Mental health in the United States during the COVID-19 pandemic: A longitudinal examination of the ameliorating effect of meaning salience

During the COVID-19 pandemic, various restrictions forced people around the world to socially isolate. People were asked to stay at home and were largely unable to do many of the activities that they derived meaning from. Since meaning is often related to mental health, these restrictions were likely to decrease mental health. The current study aimed to examine these effects and additionally benefit individuals' mental health by making their meaning salient. Specifically, the goal of the research was to design an intervention that could counter the potential negative effects of social distancing. We recruited a total of 96 U.S.A. residents (M _age  = 34.45, 92.7% Female) and assigned them to either the control group or to a meaning salience intervention. That is, participants either focused on the meaning of their daily activities (n = 45) or did not participate in any study-related activities during the week (n = 51). They completed various measures of mental health before and after this experimental period. Results suggested that the control group reported significantly greater anxiety, depression, and stress at the end of the week. In contrast, the experimental group reported less anxiety and trended toward less depression and stress at the end of that same week. In all, results suggest that simply focusing on one's daily activities and the meaning found in them protected people from the otherwise detrimental effects of the restrictions. This provides a promising and simple intervention that may assist both individuals and practitioners aiming to improve mental health, especially in challenging times.

Finding meaning in our everyday moments: testing a novel intervention to increase employee well-being

Purpose

The benefits of meaning in the workplace are abundant. However, few opportunities exist to increase meaning among employees in ways that result in desired organizational impacts. The current study developed two new mindfulness-based interventions designed to ultimately increase both job and life satisfaction.

Design/methodology/approach

Over five days, 67 participants either: (1) Reported their daily activities, (2) Additionally rated the meaningfulness of each hour, or (3) Additionally planned to increase the meaning of the least meaningful activities. At the beginning and end of the week, they also reported their job satisfaction and life satisfaction.

Findings

Results suggested that listing daily activities and rating the meaningfulness of each hour was most beneficial. Compared to only listing daily activities, this group experienced greater job and life satisfaction. In contrast, the group that additionally attempted to increase the meaningfulness of their daily activities did not perform better on either of these measures.

Practical implications

Spending only a few minutes focusing on recognizing the meaning in one's daily activities can improve one's job and life satisfaction. As such, organizations may consider encouraging engagement in such a task either at the end of the workday or at home. Doing so may result in an increase in both how satisfied they are at home and at work.

Originality/value

This provides initial evidence for a short intervention that may greatly increase the well-being of employees at work and home.

The importance of awareness, acceptance, and alignment with the self: A framework for understanding self-connection

We provide a theoretical framework for what it means to be self-connected and propose that self-connection is an important potential contributor to a person’s well-being. We define self-connection as consisting of three components: 1) an awareness of oneself, 2) an acceptance of oneself based on this awareness, and 3) an alignment of one’s behavior with this awareness. First, we position the concept within the broader self literature and provide the empirical context for our proposed definition of self-connection. We next compare and contrast self-connection to related constructs, including mindfulness and authenticity. Following, we discuss some of the potential relationships between self-connection and various aspects of mental health and well-being. Finally, we provide initial recommendations for future research, including potential ways to promote self-connection. In all, we present this theory to provide researchers with a framework for understanding self-connection so that they can utilize this concept to better support the efforts of researchers and practitioners alike to increase individuals’ well-being in various contexts.

Meaning gained versus meaning lost: The effects of meaning salience on anxiety and depression during the coronavirus pandemic

People who have meaningful lives generally experience less anxiety and depression. Meaning salience, or the awareness of the meaning in one's life, is believed to partially explain this relationship. However, in times of isolation, what might be most salient to people are the meaningful aspects of their lives that have disappeared. This study seeks to understand how making gained versus lost meaning salient affects anxiety and depression. Participants either wrote for 5 minutes about how their life gained meaning (n = 29) or lost meaning (n = 30) due to the coronavirus restrictions, or about music (i.e., the control condition; n = 32). Those who wrote about gained meaning experienced less momentary anxiety than those who wrote about lost meaning. In addition, meaning salience moderated the relationship between meaning and both anxiety and depression. Those who wrote about gained meaning appeared to exhibit a positive relationship between meaning in life (MIL) and both anxiety and depression, while those who wrote about lost meaning exhibited negative relationships. In all, this suggests that meaning salience is not always positive and that researchers and practitioners should consider how making positive meaning salient may be more beneficial than a general focus on MIL.

