"Environmental and personal determinants of support perceptions: Three generalizability studies.": Correction.

Reports an error in the original article by B. Lakey et al (Journal of Personality & Social Psychology, 1996 [Jun], Vol 70(6), 1270–1280. On page 1274, the degrees of freedom for several of the terms were incorrectly reported. In addition, the first author's name in the reference citation for Gurung et al. (1994) on p. 1279 contained a typographical error. (The following abstract of this article originally appeared in record 1996-01769-014). The extent to which perceived social support reflects characteristics of the environment, the personality of the perceiver, and their interaction is unknown. This article shows how the methods of generalizability theory can be used to address these questions. When participants rate the same targets on the targets' supportiveness, generalizability theory provides methods for determining the extent to which support judgments are determined by effects due to targets (supporters), perceivers, and their interaction. In 3 studies, each source of variance made significant contributions to support judgments, with the Perceivers–Supporters interaction, characteristics of supporters, and biases of perceivers making the largest contributions, respectively. The implications for theoretical models of perceived support are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A reexamination of the relation between halo error and accuracy.

The traditional assumption has been that halo error is negatively related to accuracy of ratings. W. H. Cooper (1981) evaluated this assumption by examining correlation coefficients between measures of accuracy and halo error from five earlier studies of performance and trait ratings. Because the correlation coefficients were typically positive, Cooper concluded that a "paradoxical" positive relation exists between halo error and accuracy. However, there is no paradox; some of these positive correlation coefficients were between halo error and inaccuracy, whereas others were based on analyses that did not take into consideration negative halo errors. When analyses that correct these problems were performed on two sets of data (R. Tallarigo, 1986, n?=?107; R. J. Vance, K. W. Kuhnert, & J. L. Farr, 1978, n?=?112), all significant (p?negative. The use of halo error measures, the possibility of negative halo errors, and implications of the results for rater training are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Recombinant human erythropoietin (rhEPO) treatment potentiates growth hormone (GH) response to growth hormone releasing hormone (GHRH) stimulation in hemodialysis patients

On the basis of previously described effects of recombinant human erythropoietin (rhEPO) treatment on endocrine abnormalities present in uremia, we assessed the possible effect of treatment with rhEPO on growth hormone (GH) response to growth hormone releasing hormone (GHRH) in a group of uremic patients. Eight patients on maintenance hemodialysis for 12 to 228 months, not previously treated with rhEPO, were tested with 100 micrograms of GHRH i.v. in bolus before and after three months of rhEPO treatment (40 U/kg i.v. three times a week). Before treatment, the GH response to GHRH was characterized, in uremic patients, by remarkable differences in plasma GH values and in the pattern of response curve in single patients. The variability of GH response was not modified after rhEPO treatment; however, an overall potentiation of GH response with a significant increase of plasma GH (p = 0.017 at 15 min, p = 0.035 at 30 min after GHRH injection) was observed in the tests performed after treatment. rhEPO administration induced an evident improvement of anemia, blood hemoglobin concentration being 5.3-7.6 g/dl before and 9.1-11.3 g/dl after treatment; however a demonstrable correlation between the potentiation of GH response to GHRH and the increase of hemoglobin concentration was not observed.     

Mechanisms of desensitization and resensitization of G protein-coupled neurokinin1 and neurokinin2 receptors

We compared the desensitization of neurokinin1 and neurokinin2 (NK1 and NK2) receptors expressed in Chinese hamster ovary cells to substance P and neurokinin A, respectively. Substance P and neurokinin A stimulated a rapid increase in intracellular Ca2+ concentration ([Ca2+]i) for both receptors, which was due to release of Ca2+ from intracellular stores. This was followed by a plateau in [Ca2+]i, which was due to influx of extracellular Ca2+, and was more sustained for the NK2 receptor. When Ca2+ was present in the extracellular solution, the Ca2+ response of the NK1 receptor, but not the NK2 receptor, rapidly desensitized and slowly resensitized to two exposures to agonist. In contrast, the [Ca2+]i response, measured in Ca2+-free solution, and inositol triphosphate generation desensitized and resensitized similarly for the NK1 and NK2 receptors. Thus, differences in desensitization between the NK1 receptor and the NK2 receptor may be related to differences in entry of extracellular Ca2+. We compared endocytosis of the NK1 and NK2 receptors to determine whether disparities could account for differences in desensitization. Fluorescent and radiolabeled substance P and neurokinin A were internalized similarly by cells expressing NK1 and NK2 receptors. Thus, disparities in internalization cannot account for differences in desensitization. We used inhibitors to examine the contribution of endocytosis, recycling, and phosphatases to desensitization and resensitization of the NK1 receptor. Desensitization did not require endocytosis. However, resensitization required endocytosis, recycling, and phosphatase activity. This suggests that the NK1 receptor desensitizes by phosphorylation and resensitizes by dephosphorylation in endosomes and recycling.     

Nutritional metabonomics: an approach to promote personalized health and wellness

Nutritional research has emerged in the last century from the study of nutrients as a means of nourishment to the general population to the quest for wellness improvement through specific food components. Advances in nutrigenomics technologies have allowed nutrition scientists to be for the first time at the forefront of nutritional research. Such advances have given them the ability to discern new vital scientific discoveries specifically for the development of new tailored dietary patterns. In this, nutritional metabonomics has rapidly evolved into a very powerful bioanalytical tool able to assess multi-parametric metabolic responses of living organisms to specific dietary interventions. Nutritional metabonomics therefore provides a systematic approach through the comprehensive analysis of metabolites aiming today at the quest for homeostatic balance which is dependent not only on the host but also on the crucial metabolic interactions with microbial symbionts.     

Interprocedural test path evaluation

In automated test data generation a program is analyzed to derive a set of test paths, that is a set of predicted executions. Each path is characterized by some path constraints: data satisfying these constraints will perform the predicted execution.

This paper discusses some problems which arise during path constraints evaluation when block structured languages are involved and when test paths traverse several procedures (possibly with recursive activations). In these cases partial test paths, independently selected for each procedure, must be pre-processed (enriched and or modified) to explicitly consider the semantics associated with dynamic memory allocation, parameter transmission (by value, value-result, name and reference), and co-existing instances of a recursive procedure.