging and anticancer activities. Remarkably, we find that the only essential function for the thioredoxin peroxidase activity of the Prx Tpx1(hPrx1/2) in resistance to H2O2 is to inhibit a conserved thioredoxin family protein Txl1(hTxnl1/TRP32). Thioredoxins regulate many enzymes and signaling proteins. Thus, our discovery that a Prx amplifies an H2O2 signal by driving the oxidation of a thioredoxin-like protein has important implications, both for Prx function in oxidative stress resistance and for responses to H2O2.

Inactivation of a peroxiredoxin by hydrogen peroxide is critical for thioredoxin-mediated repair of oxidized proteins and cell survival.

Eukaryotic 2-Cys peroxiredoxins (Prx) are abundant antioxidant enzymes whose thioredoxin peroxidase activity plays an important role in protecting against oxidative stress, aging, and cancer. Paradoxically, this thioredoxin peroxidase activity is highly sensitive to inactivation by peroxide-induced Prx hyperoxidation. However, any possible advantage in preventing Prx from removing peroxides under oxidative stress conditions has remained obscure. Here we demonstrate that, in cells treated with hydrogen peroxide, the Prx Tpx1 is a major substrate for thioredoxin in the fission yeast Schizosaccharomyces pombe and, as such, competitively inhibits thioredoxin-mediated reduction of other oxidized proteins. Consequently, we reveal that the hyperoxidation of Tpx1 is critical to allow thioredoxin to act on other substrates ensuring repair of oxidized proteins and cell survival following exposure to toxic levels of hydrogen peroxide. We conclude that the inactivation of the thioredoxin peroxidase activity of Prx is important to maintain thioredoxin activity and cell viability under oxidative stress conditions.

Understanding the better than average effect: motives (still) matter.

People evaluate themselves more positively than they evaluate most other people. Although this better than average (BTA) effect was originally thought to represent a motivated bias, several cognitively oriented theorists have questioned whether this is the case. In support of a motivational model, the author reports five studies showing that the BTA effect is stronger for important attributes than unimportant ones (all five studies) and that once attribute importance is taken into account, the effect occurs when self-evaluations are compared with a single peer (Study 2) and when self is specified as the referent rather than the target (Study 4). Finally, Study 5 shows that the BTA effect increases in magnitude after participants experience a threat to their feelings of self-worth. Collectively, these findings establish that motivational processes underlie the BTA effect.

It's not WEIRD, it's WRONG: when researchers overlook uNderlying genotypes, they will not detect universal processes.

We dispute Henrich et al.'s analysis of cultural differences at the level of a narrow behavioral-expression for assessing a universalist argument. When Researchers Overlook uNderlying Genotypes (WRONG), they fail to detect universal processes that generate observed differences in expression. We reify this position with our own cross-cultural research on self-enhancement and self-esteem.

Thinking and feeling in the People's Republic of China: testing the generality of the "laws of emotion".

Cognitive theories of emotion assert that emotional reactions to events depend on the manner in which events are interpreted and appraised. From this perspective, the same outcome can produce different emotions. For example, a score of 85% on a test can evoke positive feelings if it is considered a success or negative feelings if it is considered a failure. Among the various appraisal dimensions that have been identified, causal attributions are thought to play a particularly influential role in shaping emotional reactions to various events. For example, success can evoke pride if it is attributed to high ability, gratitude if it is attributed to help from others, relief if it is attributed to a stroke of good fortune, or guilt if it is attained fraudulently or at the expense of others. These cognitive-affective linkages are thought to be universal. In this paper, we report two studies that tested the cross-cultural generality of some of these assumptions. In Study 1, participants from the People's Republic of China were led to succeed or fail on an (alleged) test of their intelligence and creativity. Consistent with previous findings with Western samples, attributions to ability predicted participants' emotional reactions to their test performance, with high ability attributions linked to greater pride following success. In Study 2, we extended these findings with American and Chinese participants, using a different experimental manipulation of success and failure, and a measure of attributions to effort. For both cultural groups, attributions to ability (but not attributions to effort) predicted greater emotional reactions to success. We conclude that attribution-emotion linkages have cross-cultural validity, and that pride is maximized when success is attributed to high ability.