The Relationship Between Physical Activity, Health, and Well-Being

Abstract. Background: Most people are comfortable asserting the beneficial effects of physical exercise on mental health and well-being. However, little research has examined how different types of physical activity affect these outcomes. Aims: The current study sought to provide a comprehensive understanding of the differential relationships between different types of physical activity and various aspects of health and well-being. In addition, we sought to understand the role of self-connection in these relationships. Method: One hundred forty-three participants completed a questionnaire designed to measure their current weekly activity as well as their current health and well-being. Specifically, we examined three intensities of activity (walking, moderate, and vigorous) and three types of activity (team-based, community-based, and not team nor community-based) on self-reported health, anxiety, depression, affect, flourishing, job satisfaction, life satisfaction, and meaning in life. In addition, we examined self-connection as a possible moderator of these relationships. Results: Results suggested that physical activity was inconsistently related to health and well-being, and activity intensity and type were important to understanding these relationships. In contrast, self-connection reliably related to health and well-being and moderated the relationship between activity type and the presence of meaning. Limitations: The cross-sectional, self-report nature of the study limits its contribution. In addition, we only examined a subset of all physical activities that people engage in. Conclusion: In all, results suggest that the relationships between physical activity, mental health, and well-being are tenuous, at best. Future research needs to examine these relationships further and continue to examine self-connection to determine how to best increase health and well-being through physical activity.

Meaning, Purpose, and Job Satisfaction

Abstract. Finding meaning and purpose in one's life facilitates several important work outcomes. A global pandemic that changes both the lives of employees and the way they work likely affects the relationships between workers' meaning in life and work. Making meaning salient to employees, despite the circumstances, may strengthen and preserve these relationships. To examine this, 71 employed adults completed a photo-taking task that either focused on objects of meaning ( n = 36) or objects that were blue (i.e., the control; n = 35). The results suggested that meaning salience increased job satisfaction. In addition, it moderated the relationship between purpose (but not meaning) and job satisfaction. In all, this highlights the challenges of new working circumstances and the importance of continuously making meaning salient to employees.

Many Labs 5: Registered Replication of Payne, Burkley, and Stokes (2008), Study 4

To rule out an alternative to their structural-fit hypothesis, Payne, Burkley, and Stokes (2008) demonstrated that correlations between implicit and explicit race attitudes were weaker when participants were put under high pressure to respond without bias than when they were placed under low pressure. This effect was replicated in Italy by Vianello (2015), although the replication effect was smaller than the original effect. In the current investigation, we examined the possibility that the source of a study’s sample moderates this effect. Teams from eight universities, four in the United States and four in Italy, replicated the original study (replication N = 1,103). Although we did detect moderation by the sample’s country, it was due to a reversal of the original effect in the United States and a lack of the original effect in Italy. We discuss this curious finding and possible explanations.

Many Labs 5: Testing Pre-Data-Collection Peer Review as an Intervention to Increase Replicability

Replication studies in psychological science sometimes fail to reproduce prior findings. If these studies use methods that are unfaithful to the original study or ineffective in eliciting the phenomenon of interest, then a failure to replicate may be a failure of the protocol rather than a challenge to the original finding. Formal pre-data-collection peer review by experts may address shortcomings and increase replicability rates. We selected 10 replication studies from the Reproducibility Project: Psychology (RP:P; Open Science Collaboration, 2015) for which the original authors had expressed concerns about the replication designs before data collection; only one of these studies had yielded a statistically significant effect ( p < .05). Commenters suggested that lack of adherence to expert review and low-powered tests were the reasons that most of these RP:P studies failed to replicate the original effects. We revised the replication protocols and received formal peer review prior to conducting new replication studies. We administered the RP:P and revised protocols in multiple laboratories (median number of laboratories per original study = 6.5, range = 3–9; median total sample = 1,279.5, range = 276–3,512) for high-powered tests of each original finding with both protocols. Overall, following the preregistered analysis plan, we found that the revised protocols produced effect sizes similar to those of the RP:P protocols (Δ r = .002 or .014, depending on analytic approach). The median effect size for the revised protocols ( r = .05) was similar to that of the RP:P protocols ( r = .04) and the original RP:P replications ( r = .11), and smaller than that of the original studies ( r = .37). Analysis of the cumulative evidence across the original studies and the corresponding three replication attempts provided very precise estimates of the 10 tested effects and indicated that their effect sizes (median r = .07, range = .00–.15) were 78% smaller, on average, than the original effect sizes (median r = .37, range = .19–.50).

