Public Speaking in Social Phobia: A Pilot Study of Self-Ratings and Observers' Ratings of Social Skills

Objectives: The aim of this pilot study was to investigate whether patients with social anxiety disorder (SAD) differ from controls in the quality of skill-related behaviors displayed during a speech and in overall behavioral adequacy as perceived by observers and by the patients themselves. Design: A total of 18 SAD patients and 18 controls were screened by a diagnostic interview and took part in a 3-minute speech of their own choosing. For each videotaped speech, observers rated the adequacy of the skill-related behaviors and overall performance adequacy. After the experiment, participants were asked to rate their own overall performance adequacy. Results: The results showed that SAD patients exhibited significantly worse voice intonation and fluency of the speech, however no differences were found in global self-ratings. Moreover, the performance evaluations of the SAD group were consistent with the observers, while the controls evaluated their performance lower than the observers. Conclusions: The results are inconsistent with the cognitive model, because patients with SAD did not underestimate their performance. Compared with spontaneous interactions, the clear rules established for such social situations as speeches may result in less cognitive distortion for SAD patients. (C) 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Clin. Psychol. 68:397-402, 2012.

Using the Social Skills Inventory in the Diagnosis of Social Anxiety Disorder

This study aimed to assess the relationship between clinical and behavioral manifestations of the Social Anxiety Disorder (SAD) and verify the discriminative validity of the Social Skills Inventory (SSI-Del-Prette) in the diagnosis of this disorder. The participants were 1,006 undergraduates, aged between 17 and 35 years old, both genders. Subsequently, 86 participants were randomly selected from the initial sample and grouped as SAD cases and non-SAD cases through systematic clinical evaluation. The results indicated that the more elaborate the repertoire of social skills of an individual is, the lower his/her likelihood of meeting the screening criteria of diagnostic indicators for SAD. Furthermore, the SSI-Del-Prette has demonstrated to significantly distinguish individuals with and without SAD, evidencing, thus, its discriminative validity.

Integrating fundamental movement skills in late childhood

The study examined how children of different ages integrate fundamental movement skills, such as running and throwing, and whether their developmental status was related to the combination of these skills. Thirty children were divided into three groups (G1 = 6-year-olds, G2 = 9-year-olds, and G3 = 12-year-olds) and filmed performing three tasks: running, overarm throwing, and the combined task. Patterns were identified and described, and the efficiency of integration was calculated (distance differences of the ball thrown in two tasks, overarm throwing and combined task). Differences in integration were related to age: the 6-year-olds were less efficient in combining the two skills than the 9- and 12-year-olds. These differences may be indicative of a phase of integrating fundamental movement skills in the developmental sequence. This developmental status, particularly throwing, seems to be related to the competence to integrate skills, which suggests that fundamental movement skills may be developmental modules.

Effect of a video on developing skills in undergraduate nursing students for the management of totally implantable central venous access ports

Background: Handling Totally Implantable Access Ports (TIAP) is a nursing procedure that requires skill and knowledge to avoid adverse events. No studies addressing this procedure with undergraduate students were identified prior to this study. Communication technologies, such as videos, have been increasingly adopted in the teaching of nursing and have contributed to the acquisition of competencies for clinical performance. Objective: To evaluate the effect of a video on the puncture and heparinization of TIAP in the development of cognitive and technical competencies of undergraduate nursing students. Method: Quasi-experimental study with a pretest-posttest design. Results: 24 individuals participated in the study. Anxiety scores were kept at levels 1 and 2 in the pretest and posttest. In relation to cognitive knowledge concerning the procedure, the proportion of correct answers in the pretest was 0.14 (SD=0.12) and 0.90 in the posttest (SD=0.05). After watching the video, the average score obtained by the participants in the mock session was 27.20. Conclusion: The use of an educational video with a simulation of puncture and heparinization of TIAP proved to be a strategy that increased both cognitive and technical knowledge. This strategy is viable in the teaching-learning process and is useful as a support tool for professors and for the development of undergraduate nursing students. (C) 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

US Food and Drug Administration approval of generic versions of complex biologics: implications for the practicing physician using low molecular weight heparins

