Simultaneous study of individual differences and relationship effects in attraction.

35 psychology graduate students in 4 experiential groups rated their attraction to each other after the 6th and 12th weekly meeting. Variance due to relationship effects in attraction was substantially larger than either actor or partner individual difference effects. There were significant individual differences in eliciting but not in giving attraction. Findings extend earlier research and demonstrate the incremental validity of studying relationship effects separately from individual difference effects in interpersonal attraction. The simultaneous study of individual differences and relationship effects offer the possibility of determining the relative contribution of these 2 types of effects. (16 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Health care megatrends and health psychology.

Reviews the literature for historical, educational, and health care delivery system contributors to the field of health psychology, which is a major new area of professional practice that has emerged during a period of rapid changes in the health care industry. Four megatrends in medicine and health care are discussed that impinge upon health psychology: the "demythologization" of medicine, changing patterns of medical practice, "remedicalization" of psychiatrists, and alterations in financing health care. (42 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Supporting collaborative learning in engineering design

In team-based project courses, collaborative learning is the dominant learning mode. Collaborative learning has been shown to increase individual learning through co-construction and personal reflection. Rapid adoption of web-based communication and mobile computing by students provide opportunities to take advantage of computer-supported collaboration for engineering education. We present preliminary findings on a computer environment, the Kiva Web, that supports the activities of group collaboration for interdisciplinary engineering design teams. We have employed methods from human–computer interaction (HCI) to iterate on the design in the context of use. In this paper, we discuss the evolution of the Kiva Web and the implications for both student design teams and professional design teams.     

Comparative data on child and adolescent cognitive measures associated with depression.

As a way to better understand the effects of treatment for depression, comparative data on measures of cognition have been compiled previously for adults. Such data should be able to aid the evaluation of cognition and cognitive change, and may provide valuable information for clinicians and researchers alike. In this article, analogous comparative data on cognitive measures associated with depression in children and adolescents are presented. The reviewed instruments assess cognitive errors, attributional style, dysfunctional attitudes, hopelessness, negative self-statements, and Beck's negative cognitive triad. As with adults, these data may have implications for enhancing understanding of empirically supported treatments for children and adolescents, may be useful in vulnerability research, and may be useful to clinicians seeking to develop treatment strategies and to gauge treatment effectiveness. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Speech Comprehension Difficulties in Older Adults: Cognitive Slowing or Age-Related Changes in Hearing?

Speech comprehension declines more rapidly in older adults than in younger adults as speech rate increases. This effect is usually attributed to a slowing of brain function with age. Alternatively, this Age X Speed interaction could reflect the inability of the older adult's auditory system to cope with speed-induced stimulus degradation. When the authors speeded speech in a way that produced minimal degradation, both age groups were equally affected. However, when speech was speeded using other methods, word identification declined more in older than in younger adults. Hence, auditory decline rather than cognitive slowing may be responsible for older adults' poorer performance in speeded conditions. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Molecular and Biochemical Mechanism of Cannabidiol in the Management of the Inflammatory and Oxidative Processes Associated with Endometriosis

Endometriosis is usually associated with inflammation and chronic pelvic pain. This paper focuses the attention on the anti-inflammatory, anti-oxidant and analgesic effects of cannabidiol (CBD) and on its potential role in endometriosis. We employed an in vivo model of endometriosis and administered CBD daily by gavage. CBD administration strongly reduced lesions diameter, volume and area. In particular, it was able to modify lesion morphology, reducing epithelial glands and stroma. CBD showed anti-oxidant effects reducing lipid peroxidation, the expression of Nox-1 and Nox-4 enzymes. CBD restored the oxidative equilibrium of the endogenous cellular defense as showed by the SOD activity and the GSH levels in the lesions. CBD also showed important antifibrotic effects as showed by the Masson trichrome staining and by downregulated expression of MMP-9, iNOS and TGF-β. CBD was able to reduce inflammation both in the harvested lesions, as showed by the increased Ikb-α and reduced COX2 cytosolic expressions and reduced NFkB nuclear localization, and in the peritoneal fluids as showed by the decreased TNF-α, PGE2 and IL-1α levels. CBD has important analgesic effects as showed by the reduced mast cells recruitment in the spinal cord and the reduced release of neuro-sensitizing and pro-inflammatory mediators. In conclusion, the collected data showed that CBD has an effective and coordinated effects in endometriosis suppression.     

