Evaluation of a cognitive-behavioral intervention for adolescents.

The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of a cognitive- behavioral, biofeedback-assisted intervention to impart skills for coping with stressful encounters in a nonclinical adolescent population. Israeli Arab and Israeli Jewish participants completed pre- and postintervention questionnaires assessing state anxiety, test anxiety, behavior symptoms, hostility, and self-esteem. Electrodermal activity was recorded using biofeedback. From pre- to postintervention, scores of state anxiety, test anxiety, behavior symptoms, and self-esteem, but not hostility, changed significantly in the intervention group as compared with the control group. A significant Group × School effect was evident for state and test anxiety and behavior problems, indicative of higher reductions in the Arab group. The cognitive-behavioral program proved an effective preventive intervention for adolescents. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Identification of Receptor‐Interacting Regions of Vitellogenin within Evolutionarily Conserved β‐Sheet Structures by Using a Peptide Array

Vitellogenesis, a key process in oviparous animals, is characterized by enhanced synthesis of the lipoprotein vitellogenin, which serves as the major yolk‐protein precursor. In most oviparous animals, and specifically in crustaceans, vitellogenin is mainly synthesized in the hepatopancreas, secreted to the hemolymph, and taken up into the ovary by receptor‐mediated endocytosis. In the present study, localization of the vitellogenin receptor and its interaction with vitellogenin were investigated in the freshwater prawn Macrobrachium rosenbergii. The receptor was immuno‐histochemically localized to the cell periphery and around yolk vesicles. A receptor blot assay revealed that the vitellogenin receptor interacts with most known vitellogenin subunits, the most prominent being the 79 kDa subunit. The receptor was, moreover, able to interact with trypsin‐digested vitellogenin peptides. By combining a novel peptide‐array approach with tandem mass spectrometry, eleven vitellogenin‐derived peptides that interacted with the receptor were identified. A 3D model of vitellogenin indicated that four of the identified peptides are N‐terminally localized. One of the peptides is homologous to the receptor‐recognized site of vertebrate vitellogenin, and assumes a conserved β‐sheet structure. These findings suggest that this specific β‐sheet region in the vitellogenin N‐terminal lipoprotein domain is the receptor‐interacting site, with the rest of the protein serving to enhance affinity for the receptor. The conservation of the receptor recognition site in invertebrate and vertebrate vitellogenin might have vast implications for oviparous species reproduction, development, immunity, and pest management.     

Optimum conditions for determining depolymerisation of pectic substances with the Sumner reagent

Using Sumner reagents for determining reducing groups following polygalacturonase activity, high degradation of the polyuranoid polymers was observed. The time, the NaOH concentration and the polyuranoid materials influenced the rate and intensity of colour development. Low esterified and high esterified pectin did not show any difference in colour intensity during Sumner reaction. As the Sumner reaction did not include buffer capacity, the reaction mixture for polygalacturonase activity—which included pectic and organic acids—influenced the colour intensity. CaCl₂ at low concentrations (0·5–2·5 mm) accelerated the degradation of pectin and higher concentrations (2·5–10 mm) inhibited the reaction.     

A technique for constructing highly available services

This paper describes a general method for constructing a highly available service for use in a distributed system. It gives a specific implementation of the method and proves the implementation correct. The service consists of replicas that reside at several different locations in a network. It presents its clients with a consistent view of its state, but the view may contain old information. Clients can indicate how recent the information must be. The method can be used in applications satisfying certain semantic constraints. For applications that can use it, the method performs better than other replication techniques.     

Aging persons' estimates of vehicular motion.

Estimated arrival times of moving autos were examined in relation to viewer age, gender, motion trajectory, and velocity. Direct push-button judgments were compared with verbal estimates derived from velocity and distance, which were based on assumptions that perceivers compute arrival time from perceived distance and velocity. Exp 1 showed that direct estimates of younger Ss were most accurate. Older women made the shortest (highly cautious) estimates of when cars would arrive. Verbal estimates were much lower than direct estimates, with little correlation between them. Exp 2 extended target distances and velocities of targets, with the results replicating the main findings of Exp 1. Judgment accuracy increased with target velocity, and verbal estimates were again poorer estimates of arrival time than direct ones, with different patterns of findings. Using verbal estimates to approximate judgments in traffic situations appears questionable. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Detection of toxic substances in water by means of a mammalian cell culture technique

The cloning efficiency of a mammalian cell culture was used as a sensitive technique for the detection of toxicants in water. The sensitivity of the technique was tested by exposing HeLa, mouse lymphoma and Buffalo green monkey cell lines to known amounts of six different toxicants. The cell culture system tested proved to be twice as sensitive as an electronic fish bioassay system. Biofilter humus tank, and activated sludge effluents as well as settled sewage showed toxic activity when tested by the cell culture system.     

Spontaneous and elicited smiles and vocalizations of infants in four Israeli environments.

Compared smiling behavior of infants during a regular waking day to their smiling during a brief elicitation by the mother and investigated the extent to which a mother is able to intentionally elicit smiling or vocalization. 76 male infants at ages 2, 4, 7, and 11 mo from kibbutz, Bedouin, middle-class, and lower-class environments were observed in the presence of their mothers for one complete day. Mothers were asked to try to elicit smiles from their infants and then to attempt to make their infants vocalize. Results indicate that 2-mo-olds smiled least and that Ss from different environments differed in rate of smiling during the entire day of observation. Age and environment differences disappeared and the rate of smiling was 5 times higher for the intentional brief elicitation of smiling. The rate of smiling decreased and age differences reappeared when mothers tried to elicit vocalization. In this situation vocalization was more readily induced. Mothers' behavior during the 2 elicitations and the effects of environment and infant's age on mothers' behavior are presented and discussed. (18 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Removal of toxicants during direct and indirect reuse of wastewater evaluated by means of a mammalian cell culture technique

Removal of toxicants by direct and indirect reuse of wastewater was investigated. Cloning efficiency of a sensitive mammalian cell line culture was used as a measure of toxic activity. Buffalo green monkey cells were exposed to various representative water samples from direct and indirect reuse systems. Both systems proved to be highly effective in their removal of toxicants. The final drinking-water derived from both systems showed no or minimal toxic activity when tested by the cell culture system.