Mitral stenosis, thyroid toxemia, cardiac infarction, constrictive pericarditis, and hypertension are among the common causes of auricular fibrillation. Occasionally, however, the arrhythmia is discovered fortuitously and subsequent investigation shows that structural heart disease is absent. The condition has been described. variously as benign, idiopathic, arteriosclerotic, functional, and senile fibrillation, fibrillation of unknown origin and fibrillation without heart disease. We have proposed for it the term lone auricularfibrillation. Twenty patients were selected for an analysis of the special features that characterize lone fibrillation. Apart from taking each patient's history and recording the findings of a routine clinical examination, special tests were made when necessary to exclude heart disease of any kind. An electrocardiogram was always taken, not so much to confirm the nature of the arrhythmia as to show the absence of preponderance of either ventricle and of cardiac infarction. Once, the basal metabolic rate was estimated and a radioactive iodine test used to exclude thyroid toxemia. A phonocardiogram was recorded in most of the patients to prove the absence of murmurs and added sounds, especially the mitral snap, even though they had been inaudible. Cardioscopy was carried out in each case to ensure the absence of cardiac enlargement from any source, and particularly to show that mitral valve disease was not the cause of the fibrillation. Incidence. Although this form of arrhythmia is uncommon when compared with that found in mitral stenosis, it is not rare. We have omitted an estimate of its incidence among the other causes of fibrillation because such a figure is unlikely to be a true one since the condition, through absence of symptoms, often remains undiscovered until a medical examination brings it to light. Those who have written on auricular fibrillation without heart disease (

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This brief report presents a study undertaken to better understand the factors that are related to sense of coherence (SOC) levels among youth. Middle school students (N = 1619) reported on risk and protective factors across ecological domains. Analyses revealed that social support, anger expression, family conflict and neighborhood cohesion were predictors of SOC for both males and females. Community views regarding gang membership was a predictor of SOC only for males, while age was a predictor of SOC only for females. The findings suggest a resiliency and ecological framework may be helpful in understanding SOC in youth.

This study explored youth perspectives on their relationships with staff in juvenile correction settings and perceived likelihood of success on release. Surveys were administered to 543 youth committed to select facilities in Alaska, Idaho, Nevada, and Oregon. Youth were asked to nominate a staff they turn to most for help and advice, then report on the qualities of their relationship with that staff. Results indicate that youth have different types of key helping relationships with staff, and that youth forecasts about their future vary across these relationship types.

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A multi-method evaluation was conducted to assess the TextToday pilot program, the nation's first crisis line with the capacity to accept text messages. Objectives of the evaluation included how successful the system was in meeting the needs of underserved youth and how effectively the social marketing campaign reached the target population with information about the texting crisis service. The service was found to increase youth help-seeking behaviors among our pilot study population. Implications for replication, integrating texting into community crisis services, and future research are discussed. C 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Sense of coherence (SOC) is a dispositional trait that has been linked to well-being in a broad range of populations and contexts. Little is known, however, about the factors associated with SOC development and maintenance across the lifespan. Conceptualized as a condition of resiliency, SOC in adolescents was explored via measures of risk and protection as reported on by 8th and 10th grade students (N ¼ 1619). Employing cumulative indexes of protection and risk, analyses focused on testing four models of resiliency. Further, the relative and cumulative effects of protection and risk were explored across ecological domains. Analyses revealed support for the compensatory model of resiliency for males and females, while the challenge model also was supported for females. Analyses also revealed that protection and risk influencing SOC emerge at multiple domains for males and females. In addition, protective factors present at multiple domains were related to higher SOC while risk factors present at multiple domains were related to lower SOC regardless of gender. Results suggest a resiliency framework that considers multiple ecological domains is useful for understanding SOC in adolescents. Implications for additional research are presented.

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