Inhibition of Human Urokinase-Type Plasminogen Activator (uPA) Enzyme Activity and Receptor Binding by DNA Aptamers as Potential Therapeutics through Binding to the Different Forms of uPA

Urokinase-type plasminogen activator is widely discussed as a marker for cancer prognosis and diagnosis and as a target for cancer therapies. Together with its receptor, uPA plays an important role in tumorigenesis, tumor progression and metastasis. In the present study, systematic evolution of ligands by exponential enrichment (SELEX) was used to select single-stranded DNA aptamers targeting different forms of human uPA. Selected aptamers allowed the distinction between HMW-uPA and LMW-uPA, and therefore, presumably, have different binding regions. Here, uPAapt-02-FR showed highly affine binding with a K_D of 0.7 nM for HMW-uPA and 21 nM for LMW-uPA and was also able to bind to pro-uPA with a K_D of 14 nM. Furthermore, no cross-reactivity to mouse uPA or tissue-type plasminogen activator (tPA) was measured, demonstrating high specificity. Suppression of the catalytic activity of uPA and inhibition of uPAR-binding could be demonstrated through binding with different aptamers and several of their truncated variants. Since RNA aptamers are already known to inhibit uPA-uPAR binding and other pathological functions of the uPA system, these aptamers represent a novel, promising tool not only for detection of uPA but also for interfering with the pathological functions of the uPA system by additionally inhibiting uPA activity.     

Device for convenient measurement of spatially varying bidirectional reflectance

Capturing surface appearance is a challenging task because reflectance varies as a function of viewing and illumination direction. In addition, most real-world surfaces have a textured appearance, so reflectance also varies spatially. We present a texture camera that can conveniently capture spatially varying reflectance on a surface. Unlike other bidirectional imaging devices, the design eliminates the need for complex mechanical apparatus to move the light source and the camera over a hemisphere of possible directions. To facilitate fast and convenient measurement, the device uses a curved mirror so that multiple views of the same surface point are captured simultaneously. Simple planar motions of the imaging components also permit change of illumination direction and region imaging. We present the current prototype of this device, imaging results, and an analysis of the important imaging properties.     

No Time to Die: How Kidney Cancer Evades Cell Death

The understanding of the pathogenesis of renal cell carcinoma led to the development of targeted therapies, which dramatically changed the overall survival rate. Nonetheless, despite innovative lines of therapy accessible to patients, the prognosis remains severe in most cases. Kidney cancer rarely shows mutations in the genes coding for proteins involved in programmed cell death, including p53. In this paper, we show that the molecular machinery responsible for different forms of cell death, such as apoptosis, ferroptosis, pyroptosis, and necroptosis, which are somehow impaired in kidney cancer to allow cancer cell growth and development, was reactivated by targeted pharmacological intervention. The aim of the present review was to summarize the modality of programmed cell death in the pathogenesis of renal cell carcinoma, showing in vitro and in vivo evidence of their potential role in controlling kidney cancer growth, and highlighting their possible therapeutic value.     

Improved rapid authentication of vanillin using δ13C and δ2H values

Vanilla still remains one of the most important and widely used flavours in the food industry and is also extensively employed by fragrance and pharmaceutical manufacturing companies. Natural vanilla flavour, extracted from the pods of the tropic orchid vanilla, is considerably more expensive than synthetic vanillin. The disparity of prices between natural vanillin and that derived from other sources has given rise to many cases of fraudulent adulteration, and for more than 30 years, strenuous efforts have been made to authenticate sources of vanillin. Stable isotope analysis is one of the most powerful analytical tools to distinguish between natural vanillin and that originating from other sources. Recently, a rapid and precise method for analysis of both δ¹³C and δ²H values of plant methoxyl groups has been published. Here, we report an application of the method for the control of authenticity of vanillin. Carbon and hydrogen stable isotope values of the vanillin molecule and vanillin methoxyl groups of vanillin samples of different origins including authentic and synthetic samples were measured. The results clearly show that use of this approach provides a rapid and reliable authenticity assessment of vanillin. The technique used for these studies is robust and rapid, involves minimum sample preparation and requires only a small amount of vanillin sample, usually 1 mg for stable carbon and 4 mg for stable hydrogen analysis.