What a long, strange trip it''s been [with apologies to Jerry Garcia!

The possibility of obtaining antibodies to human hemoglobin and erythrocytes and their use for the detection of hidden blood in different biological fluids was studied. The test system, based on the reaction of coagglutination with the use of protein A of Staphylococcus aureus Cowan 1 and magnetic sorbent, is proposed.     

Guess What! Non-inflammatory cutaneous myiasis caused by the larva of Cordylobia anthropophaga

Short-chain fatty acids produced by bacterial fermentation of dietary fiber may provide a tonic stimulus to colonocyte differentiation that contributes to the protective effect of fiber against colorectal malignancy. Since brush-border enzymes are common markers of colonocytic differentiation, we compared the effects of equimolar (10 mmol/L) concentrations of the three most common short-chain fatty acids, acetate, butyrate, and propionate, on the alkaline phosphatase and dipeptidyl dipeptidase specific activity of human colonic mucosal biopsies obtained from normal volunteers. Only butyrate significantly stimulated alkaline phosphatase specific activity (50.4% +/- 18.6%, P < .05). Short-chain fatty acid stimulation of dipeptidyl dipeptidase did not achieve statistical significance. Fibers yielding high colonic butyrate levels could have different effects on human colonic mucosal differentiation.     

What Friends Are For! The Use of Routine Standards in Social Comparison.

Social comparisons are frequently used for self-evaluation. As a consequence, judges have to be efficient in each comparison step. Standard selection, however, is traditionally seen as an elaborate process in which judges deliberately select similar standards. We propose that often judges do not engage in such deliberate selection processes. Instead, they use routine standards--standards that have frequently been used for self-evaluation. Consistent with this assumption, Studies 1-3 demonstrate that student participants activate knowledge about their best friend--a likely routine standard--during self-evaluation. In Study 1, lexical decisions for the best friend's name are facilitated after self-evaluation. In Study 2, participants judge their best friend faster after evaluating themselves on the same dimension. In Study 3, this is even the case if the best friend is dissimilar and consequently undiagnostic. Finally, in Study 4, self-evaluations are primarily influenced by comparison information about an experimentally created routine standard. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

What role will residency education take in the profession by the year 2000?

Residency education has enjoyed relatively slow but steady growth since its inception in the mid-1970s. A certain segment of recent graduates consider graduation from optometry school as entry level and perceive the need for additional clinical education. The creation of new residency programs and the expansion of existing ones may occur in a variety of settings. For residency education to realize its full potential, optometry must seek federal support for post-graduate clinical education. This would be consistent with federal support provided to other professions for the support of post-graduate clinical education.     

Decrease! What decrease? Intern stipends have gone up, not down, in Manitoba.

Comments on the original article "Predoctoral internship training in Canada--I: Internship settings and supervisory issues," by J. Howes, M. Vallis, A. Wilson, M. Ross, and H. Louisy (see record 1996-06731-004). In their report on Canadian internship settings (Canadian Psychology, August 1996) Howes, Vallis, Wilson, Ross & Louisy correctly reported that Manitoba had the highest intern stipend in the 1992-1993 Internship Directory of the Canadian Council of Clinical Psychology Program Directors (CCCPPD, 1991), although they underreported it by $1,000. They then went on to report that by the time of the 1996-1997 Directory, "Stipends...decreased in Manitoba, Ontario and Nova Scotia (mean decreases of $5,290, $1,074, and $880 respectively)." (pp. 175). Unfortunately, these data create the incorrect impression that Manitoba's interns have been hit with a huge reduction in pay; the biggest decrease in the country. This is not true. In actuality, both of Manitoba's internships have increased their stipends. A further indication of the support for psychology training in Manitoba is that the total number of internship positions in the province increased during the time period covered by their study (and will increase again in 1997-1998 as the internship in the Faculty of Medicine adds two more interns). (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Busy doing quite a lot!

Vertical gastroplasty was applied in surgical treatment of obesity in two patients. There were no complications. During the first year after the operation the patients body mass have reduced by 35-41 kg (25-29% of initial).     

What Is a Psychologist?

Comments on I. McCollom's original article (see record 1972-21933-001) which examined the reading preferences of psychology students. This author states that in contrasting contrasting general interest psychology with academic psychology, the original article strikes a common truth: that students' innate interests in psychology often go unmet due to the rigors and technicalities of academic psychology. Although less appealing and lacking in consensus, the "good" psychology of the classroom has the support of a few academicians, each sharing a common goal of "psychologist." While "good" psychology may be less enticing, it continues not from popular demand but out of the complexities of defining the profession, psychology, and the professional psychologist. The current author hopes that this comment stimulates more academic support toward assisting students in becoming self-educative, creative individuals, and not stereotypes of whatever happens to be the current vogue. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Sleep apnea and hypertension--what a mess!

It is unarguable that obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) causes pulsatile hypertension during sleep, but whether there is significant carryover of hypertension into waking hours is far from clear. It is perhaps more useful to consider whether OSA is related to the consequences of hypertension (e.g. stroke), since both nocturnal and daytime hypertension could be responsible for these. Furthermore, the effects of nasal continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) on hypertension (or its consequences) must be assessed by randomized controlled studies, in exactly the same way as trials on hypotensive drugs would be carried out, before treatment is prescribed for OSA in the absence of any daytime symptoms.     

"Land! Land!"

The recent theoretical analysis of Land (see 34: 2483) has been received by some as the ultimate in understanding color vision. When the features of the theory are contrasted with prior formulations and data the assertion is made that "I am quite content with being able to explain why Land gets what he does get, using only old knowledge and old language and making no use whatever of Land's fantastic new hypotheses and new concepts." 16 refs. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)