Orthographic Structure Versus Morphological Structure: Principles of Lexical Organization in a Given Language.

Most models of visual word recognition in alphabetic orthographies assume that words are lexically organized according to orthographic similarity. Support for this is provided by form-priming experiments that demonstrate robust facilitation when primes and targets share similar sequences of letters. The authors examined form-orthographic priming effects in Hebrew, Arabic, and English. Hebrew and Arabic have an alphabetic writing system but a Semitic morphological structure. Hebrew morphemic units are composed of noncontiguous phonemic (and letter) sequences in a given word. Results demonstrate that form-priming effects in Hebrew or Arabic are unreliable, whereas morphological priming effects with minimal letter overlap are robust. Hebrew bilingual subjects, by contrast, showed robust form-priming effects with English material, suggesting that Semitic words are lexically organized by morphological rather than orthographic principles. The authors conclude that morphology can constrain lexical organization even in alphabetic orthographies and that visual processing of words is first determined by morphological characteristics. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Bioorthogonal Chemical Reporters for Monitoring Unsaturated Fatty‐Acylated Proteins

Dietary unsaturated fatty acids, such as oleic acid, have been shown to be covalently incorporated into a small subset of proteins, but the generality and diversity of this protein modification has not been studied. We synthesized unsaturated fatty‐acid chemical reporters and determined their protein targets in mammalian cells. The reporters can induce the formation of lipid droplets and be incorporated site‐specifically onto known fatty‐acylated proteins and label many proteins in mammalian cells. Quantitative proteomics analysis revealed that unsaturated fatty acids modify similar protein targets to saturated fatty acids, including several immunity‐associated proteins. This demonstrates that unsaturated fatty acids can directly modify many proteins to exert their unique and often beneficial physiological effects in vivo.     

"What can we learn from the morphology of Hebrew? A masked-priming investigation of morphological representation": Correction to Frost et al. 1997.

Reports an error in "What can we learn from the morphology of Hebrew? A masked-priming investigation of morphological representation" by Ram Frost, Kenneth I. Forster and Avital Deutsch (Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 1997[Jul], Vol 23[4], 829-856). On page 854, two Hebrew words are missing from Appendix F. The corrected Appendix appears with the erratum. (The following abstract of the original article appeared in record 1997-05320-003.) All Hebrew words are composed of 2 interwoven morphemes: a triconsonantal root and a phonological word pattern. The lexical representations of these morphemic units were examined using masked priming. When primes and targets shared an identical word pattern, neither lexical decision nor naming of targets was facilitated. In contrast, root primes facilitated both lexical decisions and naming of target words that were derived from these roots. This priming effect proved to be independent of meaning similarity because no priming effects were found when primes and targets were semantically but not morphologically related. These results suggest that Hebrew roots are lexical units whereas word patterns are not. A working model of lexical organization in Hebrew is offered on the basis of these results. (A correction concerning this article appears in Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 1997, Vol 23(5), 1189-1191. On page 854 of the current issue, two Hebrew words are missing from Appendix F. The corrected Appendix appears in this correction.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

In vivo quantitative three-dimensional localization of tumor labeled with exogenous specific fluorescence markers

We introduce a diffused optical detection system based on the administration of a fluorophore-antibody conjugate to diseased tissue. The conjugate interacts with the antigens expressed by the diseased tissue, resulting in fluorescent labeling of the antigen. By combining an optical detection system with a reconstruction algorithm developed on the basis of the random-walk model, we were able to determine the position of the fluorophore (and, thus, of the diseased cells) in the tissue. We present three-dimensional reconstructions of the location of a fluorophore (FITC-fluorescein isothiocyanate) in the tongues of mice. Measurements were performed with the fluorophore embedded at various simulated depths. The simulations were performed with agarose-based gel slabs applied to the tongue as tissuelike phantoms. Reconstructed fluorophore locations agree well with the actual values.     

