Faculty Bibliography

Grounded in a model of service utilization, this study conceptualizes attendance of African-American women at an HIV prevention intervention as associated with influences across three ecological domains-individual, service (program), and social network. First, the texts of responses to semistructured, open-ended elicitation interviews were analyzed. Survey items that conceptually matched the influences on attendance were then selected for subsequent analyses. In order to assess. the contributions of groups of variables in separate domains, three blocks of independent variables were entered in a hierarchical regression. The hierarchical regression revealed that individual domain variables (age, level of education, and perception of racism) accounted for 18% of variance in attendance. After controlling for these variables, program domain variables (use of counseling and staff fliendliness) accounted for an additional 7% of variance. The social network domain (influence of friends) did not account for any additional variance. It appears that several factors in different ecological domains may influence attendance at HIV prevention interventions. The modifiable factors found here can be used by researchers and practitioners to improve the attendance of racial and ethnic minority populations, those at most risk for HIV exposure, at prevention interventions. (c) 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

The article reviews the dimensions of capacity-building as applied to the development and growth of effective school mental health (SMH) programs and initiatives. There has been considerable growth of SMH in the US and internationally, and this growth is being fueled by conferences and partnerships at local, regional, national and international levels. However, more comprehensive SMH, involving provision of a full continuum of mental health promotion, prevention, early intervention and intervention services for young people in general and special education is a relatively new and emerging field, and numerous challenges are being confronted as communities attempt to build capacity for it. Ideas for building capacity in SMH, along with opportunities to advance global dialogue and collaboration on the field's advancement, are presented

Learning and memory depend on signaling molecules that affect synaptic efficacy. The cytoskeleton has been implicated in regulating synaptic transmission but its role in learning and memory is poorly understood. Fear learning depends on plasticity in the lateral nucleus of the amygdala. We therefore examined whether the cytoskeletal-regulatory protein, myosin light chain kinase, might contribute to fear learning in the rat lateral amygdala. Microinjection of ML-7, a specific inhibitor of myosin light chain kinase, into the lateral nucleus of the amygdala before fear conditioning, but not immediately afterward, enhanced both short-term memory and long-term memory, suggesting that myosin light chain kinase is involved specifically in memory acquisition rather than in posttraining consolidation of memory. Myosin light chain kinase inhibitor had no effect on memory retrieval. Furthermore, ML-7 had no effect on behavior when the training stimuli were presented in a non-associative manner. Anatomical studies showed that myosin light chain kinase is present in cells throughout lateral nucleus of the amygdala and is localized to dendritic shafts and spines that are postsynaptic to the projections from the auditory thalamus to lateral nucleus of the amygdala, a pathway specifically implicated in fear learning. Inhibition of myosin light chain kinase enhanced long-term potentiation, a physiological model of learning, in the auditory thalamic pathway to the lateral nucleus of the amygdala. When ML-7 was applied without associative tetanic stimulation it had no effect on synaptic responses in lateral nucleus of the amygdala. Thus, myosin light chain kinase activity in lateral nucleus of the amygdala appears to normally suppress synaptic plasticity in the circuits underlying fear learning, suggesting that myosin light chain kinase may help prevent the acquisition of irrelevant fears. Impairment of this mechanism could contribute to pathological fear learning

Twenty-six college women with a history of repeated childhood sexual abuse were recruited from the community and compared with 19 healthy female collegiate subjects on neurocognitive measures. Abused subjects showed increased response latency variability and diminished inhibitory capacity during a GO/NO-GO/STOP vigilance task. A strong association was found between duration of abuse and memory impairments. Math Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) scores were significantly lower in abused subjects when matched against comparison subjects and when compared to their own Verbal SAT scores. Childhood sexual abuse appears to be associated with a constellation of neuropsychological deficiencies even in a group of relatively healthy women

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the factor structure of the Liebowitz Social Anxiety Scale for Children and Adolescents (LSAS-CA). The LSAS-CA was administered to 225 children and adolescents as a component of various clinical studies. In addition, other measures of psychopathology and impairment were administered to a subgroup of the sample. Confirmatory factor analyses of the social interaction and performance subscales for the anxiety and avoidance ratings yielded poor fit indices. Exploratory factor analysis supported a two-factor solution with a higher order factor for the LSAS-CA anxiety and avoidance ratings. Based on item content, factors were named Social and School Performance. The internal consistency of the factors was high and the convergent and divergent validity was supported vis-a-vis correlations with measures of depression and social anxiety, and clinician ratings of impairment and functioning. Findings suggest that the anxiety and avoidance ratings are best explained by a two-factor solution that measures social anxiety and avoidance in social and school performance interactions. This factor structure appears to be a reliable and valid framework for assessing childhood social phobia.