Energetic cost of sexual attractiveness: ultrasonic advertisement in wax moths

PURPOSE: The response of endothelium to ionizing radiation was studied. METHODS AND MATERIALS: The abdominal aorta in different experimental groups of rats was irradiated, and the response of arterial rings from the irradiated segments to norepinephrine, acetylcholine (ACh), and nitroglycerin (NTG) was studied. Nonirradiated thoracic segments in the same experimental animals were used as as a control for comparisons. Two age-matched nonirradiated control groups were also studied. RESULTS: A poor endothelium-dependent vasodilator response was obtained with ACh in the irradiated rings and also in those not directly irradiated; the endothelium-independent vasodilator response to NTG was preserved during the first 3 days after irradiation. By 6 months, both the endothelium-dependent response and endothelium-independent response were impaired. CONCLUSIONS: Alterations in nitric oxide synthesis and/or release by the endothelium were observed during the early phase of radiation in irradiated and nonirradiated segments. In the delayed phase of radiation, endothelium-independent muscular relaxation was also affected.     

Positional effects in the stuttering of contextually organized verbal material.

23 stutterers read aloud 72 7-word sequences, defined and constructed according to 3 levels of contextual constraint, or order of approximation to the statistical structure of English. Measures of frequency of stuttering were taken on critical words in each of 3 positions (initial, medial, and terminal) within the experimentally constructed sequences. It was concluded that the relation between the 2 variables under investigation was an additive one, and that both word position and contextual organization are relevant factors affecting the frequency of stuttering in an oral reading situation. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

嵌入式液压控制器的实现

嵌入式液压控制器是在国内某大型钢铁公司的技术改造中开发的。控制器硬件采用德国MEN公司的A12高性能单板计算机,软件使用了VxWorks嵌入式实时操作系统。本文给出了液压控制器的设计方案,并介绍了VxWorks下多任务和精确周期的实现方法。     

Effects of age on contextually mediated associations in paired associate learning.

Older and young adults learned single-function lists of paired associates with no contextual overlap (e.g., J-K, L-M) and double-function lists of paired associates consisting of chains of pairs (e.g., A-B, B-C). Although young adults outperformed older adults on both pair types, there was a robust Pair Type × Age interaction. Evidence from intrusion analyses shows that older adults performed better than would be expected on the contextually overlapping double-function pairs because they were less subject to response competition for the double-function pairs. Young adults made a larger proportion of backward and remote intrusions to double-function probes than did older adults. Thus, group differences in both correct-recall probabilities and intrusion analysis suggest that backward and transitive associations are sensitive to aging. The results are discussed within the theoretical framework of the temporal context model and the hypothesis that older adults are impaired at forming new item-context associations. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The dissociation of an experience: The hidden observer observed.

Addressed methodological weaknesses in previous studies of the hidden observer phenomenon presented by E. R. Hilgard (1977) using a modified procedure with 11 undergraduates highly susceptible to hypnosis. The critical modifications were that no prior practice in dissociation was given before the hidden observer was assessed, the notion of hidden information was introduced only after the stimulus was no longer present, and independently verifiable stimuli were employed. Despite this more rigorous procedure, a hidden observer response was still observed in more than 90% of Ss. This finding makes much less tenable interpretations that attribute the hidden observer effect solely to social expectancies and situational demands. It is concluded that it is possible for some hypnotized individuals to monitor the actual state of events while experiencing a variety of perceptual distortions. (13 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Cycloheximide impairs reconsolidation of a contextually reactivated memory in a conditioned taste aversion paradigm.

Rats were used to examine the impact of systemic protein synthesis inhibition (PSI) on the reconsolidation of a contextually reactivated memory of conditioned taste aversion (CTA). Rats were administered intraperitoneal injections of saline or lithium chloride (LiCl; .15 M) following exposure to a novel sucrose solution in a unique context. Seven days later, rats were injected subcutaneously with saline or cycloheximide (CXM; 1 mg/kg) and returned to their home cage or placed into the CTA training context in the absence of the target conditioned stimulus to reactivate the training memory. At testing, LiCl-trained rats that had been given CXM at reactivation had significantly greater difference scores (sucrose-water) in comparison with LiCl/CXM rats that had not been given a reactivation treatment and LiCl/saline memory-reactivated rats. These results suggest that context re-exposure effectively reactivates memory of CTA training that may be weakened through PSI. Extinction tests revealed rapid attenuation of taste aversions in all of the LiCl-injected groups. The involvement of taste-potentiated aversions and the role of the context in taste aversion conditioning are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Evaluation of sexual abuse in an infant with condyloma acuminatum

