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Interpretation Bias Modification (IBM) interventions have been effective in reducing negative interpretation biases theorized to underlie depressive psychopathology. Although these programs have been highlighted as potential short-term interventions for depression, mixed evidence has been found for their effects on depressive symptoms. There is a need to examine attitudes towards training as well as individual difference factors that may impact symptom outcomes for IBM depression interventions. Seventy-two dysphoric young adults were randomly assigned to receive either an IBM targeting negative interpretation bias in personal evaluations or interpersonal situations or a healthy video control (HVC) condition. Compared to those who received HVC, participants in the IBM condition reported lower negative interpretation bias at posttreatment. No differences between conditions were found for symptom outcomes. Greater perceived treatment credibility and expectancy were associated with better treatment outcomes for both the IBM and HVC groups. Within the IBM group, a greater tendency toward assimilation with treatment scenarios was significantly associated with better treatment outcomes for both depressive and anger symptoms. This effect was unique from treatment credibility and expectancy. Pretreatment psychological reactance did not predict treatment response for either condition. Implications and future research directions are discussed.

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Interpretation Bias Modification (IBM) is gaining attention in the literature as an intervention that alters cognitive biases and reduces associated symptoms. Forty, primarily college-aged, non-treatment-seeking adults with major depressive disorder (MDD) were randomly assigned to receive either IBM targeting hostile interpretation bias (IBM-H) or a healthy video control (HVC) condition. Compared to those in HVC, participants in IBM-H reported more benign interpretations and fewer hostile interpretations at posttreatment. No difference in depressive interpretation bias was found between groups at posttreatment. IBM-H led to improved anger control at posttreatment and follow-up compared to HVC, though no effects of condition were found on trait anger or depressive symptoms. The IBM-H group perceived their treatment as less credible than the HVC group. For individuals with high expectancy of treatment success, IBM-H led to lower posttreatment depressive symptoms compared to HVC, while findings trended in the opposite direction for those with low expectancy of success. Overall, these preliminary findings point to boundary conditions for the efficacy of IBM protocols for anger and depression and potential improvements to be made to future IBM protocols.

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High trait anger is associated with more severe alcohol use problems, and alcohol has been found to facilitate aggressive behavior among individuals with high trait anger. Treatments focused on a sample with alcohol use disorder with elevated anger could reduce alcohol use problems, as well as violence and aggression. We sought to examine the efficacy of interpretation bias modification for hostility (IBM-H) in a sample with high trait anger and alcohol use disorder (AUD). Fifty-eight individuals with AUD and elevated trait anger were randomly assigned to eight web-based sessions (two per week) of IBM-H or a healthy video control condition (HVC). Measures of interpretation bias, anger, and alcohol use were administered at pre- and post-treatment and at one-month follow-up. IBM-H led to greater improvements in interpretation bias compared to HVC at post and follow-up. IBM-H also led to greater reductions in trait anger than HVC, though this was an indirect effect mediated by changes in interpretation bias. Further, IBM-H led to lower anger expression than HVC; this was a direct (non-mediated) effect. Lastly, both conditions reported decreases in alcohol use and consequences following treatment, though there were no significant differences between them. These findings provide initial support for the utility of IBM-H as a brief non-confrontational intervention for AUD with elevated trait anger. Limitations and future research directions are discussed.

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A number of studies have reported associations between pain and anger in samples with chronic pain, but research has mostly overlooked associations between pain and anger in those with problematic anger. The present study explored associations between pain severity and a variety of anger and hostility constructs in a sample seeking anger treatment (n =131). Zero-order correlations and partial correlations were used to examine associations between pain, anger, and hostility, controlling for depressive symptoms. Hierarchical regression models examined potential interaction effects of gender on associations between pain and these outcomes. Pain severity was positively associated with trait anger, outward anger expression, hostile interpretation bias, hostile ideation, and inability to forgive others. These associations were independent of co-occurring depressive symptoms, with some exceptions. Gender moderated the association between pain and hostile ideation such that pain was positively associated with hostile ideation in women but not men. Pain severity was uniquely associated with multiple outcomes of relevance to individuals undergoing treatment for problematic anger. Clinical implications will be discussed.

