Past research suggests that conditions of scarcity increase the intensity of female same-sex competition. As such, cues to resource scarcity (vs. abundance) might lead women to perceive greater competitive tendencies in their same- (vs. opposite-) sex peers. This prediction was examined across three studies. Across all studies, the opposite pattern of results emerged. Study 1 demonstrated that women perceived higher levels of competitive interactions to occur amongst female (as compared to male and mixed-sex) target groups in environments where resources were abundant. In Study 2, women who perceived resources to be widely available evaluated same-sex others as more competitive than opposite-sex others. Finally, Study 3 provided evidence that women who are led to believe that resources are abundant reported expecting more competitive behavior from their same- (vs. opposite-) sex peers. These results suggest that resource abundance might foster greater competition among women, which has implications for women’s workplace and interpersonal relationships.

Previous research in our lab has found that extrapolating from known to unknown attributes about a group can cause individuals to adopt more extreme attitudes (i.e., become self-radicalized) toward the group. This has been found to be particularly true when people extrapolate from known to unknown attributes about people who agree and disagree with them about a social issue. The current experiment aimed to extend our understanding of these processes by determining whether extrapolating about people who agree and disagree with the extrapolator about a social issue would also report greater self-radicalization toward the social issue in general. Our results revealed that participants who initially opposed kneeling during the national anthem reported more negative attitudes toward kneeling during the national anthem after extrapolating than did participants in the control condition. Conversely, participants who initially favored kneeling during the anthem reported more positive post-manipulation attitudes after extrapolating than did participants in the control condition. These results extend the understanding by which attitudes can become more extreme in the absence of new information.

Few studies have directly evaluated the assumption that equivalence-based instruction (EBI) establishes stimulus classes with greater efficiency than complete instruction (CI) of all possible stimulus relations within each class. The present study was identical to a previous study that failed to support this assumption, except that in the present study, mastery assessment was designed to favor the EBI condition over the CI condition. Forty-eight undergraduate students were assigned to one of four groups that received instruction on arbitrary stimulus relations. The EBI-CI group received EBI in Phase 1 and CI in Phase 2, and vice versa for the CI-EBI group. The EBI-EBI and CI-CI group received EBI and CI in both phases, respectively. In Phase 1, EBI-first groups received training on AB and BC relations and CI-first groups received training with all possible relations. After achieving mastery criterion, the ABC test included all possible trial types. In Phase 2, all groups received training to (a) add a fourth stimulus (D), and (b) add a fifth stimulus (E) to the class, using either EBI or CI. EBI took significantly fewer trials to complete than CI in both phases, but EBI in Phase 1 did not facilitate EBI in Phase 2. The results suggest the EBI arrangement used in this study may be more efficient than CI only because it permits faster learning assessment.

Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome
Alexis Damm, PA-S2
A.T. Still University: Arizona School of Health Sciences

Background: Hypoplastic left heart syndrome is a congenital heart disease that involves malformation of the left side of the heart. This etiology requires intervention after birth, and it effects 1 in 4,344 babies born in the United States (CDC, n.d.).

Clinical Case: A 4 year old male diagnosed with hypoplastic left heart syndrome prior to birth. This case study will focus on the history, diagnosis and treatment of a complication of hypoplastic left heart syndrome. The unique factors that influence this patient’s course of treatment will be highlighted in order for the disease to be better understood.

Conclusion: This clinical scenario showcases the importance of understanding birth defects, associated complications, and highlights the positive outcomes of proper pediatric care.

Reference: Center for Disease Control and Prevention. (n.d.). Congenital Heart Defects - Facts about Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome | CDC. Retrieved from https://www.cdc.gov/ncbddd/heartdefects/hlhs.html

Recently, terrestrial shoreline spiders have been proposed as biosentinels of bioaccumulative aquatic contaminants such as mercury (Hg). Terrestrial shoreline spiders become contaminated with Hg when they feed on Hg-contaminated emergent aquatic insects. Although the effect of body size on contaminant bioaccumulation in other biosentinels, such as fish, has been thoroughly examined, there has been much less research on the effect of body size on concentrations of Hg in shoreline spiders. In this study, we determined the effect of body size on Hg concentrations in six taxa of shoreline spiders belonging to four families (orb-weavers, [Araneidae], long-jawed orb-weavers, [Tetragnathidae: Tetragnatha spp.], jumping spiders [Salticidae] and wolf spiders [Lycosidae: Pardosa spp., Rabidosa spp. and Schizocosa spp.]. We collected 683 spiders during the day using sweep nets or by hand at night on May 14, June 5, 11, 20 and July 6, 2018 from 14 human-made ponds at the Lyndon B. Johnson National Grasslands, Texas, USA. Average total Hg (THg) concentrations (mean ± SE) ranged from 63 ± 4.0 ng/g to 246 ± 20.1 in Araneidae and Schizocosa spp., respectively, and were significantly different between spider taxa. We measured tibia + patella length on the first leg as a proxy for body size and found that spider THg concentration increased significantly with spider body size for Araneidae, Tetragnatha spp., Salticidae and Pardosa spp. The percent of variation in THg concentration explained by spider body size ranged from 16% to 40% for Pardosa spp. and Salticidae, respectively. This study indicates that Hg accumulation in shoreline spiders differ between spider taxa and within taxa by spider size. We recommend that future studies of Hg in shoreline spiders include assessment of spider size.