Comments on "The Paramorphic Representation of Clinical Judgment."

Hoffman's (see 34: 7779) position concerning the independent contribution of a variable in the judgment process is examined by presenting several empirical examples. It is concluded that the concept of relative weight will not provide any information about the independent contribution of a predictor. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

N=1 Experiments: hypothesis testing.

Despite the value of one-subject experiments, they have generally been regarded as being incapable of providing statistical inferences about hypotheses. Statistical inferences about populations cannot be made on the basis of only one experimental subject because more than one subject is needed in order to get an estimate of the inter-subject variability within the population. But one-subject experiments do permit statistical inferences about treatment effects on that particular subject, provided there has been appropriate random assignment of treatment times to treatments. Procedures are described for testing hypotheses when only one subject is used in an experiment, and the validity of the statistical inferences is shown by reference to randomization tests. Analogous rank-order tests and parametric tests are specified. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Node-link mapping: A visual representation strategy for enhancing drug abuse counseling.

Taught a multipurpose visual representation strategy, node-link mapping, to randomly selected counselors in 3 methadone maintenance (MM) drug treatment programs. Counselors were trained to use mapping in their individual and group sessions as a communication, thinking, and memory aid. MM clients were randomly assigned to either mapping counselors or standard counselors (i.e., ones who did not receive mapping training). In Study 1, there were statistically significant differences in favor of mapping during the 1st 3 mo of treatment for measures of client commitment to counseling and counselor perceptions of the client (e.g., motivation). In Study 2, the results based on clients at more advanced stages of treatment were more limited, but the pattern of mean differences was similar to that of Study 1. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Activity and Tissue Expression of Tyrosine Phosphatase PTP-MEG2

Protein tyrosine phosphatases(PTPs) are crucial regulators of signal transduction. Among them,PTP-MEG2 is an intracellular enzyme of 593 amino acid residues with a putative lipid-binding domain at the N-terminus. In the present study, we cloned the full-length form of the enzyme and expressed it in E. coli cells as a 6xHis-tagged protein. The majority of the expressed enzyme was found in the inclusion body of E. coli cell extracts.Upon extraction with a buffer containing urea, the recombinant enzyme was purified to near homogeneity on a single Ni-NTA-agarose column. This procedure resulted in the production of over 100 mg of purified recombinant PTP-MEG2 from 1 L E. coli cell culture. The purified protein displayed a single polypeptide band with expected molecular size on SDS-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis under reducing conditions. Isolated under denatured conditions in urea, the purified enzyme was re-natured by dialyzing against a refolding buffer. The re-natured enzyme effectively dephosphorylated the common PTP substrate para-nitrophenylphosphate with a specific activity of 2000units/mg. Meanwhile, the denatured enzyme was used to immunize a rabbit to produce antibodies. The resulting antiserum had extremely high sensitivity and specificity. When used for Western blot analysis, the anti-serum revealed a wide expression of PTP-MEG2 in many tissues of mice. Together, we developed a highly effective way to purify a large amount of PTP-MEG2 and generated highly sensitive antibodies that can specifically detect endogenous expression of the enzyme in tissues.     

Treatment process factors and satisfaction with drug abuse treatment.

Examined treatment satisfaction (TS) in relation to treatment outcomes (i.e., tenure and relapse for opioid use) and client and treatment variables in 532 methadone maintenance clients in a data system by M. Allison et al (1982). Satisfaction data were limited to the 1st 3 mo in treatment. Most Ss stated that the treatment had helped them to some degree with their drug problem or that they were at least somewhat satisfied with treatment. About three-quarters of the clients felt that the treatment had helped them at least somewhat with other nondrug problems. Overall, results suggested that TS measured early in treatment does not have strong direct effects on during-treatment-outcomes. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Robotic Assembly of Space Solar-Power Facilities

This paper profiles research relating to the robotic assembly, inspection, and maintenance of space solar-power facilities. Free-flying robots, fixed-base manipulators, and attached mobile manipulators are examined, the technical challenges facing them are outlined, and their roles in the construction process are illuminated. Themes include autonomous materials delivery, warehousing, large-scale payload handling and mating, payload attachment in confined spaces, and inspection. Research has addressed a fraction of the technologies needed to perform reliable autonomous assembly, inspection, and maintenance. Areas in need of further development are examined and potential research is outlined. Current technology cannot fulfill the requirements of orbital construction. The research and development needed can be completed in the near future, and substantive assembly inspection and maintenance can be achieved.     

Stimulation and antagonism of opioid !d-receptors produce opposite effects on active avoidance conditioning in mice.

The effects of opioid δ-receptor activation on conditioning in a one-way active avoidance paradigm were investigated in mice. Peripheral administration of 30 and 100 μg/kg of [Leu–5] enkephalin (LE) and 11.6 μg/kg of [D-Pen–2,D-Pen–5]enkephalin ({dpdpe}), a synthetic enkephalin analog with high δ-selectivity, impaired acquisition of avoidance responding. The dose response functions for both peptides were U-shaped. Deficits in responding were also present 24 hours after training, which suggests that the impaired performance observed during training was not an impairment in the ability of the mice to perform. Also, neither LE nor {dpdpe} decreased footshock sensitivity or open-field activity, which rules out analgesia and decreased activity levels as likely explanations for the deficits in conditioning. Finally, antagonizing endogenous ligands with the δ-selective antagonist ICI 154,129 enhanced acquisition, an effect opposite that produced by LE and {dpdpe}. The results suggest that activation of δ-receptors is normally involved in the modulation of active avoidance learning. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Second phase formation at microvoids and gas atom entrapment at fusion reactor first wall surfaces

Results of cascade production and annealing studies for iron are projected to the currently considered fusion reactor first wall materials. Collision cascades initiated by primary knock-on atoms (PKA) with energies above 50 keV, in iron, separate into distinct subregions. Most PKA produced during fission reactor neutron irradiation have energies below 50 keV, but the energies of PKA produced by 14.1 MeV neutron irradiation commonly lie in the 50–500 keV range in iron and vanadium alloys. Computer experiment simulation indicates that, when present, carbon, silicon, and nitrogen, freed by irradiation from bulk precipitates, should tend to re-precipitate on the facets of microvoids which form in cascade subregions during short-term annealing.     

Mesure du Débit d’Absorption Spécifique (das) des téléphones mobiles — contribution du projetcomobio à la normalisation internationale

Human exposure to electromagnetic fields emitted by mobile phones is characterised by the Specific Absorption Rate (sar). This value corresponds to therf power absorbed by unitary mass of the equivalent tissue. It represents the basic restriction used to define limit of human exposure torf electromagnetic fields. Academic and industrial labs have contributed through thecomobio project to define international standards for mobile phones certification.