Light touch contact as a balance aid

Canes and crutches are commonly used mobility aids, and most studies of their use have focused on issues equating support with the resulting decrease in force required of the affected limb. Clinicians, however, often observe patients with poor balance control using light touch of surrounding objects and surfaces to stabilize themselves while standing and walking. A series of studies have shown that sensory input to the hand and arm through contact cues at the fingertip or through a cane can reduce postural sway in individuals who have no impairments and in patients without a functioning vestibular system, even when contact force levels are inadequate to provide physical support of the body. This article summarizes these results, which have implications for design considerations of rehabilitation aids. Mobility devices or rehabilitation aids that provide feedback about applied force or enhance existing resolution of applied force changes across the skin surface may lead to new rehabilitation techniques.     

A touch of care

The search for serotonin antagonists with cerebrovascular activity was conducted among newly synthesized aromatic and heteroaromatic ethers of tropinone oxim. One of these compounds, namely, hydrochloride-3(3,4,5-trimethoxybenzoiloxiimino-1)-8-methyl-8-a zab icyclo [3,2,1] octane, called tropoxin, prevented the development of serotonin-induced constriction of cerebral vessels in vitro and in vivo experiments. This effect was demonstrated also in experiments with oral administration of the drug. Tropoxin was found to possess affinity for 5-HT2 receptors of the rat brain. Tropoxin surpasses the anti-migraine drug methysergide in antiserotonin cerebrovascular activity. This allows tropoxin to be recommended for study as a means for the treatment of migraine.     

Botryomycosis of limbal conjunctiva with Splendore-Hoeppli phenomenon

An 84-year-old man complained of irritation of the left eye of several months' duration. He had had several previous surgical procedures including removal of bilateral pterygia and bilateral cataract extraction. Examination of the bulbar conjunctiva on the left eye disclosed a collection of cilia (eyelashes) located adjacent to the limbus at the 11:30-o'clock position. This aggregate of cilia was associated with irregular yellowish deposits 1.5 mm in diameter. The cilia and redundant conjunctival tissues were surgically excised. Histopathologic examination showed a botryomycotic granule surrounded by a prominent acidophilic ring (Splendore-Hoeppli phenomenon). Gram stains demonstrated the presence of microcolonies of gram-positive cocci and gram-negative rods within the granule. We postulate that the entrapment of displaced cilia provided a nidus for the bacterial colonization forming the botryomycotic granule. To our knowledge, botryomycosis of the conjunctiva has not been reported previously.     

Structural sensitivity of the ultimate mechanical properties of biporous materials prepared using a pore-former

The structural sensitivity of strength, fracture toughness, and ultimate strain in biporous powder molybdenum, iron, and nickel is studied. The effect of porosity and matrix characteristics of the structure on ultimate mechanical properties is analyzed. Institute for Problems of Materials Science, Ukraine National Academy of Sciences, Kiev. Translated from Poroshkovaya Metallurgiya, Nos. 7–8(408), pp. 93–99, July–August, 1999.     

Evaluative reaction to interpersonal touch in a counseling interview.

Investigated the effects of the use of touch gestures by counselors on client evaluative responses to the counseling experience, using a 2 (touch vs no touch)?×?2 (male vs female client)?×?2 (male vs female counselor) between-Ss design. Clients who were touched evaluated the counseling experience more positively than no-touch control Ss. However, the magnitude of the effect of touch was affected by the sex composition of the counseling dyad, with stronger effects occurring when clients were touched by an opposite-sex counselor. Results are discussed in terms of conceptual implications and with respect to applied relevance for therapeutic practice and the training of counselors. (23 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Multidimensional reaction to therapeutic touch in a hospital setting.

