The cochlea in short-term culture]

Idiopathic Parkinsonism is a well-recognized cause of dysphagia and resultant aspiration. Symptoms and signs attributable to dopaminergic underactivity after administration of antipsychotic medication are commonly seen in elderly patients. We report a case of a 74-year-old woman, without prior symptoms of Parkinsonism or dysphagia, who presented with the temporal association of both after administration of trifluoperazine hydrochloride. Dysphagia is a potentially life-threatening complication of drug-induced parkinsonism. Its early recognition allows treatment by simple medical, physical, and dietary manipulations.     

The Fort Bragg demonstration and evaluation.

Discusses the Fort Bragg study (L. Bickman, see record 83-31861; L. Bickman et al, 1995), the results of which call into question strongly held convictions about the ways mental health services should be structured. The study found no evidence of better clinical outcomes or reduced costs from such things as unlimited access, continuity of care, freedom from benefit limitations, availability of a full range of services, case management, and managed care. The author suggests that the negative conclusions were inevitable given the way in which the demonstration's mental health services were structured and provided. On closer examination, it is clear that the study was not really a model of managed care, there were no financial incentives to use resources or services cost effectively, and the providers were not only rewarded for doing more, but also did not appear to be changing their traditional practice patterns. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The time course of consolidation in visual working memory.

How long does it take to form a durable representation in visual working memory? Several theorists have proposed that this consolidation process is very slow. Here, we measured the time course of consolidation. Observers performed a change-detection task for colored squares, and shortly after the presentation of the first array, pattern masks were presented at the locations of each of the colored squares to disrupt representations that had not yet been consolidated. Performance on the memory task was impaired when the delay between the colored squares and the masks was short, and this effect became larger when the number of colored squares was increased. The rate of consolidation was approximately 50 ms per item, which is considerably faster than previous proposals. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

AlNiY合金粉末的超高压固结成形

采用Ar气体雾化技术制备了Al82Ni10Y8(原子数分数,%)合金粉末,在六面顶压机上采用3～5GPa的压力对粒径小于26μm的Al82Ni10Y8合金粉末进行了固结成形,固结温度分别为250℃和400℃.采用X射线衍射仪(XRD)、扫描电镜(SEM)和透射电镜(TEM)对粉末及致密化块体合金的结构及形貌进行了观察,采用差示扫描量热仪(DSC)对粉末的热稳定性进行了分析.结果表明,粒径小于26μm粉末具有非晶和纳米晶结构,其玻璃转变温度t8、晶化温度tx和过冷液相区温度△tx分别为266℃、288℃和22℃.所制备的块体Al82 Ni10 Y8合金接近于完全致密化,并保持了原始粉末的结构.固结温度不同,粉末致密化变形方式不同,提高温度可以提高致密度.250℃固结时,主要是细小的非晶态粉末发生粘滞流动;400℃固结时,粉末在三向约束应力作用下发生协调变形,变形均匀,有利于致密化,粉末颗粒界面扩散对致密化也有一定的作用.     

The noninvasive demonstration of functional reinnervation after heart transplantation

Although RR interval variability appears to be an ideal method for assessing reinnervation after heart transplantation, it has been shown that respiratory sinus arrhythmia is caused by the mechanical effect of respiration on the right atrium. The neck-suction induces heart rate changes only by means of nervous reflex and its hemodynamic effect is local and hence appears as a useful method for assessing reinnervation. We tested the presence of autonomic reinnervation in 18 heart transplant recipients, compared to 12 donor-age-matched controls. We measured the power of RR interval low- (LF, around 0.1 Hz) and respiratory fluctuations (HF) before and during rhythmic neck-suction stimulation at 0.1 Hz and at a frequency (0.20 Hz) similar to, but distinct from, that of respiration (controlled at 0.25 Hz), before and during 0.04 mg/kg atropine infusion, using autoregressive spectral analysis of RR interval, respiration and neck pressure signals. The relationship between pairs of signals at each frequency was quantitatively assessed by bivariate coherence function. All transplanted subjects showed low-amplitude HF, related to respiration. Detectable LF (whose power was lower than in controls: 1.15 +/- 0.39 versus 6.08 +/- 0.27 1n-ms2, p < 0.001), non coherent with respiration, were present in 11/18 transplanted subjects, and correlated with months since transplantation (r = +0.59, p < 0.05). HF neck suction induced the presence of a 0.20 Hz fluctuation in 12/12 controls, distinct from and greater than the 0.25 Hz respiratory component (7.28 +/- 0.26 versus 6.69 +/- 0.74 1n-ms2, p < 0.01); this was not seen in any of the transplanted subjects.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)     

The consolidation/transition model in moral reasoning development.

