Controlled and automatic processing during animal word list generation in schizophrenia.

Controlled and automatic aspects of semantic-associative functioning in schizophrenia were investigated by evaluating performance on animal word list generation (WLG). Responses from control (n?=?47) and patient (n?=?38) participants were subjected to multidimensional scaling (MDS), cluster analysis (CA), and indices on the basis of number of shared attributes (SA) between consecutive responses. Patient MDS results accounted for less variance and contained more error than control data. CA results yielded fewer and less clear animal-response subgroups among patients yet demonstrated intact associations among strongly related exemplars. The SA indices revealed better clustering and more effective switching among response clusters in controls than patients. Results suggest that animal WLG in schizophrenia is compromised both by aberrant automatic semantic-associative network activation and by controlled processes such as search, access, and selection. This pattern is consistent with prominent frontotemporal pathology evident in the disorder. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Pre-operative chemoembolization of hepatocellular carcinoma in cirrhotic patients

BACKGROUND/AIMS: The aim of the study was to evaluate clinical and pathological effects of transcatheter arterial chemoembolization (TACE) before surgical resection for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) in cirrhosis (55 patients); results were compared with a group of 45 patients undergoing surgical resection without TACE. METHODOLOGY: From March 1989 to December 1997, 55 cirrhotic patients, affected by surgically resectable HCC not larger than 5 cm with unifocal or bifocal tumor lesions, underwent TACE pre-operatively. RESULTS: Massive necrosis was observed in 26%, necrosis > 50% in 38% of lesions. Neoplastic cells were found in 47% of cases within the capsule or in the pericapsular tissue. Satellite nodules showed a low rate of necrosis. Mortality and morbidity in the pre-operative TACE group were 1.8% and 29%, respectively, and 4.4% and 33%, respectively, in the control group. One-, 3- and 5-year patient survival rates were 87%, 70% and 39%, respectively, versus 79%, 38% and 19%, respectively (p<0.02), in the control group. Disease-free survival was 40% and 28% at 3 years and 5 years with pre-operative TACE versus 20% and 11% (p<0.05). CONCLUSIONS: Pre-operative TACE can be performed with low morbidity. TACE can necrotize the main lesion and temporarily arrest portal diffusion of neoplastic cells by acting on microvascular infiltration. No evident effect on satellites and pericapsular neoplastic foci was observed. The long-term patients and disease-free survival rates were improved upon.     

Wheat quality in organic and conventional farming: results of a 21 year field experiment

Consumers have become more aware of healthy and safe food produced with low environmental impact. Organic agriculture is of particular interest in this respect, as manifested by 5.768 million hectares managed pursuant to Council Regulation (EEC) 2092/91 in Europe. However, there can be a considerable risk that the avoidance of chemical inputs in organic farming will result in poor food quality. Here the results of a study on the quality of wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) grown in a 21 year agrosystem comparison between organic and conventional farming in central Europe are reported. Wheat was grown in a ley (grass/clover) rotation. The 71% lower addition of plant‐available nitrogen and the reduced input of other means of production to the organic field plots led to 14% lower wheat yields. However, nutritional value (protein content, amino acid composition and mineral and trace element contents) and baking quality were not affected by the farming systems. Despite exclusion of fungicides from the organic production systems, the quantities of mycotoxins detected in wheat grains were low in all systems and did not differ. In food preference tests, as an integrative method, rats significantly preferred organically over conventionally produced wheat. The findings indicate that high wheat quality in organic farming is achievable by lower inputs, thereby safeguarding natural resources. Copyright © 2007 Society of Chemical Industry     

Towards object-oriented modelling of euclidean geometry

This paper presents an object-oriented approach to interactive modelling of geometric objects. The objects are specified by geometric constructions that are built by mimicing the compass-and-ruler manual approach in a direct manipulation graphical interface. The system adopts a programming-by-example paradigm to enrich construction methods incrementally. New constructions can be used to define new classes of objects or new methods for an existing class. Messages exchanged among objects specify geometric relationships among entities. Messages sent at construction time implicitly form a relationship network, which is preserved during subsequent geometric transformations, so that geometric constraints can be satisfied without resorting to numerical methods. The prototype GEObject is implemented under Actor in a Windows 3.0 environment.     

