Psychologists' contributions to the genetic revolution.

Responds to the comments of H. Goldsmith et al (see record 2003-05602-013) and S. Kéri (see record 2003-05602-014) regarding the article by A. Patenaude et al (see record 2002-12457-022) that discusses the role of psychologists in genetics and genetic testing. Patenaude reviews the comments made and states that both comments enlarge the discussion of the important roles psychologists will continue to play as genetics advances the knowledge of the etiology and treatment of disorders. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

News

This section ofScientometrics will carry fresh and reliable news of people, programs, recent and forthcoming meetings and publications etc. Its effectiveness depends greatly on your assistance. Items for inclusion should be submitted to the Coordinating Editor, Dr. J.Farkas.With the assistance ofJudith. Balázs, Library of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Budapest, Hungary.     

Correlation between CRISPR Loci Diversity in Three Enterobacterial Taxa

CRISPR-Cas is an adaptive immunity system of prokaryotes, composed of CRISPR arrays and the associated proteins. The successive addition of spacer sequences in the CRISPR array has made the system a valuable molecular marker, with multiple applications. Due to the high degree of polymorphism of the CRISPR loci, their comparison in bacteria from various sources may provide insights into the evolution and spread of the CRISPR-Cas systems. The aim of this study was to establish a correlation between the enterobacterial CRISPR loci, the sequence of direct repeats (DR), and the number of spacer units, along with the geographical origin and collection source. For this purpose, 3474 genomes containing CRISPR loci from the CRISPRCasdb of Salmonella enterica, Escherichia coli, and Klebsiella pneumoniae were analyzed, and the information regarding the isolates was recorded from the NCBI database. The most prevalent was the I-E CRISPR-Cas system in all three studied taxa. E. coli also presents the I-F type, but in a much lesser percentage. The systems found in K. pneumoniae can be classified into I-E and I-E*. The I-E and I-F systems have two CRISPR loci, while I-E* has only one locus upstream of the Cas cluster. PCR primers have been developed in this study for each CRISPR locus. Distinct clustering was not evident, but statistically significant relationships occurred between the different CRISPR loci and the number of spacer units. For each of the queried taxa, the number of spacers was significantly different (p < 0.01) by origin (Africa, Asia, Australia and Oceania, Europe, North America, and South America) but was not linked to the isolation source type (human, animal, plant, food, or laboratory strains).     

Minimum cost design of a cellular plate loaded by uniaxial compression

Cellular plates are constructed from two base plates and an orthogonal grid of stiffeners welded between them. Halved rolled I-section stiffeners are used for fabrication aspects. The torsional stiffness of cells makes the plate very stiff. In the case of uniaxial compression the buckling constraint is formulated on the basis of the classic critical stress derived from the Huber’s equation for orthotropic plates. The cost function contains the cost of material, assembly and welding and is formulated according to the fabrication sequence. The unknown variables are the base plate thicknesses, height of stiffeners and numbers of stiffeners in both directions. The cellular plate is lighter and cheaper than the plate stiffened on one side. The Particle Swarm Optimization and the IOSO techniques are used to find the optimum. PSO contains crazy bird and dynamic inertia reduction criteria, IOSO is based on a response surface technology.     

News

This section of Scientometrics will carry fresh and reliable news of people, progress, recent and forthcoming meetings and publications etc. Its effectiveness depends greatly on your assistance. Items for inclusion should be submitted to the Coordinating Editor, Dr. J.Farkas.     

The choose-get-keep model of psychiatric rehabilitation: A synopsis of recent studies.

Objective: Comprehensive review of studies using the choose-get-keep (CGK) process model of psychiatric rehabilitation. Also, other studies are identified that have demonstrated methodologies useful in future research on the CGK model. Intervention Model: The CGK process is conceptualized as the phases through which people with psychiatric disabilities proceed as they engage in psychiatric rehabilitation. Conclusion: The CGK model is a potentially useful psychiatric rehabilitation intervention that can be implemented in a variety of service settings and that focuses on the activities of the practitioner and the service recipient. The CGK model warrants further empirical study to examine its effectiveness. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Thermodynamic parameters of opioid binding in the presence and absence of G-protein coupling

We have investigated the thermodynamic parameters of various opioid ligands interacting with their receptors in rat brain membranes. Affinity constants (Ka), enthalpy and entropy values were obtained from homologous displacement experiments performed at 0, 24 and 33 degrees C. It was found that all the opioid agonists tested ([3H]dihydromorphine (DHM) mu alkaloid; [3H]DAMGO mu peptide; [3H]deltorphin-B delta peptide) display endothermic binding accompanied with a large entropy increase, regardless of their chemical structure (alkaloid or peptide), or of their mu or delta receptor selectivity. In contrast, binding of the antagonist naloxone is exothermic, mainly enthalpy driven. Na+ or Mg2+ results only in quantitative changes of the thermodynamic parameters. In the presence of the GTP-analog Gpp(NH)p; or Gpp(NH)p + Na+; or Gpp(NH)p + Na- + Mg2+ the affinity of DHM binding dramatically decreases which might reflect functional uncoupling of the receptor-ligand complex and G-proteins. This altered molecular interactions are also indicated by curvilinear van't Hoff plot and entropy increase. It is concluded that the thermodynamic analysis provides means of determining the underlying driving forces of ligand binding and helps to delineate its mechanism.     

News

This section ofScientometrics will carry fresh and reliable news of people, programs, recent and forthcoming meetings and publications etc. Its effectiveness depends greatly on your assistance. Items for inclusion should be submitted to the Co-ordinating Editor, Dr.J. Farkas.With the assistance ofJudith Balázs Library of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Budapest, Hungary.     

Disappearing hardware [ubiquitous computing]

In M. Weiser's (ibid., pp. 19-25) vision of ubiquitous computing, computers will disappear from conscious thought. From a hardware perspective, the authors examine how far we've succeeded in implementing this vision and how far we have to go.