The consolidation/transition model conceptualizes development as entailing a cyclical pattern of alternating consolidation and transition phases and posits that stage advance is predicted by a specific distribution of reasoning across stages indicative of disequilibrium (more reasoning above than below the mode, with a high degree of mixture). The validity of this model was examined in the context of moral reasoning development with the use of standard statistical techniques as well as Bayesian techniques that can better account for classification error. In this longitudinal study, 64 children and adolescents participated in 5 annual administrations of the Moral Judgment Interview. The distribution of their reasoning across stages was used to predict subsequent development. The results support the hypotheses regarding cyclical patterns of change and predictors of stage transition and demonstrate the utility of Bayesian techniques for evaluating developmental change. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The effect of articulatory suppression on short-term recognition.

Exp 1 determined whether articulatory suppression (AS) affected mainly α (initial strength) or φ (influence of later items) in a short-term recognition task, using 12 female undergraduates. Exp 2, with 12 undergraduates, indicated that the degree to which trace-strength was reduced by an incoming target item varied with what was spoken in the context of the AS task. Findings show that if d′ was used to measure strength in an immediate recognition task, AS of any kind reduced encoding strength as compared with normal voicing. It is concluded that AS exerted its effects by preoccupying short-term store with extraneous material, one effect being that intralist rehearsal was prevented. (French abstract) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Teaching adults new words: The role of practice and consolidation.

Semantic and orthographic learning of new words was investigated with the help of the picture-word interference (PWI) task. In this version of the Stroop task, picture naming is delayed by the simultaneous presentation of a semantically related as opposed to an unrelated distractor word (a specific PWI effect), as well as by an unrelated word compared with a nonword (a general PWI effect). This interference is taken to reflect automatic orthographic and semantic processing. The authors observed that participants showed both types of PWI effects for newly learned words following a single study session. Interestingly, specific PWI effects were not obtained immediately after testing but did emerge a week later without additional practice. This suggests that a period of consolidation is involved in the establishment of word representations. In addition, identical PWI effects were obtained when the study and test words were presented in either the same or different letter case. This provides evidence that the newly acquired orthographic representations are coded in an abstract format. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Hot explosive consolidation of W-Ti alloys

High-density (98 pct TD) 95W-5Ti (wt pct) alloys have been fabricated by a combustion-synthesis-assisted hot explosive consolidation (CSA-HEC) technique. In the current procedure, a W + Ti powder compact is preheated by the heat released by a Ti + C exothermic combustion synthesis reaction and subsequently consolidated by pressure waves generated by the detonation of an explo-sive. The amounts of explosive charge, sample configuration, and molar ratio of exothermic material to sample were found to affect the degree of consolidation. Auxiliary temperature measurements were performed to determine the precompaction thermal history of the sample to obtain the optimum delay time for consolidation. As observed with scanning electron microscopy (SEM), the CSA-HEC microcomposites consist of W particles surrounded by a partially discontinuous Ti-rich matrix. Trans-mission electron microscopy (TEM) was also used to further characterize the W/Ti interfacial region. The pertinent features of the technique as well as those of the product microstructures are discussed.     

Dynamic consolidation of metastable nanocrystalline powders

Nanocrystalline metal powders synthesized by mechanical alloying in a ball mill resulted in micron-sized powder particles with a nanosized (5 to 25 nm) substructure. Conventional consolidation methods resulted in considerable coarsening of the metastable nanometer crystallites, but dynamic consolidation of these powders using explosive techniques produced fully dense monoliths while retaining the 5- to 25-nm substructure. Numerical modeling, used to guide the experimental phase, revealed that the compression wave necessary for suitable consolidation was of the order of 10 GPa for a few tenths of a microsecond. The consolidation process is described, and the retention of the metastable nanostructure is illustrated. This article is based on a presentation made in the symposium “Dynamic Behavior of Materials,” presented at the 1994 Fall Meeting of TMS/ASM in Rosemont, Illinois, October 3-5, 1994, under the auspices of the TMS-SMD Mechanical Metallurgy Committee and the ASM-MSD Flow and Fracture Committee.     

