A rat's first bite: The nongenetic, cross-generational transfer of information.

94 weanling Sprague-Dawley albino rats, when first exposed to solid food, showed relatively elevated intake if offered the same diet as eaten by their foster dams. Results suggest that maternal caretakers pass some specific food-related information to their offspring. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Type A behavior pattern, inhibited power motivation, and activity inhibition.

The constructs of the Type A behavior pattern and the Inhibited Power Motive Syndrome (IPMS) have many features in common. The empirical relation between the two constructs was investigated in this study with 45 employed, male medical and surgical patients. Four different measures of the Type A pattern were examined. Results showed that, of the four measures, the Structured Interview and the Hostility Scale were related significantly to the IPMS. Systolic blood pressure reactivity was also related significantly to the IPMS. These relations could be ascribed largely to activity inhibition alone. The contribution of activity inhibition to an understanding of the biological and psychological substrates of the Type A behavior pattern is discussed. (42 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A computer graphics course for the two cultures

The subject of computer graphics offers a special educational opportunity for bringing together students from the two cultures of the arts/humanities and of the sciences/technologies. The author describes a computer graphics course with this approach. Several important problems arise because of students' varying backgrounds in programming and their expectations, the lack of suitable texts, and the lack of suitably-oriented computer graphics centers. The course schedule is composed of lectures, discussions of readings, and workshops in a computer graphics facility. The hardware and software basis of the course is flexible. Students complete an assigned initial project, a final project of their choice, and are responsible for documenting their project visually and verbally before the close of the semester. Student performance and evaluation of the course suggest this cross-cultural approach is a valid, worthwhile experiment to introduce the structure and significance of computer graphics imagery and computer graphics display systems.     

Leukocyte reactions "in vitro" to human spermatozoa in infertile females

Leucocyte migration test was done in 55 couples facing fertility problems for detection of antispermatozoal cellular hypersensitivity. In 29 cases out of 55, the sterility was unexplained and in 26 cases out of 55, various infertility factors were found. In this study, wife's leucocytes separated on Ficoll-Urografin gradient were incubated (4.10(6) per capillary) with washed fresh husband's spermatozoa suspended at 7.10(6)/ml in M 199 and 20 p. 100 fetal bovine serum. The results were read after 18h. Two kinds of migration inhibition were found: 1) Specific wives leucocyte migration inhibition in 4 out of 55 cases, all of them unexplained infertility cases. 2) Leucocyte migration inhibition not related to wife's immunity state and possibly due to a direct effect of a toxic or inhibitory property of some husband's spermatozoa in 22 out of 55 cases, 11/19 cases with known male factors, and 11/36 cases without any male factor. In the follow up, only 1 woman out of the 22 couples with husband's spermatozoal inhibitory factor was pregnant later, while in the group of 29 women in which normal leucocyte spreading was found, 8 women conceived later. No woman out of the 4 suspected of antispermatozoal delayed hypersensitivity have conceived. Attention must be paid to the possible role of delayed hypersensitivity to sperm in unexplained infertility and also to the occurrence of spermatozoal toxic factor and its possible implications on human infertility.     

Relationships between the fatty acid composition of muscle and erythrocyte membrane phospholipid in young children and the effect of type of infant feeding

Muscle membrane fatty acid (FA) composition is linked to insulin action. The aims of this study were to compare the FA composition of muscle and erythrocyte membrane phospholipid in young children; to investigate the effect of diet on these lipid compositions; and to investigate differential incorporation of FA into muscle, erythrocyte and adipose tissue membrane phospholipid, and adipose tissue triglyceride. Skeletal muscle biopsies and fasting blood samples were taken from 61 normally nourished children (15 males and 16 females), less than 2 yr old (means ±SE, 0.80±0.06 yr), undergoing elective surgery. Adipose tissue samples were taken from 15 children. There were significant positive correlations between muscle and erythrocyte docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) (r=0.44, P<0.0001), total n−3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) (r=0.39, P=0.002), and the n−6/n−3 PUFA ratio (r=0.39, P=0.002). Adipose tissue triglyceride had lower levels of long-chain PUFA, especially DHA, than muscle and erythrocytes (0.46±0.18% vs. 2.44±0.26% and 3.17±0.27%). Breast-fed infants had higher levels of DHA than an age-matched group of formulafed infants in both muscle (3.91±0.21% vs. 1.94±0.18%) and erythrocytes (3.81±0.10% vs. 2.65±0.23%). The results of this study show that (i) erythrocyte FA composition is a reasonable index of muscle DHA, total n−3 PUFA, and the n−6/n−3 PUFA ratio; (ii) breast feeding has a potent effect on the FA composition of all these tissues; and (iii) there is a wide range in long-chain PUFA levels in muscle, erythrocytes, and adipose tissue.     

Directional reflectance of vegetation measured by a calibrated digital camera

Obtaining directional reflectance information for vegetation canopies is often an expensive and time-consuming process. We present here a simple approach based on the use of an inexpensive digital camera equipped with a wide-angle lens. By the imaging of a large homogeneous area, a single image captures multiple views of a vegetation canopy. This gives a directional reflectance distribution fully sampled for view direction and free of variations in Sun elevation and azimuth. We determined the radiometric response of the camera sensor CCD's at the focal point and then extended this calibration to the full CCD array by using averaged images of clear blue sky. We evaluated the utility of the system by obtaining directional reflectance distributions of two vegetation targets, grass (Lolium spp) and pine forest (Pinus radiata), for red visible light. The precision of the derived biangular pattern of reflectance was +/-7%.