Effects of single oral administrations of haloperidol and d-amphetamine on prepulse inhibition of the acoustic startle reflex in healthy male volunteers

The effects of acute administration of an indirect dopamine-agonist, d-amphetamine, and a non-selective dopamine receptor antagonist, haloperidol, were investigated in normal male volunteers on habituation and prepulse inhibition (PPI) of the acoustic startle reflex in two experiments. In Experiment 1, 40 male non-smoker volunteers were tested for habituation and PPI (defined as percentage reduction of the pulse-alone amplitude; prepulses 9 dB above background) before and after double-blind administration of either 2 mg haloperidol or placebo. No influence of haloperidol was observed on either habituation or PPI of the startle reflex in this experiment. In Experiment 2, 60 male volunteers underwent startle testing before and after double-blind administration of a single oral dose of 5 mg haloperidol, 5 mg d-amphetamine or placebo. Habituation and PPI (prepulses 15 dB above background) for the placebo group did not differ significantly from that observed for the d-amphetamine or for the haloperidol group. However, in a subgroup of smoking subjects, both d-amphetamine and haloperidol reduced PPI as compared to that observed prior to drug administration. The implications of these findings in relation to animal pharmacological studies and observed sensorimotor gating deficits in schizophrenia are discussed.     

Classic adamantinoma in a 3-year-old

Classic adamantinoma of the long bones is a rare, low-grade malignant neoplasm arising most often in the tibia and usually in patients during the second to fifth decades. Although adamantinomas have been described in children, the histologic pattern in this age group is different from that seen in adults and resembles osteofibrous dysplasia. The usual pattern of adamantinoma in children has been termed "differentiated adamantinoma" and follows a benign course. We report a case of adamantinoma in the proximal tibia of a 3-year-old patient. The lesion had abundant epithelial component with formation of keratin pearls, a pattern that has been described only in classic adamantinoma occurring in adults. Since differentiated adamantinomas are essentially benign and classic adamantinomas are low-grade malignancies, the finding of a classic variant at this young age raised important therapeutic and prognostic issues.     

The modality-match effect in recognition memory.

The modality-match effect in recognition refers to superior memory for words presented in the same modality at study and test. Prior research on this effect is ambiguous and inconsistent. The present study demonstrates that the modality-match effect is found when modality is rendered salient at either encoding or retrieval. Specifically, in Experiment 1, visual and auditory study trials were either randomly intermixed or presented in blocks, followed by a standard (old–new) recognition test. The modality-match effect was observed for the mixed but not the blocked condition. Experiment 2 used a modality-judgment test (requiring a seen, heard, or new judgment). The resulting measure of recognition memory exhibited the modality-match effect for both list conditions. These results imply (a) that the modality-match effect is a consistent finding when modality is salient and (b) that the effect arises at retrieval rather than encoding. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Generation and perceptual implicit memory: Different generation tasks produce different effects on perceptual priming.

The generation manipulation has been critical in delineating differences between implicit and explicit memory. In contrast to past research, the present experiments indicate that generating from a rhyme cue produces as much perceptual priming as does reading. This is demonstrated for 3 visual priming tasks: perceptual identification, word-fragment completion (WFC), and word-stem completion (WSC). This result occurred regardless of the mode of study response (written or spoken) or whether the generation condition was compared with reading words in or out of context. Rhyme generation did not produce priming on the letter height task (Masson & MacLeod, 2002), implying that the effect was not mediated by covert visualization. Nor was the effect due to the mere presence of the rhyme cue. Semantic generation (from definitions) produced a different pattern, exhibiting a reverse generation effect on WFC and WSC but full (read-level) priming on perceptual identification. The present results were not consistent with accounts based on the standard transfer-appropriate processing view, covert visualization, explicit contamination, or conceptual contributions to nominally perceptual tasks. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A 100 kW, 140 GHz pulsed gyrotron

The design and operation of a 100 kW, 140 GHz pulsed gyrotron are reported. To our knowledge, this is the highest frequency at which high gyrotron output power (>-100 kW) has been achieved. Results are presented for gyrotron operation in the range of magnetic field from 4 to 7 T, voltage from 23 to 80 kV and current up to 7.5 A. Near a value of magnetic field of 5.4 T, and output power of 100 kW was obtained at 140.4 GHz in single mode operation in the TE₀₃₁ resonator mode.     

Heavy metal removal from sediments by biosurfactants.