Fostering Stress Resilience Among Business Students: The Role of Stress Mindset and Self-Connection

Educators are becoming increasingly concerned about the high rates of burnout among their students. Although the solution may appear to be reducing the stress their students experience, simply reducing stress is a temporary solution and does not help students when they enter the workforce and encounter increased stressors. A better option may be to consider the ways in which students can increase stress resilience in ways that will help them long after they leave the classroom. With this idea in mind, we tested for relationships between two individual difference variables, stress mindset and self-connection, and burnout and life satisfaction among business students. The results showed there was a positive relationship between viewing stress as debilitating and prevalence of both personal and school-related burnout. Additionally, self-connection was negatively related to personal burnout and greater life satisfaction. Stress mindset and self-connection also interacted to predict both personal and school burnout. The results suggest that promoting adaptive views of stress and becoming more self-connected may lead to a better student experience.

The Role of Self-Connection in the Relationship between Mindfulness and Meaning: A Longitudinal Examination

BACKGROUND

Researchers have rarely examined mindfulness and meaning in a way that informs the causality and directionality of this relationship. The current research examines this relationship across time, further validates the Self-Connection Scale (SCS), and examines the role of self-connection in both moderating and mediating this relationship. This allows for researchers and practitioners alike to utilise self-connection to help increase their own and others' well-being.

METHODS

One hundred and fifty-four participants completed measures of mindfulness, self-connection, and meaning over 4 weeks. We also included various measures related to well-being to further examine the nomological network of the SCS.

RESULTS

Multi-level models examined a total of 432 observations across 108 participants. Mindfulness predicted an increase in the presence of but not search for meaning. Self-connection partially mediated the effect on the presence of meaning and moderated the effect on the search for meaning. Furthermore, the SCS demonstrated good validity and reliability across time.

CONCLUSIONS

Self-connection, as measured by the SCS, has an important role in positive psychology, and those with a deficit are likely to benefit the most from increased mindfulness. Together, this provides several implications for using mindfulness and self-connection research in personal and professional practice.

Many Labs 2: Investigating Variation in Replicability Across Samples and Settings

We conducted preregistered replications of 28 classic and contemporary published findings, with protocols that were peer reviewed in advance, to examine variation in effect magnitudes across samples and settings. Each protocol was administered to approximately half of 125 samples that comprised 15,305 participants from 36 countries and territories. Using the conventional criterion of statistical significance ( p < .05), we found that 15 (54%) of the replications provided evidence of a statistically significant effect in the same direction as the original finding. With a strict significance criterion ( p < .0001), 14 (50%) of the replications still provided such evidence, a reflection of the extremely high-powered design. Seven (25%) of the replications yielded effect sizes larger than the original ones, and 21 (75%) yielded effect sizes smaller than the original ones. The median comparable Cohen’s ds were 0.60 for the original findings and 0.15 for the replications. The effect sizes were small (< 0.20) in 16 of the replications (57%), and 9 effects (32%) were in the direction opposite the direction of the original effect. Across settings, the Q statistic indicated significant heterogeneity in 11 (39%) of the replication effects, and most of those were among the findings with the largest overall effect sizes; only 1 effect that was near zero in the aggregate showed significant heterogeneity according to this measure. Only 1 effect had a tau value greater than .20, an indication of moderate heterogeneity. Eight others had tau values near or slightly above .10, an indication of slight heterogeneity. Moderation tests indicated that very little heterogeneity was attributable to the order in which the tasks were performed or whether the tasks were administered in lab versus online. Exploratory comparisons revealed little heterogeneity between Western, educated, industrialized, rich, and democratic (WEIRD) cultures and less WEIRD cultures (i.e., cultures with relatively high and low WEIRDness scores, respectively). Cumulatively, variability in the observed effect sizes was attributable more to the effect being studied than to the sample or setting in which it was studied.

