Fifty-four multiple sclerosis (MS) patients were randomly assigned to exercise (EX) or nonexercise (NEX) groups. Before and after 15 weeks of aerobic training, aspects of fitness including maximal aerobic capacity (VO2max), isometric strength, body composition, and blood lipids were measured. Daily activities, mood, fatigue, and disease status were measured by the Profile of Mood States (POMS), Sickness Impact Profile (SIP), Fatigue Severity Scale (FSS), and neurological examination. Training consisted of 3 x 40-minute sessions per week of combined arm and leg ergometry. Expanded Disability Status Scale (EDSS) scores were unchanged, except for improved bowel and bladder function in the EX group. Compared with baseline, the EX group demonstrated significant increases in VO2max, upper and lower extremity strength, and significant decreases in skinfolds, triglyceride, and very-low-density lipoprotein (VLDL). For the EX group, POMS depression and anger scores were significantly reduced at weeks 5 and 10, and fatigue was reduced at week 10. The EX group improved significantly on all components of the physical dimension of the SIP and showed significant improvements for social interaction, emotional behavior, home management, total SIP score, and recreation and past times. No changes were observed for EX or NEX groups on the FSS. Exercise training resulted in improved fitness and had a positive impact on factors related to quality of life.

Current reformulations of the tension reduction hypothesis posit that only a subset of vulnerable individuals are at risk for drinking in response to negative affect. To further specify this model, this study examined the types of mood and social contexts under which affect and alcohol use are associated. Participants were 74 college students who completed repeated assessments of mood, alcohol use, friendship quality, and social support. A complex pattern of findings supported the moderating influences of gender, friendship factors, and the timing of behavior (i.e., weekends vs. weekdays) on the relation between affect and alcohol use. Young adults with less intimate and supportive friendships, as compared with their peers, showed risk for greater drinking following relative elevations in sadness and hostility. Such drinking episodes, in turn, predicted subsequent elevations in these same negative moods the following week. Gender differences in such a cyclical pattern of affect and alcohol use were found to vary across differing emotional experiences. Recommendations for a more refined theory of affect and alcohol use are discussed.

The subjects, 120 college students, sorted cards for 42 sec with instructions to process 0, 1, or 2 bits of information per card (response uncertainty) and then were asked to make an absolute judgement of the interval's duration. Half of the subjects knew this judgement would be required before the interval (prospective paradigm); half did not (retrospective paradigm). Judged time was an inverse linear function of response uncertainty under the prospective paradigm, whereas no significant function was obtained under the retrospective paradigm.

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