Blood and Oxidative Stress (BOS): Soyuz mission “Eneide”

The aim of this experiment was to assay astronaut antioxidant status, to analyse red blood cell membrane composition of astronauts prior and after flight and to study the correlation with oxidative stress that erythrocytes have undergone due to space radiations. Results obtained from this single case study, indicate that during a short time flight, erythrocytes decrease their antioxidant defences, to counteract oxidative stress.     

Property and microstructure evaluation as a function of processing parameters: Large HY-80 steel casting for a US Navy submarine

Processing techniques can significantly alter the properties of a material and can ultimately determine whether a component will perform its function safely. This effort involves the investigation of the processing parameters of HY-80 steel castings; specifically a large HY-80 submarine casting that failed while in service due to improper processing. Samples taken from the failed casting were evaluated in the as-received condition and after exposures to various improper quench and temper scenarios that were possible during casting production. Microstructural examination and hardness measurements were used to evaluate the condition of the high strength steel and these results were correlated to Charpy impact toughness. One important result of this work indicates that hardness alone is not a good indication of material condition: the same measured hardness values yielded very different fracture behavior. The window of favorable processing parameters as defined by heat treatment temperature was clarified based on the specification requirements set by the US Navy for HY-80 castings.     

Ethische und rechtliche Aspekte der epidemiologischen Forschung mit Kindern und Jugendlichen in Deutschland am Beispiel des Kinder- und Jugendgesundheitssurveys

Definition of the problem: The Health Survey of Children and Adolescents shall produce representative, valid data on this target population in Germany, as an essential prerequisite for the evaluation and improvement of their health. The examinations and blood samplings involve persons not able to give their informed consent. The ethical and legal assessment necessary has to respect national and international recommendations as well as the German relevant laws. According to the German legal situation it appears that parents cannot give their informed consent to blood sampling in their children except if it benefits the individual child. This goes beyond international recommendations that accept a group specific benefit of studies in children if the risk of the measure is minimal. Arguments and conclusion: The blood sampling in the Health Survey certainly has a group specific benefit, but it also benefits the individual participant in that it detects e.g. hidden nutritional deficiencies, allergic sensitization, immunization deficits, or indicators of health risks in adulthood that could not be discovered by other means. In the pretest of the survey, many children were found to have such problems that could be brought to intervention. In more than 90% of the participating children of the pretest, blood sampling was possible after parental informed consent and after respecting informal disagreement of individual children or adolescents in every single case. In a sub-sample the general acceptance was tested anonymously, and was found to be quite good.     

Die neue berufliche „IT-Weiterbildung mit System”

Mit der Einführung der neuen IT-Berufe im Jahre 1997 (IT steht hier für Informations- und Telekommunikationstechnik) erhielten die Unternehmen die Chance, durch eigene Nachwuchsf?rderung ihren Personalbedarf im Bereich der IT den betrieblichen Erfordernissen entsprechend zu entwickeln.     

The influence of judge, target, and stimulus characteristics on the accuracy of detecting deceit.

Investigated potential factors related to the ability to detect deceit, including characteristics of the credibility assessor (e.g., personality, handedness, cue use), characteristics of the target (attractiveness, gender), and the modality of the report (audio-visual vs audio-only). 310 undergraduate students (aged 18-43 yrs) judged the honesty of 8 reports of emotionally laden events (true reports and 4 motivated lies) presented in audio-visual or audio-only formats. Results indicate that detection accuracy was significantly higher when the judge was left-handed, the target was unattractive, and the target and judge were of opposite genders. Judges most frequently relied on cues related to the content of the report to decide credibility, but the use of such cues was associated with lower detection accuracy. In contrast, although facial cues were relied upon less often, they were positively associated with accuracy. Implications for the process of credibility assessment are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

"Experienced emotion and affect recognition in adult attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder": Correction to Rapport et al. (2002).

Reports an error in "Experienced emotion and affect recognition in adult attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder" by Lisa J. Rapport, Sara L. Friedman, Angela Tzelepis and Amy Van Voorhis (Neuropsychology, 2002[Jan], Vol 16[1], 102-110). On Page 102, in the byline and in the author note, and on page 109 in the Rapport et al. (2001) reference, Sara Friedman's middle initial incorrectly reads "L." Her correct middle initial is "R." (The following abstract of the original article appeared in record 2002-00339-011.) Emotional competence and deficits that may disrupt interpersonal interactions were evaluated in 28 adults with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and 28 demographically equivalent controls. Participants completed tasks assessing affect recognition and experienced emotional intensity. Adults with ADHD performed worse in affect recognition than did adults without the disorder; however, the impairment was unrelated to gross perceptual processes, fundamental abilities in facial recognition, or attentional aspects of affect perception. Moreover, intensity of experienced emotion moderated affect recognition: Among controls, experienced emotion facilitated affect recognition. Among adults with ADHD, who reported significantly greater intensity, experienced emotion was inversely related to affect recognition. Results are consistent with theories of ADHD as a deficit in behavioral inhibition; yet, results may merely reflect a constellation of deficits associated with the disorder. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Hydrodynamic Changes in Sand due to Biogrowth on Naphthalene and Decane

