Some determinants of persistence in chronic schizophrenic subjects.

This investigation of persistence in schizophrenics on tasks differing in complexity and interest under ego-involved and task-oriented conditions utilized 3 groups of male schizophrenics: 30 well-adjusted and 30 poorly-adjusted out-patients, and 30 regressed hospitalized patients. Each S worked at 1 of 3 tasks representing low, moderate, and high degrees of interest and complexity. ? of each group received ego-involved and ? received task-oriented instructions. Outpatient schizozphrenics were clearly superior to hospitalized patients in persistence. Persistence was greater under ego-involved than under task-oriented conditions, regardless of task or level of psychopathology, but there was no difference in persistence scores across tasks. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Nucleotide stabilization of amorphous calcium phosphate

Amorphous calcium phosphate granules, containing substantial amounts of magnesium and adenosine triphosphate (ATP) have been found in the hepatopancreas of the blue crab. These stable amorphous deposits are similar in local atomic order to synthetic amorphous calcium phosphate (ACP), which, in contrast, converts to hydroxyapatite in an aqueous environment. Magnesium is known to be a stabilizing agent, and the present study shows that ATP, at levels comparable to those in the granules, also inhibits the conversion to hydroxyapatite (HA). Increasing amounts of ATP in solution, increased the time before ACP began to convert to HA, without greatly altering the rate once conversion began, an effect similar to that of Mg. Conversion was also inhibited by ADP, although less effectively, and AMP was found to be ineffective as a stabilizer. These nucleotides did not decrease the solubility of ACP, indicating that they act in solution to suppress the nucleation and/or growth of hydroxyapatite crystals. Possible stabilization mechanisms are discussed and the relationship to the action of other condensed phosphates is considered.     

Telephone-based coping skills training for patients awaiting lung transplantation.

Impaired quality of life is associated with increased mortality in patients with advanced lung disease. Using a randomized controlled trial with allocation concealment and blinded outcome assessment at 2 tertiary care teaching hospitals, the authors randomly assigned 328 patients with end-stage lung disease awaiting lung transplantation to 12 weeks of telephone-based coping skills training (CST) or to usual medical care (UMC). Patients completed a battery of quality of life instruments and were followed for up to 3.4 years to assess all-cause mortality. Compared with UMC, CST produced lower scores on perceived stress, anxiety, depressive symptoms, and negative affect and improved scores on mental health functioning, optimism, vitality, and perceived social support. There were 29 deaths (9%) over a mean follow-up period of 1.1 year. Survival analyses revealed that there was no difference in survival between the 2 groups. The authors conclude that a telephone-based CST intervention can be effectively delivered to patients awaiting lung transplantation. Despite the severity of pulmonary disease in this patient population, significant improvements in quality of life, but not somatic measures or survival to transplant, were achieved. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Elevated social anxiety among early maturing girls.

Adolescence is a key period in terms of the development of anxiety psychopathology. An emerging literature suggests that early pubertal maturation is associated with enhanced vulnerability for anxiety symptomatology, although few studies have examined this association with regard to social anxiety. Accordingly, the current study was designed to further elucidate the relation between pubertal timing and social anxiety, with a focus on clarifying the role of gender. Participants were 138 adolescents (ages 12–17 years) recruited from the general community. Level of social anxiety was examined as a function of gender and within-sample pubertal timing. As expected, early maturing girls evidenced significantly higher social anxiety, compared with on-time girls and early maturing boys, and no other differences were found as a function of gender or developmental timing. Findings and future directions are discussed in terms of forwarding developmentally sensitive models of social anxiety etiology and prevention. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Hemagglutinin-neuraminidase enhances F protein-mediated membrane fusion of reconstituted Sendai virus envelopes with cells

Reconstituted Sendai virus envelopes containing both the fusion (F) protein and the hemagglutinin-neuraminidase (HN) (F,HN-virosomes) or only the F protein (F-virosomes) were prepared by solubilization of the intact virus with Triton X-100 followed by its removal by using SM2 Bio-Beads. Viral envelopes containing HN whose disulfide bonds were irreversibly reduced (HNred) were also prepared by treating the envelopes with dithiothreitol followed by dialysis (F,HNred-virosomes). Both F-virosomes and F,HNred-virosomes induced hemolysis of erythrocytes in the presence of wheat germ agglutinin, but the rates and extents were markedly lower than those for hemolysis induced by F,HN-virosomes. Using an assay based on the relief of self-quenching of a lipid probe incorporated in the Sendai virus envelopes, we demonstrate the fusion of both F,HN-virosomes and F-virosomes with cultured HepG2 cells containing the asialoglycoprotein receptor, which binds to a terminal galactose moiety of F. By desialylating the HepG2 cells, the entry mediated by HN-terminal sialic acid receptor interactions was bypassed. We show that both F-virosomes and F,HN-virosomes fuse with desialylated HepG2 cells, although the rate was two- to threefold higher if HN was included in the viral envelope. We also observed enhancement of fusion rates when both F and HN envelope proteins were attached to their specific receptors.     

Effect of capsulorhexis diameter on glare disability

PURPOSE: To determine whether the diameter of the anterior capsulorhexis has an effect on postoperative glare. SETTING: Sapir Medical Center, Meir Hospital, Kfar Saba, Israel. METHODS: Forty patients had extracapsular cataract extraction (manual or phacoemulsification) through an intact continuous curvilinear capsulorhexis (CCC) of various sizes. The CCC diameter was measured and the opacity of the anterior and posterior capsules was evaluated before and after dilation of the pupils. Glare test (Miller-Nadler glare tester) was performed with the eyelid in a normal position and after lid elevation. RESULTS: The diameter of the CCC ranged from 3.50 to 7.00 mm (mean 4.87 mm). The anterior capsule was always opaque in the area of contact with the IOL material. None was graded clear; 60% were graded as +3. Mean glare disability prior to pupil dilation was 12.1 +/- 8.8 (SD) and after dilation, 17.3 +/- 9.7. There was no correlation between glare disability and the diameter of the capsulorhexis, the width of the exposed opacified capsular ring, or the grading of capsule opacification (anterior and posterior). Dilation of the pupil significantly increased glare disability (P = .016), unrelated to CCC diameter. CONCLUSION: A CCC larger than 3.5 mm does not induce significant glare.     

Key derivation for network management applications

This article describes a key derivation method that greatly simplifies key distribution issues for network management (NM) applications and may in some cases relieve NM stations from the need to store any keys at all. This method is easily generalized for network protocols and applications where several “masters” need to talk to a large number of “slaves”. It shows a way to cut down on the amount of keys stored with little impact on security. This is especially important when human users are involved