Production of intoxication states by actors: perception by lay listeners

The effects of ingesting ethanol have been shown to be somewhat variable in humans; there appear to be but few universals. Yet, questions about intoxication often are asked by law enforcement personnel (especially relative to DUI), clinicians and various individuals in social settings. A key question: Is it possible to determine if a person is intoxicated by observing them in some manner? A closely associated one: Can speech be used for that purpose? Two of the many issues related to the second of these questions involve the possibility that (1) speakers, especially actors, can effectively mimic the speech of intoxicated individuals, and (2) they may be able to volitionally reduce any speech degradation which results from intoxication. The approach used to test these two questions tasked auditors to determine if these simulations were possible. To this end, young, healthy actors chosen on the basis of a large number of selection criteria were asked to produce several types of controlled utterances (1) during a learning phase, (2) when sober, (3) at three simulated levels of intoxication (mildly, legally and severely drunk), (4) during actual, and parallel, levels of intoxication, and (5) at the highest intoxication level attained but when attempting to sound completely sober. Two aural-perceptual studies were conducted; both involved counterbalanced ABX procedures where each subject was paired with him/herself. Listeners were normally hearing university students drawn from undergraduate phonetics and linguistics courses. In the first study, they rated the actors as being more intoxicated--when they actually were sober but simulating drunkenness--88% more often than when they actually were intoxicated. In the second study, they were judged as sounding less inebriated when attempting to sound sober (than they actually were) 61% of the time. These relationships would appear to impact a number of situations; one of special importance would be the detection of intoxication in motorists.     

Extralimbal Trantas' dots: a clinicopathologic report

We report a 29-year-old man with a recurrent history of conjunctival redness, itching, and tearing, who was first seen with transient, multiple Trantas' dots bilaterally on the bulbar, forniceal, and palpebral conjunctiva. Conjunctival scrapings and biopsy revealed histopathologic features consistent with Trantas' dots. To our knowledge, this is the first case report that clearly documents the occurrence of extralimbal Trantas' dots on the bulbar, forniceal, and palpebral conjunctiva.     

Team learning: Collectively connecting the dots.

This article tests the degree to which personal and situational variables impact the acquisition of knowledge and skill within interactive project teams. On the basis of the literature regarding attentional capacity, constructive controversy, and truth-supported wins, the authors examined the effects of cognitive ability, workload distribution, Agreeableness, Openness to Experience, and structure on team learning. Results from 109 four-person project teams working on an interdependent command and control simulator indicated that teams learned more when composed of individuals who were high in cognitive ability and when the workload was distributed evenly. Conversely, team learning was negatively affected when teams were composed of individuals who were high in Agreeableness. Finally, teams using a paired structure learned more than teams structured either functionally or divisionally. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed, as well as possible limitations and directions for future research. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Communicating with metaphor: a dance with many veils

Health practitioners face many challenges when caring for and communicating with dying persons. As truth-tellers, we search for ways to communicate with honesty, sensitivity, and compassion. Creative use of language is one aspect of caring. Metaphorical communication can be a healing modality, one consistent with communication as an art. This article suggests that metaphor is a powerful and sensitive form of language that offers a range of characteristics particularly suitable for the art and the challenge of communicating with dying people. Metaphor, as figurative language, provides a permissible way of saying one thing and meaning another. It allows us to share a truth without the glare of reality. This author contends that metaphor is mysterious, creative, invitational, safe, open to interpretation, respectful and playful. The creative and judicious use of metaphor provides health care practitioners with many veils--veils that shield the dying from the glare of their prognosis, veils particularly valuable and suited in communicating with our palliative patient population.     

Nursing students: many go through a state of crisis

Time-dependent effects of metopress-retard (TEVA, Israel) were studied in 38 patients with stage II hypertension who were randomized to two groups, 19 patients each. Group 1 received 100 mg of metopress-retard at 8 a.m., group 2--at 8 p.m. Before the drug was taken and each 2 hours for 12 running hours after its 100 mg intake hemodynamic parameters were measured non-invasively. It was found that metopress-retard had no negative chronotropic and more strong hypotensive effects when taken in the evening (at 20.00).     

结晶器粘结影响因素分析及改进措施

结合生产实际,分析认为影响连铸结晶器粘结的主要因素包括：钢水纯净度、温度,保护渣性能,水口参数,液面波动及操作因素等,采取提高钢水质量、优化保护渣参数、减少非稳态操作等改进措施,降低了粘结发生的概率,使炉次粘结报警率从2.9%减少到1.8%,保证了生产的稳定顺行。     

Atropine cycloplegia: how many instillations does one need?

Atropine is accepted generally as the most efficient cycloplegic agent. Although it is considered a relatively safe drug, toxic local and systemic side effects do occur. The recommended regimen for atropine cycloplegia has been 7 to 10 applications within 3 to 4 days. We compared the cycloplegic effect of four instillations of atropine drops to the effect of eight instillations. The results showed that the cycloplegia obtained after eight instillations was not greater than after four instillations.     

Neuronal diversity: too many cell types for comfort?

Recent studies indicate that there are many more different types of neuron in the brain than previously thought. This richness will complicate life for those aiming to understand how the brain works - particularly for the neural modellers.     

Confirmation bias: A ubiquitous phenomenon in many guises.

Confirmation bias, as the term is typically used in the psychological literature, connotes the seeking or interpreting of evidence in ways that are partial to existing beliefs, expectations, or a hypothesis in hand. The author reviews evidence of such a bias in a variety of guises and gives examples of its operation in several practical contexts. Possible explanations are considered, and the question of its utility or disutility is discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The AP-3 complex: a coat of many colours

A new adaptor protein complex, termed AP-3, has recently been identified in mammalian cells, and genetic studies in yeast have revealed a functional role for the AP-3 complex in cargo-selective transport via a new alternative trafficking pathway from the Golgi to the vacuole/lysosome. Here, the authors review what is currently known about the AP-3 complex and discuss recent insight into its function in multicellular organisms that has come from the finding that mutations in AP-3 subunits correspond to classical mutations in Drosophila and mice.     

Attitude strength: One construct or many related constructs?

A variety of attributes differentiate attitudes that are stable and consequential from those that are not, including extremity, certainty, importance, knowledge, intensity, interest, direct experience, accessibility, latitudes of rejection and noncommitment, and affective–cognitive consistency. Although these dimensions are clearly conceptually and operationally distinct from one another, researchers have often assumed that some are interchangeable, or that 2 or more reflect common higher-order constructs. Three studies using multitrait-multimethod confirmatory factor analysis assessed the relations among these dimensions. Although some of these dimensions are strongly related, most are not, and a multifactor model seems necessary to account for their intercorrelations. Thus, it seems most sensible to think of all these dimensions as distinct rather than as multiple manifestations of a smaller set of underlying attributes. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Ryanodine receptors: how many, where and why?

Ryanodine receptors are intracellular Ca2+ channels that have been known for more than a decade to have a role in releasing Ca2+ from the sarcoplasmic reticulum to regulate contraction in skeletal and cardiac muscle fibres. Vincenzo Sorrentino and Pompeo Volpe review some recent developments: the ryanodine receptor channels have now been found to be expressed in the central nervous system, and the cloning of a third ryanodine receptor gene (RYR3) has revealed that this new isoform is widely expressed in several tissues and cells. In consequence, the view of ryanodine receptors as Ca2+ channels of muscle cells is rapidly changing, and these channels seem set to take a more central position on the stage of intracellular Ca2+ signalling.