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BACKGROUND: Research suggests an important relationship between interpretation bias, hostility and Major Depressive Disorder (MDD). Extant literature has yet to examine hostile interpretation bias in clinically depressed samples; the current studies sought to fill this gap. METHOD: Study 1 participants included undergraduates who met criteria for MDD (n=36) or no anxiety or mood diagnosis (n=35). Each participant completed a structured clinical interview along with measures of depression, hostile interpretation bias, and trait hostility. In Study 2, a sample of treatment-seeking individuals with elevated trait anger completed measures of depression, hostile interpretation bias, and trait anger. RESULTS: Study 1 demonstrated that, relative to the non-depressed group, individuals with depression displayed greater hostile interpretation bias but comparable levels of trait hostility. In Study 2, greater hostile interpretation bias was associated with greater depressive symptoms, and this relationship was independent of co-occurring trait anger. LIMITATIONS: The correlational nature of these studies precludes interpretation of causal relationships between constructs. Additionally, replication of these results should be sought in a larger, more diverse sample. CONCLUSION: Overall, the findings suggest hostile interpretation bias may play a unique role in depression and could be a treatable feature of interpersonal mechanisms maintaining MDD.

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Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is generally assessed with reference to a "worst-event" (index) trauma, though little research has examined whether symptom presentation and comorbidity differ across worst-events. Data from individuals meeting lifetime PTSD criteria in the National Comorbidity Survey-Replication (N=398) were used to examine relations between PTSD presentation and comorbidity with the three most commonly reported "worst-event" trauma types: sexual trauma, non-sexual physical violence, and unexpected death of a loved one. Sexual trauma and non-sexual physical violence were associated with more symptomatic presentation of PTSD and lifetime trauma types compared to other worst-events. Non-sexual physical violence was associated with comorbid substance use disorder, and unexpected death of a loved one was associated with comorbid depression. Inclusion of number of lifetime trauma types as a covariate rendered most, but not all associations non-significant. These findings suggest worst-event trauma type is related to some important differences in PTSD presentation.

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Because of its high sensitivity for light elements and the scattering contrast manipulation via isotopic substitutions, neutron reflectometry (NR) is an excellent tool for studying the structure of soft-condensed material. These materials include model biophysical systems as well as in situ living tissue at the solid-liquid interface. The penetrability of neutrons makes NR suitable for probing thin films with thicknesses of 5-5000 Å at various buried, for example, solid-liquid, interfaces [J. Daillant and A. Gibaud, Lect. Notes Phys. 770, 133 (2009); G. Fragneto-Cusani, J. Phys.: Condens. Matter 13, 4973 (2001); J. Penfold, Curr. Opin. Colloid Interface Sci. 7, 139 (2002)]. Over the past two decades, NR has evolved to become a key tool in the characterization of biological and biomimetic thin films. In the current report, the authors would like to highlight some of our recent accomplishments in utilizing NR to study highly complex systems, including in-situ experiments. Such studies will result in a much better understanding of complex biological problems, have significant medical impact by suggesting innovative treatment, and advance the development of highly functionalized biomimetic materials.

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Mössbauer spectroscopy, experimental thermodynamic measurements, and computational studies were performed to investigate the properties of molecular hydrogen binding to the organometallic fragments [MHdppe2]+ (M = Fe, Ru, Os; dppe =1,2-bis(diphenylphosphino)ethane) to form the dihydrogen complex fragments [MH(η2-H2)dppe2]+. Mössbauer spectroscopy showed that the dehydrogenated complex [FeHdppe2]+ adopts a geometry consistent with the triplet spin state, transitioning to a singlet state complex upon addition of the dihydrogen molecule in a manner similar to the previously studied dinitrogen complexes. From simulations, this spin transition behavior was found to be responsible for the strong binding behavior experimentally observed in the iron complex. Spin-singlet to spin-singlet transitions were found to exhibit thermodynamics consistent with the 5d > 3d > 4d binding trend observed for other transition metal dihydrogen complexes. Finally, the method for distinguishing between dihydrogen and dihydride complexes based on partial quadrupole splittings observed in Mössbauer spectra was confirmed, providing a tool for further characterization of these unique species for Mössbauer active compounds.

