Job demands and worker health: Three-dimensional reexamination of the relationship between person€nvironment fit and strain.

The most influential study of the person–environment (P–E) fit approach to stress was conducted by J. R. French et al (1982). Unfortunately, this study operationalized fit using various transformations of difference scores, thereby introducing numerous substantive and methodological problems. In the present study, the authors reanalyze data from French et al, using a procedure described by J. R. Edwards (in press) that avoids problems with difference scores and captures the underlying 3-dimensional relationship between environment, person, and strain. Results resolve ambiguities in the French et al findings and identify relationships between environment, person, and strain that, although consistent with P–E fit theory, cannot be adequately represented by fit measures such as those used by French et al. Implications for P–E fit research are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Analogies with optical bistability in ferroelectrics

Mathematical analogies are developed between the formalism used to describe regenerative pulsations accompanying optical bistability in ferroelectrics and that used to parametrize the transition from steady flow to laminar vortex generation in viscous fluids. An “effective Reynolds number” and an “effective specific viscosity” are both defined for the optical bistability model. The characteristic length in the problem is defined in a way similar to that in Abrikosov's theory of Type II superconductors.     

SPECT, CT, and MRI in head injury: acute abnormalities followed up at six months

We report a case of cervicofacial necrotizing fasciitis that developed after blepharoplasty, an occurrence that, to our knowledge, has not previously been reported in the medical literature. A patient who presented to our institution 3 days after undergoing blepharoplasty of the upper eyelid was diagnosed as having fulminant fasciitis involving extensive areas of the face, scalp, and neck. We review the case in detail and discuss clinical and radiological clues to diagnosis, surgical and medical management, wound care, and subsequent scar contracture. This case emphasizes the need for individualized, appropriate postoperative care and for an awareness of this rare, potentially fatal complication. Early recognition and aggressive treatment of cervicofacial fasciitis can arrest its rapid progression and prevent devastating sequelae.     

Intravenous microdialysis sampling in awake, freely-moving rats.

Intravenous microdialysis sampling in the awake, freely-moving rat for the determination of free drug concentrations in blood is described. Intravenous microdialysis was performed with a nonmetallic, flexible dialysis probe. The pharmacokinetics of theophylline were determined using both microdialysis sampling and collection of whole blood following an iv dose. There was no difference in the half-life of elimination of theophylline determined by microdialysis, 4.4 +/- 0.4 h, and whole blood sampling, 4.5 +/- 0.7 h. The kinetics of elimination were affected by removing blood samples and by using anesthesia. The half-life of elimination was 4.4 +/- 0.4 h when using simultaneous microdialysis and whole-blood sampling and only 3.0 +/- 0.4 h using microdialysis alone. The half-life of elimination was 17.0 +/- 7.1 h in chloral hydrate anesthesized rats. Microdialysis samples were continuously collected for over 7 h without fluid loss using a single experimental animal. Microdialysis sampling directly assesses the free drug concentration in blood. The extent of theophylline binding to blood proteins was determined in vitro in rat plasma and rat whole blood using both ultrafiltration and microdialysis. Theophylline was (47.3 +/- 1.3)% bound in rat plasma and (52.2 +/- 1.6)% bound in rat whole blood. Microdialysis sampling is a powerful tool for pharmacokinetic studies, providing accurate and precise pharmacokinetic data.     

Optic chiasm astrocytomas of childhood. 1. Long-term follow-up

There are many in vivo animal models for studying airway mucus secretion and hypersecretion, each with advantages and disadvantages. Use of a particular test system will depend upon the aspect of secretion to be modelled. Airway hypersecretory diseases exhibit chronic mucus hypersecretion, of which the clinical impact is predominantly in the distal airways. The majority of documented test preparations study acute secretion, invariably using tracheal preparations, but have been invaluable in elucidating the normal physiology of airway mucus secretion. Chronic models of the hypersecretory state in the distal airways have been developed, but are predominantly histologic in nature (for example quantification of increased goblet cell number). There are few investigations of mucus hypersecretion. Examination of the 'antisecretory' potential of pharmaceutical compounds has been investigated predominantly in chronic histologic models with the drug being given 'prophylactically' rather than 'therapeutically'. Refinement of chronic hypersecretory models should lead to elucidation of the connection between airway irritation, inflammation, MUC gene expression, mucous cell hyperplasia/metaplasia, airway hypersecretion and bronchial hypersecretory disease.     

"Resource" exchange in the biparental California mouse (Peromyscus californicus): Water transfer from pups to parents.

Mammalian mothers provide water to their young via milk. Rodent mothers reclaim much of this water by licking the anogenital areas of their pups, stimulating reflexive urination and consuming the pups' urine. Male rodents do not provide milk (hence water) to the young, but in some species male parents may nevertheless lick their pups. We determined the amount of water transfer from pups to mothers and fathers in the biparental California mouse, Peromyscus californicus, by injecting 5-, 10-, 20-, and 30-day-old pups with tritiated water and measuring the radioactive label in maternal and paternal plasma after 24 hrs of interaction with their litter. On Days 5 and 10, mothers obtained more pup urine than did fathers. Parents consumed equivalent amounts of pup urine on Days 20 and 30. Mothers engaged in more pup anogential licking than did fathers, which accounted for the difference in pup urine consumption. Salt appetite controls, in part, pup anogential licking in lactating rats (Gubernick & Alberts, 1983). Salt appetite was not implicated in the modulation of anogential licking in the California mouse because the mice failed to display a salt appetite. Licking of young and urine consumption are not dependent solely on the bidirectional exchange of water between the dam and her offspring. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Hereditary motor and sensory neuropathies. Clinical and molecular genetic aspects

Hereditary motor sensory neuropathies are a heterogeneous group of inherited diseases of the peripheral nerves. In this review the clinical and genetic differences between the sub-groups of this disease will be discussed. Since the discovery of a 1.5 mb duplication on chromosome 17 p11.2-12 in most patients with a hereditary motor sensory neuropathy and a variety of different mutations on chromosomes 1 and X in other patients with a similar disease profile, Dycks' clinical classification needs to be re-evaluated. In this review Dycks' taxonomy of heridihary neuropathies will be compared to a new genetic classification and a relevant diagnostic procedure proposed when a hereditary neuropathy is suspected.     

Simulating Ramsey-Type Fringes in a Pulsed Microwave-Driven Classical Josephson Junction

We present evidence for a close analogy between the nonlinear behaviour of a pulsed microwave-driven Josephson junction at low temperature and the experimentally observed behaviour of Josephson systems operated below the quantum transition temperature under similar conditions. We specifically address observations of Ramsey-type fringe oscillations, which can be understood in classical nonlinear dynamics as results of slow transient oscillations in a pulsed microwave environment. Simulations are conducted to mimic experimental measurements by recording the statistics of microwave-induced escape events from the anharmonic potential well of a zero-voltage state. Observations consistent with experimentally obtained Ramsey-type oscillations are found in the classical model. An erratum to this article can be found at     

External-Memory Algorithms for Processing Line Segments in Geographic Information Systems

In the design of algorithms for large-scale applications it is essential to consider the problem of minimizing I/O communication. Geographical information systems (GIS) are good examples of such large-scale applications as they frequently handle huge amounts of spatial data. In this paper we develop efficient external-memory algorithms for a number of important problems involving line segments in the plane, including trapezoid decomposition, batched planar point location, triangulation, red--blue line segment intersection reporting, and general line segment intersection reporting. In GIS systems the first three problems are useful for rendering and modeling, and the latter two are frequently used for overlaying maps and extracting information from them.