Perceived discrimination is associated with severity of positive and depression/anxiety symptoms in immigrants with psychosis: a cross-sectional study

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Immigration status is a significant risk factor for psychotic disorders, and a number of studies have reported more severe positive and affective symptoms among immigrant and ethnic minority groups. We investigated if perceived discrimination was associated with the severity of these symptoms among immigrants in Norway with psychotic disorders.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Cross-sectional analyses of 90 immigrant patients (66% first-generation, 68% from Asia/Africa) in treatment for psychotic disorders were assessed for DSM-IV diagnoses with the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM Disorders (SCID-I, sections A-E) and for present symptom severity by The Structured Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (SCI-PANSS). Perceived discrimination was assessed by a self-report questionnaire developed for the Immigrant Youth in Cultural Transition Study.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Perceived discrimination correlated with positive psychotic (r = 0.264, p < 0.05) and depression/anxiety symptoms (r = 0.282, p < 0.01), but not negative, cognitive, or excitement symptoms. Perceived discrimination also functioned as a partial mediator for symptom severity in African immigrants. Multiple linear regression analyses controlling for possible confounders revealed that perceived discrimination explained approximately 10% of the variance in positive and depression/anxiety symptoms in the statistical model.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Among immigrants with psychotic disorders, visible minority status was associated with perceived discrimination and with more severe positive and depression/anxiety symptoms. These results suggest that context-specific stressful environmental factors influence specific symptom patterns and severity. This has important implications for preventive strategies and treatment of this vulnerable patient group.</p

Will the Public's Health Fall Victim to the Home Foreclosure Epidemic?

Gary Bennett and colleagues discuss the ways in which the dramatic rise in home foreclosures, particularly in the US, may have health consequences

Interaction of Curcumin and Bixin with beta-Cyclodextrin: Complexation Methods, Stability, and Applications in Food

This work aimed to compare methods for the formation of complexes of bixin and curcumin with P-cyclodextrin (beta-CD) and to evaluate the stability of the complexes formed by these methods and their food applications. The stoichiometric relationship between curcumin and beta-CD was 1:2 and that between bixin and beta-CD was 1:1. Curcumin-beta-CD and bixin-beta-CD complexes formed by kneading, coprecipitation, and simple mixing were evaluated by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), thermogravimetry analysis (TGA), or nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR-H). For both curcumin and bixin, the best method of complexation was coprecipitation. Complexation of colorants with beta-CD promoted an intensification of color and increased water solubility; however, stabilization in the presence of light occurred only for bixin. Application of curcumin-beta-CD in cheese and yogurt and bixin-beta-CD in the curd did not alter the initial characteristics of the products, which were sensorialy well accepted. Therefore, the complexation of these natural colorants with beta-CD favors their use in low-fat foods, broadening the field of industrial application.597SI3348335

Click‘n’Roll: No Evidence of Illusion of Control

International audienceEvidence of illusion of control—the fact that people believe to have control over pure chance events—is a recurrent finding in experimental psychology. Results in economics find instead little to no support. In this paper we test whether this dissonant result across disciplines is due to the fact that economists have implemented only one form of illusory control. We identify and separately tests in an incentive-compatible design two types of control: (a) over the resolution of uncertainty, as usually done in the economics literature, and (b) over the choice of the lottery, as sometimes done in the psychology literature but without monetary payoffs. Results show no evidence of illusion of control, neither on choices nor on beliefs about the likelihood of winning