When thinking back can hold us back: How being a follower can affect women's loss-aversion

Despite the persistent gender gap in many organizational leadership positions, researchers have not yet examined objective predictors of this gap. A fully crossed 3 (Role Prime: leader, follower, control) × 2 (Gender Prime: present, absent) × 2 (Sex: male, female) experimental design examined the effect of group role (i.e., leader or follower) and gender on loss-aversion. Participants (192 total; 96 female) were asked to name either their former or current leader ("superior") or follower ("subordinate"), compared with a no prime condition. Results suggest that women primed with a follower role were more loss-averse than men primed with a follower role, and were more loss-averse than women primed with the leader role or in the control condition. However, the role prime did not affect men's loss-aversion. The current research suggests that researchers and practitioners should consider the effects of group role on loss-aversion, as this may contribute to gender gaps in the workplace. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved).

Sex differences in jealousy: the (lack of) influence of researcher theoretical perspective

The sex difference in jealousy is an effect that has generated significant controversy in the academic literature (resulting in two meta-analyses that reached different conclusions on the presence or absence of the effect). In this study, we had a team of researchers from different theoretical perspectives use identical protocols to test whether the sex difference in jealousy would occur across many different samples (while testing whether mate value would moderate the effect). In our samples, we found the sex difference in jealousy to occur using both forced choice and continuous measures, this effect appeared in several different settings, and, we found that mate value moderated participant responses. The results are discussed in light of the controversy surrounding the presence of the effect.

What do people desire in their leaders? The effect of leadership experience on desired leadership traits

Purpose

– The purpose of this paper is to determine how leadership experience affects the value leaders place on leadership traits. In particular, the author sought to determine if individuals with different amounts of leadership experience deferentially desire traits related to dominance and cooperation.

Design/methodology/approach

– Participants reported the importance of dominant and cooperative traits for an ideal leader, and reported the number of leadership roles that they had experienced.

Findings

– The desirability of dominance-related traits decreased as leadership experience increased, but only for women. In contrast, the desirability of cooperation-related traits remained the same, regardless of leadership experience or gender.

Practical implications

– Overall, these findings suggest leaders learn to desire different traits as they gain leadership experience. Implications of this research may exist in both business and political domains. In business, several leadership outcomes depend on trait desirability. In addition, interview and selection decisions may depend on the leadership experience and gender of the decision-maker. Organizations should carefully select members of the organization to make these critical hiring decisions. In politics, candidates would be wise to consider the leadership experience and gender of constituents in their self-presentation attempts.

Originality/value

– This research presents the first examination of the effect of leadership experience on the desirability of leader personality traits. In addition, this is one of the first studies to refocus on the dominance/cooperation dichotomy and “ideal” leadership – a promising focus for future trait research.

The Brief Aggression Questionnaire: Structure, Validity, Reliability, and Generalizability

In contexts that increasingly demand brief self-report measures (e.g., experience sampling, longitudinal and field studies), researchers seek succinct surveys that maintain reliability and validity. One such measure is the 12-item Brief Aggression Questionnaire (BAQ; Webster et al., 2014), which uses 4 3-item subscales: Physical Aggression, Verbal Aggression, Anger, and Hostility. Although prior work suggests the BAQ's scores are reliable and valid, we addressed some lingering concerns. Across 3 studies (N = 1,279), we found that the BAQ had a 4-factor structure, possessed long-term test-retest reliability across 12 weeks, predicted differences in behavioral aggression over time in a laboratory experiment, generalized to a diverse nonstudent sample, and showed convergent validity with a displaced aggression measure. In addition, the BAQ's 3-item Anger subscale showed convergent validity with a trait anger measure. We discuss the BAQ's potential reliability, validity, limitations, and uses as an efficient measure of aggressive traits.

