This correlational study explored the Resilience Scale for Adolescents (READ) as a predictor for developing depressive symptoms controlling for known risk factors. A young adolescent sample (N = 387) completed the READ, the Short Mood and Feeling Questionnaire (SMFQ), Social Phobia Anxiety Index for Children (SPAI-C), and the occurrence of Stressful Life Events (SLE). In addition, a subsample of their parents (N = 240) completed a parental version of READ (READ-P). The results indicated that the READ assesses important protective factors that are associated with fewer depressive symptoms among young adolescents even when controlling for known risk factors. All five READ-factors were predictors of depressive symptoms, while the READ-P showed no predictive value. There were no significant interaction effects between READ and SLE. There were, however, significant main-effects supporting a compensatory model of protective factors. The findings suggest that the READ is a significant predictor of mental health and a useful tool for further research examining differences in stress tolerance among young adolescents.

No abstract

Mussels sampled in the spring of 2002 and 2003 from Skjer, a location in Sognefjord, Norway, tested positive in the mouse bioassay for lipophilic toxins. The symptoms, which included cramps, jumping, and short survival times (as low as 4 min), were not characteristic of toxins previously observed in Norway. A survey of the algae present at the aquaculture sites showed that the toxicity correlated with blooms of Alexandrium ostenfeldii. Up to 2200 cells/L were found at the peak of one bloom. In Canadian waters, this alga is known to be a producer of the cyclic imine toxins, spirolides. Analysis of mussel extracts from Skjer in the spring of 2002 and 2003, using liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry, revealed the presence of several new spirolides. The same compounds were also found in algal samples dominated by A. ostenfeldii, which had been sampled from Skjer in February 2003. A large-scale extraction of mussel digestive glands and chromatographic fractionation of the extracts allowed the isolation and structure elucidation of the main spirolide, 20-methyl spirolide G, with a molecular weight of 705.5. This is the first confirmed occurrence of spirolides in mussels and plankton from Norway.

No abstract

No abstract