The amylose and lipid contents,dimensions, and gelatinisation characteristics of some wheat starches and their A- and B-granule fractions

Starches isolated from 23 bread wheats (Triticum aestivum) and 26 durum wheats (T. durum) contained 26.3-30.6% (mean 29.1%) total amylose, 19.3–25.1% (mean 22.9%) apparent amylose and 783–1144mg 100g^?1 (mean 977 mg 100g^?1) lysophos-pholipids. Gelatinisation temperatures were 57.3–64.9°C (mean 61.8°C) and enthalpies 6.4–11.8 Jg^?1 (mean 9.7Jg^?1) in excess water, measured by differential scanning calorimetry. There were no correlations between any of these parameters. Starch granule size distributions were determined with a Coulter Counter and 100–channel analyser. A-granule mean volumes were 1235–2585μm³ (av. 1778), modal volumes 863–1804μm³ (av. 1264), mean diameters 13.9–16.0μm (av. 13.99), and specific surface areas 0.236–0.302m²g^?1. B-granule mean volumes were 35.4–100.4μm³ (av. 55.9), modal volumes 16.5–54.5μm³ (av. 27.7), mean diameters 3.66–5.07μm (av. 4.09), and specific surface areas 0.684–0.920m²g^?1. The B-granule contents of the starches were 12.8–34.6% (av. 27.3) by weight (sedimentation method) and 13.0–37.3% (av. 24.0) by volume (Coulter method), the latter being the more accurate method.     

A multi-institutional, multinational study of programming concepts using card sort data

Abstract: This paper presents a case study of the use of a repeated single‐criterion card sort with an unusually large, diverse participant group. The study, whose goal was to elicit novice programmers' knowledge of programming concepts, involved over 20 researchers from four continents and 276 participants drawn from 20 different institutions. In this paper we present the design of the study and the unexpected result that there were few discernible systematic differences in the population. The study was one of the activities of the National Science Foundation funded Bootstrapping Research in Computer Science Education project (2003).     

Characterization of IS1547, a new member of the IS900 family in the Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex, and its association with IS6110

Unlike classically defined insertion sequence (IS) elements, which are delimited by their inverted terminal repeats, some IS elements do not have inverted terminal repeats. Among this group of atypical IS elements, IS116, IS900, IS901, and IS1110 have been proposed as members of the IS900 family of elements, not only because they do not have inverted terminal repeats but also because they share other features such as homologous transposases and particular insertion sites. In this study, we report a newly identified IS sequence, IS1547, which was first identified in a clinical isolate of Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Its structure, insertion site, and putative transposase all conform with the conventions of the IS900 family, suggesting that it is a new member of this family. IS1547 was detected only in isolates of the M. tuberculosis complex, where it had highly polymorphic restriction fragment length polymorphism patterns, suggesting that it may be a useful genetic marker for identifying isolates of the M. tuberculosis complex and for distinguishing different strains of M. tuberculosis. ipl is a preferential locus for IS6110 insertion where there are eight known different insertion sites for IS6110. Surprisingly, the DNA sequence of ipl is now known to be a part of IS1547, meaning that IS1547 is a preferential site for IS6110 insertion.     

Phonotactic influences on short-term memory

The impact of phonotactic probabilities on serial recall was investigated in a series of experiments. In Experiments 1A and 1B, 7 and 8 year olds were tested on their serial recall of monosyllabic words and of nonwords varying in phonotactic frequencies. A recall advantage to words over nonwords remained when stimuli were balanced for phonotactic probability, but nonword recall showed superior accuracy for high over low probability nonwords, as in Experiment 2. The nonword frequency effect appears to reflect the frequency of constituent syllables rather than biphones. Both lexicality and high phonotactic frequency led to increased proportions of full over partial recall of the memory stimuli. These findings indicate that decayed memory traces in phonological short-term memory can be reconstructed using either lexical or phonotactic knowledge.     

Therapist experience and the stresses of psychotherapeutic work.

A questionnaire survey of 227 licensed psychologists (aged 27–76 yrs) identified 5 stress factors associated with the nature of psychotherapeutic work (maintaining the therapeutic relationship, scheduling, professional doubt, overinvolvement, and personal depletion) and 5 associated with patient behaviors (negative affect, resistance, psychopathological symptoms, suicidal threats, and passive-aggressive behaviors). Less stress was reported by older Ss and those with moderate caseloads. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Cytokines in human breast milk

Out of the total number at 200 suspected cases of otomycoses consisting of 40 malnourished and 160 apparently healthy children examined in this study between the months of July and August in Edo State, 64 Cases (32%) were identified to be of fungal aetiology on the basis of positive culture and careful microscopic examination. The state at protein energy malnourishment was deterwined using physicians' comments in their case files. The fungal agents isolated were Aspergillus niger 28 (43.8%); A. fumigatus 4 (25%); Fusarium solari 4 (6.3%); Candida albicans 8 (12.5%); and Hendersonula teruloidea types torn B 5 (6.3%). Of these isolates, A. niger having an solation rate of (43.8%) was found to be the most predominant fungal species associated with otomycosis.     

Mast cell activation is not required for induction of airway hyperresponsiveness by ozone in mice

Exposure to ambient ozone (O3) is associated with increased exacerbations of asthma. We sought to determine whether mast cell degranulation is induced by in vivo exposure to O3 in mice and whether mast cells play an essential role in the development of pulmonary pathophysiological alterations induced by O3. For this we exposed mast cell-deficient WBB6F1-kitW/kitW-v (kitW/kitW-v) mice and the congenic normal WBB6F1 (+/+) mice to air or to 1 or 3 parts/million O3 for 4 h and studied them at different intervals from 4 to 72 h later. We found evidence of O3-induced cutaneous, as well as bronchial, mast cell degranulation. Polymorphonuclear cell influx into the pulmonary parenchyma was observed after exposure to 1 part/milllion O3 only in mice that possessed mast cells. Airway hyperresponsiveness to intravenous methacholine measured in vivo under pentobarbital anesthesia was observed in both kitW/kitW-v and +/+ mice after exposure to O3. Thus, although mast cells are activated in vivo by O3 and participate in O3-induced polymorphonuclear cell infiltration into the pulmonary parenchyma, they do not participate detectably in the development of O3-induced airway hyperresponsiveness in mice.     

Olfactory associative learning in Caenorhabditis elegans is impaired in lrn-1 and lrn-2 mutants.

The C. elegans mutants, lrn-1 and lrn-2, are impaired in associative learning using conditioned taste cues. Both mutants are defective in associative learning about appetitive and aversive events, indicating that lrn-1 and lrn-2 exert effects across motivational boundaries. In a new olfactory associative learning paradigm, in which wild type worms learn to avoid a previously attractive diacetyl odor after it has been paired with an aversive acetic acid solution, lrn-1 and lrn-2 are impaired. Although defective in associative learning using a conditioned olfactory cue, nonassociative learning (habituation and dishabituation) using this same olfactory cue is unaffected. The discovery that lrn-1 and lrn-2 are defective in associative learning with both taste and olfactory cues may suggest that associative learning in different sensory modalities converges on a common genetic pathway in C. elegans that is subserved by lrn-1 and lrn-2. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)