Cognitive and somatic aspects of depression among a rehabilitation sample: Reliability and validity of SCL-90—R research subscales.

Administered the SCL-90-R to 78 adult patients with chronic pain, 52 adult patients with spinal cord injury, and a control group of 145 college students. Estimates of internal consistency, represented by coefficient alpha, were .69 for the Somatic Depression subscales and .91 for the Cognitive Depression subscales. Data suggestive of construct validity included differential correlations of r?=?.78 between the experimental Cognitive Depression scale and the SCL-90-R Obsessive Compulsive scale, and r?=?.66 between the experimental Somatic Depression scale and the SCL-90-R Somatization scale. Similar evidence of divergent validity was not clearly demonstrated with the remaining SCL-90-R subscales. multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) revealed that previously found item response patterning was replicated with the chronic pain and spinal cord injured Ss. Refinement of the research subscales and implications for clinical use among medical/rehabilitation samples are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A temperature-dependent SOI MOSFET model for high-temperatureapplication (27 °C-300 °C)

A temperature-dependent model for long-channel silicon-on-insulator (SOI) MOSFETs for use in the temperature range 27 °C-300 °C, suitable for circuit simulators such as SPICE, is presented. The model physically accounts for the temperature-dependent effects in SOI MOSFETs (such as threshold-voltage reduction, increase of leakage current, decrease of generation due to impact ionization, and channel mobility degradation with increase of temperature) which are influenced by the uniqueness of SOI device structure, i.e. the back gate and the floating film body. The model is verified by the good agreement of the simulations with the experimental data. The model is implemented in SPICE2 to be used for circuit and device CAD. Simple SOI CMOS circuits are successfully simulated at different temperatures     

Diffusion length and surface recombination velocity measurements with the scanning electron microscope: The highly-doped emitter of a p-n junction

Analytical solutions of the electron-beam induced current response for a spherical source excitation are formulated for a finite region of semiconductor using the method of images. The analytic approach is different from that normally reported for semi-infinite region analysis because it incorporates a third boundary condition into the problem. Consequently, it is more general because it is valid for all regions of width greater than or equal to two real excitation volume radii. The analytic solutions predict that absolute, not relative, current responses must be used to determine diffusion lengths in finite regions of semiconductors and that the slope of the response is relatively insensitive to the surface recombination velocities. The solutions are demonstrated to correctly fit normalized data for the response of a highly-doped emitter.     

Reduction of the ascorbyl free radical to ascorbate by thioredoxin reductase

Recycling of ascorbic acid from its oxidized forms is required to maintain intracellular stores of the vitamin in most cells. Since the ubiquitous selenoenzyme thioredoxin reductase can recycle dehydroascorbic acid to ascorbate, we investigated the possibility that the enzyme can also reduce the one-electron-oxidized ascorbyl free radical to ascorbate. Purified rat liver thioredoxin reductase catalyzed the disappearance of NADPH in the presence of low micromolar concentrations of the ascorbyl free radical that were generated from ascorbate by ascorbate oxidase, and this effect was markedly stimulated by selenocystine. Dehydroascorbic acid is generated by dismutation of the ascorbyl free radical, and thioredoxin reductase can reduce dehydroascorbic acid to ascorbate. However, control studies showed that the amounts of dehydroascorbic acid generated under the assay conditions used were too low to account for the observed loss of NADPH. Electron paramagnetic resonance spectroscopy directly confirmed that the reductase decreased steady-state ascorbyl free radical concentrations, as expected if thioredoxin reductase reduces the ascorbyl free radical. Dialyzed cytosol from rat liver homogenates also catalyzed NADPH-dependent reduction of the ascorbyl free radical. Specificity for thioredoxin reductase was indicated by loss of activity in dialyzed cytosol prepared from livers of selenium-deficient rats, by inhibition with aurothioglucose at concentrations selective for thioredoxin reductase, and by stimulation with selenocystine. Microsomal fractions prepared from rat liver showed substantial NADH-dependent ascorbyl free radical reduction that was not sensitive to selenium depletion. These results suggest that thioredoxin reductase can function as a cytosolic ascorbyl free radical reductase that may complement cellular ascorbate recycling by membrane-bound NADH-dependent reductases.     

