University of North Carolina at Greensboro

About: University of North Carolina at Greensboro is a education organization based out in Greensboro, North Carolina, United States. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Population & Poison control. The organization has 5481 authors who have published 13715 publications receiving 456239 citations. The organization is also known as: UNCG & UNC Greensboro.

Marital Perceptions and Interactions across the Transition to Parenthood

Abstract: Observed interaction of couples during a problemsolving task and self-reports of spouses concerning their marriage were investigated before the birth of their first child and at 3, 12, and 24 months after the birth of the child. The study focuses on the impact of a first child's birth on the marriage. Hierarchical linear model analyses were performed. Patterns of change in the marital relationship were related to whether the pregnancy was planned, to depressive symptoms of spouses, to the couple's problem-solving behavior, and to the gender of the child. There is a long history of research on the transition to parenthood as a crisis for couples, and the premise of much of that literature is that becoming a parent is a risk factor for individual and marital distress. Many cross-sectional studies have documented the negative correlation between the presence of children and marital satisfaction (e.g., Glenn & McLanahan, 1982; Miller, 1976). Additionally, several longitudinal studies that followed couples from before the birth of the child through a period after the birth show overall linear declines in marital satisfaction (Belsky, Lange & Rovine, 1985; Cowan et al., 1985; Feldman & Nash, 1984). More recently, however, scholars are calling for studies that go beyond documenting declines in marital satisfaction and that illuminate the variety of adaptations couples make and the factors related to different adaptations (Belsky & Rovine, 1990; Cox, 1985; Huston & Vangelista, 1995; Cowan & Cowan, 1992). Not only each partner's satisfaction with the marriage should be of interest, but also observations of the couple's interactions. In the study presented here, both spouses' perceptions of their marriage and their behavior during a marital problem-solving task were investigated before the birth of their first child and at 3, 12, and 24 months after the birth. The study focused on the impact of a first child's birth on the marnage. We assumed that couples would show a variety of adaptations. BACKGROUND Patterns of Change Transitions are times when a marriage may be particularly vulnerable because the relationship has to be reorganized to meet new challenges. Yet, parenthood actually may enhance some relationships, undermine others, and have little effect on others (Cox, 1985; Huston & Vangelisti, 1995). Some couples may develop new skills in resolving problems, for example, and others may find resolving problems a major difficulty. As Cowan (1991) has noted, "a central task for researchers is to determine the conditions under which both normative and nonnormative events stimulate developmental advances, produce dysfunctional crises, or leave the individual and the family relatively unchanged" (p. 5). Identifying couples who are likely to experience increased marital difficulty in the transition to parenthood is important in order to focus preventive efforts on the most vulnerable couples. At the same time, understanding the strengths of couples whose relationships are enhanced by the experience of parenthood or for whom the experience has minimal negative impact also may inform intervention. Couples who not only show distress in response to the birth of a child, but who also fail to show recovery over time may be of particular concern. Initial difficulties in a transition may be normative, but the lack of reorganization over time may be a sign of chronic problems that are likely to influence parenting and child development negatively. The possibility of such different patterns highlights the importance of considering transitions as processes over time (Cox, 1985) and the importance of using methods that can capture this process. When data are gathered from parents on only one or two occasions soon after the birth of the child, short-term fluctuations in satisfaction may be detected, but more gradually emerging effects remain undiscovered. If one expects an initial change in the marital relationship followed by recovery over the first 2 years, data that longitudinally cover that period are needed. …

A Sensitivity Analysis of the Social Vulnerability Index

Abstract: The Social Vulnerability Index (SoVI), created by Cutter et al. (2003), examined the spatial patterns of social vulnerability to natural hazards at the county level in the United States in order to describe and understand the social burdens of risk. The purpose of this article is to examine the sensitivity of quantitative features underlying the SoVI approach to changes in its construction, the scale at which it is applied, the set of variables used, and to various geographic contexts. First, the SoVI was calculated for multiple aggregation levels in the State of South Carolina and with a subset of the original variables to determine the impact of scalar and variable changes on index construction. Second, to test the sensitivity of the algorithm to changes in construction, and to determine if that sensitivity was constant in various geographic contexts, census data were collected at a submetropolitan level for three study sites: Charleston, SC; Los Angeles, CA; and New Orleans, LA. Fifty-four unique variations of the SoVI were calculated for each study area and evaluated using factorial analysis. These results were then compared across study areas to evaluate the impact of changing geographic context. While decreases in the scale of aggregation were found to result in decreases in the variance explained by principal components analysis (PCA), and in increases in the variance of the resulting index values, the subjective interpretations yielded from the SoVI remained fairly stable. The algorithm's sensitivity to certain changes in index construction differed somewhat among the study areas. Understanding the impacts of changes in index construction and scale are crucial in increasing user confidence in metrics designed to represent the extremely complex phenomenon of social vulnerability.

