Suchergebnisse

Biologists have known for decades that many traits involved in competition for mates or other resources and that influence mate choice are exaggerated, and their expression is influenced by the individuals' ability to tolerate a variety of environmental and social stressors. Evolution of Vulnerability applies this concept of heightened sensitivity to humans for a host of physical, social, psychological, cognitive, and brain traits. By reframing the issue entirely, renowned evolutionary psychologist David C. Geary demonstrates this principle can be used to identify children, adolescents, or populations at risk for poor long-term outcomes and identify specific traits in each sex and at different points in development that are most easily disrupted by exposure to stressors. Evolution of Vulnerability begins by reviewing the expansive literature on traits predicted to show sex-specific sensitivity to environmental and social stressors, and details the implications for better assessing and understanding the consequences of exposure to these stressors

Traumatic brain injury (TBI) and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) are signature injuries of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and have been linked to an increased risk of Alzheimer's disease (AD) and other dementias. A meeting hosted by the Alzheimer's Association and the Veterans' Health Research Institute (NCIRE) in May 2012 brought together experts from the U.S. military and academic medical centers around the world to discuss current evidence and hypotheses regarding the pathophysiological mechanisms linking TBI, PTSD, and AD. Studies underway in civilian and military populations were highlighted, along with new research initiatives such as a study to extend the Alzheimer's Disease Neuroimaging Initiative (ADNI) to a population of veterans exposed to TBI and PTSD. Greater collaboration and data sharing among diverse research groups is needed to advance an understanding and appropriate interventions in this continuum of military injuries and neurodegenerative disease in the aging veteran.

During the past 35 years, an ever-increasing number of women has been entering the work force and assuming numerous jobs that were traditionally reserved for men. To see if human factors research has been keeping up with the problems and questions this trend inevitably poses, the content of two leading human factors journals (Human Factors and Ergonomics) was analyzed for the time period 1965 through 1976. Nearly half the 859 studies examined included only male subjects; only a quarter included females, either exclusively (6%), or with males (19%); and nearly a third gave no indication of the subjects' sex. Even in studies that included both males and females, only a third did analyses to determine whether there were sex differences. The desirability of considering the sex variable in human factors studies and several of the problems associated with doing so are discussed, and recommendations are offered.