Joke comprehension may decrease with age
Wed, 11 Jul 2007 03:14:27 GMT
By BETSY TAYLOR, Associated Press Writer
ST. LOUIS - It's no laughing matter: a new study suggests older adults have a harder time getting jokes as they age. The research indicates that because older adults may have greater difficulty with cognitive flexibility, abstract reasoning and short-term memory, they also have greater difficulty with tests of humor comprehension.
Researchers at Washington University tested about 40 healthy adults over age 65 and 40 undergraduate students with exercises in which they had to complete jokes and stories. Participants also had to choose the correct punch line for verbal jokes and select the funny ending to series of cartoon panels.
Findings were published earlier this month in the Journal of the International Neuropsychological Society.
The research conducted by graduate student Wingyun Mak and psychology professor Brian Carpenter showed that the younger adults did 6 percent better on the verbal jokes and 14 percent better on the comic portion than did older participants, Mak said.
Researchers used a verbal joke test developed in 1983 and used in other humor studies. Mak added a new element, though, by showing participants cartoons from the Ferd'nand comic strip, and asking them to choose between four panels to locate the funny ending. Three of the choices for each cartoon were the wrong ones, created by an artist for the study.
"This wasn't a study about what people find funny. It was a study about whether they get what's supposed to be funny," Carpenter said.
"There are basic cognitive mechanisms to understanding what's going on in a joke. Older adults, because they may have deficits in some of those cognitive areas, may have a harder time understanding what a joke is about."
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On the Net:
Washington University: http://www.wustl.edu/
Female circumcision a problem in Britain
Wed, 11 Jul 2007 00:28:40 GMT
By D'ARCY DORAN, Associated Press Writer
LONDON - Female genital mutilation, commonly associated with parts of Africa and the Middle East, is becoming a growing problem in Britain despite efforts to stamp it out. London's Metropolitan Police, Britain's largest police force, hopes a campaign beginning on Wednesday will highlight that the practice is a crime here.
To make their point, police are offering a $40,000 reward for information leading to Britain's first prosecution for female genital mutilation, Detective Chief Superintendent Alastair Jeffrey said.
In Britain, the problem mostly involves first-generation immigrants from Africa and the Middle East.
Police say they don't have comprehensive statistics about the number of victims. But midwife Comfort Momoh, who specializes in treating them at London hospitals and clinics and who works with police, told the news conference she treats 400 to 500 victims every year.
Arranging or carrying out the procedure — in Britain or abroad — is a criminal offense punishable by up to 14 years in prison, but no one has been prosecuted since it was banned under British law in 2003, Jeffrey said. Police estimate up to 66,000 girls in Britain face the risk of genital mutilation.
"The timing of this campaign is for one good reason: so we can get in before the summer holidays, a time when young girls are taken abroad and subjected to genital mutilation," he told a news conference Tuesday.
Mutilated infants, girls and women face irreversible lifelong health risks — both physically and mentally, according to UNICEF and other charity groups.
Authorities believe the number of genital mutilation cases peaks in the summer, because the extended school vacation gives girls more time to recover — thereby making it easier for those responsible to cover up their actions.
Female genital mutilation usually involves the removal of the clitoris and other parts of female genitalia. Those who practice it say it tames a girl's sexual desire and maintains her honor.
It is practiced by Muslims and Christians alike, deeply rooted in the Nile Valley region and parts of sub-Saharan African, and is also done in Yemen and Oman. Through migration, the practice has spread to Western countries like Britain.
U.S. federal law specifically bans the practice.
Between 100 million and 140 million women are believed to have been subjected to the practice in Africa and an additional 3 million girls face the threat of female genital mutilation every year, according to UNICEF.
Detective Inspector Carol Hamilton, who has been investigating the practice since 2004, said some immigrants in Britain may bring practitioners from their home country to mutilate several children because it is cheaper.
She said children not only suffer terrible physical injuries, but can also be left emotionally scarred.
Salimata Badji-Knight was mutilated when she was 4 years old in her native Senegal.