Mental Fitness.

The author explores Andie Knutson's plea for a more appropriate term to describe the positive aspects of mental health (see record 1964-01167-001) and suggest the term mental fitness. She provides the definition of fitness and explains that this concept of mental fitness carries much of the connotation we are groping for. It forms an excellent counterpart for the late President Kennedy's program for physical fitness. At the same time, it avoids the unfortunate connotation of illness, and consequent restriction to medical care. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Human platelet lipids and their relationship to blood coagulation

There is now reasonable agreement on the sequence of physiological and biochemical events leading to fibrin formation, and phospholipids are an important part of this process. The phosphatides are ordinarily provided by platelets, and it appears that a lipoprotein complex is responsible for this activity. The anatomic site of this complex is not known, but evidence is presented that it may be a property of the platelet membrane. Methods for the study of platelet lipids including fatty acids and aldehydes are described, and include silicic acid column and paper chromatography, as well as thin-layer and gas-liquid chromatographic procedures. These are also being utilized in studies of subcellular platelet particles, where only limited amts of biological material are available for study. It is stressed that experimental results obtained from studies on isolated lipids should be interpreted with a certain degree of caution. It is unlikely that they are available as such in in vivo coagulation, and the drastic procedures used for their extraction and isolation may alter their basic physiological properties.     

Mechanochemical Routes to Functionalized Graphene Nanofillers Tuned for Lightweight Carbon/Hydrocarbon Composites

Graphite exfoliation by shear‐induced dry and wet processes and especially mechanochemistry represent attractive routes to carbon nanofillers. Dry ball‐milling of graphite in a planetary mill under gas pressure is a scalable and environmentally benign one‐step process, which requires neither hazardous solvents nor tedious separate functionalization and purification steps. Gas type, pressure, and milling duration govern average particle size, shape, and functionalization. Ball‐milling under Ar yields hydroxylated spherical carbon particle agglomerates, whereas ball‐milling under CO₂ affords functionalized nanoplatelets without encountering agglomeration problems and highly exothermic post‐milling reactions with air. The carboxylation of graphene nanoplatelets enhances their dispersibility in various media including polypropylene (PP) even in the absence of compatibilizers. Large amounts of carboxylated nanoplatelets are dispersed in PP without massive viscosity build‐up. Functionalized carbon nanoplatelet fillers enable tailoring of recyclable lightweight carbon/hydrocarbon composites exhibiting an improved balance of stiffness, strength, toughness, electrical, and thermal conductivity.     

Targeted Synthesis of Complex Spiro[3H-indole-3,2′-pyrrolidin]-2(1H)-ones by Intramolecular Cyclization of Azomethine Ylides: Highly Potent MDM2–p53 Inhibitors

Mouse double minute 2 (MDM2) is a main and direct inhibitor of the crucial tumor suppressor p53. Reports from initial clinical trials showed that blocking this interaction with a small-molecule inhibitor can have great value in the treatment of cancer for patients with p53 wild-type tumors; however, it also revealed dose-limiting hematological toxicities and drug-induced resistance as main issues. To overcome the former, an inhibitor with superior potency and pharmacokinetic properties to ultimately achieve full efficacy with less-frequent dosing schedules is required. Toward this aim, we optimized our recently reported spiro-oxindole inhibitors by focusing on the crucial interaction with the amino acid side chain of His96_MDM2. The designed molecules required the targeted synthesis of structurally complex spiro[indole-3,2′-pyrrolo[2,3-c]pyrrole]-2,4′-diones for which we developed an unprecedented intramolecular azomethine ylide cycloaddition and investigated the results by computational methods. One of the new compounds showed superior cellular potency over previously reported BI-0252. This finding is a significant step toward an inhibitor suitable to potentially mitigate hematological on-target adverse effects.