Intrapersonal and interpersonal consequences of protective buffering among cancer patients and caregivers.

BACKGROUND: Protective buffering refers to hiding cancer-related thoughts and concerns from one's spouse or partner. In this study, the authors examined the intrapersonal and interpersonal consequences of protective buffering and the motivations for such behavior (desire to shield partner from distress, desire to shield self from distress). METHODS: Eighty hematopoietic stem cell transplantation recipients and their spousal caregivers/partners completed measures that were designed to assess protective buffering and relationship satisfaction at 2 time points: before transplantation (T1) and 50 days after transplantation (T2). Overall mental health also was assessed at T2. RESULTS: There was moderate agreement between 1 dyad member's reported buffering of their partner and the partner's perception of the extent to which they felt buffered. Caregivers buffered patients more than patients buffered caregivers, especially at T2. The more participants buffered their partners at T2 and the more they felt buffered, the lower their concurrent relationship satisfaction and the poorer their mental health. The latter effect was particularly true for patients who buffered and for patients who felt buffered. With respect to motivations, patients who buffered primarily to protect their partner at T1 reported increases in relationship satisfaction over time; however, when they did so at T2, their caregiver reported concurrent decreases in relationship satisfaction. CONCLUSIONS: Protective buffering is costly, in that those who buffer and those who feel buffered report adverse psychosocial outcomes. In addition, buffering enacted by patients with an intention to help may prove counterproductive, ultimately hurting the object of such protection.

The rate of protein secretion dictates the temporal dynamics of flagellar gene expression.

Flagellar gene expression is temporally regulated in response to the assembly state of the growing flagellum. The key mechanism for enforcing this temporal hierarchy in Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium is the sigma(28)-FlgM checkpoint, which couples the expression of the late flagellar (P(class3)) genes to the completion of the hook-basal body. This checkpoint is triggered when FlgM is secreted from the cell. In addition to the sigma(28)-FlgM checkpoint, a number of other regulatory mechanisms respond to the secretion of late proteins. In this work, we examined how middle (P(class2)) and late (P(class3)) gene expression is affected by late protein secretion. Dynamic analysis of flagellar gene expression identified a novel mechanism where induction of P(class2) activity is delayed either when late protein secretion is abolished or when late protein secretion is increased. Using a number of different approaches, we were able to show that this mechanism did not involve any known flagellar regulator. Furthermore, the changes in P(class2) activity were not correlated with the associated changes in P(class3) activity, which was found to be proportional to late protein secretion rates. Our data indicate that both P(class2) and P(class3) promoters are continuously regulated in response to assembly and late protein secretion rates. These results suggest that flagellar regulation is more complex than previously thought.

FliZ Is a posttranslational activator of FlhD4C2-dependent flagellar gene expression.

Flagellar assembly proceeds in a sequential manner, beginning at the base and concluding with the filament. A critical aspect of assembly is that gene expression is coupled to assembly. When cells transition from a nonflagellated to a flagellated state, gene expression is sequential, reflecting the manner in which the flagellum is made. A key mechanism for establishing this temporal hierarchy is the sigma(28)-FlgM checkpoint, which couples the expression of late flagellar (P(class3)) genes to the completion of the hook-basal body. In this work, we investigated the role of FliZ in coupling middle flagellar (P(class2)) gene expression to assembly in Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium. We demonstrate that FliZ is an FlhD(4)C(2)-dependent activator of P(class2)/middle gene expression. Our results suggest that FliZ regulates the concentration of FlhD(4)C(2) posttranslationally. We also demonstrate that FliZ functions independently of the flagellum-specific sigma factor sigma(28) and the filament-cap chaperone/FlhD(4)C(2) inhibitor FliT. Furthermore, we show that the previously described ability of sigma(28) to activate P(class2)/middle gene expression is, in fact, due to FliZ, as both are expressed from the same overlapping P(class2) and P(class3) promoters at the fliAZY locus. We conclude by discussing the role of FliZ regulation with respect to flagellar biosynthesis based on our characterization of gene expression and FliZ's role in swimming and swarming motility.