Now married and living in London, she fears she may not be able to have children because of the procedure. She hopes that by sharing her experiences she can prevent parents from subjecting their daughters to similar abuse.
"Why do they need to go and mutilate a young innocent person without her knowing what is going to happen, just for culture?" Badji-Knight said. "It does not add up for me."
Somali-born supermodel Waris Dirie survived a traditional form of the practice that kills hundreds of girls each year.
French President Nicolas Sarkozy is set to present the "Chevalier de la Legion d'honneur" to her on Thursday for her work as a leading critic of female genital mutilation, which has seen her tour parts of Africa to speak out against the practice.
Psychologists to review stance on gays
Tue, 10 Jul 2007 21:33:07 GMT
By DAVID CRARY, AP National Writer
NEW YORK - The American Psychological Association is embarking on the first review of its 10-year-old policy on counseling gays and lesbians, a step that gay-rights activists hope will end with a denunciation of any attempt by therapists to change sexual orientation.
Such efforts — often called reparative therapy or conversion therapy — are considered futile and harmful by many gay-rights activists. Conservative groups defend the right to offer such treatment, and say people with their viewpoint have been excluded from the review panel.
A six-member task force set up by the APA has its first meeting beginning next Tuesday.
Already, scores of conservative religious leaders and counselors, representing such groups as the Southern Baptist Convention and Focus on the Family, have written a joint letter to the APA, expressing concern that the task force's proposals would not properly accommodate gays and lesbians whose religious beliefs condemn gay sex.
"We believe that psychologists should assist clients to develop lives that they value, even if that means they decline to identify as homosexual," said the letter, which requested a meeting between APA leaders and some of the signatories.
APA spokeswoman Rhea Farberman said a decision on when and how to reply to the letter had not yet been made.
The current APA policy, adopted in 1997, opposes any counseling that treats homosexuality as a mental illness, but does not explicitly denounce reparative therapy. The APA has decided to review the policy at a time when gay-rights groups are increasingly critical of such treatment and groups that support it.
Conservatives contend that the review's outcome is preordained because the task force is dominated by gay-rights supporters.
"We're concerned," said Carrie Gordon Earll of Focus on the Family. "The APA does not have a good track record of listening to other views."
Joseph Nicolosi, a leading proponent of reparative therapy, predicted the task force would propose a ban of the practice — and he vowed to resist such a move. Nicolosi, who was rejected as a task force nominee, is president of the National Association for Research and Therapy of Homosexuality.
Clinton Anderson, director of the APA's Lesbian, Gay and Bisexual Concerns Office, insisted the panel would base its findings on scientific research, not ideology. He defended the decision to reject certain conservative applicants to the task force.
"We cannot take into account what are fundamentally negative religious perceptions of homosexuality — they don't fit into our world view," Anderson said.
One of the counselors denied a seat on the task force was Warren Throckmorton, a psychology professor at Grove City College near Pittsburgh. Though Throckmorton doesn't advocate a specific form of reparative therapy, he argues that psychologists should respect gay clients' religious beliefs in cases where the faith teaches that homosexual behavior is wrong.
"We work with clients to pursue their chosen values," he said. "If they are core, unwavering commitments to their religious belief, therapists should not try to persuade them differently under the guise of science."
However, one of the task force members, New York City psychiatrist Jack Drescher, said the conservatives don't acknowledge the harm that might be caused when a gay patient — even voluntarily — undergoes therapy to suppress or change sexual orientation.
"They want a rubber stamp of approval for a form of therapy that's questionable in its efficacy and they don't want to deal with the issue of harmful side effects," said Drescher, who is editor of the Journal of Gay and Lesbian Psychotherapy.
As the APA planned the policy review, it received input from gay-rights groups, including Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays.
PFLAG's executive director, Jody Huckaby, said reparative therapy had been particularly harmful for young gays whose parents insisted on trying to change their sexual orientation. His group contends these efforts can cause depression and suicidal behavior.