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Neutron reflectometry (NR) was used to examine various live cells adhesion to quartz substrates under different environmental conditions, including flow stress. To the best of our knowledge, these measurements represent the first successful visualization and quantization of the interface between live cells and a substrate with sub-nanometer resolution. In our first experiments, we examined live mouse fibroblast cells as opposed to past experiments using supported lipids, proteins, or peptide layers with no associated cells. We continued the NR studies of cell adhesion by investigating endothelial monolayers and glioblastoma cells under dynamic flow conditions. We demonstrated that neutron reflectometry is a powerful tool to study the strength of cellular layer adhesion in living tissues, which is a key factor in understanding the physiology of cell interactions and conditions leading to abnormal or disease circumstances. Continuative measurements, such as investigating changes in tumor cell - surface contact of various glioblastomas, could impact advancements in tumor treatments. In principle, this can help us to identify changes that correlate with tumor invasiveness. Pursuit of these studies can have significant medical impact on the understanding of complex biological problems and their effective treatment, e.g. for the development of targeted anti-invasive therapies.

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BACKGROUND: This study examined how language reflective of emotional and social processes during a cancer-related discussion relates to patient, couple, and family adjustment after breast cancer. It investigated whether emotional expression or relational focus, manifested in language use, indicates healthy family coping following breast cancer. METHODS: Family members each completed measures of adjustment (Family Environment Scale, Dyadic Adjustment Scale, and patient Profile of Mood States) and engaged in a 15-min family discussion about how they have coped with breast cancer. Transcripts from the discussion were submitted to a text-analysis software program to obtain frequency of positive and negative emotion words, and personal pronouns spoken by each family member. The relationship between self-reports of adjustment and frequency of language use during the family discussion was analyzed with regression models. RESULTS: Partners' positive emotion words were indicative of better family adjustment, patients' negative emotion words indicated greater family conflict, and sons' and daughters' anger words indicated poorer adjustment, whereas their anxiety words indicated better family adjustment. Partner we-talk was related to better dyadic adjustment, and couples' 'you' was somewhat related to worse adjustment at all levels. CONCLUSIONS: Important information about how a family copes with breast cancer can be obtained by attending to families' emotional and relational language. This study suggests that clinicians and members of families' support networks can gauge how well a family has adapted after the breast cancer experience by attending to the type of words that each family member uses to describe how they coped with breast cancer.

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Divorce is a highly stressful event, and much remains to be learned about the factors that promote psychological resilience when marriages come to an end. In this study, divorcing adults (N = 109) completed a 4-min stream-of-consciousness recording about their marital separation at an initial laboratory visit. Four judges rated the degree to which participants exhibited self-compassion (defined by self-kindness, an awareness of one's place in shared humanity, and emotional equanimity) in their recordings. Judges evidenced considerable agreement in their ratings of participants' self-compassion, and these ratings demonstrated strong predictive utility: Higher levels of self-compassion at the initial visit were associated with less divorce-related emotional intrusion into daily life at the start of the study, and this effect persisted up to 9 months later. These effects held when we accounted for a number of competing predictors. Self-compassion is a modifiable variable, and if our findings can be replicated, they may have implications for improving the lives of divorcing adults.

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Polymer-supported single lipid bilayers are models to study configurations of cell membranes. We used off-specular neutron scattering to quantify in-plane height-height correlations of interfacial fluctuations of such a lipid bilayer. As temperature decreased from 37 °C to 25 °C, the polymer swells and the polymer-supported lipid membrane deviates from its initially nearly planar structure. A correlation length characteristic of capillary waves changes from 30 µm at 37 °C to 11 µm at 25 °C, while the membrane bending rigidity remains roughly constant in this temperature range.