Low-molecular-weight heparins (LMWHs) have shown equivalent or superior efficacy and safety to unfractionated heparin as antithrombotic therapy for patients with acute coronary syndromes. Each approved LMWH is a pleotropic biological agent with a unique chemical, biochemical, biophysical and biological profile and displays different pharmacodynamic and pharmacokinetic profiles. As a result, LMWHs are neither equipotent in preclinical assays nor equivalent in terms of their clinical efficacy and safety. Previously, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) cautioned against using various LMWHs interchangeably, however recently, the FDA approved generic versions of LMWH that have not been tested in large clinical trials. This paper highlights the bio-chemical and pharmacological differences between the LMWH preparations that may result in different clinical outcomes, and also reviews the implications and challenges physicians face when generic versions of the original/innovator agents are approved for clinical use.

Social Skills and Psychological Disorders: Converging and Criterion-Related Validity for YSR and IHSA-Del-Prette in Adolescents at Risk

This study evaluated indexes of converging and criterion-related validity for the Social Skills Inventory for Adolescents (IHSA-Del-Prette) and the Youth Self-Report (YSR) in two samples: one referring to clinical service (CLIN), with 28 adolescents (64.3% boys), 11 through 17 years old (M = 13.75; SD = 1.74), and the other referring to a psycho-educational program (PME = 46.2%), mainly composed of boys (91.7%) aged 13 through 17 (M = 15.33; SD = 1.47). Both samples completed the two inventories. Results showed a high incidence of psychological disorders in both samples (between 4% and 79% in the borderline or clinical range on YSR scales) and accentuated deficits in the general and subscale scores of IHSA-Del-Prette, especially on the frequency scale (25% to 58%). The correlations between the instruments in the two groups supported criterion-related and converging validity. Some issues concerning the differences between the samples and about the construct of social competence, underlying these inventories, are discussed. Key words authors:

Morphological analysis of Mecosarthron Buquet and Xixuthrus Thomson and Reevaluation of Generic Assignment of Xixuthrus domingoensis Fisher (Coleoptera, Cerambycidae, Prioninae)

The characters defining Mecosarthron Buquet, 1840 and Xixuthrus Thomson 1864 are discussed, along with a historical review of the literature that described and classified these taxa. Through morphological examination of these genera and most of the included species, we addressed the systematic placement of Xixuthrus domingoensis Fisher, 1932 that was placed in Mecosarthron by Ivie (1985). We restore its placement in the genus Xixuthrus. The first description of the female of X. domingoensis is provided, along with comparative redescriptions of Mecosarthron gounellei (Lameere, 1903), and M. buphagus Buquet, 1840. We include a key to the species currently in Mecosarthron.

Model-based reuse for crosscutting frameworks: assessing reuse and maintenance effort

Abstract Background Over the last years, a number of researchers have investigated how to improve the reuse of crosscutting concerns. New possibilities have emerged with the advent of aspect-oriented programming, and many frameworks were designed considering the abstractions provided by this new paradigm. We call this type of framework Crosscutting Frameworks (CF), as it usually encapsulates a generic and abstract design of one crosscutting concern. However, most of the proposed CFs employ white-box strategies in their reuse process, requiring two mainly technical skills: (i) knowing syntax details of the programming language employed to build the framework and (ii) being aware of the architectural details of the CF and its internal nomenclature. Also, another problem is that the reuse process can only be initiated as soon as the development process reaches the implementation phase, preventing it from starting earlier. Method In order to solve these problems, we present in this paper a model-based approach for reusing CFs which shields application engineers from technical details, letting him/her concentrate on what the framework really needs from the application under development. To support our approach, two models are proposed: the Reuse Requirements Model (RRM) and the Reuse Model (RM). The former must be used to describe the framework structure and the later is in charge of supporting the reuse process. As soon as the application engineer has filled in the RM, the reuse code can be automatically generated. Results We also present here the result of two comparative experiments using two versions of a Persistence CF: the original one, whose reuse process is based on writing code, and the new one, which is model-based. The first experiment evaluated the productivity during the reuse process, and the second one evaluated the effort of maintaining applications developed with both CF versions. The results show the improvement of 97% in the productivity; however little difference was perceived regarding the effort for maintaining the required application. Conclusion By using the approach herein presented, it was possible to conclude the following: (i) it is possible to automate the instantiation of CFs, and (ii) the productivity of developers are improved as long as they use a model-based instantiation approach.