Trait aggressiveness and situational provocation: a test of the traits as situational sensitivities (TASS) model.

In this article, the authors propose and test an interactionist model of personality functioning. The model maintains that many traits function in a threshold-like manner, such that less situational strength is needed to evoke a trait-relevant response in people who are high on the trait than in those who are low on the trait. Because of these different sensitivities, people who are high on a trait are more reactive to moderate provocation than are those who are low on a trait, but the opposite is true when strong provocation is compared to moderate provocation. Three studies are reported showing how the model can be used to understand the nature of aggression.

Seeking self-evaluative feedback: the interactive role of global self-esteem and specific self-views.

People who verify a negative self-view expose themselves to criticism and rejection. Because people with low global self-esteem are hurt more by negative feedback than are people with high global self-esteem, the authors predicted that they would be less apt to verify a negative self-view in a more specific domain. Three investigations found support for this hypothesis. In all 3 investigations, high self-esteem participants sought (or tended to seek) self-verifying feedback, even if it was negative, but low self-esteem participants sought (or tended to seek) positive feedback, even if it was nonself-verifying. These findings show that low self-esteem people are especially concerned with self-protection and that global self-esteem and specific self-views interact to guide people's responses to self-evaluative feedback.

Emotional responses to changing feedback: is it better to have won and lost than never to have won at all?

Two experiments investigated how self-esteem guides people's emotional responses to changing evaluative feedback. In both experiments, participants received an initial evaluation (either positive or negative) followed by a second evaluation (either positive or negative). Emotional reactions to the second evaluation were then assessed. High self-esteem participants found feedback that was consistently negative to be most distressing, whereas low self-esteem participants were most disturbed by feedback that changed from positive to negative. The theoretical and practical implications of the findings are discussed.

Do people with low self-esteem really want to feel better? Self-esteem differences in motivation to repair negative moods.

This research examined the hypothesis that people with low self-esteem (LSE) are less motivated than people with high self-esteem (HSE) to repair their negative moods. In Study 1, participants completed diaries in response to either a success or a failure in their everyday lives. Participants described what they intended to do next and the reasons behind those plans. After failure, fewer LSE than HSE participants expressed a goal to improve their mood. A follow-up investigation (Study 2) suggested that this difference was not due to a self-esteem difference in knowledge of mood repair strategies. In Study 3, after undergoing a negative mood induction, fewer LSE than HSE participants chose to watch a comedy video, even though both groups believed the comedy video would make them happy. Studies 4 and 5 explored possible reasons why LSE people are less motivated than HSE people to repair their negative moods.

Self-Directed Attention, Self-Esteem, and Causal Attributions for Valenced Outcomes.

Previous research concerned with whether self-directed attention increases self-attributions has produced inconclusive findings. The present research sought to clarify the issue by proposing that the effects of self-directed attention on causal judgments depend upon the match between the valence of the to-be-explained outcome and the attributer's self-esteem. For positively valued outcomes, it was predicted that self-directed attention would increase self-attributions among individuals with high self-esteem, but decrease self-attributions among individuals with low self-esteem. Conversely, for negatively valued outcomes it was predicted that self-directed attention would decrease self-attributions among persons with high self-esteem, but increase self-attributions among persons with low self-esteem. In two investigations, the predictions for positive outcomes were confirmed with respect to both situationally and dispositionally based variations in attentional focus. However, no effects were found regarding attributions for negative outcomes. Implications of the findings for self-awareness theory are discussed.