Registered Replication Report: Schooler and Engstler-Schooler (1990)

Trying to remember something now typically improves your ability to remember it later. However, after watching a video of a simulated bank robbery, participants who verbally described the robber were 25% worse at identifying the robber in a lineup than were participants who instead listed U.S. states and capitals-this has been termed the "verbal overshadowing" effect (Schooler & Engstler-Schooler, 1990). More recent studies suggested that this effect might be substantially smaller than first reported. Given uncertainty about the effect size, the influence of this finding in the memory literature, and its practical importance for police procedures, we conducted two collections of preregistered direct replications (RRR1 and RRR2) that differed only in the order of the description task and a filler task. In RRR1, when the description task immediately followed the robbery, participants who provided a description were 4% less likely to select the robber than were those in the control condition. In RRR2, when the description was delayed by 20 min, they were 16% less likely to select the robber. These findings reveal a robust verbal overshadowing effect that is strongly influenced by the relative timing of the tasks. The discussion considers further implications of these replications for our understanding of verbal overshadowing.

The prevalence and prevention of crosstalk: a multi-institutional study

It is a common problem in psychology subject pools for past study participants to inform future participants of key experimental details (also known as crosstalk). Previous research (Edlund, Sagarin, Skowronski, Johnson, & Kutter, 2009) demonstrated that a combined classroom and laboratory treatment could significantly reduce crosstalk. The present investigation tested a laboratory-only treatment for the prevention of crosstalk at five universities, along with institutional-level moderators of crosstalk. Results indicated the presence of crosstalk at all universities and that the laboratory-based treatment was effective in reducing crosstalk. Importantly, crosstalk rates were higher (but successfully neutralized) in research pools with higher research credit requirements. Therefore, this research provides valuable guidance regarding crosstalk prevalence and its minimization by researchers.

The brief aggression questionnaire: psychometric and behavioral evidence for an efficient measure of trait aggression

A key problem facing aggression research is how to measure individual differences in aggression accurately and efficiently without sacrificing reliability or validity. Researchers are increasingly demanding brief measures of aggression for use in applied settings, field studies, pretest screening, longitudinal, and daily diary studies. The authors selected the three highest loading items from each of the Aggression Questionnaire's (Buss & Perry, 1992) four subscales--Physical Aggression, Verbal Aggression, anger, and hostility--and developed an efficient 12-item measure of aggression--the Brief Aggression Questionnaire (BAQ). Across five studies (N = 3,996), the BAQ showed theoretically consistent patterns of convergent and discriminant validity with other self-report measures, consistent four-factor structures using factor analyses, adequate recovery of information using item response theory methods, stable test-retest reliability, and convergent validity with behavioral measures of aggression. The authors discuss the reliability, validity, and efficiency of the BAQ, along with its many potential applications.

Actual vs. Reported Behavior

Past research has failed to adequately address the reasons behind the lack of handwashing in public restrooms. The present study explores possibilities for using psychology to design effective handwashing interventions. Specifically, the current study examines whether (1) the frequency of reported handwashing differs from that of actual handwashing behavior and (2) the presence of a sign increases handwashing behavior. Participants self-reported their handwashing behavior and/or their handwashing was observed in a public restroom. In the observation portion of the study, the experimenters either observed participants’ natural behavior or posted a sign in the restroom that read “Washing your hands after going to the bathroom reduces your risk of catching or spreading infectious diseases such as salmonella or hepatitis A” before observing their handwashing behavior. The experimenters recorded whether participants washed their hands with water and soap, with water but no soap, or not at all. Participants reported significantly higher rates of handwashing than were observed. Additionally, the reported and observed handwashing behavior of women exceeded that of men. Finally, men used soap more when presented with the sign than when no sign was present. In all, this study suggests that many serious diseases and illnesses can be avoided by increasing handwashing by posting signs in public restrooms reminding people to wash their hands.

Does personality predict driving performance in middle and older age? An evidence-based literature review

OBJECTIVE

To conduct a literature review of the relationship between personality and driving performance among middle-aged and older adults.