Batch washing experiments were used to evaluate the feasibility of using biosurfactants for the removal of heavy metals from sediments. Surfactin from Bacillus subtilis, rhamnolipids from Pseudomonas aeruginosa and sophorolipid from Torulopsis bombicola were evaluated using a metal-contaminated sediment (110mg/kg copper and 3300mg/kg zinc). A single washing with 0.5% rhamnolipid removed 65% of the copper and 18% of the zinc, whereas 4% sophorolipid removed 25% of the copper and 60% of the zinc. Surfactin was less effective, removing 15% of the copper and 6% of the zinc. The technique of ultrafiltration and zeta potential measurements were used to determine the mechanism of metal removal by the surfactants. It was then postulated that metal removal by the biosurfactants occurs through sorption of the surfactant on to the soil surface and complexation with the metal, detachment of the metal from the soil into the soil solution and hence association with surfactant micelles. Sequential extraction procedures were used on the sediment to determine the speciation of the heavy metals before and after surfactant washing. The carbonate and oxide fractions accounted for over 90% of the zinc present in the sediments. The organic fraction constituted over 70% of the copper. Sequential extraction of the sediments after washing with the various surfactants indicated that the biosurfactants, rhamnolipid and surfactin could remove the organically-bound copper and that the sophorolipid could remove the carbonate and oxide-bound zinc. Therefore, heavy metal removal from sediments is feasible and further research will be conducted.     

Theoretical implications of the mnemonic benefits of perceptual interference.

How should interfering with the perception of items during study affect memory for those items? Recent research by J. Nairne (see, PA, Vol 76:7468) and E. Hirshman and N. Mulligan (see record 1991-26469-001) has demonstrated that backward pattern masking during study enhances later memory. This article examines whether traditional explanations of encoding benefits, including rehearsal, visual distinctiveness, and encoding effort, can account for this result. No evidence was found for any of these hypotheses. An explanation that focuses on the compensatory processing of higher level perceptual representations is proposed. This explanation provides a plausible explanation of the results of 7 experiments. The article concludes with a discussion of the implications of the explanation for perceptual priming and other manipulations of perceptual interference. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Response of normal aorta to endovascular grafting: a serial histopathological study

The initial data on the effect of ruthenium red on mature human type-1 VDAC are presented. Highly enriched human type-1 porin in planar lipid bilayers shows lowered voltage-dependence whenever a commercially available ruthenium red preparation is applied. The hexavalent polycationic dye ruthenium red affects different functions in varying cell compartments. Concerning the plasma membrane of cells the actual data, together with our former measurements on the interaction of VDAC and the polycationic synthetic polyamine Compound 48/80, refer to a second VDAC opener, which is relevant for studies on the stimulation of exocytotic processes of different cell types.     

Recovery of biosurfactants by ultrafiltration

Ultrafiltration was used in a one-step method to purify and concentrate biosurfactants—surfactin and rhamnolipids—from culture supernatant fluids. The ability of surfactant molecules to form micelles at concentrations above the critical micelle concentration allows these aggregates to be retained by relatively high molecular weight cut-off membranes. Lower molecular weight impurities such as salts, free amino acids, peptides and small proteins are easily removed. Various molecular weight cut-off membranes were examined for the retention of surfactin and rhamnolipids (mol. wts 1036 and 802 respectively). Amicon XM 50 was the superior membrane for retention of surfactin and a 160-fold purification was rapidly achieved. The YM 10 membrane was the most appropriate for rhamnolipid recovery. Ultrafiltration can play an important role in biosurfactant purification as large volumes of media can be processed rapidly at extremely low cost.     

Bioactivity of autologous irradiated renal cell carcinoma vaccines generated by ex vivo granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor gene transfer

Granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor (GM-CSF) gene-transduced, irradiated tumor vaccines induce potent, T-cell-mediated antitumor immune responses in preclinical models. We report the initial results of a Phase I trial evaluating this strategy for safety and the induction of immune responses in patients with metastatic renal cell carcinoma (RCC). Patients were treated in a randomized, double-blind dose-escalation study with equivalent doses of autologous, irradiated RCC vaccine cells with or without ex vivo human GM-CSF gene transfer. The replication-defective retroviral vector MFG was used for GM-CSF gene transfer. No dose-limiting toxicities were encountered in 16 fully evaluable patients. GM-CSF gene-transduced vaccines were equivalent in toxicity to nontransduced vaccines up to the feasible limits of autologous tumor vaccine yield. No evidence of autoimmune disease was observed. Biopsies of intradermal sites of injection with GM-CSF gene-transduced vaccines contained distinctive macrophage, dendritic cell, eosinophil, neutrophil, and T-cell infiltrates similar to those observed in preclinical models of efficacy. Histological analysis of delayed-type hypersensitivity responses in patients vaccinated with GM-CSF-transduced vaccines demonstrated an intense eosinophil infiltrate that was not observed in patients who received nontransduced vaccines. An objective partial response was observed in a patient treated with GM-CSF gene-transduced vaccine who displayed the largest delayed-type hypersensitivity conversion. No replication-competent retrovirus was detected in vaccinated patients. This Phase I study demonstrated the feasibility, safety, and bioactivity of an autologous GM-CSF gene-transduced tumor vaccine for RCC patients.