Increased cardiac awareness in panic disorder.

Investigated cardiac perception in panic disorder with both self-report and objective measures. In Study 1, 120 patients with panic disorder, 86 infrequent panickers, and 38 patients with other anxiety disorders reported greater cardiac and gastrointestinal awareness than 62 normal control Ss. Ss with panic attacks reported greater cardiac awareness, but not gastrointestinal awareness, than those with other anxiety disorders. Studies 2 and 3 included a test of heart rate perception in which Ss silently counted their heartbeats without taking their pulse. In Study 2, 65 panic disorder patients showed better performance than 50 infrequent panickers, 27 patients with simple phobias, and 46 normal control Ss. No group differences were found in ability to estimate time intervals. In Study 3, 13 patients with panic disorder and 15 with generalized anxiety disorder showed better heart rate perception than 16 depressed patients. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

International standards for the acquisition and presentation of comparable data on plastics

One of the problems faced by plastics design engineers, in addition to anyone involved in resin selection in new product development, is access to comparable data among similar products from different material suppliers. This stems from the lack of standardization in the acquisition and reporting format for materials properties data in the plastics industry. Currently, a multiplicity of national test standards is widely used in the acquisition of the data, which often allows a broad flexibility in the choice of test specimen shapes and geometry, conditions for preparing the test specimens, test variables, and test conditions, in addition to units, rendering any comparison between materials extremely difficult. ISO 10350 and 11403, Parts 1, 2, and 3, were developed specifically to address these issues for the acquisition of the data, and the CAMPUS database was developed as a tool for standardization of the reporting format for plastics properties. The real driving force for standardization at the international level is the growing need for comparable data on a global basis because of the emerging global nature of the manufacturing industry and the cost savings. This paper will discuss the rationale, driving forces, and the status of the worldwide standardization efforts, along with the benefits and experience gained to date.     

Mortality among human immunodeficiency virus type 2-positive villagers in rural Guinea-Bissau is correlated with viral genotype

We present the results of a 6-year study of 131 human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) type 2 (HIV-2)-infected individuals from a rural population in Guinea-Bissau. Proviral DNA sequences 1.3 kb in length were obtained from each individual and, together with clinical data, including proviral load and CD4 and CD8 levels, were used to assess whether viral genotype influences clinical outcome. With a phylogenetic model, a correlation was found between viral genotype and mortality; this correlation was not due to confounding factors, such as age-specific viral strains or cohabitation of patients. The data provide strong evidence for the involvement of viral genetic factors in determining HIV disease progression in vivo. The pattern of association found suggests that virulence factors are multiple and scattered throughout the HIV-2 genome and can be rapidly gained or lost by the virus through a combination of mutation and recombination. These findings may lead to the identification of viral determinants of HIV disease progression.     

Assessment of problem situations in the family

Goal of the study is the analysis of the German version of Barkle's Home Situations Questionnaire. The analysis is accomplished in a clinical sample of N = 76 children at the age of six to ten years with the diagnosis of a hyperkinetic disorder according to ICD-10 or an Attention deficit-/hyperactivity disorder according to DSM-III-R and in a representative sample of N = 263 children aged seven to ten years. Parents of hyperkinetic children experience many family situations with their child as very problematic which is essentially more often than parents in the representative sample. Analyses of the factorial structure of the questionnaire yielded no clear and well interpretable solutions. The instrument has a good internal consistency. The HSQ-D scores correlate significantly with other parent questionnaires for the assessment of behaviour problems, the highest correlations were found with scales for the assessment of hyperkinetic behaviour problems and social problems. In the clinical practice the instrument has proven helpful within symptom-specific assessment of children with hyperkinetic and oppositional behavior disorders and for the planning of interventions.     

Effect of spirolactones on the urinary excretion of individual 17-oxosteroids and of pregnanediol in man (author's transl)

The effect of spirolactones on the urinary excretion of individual 17-oxosteroids and of pregnanediol in man was investigated under various conditions. After purification by thin-layer chromatography, the 17-oxosteroids and pregnanediol were determined by gas chromatography. Eleven male subjects (age 21-34 years) received a daily dose of 200 mg spironolactone (Aldactone) orally on seven consecutive days. Five female subjects (age 20-35 years) and ten pregnant women (age 20-35 years; 28th.-39th. week of gestation) were given a daily intravenous injection of 600 mg potassium canrenoate (Aldactone pro injectione) on three consecutive days. In the male subjects, the excretion of individual 17-oxosteroids and of pregnanediol was significantly reduced during administration of spironolactone. In the nonpregnant female subjects, the excretion of etiocholanolone and dehydroepiandrosterone was diminished, whereas in the pregnant women, the excretion of pregnanediol and dehydroepiandrosterone was decreased during treatment with potassium canrenoate. These results suggest that the reduced urinary excretion of steroids may be due to an inhibition of steroid metabolising enzymes by spirolactones. It seems likely that spirolactones affect the enzymatic conversion fo cholesterol to pregnenolone.     

Performance of a BGO calorimeter in a tagged photon beam from 260 to 1150 MeV

20 BGO crystals with photomultiplier readout that form one sector of a large solid angle BGO calorimeter, were exposed to an intermediate energy tagged photon beam. Linearity, multiplicity and resolution results are presented and discussed.     

A knowledge-based system for selecting test methodologies

A prototype knowledge-based system that helps select test methodologies for a particular type of logic structure is described. The system, called TDES, (testable design expert system), is a subsystem of Adam, an advanced design automation system. The system is being used to test programmable logic arrays, but its architecture is applicable to other types of structures such as RAMs, ROMs, and other combinational logic. It uses a divide-and-conquer (partitioning) strategy and works interactively with a user as an intelligent consultant and assistant