The goal of the present study was to demonstrate the value of a multiple data analytic approach for testing the cross-cultural generalizability of a personality measure. Data were collected in four different countries (Italy, Germany, Spain, and the United States) on the Big Five Questionnaire (BFQ), which is a measure of the Five Factor Model of personality traits. Different analytical strategies were conducted. Item-level analyses were carried out to study item bias and to select (by means of simultaneous component analysis) the BFQ items that showed better functioning in all countries simultaneously. Scale-level analyses were conducted on item aggregates and were focused on the examination of structural or construct equivalence (i.e., comparability of latent structures). Three analytic approaches were compared (exploratory factor analysis, simultaneous component analysis, and confirmatory factor analysis), and converged in corroborating the basic five factor structure across the four country samples. However, these methods also yielded some noteworthy differences in the conclusions that could be drawn from the analyses. Both the methodological and conceptual implications of this multiple analytic approach are discussed.

Over the last decades much research has been devoted to the analysis of psychosocial factors associated with the development of health problems. However, less attention has been paid to mechanisms explaining why people keep engaging in risky behaviours and do not develop, instead, those habits that could increase their quality of life. To answer these questions, two lines of research have been followed: the main hypothesis of the first line is that there are personality characteristics that predispose the development of certain patterns of behaviour. The second line is focused on the analysis of the psychological processes that, together with situational factors, explain what behaviour is initiated and how it is maintained or changed. The main purpose of this paper is to review these two lines of research: what their main contributions are and what the problems they face are. Copyright © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

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Background: Sepsis is a major health problem that can be investigated in experimental animal models. Results: Its etiology is divided into an early therapeutically reversible phase displaying a robust inflammatory response followed by a late therapeutically irreversible stage with reduced innate immune response. Conclusion: Mortality is associated with a late immune dysfunction. Significance: This study provides information for the potential window for treatment.

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Sepsis is a leading cause of death in the United States, claiming more than 215,000 lives every year. A primary condition observed in septic patients is the incidence of acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS), which is characterized by the infiltration of neutrophils into the lung. Prior studies have shown differences in pulmonary neutrophil accumulation in C57BL/6J (B6) and A/J mice after endotoxic and septic shock. However, the mechanism by which neutrophils accumulate in the lung after polymicrobial sepsis induced by cecal ligation and puncture (CLP) still remains to be fully elucidated. We show in this study that lung inflammation, characterized by neutrophil infiltration and expression of inflammatory cytokines, was aggravated in B6 as compared to A/J mice and correlated with high expression of p19, the IL-23-specific subunit. Furthermore, LPS stimulation of B6- and A/J-derived macrophages, one of the main producers of IL-23 and IL-12, revealed that B6 mice favored the production of IL-23 whereas A/J-derived macrophages expressed higher levels of IL-12. In addition, expression of IL-17, known to be upregulated by IL-23, was also more elevated in the lung of B6 mice when compared to A/J mice. In contrast, pulmonary expression of IFN-γ was much more pronounced in A/J than in B6 mice, which was most likely a result of a higher production of IL-12. The expression of the IL-17-dependent neutrophil recruitment factors CXCL2 and G-CSF was also higher in B6 mice. Altogether, these results suggest that increased activation of the IL-23/IL-17 pathway has detrimental effects on sepsis-induced lung inflammation, whereas activation of the IL-12/IFN-γ pathway may lead, in contrast, to less pronounced inflammatory events. These two pathways may become possible therapeutic targets for the treatment of sepsis-induced ARDS.

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The objective of this study was to determine the effect of body fat distribution and hyperinsulinemia on the occurrence of ovulation. Fifty-six women (20–35 years old) either with overweight or obesity (body mass index ≥25) were studied. They were classified in two groups according to waist/hip ratio (WHR); one with predominance of adiposity in the upper body segment (n = 29, WHR >0.85) and the other with predominant adiposity in the lower body segment (n = 27, WHR ≤0.85). Basal body temperature and serum progesterone were determined in each cycle during 6 months. Serum insulin levels were measured at baseline and 30, 60, 90, 120 and 180 min after a 75-gram oral glucose load. The mean insulin values in response to oral glucose load in patients with upper body segment obesity were significantly higher than those corresponding to women with lower body segment obesity. Furthermore, the ratio between ovulated cycles and all the cycles studied in patients with upper body segment obesity was significantly lower than that observed in patients with lower body segment obesity. Upper body obesity seems to affect the ovulatory process and this may be related to the presence of hyperinsulinemia.