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Neutron reflectometry (NR) was used to examine live mouse fibroblast cells adherent on a quartz substrate in a deuterated phosphate-buffered saline environment at room temperature. These measurements represent the first, to our knowledge, successful visualization and quantization of the interface between live cells and a substrate with subnanometer resolution using NR. NR data, attributable to the adhesion of live cells, were observed and compared with data from pure growth medium. Independently of surface cell density, the average distance between the center of the cell membrane region and the quartz substrate was determined to be approximately 180 A. The membrane region ( approximately 80 A thick) contains the membranes of cells that are inhomogeneously distributed or undulating, likely conforming to the nonplanar geometry of the supporting adherence proteins. A second region of cell membranes at a greater distance from the substrate was not detectable by NR due to the resolution limits of the technique employed. Attachment of the live cell samples was confirmed by interaction with both distilled water and trypsin. Distinct changes in the NR data after exposure indicate the removal of cells from the substrate.

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In order to investigate the process of noncovalent adsorption on glassy carbon surfaces, two terpyridine ligands 4-pyren-1-yl-N-[5-([2,2';6',2'']terpyridin-4'-yloxy)-pentyl]-butyramide (tpy~py) and N-[5-([2,2';6',2'']terpyridin-4'-yloxy)-pentyl]-2-naphthamide (tpy~nap) as well as the homoleptic cobalt(II) complexes of these ligands (Co(tpy~py)(2)(PF(6))(2) and Co(tpy~nap)(2)(PF(6))(2)) were synthesized. Electrochemical measurements in solution were used to characterize the transport behavior of these complexes and to verify that the polyaromatic portion of each ligand did not dramatically influence the electronic properties of the transition metal complex. The adsorption of the cobalt complexes above on glassy carbon electrode surfaces was then examined using cyclic voltammetry and was found to be well described by Langmuir or Frumkin isotherms. The free energy of adsorption for Co(tpy~py)(2)(PF(6))(2) was considerably larger than that for Co(tpy~nap)(2)(PF(6))(2): -41 versus -30 kJ/mol.

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A hydrated, surface-tethered polymer network capable of fivefold change in thickness over a 25-37 degrees C temperature range has been demonstrated via neutron reflectivity and fluorescence microscopy to be a novel support for single lipid bilayers in a liquid environment. As the polymer swells from 170 to 900 A, it promotes both in- and out-of-plane fluctuations of the supported membrane. The cushioned bilayer proved to be very robust, remaining structurally intact for 16 days and many temperature cycles. The promotion of membrane fluctuations offers far-reaching applications for this system as a surrogate biomembrane.

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Neutron reflectometry was used to probe in situ the structure of supported lipid bilayers at the solid-liquid interface during the early stages of UV-induced oxidative degradation. Single-component supported lipid bilayers composed of gel phase, dipalmitoyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphocholine (DPPC), and fluid phase, 1-palmitoyl-2-oleoyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphocholine (POPC), phospholipids were exposed to low-dose oxidative stress generated by UV light and their structures were examined by neutron reflectometry. An interrupted illumination mode, involving exposures in 15 min increments with 2 h intervals between subsequent exposures, and a continuous mode involving a single 60 (or 90) min exposure period were employed. In both cases, pronounced differences in the structure of the lipid bilayer after exposure were observed. Interrupted exposure led to a substantial decrease in membrane coverage but preserved its total thickness at reduced scattering length densities. These results indicate that the initial phase during UV-induced membrane degradation involves the formation of hydrophilic channels within the membrane. This is consistent with the loss of some lipid molecules we observe and attendant reorganization of residual lipids forming hemimicellar edges of the hydrophilic channels. In contrast, continuous illumination produced a graded interface of continuously varied scattering length density (and hence hydrocarbon density) extending 100-150 A into the liquid phase. Exposure of a DPPC bilayer to UV light in the presence of a reservoir of unfused vesicles showed low net membrane disintegration during oxidative stress, presumably because of surface back-filling from the bulk reservoir. Chemical evidence for membrane degradation was obtained by mass spectrometry and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy. Further evidence for the formation of hydrophilic channels was furnished by fluorescence microscopy and imaging ellipsometry data.

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