Condyloma acuminatum is a skin infection affecting the anogenital area caused by the human papilloma virus and is usually sexually transmitted in adults. The disease in children is rare and the mode of transmission is controversial. Because of the possibility that children with condyloma acuminatum have been sexually abused, a thorough medical and social evaluation is essential. However, the physician should bear in mind the possibility of nonsexual transmission. Effective management of condyloma acuminatum in prepubertal children involves a multidisciplinary approach and cooperation. We present an 11-month-old girl with genital lesions of condyloma acuminatum. Similar lesions were found in her father's penile area. These findings suggested the possibility of sexual abuse as the cause of the infection. However, detailed, meticulous investigation of the case did not support this suspicion. Our final impression was that transmission was probably nonsexual, as there was no evidence for sexual abuse.     

Melting behaviour of In and Pb particles embedded in an Al matrix

Microstructures of melt spun hypomonotectic Al−7wt%In, hypermonotectic Al−5wt%Pb and near monotectic Al−2wt%Pb alloys have been examined by transmission electron microscopy and consist of 10–150 nm diameter faceted In particles and 5–150 nm faceted Pb particles homogeneously distributed in an Al matrix. As-melt spun In and Pb particles exhibit near cube-cube and cube-cube orientation relationships with the Al matrix respectively, and truncated octahedral shapes bounded by {111} and {100} facets. The melting behaviour of In and Pb particles in as-melt spun Al−7wt%In, Al−5wt%Pb and Al−2wt%Pb alloys has been investigated by heating and cooling experiments in a differential scanning calorimeter and in situ heating experiments in a transmission electron microscope. In and Pb particles embedded within the Al matrix grains melt at superheatings in the range 0–40 K above the bulk equilibrium In and Pb melting points. Superheating of In and Pb particle melting within the Al matrix grains is caused by a kinetic difficulty of nucleating melting which increases with decreasing In and Pb particle size. In and Pb particles along the grain boundaries of the Al matrix melt at undercoolings in the range 0–7 K below the bulk equilibrium In and Pb melting points.     

Assessing sexual dimensions in Hispanic women. Development of an instrument

The purpose of this study was to examine the psychometric properties of a culturally sensitive sexual functioning instrument, the Sexual Dimensions Instrument for Hispanic Women (SDIHW). Using a vignette, the respondent indicated her level of agreement with 26 items that were developed by Hispanic and Anglo nurses/researchers and validated by a panel of clinical and instrument experts. It was translated into Spanish and back-translated; the reading level was at the sixth to seventh grade. The convenience sample consisted of 179 Hispanic women being treated for gynecologic cancer as outpatients. The typical respondent was 35-50 years of age, married, minimally acculturated, religious, and surviving for 1-3 years; she had three or more children, had less than a high-school education, and had little sexual activity in the past month. A three-factor scale with 22 items was determined to have conceptual clarity and moderate reliability (0.63-0.77). Factors included role (eight items), personal sexual satisfaction (eight items), and relationship (six items). The instrument was completed in Spanish by 60% of the respondents. Total and subscale scores were generally not influenced by demographic characteristics. The psychometric properties of the SDIHW indicate future research value. Moderate internal consistency, reliability, content, and construct validity were demonstrated. Achieving a better understanding of the Hispanic woman's perception of herself as a sexual being will aid the clinician in the development of culturally sensitive interventions.     

Gender and sexual orientation differences in sexual response to sexual activities versus gender of actors in sexual films.

In this study, the authors investigated the hypothesis that women's sexual orientation and sexual responses in the laboratory correlate less highly than do men's because women respond primarily to the sexual activities performed by actors, whereas men respond primarily to the gender of the actors. The participants were 20 homosexual women, 27 heterosexual women, 17 homosexual men, and 27 heterosexual men. The videotaped stimuli included men and women engaging in same-sex intercourse, solitary masturbation, or nude exercise (no sexual activity); human male-female copulation; and animal (bonobo chimpanzee or Pan paniscus) copulation. Genital and subjective sexual arousal were continuously recorded. The genital responses of both sexes were weakest to nude exercise and strongest to intercourse. As predicted, however, actor gender was more important for men than for women, and the level of sexual activity was more important for women than for men. Consistent with this result, women responded genitally to bonobo copulation, whereas men did not. An unexpected result was that homosexual women responded more to nude female targets exercising and masturbating than to nude male targets, whereas heterosexual women responded about the same to both sexes at each activity level. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)