METHODS

We searched for relevant literature using Web of Science, PsycInfo, and PubMed and consulted with experts for recently published literature not yet catalogued in those databases. Using the American Academy of Neurology's classification criteria, we extracted data from 13 studies and assigned a class (I-IV) to each study. We grouped primary studies into 3 main categories of driving assessment (behavioral assessment: comprehensive driving evaluations, alternative on-road driving evaluations, driving simulations; automobile crashes: state-recorded crashes, self-reported crashes; self-report measures: self-reported driving behaviors). In all, we synthesized the relationship between personality and driving performance for middle-aged and older adults.

RESULTS

To assist clinicians and researchers in future considerations of the relationship between personality and driving performance, we provide specific evidence-based recommendations for several driving assessments: on-road driving evaluations (Level B), driving simulations (Level U), state-recorded crashes (Level C), self-reported crashes (Level C), and self-reported driving behaviors (Level C).

CONCLUSIONS

Overall, we found evidence for personality as a reliable predictor of driving performance among older drivers. However, 2 caveats qualify our conclusions: the research considered only a limited number of personality variables and largely consisted of less valid tests of driving performance. Therefore, to truly understand the relationship between personality and driving performance, future research must consider a wider range of individual differences and employ more stringent tests and methodological designs to measure driving performance.

Reactor decay heat in 239Pu: solving the γ discrepancy in the 4-3000-s cooling period

The β feeding probability of (102,104,105,106,107)Tc, 105Mo, and 101Nb nuclei, which are important contributors to the decay heat in nuclear reactors, has been measured using the total absorption technique. We have coupled for the first time a total absorption spectrometer to a Penning trap in order to obtain sources of very high isobaric purity. Our results solve a significant part of a long-standing discrepancy in the γ component of the decay heat for 239Pu in the 4-3000 s range.

Measurements of X- and γ-ray emission probabilities in the β(-) decay of (233)Pa

X- and γ-ray emission probabilities from the β(-) decay of (233)Pa were measured with planar (LEPS) and coaxial Ge detectors. A (233)Pa source was produced after radiochemical separation from a (237)Np sample in which the parent ((237)Np) and daughter ((233)Pa) nuclides were in secular equilibrium. The results are compared with previous measurements and data evaluations.

The relationship between pain and functional disability in Black and White older adults

In this study we examined pain and disability in 115 community-dwelling, urban, older adults (mean age = 74 years; 52% Black, 48% White). Participants completed a survey of pain (pain presence, intensity, locations, and duration) and disability (Sickness Impact Profile). Sixty percent of the sample reported pain; Black and White adults did not differ on any pain variable. In structural equation models controlling for socioeconomic factors and health, pain did not mediate the relationship between race and disability. Race moderated the pain-disability relationship; pain was more associated with disability among Whites than Blacks. This study highlights the need for greater understanding of health disparities between Black and White older adults as they relate to pain and disability.

The good-subject effect: investigating participant demand characteristics

Although researchers are often concerned with the presence of participant demand, few have directly examined effects of demand on participant behavior. Before beginning the present study, a confederate informed participants (N = 100) of the study's purported hypothesis. Participants then performed a laboratory task designed to evaluate the extent to which they would respond in ways that may confirm or disconfirm the hypothesis of the study. The authors found that participants tended to respond in ways that confirmed the hypothesis, yet this tendency depended on attitudes toward the experiment or experimenter and other individual differences. In addition, results suggested that suspicion probes may be ineffective in measuring participants' previous knowledge and suspicion. Findings indicate the need for more research and consideration of demand in the design of studies and analysis of data.

IAEA Coordinated Research Project: updated decay data library for actinides

Recommended nuclear decay data for specific actinides are important in fuel-cycle studies for thermal and fast reactors and inventory studies for safeguards. Therefore, a programme of work was initiated in 2005 to improve the actinide decay data library of the International Atomic Energy Agency through the efforts of a Coordinated Research Project (CRP). The proposed contents of the new database are described, including the agreement to include additional actinides and a significant number of natural decay chain radionuclides. This work is on-going, and is estimated for completion in 2009/10.

