Human catalase is imported and assembled in peroxisomes of Saccharomyces cerevisiae

To study the conservation of peroxisomal targeting signals, we have determined the intracellular localization of human peroxisomal catalase when expressed in yeast. Using immunofluorescence, differential centrifugation and immunoelectron microscopy, we show that the protein is targeted to the peroxisomes of the heterologous cell and assembled in its active tetrameric form. These data show the conservation of the catalase targeting signal and import specificity between human and yeast peroxisomes.     

The relationship of individual and family factors to the psychological well-being of junior high school students living in urban poverty

This study examined the contribution of individual and family factors to psychological adjustment in a sample of junior high school students living in urban poverty. Identity development and perceived parental treatment were hypothesized to serve as mediating, or protective, factors between economic hardship and levels of self-esteem, depression, and loneliness. Consistent with the hypotheses, identity development did serve as a mediator between poverty and psychological adjustment. While perceived parental treatment was not related to economic hardship, it was clearly associated with well-being in this sample. Findings are discussed in terms of the differing contributions of family and individual development, as well as the importance of mediators in assessing the effects of poverty on young adolescents.     

A note on closed-loop balanced truncation

Closed-loop balanced truncation is a model reduction method that aims at preserving the closed-loop properties of the original controller. We show that this method is equivalent to frequency-weighted balanced truncation with certain weighting and that for observer-based controllers, a significant amount of computation can be saved because of the observer-state feedback structure of the controller     

Electrochemical,FTIR and morphological study of polypyrrole—Polystyrenesulphonate conducting films

The electrochemical behaviour, FTIR spectrum and the morphology of polypyrrole-polystyrenesulphonate (PPy-PSS) films obtained potentiostatically at 0.6 V in a 0.05m Py + 1.7 × 10^?2m NaPSS medium have been analysed. Different electrochemical parameters have been modified in order to establish the first polaron formation, the reversibility of the redox process and the doping mechanism. The FTIR spectrum confirms the existence of C?O groups in the film structure and two possible explanations are suggested. SEM reveals a higher homogeneity in these films than in PPy films doped with smaller counterions.     

Response selection deficits in frontal excisions

We compared the performance of patients with frontal excisions, patients with temporal excisions and controls in tasks involving speeded choice responses in which a number of variables were manipulated including: perceptual difficulty, stimulus and response set-size, associative complexity, and spatial stimulus-response compatibility. Response times were sensitive to all manipulations but did not show any group differences. The error rates of the three groups were equally affected by perceptual difficulty and response set-size but frontals were preferentially affected by spatial S-R compatibility, associative complexity, and the number of stimuli per response. The results are consistent with a basic deficit in response selection processes which could underly many problems produced by frontal lesions.