Mindreading and moral awareness in popular and rejected preschoolers

This study sought to examine links among young children's peer relations, their moral understanding in terms of the ability to distinguish lies from mistakes, and their theory-of-mind development. Based on sociometric measures, 109 children with a mean age of 4.8 years were divided into groups of popular and rejected preschoolers. Rejected children who had a stable mutual friend scored higher on measures of moral understanding and theory of mind than did rejected children without such friendships. Similarly, popular children who had a stable mutual friendship outperformed other popular children on mindreading, although their moral understanding was no better than that of the popular group who lacked mutual friends. Hierarchical multiple regression analyses revealed that peer popularity was a significant independent predictor of children's moral understanding after any effects of verbal maturity, age and theory-of-mind were statistically controlled. Moreover, having a reciprocal stable friendship made a significant independent contribution to the explanation of individual differences in mindreading, over and above age and verbal maturity, which also contributed significantly. These results are discussed in terms of conversational, cognitive, and emotional processes in the development of social cognition.

Cohesion among nurses: a comparison of bedside vs. charge nurses' perceptions in Australian hospitals

Aim. This study examines the extent to which hospital nurses view their working environment in a positive sense, working as a cohesive group. Background. Despite the fact that nursing in Australia is now considered a profession, it has been claimed that nurses are an oppressed group who use horizontal violence, bullying and aggression in their interactions with one and other. Methods. After ethical approval, a random sample of 666 nurses working directly with patients and all 333 critical care nurses employed in three large tertiary Australian hospitals were invited to participate in the study in the late 1990s. A mailed survey examined the perceptions of interaction nurses had with each other. The hypothesis, that level of employment (either Level I bedside nurses or Level II/III clinical leaders) and area of work (either critical care or noncritical care) would influence perceptions of cohesion, as measured by the cohesion amongst nurses scale (CANS) was tested. Results. In total 555 (56%) surveys were returned. Of these, 413 were returned by Level I and 142 by Level II/III nurses. Of this sample, 189 were critical care and 355 noncritical care nurses. There was no difference between Level I and II/III nurses in mean CANS scores. It is interesting to note that the item rated most positively was, 'nurses on the units worked well together', however, the item rated least positive was 'staff can be really bitchy towards each other' for both Level I and II/III nurses. There was no difference in CANS scores between critical care and noncritical care nurses. Conclusions. Nurses working in Australian hospitals perceived themselves to be moderately cohesive but, as would be expected in other work settings, some negative perceptions existed.

The impact of genotyping error on haplotype reconstruction and frequency estimation

The choice of genotyping families vs unrelated individuals is a critical factor in any large-scale linkage disequilibrium (LD) study. The use of unrelated individuals for such studies is promising, but in contrast to family designs, unrelated samples do not facilitate detection of genotyping errors, which have been shown to be of great importance for LD and linkage studies and may be even more important in genotyping collaborations across laboratories. Here we employ some of the most commonly-used analysis methods to examine the relative accuracy of haplotype estimation using families vs unrelateds in the presence of genotyping error. The results suggest that even slight amounts of genotyping error can significantly decrease haplotype frequency and reconstruction accuracy, that the ability to detect such errors in large families is essential when the number/complexity of haplotypes is high (low LD/common alleles). In contrast, in situations of low haplotype complexity (high LD and/or many rare alleles) unrelated individuals offer such a high degree of accuracy that there is little reason for less efficient family designs. Moreover, parent-child trios, which comprise the most popular family design and the most efficient in terms of the number of founder chromosomes per genotype but which contain little information for error detection, offer little or no gain over unrelated samples in nearly all cases, and thus do not seem a useful sampling compromise between unrelated individuals and large families. The implications of these results are discussed in the context of large-scale LD mapping projects such as the proposed genome-wide haplotype map.

Exotic vs endemic biocontrol agents: Would the real stratiolaelaps miles (Berlese) (Acari : Mesostigmata : Laelapidae), please stand up?

The ability of introduced organisms to invade undisturbed native habitats is a major concern in conservation biology and has resulted in a re-evaluation of the introduction of exotic biocontrol agents, especially of generalist predators. One such agent is Stratiolaelaps miles (Berlese), a predatory mite described from Italy, known from throughout the Holarctic, and apparently accidentally introduced to other areas of the world, including Australia. Initial investigations revealed that putative S. miles could be found in both disturbed and relatively pristine habitats in Queensland, Australia. However, analysis of the mitochondrial DNA of five populations showed most to be highly divergent genetically. Subsequent morphological analysis established two species groups: the lamington-group from cool-temperate to subtropical rainforests in Eastern Australia and the more eurytopic miles-group with a cosmopolitan distribution. We describe two new species from each of these complexes (Stratiolaelaps womersleyi, Stratiolaelaps lamington; Stratiolaelaps marilyn, Stratiolaelaps lorna, respectively), and resurrect Stratiolaelaps scimitus (Womersley), a species which often appears to have been confused with S. miles. Additionally, the large genetic distances among morphologically homogenous species in the miles-group suggest that the apparently cosmopolitan S. miles may be composed of a suite of cryptic species of potentially varying utility in biological control. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science (USA). All rights reserved.