Activation of ErbB2 during wallerian degeneration of sciatic nerve

We used anti-phosphopeptide-immunodetecting antibodies as immunohistochemical reagents to define the location and activity state of p185(erbB2) during Wallerian degeneration. Nerve damage induces a phosphorylation event at Y1248, a site that couples p185(erbB2) to the Ras-Raf-MAP kinase signal transduction pathway. Phosphorylation of p185(erbB2) occurs within Schwann cells and coincides in time and space with Schwann cell mitotic activity, as measured by bromodeoxyuridine uptake. These visual images of receptor autophosphorylation link activation of p185(erbB2) to the Schwann cell proliferation that accompanies nerve regeneration.     

Moral development and politics a decade later: A replication and extension.

Previous investigations performed during the age of student protest indicated a curvilinear relationship between moral development and political ideology and behavior, with both higher and lower levels of moral reasoning associated with leftist inclinations. The present research determined if the linkage between moral reasoning level and political choice could be extended to former students negotiating their middle adulthood during a period of political quiescence. Consistent with the expectations of N. Haan et al (1968), data obtained from 76 persons who had been students at the University of California at Berkeley in 1964 suggest a linear relationship between moral judgment and leftist politics, with premoral reasoners no longer overrepresented among either liberal or politically active Ss. Previous investigators' substantive and directional interpretations of the relationship between moral maturity and political preference are weighed against recent challenges to the purportedly primary, structural, and value-free basis of the L. Kohlberg (1969) model of moral development. (15 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Determination of diffusion coefficients of glycerol and glucose from starch based thermoplastic compounds on simulated physiological solution

Blends of corn starch with poly(ethylene-vinylalcohol) copolymer (SEVA-C) have been studied and reported as biodegradable. These materials are known to be sensitive to enzymatic action, evidencing a degradation of the starch phase in -amylase assays. However, from the physical-chemical point of view the degradation of the blend is mainly associated with the leaching of glycerol, since other compounds are not released and no carbohydrates were found in the degradation solution. Based on these results, the present work attempts to determinate the respective diffusion coefficients. Four different experiments were performed, using samples with different thicknesses that were immersed in a simulated physiological solution. High performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) was used to separate the sugar derivatives and glycerol from the degradation solutions. The obtained data were fitted to an empirical model to allow the estimation of the diffusion coefficient for glycerol and glucose, based on the analytical solution for Ficks law of diffusion, and a good agreement was found (R² 1). The glycerol leaches quickly out during the first few days of immersion, stabilizing thereafter, presenting greater diffusion coefficients for thicker samples. As the quantity of saccharides in the solution remains almost invariable along the experiments, this work also confirms that the degradation process is difficult without the action of enzymes.     

Pharmacological Activities of Ruthenium Complexes Related to Their NO Scavenging Properties

Angiogenesis is considered responsible for the growth of primary tumours and of their metastases. With the present study, the effects of three ruthenium compounds, potassiumchlorido (ethylendiamminotetraacetate)rutenate(III) (RuEDTA), sodium (bis-indazole)tetrachloro-ruthenate(III), Na[trans-RuCl₄Ind₂] (KP1339) and trans-imidazoledimethylsulphoxidetetrachloro-ruthenate (NAMI-A), are studied in vitro in models mimicking the angiogenic process. The ruthenium compounds reduced the production and the release of nitrosyls from either healthy macrophages and immortalized EA.hy926 endothelial cells. The effects of NAMI-A are qualitatively similar and sometimes quantitatively superior to those of RuEDTA and KP1339. NAMI-A reduces the production and release of nitric oxide (NO) by the EA.hy926 endothelial cells and correspondingly inhibits their invasive ability; it also strongly inhibits the angiogenesis in matrigel sponges implanted subcutaneously in healthy mice. Taken together, these data support the anti-angiogenic activity of the tested ruthenium compounds and they contribute to explain the selective activity of NAMI-A against solid tumour metastases, the tumour compartment on which angiogenesis is strongly involved. This anti-angiogenic effect may also contribute to the inhibition of the release of metastatic cells from the primary tumour. Investigations on the anti-angiogenic effects of NAMI-A at this level will increase knowledge of its pharmacological properties and it will give a further impulse to the development of this class of innovative metal-based drugs.     

Volatile Composition of Vernaccia di Oristano Sherry-Like Wine as Affected by Biological Ageing

Forty compounds were identified by gas chromatography and gas chromatography/mass spectrometry in the volatile fraction of Vernaccia di Oristano, an Italian sherry-like wine produced in Sardinia since the 11th century. The individual aromatic compounds were identified and quantified in the original wine, both after biological ageing by inoculation of the original wine with Saccharomyces cerevisiae var bayanus and S cerevisiae var prostoserdovii , and after ageing under sterile conditions. The effects of flor yeasts in terms of production or subtraction of flavour components are discussed.