The effects of word co-occurance on short-term memory: Associative links in long-term memory affect short-term memory performance.

In immediate serial recall tasks, high-frequency words are recalled better than low-frequency words. This has been attributed to high-frequency words' being better represented and providing more effective support to a redintegration process at retrieval (C. Hulme et al., 1997). In studies of free recall, there is evidence that frequency of word co-occurrence, rather than word frequency per se, may explain the recall advantage enjoyed by high-frequency words (J. Deese, 1960). The authors present evidence that preexposing pairs of low-frequency words, so as to create associative links between them, has substantial beneficial effects on immediate serial recall performance. These benefits, which are not attributable to simple familiarization with the words per se, do not occur for high-frequency words. These findings indicate that associative links between items in long-term memory have important effects on short-term memory performance and suggest that the effects of word frequency in short-term memory tasks are related to differences in interitern associations in long-term memory. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Fantasy: A consolidation.

Focuses on the pathologically conflicted aspects of sensual-sexual and aggressive strivings as well as the self-organizing and reparative aspects that contribute to fantasy formation. Key aspects of H. Kohut's (e.g., 1971, 1977, and 1984) thinking form the background for a self-psychological view of fantasy. Contemporary self-psychological positions on fantasy are highlighted, limitations of this single motivational focus are suggested, and research theory and data are presented that support the inclusion of sensual-sexual and aggressive strivings as contributors to fantasy formation and maintenance. Anecdotal and clinical vignettes are offered to suggest different pathways that specific motives take to initiate and sustain fantasy life. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Building the team during consolidation

Flat feet and high-arched feet have been cited as risk factors for musculoskeletal injury and functional problems among runners and other active individuals, although there are no established quantitative definitions or measures for assessing either condition. As part of a larger study, four-plane photographs were made of the weight-bearing right foot of 246 young male Army trainees. These photographs were independently evaluated by six clinicians and rated on a scale of clearly flat-footed (category 1) to clearly high arched (category 5). There was much interclinician variability in the assessments, even for extremes of foot type. The probability of a clinician assessing a foot as clearly flat, given that another clinician had rated the foot as clearly flat, ranged from 0.32 to 0.79, with a median probability of 0.57, while for clearly high-arched feet, probabilities ranged from 0.0 to 1.00, with a median of 0.17. These findings demonstrate the need for objective standards and quantitative methods of evaluating foot morphology.     

The effects of sleep loss on short-term recognition memory.

Compared the performance of 20 sleep-deprived undergraduates on a probe-recognition memory task with that of 20 nondeprived controls over periods up to 55 hrs. Recognition was either immediate or delayed by 20 sec. Results show that the sleep-deprived group made significantly more errors in the perception of the material, and under the delay condition retained less adequately those items correctly perceived. It is argued that these findings are consistent with the notion that sleep loss causes a deficit in attention, leading to misperception and a failure to rehearse adequately material presented for memorization. (French summary) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The demonstration of cartilaginous involvement in laryngeal carcinoma by computerized tomography

Thirty-six patients with laryngeal carcinoma were investigated by computerized tomography (CT). In 8 patients invasion of cartilage was shown at subsequent pathological examination of the excised larynges. In all there were 14 areas of cartilage involvement, 11 of which could be diagnosed on retrospective examination of the CT scans. Involvement of tumour was shown either as areas of decreased density (chondrolysis) or areas of local increased density (chondrosclerosis) due to cartilage ossification. False positive and false negative evidence of cartilage involvement was recorded in the series, but the accuracy of diagnosis in positive terms was approximately 79%. Histological evidence is put forward that the presence of carcinoma in relation to the cartilage produces perichondritis, which enhances ossification and the latter process may then in itself facilitate invasion by the tumour. Previous radiotherapy may also be a factor in the causation of the perichondritis and ossification.