Current APA policy stipulates that no therapy should occur without "informed consent" of a gay or lesbian client. Jason Cianciotto of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force said he hoped the APA would declare that no young person could ever be deemed to have given informed consent, and thus no reparative therapy would be approved for minors.
The largest ministry that does counsel gays to change their sexual orientation is Exodus International. Its president, Alan Chambers — who says prayer and therapy enabled him to move away from homosexuality — is among those apprehensive of the APA review.
"I had hoped for more diversity on that panel," Chambers said. "I see a lot of people who represent the other side — who don't believe that people like me have a right to self-determination."
The task force may submit a preliminary report to the APA's directors in December. Anderson said a final report might be completed by next March.
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On the Net:
American Psychological Association: http://www.apa.org/
FDA OKs hightech arm brace for strokes
Tue, 10 Jul 2007 22:49:13 GMT
BOSTON - Federal regulators have granted clearance to market a robotic arm brace designed to help stroke survivors regain use of paralyzed limbs and relearn how to move affected muscles, the device's maker said Tuesday.
Myomo Inc. said it would begin marketing the e100 NeuroRobotic System to rehabilitation clinics and medical specialists now that it has Food and Drug Administration clearance.
The lightweight brace slides onto an arm. Sensors placed on the front and back parts of the upper arm detect slight muscle contractions. That triggers a motor — contained in a backpack that the user also wears — that allows the user to control the arm's movement.
Unlike other devices to help stroke survivors regain mobility, no electrical stimulation or invasive procedures are required, Myomo says. Rather, the device helps individuals use their own biological signals to recover muscle control.
The destruction of brain cells from a stroke causes loss of function. The researchers say with repetitive therapy, other neurons can take over some of the lost function.
Boston-based Myomo — whose name is an acronym for "My Own Motion" — developed the arm based on research by two Massachusetts Institute of Technology graduates who won a $50,000 MIT business plan competition in 2004. Myomo is the privately held company that the MIT grads, John McBean and Kailas Narendran, are using to market the device.
The device is expected to cost $5,000 to $10,000, with specific pricing information forthcoming, said Maureen Liberty, a Myomo spokeswoman. The company isn't making sales projections.
The device is intended for use in clincal settings, and hasn't yet been shown to be safe or effective for home use, the company said. Clinical studies haven't demonstrated any known side effects or risks for stroke patients in therapy.
Shanghai teen pregnancy blamed on Web
Wed, 11 Jul 2007 18:24:10 GMT
SHANGHAI, China - Nearly half of pregnant teens in China's financial center Shanghai met their partners on the Internet, according to a newspaper report that also spotlighted widespread ignorance about sexual health.
Fully 46 percent of the more than 20,000 girls who called the city's pregnancy hot line during the past two years said they had sex with boys they met online, the China Daily said, citing Dr. Zhang Zhengrong of Shanghai's No. 411 Hospital.
Most of the would-be fathers disappeared after being told of the pregnancies, while in some cases the girls did not even know their partners' true names, the report said.
The report said calls to the hot line have shot up 12 percent since the start of school holidays, which began two weeks ago and run through August.
Earlier reports have cited a 30 percent increase in abortions by teens during holidays, with high school students between 16 and 18 accounting for a growing percentage of those seeking to end their pregnancies.
Zhang said callers to the hot line generally knew little about birth control or the physiological aspects of sex and widely considered abortions to be harmless.
About 10 percent who called had undergone multiple abortions, while "there were some who were unaware they were even pregnant until very late," Zhang was ed as saying.
While underage sex remains taboo in China, abortion is widely available without the requirement that parents be notified. China has long promoted abortion as part of its attempts to enforce policies limiting most families to just one child.
Zhang said 79 percent of high school and university girls cited the Internet as their main source of information about sex in a survey conducted by her hospital.
Just 7.9 percent of parents discussed sexual matters with their daughters, she said, while 46 percent of parents said it was the responsibility of schools to provide sex education. The survey gathered results from 2,043 parents, 2,680 teachers and 1,577 teens.