Studied the effects of interpersonal touch over a relatively long time frame, for a broad range of response dimensions, and in a nonreactive setting characterized by dependency. On an applied level, the research studied the value of touch as a concomitant of nurse–patient interactions; Ss were 48 patients who had entered the hospital for elective surgery. Specifically, a 2 (touch vs no touch) by 2 (male vs female) between-Ss design assessed the effects of nurses touching Ss during preoperative teaching on Ss' affective, evaluative, behavioral, and physiological responses. Female Ss in the touch condition experienced more favorable affective, behavioral, and physiological reactions than a no-touch control group. In contrast, males in the touch condition reacted more negatively than control Ss on these dimensions. (29 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Investigation of a discus-milling process using a powder mixture of Al and TiO2

In this study, a powder mixture of Al and TiO₂ was employed to investigate the milling process in a discus mill. In this first report on this novel mechanical mill, several variables, including the milling time and powder charge and their effects on the microstructural evolution of powder particles, are monitored and studied. The study reveals that the dominant parameters of the milling process are the milling time and the starting powder charge, similar to the other high-energy ball-milling processes. The longer the milling time and the smaller the starting powder charge, the more homogeneous the mixing and the finer the microstructure of the powder particles. The reaction between Al and TiO₂ was not observed with a milling period as long as 6 hours, for the present materials. However, the reaction between Al and TiO₂, during the subsequent heat treatment, is influenced by the milling condition. The powders with the longer milling times and finer mixing microstructures also form a finer microstructure, after the reaction between Al and TiO₂ during heat treatment. The methods for achieving an optimal milling efficiency for the Al-TiO₂ system are discussed.     

Primary basal cell carcinoma of the limbal conjunctiva

BACKGROUND: The authors describe a 66-year-old man with primary basal cell carcinoma of the conjunctiva. He presented with a fleshy nodular conjunctival lesion of 4 months' duration, located at the nasal limbus of the left eye. No associated cutaneous lesions were present. RESULTS: The lesion was completely excised, and results of histopathologic examination showed a primary basal cell carcinoma of the conjunctiva. CONCLUSION: This report provides clinicopathologic evidence that primary basal cell carcinoma can rarely occur in the conjunctiva. The authors summarize two well-documented previously reported cases of this unusual lesion.     

The human touch: An exploration of the role and meaning of physical touch in psychoanalysis.

This article addressed the meaning and significance of minor physical contact (e.g., a hug or handshake) within the psychoanalytic dyad. Although undoubtedly a controversial topic, the plain fact that it is occurring makes touch an important and necessary subject of discourse. Furthermore, as psychoanalysts come to define the role of the more human analyst within the 2-person field and come to regard so-called extra-analytic techniques as necessary and even highly therapeutic, there is no logical basis from which to exclude the judicious use of actual physical contact as one of the tools of the more "human" analyst. The author presented clinical material in which touch seemed ill-advised as well as that in which it proved efficacious. She thus endeavored to clarify and bring into conscious awareness those factors by which decisions are made to touch or not to touch as well as how, when, and with what types of patients psychoanalysts decide to have physical contact. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Numerical discrimination by rats (Rattus norvegicus) using body and vibrissal touch.

Three experiments were performed to test if tactile stimuli could serve as the basis for a numerical discrimination in rats (Rattus norvegicus). In Experiment 1, touch delivered symmetrically to both sides of the animal's body yielded no evidence of numerical discrimination. In Experiment 2, the restriction of tactile cues to one side of the animal's body resulted in marginally better results, although performance remained below conventional levels of significance. In Experiment 3, tactile contact with the animal's vibrissae yielded statistically significant evidence of numerical processing. Subjects learned to enter one arm of a Y-maze when three vibrissal deflections were presented, and the other arm when either two or four stimuli occurred. The demonstration of a two-three-four discrimination extends the use of this relatively complex intermediate number procedure from a previous demonstration in rats involving auditory stimuli (Davis & Albert, 1986) and indicates for the first time in any species that touch may be used as the basis for numerical behavior. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Investigation of neutrophil signal transduction using a specific inhibitor of phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase

Neutrophils contain a multicomponent NADPH oxidase system that is involved in the production of microbicidal oxidants. Stimulation of human neutrophils with the peptide FMLP activates this respiratory burst enzyme to produce superoxide and also has been shown to result in activation of phosphatidylinositol (Ptdlns) 3-kinase. Treatment of human neutrophils with 2-(4-morpholinyl)-8-phenyl-4H-1-benzopyran-4-one (LY294002), a potent and specific inhibitor of Ptdlns 3-kinase, resulted in complete inhibition of Ptdlns 3-kinase activity as well as in inhibition of superoxide production in FMLP-treated neutrophils in suspension; FMLP-stimulated oxidant production in adherent cells was also abolished. Treatment of human neutrophils with PMA resulted in production of superoxide without activation of Ptdlns 3-kinase; LY294002 did not block superoxide production in neutrophils exposed to PMA. In addition, LY294002 did not inhibit cellfree NADPH oxidase activation, CD11b-dependent adhesion, actin polymerization in response to FMLP, or FMLP-induced calcium flux. These results suggest that the signal transduction pathway of the FMLP-receptor involves activation of Ptdlns 3-kinase, which is required for subsequent superoxide production induced by the chemotactic peptide. Furthermore, Ptdlns 3-kinase may be located directly upstream of protein kinase C or other protein kinases, which in turn activate the NADPH oxidase system.     

The communication of emotion via touch.

The study of emotional communication has focused predominantly on the facial and vocal channels but has ignored the tactile channel. Participants in the current study were allowed to touch an unacquainted partner on the whole body to communicate distinct emotions. Of interest was how accurately the person being touched decoded the intended emotions without seeing the tactile stimulation. The data indicated that anger, fear, disgust, love, gratitude, and sympathy were decoded at greater than chance levels, as well as happiness and sadness, 2 emotions that have not been shown to be communicated by touch to date. Moreover, fine-grained coding documented specific touch behaviors associated with different emotions. The findings are discussed in terms of their contribution to the study of emotion-related communication. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Perceiving the width and height of a hand-held object by dynamic touch.

The haptic perceptual subsystem of dynamic touch is prominent in manipulating and transporting objects, providing a nonvisible awareness of their linear dimensions. The hypothesis that perceptions of object width and height by dynamic touch are different functions of the inertia tensor is addressed. In two experiments heights and widths of nonvisible wielded objects were judged separately. Experiment 1 used solid rectangular parallelepipeds of different sizes; Experiment 2 used objects of identical mass and linear dimensions but nonidentical inertia ellipsoids. Width and height perceptions of comparable reliability and accuracy were found to vary as distinct functions of the objects' inertial eigenvalues. Discussion focused on the notion of tangible shape and on the selectivity of attention within dynamic touch. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A touch of ethics and humor.

Discusses several theories on the psychology of humor, such as C. Gruner's (1978) contention that humor is an extension of a person's "roar of triumph" over an enemy and is essentially hostile. Humor is an often neglected area of human behavior in psychology, and can be studied as a dimension of personality, a tool to promote mental health, a clue to cognitive style, and an approach to understanding cultures. (French abstract) (3 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Episodic contributions to sequential control: Learning from a typist's touch.

Sequential control over routine action is widely assumed to be controlled by stable, highly practiced representations. Our findings demonstrate that the processes controlling routine actions in the domain of skilled typing can be flexibly manipulated by memory processes coding recent experience with typing particular words and letters. In two experiments, we extended Masson's (1986) procedure for measuring item-specific learning in the context of acquiring an unfamiliar skill to the highly skilled domain of typing. Skilled typists' performance improved during practice with typing words composed from a specific set of letters. In a transfer phase, performance was fastest for trained words, followed by new words composed of trained letters, and slowest for new words composed of untrained letters. The finding that recent episodic experience with typing particular words and letters influences skilled typing performance holds widespread implications for theories of typing, sequence learning, and motor control. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

微乳液增敏4,5-二溴苯基荧光酮光度法测定镉

研究在溴化十六烷基吡啶(CPB)-乳化剂OP-正丁醇-正庚烷-水5组分构成的微乳液介质中,镉(与4,5-二溴苯基荧光酮(DBPF)的显色反应,建立了光度法测定镉的新方法;讨论了酸度、显色剂、表面活性剂和试剂加入顺序的影响,确定最佳实验条件。结果表明,在25 mL显色液中镉量在0.008 3~16μg范围内符合比尔定律,方法检出限为0.1μg/L,体系最大吸收波长为544 nm,表观摩尔吸光系数ε=2.53×105L.mol-1.cm-1。本法已用于电镀废水和头发样品中镉(的分析。