Testing the efficacy of theoretically derived improvements in the treatment of social phobia.

Recent theoretical models of social phobia suggest that targeting several specific cognitive factors in treatment should enhance treatment efficacy over that of more traditional skills-based treatment programs. In the current study, 195 people with social phobia were randomly allocated to 1 of 3 treatments: standard cognitive restructuring plus in vivo exposure, an “enhanced” treatment that augmented the standard program with several additional treatment techniques (e.g., performance feedback, attention retraining), and a nonspecific (stress management) treatment. The enhanced treatment demonstrated significantly greater effects on diagnoses, diagnostic severity, and anxiety during a speech. The specific treatments failed to differ significantly on self-report measures of social anxiety symptoms and life interference, although they were both significantly better than the nonspecific treatment. The enhanced treatment also showed significantly greater effects than standard treatment on 2 putative process measures: cost of negative evaluation and negative views of one's skills and appearance. Changes on these process variables mediated differences between the treatments on changes in diagnostic severity. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Self-assembled monolayers (SAMs) of cobalt tetracarboxylic acidchloride phthalocyanine covalently attached onto a preformed mercaptoethanol SAM: A novel method

A feasible method of fabricating phthalocyanine sensor was developed by covalent attachment of cobalt tetracarboxylic acidchloride phthalocyanine (CoTCACIPc) onto a preformed 2-mercaptoethanol (2-ME) self-assembled monolayer (SAM) modified gold electrode (designated as CoTCACIPc-2-ME-SAM). The surface concentration of the CoTCACIPc was found to be 4.58 × 10⁻¹⁰ mol/cm². The sensor gave a linear response to l-cysteine over the concentration range 0.28-20 μM with a detection limit of 5 × 10⁻⁷ M and best response time of 2 s.     

Chemical and Biological Oxidation of Iron in Acid Mine Water

Abstract.   Prior to limestone neutralization of acid water, ferrous iron needs to be oxidized to prevent downstream oxidation and the formation of acid. This study assessed the effect of various parameters on the biological and chemical rate of iron oxidation, both chemically and biologically. In batch experiments, it was found that although the use of support media had no effect on the chemical iron oxidation rate, it was important when iron was oxidised biologically. Under continuous flow conditions, the highest oxidation rate occurred when the initial Fe (II) concentration was between 4.5 to 4.8 g/L, geotextile was used as the support medium, and when nutrients were added to the reactor. The optimal iron oxidation rate was achieved at a hydraulic retention time of 8 h. The chemical iron oxidation rate depends on the concentration of suspended Fe(OH)₃ and CaSO₄, which act as catalysts. The biological iron oxidation rate was dependent on the bacterial growth, which was influenced by several parameters (support media, nutrients, CO₂, and oxygen).     

Changes in hydrogen bonding in protein plasticized with triethylene glycol

Bloodmeal decolored with 4 wt % peracetic acid can be extruded into a semi‐transparent bio‐plastic through the addition of sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS), water, and triethylene glycol (TEG). TEG is often used to plasticize protein thermoplastic materials because of its ability to form both hydrophobic and hydrogen bonds. Synchrotron‐based FT‐IR was used to monitor changes in the types of hydrogen bonding occurring in TEG plasticized protein during heating. Heating was found to overcome a portion of the weaker hydrogen bonds found within and between proteins, observed as a blue‐shift in the N‐H and O‐H stretching vibrations occurring at ∼3280 cm⁻¹. TEG was shown to be involved in a larger array of hydrogen bonding environments after heating, evidenced by the broadening of the C‐OH stretch around 1076 cm⁻¹, suggesting improved plasticizer‐protein interactions. Additionally, these bonds were found to be as strong as the original interactions, observed as a shift in the C‐OH peak back to its original wavenumber (∼1076 cm⁻¹) during cooling. Initially, TEG was spatially distributed into distinct plasticizer‐rich and plasticizer‐poor domains, giving rise to two glass transitions. Heating allowed the migration and uniform dispersion of TEG throughout the material, and merged the two glass transitions into one broader glass transition region. Heating during DSC removed the peak around 60°C corresponding to the enthalpy of relaxation, which is associated with physical aging of amorphous and semi‐crystalline polymers. While physical aging occurred during the storage of DBM, in the presence of TEG it occurred to a lesser extent. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2015 , 132, 42166.