Assessing Pain in Persons with Dementia: Relationships Among the Non-communicative Patient’s Pain Assessment Instrument, Self-report, and Behavioral Observations

Pain is a common problem for many older adults, with up to 50% of community-dwelling and 70% to 80% of nursing home residents experiencing pain regularly. Effective pain management requires thorough assessment, appropriate intervention, and systematic reassessment. Pain assessment, however, is complicated by dementia, which impairs memory, reasoning, recognition, and communication, and affects elders' ability to verbally report pain. As such, observational measures are needed to assess pain in this vulnerable population. The Non-communicative Patient's Pain Assessment Instrument (NOPPAIN) was developed for this purpose, but more validation of this measure is needed. Thus, the purpose of this study was to (1) evaluate reliability of the NOPPAIN tool when used by nurses and to (2) compare NOPPAIN ratings with self-report and other well-established behavioral rating procedures. Forty participants (20 cognitively intact and 20 impaired) were randomly selected for this study from a larger sample. In the parent study, participants were asked to perform everyday activities (i.e., sit, stand, walk in place, transfer in and out of bed) while being videotaped. The tapes, all previously scored using microanalytic observational coding, were rated again by naïve raters using the NOPPAIN measure. Results indicated (1) high inter- and intrarater reliability of the NOPPAIN and (2) significant correlations of the NOPPAIN with self-reported pain and detailed behavioral coding. Findings support the reliability and validity of the NOPPAIN measurement tool and suggest this easy-to-use tool may be adequate for measuring pain indicators in older adults.

Nuclear decay data: Observations and reflections

Decay data constitute an important feature of nuclear physics that plays a significant role in the various work programmes of members and associates of the International Committee for Radionuclide Metrology (ICRM). At the invitation of the ICRM, a review has been undertaken with the joint aims of emphasising decay-data achievements over the previous 10 years, and highlighting inadequacies that remain to be addressed in the future.

Decay data: review of measurements, evaluations and compilations

Decay data represent an important means of characterising and quantifying radioactive material, as well as providing an important route to our understanding of the structure of the nucleus. The principle decay parameters are defined in this review, prior to undertaking an applications-based assessment of the most relevant contemporary measurements, evaluations and compilations. Emphasis has been placed on the demands of a series of IAEA Co-ordinated Research Programmes that focus on decay data and gamma-ray standards. Some of the more important decay-data issues are also reviewed with respect to recent measurements that address the anomalies associated with intermediate- and long-lived radionuclides. Short-lived fission products pose significant characterisation problems due to their high degree of instability, although a combination of mass separation and complex detector arrays has resulted in rapid analyses and major advances in our understanding of their nuclear properties and structure. Finally, a select number of decay-data evaluations and compilations are discussed in terms of the powerful manipulation and communication capabilities of PCs, CD-ROMs and the Internet.

The perils of prudence: how conservative risk assessments distort regulation

An analysis of several agencies' risk assessments reveals that the present conservative approach through several stages of estimates of amounts of regulated substances, the exposure levels, and cancer risks often tends to distort the actual final regulation. Changes in this process are desirable and possible and would reduce overestimation of cancer risk assessments. These possible changes are discussed.

Occult thyroid disease in an elderly hospitalized population

Measurements of thyroxine (T4), triiodothyronine (T3), thyrotropin (TSH), and T3 talc uptake (T3TU) were performed on 425 hospitalized patients over 60 years of age. Unsuspected thyroid disease was found in 10 patients (2.4%); 9 were hypothyroid and 1 hyperthyroid. Another 11% of the population had abnormal T4 or TSH levels but were not proved to have thyroid disease. Repeat measurements in 10 of 40 patients with low serum T4 concentrations showed a return of the tests to normal. The low T4 levels occurred in patients who were seriously ill and were usually associated with low T3TU values. Low serum T3 concentrations were observed in 32 of the patients. Although we found TSH to be the most useful test in the diagnosis of hypothyroidism, it is a relatively expensive test and is not helpful in screening for hyperthyroidism. The present results suggest that the best single test for screening for occult thyroid disease is a serum T4 measurement. We recommend a T4 test on all hospitalized patients over age 60 years. Serum should be held in the laboratory for measurement of TSH concentration if the T4 result is below 6.5 micrograms/dl. A T3 resin or talc uptake and a serum T3 measurement should be performed to rule out hyperthyroidism if the serum T4 concentration is elevated. This regimen will identify virtually all cases of occult thyroid disease.