Escalation of Drug Use in Early-Onset Cannabis Users vs Co-twin Controls

Context Previous studies have reported that early initiation of cannabis (marijuana) use is a significant risk factor for other drug use and drug-related problems. Objective To examine whether the association between early cannabis use and subsequent progression to use of other drugs and drug abuse/dependence persists after controlling for genetic and shared environmental influences. Design Cross-sectional survey conducted in 1996-2000 among an Australian national volunteer sample of 311 young adult (median age, 30 years) monozygotic and dizygotic same-sex twin pairs discordant for early cannabis use (before age 17 years). Main Outcome Measures Self-reported subsequent nonmedical use of prescription sedatives, hallucinogens, cocaine/other stimulants, and opioids; abuse or dependence on these drugs (including cannabis abuse/dependence); and alcohol dependence. Results Individuals who used cannabis by age 17 years had odds of other drug use, alcohol dependence, and drug abuse/dependence that were 2.1 to 5.2 times higher than those of their co-twin, who did not use cannabis before age 17 years. Controlling for known risk factors (early-onset alcohol or tobacco use, parental conflict/separation, childhood sexual abuse, conduct disorder, major depression, and social anxiety) had only negligible effects on these results. These associations did not differ significantly between monozygotic and dizygotic twins. Conclusions Associations between early cannabis use and later drug use and abuse/dependence cannot solely be explained by common predisposing genetic or shared environmental factors. The association may arise from the effects of the peer and social context within which cannabis is used and obtained. In particular, early access to and use of cannabis may reduce perceived barriers against the use of other illegal drugs and provide access to these drugs.

Plano popular de desenvolvimento sustent??vel a jusante da UHE Tucuru??

O setor el??trico brasileiro, historicamente, possui modelo autorit??rio de planejamento e implanta????o dos empreendimentos. Os grandes projetos desenvolvimentistas s??o oriundos do per??odo dos governos militares. Popula????es atingidas por impactos de barragens sempre reivindicaram pol??ticas articuladas de compensa????o por parte das empresas e do governo. A partir de 2003, a Eletronorte adotou o planejamento participativo para elabora????o de um plano de desenvolvimento regional ??? PPDJUS ??? como compensa????o pelos impactos da UHE Tucuru?? nos cinco munic??pios a Jusante, iniciativa sem precedentes no Brasil. O PPDJUS hoje articula as pol??ticas de planejamento e gest??o do territ??rio e de recursos h??dricos do Minist??rio do Desenvolvimento Agr??rio (MDA), do Minist??rio do Meio Ambiente (MMA), do Minist??rio da Integra????o Nacional (MIN), da Secretaria Especial de Abastecimento e Pre??os (Seap), da Ag??ncia de Desenvolvimento da Amaz??nia (ADA) e da Eletronorte, entre outros ??rg??os. Possui conselhos gestores regional e municipais e c??maras t??cnicas, avan??ado modelo de gest??o participativa

Programa de cr??dito produtivo popular Crediamigo: central de microcr??dito do Nordeste

As pol??ticas de desenvolvimento consideram que um dos principais obst??culos para o crescimento dos microeempreendimentos ?? a falta de acesso ??s fontes de financiamento, principalmente ??queles emergidos como formas alternativas de ocupa????o e renda. Esses pequenos neg??cios, em sua maioria informais, vem apresentando n??veis de alto crescimento em todo o Pa??s, em especial na regi??o Nordeste, principalmente nos grandes centros urbanos, comprovada por pesquisas cient??ficas realizadas. Considerando que o acesso dessa camada da popula????o ao sistema banc??rio ?? dif??cil, devido ao baixo n??vel operacional, ao tamanho dos neg??cios e ?? qualidade ou inexist??ncia de garantias, o Banco do Nordeste lan??a o Programa CrediAmigo com o objetivo de contribuir para o crescimento de microempresas, mediante a oferta de cr??dito para atividades produtivas e servi??os de capacita????o, de forma a garantir ao agente produtivo condi????es para ele gerir bem seus neg??cios, atrav??s da melhoria da competitividade e integra????o ao mercado globalizado. Dessa forma, o CrediAmigo permite f??cil acesso a esse segmento da popula????o marginalizada do sistema financeiro formal e que recorrem e dependem de agiotas e fornecedores que lhes cobram taxas de juros bem acima do mercado. Para atender esses agentes produtivos o CrediAmigo utiliza uma metodologia inovadora de concess??o de cr??dito que permite a libera????o dos recursos de forma ??gil, desburocratizada e sem as garantias tradicionais exigidas, funcionando com grupos solid??rios, proporcionando uma maior democratiza????o do cr??dito. At?? jul/99 o CrediAmigo j?? atendeu a 121.444 cidad??os com financiamento na ordem de R$ 74,2 milh??es