Family influences on school achievement in low-income, African American children.

The authors examined the achievement-related beliefs and behaviors of parents of economically disadvantaged African American youth, and the relations among parental factors and children's academic self-concept and achievement. Forty-one children and their primary caregivers were interviewed. Parents reported on their academic-related beliefs and behaviors. Children completed measures of academic self-concept and 2 standardized achievement tests: 1 during the summer and 1 at the end of the following school year. Significant and positive relations were found between parental belief and behavior measures within the domains of reading and math; however, parental beliefs were more strongly linked with child outcomes than were parents' achievement-oriented behaviors. The relation between parental beliefs and child outcomes was not mediated by children's academic self-concept. Results are discussed in light of models of family influences on achievement. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Genetic Associations of Alcohol Dehydrogenase With Alcohol Use Disorders and Endophenotypes in White College Students.

Associations of alcohol dehydrogenase (ADH) gene polymorphisms (ADH1B*2 and ADH1C*1) with a lifetime alcohol use disorder (AUD) were examined in White college students. Alcohol-related endophenotypes likely to be influenced by elevations in acetaldehyde were also assessed. Individuals with an ADH1B*2 allele had lower rates of AUDs, consumed a lower maximum number of drinks in a 24-hr period, reported a greater level of response to alcohol, were more likely to have experienced alcohol-induced headaches following 1 or 2 drinks, and reported more severe hangovers than those lacking this allele. These findings are consistent with the hypothesis that enhanced sensitivity to alcohol and lower levels of alcohol use reflect the mechanism by which ADH1B*2 protects against developing an AUD. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

SpOPT1, a member of the oligopeptide family (OPT) of the fission yeast Schizosaccharomyces pombe,is involved in the transport of glutathione through the outer membrane of the cell

A protein involved in the transport of glutathione has been identified, cloned and characterized from the fission yeast Schizosaccharomyces pombe. Database searches revealed the Sz. pombe ORF SPAC29B12.10c as a close homologue to several members of the OPT family, including the Saccharomyces cerevisiae high‐affinity glutathione transporter Hgt1p. The gene product of SPAC29B12.10c has been identified as a protein, named SpOPT1, localized within the plasma membrane, transporting the tripeptide glutathione. Disruption of SPAC29B12.10c led to strains inable to grow on media containing glutathione as a sole source of sulphur, due to the inability to internalize the tripeptide. Disruptants contained significantly less glutathione than wild‐type cells. Furthermore, ΔSpopt1 strains were non‐viable in a glutathione biosynthesis‐defective (Δgsh2) background. However, it was possible to complement the disruption of Spopt1 by overexpressing the intact ORF in the disrupted strain. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Incidence of antiprotozoal and antivermal antibiotics in fungi, V Class Fungi Imperfecti Collected in the Vietnamese Democratic Republic

Continuous and interval exposures to 1 atmosphere of oxygen (hyperoxia) were examined using insects. Hyperoxia did not affect hatchability of Heliothis zea or Trichoplusia ni. Continuous hyperoxia was 100% lethal for H. zeal and T. ni. Most insects died as larvae and pupae of H. zea which resulted were deformed, reduced in weight, and failed to emerge. Hyperoxic exposures of T. ni for 48 h at sequential 48-h intervals during development, revealed that first instar and prepupae were most sensitive to hyperoxia and 80% were killed when exposed to only 24 h of hyperoxia as prepupae. T. ni which survived hyperoxia exposures at all development stages tested, were capable of producing progeny. The differential hyperoxic sensitivity and its correlation with specific morphogenetic stages suggest the usefulness of these insect species for studying biochemical sites of oxygen toxicity.     

Attraction of nematodes to metabolites of yeasts and fungi

The free-living nematodesPanagrellus redivivus andRhabditis oxycerca are strongly attracted to methyl, ethyl, propyl, butyl, and amyl acetate, to ethyl, propyl, and amyl formate and to ethyl propionate, but all the respective alcohols and acids are without effect. No loss of attraction is observed when the attractants are combined with lethal concentrations of the commercial nematicide sodium methyl dithiocarbamate.     

Synthesis and Characterization of Sr2Ce2Ti5O16 in the System SrO-CeO2-TiO2

The ternary system SrO-CeO₂-TiO₂ was investigated using X-ray diffractometry. The formation of a new compound, Sr₂Ce₂Ti₅O₁₆, was established, and its compatibilities with SrO, SrCeO₃, and SrTiO₃ were studied. The results revealed the existence of a series of compounds Sr_6–12xCe_6xTi₅O₁₆ and solid solutions Sr_2+nCe₂Ti_5+nO_16+3n ( n ≤ 6).     

Concentration dependence of thermodynamic interaction parameters in a polymer-polymer-solvent system

Summary The concentration dependence of Thermodynamic Interaction Parameters is reported for the system Polystyrene (PS, M_{W 3}=4.4 · 10⁵) — Polybutylmethacrylate (PBMA, M_{W 2}=2.7 · 10⁵) — CCl₄.     

Foraging on the radial maze: The role of travel time, food accessibility, and the predictability of food location.

Reports on an experiment in which rats foraged in a 4-arm radial maze containing 4 feeders in each arm, with different percentages of baited feeders in each arm (0%, 25%, 50%, or 75%). The effects of three variables were examined: (1) Arm entrances were open or blocked to increase travel time between arms; (2) Feeders were uncovered or covered to decrease accessibility to food; (3) Food locations were randomly changed between sessions or remained fixed. Rats learned to discriminate between the 0% arm and arms containing food when food locations were fixed but not when food locations were random. Rats also learned the locations of baited feeders within arms with fixed food locations, but selectively visited baited feeders only if the feeders were covered. Comparisons of obtained data with computer simulations indicated that rats foraged near optimality. Patterns of foraging were best accounted for by a molecular maximizing model. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)