Biological activity in zones of chemical contamination changes the pore characteristics that control the flow of water and transport of dissolved chemicals in soils. To further the understanding of these processes, column experiments were performed to evaluate the effect of biomass growth on decane or naphthalene dissolved in simulated groundwater on the hydraulic conductivity and dispersivity of sand. The effect of grain size, groundwater flowrate, and nitrogen limitation were investigated. Given the low carbon loading resulting from the solubility of decane and naphthalene, sparse and discontinuous biomass growth reduced the hydraulic conductivity of the sand by 2 to 3 orders of magnitude after 35 to 63 days. This biogrowth initially increased dispersivity of the sand, but after longer periods of growth dispersivity, decreased to stable values near that of the clean sand. The results indicate that biogrowth can have significant effects in natural systems with low carbon loading and nitrogen availability, and should be taken into account when using models to predict contaminant transport in the field.     

Child-Centered Kinder Training for Teachers of Pre-School Children Deemed At-Risk.

The purpose of this study was to examine the impact of child-centered kinder training on both at-risk children and their teachers using Landreth's 10-week filial training model. In this project, the teachers received 30 minutes of immediate feedback following their play sessions with individual children. Following the 10-week training, teachers participated in 13 group sessions to help them generalize the use of the skills into their classrooms. The findings indicate that changes occurred in both the children and the teachers. The children who participated in play sessions with their teachers improved in three of the four composite scales of the Behavior Assessment Scale for Children (Internalizing Problems, Behavioral Symptoms Index, and Adaptive Skills), when compared to a control group of children who did not have the play sessions. The teachers demonstrated better play therapy skills and higher levels of empathic responding with children in the playroom. In addition, teachers were able to generalize the skills into their classrooms when compared to teachers who had not received kinder training. The findings of this study indicate that child-centered kinder training is an effective strategy for both at-risk pre-school children and their teachers. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease is associated with an increase in urinary levels of isoprostane F2alpha-III, an index of oxidant stress

BACKGROUND: The natural history of cerebral venous malformations has not been well documented, and the clinical significance of these common lesions remains controversial. OBJECTIVE: The objective of this study was to follow longitudinally the clinical course of patients with cerebral venous malformations to document the natural history of the lesion. METHODS: Ninety-two patients with radiographically confirmed venous malformations were entered into the study between 1987 and 1996. Annual follow-up was maintained by clinic visits and/or phone interviews. Sixty-three patients (25 men and 38 women) with more than 1 year of follow-up were analyzed. McNemar's test and logistic regression analysis was applied to prevalence of presenting symptoms over time. An average per patient follow-up of 4.2 years yielded 2,721 retrospective and 301 prospective lesion-years for analysis. RESULTS: Average age at diagnosis was 39.1 years (SD, 18.7 years; range, 2 to 73 years). The most frequent lesion locations included the frontal lobe (55.6%, n=35) and the cerebellum (27%, n=17). The most frequent presentations included headache (50.8%, n=32), focal neurologic deficits (39.7%, n=25), and seizure (30.2%, n=19). Prevalence of headache (p=0.048) and seizure (p=0.016) decreased over time without treatment of the lesion. A second cerebrovascular lesion was identified in 12 patients (19%). Two patients had a symptomatic intracerebral hemorrhage attributable to their venous malformation. Risk of hemorrhage was 0.15% per lesion-year (95% CI, 0.06 to 0.38%). CONCLUSIONS: This study establishes that the natural history of venous malformations is benign, that the risk of hemorrhage from these lesions is negligible, and that conservative therapy is warranted.     

Selection Ability in Alzheimer's Disease: Investigation of a Component of Semantic Processing.

Selection ability (selecting a response from several competing semantic and/or lexical representations) was tested in 21 participants with Alzheimer's disease (AD) and 28 control participants to help clarify the nature of semantic impairments in AD. Selection demands were manipulated in 3 tasks (lexical fluency, comparison, and verb generation). In each, high-selection conditions required response selection from competing alternatives, whereas low-selection conditions had a reduced need for selection. Patients with AD were disproportionately impaired on the high-selection conditions of all tasks, even when this condition was easier. Selection deficits on verb generation were evident only relative to nonspeeded controls. Overall results indicate impaired semantic selection abilities in AD, which may contribute to poor performance on some semantic tasks. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)