GemCell: A generic platform for modeling multi-cellular biological systems

The mass and complexity of biological information requires computer-aided simulation and analysis to help scientists achieve understanding and guide experimentation. Although living organisms are composed of cells, actual genomic and proteomic data have not yet led to a satisfactory model of working cell in silico. We have set out to devise a user-friendly generic platform, GemCell, for Generic Executable Modeling of Cells, based on whole, functioning cells. Starting with the cell simplifies life, because all cells expresses essentially five generic types of behavior: replication, death, movement (including change of shape and adherence), export (secretion, signaling, etc.) and import (receiving signals, metabolites, phagocytosis, etc.). The details of these behaviors are specified in GemCell for particular kinds of cells as part of a database of biological specifics (the DBS), which specifies the cell properties and functions that depend on the cell’s history, state, environment, etc. The DBS is designed in an intuitive fashion, so users are able to easily insert their data of interest. The generic part of GemCell, built using Statecharts, is a fully dynamic model of a cell, its interactions with the environment and its resulting behavior, individually and collectively. Model specificity emerges from the DBS, so that model execution is carried out by the statecharts executing with the aid of specific data extracted from the DBS dynamically. Our long term goal is for GemCell to serve as a broadly applicable platform for biological modeling and analysis, supporting user-friendly in silico experimentation, animation, discovery of emergent properties, and hypothesis testing, for a wide variety of biological systems.     

What can we learn from the morphology of Hebrew? A masked-priming investigation of morphological representation.

[Correction Notice: An erratum for this article was reported in Vol 23(5) of Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition (see record 2008-09898-001). On page 854, two Hebrew words are missing from Appendix F. The corrected Appendix appears with the erratum.] All Hebrew words are composed of 2 interwoven morphemes: a triconsonantal root and a phonological word pattern. The lexical representations of these morphemic units were examined using masked priming. When primes and targets shared an identical word pattern, neither lexical decision nor naming of targets was facilitated. In contrast, root primes facilitated both lexical decisions and naming of target words that were derived from these roots. This priming effect proved to be independent of meaning similarity because no priming effects were found when primes and targets were semantically but not morphologically related. These results suggest that Hebrew roots are lexical units whereas word patterns are not. A working model of lexical organization in Hebrew is offered on the basis of these results. (A correction concerning this article appears in Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 1997, Vol 23(5), 1189–1191. On page 854 of the current issue, two Hebrew words are missing from Appendix F. The corrected Appendix appears in this correction.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Patterns of Posttraumatic Stress Symptoms in Parents of Childhood Cancer Survivors.

Posttraumatic stress (PTS) symptoms have been reported in mothers and fathers of childhood cancer survivors; however, little is known about patterns of PTS in these families. Cluster analysis was applied to the Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) Reaction Index scores of 98 couples parenting adolescent childhood cancer survivors to describe patterns of PTS in families, yielding the following 5 clusters: Minimal PTS, Mothers Elevated, Disengaged, Fathers Elevated, and Elevated PTS. The clusters were validated using data from a structured psychiatric interview, an additional self-report measure of PTS, and an index of family functioning. These clinically meaningful patterns reveal that a majority of families had at least one parent with moderate to severe PTS, which supports development of family-based interventions for this population. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A method for evaluating the use of the polygraph in a real-life situation.

15 males (mean age 29.2 yrs) participated in an experiment to evaluate the polygraph in a real-life situation; 2 Ss had actually cheated on a test. All Ss went through a standard polygraph test using the control questions method. This procedure guarantees the objective identification of "liars" without jeopardizing the real-life appearance of the experimental situation. Each S was evaluated by 3 polygraphers: One had access to the polygraph charts only, one observed the S's behavior but not his charts, and a third had both kinds of information. The evaluations of all 3 polygraphers were compared with the criterion. Evaluations based on both behavior observation and physiological charts were superior to those based on either type of information alone. However, evaluations based on the physiological information alone were not superior to those based on the behavioral information alone. (13 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Attention mechanisms mediate the syntactic priming effect in auditory word identification.

Investigated the syntactic priming effect and the involvement of attention in that process by testing identification of white noise-masked Hebrew words. Targets were either syntactically congruent or syntactically incongruent with the structure of the sentence. Relative to a neutral condition, similar facilitation and inhibition was found for congruent and incongruent targets, respectively. When syntactic congruency was blocked, the inhibition was attenuated, whereas the facilitation remained the same. A 350-msec silent interstimulus interval between context and target increased inhibition without affecting facilitation. It is suggested that both the facilitation and the inhibition effects of syntactic priming are based on a veiled controlled process of generating expectations. The inhibition results from a controlled process of reevaluation that requires additional attention resources. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)