Toddler regulation of distress to frustrating events: Temperamental and maternal correlates.

Abstract: Seventy-three mothers and their 18-month-old toddlers were observed in a series of laboratory procedures designed to assess relations among physiological arousal, frustration distress, emotion regulation and maternal interactive style. Physiological arousal was assessed using baseline measures of vagal tone and heart period. Distress was assessed across four separate episodes designed to elicit the intensity, frequency, duration and latency of the distress response to frustrating events. Regulation was assessed by examining the child,s behaviors (aggression, distraction, mother-orientation, constructive coping) when confronted by the four frustration tasks. Maternal interactive style was assessed by examining mothers, strategies for child behavior management (negative controlling, positive guidance, preemptive interference) during four mother-child tasks. Distress to the frustrating tasks was related to aggression/acting-out behaviors, and negatively related to the use of more adaptive strategies. Maternal interference was related to distress to the frustrating events, while maternal positive guidance was related to the use of distraction and mother-oriented regulating behaviors. These findings are discussed in terms of the adaptive value of emotion regulation in early development.

Cannabinoid ligands targeting TRP channels

Abstract: Transient receptor potential (TRP) channels are a group of membrane proteins involved in the transduction of a plethora of chemical and physical stimuli. These channels modulate ion entry, mediating a variety of neural signaling processes implicated in the sensation of temperature, pressure, and pH, as well as smell, taste, vision, and pain perception. Many diseases involve TRP channel dysfunction, including neuropathic pain, inflammation, and respiratory disorders. In the pursuit of new treatments for these disorders, it was discovered that cannabinoids can modulate a certain subset of TRP channels. The TRP vanilloid (TRPV), TRP ankyrin (TRPA), and TRP melastatin (TRPM) subfamilies were all found to contain channels that can be modulated by several endogenous, phytogenic, and synthetic cannabinoids. To date, six TRP channels from the three subfamilies mentioned above have been reported to mediate cannabinoid activity: TRPV1, TRPV2, TRPV3, TRPV4, TRPA1, and TRPM8. The increasing data regarding cannabinoid interactions with these receptors has prompted some researchers to consider these TRP channels to be "ionotropic cannabinoid receptors." Although CB1 and CB2 are considered to be the canonical cannabinoid receptors, there is significant overlap between cannabinoids and ligands of TRP receptors. The first endogenous agonist of TRPV1 to be discovered was the endocannabinoid, anandamide (AEA). Similarly, N-arachidonyl dopamine (NADA) and AEA were the first endogenous TRPM8 antagonists discovered. Additionally, Δ9-tetrahydrocannabinol (Δ9-THC), the most abundant psychotropic compound in cannabis, acts most potently at TRPV2, moderately modulates TRPV3, TRPV4, TRPA1, and TRPM8, though Δ9-THC is not reported to modulate TRPV1. Moreover, TRP receptors may modulate effects of synthetic cannabinoids used in research. One common research tool is WIN55,212-2, a CB1 agonist that also exerts analgesic effects by desensitizing TRPA1 and TRPV1. In this review article, we aim to provide an overview and classification of the cannabinoid ligands that have been reported to modulate TRP channels and their therapeutic potential.

Stimulus equivalence and arbitrarily applicable relational responding.

Abstract: Subjects' responses to nonarbitrary stimulus relations of sameness, oppositeness, or difference were brought under contextual control. In the presence of the SAME context, selecting the same comparison as the sample was reinforced. In the presence of the OPPOSITE context, selecting a comparison as far from the sample as possible on the physical dimension defined by the set of comparisons was reinforced. Given the DIFFERENT context, selecting any comparison other than the sample was reinforced. Subjects were then exposed to arbitrary matching-to-sample training in the presence of these same contextual cues. Some subjects received training using the SAME and OPPOSITE contexts, others received SAME and DIFFERENT, and others received SAME, OPPOSITE, and DIFFERENT. The stimulus networks established allowed testing for a wide variety of derived relations. In two experiments it was shown that derived performances were consistent with relational responding brought to bear by the contextual cues. In contexts relevant to the relation of sameness, stimulus equivalence emerged. Other kinds of relational networks emerged in the other contexts. Arbitrarily applicable relational responding may give rise to a very wide variety of derived stimulus relations. The kinds of performances seen in stimulus equivalence do not appear to be unique.